By Grandmaster Sheng-yen Lu
Translated by Lianhua Zhi-wei, edited by Jason Yu.
Dharma discourse on October 28, 2007 at Taiwan Lei Zang Temple.
Homage to Reverend Liao Ming, Vajra Acharya Sakya Zheng-kong, His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa, Vajra Acharya Thubten Dargye, homage to the Three Jewels of the shrine.
Honored guests and officials from Nantou County governments, Shimu (Vajra Acharya Lian-xiang), vajra acharyas, senior reverends, reverends, dharma assistants, representatives of various branches, fellow school members, good day to you all. [I like to extend a] special thank you to my father who came really early today to support this event. Thank you! (Applause)
Although I had a full schedule on this trip back to Taiwan, I still managed to give teachings at several places. I went to Taitung and then Hualien on the first day. I went to Malaysia on the second day. Two days after returning from Malaysia, I am here at Taiwan Lei Zang Temple. It is like being on a concert tour. I am very happy to return to Taiwan Lei Zang Temple. It is like coming home. When I was travelling, I felt like I was away from home. I was completely relaxed and everything was fine when I got to Taiwan Lei Zang Temple. (Applause) Just now, everyone addressed me as "Grand Master, Buddha Lian-sheng." The title of "living buddha" was dropped. This was because I suddenly changed my name in Malaysia. I dropped the term "living" from the title, and became just Buddha Lian-sheng. It doesn't matter whether it is living or dead, buddhas are buddhas.
I just asked the three newly ordained reverends, "Why do you want to forsake your family lives to enter the monastic order? My school doesn't have anything to offer you. Why did you come here to join the monastic order?" The third newly ordained reverend answered, "To resolve the three karmas (of body, speech, and mind) and transcend the Three Realms." Frankly, how do you transcend them if they don't exist? I didn't ask her that question earlier. She said she wanted to "transcend the Three Realms." If the Three Realms don't exist, how do you transcend them? The third reverend, please think about this question when you go back to the temple.
Five Spiritual Items are required to Achieve Yogic Union in the Genuine Vajrakila practice
I came to transmit "the Kalachakra Authentic Vajrakila Practice" on this trip. This vajrakila practice is one of the fastest methods that can enable a cultivator to achieve yogic union. I already taught many aspect of this practice. I gave teaching on it at the Seattle Temple, the Rainbow Villa, and Malaysia. Why would you achieve yogic union swiftly through this practice? The process of yogic union between Buddhas and sentient beings starts from within "no-birth" transforming into "birth." From birth, the Buddhas descend into your shrine. Then, the Buddha and you (cultivator) achieve yogic union through the shrine. This relationship is formed through the interactions of emptiness, shrine, and the cultivator. The main reason for enabling the cultivator to achieve yogic union swiftly through the Kalachakra Authentic Vajrakila Practice is the presence of the five special spiritual items. These five spiritual items are obtained from a sitavana, which is a cemetery. They are white human bone powders, black charcoal from cemetery, yellow tree sap from trees in cemetery, leaves from trees in cemetery, and red bricks from cemetery that had been soaked in cemetery rainwater. Why can you achieve yogic union swiftly by placing these five items on your shrine? That is because Kalachakra Vajrakila Practice is a rite of Vajrayana Buddhism, and Vajrayana Buddhism is extraordinary. (applause)
When Vajrayana's Patriarch Padmasambhava was perfecting his cultivation of Vajrayana practices, he performed them in the cemeteries, the eight great cremation grounds of India. His clothing was cloth that was used to wrap dead bodies. He ate food that was offerings to the dead. His lived in the cremation ground. He made his dharma throne by piling dead bodies together. His travels were going from one cremation ground to another. Then, go from that cremation ground to another one. Why did he do that? This was because there are powerful protector spirits inside cemeteries. Each cemetery has great protection spirits. Then, through using the power of the protector spirits, invite the heruka (Vajra Vidyaraja) of emptiness to descend, and cultivate practices relying on this affinity.
Many people think that cemeteries are full of ghosts and spirits. Actually, we are not really humans. We are also ghosts. Just hold your breath for three minutes if you want to find out whether you are a ghost or not. Don't breathe at all. All your relatives and friends, even your neighbors, will be frightened of you after these three minutes. This is because you will have become a ghost. Hence, humans are ghosts. Ghosts are humans. We don't make any distinction between ghosts and man in Vajrayana Buddhism.
For example, the drumhead of this twist drum (Grandmaster twists a drum) is made of human skin. The two drum beads are made from a human skull.
