Buddha Gate Monastery

Peggy Bryant is Vice President of the Dharma Support Association at Buddha Gate. She is a microbiologist and Assistant Director of the Clinical Laboratory at Summit Medical Center in Oakland. Her career allows her to be with people and to help patients.

In your experience, what is so special about Buddha Gate? What are some important things you've learned here?

There are many Buddhist organizations in the Bay Area where one can go to meditate or attend classes. What drew me to Buddha Gate is unquestionably the excellent instruction based on the right understanding and right views of the Dharma as well as the accurate meditation instruction not available in other places. The Dharma Masters and the Abbess in particular, who are in charge of instruction, have had excellent training at the Buddhist Institute at Chung Tai. Their understanding of and interpretation of the Buddhist teaching is impressive. Being a Westerner, though, Buddha Gate has presented some challenges for me primarily due to the fact that the Chinese culture and etiquette is different from what I am familiar with. In exploring other meditation groups and classes, I realized that some of the ideas I had gained elsewhere were misleading. As the teaching of the sutras and techniques of meditation were extremely important to me, I have relied on the superb instruction at Buddha Gate.


	Interview with Peggy Bryant Vice President of the Dharma Support Association Interviewed by Cathy Crystal
	Peggy Bryant is Vice President of the Dharma Support Association at Buddha Gate. She is a microbiologist and Assistant Director of the Clinical Laboratory at Summit Medical Center in Oakland. Her career allows her to be with people and to help patients. In your experience, what is so special about Buddha Gate? What are some important things you've learned here? There are many Buddhist organizations in the Bay Area where one can go to meditate or attend classes. What drew me to Buddha Gate is unquestionably the excellent instruction based on the right understanding and right views of the Dharma as well as the accurate meditation instruction not available in other places. The Dharma Masters and the Abbess in particular, who are in charge of instruction, have had excellent training at the Buddhist Institute at Chung Tai. Their understanding of and interpretation of the Buddhist teaching is impressive. Being a Westerner, though, Buddha Gate has presented some challenges for me primarily due to the fact that the Chinese culture and etiquette is different from what I am familiar with. In exploring other meditation groups and classes, I realized that some of the ideas I had gained elsewhere were misleading. As the teaching of the sutras and techniques of meditation were extremely important to me, I have relied on the superb instruction at Buddha Gate.
	Three aspects of Buddhism are faith, understanding, and practice. Faith is built on a solid understanding of the Buddhist principles. Practice is applying those principles in our daily life. Through our classes, I am able to study the sutras with a clearer understanding and be more effective in applying those principles. How did you find your way to Buddha Gate and how long have you been a member? Why do we have problems? How can we avoid our problems? I have had a succession of crises: a divorce, difficulties with my teenage daughter, and failed relationships. Basically I felt my life was falling apart. I had seen a psychotherapist and read self-help books. Somehow I felt that if I just studied and worked hard enough I could find the answer to my problems. One evening in the summer of 2001, I was reading the Valley Times and in the religion section, there was a picture and an article by Master Jian Hu, who was then the Abbot at Buddha Gate Monastery. The article mentioned finding peace and posed questions regarding the purpose of life which I sought answers to. I cut out the article and after a few weeks called the monastery. My resolve to seek spiritual enlightenment through Buddhism was so unusual. For someone from my background, white and Catholic, to call a Buddhist was seen as though I were seeking some kind of cult. I vividly remember my first call and conversation with the Abbot Jian Hu who asked what my interest in Buddhism was. I replied, 'I want to have more self-knowledge,' not knowing at the time that this was what Buddhism is all about. Finaly, one evening after work, I drove up to Buddha Gate and met the Venerable Abbot Jian Hu. As we talked I knew Buddhist principles made a great deal of sense to me and that I was ready to embrace them. The conditions were just perfect – there was Buddha Gate – and the cause was there – to seek more self-knowledge. Coming to Buddha Gate to seek my spiritual path was to be the most important thing that ever happened to me. How does your understanding of Buddhism help you to manage in the workplace? Buddhism has helped me to accept how things are and to understand that I don't have control over other people. When people do things that I think that are wrong or unethical or annoying, their behaviors are in fact about them. What I need to work on is being tolerant. For example, during my early Buddha Gate years, I was kind of a reactive person. As manager I was responsible for the whole laboratory to make sure everyone followed policies and procedures and was there on time. When personnel problems come up, I have to deal with them.When I told Master Jian Hu about the problem I was having with one employee, he said, 'Peggy, what makes you think this person