By Grandmaster Sheng-yen Lu
Translated by Lianhua Zhi-wei, Edited by Jason Yu, Proofread by Jackie Ho
Dharma discourse after Golden Mother of the Jade Pond Homa on September 16, 2007 in Rainbow Villa
Homage to Reverend Liao Ming, Vajra Acharya Sakya Zheng-kong, His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa, and Vajra Acharya Thubten Dargye.
Homage to all my gurus, the principal deity of the homa, Golden Mother of the Jade Pond; Shimu (Vajra Acharya Lianxiang), vajra acharyas, senior reverends, reverends, and fellow school members, good afternoon.
I performed each step of today's Golden Mother of the Jade Pond Homa Ceremony diligently in accordance to the ritual procedures from the beginning to end. From invoking the principal deity of today's homa, Golden Mother of the Jade Pond, and the multitude of venerable beings to enter the shrine; the forming of mudras; performing the mutual merging (Ruwo-Woru visualization, visualizing that Golden Mother of the Jade Pond becoming me and me becoming the Golden Mother); all of the homa's rituals were performed very completely and all the procedures were carefully followed.
Every time when we perform a homa, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and gods will respond if the ritual procedures are properly and completely carried out with sincerity. When buddhas, bodhisattvas, and gods respond, then great power will be generated and the prayers and wishes will be answered and fulfilled. Those who pray for misfortunes to be pacified, their misfortunes will dissipate. Those who pray for enrichment, their blessings will increase. Those who pray for magnetization, their relationships with other people will become very peaceful and harmonious; or, if you wish hostile enemies to stop harassing you, these hostile enemies will leave you due to the blessing and miraculous power of the dharma protectors from today's dharma ceremony.
Homa is really just making offerings with fire as the medium. By burning all of these offerings in the homa furnace, all the venerable beings and the homa's principal deity will come to accept your offerings. You should often practice homa offerings because this practice swiftly generates results.
Typically, people would light incense and pay respect to the Buddhas and gods in their home shrine. This is the same as communicating with the Buddhas and gods. The reason that we perform fire offerings is because it generates far greater power than lighting incense at the home shrine and paying respect to the Buddhas and gods. Homa ceremonies generate far greater power because it uses large amount of special incense and offerings such as wine and holy nectar water. The dharma power and the actual resources used for homa offering are far greater [than what we used at our home shrine].
We devotedly perform visualizations, transforming the offerings to be so great that they encompass the entire sky. Our sincerity moves the principal deity of the homa and all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, dharma protectors, and daka/dakinis to join us. This enables Vajrayana practitioners to increase their affinities with these venerable beings and their own powers, thereby creating affinities and generating signs of accomplishments. Recently Grandmaster taught the Kalachakra Vajrakila practice. Many students have questions regarding the practice.
Therefore, I will answer your questions with the time remaining today. If you have questions regarding how to set up the shrine, or what type of materials you need to obtain, any aspect of the practice that you are not clear on, or anything that you didn't understand, just ask! If I can answer the question, I will. However, you can't ask what the red and green spiritual items are. If I reveal what they are now, there will be a bunch of vendors selling these items when I arrive at the Malaysian stadium. (Grandmaster and audience laughs)
Many shrewd people planned to manufacture several thousand Kalachakra vajrakilas and sell them at the Malaysia ceremony. Some shrewd people already contacted funeral homes in the area to obtain cremated ashes. They acquired jars and jars of them, ready for sale outside of the Malaysian sports stadium where the ceremony will be held. Are these items free? No! They are not free. These shrewd people plan to charge a lot of money for them. (audience laughter) So, if you have questions, just raise them here and I will answer them.
Q: If a husband and wife who are both school members want to cultivate this practice, can they share the use of a shrine? Or if there are two ordained school members who want to cultivate this practice, are they allowed to share a shrine?
A. For the sake of convenience, it is okay to share a shrine. When my Guru taught me this practice, he told me to cultivate it by myself and not to let anyone see the practice. This is because this practice was one of the most guarded secret practices. Since I have already revealed it, it is no longer a secret. But, I do sincerely ask, those people, who want to cultivate this practice, must come before Grandmaster and ask for empowerment. For non-school members who are interested in cultivating this practice after hearing my teaching, they first have to come to take refuge and personally receive empowerment for the practice. Then, their cultivation in this practice will be effective.
Q. If I were to cultivate this practice in a cemetery, do I have to perform it at a particular time of the day?
A. You don't have to move your shrine to a cemetery to cultivate this practice. This is not necessary. In the past, cultivators in India would cultivate in the sitavana (cremation ground) and they often smeared human bone powders on their faces and entire bodies. This is how they did it in the past. Hence, it is okay if you want to cultivate this practice in the cemetery and in the dead of the night! But, if you do this in Western countries, you would probably be arrested. Some of the cemeteries in Asian countries have security guards. Those guards will kick you out as well.
