Personal Merits and Group Achievement

 

When constructing the Ling Chuan Monastery, there were not enough funds to make the payroll, so it was difficult to hire workers. Early one morning, the monks gathered silently and decided to go out and solicit alms. When the Master found out about it, he said compassionately, “There is no need to do this. It will be okay.”

But late at night while everyone else was sleeping, there was one person working silently at the construction site. When one of the monks went out to check, he found that it was the Master.

On another day, a monk found that the Master was moving stones to a corner. He hurried over to help him and said, “Shifu, please just let us do that.” Without even lifting his head, the Master said, “You earn your merits, I’ll earn mine.”

When the workers were through and left for the day, the Master and all the disciples continued to work at night. On empty ground, they laid stones, built walls with bricks, and put tiles on the roofs. They worked diligently. One by one, the Chan Hall, Dining Hall, Lecture Hall, as well as other buildings all gradually stood tall from the ground.