should do what you want her to do? Why do you even think that?' I thought about why. One has to understand that another person’s behavior is not going to conform to one’s values or needs. Though this is a simple concept, it has been a life-long struggle for me. Buddhism has helped me to understand that I can still do my job and discipline employees for their behavior, but I try to do that with a compassionate mind. As I carry out my supervisory role in the workplace, I have to know what the rules for the patients are and to have a good functioning department. What I realize is that everybody is at a different stage in their lives with their own karma, struggles and levels of delusion. When I'm working with people it's my job to understand that it is what it is. It's my false ego that wants everything to go my way and when things don't, we feel 'people make problems for us.' So Buddhism has helped me to accept people the way they are, yet take necessary action to do my job, using compassion, wisdom, and the right understanding. Is it different when you apply these principles to your family? In close family relationships, it is not as easy to apply the principles of acceptance of others because of our attachments. Due to our attachment within the family, there is more suffering. We can feel sad because of what our adult children might be going through. We need to let them make their own choices. As mothers we do suffer. Trying to understand what the right thing to do is difficult. However, there should be no regrets, like I should have done this or that. Have you ever made a pilgrimage to Chung Tai Chan Monastery in Taiwan? If so, describe its importance to you. Yes I've been on three pilgrimages, including the Zen Seven-day Retreats. The meditation retreats are wonderful. It was important for me to go to Taiwan because I wanted to have a greater understanding of the Chung Tai Chan Buddhist organization. Going there you see in action all the principles being demonstrated – on a grand scale. Organizations take on the characteristics of their leaders. Meeting the leaders, you understand in greater depth the integrity of the organization and witness the principles carried out. Some important aspects of Chung Tai that I observed are the integrity of the teachings, the objects of the Grand Master's greater vision, such as the Buddhist Institute for the Dharma Masters, the schools, and the emphasis on education. The compassion of Chung Tai's teaching is powerful. I believe the Grand Master is an enlightened leader and that Buddha Gate is part of a very worthwhile organization. The visits validated my experiences at Buddha Gate and helped me want to further my studies. Life can be stressful and very complicated. How do you manage to maintain your Buddha nature? There are many teachings that have helped me. The most significant one has helped me understand the essence of mind, our true nature, which is perfect and contains every quality of an all-knowing wisdom. 'The Awakening of Faith' speaks to the qualities of the mind, or such ness, which is our Buddha Nature that we all have. It is about the understanding, the love-kindness and compassion that is always available for us to access. Speaking for myself, not having a background of good self-esteem, I have had to work on self-esteem, being compassionate and not judging myself. To have faith in the purity, the perfection, the wisdom of a compassionate mind helps me in my everyday practice. Our stresses, worries, self-blame and fear come from the deluded mind, not from our Buddha Nature. Instead of getting into 'I should have done this or that' –and listening to our deluded mind talking, we need to sustain faith in our inherent Buddha Nature. Faith and meditation have been very healing for me. How do we keep pure our critical mind which is so essential for managers, teachers, and parents? I have found this exercise useful. Analyze your attachments using what you know about the aspects of non-enlightenment (see The Awakening of Faith). Aspects of non-enlightenment tell the whole story of how we create suffering for ourselves with deluded thoughts and attachments. The answer I get every time I've done this exercise comes down to the false ego. The false ego suggests that everything is how I want or think things should be, that my daughter should be this way because I love her or that I'm angry by something because I say so. Buddhism, for somebody like me with an analytical mind, provides us with some great tools. Instead of getting caught up in a bad state of mind – Buddhism gives you a chance to ask you what you are doing to yourself. To study Buddhism is to study ourselves. Are you a vegetarian? Yes, I'm vegetarian. The people in my life are not, so it is a struggle. It would be easier if we were the same. However, in this situation I continue to look at my actions and the intention for not killing sentient beings. This is part of my practice. The three poisons are greed, anger and ignorance. How can one deal with these things in life? I believe that our primary mistake is not understanding our Buddha Nature. This leads to greed and anger. I try to deal with all delusions by remembering we all have Buddha Nature, which is perfect and all-wise. Through practice, you will naturally become more tolerant so you're not so angry, and by reducing your illusions, you'll be giving more. I believe that by following the precepts for moral conduct and practicing the Six Paramitas, we will take the path from suffering to Nirvana.
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