Q. Can anybody's ashes be used? Or can you only use the ashes of a certain type of person who is very pure?
A. Based on what my Guru taught me, you can use anyone's ashes. It doesn't matter what the age of the deceased was. You can even mix the ashes of two or three people. It doesn't make a difference in this practice.
Q. When Grandmaster mentioned using a private room, did you mean that the room should be sealed tight and that it can't have windows or a clearstory?
A. No, that is not what it means! For the shrine, you can use a room that is not being used. The room does not have to be very big, but it has to be big enough to set up the shrine. Also, the biggest the shrine needs to be is about the size of the area we used to perform the homa. So, you can wall-off a section of a room. This private room doesn't have to be sealed off without a window. There should be good circulation of air. What we mean by private room is that pets and people who don't cultivate this practice are not allowed into this room. When you are cultivating this practice, you should not let other people see it. This is a very secret practice. Hence, this room (which you cultivate the Kalachakra practice) is called a secret or private room. However, this does not mean that the room is meant to be sealed off with no windows.
Q. What kind of table should we use? Does it have to be new? Also, in regards to time, do you only cultivate this practice once a day and is there an optimum time to do this practice?
A. Oh! Do you need to buy a new table to set up the shrine? Ok! When you set up a shrine, it is best that you use a new table. This is because a new table has not been touched by other people, so it is cleaner! It is best that you get a new table. But, if you don't want to use a new table, you can just purify the table you already have with a fire ceremony (put it over a fire). That will be okay as well. With regard to cultivation, you can go into the shrine and chant the mantra whenever you have time. If you have a sudden urge to cultivate a practice session, you can do so. However, you have to perform this practice at least once a day. If you want to cultivate multiple sessions, that is okay too. Hence, you have to enter the shrine and cultivate the Kalachakra Vajrakila Practice at least once a day. Or if you only want to chant the Kalachakra mantra, that is okay as well.
Q. If the private room is not that big, can we set up the Kalachakra shrine besides our existing shrine? For example, can we put another table in the same room that doesn't face the same direction?
A. You can set up the Kalachakra shrine along with your existing shrine. If you want to set up another shrine in the same room, that is okay. It is still a private room. But, when you are cultivating, you cannot let your children or other people enter the room or watch you while you are doing the practice.
Q. If we set up the shrine in our private room, when should we go to the cemetery to cultivate this practice? This is because a cemetery is a public area and closed during certain times of the day. How do you deal with this time issue?
A. How come all of you want to go cultivate in a graveyard? (audience laughs) You don't have to cultivate at a cemetery. When you place bone ashes, amber of the tree, black charcoal and the other two items in your shrine, it is the same as if you were practicing in the cemetery! When you have obtained the red and green items for your shrine, it would be as if you were cultivating at the cemetery.
Q. After I obtain human ashes from a funeral home, what do I need to do so I wouldn't also bring the ghost of that deceased person home with me? (Audience roared with laughter)
A. You don't have to wait until you get the ashes from the funeral home to your home. Your home already has lots of ghosts (applause and laughter). Many people think only funeral homes have ghosts, or places where they keep cremated ashes have ghosts. That is a mistaken view! The places that have the most ghosts are movie theaters.
Ghosts love to watch movies and for them, movies are all free, no tax! They can watch one movie after another free. So, ghosts love to go to movie theaters. Those places which ghosts love to gather are not what you would expect. So, you definitely have some ghosts in your home. I definitely have some in my home as well. Everyone has ghosts living in his/her home. Some of you have protector spirits living in your homes! Some have residential ghost spirits (spirits attached to particular residences) in your homes. Some have very minor gods (good ghost spirits) in your homes. Some have your deceased ancestors' ghosts in your homes. Some of you have several generations of ancestors living in your homes. Thus, getting one more ghost in your home is not a big deal. Therefore, when you get one of these swindlers claiming to exorcise your home of all ghosts, and they want to charge you lots and lots of money for the exorcism, you are about to be scammed.
Q. Can those fellow students who have not received Kalachakra empowerment come to Seattle and ask for the Kalachakra empowerment?
A. You must receive the Kalachakra empowerment in front of the Kalachakra mandala for the empowerment to be effective. Also, Grandmaster must have completed a Kalachakra practice session. At the very least, Grandmaster must have chanted the Kalachakra mantra, experienced Kalachakra accepting the invitation and merging as one with me - only then will the empowerment be effective. So, if you want to come to Seattle to ask for this empowerment, you have to let me know in advance. "Guru please gives me the empowerment of the Kalachakra Vajrakila practice." Let me know, so I have time to perform the practice, and chant the Kalachakra mantra. When Kalachakra descends from emptiness and merges as one with me, then I can confer the empowerment to you; only then will the empowerment be effective.
