I was a homeless dog. In October 1997, after my previous owner had finished using (remark: ‘using’ here means ‘taking advantage of’) me, I was dumped onto the streets. I used to have a big appetite. Now, not only did I have nothing to eat, even if I was knocked down by a car, it would be of no surprise!
Since I was such a big dog, everyone saw me and would avoid me. Moreover, I had not had a bath for a long time; I was very filthy, smelly and skinny.
I wandered around aimlessly as I knew I could not return home again. I was also sick. I relied on sixth sense, a gift bestowed on us ‘St. Bernard’ dogs by heaven, and arrived here. With one big breath, I ran up the flights of stairs and arrived at a Buddhist shrine.
Thanked you, Master. Not only did you not reject me, you allowed me to stay. I sincerely thanked you for giving me a new name ‘Ah Ben’, my English name was Ben.
“I’m sorry!”
I spent a lot of your money on veterinary and medicine costs and had an operation, yet my sickness still lingered on and I was a burden to everyone. One day earlier, I had found a place to rest in peace. I would not come back as I did not want to soil the shrine with my corpse. However, ‘Chief Resident’ of the shrine insisted on pulling me back. In addition, the ‘Highly Regarded’ fellow Buddhist said, “It’s not a problem.” Therefore, I could only go to die at the terrace outside.
Unexpectedly, within two months of arrival I lost the battle with my illness and passed away. I did not even get the chance to pledge my services to guard the shrine door.
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Another True Story
Source: The Internet
| Translators’ foreword | |||
| ● | In English usage, an animal is often referred as ‘it’. Unless the relationship between the owner and the dog is personal (like a pet that has a name), then it is okay to use ‘he’ or ‘she’ when referring to the animal. That means a person will rarely say ‘it’ when referring to his/her own pet (dog or cat). | ||
| ● | If the dog is a family pet with which you are acquainted, you can use ‘he’ or ‘she’, ‘him’ or ‘her’. | ||
| ● | The purpose of using ‘he’ or ‘she’ to refer to a pet, a wild animal or a performing animal is to personalize animals. However, personification of pets is often used in daily life to express politeness. | ||
| For example: | |||
| ─ | “What a lovely dog, how old is he?” It is because it is impolite to say, “How old is it?” | ||
| ─ | “Oh John, you own such a smart dog! What is her (speaker finds out dog’s gender) name?” | ||
| ● | However, if you are not acquainted with the animal (perhaps a stray animal on the street), you will use ‘it’. Or someone else's dog is often referred as ‘it’, especially if the dog is not known by the speaker, or if the dog's gender is unknown. | ||
| Take at some famous writing examples: | |||
| They are taking their dog to the vet as they said it looked ill. | |||
| I saw the dog. I think it was chewing your shoe. | |||
| When I arrived at their house, the big dog, which was called Rover, was barking loudly because it was lonely. | |||
| ● | Rinpoche’s suggestion: In this essay, the translators used ‘he’ to refer to the taxi driver’s dog. It is okay for a general written pattern. However, we do not know the gender of his dog, it may be female. Besides, we assume the taxi driver and the passenger should probably be male. In such a situation, using ‘he’ or ‘his’ to refer to three of them (taxi driver, passenger, dog) in the same paragraph, reader will be easily confused in which whether ‘he’ or ‘his’ is referring to ‘taxi driver’ or ‘passenger’ or ‘the dog’. It is not the translators’ unmercifulness to use ‘it’ to describe a poor dog! So, I simply classify as follows: | ||
| taxi driver | >> ‘he’ | |
| taxi driver’s dog | >> ‘it’/ Alsatian/ dog | |
| taxi passenger | >> ‘I’ | |
| taxi passenger’s dog | >> the dog/ my dog |
There was once a time when we were sitting in a taxi, taking the family dog to the vets. The dog was coughing badly and attracted the driver’s attention. He asked, “Does your dog have a cold?”
“Yes! My dog hasn’t stopped coughing since last night.” I said.
The driver suddenly expressed a long sigh, “Oh! Coughs just like a person!”
