His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s Puja Teachings – May 9, 2021

His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche ascended the Dharma throne, and led the attendees in the Simplified Version of the Four-Armed Avalokiteshvara Ritual. He then expounded on “Scroll 17, ‘Amitayus Tathagata Assembly’ (Chapter 5, Section 1)” of the Ratnakuta Sutra.

After the Simplified Version of the Four-Armed Avalokiteshvara Ritual had been performed, Rinpoche reminded everyone, “Do not close your eyes while chanting mantras. If you do, there will be drawbacks, including feeling sleepy and having illusions. I have my eyes closed because I don’t feel well with my eyes, and with them closed the chanting itself will take less of my energy. Do not imitate my way of chanting though, unless you have practiced to reach a level of attaining the state of ‘having one mind undisturbed’, ‘constant mindfulness of the Buddha’ or ‘mindfulness of the Buddha in your self-nature’.

Sutra: ‘At that time, the Buddha spoke to Ananda, “How could you have known this? Were there heavenly beings coming to tell you? Or, because you had seen me, did you know it then on your own?” Ananda said to the Buddha, “World Honored One, I have seen the auspicious and rare light of Tathagata, and that is why I have given rise to this thought. It is not because of reasons related to heavens or others.”’

I have explained this quote last week, and today I will add more explanations to it. There are six supernatural powers possessed by Shakyamuni Buddha. It is reasonable to say that with the Buddha’s capability, having such powers of mind-reading and divine-sight, when He has entered into a state of meditation, He absolutely knows the causes and conditions of sentient beings. In essence, He did not need to ask Ananda the questions. However, when the Buddha was expounding the Dharma, there were many sentient beings present with different root capacity. That was why He needed to solve their doubts by the question-answer format through spoken languages.

Venerable Ananda could see the Buddha’s golden light, which cannot be seen by ordinary people. Even if you are monastics, you cannot see it either. Only after those who have mastered their practices and gotten to the Heaven Realm can they see such a light. If they have practiced the Arhat Path, they will know the Buddha’s light when they have gained the achievements of the states of Four Meditation Heavens, and these are the First, the Second, the Third and the Fourth Meditation Heaven. If someone says that he or she has seen the Buddha’s light, there are only two situations on this. Either the person is deranged or he or she has descended from Heaven Realm. If the latter is the case, and if the person has mastered the Arhat Path, this person is very keen on cleanliness. He or she will certainly not be in connections with, or concerned about, anyone, and definitely eats vegetarian. If such a person does the worshipping with meat, then the person assuredly has nothing to do with heavens.

Since ancient times, people have been jealous of great practitioners’ attendants, or have looked down on them. Here, the Buddha took the initiative to ask His attendant, Ananda, questions, helping him by getting an annotation for him because the Buddha had already foreseen what would happen to him in the future. Ananda said to the Buddha that heavenly beings did not tell him about the ‘light of Tathagata’; it was him himself who had seen it. Because Ananda completely respected the Buddha, in his eyes, the Buddha’s physical body was not that of an ordinary person. From here, we are able to know that Ananda had attained the achievement in the First Meditation Heaven; he had gained, at least, the fruition level of an Arhat.

You have wondered whether Ananda had lied or not. Not to mention the Buddha, we practitioners, with our capabilities, are able to know things about you. Even if we have been deceived by you, the Dharma Protector Achi will help bring to light on what you have done. It is like those two persons last week. Previously, when monastics asked them questions, they said they wanted to learn the Bodhisattva Path from me, and they seemed really meaning it. Then, it turned out later that something I said about the Green Tara made them reveal their true selves. This indicates that you can deceive ordinary people but you cannot deceive Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Dharma protectors.

Ananda had definitely not lied, because if he had, he had broken away from the precepts and his fruition level would have immediately retrogressed. When you were taking refuge, you were instructed that you need to observe the Five Precepts. One of them is to refrain from false speech. That means that if you have not attained accomplishments or seen special phenomena, you cannot say you have attained or seen them. If you have attained or seen them, when your guru asks you about them, you should speak out and let him or her know. The pair of the guru and the disciple – the Buddha and Ananda – demonstrated like acting in a show to let us watch this rule – do not lie. Any quotes in sutras are all relevant to cultivation and they are not mentioned randomly. By the Buddha’s standards, any words spoken that are unrelated to the Dharma are false speeches. The Buddha did not make chitchats.

Ordinary people cannot see the Buddha’s light. Even if your practices are in the Pure Land School, strictly speaking, Amitabha’s Pure Land is also regarded as a heaven. Before one’s death, if one is not in the ‘constant mindfulness of the Buddha’ or ‘mindfulness of the Buddha in your awareness’, one cannot see the Buddha. Some people pray every day that they can see the Buddha appearing. There are only two situations that you can see Him. One is that you are in the ‘mindfulness of the Buddha in your self-nature’; with that you naturally will see the Buddha and there is no need for you to pray. The other situation is that it is at time when you are about to die. If you have not been up to these two states but continuing praying to see the Buddha, it is a delusional thought; you then have deceived yourself as well as others.

You wonder why you have not felt anything after having recited mantras for so many years. On this instance, not-having-feelings means having-feelings; it indicates that because your mind is pure, you do not feel things from your chanting. What kinds of feelings do you want then? What you have felt are all ghosts’ feelings, nonsensical ones or sentiments from some stories you had heard before. All these feelings are false. ‘Being pure in the mind’ means that there are no feelings in it. Feelings are produced from your emotions, consciousness and thoughts, and are not arisen naturally from your mind. Yesterday, a monastic asked me, ‘On the term “pondering some phrases”, who is reciting the Buddha’s name?’ I said to that monastic not wasting time thinking about it; chanting mantras will be just the right way, and then one will know the answer sooner or later. That the ‘pondering some phrases’ had been used as a practicing method of Zen School was because people at that olden time had too much time on their hands. You are too busy nowadays.

Yesterday there was a disciple seeking an audience with me. I saved her life six years ago. During those six years, she had not seized upon the time doing her practices; now her previous illness has come back to her. Your guru has the capability helping you step across hindrances in your practices. However, for saving you, that is for one time only. After you have been saved, you should learn Buddhism even more diligently. Yet, you only want to live a normal, family-ethics life, wasting your time in living it.

Lord Jigten Sumgon once said that your guru has the capability to help you in treating your diseases, and after that, you should diligently learn Buddhism. For Rinpoches, who observe precepts, they are capable to treat people’s diseases no matter what kinds of fruition levels these Rinpoches are at. (If they appear as ordained Rinpoches but are married, they have broken away from precepts. That is a separate matter then.) What I have helped you is ‘treating diseases’, not ‘getting rid of diseases.’ As you are the ones who create your own karma, eliminating your diseases will mean changing causes and effects. Only when you have used up your good fortune, will you have gotten such karmic-hindrance diseases. My helping you in treating your diseases is to let you have physical strength and time to practice diligently, and to make you and your karmic creditors be able to get liberated from birth and death. Nevertheless, you just want to drive your karmic creditors away, thinking, ‘After Rinpoche has liberated them, they will leave me and then I will be all right.’ Your karmic creditors have a feel of hatred toward you. Even if they have been liberated, they are still in the land of ordinary people. It is just that their resentments on you have been lessened, but they still remember you.

For many disciples, after having taken refuge, their diseases have come back to them because of negative minds they have. Such negative minds are shown in their disobedience in that they do not listen to their guru. They have by all means wanted to live a so-called normal, family-ethics life. If you want to live such a life, I exhort you not to learn Buddhism. Your families are just from your karma. It is mentioned in the Ratnakuta Sutra too that in this life, you are to live through this karma. However, you cannot give up your Dharma practices because of the involvement of your karma in your life.

