Memory may fade, but awakening does not.
With the full-paper deadline for the 2025 International Academic Symposium on Awakening Thought approaching in mid-October, students involved in the proceedings are in the midst of final revisions. This year, Wan-Chen’s paper is titled Healing Through Zen—Applying Zen Practice in Stroke Rehabilitation, with Yongqing as her research participant. During the Mid-Autumn Festival break, she conducted online interviews with Dad’s caregivers—my aunts—to supplement her data.An auntie shared a delightful story about her dad reading Awakening Never Apart:
After dinner, Dad would sit in his rattan chair, and my aunt would bring out that little pocket book—Awakening Never Apart.
He would read it slowly, word by word. And each time he turned a page and discovered there was more, he would exclaim with childlike joy, “Oh—there’s more!” Then he’d continue on, smiling as he read.
My aunt said that when Dad practices reading the newspaper, he usually reads only the headlines—and clearly has little interest. But when he recites Awakening Never Apart, his focus becomes remarkable. The verses are short, the characters are large—perfect for elders to read aloud. The moment Dad begins, his mind settles, and he keeps reciting on his own, again and again.
She also recalled that when Dad reached the lines: Great benevolence is never apart. Great compassion is never apart. Great wisdom is never apart. Great meditative samādhi is never apart. —he suddenly broke into a smile and said, “How wonder
My aunt couldn’t help but wonder—did he truly understand? Or did he somehow feel the inconceivable power of Awakening Never Apart?
As memory gradually fades, awakening is never apart from the self. May Father Fang dwell in Awakening Never Apart—day by day, smiling with joy, with happiness never leaving his side.
💗 May every family find its own moments of awakening.