Q. If a student has received the Kalachakra empowerment to chant the Kalachakra mantra but didn't receive the Kalachakra Vajrakila Empowerment, can he/she cultivate this vajrakila practice?
A. The Authentic Vajrakila Empowerment is only for the Authentic Vajrakila practice. The Kalachakra Mantra Recitation Practice Empowerment is only for the Kalachakra Mantra Recitation Practice. So, you must receive Kalachakra Vajrakila Empowerment to cultivate the Vajrakila practice.
Q. When we set up the shrine, are there any rules regarding the shrine's color or shape?
A. I explained that the shrine should be round like a lotus, round-shaped. Of course, the shrine doesn't need to be very big. It can be the size of that homa furnace. You can also make it small! Of course, you can't make it as small as the size of a pancake. (Guru and audience laughs) If you get the smallest vajrakila you can find and insert it in some rice, and arrange the flowers, incense, lights, tea, fruits, and set up the shrine to be as small as the size of a pancake, I feel that it is disrespectful to ask Kalachakra to descend onto such a small shrine. That is not too good. Isn't that right!? You have to make the shrine round and at least the size of that homa furnace. You have to do at least that.
One of the foremost requirements is that the shrine has to be solemn and dignified. The vajrakila is in the center and there is a pile of rice. If you are afraid the rice will attract rats, you can use white mandala sands (previously translated as "vajra sands"). Then, you have the mandala sands of four different colors that form the first circle around the vajrakila. Then you have flowers, incense, lights, tea, and fruits, each forming a subsequent concentric circle around the vajrakila. Afterwards, when you are cultivating and you feel you want to make additional offerings of food, drinks, or other offerings, you may place the additional offerings in front of the shrine and then start cultivation.
But, with the mandala sands, you have to pay attention to the color and direction. [In the first circle,] the east section has yellow mandala sands, the west section has red mandala sands, the north section has black mandala sands, and the south section has green mandala sands. The direction has to be accurate. So, use a compass to find out where are north, south, east, and west with respect to your shrine. Then, use this information to arrange and set up your shrine.
Q. Are there any requirements for the color of the shrine table? Does it have to be red, yellow, green, or any other particular color?
A. There is no requirement on the color of the table.
Q. Can we use the small sariras that grow from sarira flowers (as opposed to human bone powders)?
A. You can even grind the sarira flowers into powders and use that.
Q. Can I set up the shrine inside a closet? The closet is very big, it's a walk-in closet.
A. Set up the shrine in a closet? (audience laughs) The air quality might not be very good when you practice, but otherwise it should be okay! The private room does not have to be sealed off; a lot of these closets are closed off. It is also okay. As long as you don't feel very stuffy and hot inside it, it is okay.
Q. If the shrine is not rectangular shape, is that okay?
A. It doesn't matter. Your shrine is supposed to be circular.
Q. I have two questions. Children should not enter the Kalachakra shrine room after the shrine has been set up. But, my children often go into the shrine room to pray and make homage to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The first question is: If I set up the Kalachakra shrine, can my children still go into the room? The second question is: Should I recite the Kalachakra mantra a certain number of times before I start cultivating this vajrakila practice, would that be better?
A. Regarding your first question, how old are your children? (The student answered they are nine and seven years old) Children at that age haven't reached puberty! In cases like that, you have to cleanse them with holy water first if your children or relatives want to enter the shrine. But, you must ritually cleanse the room and set up the Kalachakra shrine again if your guests, neighbors, friends, or people making repairs to your home enter the shrine room.
With regard to your children, if she is a girl and she is having her period (menstruating), then she cannot enter the shrine room. If you have very small children, make sure they don't play with the shrine. Personally, I feel if they are very pious and devotedly chant mantras and pay homage to Buddhas, then it should be okay.
The other question is about how many times you should recite the Kalachakra mantra before commencing the vajrakila practice. Of course, the more recitations you do, the better. If you already chant this mantra regularly, the more you chant the better. The goal is to achieve yogic union with Kalachakra and successfully achieve yogic union through the Kalachakra vajrakila practice. That is your goal. When you have achieved yogic union, you can even take down the shrine, and pour the mandala sands into a river and let it flow away. When you have merged as one with Kalachakra, you will always be able to merge as one with Kalachakra. You just need to hold the vajrakila in your hand, recite the Kalachakra mantra, and you will feel his presence, and he will be with you. At that time, you don't need the shrine anymore and you can take it down.