When I was learning Exoteric Buddhism, every day I recited two or three copies, at least, of the Universal Gate Chapter, one copy of the Amitabha Sutra, and 10,000 times of the sacred name of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. If I had enough time on the day, I would also chant forty-nine times of the long version of the Great Compassion Mantra, as well as the Ten Short Mantras, the Rebirth in the Pure Land Mantra, and recite the Heart Sutra. I sat in meditation for forty minutes every day, too. During that learning period, I read the Great Avatamsaka Sutra three times. All these efforts of my recitation or reading of sutras, reciting a sacred name and chanting of mantras had not transformed my karma; I still had gone bankrupt, gotten divorced and been ill. Among you present, including monastics, has anyone done more than what I have done? I have practiced with such great efforts and that is why, in this life, I have had the causal conditions to learn Tantra to benefit a vast number of sentient beings.

Every day you chant mantras 1,000 or 2,000 times and practice the Dharma Protector Achi ritual. Then you think that everything will change to become all right for you. For your monetary offerings, you will make them in larger amounts if you are in a good mood; if not, the amounts will be smaller. You have wanted achieving the goal on the matter of 10,000-person-being-of-one-mind, inviting people you know to support our monastery construction project. However, after having made promises to join in for the event, many of you have backed off and not done what you originally planned to do. I have not forced you on this matter; I will fund our project. I have sold my house, and now I will start selling my collections.

Monastics, have you ever heard that a puja has been funded and organized by the practitioner who will preside over the puja? (The answer was a No.) I have put in money and physical strength to hold a Grand Puja, contributed money to get our Monastery built, helped you by performing Dharmas for you, expounded the Dharma to you, and even provided you good, nutritious food. For all these, you don’t appreciate them; you have felt you are pressured. The purpose of my instructing you to do your practices is to let you be able to transform your karma; all those things I just mentioned are beneficial to you.

A disciple who has taken refuge for eighteen years had a brain tumor at the beginning and at that time I helped her on her illness. She thought because she had been treated and become all right, she has then focused her life on her family. Now she has come again imploring for my help as her cancer has metastasized to other parts of her body. I have helped her for eighteen years, and during that time she has not made offerings or given alms from the money she has earned, which she has put into use for living a normal, family-ethics life. She is like the other disciple who has lived for six more years until the previous illness has returned. How have you treated your guru then? I am actually not talking about requirements I want from you. It is just that this section is mentioned in the sutra in that it lets you know the importance of your guru in your learning of the Dharma.

Ananda did not speak much, and he did not show off his abilities to others either. Because of that, in order to get all His disciples to understand the matters, the Buddha spoke out here about His conversations with Ananda, paving ways for Ananda for the future. As a disciple, one should act like a disciple. Now, you are really not like disciples; you have treated your guru completely with a simple behavior of buying and selling. Speaking of that kind of buy-and-sell behavior, you have not done your part either. You have taken all these for granted, and you still think that I should give them to you. How can there be such a notion as ‘Rinpoche should give us things.’? You all think that I am a fool. It is just that I have promised Buddhas and Bodhisattvas that I will benefit sentient beings with all my life. And you? You will help others only with what remaining time you have, or with a mindset of giving alms.

If I had not been poor before, I wouldn’t have known the suffering of the poor. You have not been so poor to the point that you will not know where the dinner will be after finishing your lunch, or how to get money to pay rent or electricity; I had experienced all these hardships. You do not have a very firm and strong respect for the Dharma. Not until you feel pain will you think about it; it will be too late then. Everyone has an aleatory mindset, and thinks, ‘Once Rinpoche blesses me, I will turn all right.’ If it were so, I would have said to His Holiness that there had been no need for me to practice; I would have implored him to perform Dharmas for me every day, to bless me and to protect me. I cannot do these though.

Time has passed each day. If you are just wasting time and praying for blessings and protection so as to live a good life, do not come to the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center. This Center is a place that the Dharma has been taught. If you think that learning Buddhism creates conflicts and contradictions in your normal life, then do not come here. I am a lay practitioner too, but there are no conflicts and contradictions for me. You have those because you still have not made up your mind on your learning or practices. The Dharma will gradually be in decline because no one dares to talk this way like what I have done.

From the conversations between Shakyamuni Buddha and Ananda, we know that a guru will definitely take care of his or her disciples. The Buddha did not give Ananda things, but He helped his future progresses, getting an annotation for him that there would be qualifications he would possess. You think all day long that I should give you something, letting you have very ‘big’ feelings, like feeling that your families have become better and prosperous. This is not the Dharma.

In last week’s puja, this sutra quote was mentioned: ‘….and for the Great Man, as rare as udumbara flowers, appearing in the world, who abides by great compassion to benefit sentient beings.’ Monastics here did some research and found out that the ‘udumbara flowers’ is a type of flowers appearing in heavens of the Heaven Realm. Such flowers only blossom once every 3,000 years. As soon as they blossom, they disappear. Thus, if a ‘Great Man’, who has practiced this Dharma method appears and is very rarely seen just like the blossomed ‘udumbara flowers’, and if you have not held firmly on this affinity, it will be gone. This analogy is telling us that it is very rare and difficult to see a practitioner, and after you have seen this practitioner appearing, whether you will grasp this opportunity or not is up to you – you make your own decision. Although we recite the long-life prayers for gurus, they will not always be around. Even Padmasambhava, having attained Buddhahood, left the earth after 800 years in it; he would not have remained for 8,000 years and not leaving. When you encounter such a practitioner, you should grasp this kind of opportunity because it is very difficult to see the practitioner as it is a very rare occurrence.

Sutra: ‘“I shall explain to you respectively”. Ananda said to the Buddha, “Yes indeed, World Honored One; I am listening with great anticipation.” At that time, the Buddha spoke to Ananda, “In the past, through countless great asamkhyeya kalpas, a Budddha, called Dipamkara, appeared. Before the appearance of this Buddha, there were extreme number of kalpas having passed and Ascetic Buddha flourished in the world. Prior to Ascetic Buddha there was also a Tathagata named Moon-Faced. Before Moon-Faced Buddha appeared, a great number of kalpas had passed, and there was Sandalwood-Scented Buddha. Prior to this Buddha, Sumeru-Accumulated Buddha appeared. Before Ru-Accumulated Buddha, there was also Wondrous-High-Kalpa Buddha. Through such extensions and turnings of kalpas, there were Without-Dirt-Faced Buddha, Without-Contamination Buddha, Dragon-Heaven Buddha, King-of-Mountain-Sound Buddha, Sumeru-Accumulated Buddha, Golden-Treasure Buddha, Light-Illumination Buddha, Emperor-of-Light Buddha, Earth-Caste Buddha, Bright-Glowing-and-Glassy-Golden-Light Buddha, Moon-Image Buddha, Blossomed-Flower-and-Solemn-Light Buddha, Auspicious-Feel-of-Wondrous-Ocean-and-Gaming-of-Supernatural-Power Buddha, Golden-Steel-Light Buddha, Great-Agada-Fragrance-Light Buddha, Leaving-Affliction-Mind-Behind Buddha, Treasure-Increased-and-Grown Buddha, Bravery-and-Valor-Accumulated Buddha, Auspiciousness-Accumulated Buddha, Holding-Methods-of-Great-Merits-and-Applying-Supernatural-Power Buddha, Reflecting-and-Covering-Sunlight-and-Moonlight Buddha, Colorful-Glazes-Illumination Buddha, Mind-Opening-As-Flowers Buddha, Moonlight Buddha, Sunlight Buddha, Flower-Blossomed-As-King-of-Colors-in-Necklaces-With-Supernatural-Power Buddha, Moonlight-in-Water Buddha, Breaking-Darkness-of-Being-Without-Light Buddha, Covered-with-Pearls-and-Corals Buddha, Sand-in-the-River Buddha, Auspicious-Flower Buddha, Roar-of-Dharma-Wisdom Buddha. There were Roar-of-Lion-With-Sound-of-Wild-Goose Buddha and Roar-of-Dragon-with-Brahman-Sound Buddha. Such Buddhas had appeared in the world, and among their appearances, a great number of kalpas had passed. In limitless kalpas before that Roar-of-Dragon Buddha appeared, there had been a Lord-of-the-World Buddha. Prior to this Buddha, as countless kalpas had passed, there was a Buddha coming to the world, titled “Lokeśvararāja Tathagata”, “One Being Attuned to Right Equality and Right Awareness”, “One with Perfect Knowledge and Conduct”, “One Being in a State of Well-Departed”, “One Knowing the world”, “The Peerless Nobleman”, “The Master of Bringing Wildness Under Control”, “The Teacher of Heavenly Beings and Humans”, “The Buddha” or “The World Honored One”.’

