BUDDHISM IN CENTRAL ASIA AND CHINA 219each person is clouded by the dust of petty, selfish defilements. The relative
density of these defilements is a function of one's karma from past lives to-
gether with the positive or negative cultivation of personal qualities through
action in this life-a view similar to the early Buddhist teachings on the inter-
action of past and present influences on one's state of mind (see Section 1.4.3).
Positive cultivation means washing the defilements away with merciful con-
science and selfless love. When the dust is gone, the inherent love and mercy
of the Buddha-nature will be able to shine through. Thus love and mercy are
both a means of self-cleansing and a natural expression of one's inner nature
once it is cleansed.
In this sense, the opportunity to give aid is a chance to cleanse one's own
heart, and for this reason the members of the foundation are exhorted to
honor and be grateful to those they are able to help. Volunteers who assist in
the hospitals and other activities of the foundation are taught to do their work
with an absorbed, observant state of mind, reflecting on the range of suffering
inherent in the human condition, so that they will be able to abandon their
own petty greed, aversion, and delusion, thus feeling greater appreciation for
their own families. In a pattern of mutual reinforcement, this creates a health-
ier family environment, which in turn makes it easier for one to contribute
further to aiding the greater family of the entire sentient realm.
Master Cheng Yen and her followers tend to regard many of the ritual tra-
ditions of Chinese Buddhism with some disfavor. As one of her followers has
said, "We don't believe in burning incense or in similar rituals, since good
deeds mean much more than creating smoke." Some Taiwanese have objected
to this aspect of the foundation, saying that Master Cheng Yen is founding a
new school ofBuddh!sm, but she claims simply to be bringing Buddhism back
to its original form, plain and down-to-earth. This view is reflected in the
foundation's buildings, which replace the ornate intricacy of traditional Chi-
nese temple architecture with clean, unadorned lines and spacious, well-lit
rooms. For many Chinese, this is the new face of Buddhism as it approaches
the twenty-first century.