Human beings have innate spiritual energy. You can swiftly achieve yogic union by borrowing this spiritual energy and the energy of the heruka. However, yogic union is not possession or "Fan Chong" (colliding with spirits). That won't happen. Why wouldn't it? When the cultivator, spiritual energy, and the heruka from emptiness unite as one, the cultivator will achieve yogic union with the heruka and become the heruka. All five spiritual items will also transform to unite with the heruka through the yogic union. Then, all three (the cultivator, spiritual items, and the heruka) become the heruka. Not only will you achieve siddhi, you will also guide the ghosts in the netherworld into the Buddha Pure Land and achieve accomplishment. This is a secret experiential insight.
When my teacher taught me this practice, he taught this secret to me alone. My teacher told me that the most important step was to obtain these five spiritual items and diligently cultivated this practice. Then you would achieve yogic union. Today, I have completely revealed this practice to everyone. Now, this practice is even more special. I hope sentient beings can learn this practice and use it to help other people. Then, this practice will bring great benefits to the human world. (Applause) I also want to tell everyone that you cannot abuse this practice to benefit your own personal interests. If you harbor bad or selfish intentions, you will certainly experience hindrances and suffer karmic consequences. This is absolutely true. Hence, my teacher told me "Those who break the precepts are forbidden to learn this practice; Those who are friends and associate with people who break precepts are forbidden to learn this practice; Those who cultivate this practice and feel that there isn't any affinity or feel unease in their hearts cannot cultivate this practice."
In Malaysia, I had already explained that those people who break precepts are forbidden from cultivating this practice. However, who has not broken precepts at some point? It is very difficult to abide by every one of them at all times. Everyone has broken precepts at some point. However, there is a solution to resolve this issue. If you receive the Kalachakra Authentic Vajrakila Empowerment three times, your violation of precepts is forgiven. If you associate yourself or are friends with those who break precepts, perform a homa, feast offering, and repent. Then the offense is forgiven. For those people who feel unease after cultivating this practice, fill a bathtub with water and mix in Great Compassion Dharani Holy Water. Take white colored flowers petal and chant the mantra "Om Ha Kamala Walaya Soha." Toss the white flower petal into the tub. Continue until you fill the top of the water with white flower petals. Then, bath yourself in this water. When you get out, you will have formed affinity with the Kalachakra Vajrakila practice, and then your practice will go well.
For Those Who Achieve Yogic Union and Aspire Bodhicitta, All Their Wishes Will Be Fulfilled
In Vajrayana Buddhism, achieving yogic union is extremely important, but many people have not achieved yogic union. I had achieved yogic union, but I see that many people have not achieved it. I hope everyone achieves yogic union. When you achieve yogic union and willingly aspire bodhicitta, all your enterprises/pursuits such as awakening sentient beings will be successful and your wishes will be fulfilled. If you are a businessman, sprinkle some of the yellow mandala sands from your shrine in your store after you achieve yogic union with this vajrakila practice. Then, your store entrance will be jam-packed by customers coming to your store. After you achieve yogic union, put some of the red mandala sands from your shrine in a pouch and carry it with you, and then all the hot girls will be happy to see you. You only need to sprinkle some of the black mandala sands on people who hate you or dislike you, and then they will all say "sorry," "we won't ever do that again," "we will respect you," "we will do what you say," "we will not harm you from now on," "we will always honor you." You only need to carry around some white mandala sands, and you will be free from most illnesses. Also, carrying white mandala sands from Kalachakra Vajrakila Shrine will insure you will have safe passage and nothing bad will happen while you travelling by plane, ship, or car. Even if you catch the flu, you will recover from your illness faster than others will as long as you are carrying some white mandala sands from your shrine.