Before introducing Amitabha, Shakyamuni Buddha had spoken about the lineage of Buddhas. According to what He had said, starting from the time that there have been sentient beings appearing in this universe, Buddhas have been living in this world. There are many of them on different planets and in the Milky Way Galaxy. Buddhas have not been without their vows to help sentient beings. As long as there are still sentient beings in the reincarnation’s sea of suffering, Buddhas will appear. Shakyamuni Buddha had introduced so many Buddhas so that in the Age of Dharma Decline, when reciting sutras, sentient beings can form affinities with these Buddhas, too, and receive their blessings. This also indicates that Shakyamuni Buddha Himself is a Buddha, and it is only a Buddha can see everything about the past and the future. Even great arhats with most powerful abilities can only see the past and the future for 500 lifetimes. There are no limits of time and space for Shakyamuni Buddha to view the events. As long as there are causes and conditions occurring anywhere in this universe, He will know.

So long as you have recited the sacred name of, or made prostrations to, any one of Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, you have the affinity with such a Buddha or Bodhisattva. If someday when this Buddha has been in a state of meditation, and discovers that you are still in a deceiving mode, this Buddha will then find a Dharma protector to get you amended. This is because that you don’t listen, and this Buddha feels that it is a pity that you have not cherished such a rare opportunity of having met such a guru, who is very difficult to encounter, just like ‘udumbara flowers’ being rarely seen; you have even been talking nonsense. Things will happen then to let you be on alert. The meaning of all these is also reflected in these disciples’ getting sick. In this way, you will know that you have been wrong.

The disciple who had passed away some days ago only knew that he was wrong while dying. I do not wish that you are in the same situation in the future when you are at your death, because I might not be around anymore to help you. Also, there might not be such a causal condition for me to give you another day of life, letting you know that you have been wrong and making you give rise to your senses of belief and repentances; I will then be able to save you. If there is no such an affinity, you will fall into reincarnation. Why have I scolded you all day long while you are alive? If I have not, you will not believe in the Dharma or in your guru. Being in reincarnation is very easy; do not think that if one learns Buddhism, one will not fall into reincarnation.

Yesterday there was a believer who came and sought an audience with me. He said this to me: ‘I have gotten cancer. My family members have been asking me why I still get it while I have been learning Buddhism and eating vegetarian.’ Right then and there I scolded him for having slandered the Buddha. Are there any mentions in sutras that if you recite them, I will treat you on some kinds of diseases you have? No, there are no mentions. Contrarily, you then say that the Buddha is not effective. Shakyamuni Buddha taught us to deeply believe in causes and effects as well as impermanence. If you have not given rise to bodhicitta in this life, you cannot resolve your own karma. It is like when I was learning Exoteric Buddhism, I did many types of homework, as my practices, all day long; yet, such efforts made and time spent had not changed or transformed my karma. I was only practicing the ‘path of accumulation’.

Reciting sutras or making prostrations to the Buddha is not practicing; it is just to accumulate your resources in the ‘path of accumulation’. Not until I had given rise to bodhicitta and acted on my bodhicitta vows did I transform my karma. You have not given rise to bodhicitta; you don’t even have a sense of compassion. From the ways you have treated your guru, one can see that you don’t have compassion at all, not even just a little. Without bodhicitta, one cannot transform one’s karma. The Buddha mentioned ‘the wonderful treasure of bodhicitta’. Only such a treasure can change or transform our karma from the negative to the good. On what your guru has said, for you, it just goes in one ear and out the other. Then how can you possibly have compassion and bodhicitta? If you don’t have them, all things about the Dharma are irrelevant to you.

When I was learning Exoteric Buddhism, I practiced its bases solidly, but I still felt that I was unable to transform my own problems, and I could not help sentient beings either. It was because I had not given rise to bodhicitta. In the Ratnakuta Sutra, there is a mention about how to give rise to bodhicitta. You say that you have it in you. You recite sutras or some sacred names every day, but that’s just recitation. If you have not been taught or guided by your guru, you will not know how to get bodhicitta arisen in you. In Esoteric Buddhism, simply speaking, you just need to listen to your guru. After listening continuously, one day you will get what I have said through your head. If you think what I have said are to scold you or allude to you, then there is nothing that can be done to help you.

I could also say, ‘You look more and more like Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara; your child is very good and quite well; let me bless….’ Using this method of greeting people, I could receive ‘red envelopes’ (containing money inside as a gift) from them. However, I am afraid of principles of cause and effect. If I use the Dharma to deceive you and do not teach you methods of real practices, I will be at fault. When I have spoken to you truthfully, it is very difficult for you to accept because you have been all haughty and arrogant.

Sutra: ‘Ananda, in the Dharma then, there was a bhikkhu named Fa-Chu. He had auspicious actions, vows and the increased, upward power of thoughts and wisdom. His mind is firm and motionless. His good fortune and wisdom are auspicious, and he had a form and appearance of dignity and solemnity.’

It is mentioned here that the form and appearance of Bhikkhu Fa-Chu was dignified and solemn. A true practitioner cannot possibly be with a crooked nose or mouth, or look fierce or evil. Even if such a practitioner is unable to attain dignity and solemnity, his or her appearance at least will not look ugly. Nevertheless, there are some practitioners who deliberately appear in such a ‘bad’ form just described, so as to liberate sentient beings with discriminating minds. This is based on what is indicated in sutras. A practitioner who observes precepts has auspicious actions and vows, and his or her thoughts will be just constantly increasing and moving upward. The mind of such a practitioner is firm and unmoved, and no matter what kinds of matters being encountered, the practitioner will not backtrack on what he or she has learned or practiced.

It is like my situation. I don’t feel well about my eyes, but I have still ascended the Dharma throne to expound the Dharma; a family member of mine was in a critical condition in the illness, and yet, I still did my teachings. You have not been able to see the state I have been in. I have been doing the same things because my mind is firm. As I have promised sentient beings that I will expound the Dharma, other things having occurred to me are all small matters.

What were the differences between Bhikkhu Fa-Chu and others? All the deeds he did and vows he made were very auspicious; their purposes were for him to attain Buddhahood and to benefit sentient beings. His mind was firm and motionless. It is exactly the meaning of Vajrayana Buddhism in that his mind was steadfast, not moving. His mind on his practices would not be influenced by any of the internal and external phenomena; he just moved forward bravely. His good fortune and wisdom were very special. Bhikkhu Fa-Chu was still a human, appearing in a human form.

Sutra: ‘Ananda, that Bhikkhu Fa-Chu went to where Lokesvararaja Tathagata lived, paying homage to Him, uncovered his right shoulder, paid obeisance to the Buddha’s feet, and joined the palms of his hands together toward the Buddha.’

If you want to attain Buddhahood in your life, there must be a Buddha living in the world. If there is no such a Buddha, then you definitely need to do your practices in a Buddha’s Dharma era so as to have an opportunity for attaining Buddhahood. When a Buddha’s Dharma era ends, it is impossible for anyone to do practices. For example, because of our profoundly heavy karmic hindrances, we have appeared in the Age of Dharma Decline of Shakyamuni Buddha’s Dharma era. That is why we have many hindrances, which are given to us by ourselves. There will be no Dharma existing after the Age of Dharma Decline ends, and there will be no great practitioners either. Not until Bodhisattva Maitreya appears on earth after 5.6 billion of myriads of years will the Dharma start to exist again. That is such a long period of time, long enough for you to reincarnate many times unless you are in such a situation: You have appeared as the ordained in this life, have made great vows and have wished to be reborn in the inner courtyard of the Tusita, which is the Heaven of Bodhisattva Maitreya. Then in your next life you will come down with Bodhisattva Maitreya from that Heaven to earth. If you are not a monastic in this life, or if you are but you don’t observe the Bhikkhu Precepts or the Bhikkhuni Precepts, you cannot ‘go’ to the Tusita of Bodhisattva Maitreya.

