His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s Puja Teachings – September 19, 2021

His Eminence Rinchen Dorje Rinpoche presided over the auspicious Medicine Buddha Empowerment Puja at the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center in Taipei. After lighting lamps as an offering to the Buddha, Rinpoche ascended the Dharma throne and bestowed precious teachings.

“The Dharma text of today’s performance of Medicine Buddha Empowerment is very special in that the performance itself is directly on the Buddha’s Sambhogakaya (reward-body), not on the Buddha’s Nirmanakaya (emanation-body), nor on methods of being Bodhisattvas. His Holiness has taught that the Dharma of Medicine Buddha is not transmitted universally or widely. Why is it so strict? It is like a kindergartener’s situation; with the kid’s education level, can he or she enter a university or get a degree in Ph.D.? It is impossible. In the Ratnakuta Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha had taught that for some sutras of Mahayana, if disciples who do not have such root capacity, they are not allowed to even look at these sutras. Do not think you will be given such sutras to read or Dharma methods to practice just because you have been aspired or have made vows to learn Buddhism. The guru will transmit Dharmas to you in accordance with your root capacity; learning Buddhism does not mean you will be given whatever tools or methods you want.

The reason that this empowerment being held today is because a doctor-disciple said that he had recited the sutra on Medicine Buddha before. Many people have misunderstood that reciting the Medicine Buddha Sutra is practicing the Dharma method of Medicine Buddha. In Exoteric Buddhism, there is indeed the recitation of the Medicine Buddha Sutra. In it, it introduces the vows of Medicine Buddha; there are no teachings though about how to practice the method.” A monastic, who has been ordained for more than 30 years, replied to a question from Rinpoche and said, “During my time of learning Exoteric Buddhism in the past, I had only recited the Medicine Buddha Sutra but had not known how to practice the method as there was no one to teach me.” Rinpoche then continued the teachings. “Many people might have wrong thoughts, thinking that they have been doing practices. Actually, they have practiced for themselves but have not reached a level to be qualified to benefit others.

Do not think that you can practice this Dharma method because you have been eating vegetarian, have burned the incense, made prostrations to the Buddha or recited sutras. There will still be quite a long time passing before you are able to practice the method. Even when practices have been reached the level of Tantra, there are these four parts in it, with Dharma methods of ‘Subduing, Placating, Increasing, and Vanquishing’. In each method, there are two Dharma texts. One is in simplified version, which is a simple ritual performed for helping oneself; the other one is a long version and it is a ritual performed to benefit sentient beings. There are many Buddhist practitioners who show their pride, arrogance and disrespect very easily. In the Ratnakuta Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha had taught that if one is learning the Bodhisattva Path, one cannot have a little of disrespect and arrogance. As long as there is a bit of pride and arrogance in a person, his or her merits will be gone completely and immediately.

Why cannot this Dharma be transmitted universally or widely? It is because this is about the Buddha’s reward-body. Even in the Infinite Life Sutra, it is mentioned very clearly that if you have not mastered your practices to have bodhicitta and not acted on bodhicitta vows, Buddha’s reward-body cannot come to receive you. This also means if you have not made vows to practice the Bodhisattva Path in this life, the Buddha’s reward-body is definitely unable to come helping you. What kind of people can practice the Bodhisattva Path? Those who listen.

I happened to read such a report today: ‘Breast cancer is now the most serious disease of female cancerous incidences. Nowadays, women who are heavier or like to stay up late will be more likely to get breast cancer.’ Why is it this way? There are medical explanations on this subject which we will not talk about here. A female disciple had gotten breast cancer before; I helped her making her have only a little breast cancer left. I told her not to stay up late and not to eat food haphazardly. She did not listen. Now her breast cancer has relapsed. She was having these thoughts, ‘Can it be this serious? I am only staying up late; it is nothing. I want to make money first and then I will make offerings to Rinpoche.’

