The Three- Steps-One-Bow Dharma Assembly
三步一拜法会

Heng Sure[恒实] and Heng Ch’au [恒朝]

On the eve of the Penang State Governor’s birthday, I paid RM 110 to join The Butterworth Buddhist Association [北海佛教会] on a weekend trip to Sam Poh Wan Futt Chi Temple [三宝万佛寺] at Brincang, Cameron Highlands, to participate in the Three- Steps-One-Bow Dharma Assembly [三步一拜法会] to be held on the Sunday morning.

Three- Steps-One-Bow [三步一拜] is neither an aerobics nor a line dance. It is a Buddhist method of cultivation of physical endurance as well as mental concentration. While reciting the sacred name of a Bodhisattva [菩萨] or a Buddha[佛], a practicing Buddhist will advance three steps simultaneously followed by a bow or prostration. This is repeatedly done until he reaches the destination.

Three- Steps-One-Bow was initially practiced by the Venerable Master Hsu Yun (虚云大师) (1840-1959) He was a renowned Zen master[襌师] and one of the most influential Buddhist teachers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Hsu Yun was born on 26th April 1840 at Chuanchowfu in Fukien province. At the age forty-three, Hsu Yun reflected on his achievements. He regretted his abandonment of his family, and went on a long pilgrimage from Mount P'u T’o [普陀山] to Mount Wutai[五台山] by three-steps-one-bow with the recitation of the sacred name of Manjushri Bodhisattva [文殊菩萨] to pray for the rebirth of his family members in the Pure Land [净土].
In 1977, Heng Sure [恒实] and Heng Ch’au [恒朝], the grand disciples of Hsu Yun, started their unique journey of Three- Steps-One-Bow from downtown L.A. to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Talamage, California. A journey of more than 800 miles that took them two years and nine months to complete. They bowed in serenity. They bowed for the world Peace.

Sam Poh Wan Futt Chi Temple at Brinchang, offers an ideal place for this Three-Steps-One-Bow Dharma Assembly. It has cool weather. The patch of road leading to the temple is always clean and safe for carrying out the activity as hardly any vehicle would pass by before dawn.

The Butterworth Buddhist Association has been organizing this activity of The Three-Steps-One Bow Dharma Assembly for twelve consecutive years with overwhelming support from its members and the public. This year four buses carried 160 passengers participated. Of course the side programme of shopping spree of buying vegetables and local products could be another factor too. On Sunday morning at 4 am, the participants woke up to take a light meal and assembled at the temple compound in front of the main shrine hall by 5 am. After having a short briefing, all the participants walked down 1 km from the temple to the starting point. It took one and a half hours to complete the activity of The Three-Steps-One-Bow Dharma Assembly. By 7.20 am all the participants were already back to the main shrine hall of the temple to hear a Dharma talk.