In the Ratnakuta Sutra, it is mentioned that Bodhisattva Maitreya had asked Shakyamuni Buddha, ‘What kinds of vows should Bodhisattvas make in order to be reborn in the Land of Amitabha?’ Whether one appears as a layman or the ordained, and if the latter but not having mastered the practices of the Bhikkhu Precepts or the Bhikkhuni Precepts, one cannot be reborn in the Tusita of Bodhisattva Maitreya; the person can only ‘go’ to the Land of Amitabha. When one has practiced the Bodhisattva Path while alive, and even if one has not recited the name of Amitabha in this life, as long as this person has made the vow of dedicating the merits to the Pure Land, after his or her life has ended, such a person can be reborn in Amitabha’s Pure Land, too. It has not been mentioned that you have to recite the name of Amitabha in order to be reborn in the Land of Amitabha. If you have recited the name of Bhaisajyaguru (Medicine Buddha) and made the vow of dedicating the merits to the Pure Land, it will still be Amitabha coming and leading you to that land.

Sutra: ‘Praising with a stanza: The immeasurable and boundless light of Tathagata; No lights in the whole world to exemplify it; All the mani treasure of the sun and the moon; The Buddha’s mighty light reflecting and covering it all.’

People in ancient times spoke concisely; they were not like us. We modern people talk a lot, using many adjectives to describe things.

The Buddha’s light is immeasurable and boundless, and there is nothing that can cover it. The appearance of the light of the Buddha will keep the sunlight and the moonlight covered; we cannot see such a phenomenon when we are alive though. However, in some photos, which had been taken when I was performing Dharmas, there was such a light showing up and covering the light of the sun and the moon. Many people have seen these photos. It was not I who had generated this light; it was the light of the yidams of the Dharmas and was the light of the Buddha.

Sutra: ‘The World Honored One can perform in one sound with one syllable, and sentient beings explain it in assorted and individual ways.’

When Shakyamuni Buddha expounds the Dharma for sentient beings, He does not need to use languages of different countries, such as English, Dutch or Tibetan, et cetera. The Buddha applies just one syllable and it can make sentient beings of the Six Realms know what He talks about. Mantras, when they are chanted, have vowels, consonants, and they are with different sounds of yidams’ as well. A mantra is the combination of a yidam’s elements of citta (essence of the Dharma), compassion, Buddhist activities, wisdom and good fortune. The sound of a mantra being chanted cannot be explained by words. As long as you chant a mantra for a long time, you will naturally know the sound’s – and the mantra’s – meanings. The name of Amitabha is also a mantra. If your minds have no other thoughts and if you continuously recite this name, you will naturally be able to know what the Buddha wants to tell you; you don’t need to specially search for answers. The Buddha’s wisdom cannot be explained by human words. If there is an insistence to translate mantras into spoken languages of humans, that is wrong.

The six syllables in the Great Six-Syllable Mantra are very easy to chant. However, it is mentioned in sutras that if it is to explain this mantra with the Buddha’s wisdom, there will not be even enough of time to finish describing it in one minor kalpa. What have we based on to simply introduce the Great Six-Syllable Mantra and let people understand its meanings? It is like that some people try to translate the Great Compassion Mantra; that should not be done either. The mantra written by a yidam is this yidam’s wisdom. How can humans’ brains understand it? If one wants to know what yidams say, one is precisely arrogant. If one wishes to know the contents of mantras, one will know them when he or she has done what yidams have done. If this is explained in spoken languages of the human world, then, first of all, how many Chinese characters are there? (A professor-disciple of Chinese-major answered: ‘There are more than 20,000 Chinese characters, and about 3,000 of them are commonly used in daily life.’)

Thus, we know that such a large number of characters, more than 20,000 of them, cannot explain the Buddha’s wisdom. For you, just chant mantras diligently, and one day you will naturally attain enlightenment; do not wonder who is doing the chanting. It is written in sutras that human beings are also in the intermediate state (‘bardo’ – after death and before one’s next birth). As long as you are in reincarnation of birth and death, you are in ‘bardo’. This means that while alive, one is ‘in humans’ bardo’, and when dead, one is in ‘ghosts’ bardo’. You are then living ghosts now; how can you know what the Buddha had taught? It is just wasting your time trying to figure it out. The old monk Guang Qin had said, ‘Think of the Buddha honestly’, which exactly means mantra-chanting. Don’t think of other things. Then one day you will naturally be enlightened.

Sutra: ‘Also being able to appear in one wondrous bodily form, letting sentient beings see it universally with assorted views.’

Nowadays, the image of Shakyamuni Buddha we have seen is different from that appearing in Liao Dynasty (a Chinese Dynasty lasting about 200 years, between 10th century and 12th century). In earlier time, when Shakyamuni Buddha appeared in India, He was not like the images we just mentioned either. Which one was the look that the Buddha had appeared in? Actually, all these images represent the look of Shakyamuni Buddha. The Buddha has shown His appearance in a bodily form, which has been seen by different sorts of sentient beings, and they all know what they have seen is Shakyamuni Buddha. You often say, ‘This is the image of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara I have at home.” Has anyone said that a Bodhisattva belongs to you and your family?

That single sound with one syllable is understood by all sentient beings of the Six Realms; that bodily form is also known to them that He is Shakyamuni Buddha. Hence, do not slander the Buddha. Do not think that because you have made prostrations to Shakyamuni Buddha in a great effort, He has appeared in such a form you have seen. Shakyamuni Buddha has appeared in a different bodily form based on different minds of sentient beings. You will naturally understand His teachings while hearing them. The Great Six-Syllable Mantra is the chanting sound of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. We are still in the land of ordinary people, so we will not know the real meanings of these six syllables. So long as we are willing to chant them, one day we will definitely understand that the wonderful usage of these six syllables is unlimited.

Sutra: ‘With precepts, meditation and wisdom, then advancing furthermore, to listen more and often.’

Even for the Buddha, the elements of precepts, meditation and wisdom are still existing in Him. ‘To listen more and often’ does not mean having heard many different explanations of the Dharma. The phrase means when the Buddha has appeared expounding the Dharma, we should not give up the opportunities to listen to His teachings. When there is a monastic or a practitioner expounding the Dharma based on sutras, and if you have the opportunity to listen to it, you should do so diligently. It does not mean that one can attain enlightenment or understand the meanings. Listening and hearing are two different things. Hearing produces a sound from our consciousness and ears. For some of my disciples, on what I have said, it just goes in one ear and out the other. That is because they have heard it but not listening to it. Listening is the acceptance of ‘sense-organ of ears’ toward sounds. Only such acceptances can reach your Eighth Consciousness (Alaya Consciousness). If one listens to the Dharma, what one has heard will naturally plant seeds in one’s Eighth Consciousness.

The prerequisites of ‘listen more and often’ are precepts, meditation and wisdom. If you don’t observe precepts, you naturally will not have the power of being in states of meditation. Without such a power, your wisdom, along with that having been applied with to bestow blessings upon us by the Buddha, Bodhisattvas and your guru, will be gone. Then, without wisdom, you will not be in progresses in your practices, nor will you ‘listen more and often’ on the Dharma.

Sutra: ‘Without differences and with equality, all sentient beings’ mind-streams, when attaining the wisdom of realization, are like great oceans.’

Without differences, all sentient beings possess the same pure, original nature as that of the Buddha, and their minds are moving, like rivers flowing. If sentient beings’ mind-streams have attained the wisdom of realization, such streams will be like great oceans. The mind is not trapped in small demands of life, nor is it trapped inside the small frame of one’s practices. Aspiring the minds means to start up movements of the mind-streams. Only after they are ‘launched’, can they attain the wisdom of realization, and then the mind-streams will be like great oceans. Originally, every sentient being possesses wisdom, pure as a great ocean. The reason that you don’t have such a feeling is because you have a discriminating mind, which you have given it a limit that you want to live a good life, or you wish that I can do what you want to have. This means that your mind-streams are different from the mind-streams of wisdom of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. As such, your mind-streams cannot flow to their side. The result is that those flows of yours are moving toward the reincarnation of the Six Realms.