I do not even want the offerings of NT$20 million. If I really want your money, I would have said, ‘Stay up late and make more money; then bring the money over to make offerings to me.’ Why is she this way now? From the aspect of biological clock, her situation is completely wrong. From the aspect of the Dharma, when I say something to you, it is for your own good. Her attitude of not listening to what I had told her shows that she has pushed out the good. I have told you many times that I can only save you once, and I cannot save you continuously. Jigten Sumgon had also taught us that all Rinpoches are able to help you on your illnesses. After you have been helped, you need to be diligent, which is to listen. However, all of you have made great efforts in not listening.

Today, there are more than 500 disciples who are not allowed to participate in the telecast of this puja; also, I do not accept their offerings. I have already made the ‘gate of convenience’ wide open, letting 800 disciples attend the puja-telecast so that they are able to listen to this Dharma. If you are not qualified to learn it, after it has been transmitted to you, you might slander the Buddha. As long as you say that a Dharma method is ineffective, you have slandered the Buddha. It is that you have not done the method’s requirements; what have your acts gotten to do with the Buddha and Bodhisattvas?

I have followed His Holiness in learning Buddhism for decades. During this time, we both know there have been Medicine Buddha, but before, His Holiness had not mentioned it, nor had I seen in person that he had bestowed the Medicine Buddha Empowerment. This time, it is because I have implored His Holiness for such an empowerment that we have this puja held. The reason that the empowerment has been granted is that His Holiness knows when I implore the transmission of a Dharma, it is for sentient beings, not for myself. To us, there are many other Dharmas that can treat illnesses, too; it is not necessary that such Dharmas need to be some special ones.

‘Empowerment’ means granting you an authorization so that you can practice this Dharma method. In English, it is ‘to authorize’. Once, there was a disciple, who had left me and the Center, asking me, ‘Do mantras have patents?’ Yes, they do. Empowerments are authorizations granted, and are patents. It is like the name of “Glorious Jewel’; if I have not granted you an authorization to use it, and if you do, you will be in violation of the law. Of course, the Buddha and Bodhisattvas will not sue you but will your practices be effective? Definitely not. With your guru’s empowerment and granting authorization to you for practicing this Dharma method, your practice of it will then be useful. If there is no authorization from the guru, practicing the method will be useless.

You have always chanted mantras. Why doesn’t your chanting show good effects? It is because you have not received the related empowerments. In Exoteric Buddhism, there are no empowerments; in Tantra, there are such performances. In sutras, empowerments are mentioned but not their rituals.” (A monastic replied to a question from Rinpoche and said, “In the Avatamsaka Sutra, empowerments have been mentioned but as to how to get them performed I do not know as there are no such descriptions therein.”) (Rinpoche then continued the teachings.) “In olden times, there were empowerment rituals in Tang Tantra but later on, Tang Tantra had been lost, and not been passed down. Empowerment rituals are then only left with Tibetan Tantra, and in it, there are teachings on such rituals. Only practitioners with a level of attainment of a Rinpoche can bestow empowerments, which are divided into many different levels. If there are no empowerments with authorizations granted, the chanting of mantras will still be useful. Nevertheless, if you have not gone through empowerments, not been granted authorizations from the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, and not been taught by your guru and the guru’s lineage, your chanting of mantras can only purify your original essence, accumulate the capability of your compassion, and let very profound affinities being produced between you and the yidams. These will continue until you have good fortune to receive the empowerments.

Empowerments represent that you are a future Bodhisattva, just like the situation of ‘having been bestowed assurance to be a Bodhisattva’ as indicated in the Amitabha Sutra. Hence, after you have received empowerments, it will be very easy for you to ‘go’ to the Land of Amitabha. Empowerments cannot be casually bestowed though. In the Dharma texts of empowerments, it is also mentioned that if you have received empowerments, you need to observe samaya. This means you should fulfill whatever promises you have made to your guru. On the things described in the Dharma texts, if you cannot accomplish these matters, then you have broken away from samaya. It is not that you will fall into the Hell Realm; rather, you will have no chances to attain Buddhahood. Are there hindrances to the guru because of this? Yes, there are. The guru’s commitment is to liberate all sentient beings, who have affinities with the guru, so as to help them to attain Buddhahood. If you have broken away from samaya, the guru will need to teach you until you have listened. In the Age of Dharma Decline, the number of Rinpoches, who are really meritorious and can perform rituals of empowerments, will be decreased. This is because the good fortune of humans is reducing, therefore, the opportunities for them to receive empowerments will be decreasing, too.