On this trip to Malaysia, I visited Dharma Wheel Lei Zang Temple at Kuching, Malaysia. They invited a federal minister with the surname of Yang as their honored guest. He was sick a very severe case of flu and seated next to me. When we were dining, he was also seated next to me. The Dharma Wheel Lei Zang Temple's staff wanted to honor him because he is a high-level official, so they kept seating him next to me. When we were eating dinner, my glass of water was placed next to him and he just kept coughing. As soon as the food was served, they were all contaminated with germs from his continuous coughing. However, I couldn't just sit there and not eat anything. I had to eat some food and drank some of the water. So, his germs got into my body and I got sick. Hence, today, my voice is hoarse. Although I have the flu, the homa ceremony was still done very well, and the dharma talk is going splendidly. The flu is something to be afraid of! My body is still very strong, and now my talk is even more engaging. Although I have never been afraid of anything in my life, I am somewhat afraid of germs. After getting sick at Dharma Wheel Lei Zang Temple, I had to go consecrate Miao-li (Sublime Insight) Lei Zang Temple. Two days later, I was scheduled to fly back here and presided over this Kalachakra Initiation at Taiwan Lei Zang Temple. I told the Golden Mother, "You have to make sure I don't cough when I give the talk. Normally, I will cough a bit but no one hears it. But for the teaching I am giving today, I absolutely cannot cough." I had already achieved yogic union with Golden Mother. So, she said, "Not a problem, just go, and you won't cough." I got better just like that. Usually, I don't get sick when I am in America. I don't get sick; I don't have any illness. But, as soon as I come back to Taiwan, it is very strange, every time I come back, I would catch something. The air of Taiwan is just too much and I am leery of it. But, I have faith in the Golden Mother. If she said that I wouldn't cough, then I wouldn't cough. (Applause)
After you achieve yogic union, you will be surrounded by vajra protectors, gods and ghosts, herukas, dakas, and dakinis. They will help to make what you say into reality. When you achieve yogic union with your principal deity, your principal deity will certainly answer your invocation. When you achieve yogic union with your guru, your guru will certainly bless you. When you achieve yogic union with the dharma protector, the dharma protector certainly will always protect you. (Applause) This Authentic Vajrakila practice is simply extraordinary.
I mentioned in Malaysia, there would be roars of thunder whenever I consecrated a Lei Zang temple. This was because it is a Lei Zang temple [Translator's note: "Lei Zang" literally means Treasury of Thunder in Chinese]. This time when I went to Malaysia to consecrate Dharma Wheel Lei Zang Temple, the roars of thunder were like a series of gun salutes, like a series of fireworks going off, boom, boom, boom, going non-stop. Miao-li Lei Zang Temple was consecrated by one of our vajra acharyas, and I was told that there were also many roars of thunder. When Prajna Lei Zang Temple and Huayan Lei Zang Temple were consecrated, there were both rain and thunder. On the night that Huayan Lei Zang Temple was consecrated, there was howling wind and thunder when we walked out the temple after the appreciation dinner. What was that? These were signs that all eight classes of supernatural protectors had arrived.
Our Dharma is Genuine and Extraordinary
When I performed the Yamantaka homa last time [referring to the homa held on 15th April 2007], I said a prayer, "May all the attending school members have their illnesses lifted through the blessing power of Yamantaka, the homa's principal deity." I said that last time, not this time. Vajra Acharya Lian-xiang's brother, Sun-jun Lu, I don't know if he is here today. Would you please stand up and let everyone see you? He had a back problem for many years. Originally, he couldn't bend his back too far, so he couldn't touch the ground with his hands. He heard my prayer on the night of the homa and suddenly heard loud popping sounds from his back. Then, a warm energy went up and down his back several times. This made his body felt weak, so he sat down. He was able to immediately bend at his back and touch the floor with his hands after he got home. Would you please bend at your back and touch the ground for everyone to see? Come up to the stage. Bend at your back, and let everyone see. How long had you have this problem? He answered, "Many years." He couldn't bend at his back for many years. But, he was able to bend at his back and touch the ground after the Yamantaka homa. Not only can he bend at his back now, he can also demonstrate a set of Taiji Quan. Oh, he is very modest. He isn't that good with it yet. He thought that I wanted him to perform it. (Grandmaster laughed) Let me tell you. You might be cured from your illnesses for just by participating in one homa ceremony. That's enough. Many people who couldn't bend at their backs were cured after attending a homa ceremony just once. He recovered because he had affinity with Yamantaka. Today, if you discover your illness have been cured when you go home, that is because you have affinity with the Kalachakra Authentic Vajrakila practice. Attend the homa ceremony to test it out if you don't believe me. This isn't some kind of "bunk" that is being sold. This is the real thing. (Audience applause)
Let me tell everyone. Our cultivation is eternal. Not only will it benefit us while we are alive, it will be beneficial and achieve accomplishment when we depart from this human world. Hence, our teaching is genuine. Everybody diligently cultivate and achieve accomplishment. We are not cultivating some kind of "bunk," our cultivation is genuine. This Authentic Vajrakila Practice has been used from ancient times to today -- it is practical and applicable. It is extraordinary. Thanks everyone.
Om Mani Padme Hum.