The term ‘mind-continuum’ is mentioned in Esoteric Buddhism. When performing Dharmas, practitioners are always able to connect their minds with yidams’ mind-continuum. This is exactly the explanation of mind-stream. The minds of yidams are all for benefiting sentient beings, and are not to implore many things for yidams themselves.

Sutra: ‘Being able to know very well the extremely profound Dharmas.’

If one’s mind-stream is at the level of having attained wisdom of realization, and is like a great ocean, this person can absolutely know the ‘extremely profound Dharmas’ and methods of attaining Buddhahood or liberating from birth and death. If you have not mastered the practices on precepts, meditation and wisdom, what will come next are irrelevant to you in terms of your learning or practicing of the Dharma. Some people say they cannot achieve attainments. They should ask themselves about their practices on precepts, meditation and wisdom. For laity, have they observed the Five Precepts of the laity? For bhikkhus or bhikkhunis, have the former observed the Bhikkhu Precepts, totaling 250, or have the latter observed the Bhikkhuni Precepts, with a total of 348? If you have observed precepts, then you can generate, and be in states of, meditation; your minds will not be in disarray. There will be no nonsensical matters occurring, like wanting to recite the Buddha’s name but turning it into ‘pondering some phrases’, or in the other way round, wanting to do ‘pondering some phrases’ but turning it into reciting the Buddha’s name. That will really mess things up.

If we have observed precepts very strictly, we will gradually decrease the numbers of our delusional and confused thoughts in our minds. After this, we can then produce the meditative states of our minds, have our wisdom unlocked and be involved in the wisdom of our guru, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, which have been applied with by them to bestow their blessings upon us. If you don’t listen, don’t observe precepts and don’t do your practices step by step, you will not achieve attainments. The Dharmas I have performed are effective because there are elements of precepts, meditation and wisdom in me. You must do your practices on these.

In 2007, His Holiness wanted me to conduct a three-month retreat at Lapchi Snow Mountain, at a height of 4,500 meters, in Nepal. Before I went there, I didn’t know what kind of a place it was, and after I came back, to this day, I still don’t know about it. I only know that it is very cold there. If there had been no precepts, meditation and wisdom in me, I definitely would not have gone there, and even if I had, I would not have completed the three-month retreat. I could not have finished that practice because my mind would have been in disarray.

Try to think about it for a moment. You had usually lived in a colorful, boisterous society, but then suddenly you went to a place without sights of humans or animals; all you heard was the sounds of birds. You were locked in a room. In the daily 24 hours, you were not allowed to look outside, to speak or to make phone calls; you couldn’t do anything, nor could you read books or sutras. You only did one thing: chanting mantras. If I had not mastered my practices on precepts, meditation and wisdom, I couldn’t have endured the environment and remained there within my retreat time. Many people have asked me a question about this retreat, ‘Rinpoche, how did you do it?’ I said to them that it was exactly because of my having done the cultivation on precepts, meditation and wisdom. With them, one will naturally improve one’s learning and practicing, will ‘listen more and often’, and will have no need to implore things.

Precepts, meditation, wisdom, listening, contemplating and practicing are bases of learning Buddhism. The laity should observe the Five Precepts of the laity; those who have taken the Bodhisattva Precepts should observe such precepts even more.

Sutra: ‘There are completely no doubts existing, and things have passed. Offerings made should then be accepted.’

All doubts are gone. (In Chinese, words for ‘things have passed’ mean ‘already dead’.) ‘Things have passed’ does not mean that the Buddha has died. Rather, it means ‘already passed’. This is because that the last stage of practitioners’ practices is Path of Non-Cultivation in that all things have passed and have been eliminated, therefore, such practitioners can accept offerings made to them. If one is in the learning of Hinayana, one needs to practice the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination. After these methods have been practiced, one can then break away from all afflictions. For those who have been learning the Dharma of Mahayana, they need to practice the Bodhisattva Path, give rise to bodhicitta and act on their bodhicitta vows. These practitioners should aspire to have worldly bodhicitta first. Later, they are to attain the states of ultimate bodhicitta and Emptiness and be enlightened in Emptiness, too. Only after all these practices have been mastered, can such practitioners reach the stage of what is described in this quote, ‘There are completely no doubts existing, and things have passed. Offerings made should then be accepted.’

Simply speaking, if your afflictions have not been completely gone and still exist, then you are not qualified to accept any offerings made to you. There is an ancient saying, ‘Many monks, Buddhists and Taoists, being at the gate of hell.’ I will not accept offerings made to me from those who are not my disciples. Do you think that I don’t need to pay people back if I accept their offerings? I do need to pay back to all of them. Like what has been written in the Ratnakuta Sutra, I have reached a stage in my practices that my doubts on fame and profits have completely gone. From the very beginning, I have set this acceptance range for myself: ‘I will not accept offerings from non-disciples.’ I will not accept my disciples’ offerings either, if they have been punished by me and are not allowed to make offerings. All of these mean that my afflictions on money and fortune totally do not exist, and in this way, I can then accept offerings made to me.

The offerings you have made cannot be accepted causally. The capability to repay you on these offerings is definitely needed. It is like the situation of the disciple who passed away the other day. I had made him be awake for a few hours, and when the time came, I said that it would be 11:00 that he would pass away. He really did die, right at that time. I then took on all responsibilities for the matters afterward, like paying medical bills or making funeral arrangements. This was because I had accepted his offerings before as he was my disciple. He had not even been respectful to me, his guru, but, all along, he had not given up his position as being my disciple, therefore, he was still one when he passed away. As such, I would certainly save him when he had encountered a life-and-death calamity. I did not save his life itself; I saved him not to fall into the Three Evil Realms, letting him be in the Land of Amitabha. That was my responsibility.

If you think I am very harsh and you want to leave me and this Center, you are welcome to do that. This way, I will have less responsibilities and less afflictions. When my disciples have problems, I am always the first one to show concern for them and offer my help. For those who are without money, I will give it to them first. Reading the Ratnakuta Sutra can make you gradually understand whether the directions of your practicing are correct or not. If not, you should make adjustments to turn the wrong directions back to the right ones. There is still time. As long as you are not dead yet, you definitely have time. It will not necessarily take ten years to amend yourselves; it might take just one day to make it happen. It is like this disciple I just mentioned. I solved his problems in only three hours. I had let him truly understand the importance of a guru and gotten him to really believe in, and respect, his guru. When alive, he had not known these about his guru because he had thought that I am also just a human.

Ananda’s mind toward his guru was completely pure, so he naturally saw Shakyamuni Buddha as not being a human in a physical body, but as a Buddha. What you have seen of me is a human in a physical body. Of course, I still have flesh. When it is pinched, I feel pain; when it gets a cut, it will bleed. However, my mind-nature is not like that of an ordinary person because I have changed. It seems that this section of the sutra is about a bhikkhu’s praises of the Buddha. Nevertheless, it also lets us know what qualifications a Buddha should possess. You cannot do what are required but you should learn. Learning Buddhism is precisely to learn the qualifications that Buddhas are able to accomplish! Have you done that? Even the Buddha has needed to have the elements of precepts, meditation and wisdom in Him. How about you? Do not neglect, and be careless on, your practices! Everyone feels that it doesn’t matter if he or she has done something wrong because all is needed is for this person to repent; then everything will be fine. If you have made repentances too often, the power of making them will be gone and will not be brought forth. It is all right if you have done things wrong but you should amend yourselves very fiercely with no reservations. If you are willing to make changes there will be a future and good opportunities for you. If you are not willing to, and still thinking that you are right and not wrong, and that you, being in ways as you have always been, cannot change, then, there is really nothing that can be done to help you. If I had been recognized and authenticated as a Rinpoche when I was a child, I might not have known the hardships of the world. However, since my childhood I have lived a hard life, not a good one. Although my family had been very rich in my grandfather’s generation, because of prevailing political factors at the time we became very poor in Hong Kong, so it has been a hard life for me since my childhood. As such, of course I know how you have suffered. I have gone through so much hardships but I have come out all right. Then, why can’t you get through your suffering? The reason is very simple. You have not believed in the Dharma, nor have you believed that your suffering is your karma. You just hope that all matters will be immediately changed and become good. That is not possible. You must do your practices in step-by-step processes, accumulate good fortune and unlock your wisdom. You will then get the opportunities attaining achievements. If you wish that you can be ‘reaching the sky with one leap’ and make things turn to good, I exhort you to leave me and this Center; that will be better for you. Do not believe in stories, like ‘a celestial being’s rescues.’ These are just folklore. The Buddha and Bodhisattvas can save us only once, or at one time, but not forever. If you do not work hard or practice diligently, how can the Buddha and Bodhisattvas save you? After you have understood all these, you will not make errors repeatedly.