Q. Should the Kalachakra vajrakila be one-sided, three-sided, or four-sided?
A. When you visualize Kalachakra, some of you won't be able to visualize all four of his faces. Of course, for advanced visualization, you should visualize all four faces. For a simple visualization, you can just visualize his main face, and his two hands holding a vajra and vajra bell. One of his legs is red and the other is white. His upper body is blue or black, and you have to visualize his face. But when you visualize his face, you don't have to visualize all four faces, just one is okay. Concerning the vajrakila, just make sure one side is blue or black in color. You don't have to worry about the other sides. Some people can't even visualize his face, head, arms, legs, or the Buddha Mother, so, they just visualize his third eye and only his third eye. That is okay. So, for the Kalachakra vajrakila, you can set up many of them, as long as one of the sides on each is black or blue, you can enshrine it as the Kalachakra vajrakila, chant the Kalachakra mantra, cultivate the Kalachakra practice.
Q. If I grind my relative's sarira flowers into powders and use it for the shrine, would it be disrespectful?
A. No, that wouldn't be the case. When you find sarira flowers or sariras in the remains, it means that the person's consciousness has already entered into the Pure Land, so this will not be disrespectful. Q. Right now, those sarira flowers are enshrined in my shrine. Should I take them down?
A. Even if you grind them into powders, it would not be disrespectful. This is because by placing it in the Kalachakra shrine, you will be placing the sarira flowers in a higher place of worship. If you keep chanting the Kalachakra mantra regularly, your relative would receive blessings from the mantra and he/she can go to an even higher realm.
Q. What happen if some insects or geckos crawl into the private room? Also, if you set up a shrine, can two people use the same shrine, or can you set up two shrines in the same room?
A. If it is a gecko or spider climbing over the shrine, what should you do? These are small animals, and my Guru never mentioned this issue before. (Guru and audience laughs)
Yesterday, there was a big spider and Vajra Acharya Lian-xiang knows about this story. It was very big and stood still on the steps of the stairway. I stood before it and kept chanting the Rebirth mantra for a while. The spider stood there and didn't move. After I finished chanting, I said, "Be Reborn into Pure Land and transcend suffering. Go to a better realm and don't be a spider anymore." Then, I used a plastic bag to wrap it up and set it free outside.
Of course, if we see small creatures walking over the shrine, we can use Amrtakundalin's Holy Water or Great Compassion Dharani water to cleanse the shrine. That will be okay.
Q. Does the Kalachakra mantra have to be chanted in front of the shrine? Sometimes I chant it while I drive. Is this okay?
A. That is okay. But, when you are in front of the shrine, when you are formally cultivating the practice such as the Kalachakra Vajrakila practice, you have to perform all aspects of the practice from beginning to end; then you are truly performing cultivation. You have to chant the purification mantras! After you are finished chanting the purification mantras, then you can start chanting the Kalachakra mantra.
Om Ha Kamala Walaya Soha.
Om Ha Kamala Walaya Soha.
Om Ha Kamala Walaya Soha.
Keep chanting non-stop! At the end, pay homage to Kalachakra and pay homage to the shrine, chant the Completion Mantra, clap your hands and snap your fingers. Then exit the shrine.
It is okay for you to chant this mantra while you are driving. You can chant while you are walking as well. But at the shrine, you must sit in an upright and dignified posture; perform all aspects of the practice respectfully from the beginning to the end; starting from the purification mantras! Chant the mantras as I had demonstrated. Then, when you reach the end, chant "Om bulin, om bulin, om bulin" (the Completion Mantra). Then the practice is completed. The practice session counts when you cultivate in such a devoted and sincere manner. But when you are chanting outside, away from the shrine, it is okay. It is an aid to practice.
Q. When I was chanting the mantra, hail suddenly started coming down. I got really scared. I quickly found a place to park my car and was afraid to chant it again!
A. When you recite the Kalachakra mantra, it could trigger natural responses like hail, sudden gusts of wind, the roar of thunder, lightning flashes, etc. This is normal. When vajra protectors arrive, hail will appear. Hail, lightning, and thunder are all signs that vajra protectors have arrived.
Q. What are mandala sands? How do you obtain it? And how do you get the right colored sands?
A. Many Tibetan lamas make sand mandalas according to instructions like those in the Great Exposition of Tantras (Tibetan: sNgag-rim chenmo, written by Tsongkhapa). They have to make measurements and follow many rules and use five different colors of mandala sands. So, if you need to get some mandala sands, just find a Tibetan shop and ask for mandala sands. They definitely should have it because Tibetan lamas often make mandalas. Many lamas construct sand mandalas or are learning how to construct them. So, you should be able to find them in Tibetan culture stores.
Another way is, if you want to make your own mandala sands, go find some clean sands that nobody has stepped on, pure sands, like sea sands (sands from the sea)! There is white sea sands and black sea sands as well. You want sands that are pure, so you can get some white sands, dye it with the various colors, and then cleanse it. This can also be regarded as mandala sands.
Okay, thank you everyone.
Om Mani Padme Hum