Stories of Supreme Spiritual Responses-《Building Permit 001》

 

《Guru’s Talks》(Book 223 Stories of Supreme Spiritual Responses《無上殊勝莊嚴的感應》「001號的建築執照」)
Building Permit 001
‧Ｗritten by Sheng-yen Lu‧
Translated by Janny Chow
A US Daden Culture Publication

　　It is alleged that in Taiwan, it is extremely difficult to apply for a permit to build temples or monasteries on mountain slopes or farmlands. Yet, on the hills and dry lands of Taiwan, there exist many temples and monasteries. How did this come about?
　　The answer is: First apply for a permit to build a farmhouse, then submit a request to have the occupancy permit changed.
　　(In Taiwan, some temples and monasteries built on hills and dry land do not even have occupancy permits. People are no longer surprised by these situations.)
　　Recently, there has been a call to legalize temples that have already been built. Are those temples now all legal? I do not know.
　　When we originally wanted to apply for a construction permit for the Taiwan Leizang Temple at Tiger Hill, Tsaotun, I approached an eminent monk from one of the four major temples in Taiwan for advice.
　　The eminent monk said, “Sheng-yen Lu is dreaming!”
　　The eminent monk said, “The permit will not happen.”
　　The eminent monk said, “You will first need to apply for a farmhouse. When the farmhouse is built, you should then apply to change its occupancy status to religious use. This is the method used by everyone.”
　　When I insisted that I wanted to build the Taiwan Leizang Temple with legal methods, the eminent monk scoffed and said, “It is not possible!”
　　***

　　Yet, the universe works in mysterious ways. Applications for temple construction permits are reviewed by three different departments:
　　1. Department of Civil Affairs (The Provincial Government was still in existence then.)
　　2. Department of Construction
　　3. County Government
　　　　Only when these three governmental bodies have approved the application is it possible to obtain a construction permit to develop on a hill site. It is especially difficult to obtain a permit for the construction of temples and monasteries on undeveloped hill sites.
　　The Department of Civil Affairs is in charge of religious affairs.
　　The Department of Construction is in charge of construction.
　　The County Government is in charge of the overall project.
　　When any one of these three departments dissents, no building permit or occupancy permit will be issued.
　　As luck would have it, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, by some miraculous coincidence, sent us three benefactors –
　　Zhang Litang
　　Xu Deqi
　　Wu Dunyi

　　These three benefactors turned out to be two department heads and one county magistrate. Thus our application for a permit to build a temple was approved.
　　As if jolted by a bolt from the sky, the eminent monk was startled!
　　All his temples had been built as farmhouses and later repurposed, some through muddled means. Many of these temples consisted of illegal buildings, and some were even built on public government land.
　　While the eminent monk believed it was impossible to build a temple through legal means, the building permit was actually issued directly to us. This came as such a surprise that elders of many temples all exclaimed it as remarkable.
　　I personally feel that the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have great miraculous powers and are able to transform the impossible into the possible. Our temple’s building permit is 001 and is the only one in existence.
　　When I made my first return trip to Taiwan, on that exact day, the building permit was issued.
　　When I made my second return trip to Taiwan, on that exact day, the occupancy permit was issued.
What a coincidence?
　　It is indeed a great coincidence. You cannot deny it!
　　In the life of Grand Master Lu, there have been many inconceivable coincidences. Take the Rainbow Temple in Washington state as another example. The land it sits upon was suddenly converted to religious land use. We had not even submitted a request for the change over! Wouldn’t you say this was rather strange?

  Guru Talk