Sutra: ‘Only the World Honored One has such sacred virtues.’

Only the Buddha has such qualifications. We are now learning the achievements of the body, speech and mind of the Buddha. However, this does not represent that you can master the acts or practices to be a Buddha; it is not possible that you will attain Buddhahood in this life. Thus, we cannot be self-satisfied when we have achieved a little accomplishment. If you are proud of yourself because of a little achievement you have attained, then that is a show of arrogance. As it is mentioned in the Ratnakuta Sutra, as long as Bodhisattvas are a little arrogant, all merits they have gained from their practices will disappear. Being arrogant means that one thinks he or she practices well, looking down on others. The person feels that responses are obtained from his or her own recitation of sutras or sacred names or chanting of mantras; they think that other people, when doing the same things, will not get responses. These are what will be shown for being arrogant. Once arrogance appears in you, all the merits you have gained from your practices will be gone, and will become good fortune. Good fortune can only be used in your next life, but not in this one.

Sutra: ‘The Buddha has an auspicious, great, mighty light.’

The bhikkhu had great supernatural powers, and all things about him had been pure. He was then able to see how the Buddha had achieved attainments, therefore, what the bhikkhu had spoken were definitely not just simply praising the Buddha. Those words having been said by him also let us understand what the level he was at, on his cultivation’s force of capability. What he had spoken were the most important and crucial points about the Buddha. If it were us, we couldn’t have said it; only this bhikkhu could. Because he was only a step short of attaining Buddhahood and because he understood the qualifications required to be a Buddha, he knew how to praise the Buddha.

To put it simply, this also tells us, people of future generations from the bhikkhu’s time, that we should look at ourselves to see if we have been in the same ways as those of the Buddha. If not, we definitely cannot be arrogant. If we have not attained accomplishments, we certainly cannot say that we have. Otherwise, that will be breaking away from the precepts.

‘The Buddha has an auspicious, great, mighty light.’ This mighty light does not mean a cold, powerful light, making you afraid. Rather, it is the light from the Buddha, Bodhisattvas, yidams and the guru. If we absolutely believe in yidams and the guru, the mighty virtues from such a light can help us stop the harassments from our karmic creditors of accumulated lifetimes and from our karma. The light will protect you, but not protecting you to marry a prince charming, or go to a university without paying tuition; it is to protect you so that your practicing processes will not be obstructed.

For example, when we conduct retreats, besides sprinkling pure water on us for blessings, we need to perform a Protective Wheel ritual to protect ourselves, too. When you have not reached a certain fruition level, your karmic creditors will come and interfere with you, not letting you have opportunities to gain achievements. This is because no one has repented thoroughly from the bottom of one’s heart about problems one has had over time. Everyone only remembers that he or she has killed a living flesh before. Have you ever brought forth, from your heart to your repentances, the senses of your greed, hatred and ignorance? Have you ever spoken about your having hated someone? No, you have not! I have never heard of your saying it! That is why these karmic creditors of yours have come to find you.

Yesterday, a disciple came and implored me for making grand prostrations for his family members. After I had given him my permission, however, he forgot to make his offering, and just turned around and left. Why was it happening this way? There were two reasons for it. The first one was that he himself regarded that money was very important (and would not spend it ‘randomly’). The second reason was that he considered making an offering as a condition for exchanging things, and once he had achieved his goal – being able to make grand prostrations – he forgot to make an offering.

How have I made my offerings? Before His Holiness has transmitted Dharmas to me, I have already submitted my offerings to him. How about you? After you have said what you intended to say to me (during seeking-audience section on Saturdays), you will still hold your offerings in your hands, and look right and left (hesitating). Thus, you have not made offerings, and have only done an act. Not to mention that you cannot compare your acts with those of Bodhisattvas, you can’t even compare what you have done with my acts. That is why I have the opportunity to be your guru.

Sutra: ‘Illuminating universally all the immeasurable lands of Buddhas in the ten directions.’

The Buddha’s light or the great light of mighty virtues definitely does not illuminate just a certain corner of the universe; rather, the light is irradiated on any corner in the ten directions to the East, South, West, North, zenith and nadir. We don’t know this because we are in the land of ordinary people. Otherwise, how can human beings live so well? You might die from just one random bite of any insect. Human beings are most fragile. Although they are quite shrewd, being able to harm many sentient beings or damage many environments, humans are fragile indeed. You will even die of a bite from a tiny poisonous insect.

Then, why aren’t situations like that happening? It is exactly because of the Buddha’s light irradiating on you. Having seen that your karmic hindrances have not been very heavy, and that you are not yet a very wicked person, the Buddha has then given you opportunities, providing protection for you. When you have been protected by the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, you are not aware of it. You even think that there is no protection, feeling that on whatever you have wanted, the Buddha has not done them for you, or has not given them to you. Then you are wrong. The word ‘universally’ in the quote means that there is no discriminating mind.

Sutra: ‘I am now praising all the merits of the Buddha, and I hope that my good fortune and wisdom will be the same as those of Tathagata.’

The bhikkhu was praising all the merits of the Buddha, and was hoping that ‘my good fortune and wisdom will be the same as those of’ the Buddha. The bhikkhu had a big enough of heart because he clearly knew that if the Buddha’s great wisdom and good fortune have not been existing, a vast number of sentient beings in the Six Realms cannot be benefited.

What kinds of aspirations did he have? He had dared to give rise to them! He had known that he could fulfill his aspirations and that was why he said those words as he did. For the ordained disciples here, you definitely should not imitate Bhikkhu Fa-Chu in saying that you hope your ‘good fortune and wisdom will be the same as those of Tathagata’. It will be enough for you already to hope that your good fortune and wisdom are to be the same as those of monastics. If speaking my point of view, from what have been described on Bhikkhu Fa-Chu’s speech and actions, I think he was no longer a common, ordinary person.

Sutra: ‘In all the worlds, being able to save many afflictions as those of birth, old age, sickness and death.’

Why did he want to do that? It was because he wanted to free all worlds (meaning the whole universe) from many afflictions as in birth, old age, sickness and death. This does not mean to let you have ‘no birth, no old age, no sickness and no death’. Rather, it means to help you not have these occurrences – birth, old age, sickness and death – again. In other words, it is to help you get liberated from reincarnation. Only after one has left it, can one be in the state of ‘no birth, no old age, no sickness and no death’. On small illnesses that you have had in this mundane world, whether they being cancerous or incurable, the suffering you have faced, compared with that in the reincarnation’s sea of suffering, is much, much less. What are your illnesses then? They have only been generated from your negative karma on the bad deeds you have done. Don’t think that you can always implore the bhikkhu to save you just because he had said he could save ‘many afflictions as those of birth, old age, sickness and death.’ What he had already said was that he would get you liberated from birth and death. In order not to go through stages of birth, old age, sickness and death, the most fundamental rescue is making one not to reincarnate.

As long as you reappear one more time with a bodily form of an ordinary person, being in reincarnation again, the stages of birth, old age, sickness and death will follow you once again. These are unavoidable and insoluble. Even Shakyamuni Buddha, being already a Buddha, had experienced the stages of birth, old age, sickness and death; because Shakyamuni Buddha had been compassionate, He had demonstrated these phenomena to us. Do not misunderstand this. Do not think that you can implore the Buddha for letting you not get sick, get old or being dead. What have been described here are about the suffering of birth, old age, sickness and death. Only when we are not born, is there no death for us; only when we don’t die, is there no birth for us. Then, since there are no births and no deaths, naturally, there are no sicknesses and no states of being old either.

