Apr 09 2008
Lin Yun 林云大师
What distigushes ’religion’ from ’sect’? (Wikipedia has a good one) Wider audience considers a religion? Number of followers determine the status? Great salesmanship?
I don’t know how Lin Yun began his sect, but I came to know him whom my aunt warmly greets as Erge 二哥, the second older brother (he’s the second son) in 1986, when I first visited San Francisco. He was already well established by then with solid followings. The second day at her house in Redwood City, I was awaken in the middle of the night, “Erge is here, come to meet him.” My aunt excitedly urged. I changed out of my pj, rubbing my eyes as I walked into the living room. A man with an open face was there, surrounded by many people, all wanted to talk to him and get his attention. He’s charming and somewhat grand, the way Dalai Lama is, drew people to him. The scene was rather bit chaotic. My aunt pushed me forward, “erge, this is my third younger brother’s daughter .. “ Apparently my Dad had met him few times. Then she turned to me, “do you have any questions you’d like to ask Master Lin? Ask away.” ?? I rubbed my eyes, questions? What questions? Questions you’d post to a fortune teller?
Couple of days later, as my aunt was making dumplings for him, she heard that he already left for the airport. With no one home, she made me drive her to the SF airport. She wasn’t kidding. I just came to US for vacation, didn’t have US driver license. No matter. You have HK’s = that’s good enough, she assured me, LET’s go. But, Aunt, I didn’t know the road. Don’t worry, there are signs to the airport, just get into the car, let’s GO. So she held her dumplings tight on her laps and we went. Don’t ask me how did we get there, but we got there in one piece. But was late. Lin was already went in. My aunt quickly thought that I must had plane ticket in my pocket, so pushed me in, telling the gate agent that I did have tickets .. “go, go, go, gave the dumplings to him.. Those are his favored.” The dumplings in the Tupperware were still warm. I went in, but again too late, he was on board and the door slowly shut in front of my eyes.
Those few moments were true of his way of life: hectic, unpredictable, entourage (mostly savvy young females like my cousin).
Lin is the master of the Black Sect Tantric based in SF with modest following - compare to Dalai Lama. My aunt and her youngest daughter are faithful believers. Trying to get a piece of him or be close to him, they followed him everywhere. He gave lectures on the cruise, so they all jumped onto the ship. (Once, my aunt was too late to book the cruise, so she went to the port, only to be refused.) He went to Taipei or Hong Kong, so they all jet over to Asia. The next time I saw him was in Flushing, NY. My cousin just called me up cold, saying come on over now. When we made to the address, we found a dim lighted apartment that’s fully packed, spilling out to the hall way. Lin Yun and his entourage just came back from DC after attending the inauguration of George Bush in 1989. My cousin and her fellow groupies 
were all in full length mink or fur coats, so did Lin Yun. The lady of the house gave him a bowl of red bean soup, “please drink it .. good for your health .. you’ve been working/travelling so hard .. “ He bottom it up in front of the adoring crowds. Some one asked if he’s warm enough. He pointed to the fur coat, “of course. [Someone] lent this to me ..”
My cousin who’s in her mid 30s got married soon after that to a wealthy Canadian Chinese, moved to Hong Kong, living in a palatial apartment in the Peak. They have three nannies for each of their three children. (This is different than in Jakarta/Manila where a vast serving staff is common.) My aunt would often say her daughter’s good fortune is due to Lin, 修来的. Every year, there are two birthday parties for Lin, one in SF and one in Taipei, my cousin still follows him around, not as much as when she was single.
In the 90s, Lin or his temple bought a house in Old Westbury. One weekend I spotted him on the NYT’s Sunday Styles’ Evening Hours, giving way to a Chinese girl in the annual Debutante Ball at the Waldorf Astoria in the city. During one of us infrequent calls, my cousin gave me his number, saying go visit him. So I called him up one day, not sure he’ll be in NY, or how many transfers I’d get before reach him - his temple has a CEO. Surprisingly, he answered it himself on the second ring. After few short pleasantries, he started enthusiastically telling me the story of his new acquired house.
He looked at it few years ago, late 80s or early 90s and the owner was asking well over 2m. He passed it up, too expensive. Then couple of years later, the agent called him up again, saying the heirs had fight, and had to sell it to satisfy the taxes. They bargained down to $1.3m (or so). The owner wanted $600k for the furniture, when Lin said no, they gave it to him as bonus. The only problem was that he’s forbid to use it as a temple. The wealthy enclave filed petition to restrict large gathering at the house. .. “You have to come to visit ..”
Few months after, our town had black tie dinner gala celebrating Chinese New Year. The organizer asked if we can invited some notables. I thought of Lin. For some reason they decided not to invited him. Which was fine. So I invited him myself, telling the organizer and Lin that he’s my guest, and there won’t be any obligation.
We went to pick him up for the party, and took a tour of the proper estate with a gate house by the entrance, now for the spiders. It’s right on the service road of LIE with high ivy covered walls. The horse ban had converted into a shrine. The red clay tennis court is hardly used. In a side room of the main house, there were few people sat around a round dinning table (with some food on it) looked very humble and needy, hung on Lin’s every word and breath. Lin said they came from another state. The grandeur of the house seemed had gone. It wasn’t dilapidated, but could use some up keepings.
I often wonder, do all the sect leaders start/operate the same way as Lin? The answer is probably a yes. Work on your craft (religion or whatever that might be, or even trading method like Woodie), stay away from politics (Falun gong would have had different fate ..), you rise and fall depending on how many followers you can convince and how controversial you want to be. Courting controversial works both ways. Dalai Lama caught on western media’s fancy, he even has a Nobel Peace Prize to brag about.
Btw, the dinner went nicely, except the organizer didn’t keep their word, the MC dragged Lin to the stage for a few prayers. Needless to say, I wasn’t amused, and neither was Lin who mentioned it in his brief speech.