As soon as we started on this subject, the driver told me about his painful experience with his own dog:
Many years ago, he had a big Alsatian. It grew too big and had an exceptionally huge appetite. In addition, dog barking was also extremely loud which disturbed other people. One day, he suddenly felt that the burden was too heavy and that he did not want to keep the Alsatian any longer.
He put the Alsatian in a big sack and took it outside to let it go. In order to make sure that the Alsatian could not find its way home, he drove for more than one hundred kilometres before leaving the dog deep within the mountains. After releasing the dog, he speedily drove home. The Alsatian ran after its owner for a few kilometres and then the car disappeared out of sight.
A week went by. One morning as the taxi driver was leaving for work, he heard someone knocking heavily on the front door. When he opened the door, it was the big Alsatian. It was thin and bony and looked extremely desperate. It was obvious that the Alsatian had been running for long periods of time looking for its way home.
Although the taxi driver was greatly shocked, he did not say a single word. He again got the sack out and put the Alsatian inside, intending to let it go once again. This time, he drove like a mad man from the highway of Bei Yi to Yi Nan in Taiwan. All the way, he heard the Alsatian cry softly. When he arrived at the mountain area of Yi Nan and opened the sack, he discovered that it was soaked in blood. He could see that blood was still gushing out from the corner of the Alsatian’s mouth. He opened the dog’s mouth and found that the Alsatian had bitten his own tongue in two.
In fact, the Alsatian had bitten his tongue and committed suicide.
When the driver had finished his story, the taxi was filled with complete silence. From the rear mirror, I saw that the driver’s eyes were flooded with tears. After a while, he then said, “Whenever I see someone else’s dog, it always reminds me of my Alsatian that committed suicide by biting its tongue. I’ll grieve my whole life because of this event. I’m not worthy of being a person! I’m not even good enough to be a dog!”
As I listened to the driver’s story, the image of the Alsatian appeared in front of my eyes. I saw the Alsatian running wild in fields, in high mountains, in the city and in the countryside. It had run over one hundred miles, trying to find its way back to its master. I could not imagine how much pain and suffering it must have gone through and how difficult it must have been for the dog to find its way back home. Its master not only failed to open the door to welcome, but also did not even say a single word of consolation. He immediately wanted to abandon his dog once again. What a tremendous shock that must have been for a dog with such determination and feeling.
Instead of being dumped again by such a cold-hearted and cruel owner, it was better to take life in one’s own hands and free oneself.
The driver said that even though he gave the dog an elaborate funeral and would often burn incense and pay worship at its grave, he could not wipe away the guilt deep within his heart. Therefore, the driver vowed that he would repeatedly tell his story to other dog owners, reminding them to love their domestic dogs, and with the hope of eliminating some of his own karma.
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I was also a ‘St. Bernard’ dog. I had flown in from Australia. I was uniquely selected by my Master among various famous dogs, such as the golden Labrador, … under competition. Accidentially, the date he brought me to Shrine was 1999-06-06 Sun (Samantabhadra Bodhisattva Festival). I was really blessed.
My Master called me ‘Benson’. This was also my English name. You could all call me ‘Benson’ from now on.
I had guarded the shrine for over 6 months. I did not understand why my birth certificate and personal identities had not yet arrived. The “Highly Regarded” fellow Buddhists who had never seen me before, did not know what breed I was. Recently, my long hair had been trimmed short. Don’t mistake me for an Alsatian!
It was here; it was arrived! When they were all circulating my birth certificate (written 1999-01-31Sun) to read, the expression of ‘Chief Resident’ was most odd. Ohooo, he (birth date was 1966-01-31) and I shared the same birthday. That was great. From now on, we could both celebrate our birthday together! That was convenient for us all.
Note:
In reality, our Guru has never once abandoned us, since it is us who abandon our Guru. Moreover, we tend to use different ways to reject our aging Guru. One example is ‘taking long leave’. In our minds, we always bear one thought: “Has our Guru forgotten us?” Our Guru also bears his thought: “Never abandon sentient beings”.
Postscript:
Master, thank you for your blessings and wishes!
I had already been 12 years and 6 months old. It was time to leave!!
Actually, I was assigned by heaven to depart this life in the early hour of 12 August 2011; coincidentally that day was Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva Festival (that was Vajrapani Bodhisattva Festival)!!!
Appendix: Birth Certificate of Benson