For some disciples, after they had been liberated by me, their look became young. Why? Because they were not old. According to what have been mentioned in sutras, heavenly beings in the Heaven Realm are in an average age of about 20. Thus, if you see some images showing that such beings are in large beard, you know that look is a fake. If one has been reborn in the land of Amitabha, one will look 16 years old, therefore, if you want to rejuvenate, becoming young again, you are to ‘go’ to that land. Also, you don’t need to use cosmetics or skin-care products there because your look will naturally regain the look you had when you were 16; your skin will be so delicate that a slight touch of air or a pinch to it will break it; it is springy too. These are all described in sutras.

It is indicated in sutras that the Heaven Realm appears in a sky-blue color. Hence, if you have dreamed of some dead person who had been liberated by me, and who has been seen in the color of sky-blue, and has looked about 20 years old, then this dead person is in the Heaven Realm. If this person has been reborn in the land of Amitabha, you will not dream of him or her, because the ‘person’ is in the lotus-fetus and cannot come out. However, before getting there, the person might let you have a look of him or her.

Sutra: ‘Vows made should abide by samadhi.”

The vows made by this bhikkhu are different from ours. ‘Abide by samadhi’ means to be in states of meditation, and in nothing else. Being in such a state is only one step away from nirvana. Many people think that nirvana is meditation, but they are different. For meditation, there are still functions of consciousness in it; when one thinks that one is in a state of meditation, meaning in a meditative state, one is in the state of one’s consciousness. If it is nirvana, even the consciousness of being in meditation does not exist. If one is in nirvana, one naturally regains one’s original look of stillness.

Sutra: ‘Expounding the Dharma methods of almsgiving and precept observance.’

When expounding the Dharma, a practitioner must be in a meditative state, and is not with a method of having looked for much data, saying that a certain sutra containing needed information. Such a practitioner expounds the Dharma in a state of meditation. Simply speaking, the Dharma has been explained with, and revealed from, the practitioner’s self-nature. What he or she has spoken on the Dharma are not from materials that have been listened to, or been read, by him or her. Rather, from practicing experiences and with pure, original essence revealed, such a practitioner, in a very natural way, expounds ‘Dharma methods of almsgiving and precept observance’. This is why I have scolded you all day long. Do you know it now?

Think back then. Starting 1997, I have propagated the Dharma, and my teachings to you, back and forth, have always been about observing precepts and giving alms. Why have I taught you these? It is for you to practice good fortune! If you don’t have it, you cannot continue practicing the Dharma even when you want to. Many hindrances will naturally appear in your practices. Now, as we have talked about these up to this point, everyone should know clearly then that, after all, whether or not you have practiced it, have listened to teachings about it and gotten them through your head, and have acted on it. The quote, ‘Expounding the Dharma methods of almsgiving and precept observance’, means that all ways of almsgiving and the Dharma methods of observing precepts should be expounded. The Dharma methods that should be taught to you are not those of making fortune or keeping a good health.

Sutra: ‘Practicing forbearance, diligence, meditation and wisdom, and should attain Buddhahood to assist and benefit sentient beings.’

Many people think that forbearance means that when one is bullied or scolded with insults, one is to be patient. Actually, the most difficult part of practicing forbearance happens when you feel you are good. After having made prostrations to the Buddha a little for a few years, you feel that you have changed and become good; then you will have the start of not practicing your forbearance. When you think you are good, you definitely will not be diligent, nor will you be assiduous. You will stop your practices, and your mind will give rise to arrogance, too. For forbearance, if it is about matters that others have dealt with you in bad ways, you can forbear those things. However, for matters which have changed and become good, you will really be unable to forbear them.

Here is a popular thinking out there. After they have been married for several years, some women have seen their husbands giving them presents for wedding anniversaries, birthdays or holidays. Such women will then feel that this is because they have practiced well so that their husbands have become good in remembering presenting gifts to their wives. If you are one of these women, then you are finished. It is because that the little good fortune you have gained from your practices has been used in this area. You have an urge in your mind to make this kind of things happen, feeling that in such ways it will show that you have practiced very well. You are wrong then. When we learn Buddhism, our situations have become better, and it is just because of the appearances of our good fortune. You should understand how to use it in that you should practice even more and benefit more sentient beings, too. You should not want to use your good fortune to enjoy yourselves.

In my whole life, I have not used my good fortune to enjoy life. In this pandemic, from last year to this day, I have locked up myself in Taipei and not gone out for enjoyments, because I know that I am a person without good fortune; I will not use it in other areas except on the Dharma. When our good fortune has appeared a little, it will be like the sun coming out a little. Do not think that it is the brightest sunlight from the sun being right in the middle of the day. We are only talking about a little light. As you have always been in the dark, when suddenly there is a little light shone, do not think that it is because you have mastered your practices. Instead, you should be more cautious, more patient, and should not indulge yourselves even more. I have seen too many of such people, whether they are from out there or are my disciples. After having taken refuge for a few years, they think they are great from their practices.

The Dharma method of forbearance is very important. All good fortune has been produced from it. Be cautious! If you have earned a little more money, this doesn’t represent that you have practiced well to make it happen. It is just that the extra money should have been yours to begin with, and because you have done your practices, making your hindrances eliminated, such ‘lost’ money has been returned to you. You should then do more almsgiving and make more offerings. It is not that I want money; rather, this is what is indicated in the quote, ‘Expounding the Dharma methods of almsgiving and precept observance.’ This comes back to the teachings of the Six Paramitas. Have you practiced them? The term refers to what is called ‘all disciplines of the Six Paramitas’. (In the Chinese term, the Chinese word, ‘thousand’, is used for ‘all’.) ‘Thousand’ is just a number; it does not mean that there are 10,000 acts of Six Paramitas, and no more. The ‘thousand’ here means ‘continuous’ – continuously acting on them! Ask yourselves if you have done them. You have even felt nonchalant about the things you promised to do, like delaying your donation until the end of the year. This indicates you have not practiced the Six Paramitas. Then, it is impossible to do what the quote describes, ‘attain Buddhahood to assist and benefit sentient beings.’

Having said that, precepts, meditation, wisdom, listening, contemplating, practicing and the Six Paramitas are fundamental qualifications of attaining Buddhahood. If the Six Paramitas have not been acted on, but one wants to become a Buddha, there is no way to do it at all. If one has not practiced the Six Paramitas, yet wishing to get liberated from birth and death, one cannot get it in any way. If such a ‘way’ is an analogy as a ‘door’ to get in, there is not even a tiny hole for one to try passing through. Do not think that since you have given alms, recited sutras and made prostrations to the Buddha, you have been doing your practices. No, you have not! According to the qualifications we just mentioned, you have not been practicing. In the sutra, this is quoted, ‘attain Buddhahood to assist and benefit sentient beings.’ It does not mean that, based on the qualifications described, one can change and become good. Rather, one is to wish attaining Buddhahood so as to help and benefit all sentient beings.

What vows had the Buddha made? What vows have we made? Your vows are for your sons, or daughters, to be obedient or for your daughters-in-law eating vegetarian. See what kinds of vows that the Buddha had made. You should repent! Do not think that coming here to listen to the Dharma expounded will make your life become better and better. Listening to me expounding the Dharma will make you feel that you are not living a good life, because the contents of what I have taught are in much conflicts with the ways we live. If you grasp the meanings of the teachings incorrectly, after you get home from here, you will be scolded by your family members, saying this to you, ‘The more you learn it, the crazier you become; you are like insane now.’ Many of you have been like this.

Why have you been scolded by others? It is exactly because, in your previous life, you did the same to people, and you hindered them on things. That is why, in this life, when learning Buddhism, you have encountered obstacles from others. In the Ratnakuta Sutra, it is mentioned that you are to view that your family members as prison guards. Prison guards are those who watch over you (if you are in a prison). Be quiet for a minute and think about this. For the 24 hours of the day, haven’t you been watched over by your family members? For example, they will say, ‘What time are you going out? When will you be back home? Going where? Why aren’t you coming back yet? What is the fun out there?’ Isn’t this like the situation that you are in a prison?

