(continued from issue #715 P.3)

I thought to myself, why are sentient beings' karma for illnesses so severe？ Why is there no remedy to free them of these diseases？ Some people's illnesses are just like the saying, 「You are what you eat.」

I know I don't speak very good English. On the subject of speaking English, I often think back to my early days in America. Do you know how I passed the road test to get my driver's license？ Do you know how I took the test？ The road test administrator told me what he wanted me to do several times during the road test, but I just couldn't understand what he said. I tried to come up with a solution, so I told him, 「My name is Sheng-yen Lu. I'm just new coming,」 so he would know that I was new to the country. 「I speak English just a little. Please, you say slow.」 Talk slowly, that sentence he understood.

But no matter how hard he tried to tell me what to do, I still couldn't understand him, so I told him, 「I write down the pictures.」 The first picture that I drew was 「10 Miles Stop.」 The second picture was 「Change lane.」 The third picture was 「parallel parking.」 The fourth picture was 「parking in reverse.」The fifth picture was 「parking on a hill.」 For that picture, I drew a slanted car and that was my parking on a hill. I drew them all. 「I write down the picture, you see？ What kind you like？ You tell me.」

The road test administrator was very happy and said ok！ He must have thought to himself 「Today I've actually met someone who needs diagrams to pass a road test.」 After that I started my driving test. He pointed at the first picture 「10 Miles Stop,」 and then I knew to come to a stop after driving ten miles. Then he showed me the second picture, 「Change lane」 and so I signaled for a lane change and did a shoulder check. He said it was well done.

(to be continued)