1945-1968
Ordinary Phase
Table of Contents
The Unusual Within The Ordinary
Birth – A Baby Born With A Celestial Robe
In 1945, during the final stages of World War II, American B-29 bombers attacked the Shueishang Airport in Chiayi, Taiwan. On the night of June 27 (the 18th day of the fifth lunar month), a baby was born in a chicken coop by the Niuchou River, wrapped entirely in a veil of white gauze.
The baby was covered with a layer of white gauze. Although he cried a lot when he was born, he would immediately stop crying when someone held him out to gaze at the moon and stars in the sky.
The Lu Family Background
From 1895 to 1945, Taiwan was at the Japanese Colonial Period. In Chiayi County, there was a man named Lu Chang from Fanyang, Zhangzhou, Fujian Province. He was a renowned philanthropist in the local community, performing many charitable deeds that benefited the area, and he was the grandfather of Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Sheng-Yen Lu.
On the day little Sheng-Yen Lu was born, warplanes bombed the entire city of Chiayi, and all the houses on East Market Street were burned down. As a result, by the time of his father Lu Er Shun's generation, there was little family property remaining.
Childhood
Sheng-Yen Lu endured a difficult and impoverished childhood. Under the blazing sun of southern Taiwan, one could often see a tiny, thin boy walking barefoot down the street, selling popsicles, handmade honeycomb toffee, and sugar-coated plums on sticks. Although he was often teased for his small stature and poverty, the hardships did not cause young Sheng-Yen Lu to lose hope in life. Instead, those difficult times cultivated in him a strong willpower to “endure humiliation,” the “courage and determination to fight through adversity,” and the resilience to adapt to any circumstance.
Elementary School
When he was in the third grade at Datong Elementary School of Kaohsiung, he won first place in a city-wide essay contest. Later, he wrote an article and submitted it to Xueyou Zazhi (Student Magazine). Unexpectedly, it was published. When the principal praised him during the morning assembly and his classmates in the class called him “a writer,” young Sheng-Yen Lu felt as if he were floating on clouds. That feeling was unforgettable. From that moment on, he fell in love with writing. “Writing” took root and sprouted in his life, becoming an inseparable part of him for the rest of his life journey.
The Literary Youth Period
A Brilliant New Comet Of The Era
During his teenage years, Living Buddha Lian Sheng loved literature and writing. With rich emotions and a profound literary background foundation, writing became a natural and intuitive part of his life. At that time, his articles were published in major newspapers in southern Taiwan, such as Taiwan News and its supplements “Xizaiwan” and the “Film and Art Edition.” The fact that this talented writer was actually a 17-year-old high school student greatly surprised Mr. Lin Haiqiu, the editor-in-chief of "Xizaiwan," and Mr. Xiaoyu of the “Film and Art Edition.”
At that time, everyone knew there was a young poet at Kaohsiung Vocational High School of Technology who wrote modern poetry and was making waves across Taiwan. His poems were published in numerous newspapers and magazines throughout the province, totaling nearly a thousand works. During that period, Wild Wind Literature Magazine once hailed him as “a brilliant new comet of the era.”
In his early years, Sheng-Yen Lu was also an active literary youth in Taiwan. Not only did he win many literary awards, he also worked as a newspaper reporter while serving in the military
During his college years, he served as chief editor of the Surveying Literature Journal. Over four years in college, he published four books: 1. Collection of Light Mist 2. Whispers from the Garden of Dreams 3. Scattered Blue Dreams 4. Leaves Flying in the Wind
I Am A Poet! I Am A Writer And A Poet!
Collection Of Light Mist Made Its Debut And A Legend Began
Sheng-Yen Lu’s first book, Collection of Light Mist, was published through a publisher he found himself, at his own expense.
The initial print run of Collection of Light Mist was 500 copies. On the day the book was released, Sheng-Yen Lu joyfully loaded the copies onto his tricycle and rode through the streets, shouting along the way: “I am a poet! I am a writer and a poet!”
At that time, he published the book simply to fulfill his dream of becoming a writer, never expecting that the spirit of authorship would accompany him throughout his lifetime of writing.
Living Buddha Lian Sheng once wrote in one of his books: “I hold a sustaining belief: My life must have meaning. I live not only for myself, but also to contribute to humanity.”