The Buddha had told us that family life is not full of happiness as we have imagined. Family members are all karmic creditors and gather together to give things to, or find things from, one another; there are lots of troubles among them. If you think them as prison guards, you will treat them well and even better. Why? It is because if you don’t, they really will not let you go out (to a place, like a courtyard); they won’t even permit you for going to the prison’s little shop. As such, you should do your practices even harder. If you treat your prison guards well, they will know that you are a good prisoner and will let you stay outside longer when you are let out to a courtyard for air.

Regarding the Dharma, do not feel that you have been intimidated or threatened by it. Just think things from another angle, like your family members being prison guards. For example, there are laws and regulations about children. If you have a child, do you dare to leave him or her alone at home and go out having fun for yourself? If you dare, once there being problems concerning your child, you will not, afterwards, dare to appear on that street where you live. Aren’t you having a prison guard? The prison-guard situations will be more obvious when you get married. I am not persuading you not to get married. If you have the marriage affinity, get married then! If you should have children, give births to them! You should understand that all such things are from your causal conditions. If you have them, it does not mean that happiness has arrived at your door; it means that having a family is your affinity.

Once causal conditions appear, receive them well. After you have done that, carry out your duties as a disciple of the Buddha, and perform them well. (What follows is an example of the relationship between a husband and a wife.) As long as you have treated him well, you will be fine. If he has not reciprocated, thank him then. If he has forgotten your birthday, thank him for that, too. This is because every time you celebrate your birthday, you have your good fortune decreased a little. You can celebrate your birthday, but don’t do it with big events. Go and buy a birthday cake and eat and share it; that will be okay.

The Dharma is sprightly, and is not rigid. It is not like non-Buddhist religions, mentioning something like, ‘You cannot do it. If you do, certain circumstances will happen.’ The Buddha taught us how to do things, and you need to work on them in lively ways. It is not saying that the guru has instructed that you are not permitted to do these or those things. You yourself have understood in your mind that you need to do things in such ways. Even when you know a certain family member is like your ‘prison guard’, do not say it to that person! Do not say these words to your husband, ‘You are my prison guard; you are the head of the prison. Now, I have been locked up by you. There is nothing I can do.’ If these are said, it will cause people to slander the Buddha.

In our minds we know that our coming to the world in this life are for these: either repaying debts or collecting debts, and either repaying kindness or taking revenge. We hope that all these four things can be paid off in this life. If you are too attached to matters about your children, you will not pay off those four things in this life. It is like when I have helped some disciples get liberated, I know that they would be thinking about their children, wives or husbands. However, I do not tell these disciples’ family members about it, because if they had known it, they would have said this to the deceased, ‘Oh, don’t die!’ This would have made the deceased feel even more pain in their hearts.

For those who were not practitioners when alive, it is natural for them at their death to have such thoughts about their family members. It is just that the degrees of intensity on such a thought are different. Some will have a very strong, intense thought, and some will think it in a slightly less intensity. Everyone is different. This will usually depend on the training in our practices. ‘Training’ here does not mean that we don’t want our husbands or our children, et cetera. It means that we should usually train ourselves to understand that as we have learned Buddhism, we know that all things that have happened to us are from the appearances of causal conditions. Everything will be gone because of this Dharma concept that causal conditions arise and cease to exist.

Thus, your views on all things should then be that they are coming and going, and are not lasting eternally. As they will not exist forever, when you get them, do not be extremely happy; on the other hand, when you lose them, do not be exceedingly painful about the losses. Whether your other half – spouse, partner or companion – can live or not, he or she will not survive sooner or later. Do not say this to that person, ‘Do not die first; let me go first.’ This will be even more selfish, because you let the other half suffer and because you don’t want to feel pain. You wish to die first and that person does not die (before you do); you let him or her arrange things, like your funeral, afterward. How is this kind of a person so cruel?

If we believe in causal conditions and good fortune, we will not say such words to others. Such sayings sound like that love is great in that we don’t want others to die and we wish to die first. This is actually the situation that we want them to organize our after-death matters and we want to live a good life (like ‘going’ to the Pure Land). People who have learned Buddhism should do things naturally. Our observing precepts is our own business, and we cannot let others get their doubts, confusion and afflictions produced just because we observe precepts. If your other half does not listen, it is his or her affinity; if he or she doesn’t do things, that is his or her affinity, too. It is like that I have scolded you for a dozen or twenty years, but you still have not listened! You don’t listen, let alone your family members.

You should be constantly setting good examples for other people by changing yourselves. Then, one day, they will feel that you have changed, and naturally they will follow your examples to make changes for themselves. This means that when one day your good fortune has been arisen, those around you will naturally feel that too; you really do not need to implore for good things for them. My child does not listen to me but I have not implored Dharma Protector Achi for his obedience. My performances on the Dharma Protector Achi ritual have been very remarkable. The Protector has always helped me catch those disciples who have done wrong, but I have not implored the Protector for that. This is because whatever my disciples have done, or not done, are my affinities and my karma. Perhaps because these types of things happen (my disciples being caught), there are no other issues for me; maybe because other issues have not occurred, I am able to have this body and such physical strength to continuously propagate the Dharma.

If all that I had wanted was a happy, normal family life, I believe that I would not have been qualified to propagate the Dharma. Of course, you are not propagating the Dharma now, so you can pursue a normal, family-ethics life; however, you will lose other things. Actually, there is no need to pursue anything; if a thing is for you, it will come to you naturally. Do not ask questions on things either. Also, there is no need to deliberately flatter a certain person. Live your life normally. If you are happy, then be happy; if you are not, it is your own business as well. Before you got married, you had not seen clearly about your future spouse’s habits, personality and other things. Then, after you were married, you have only seen your spouse’s shortcomings, and forgotten his or her strengths. There will be quarrels between you two, certainly. Everyone has shortcomings and strengths.

Sutra: ‘For the purpose of pursuing the supreme, great bodhicitta, I am to make offerings to ones with wonderful enlightenment in the ten directions.’

Having great bodhicitta, making bodhicitta vows and doing bodhicitta actions are the methods of attaining Buddhahood.

His (Bhikkhu Fa-Chu’s) making offerings were not for him to live a good life presently, nor were they for him to be healthy or to get some other things. He would make offerings so as to be able to cultivate supreme bodhicitta; without it, he could not liberate or benefit sentient beings and attain Buddhahood. His offerings made, then, were not for gaining some advantages for his own practices. His making offerings were still for the sake of sentient beings. Making offerings are not to exchange things with the Buddha, the guru or whomever; the offerings made are for things related to one’s practices. The most important factor for practicing the Bodhisattva Path is bodhicitta.

When we recite the Prayer of An Exhortation to Bring Forth the Bodhicitta Resolve, we notice that there are these words, ‘For bodhicitta that has not been arisen, bless us to let us give rise to it.’ This quote means that bodhicitta does not appear with our birth; it will not exist just because we think of it; it will not be arisen from reciting many sutras; it will not be there either if we deliberately contrive to have it. We need blessings from the Buddha, Bodhisattvas and the guru so that we can give rise to bodhicitta. When you have the will and willingness to learn, they will let bodhicitta be arisen in you. If you have not learned to develop compassion, nor are you prepared to have bodhicitta, even when people help you every day to get something done or grown, like fanning you (to keep you cool) or fanning winter fire (to keep you warm), you will not give rise to bodhicitta. What will your life be once bodhicitta has arisen? For things that had troubled you originally, you don’t feel that they matter anymore; they then will pass. For events that had pained you very much before, you feel that they are parts of life, and then they will be gone, too.

Why is this phrase, ‘the wonderful treasure of bodhicitta’, said? Why is it indicated in the Vajrayana that gurus are important? This is because gurus can help us give rise to bodhicitta. If you despise your guru, disrespect your guru, or even slander your guru, you cannot get bodhicitta arisen in you for lifetimes after lifetimes. If you don’t have bodhicitta, you cannot transform your karma. Then if you are unable to get your karma transformed, you will reincarnate – lifetimes after lifetimes.”

« Previous – Puja Teachings – Next »

Updated on January 7, 2022