For these two years, because of the coronavirus pandemic, many Buddhist centers of Tibetan Buddhism here have rarely had empowerment rituals held as the gurus of those centers cannot come to Taiwan. Even in the monastery in Tibet, the gatherings of people have been decreased as well due to the coronavirus pandemic; there have been very few empowerments bestowed there, too. This has indicated that in the Age of Dharma Decline, sentient beings have had less and less of good fortune.

Today, I will bestow you the empowerment but it does not mean that you can practice this Dharma method. I will still observe you about your respect towards your guru, the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. If you are not respectful of them, I will not transmit the method to you. After receiving the empowerment, you still need to go through the pith instruction from the guru on the Dharma text; the guru will teach you how to practice this method. Then you can conduct a retreat. However, whether or not this Dharma can be passed down is not determined by me; it will be you who will decide. You have still muddled along and not listened. It is just like that female disciple who had not listened and had continuously stayed up late until her illness has relapsed. If you do not listen, it will be useless even if you have been given enough of empowerments – you cannot master your practices. In the learning of Tantra, the sense of subtlety and wonderfulness is very difficult to explain to you clearly.

His Holiness had once said that practicing this Dharma method needs to conduct a retreat for at least one month. Do not think that closing the door to chant mantras is equivalent to conducting a retreat. It is not! Do not regard retreats of non-Buddhist religions as retreats of Tibetan Buddhism. In retreats of Tibetan Buddhism, there is a set of rituals to go through. Before a retreat is conducted, your guru will help you enter into a ‘retreat state’, and to bless you so as to reduce your hindrances on the retreat; the guru is afraid that you do not have enough of good fortune, and then the hindrances will arise. You can only start conducting your retreat after your hindrances have been eliminated. In Tibetan Buddhism, all your accomplishments have come from the help of your guru.

In 2007, His Holiness led me to the Lapchi Snow Mountain in Nepal for me to conduct a three-month retreat there for the Hevajra, which is in the Highest Yoga Tantra. The sacred place of Milarepa was there, and its environments made living extremely hard. Milarepa had practiced like an ascetic and that was why he could have stayed there. You, like spoiled nobilities, being called in a Chinese saying, ‘delicate and rare branches and leaves’, will not have endured the hardship and will have left and come back home after one week; you will be unable to endure the surroundings. If I had not been led and guided by His Holiness, and if many of my hindrances had not been eliminated by him, do you think it would have been easy to conduct a three-month retreat there? It really had not been easy! One was to stay in a small room and could not do any activities; who could have remained in it? The characteristics of the retreats of Esoteric Buddhism are completely different from the retreats of non-Buddhist religions. Why? This is because that no matter how amazing the retreats of non-Buddhist religions are, the results after the retreats are just getting the help from ghosts and deities. For the retreats of Esoteric Buddhism, after they have been conducted, the help one gets will be from the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. The levels are different.

At that time, there was a retreat hut for His Holiness, too, which was about 100 meters away from my hut. The reason that he had a hut at the place was that he was aware that I might die that year, therefore, he stayed near me and kept his eyes open for me. If my chanting of the mantra was a little louder, he could hear the sound. He knew that every day, I got up at four in the morning, and went to bed at ten or eleven at night. At the time between getting up and going to sleep, I had always been chanting the mantra. At that time, the mantra I had chanted in my practice was longer, with 150 words, and was especially difficult to chant. His Holiness had continuously waited and made sure that I would not have died, and only then had he come out of his retreat hut to walk around or see things around. You might say why His Holiness had not told me this in advance. It was because that in the Dharma, there is no ‘fixed Dharma’ – causes and conditions change at any time. All occurrences that will happen to you have depended on your own casual conditions. If you have truly listened and done your practices, things will then change for you, of course. At the time of my retreat there, I never asked His Holiness what would happen after I would have practiced this Dharma method or what kind of benefits I would get. I never asked him that. To me, chanting a mantra was chanting a mantra, and how to do visualizations was just that – how to do visualizations. (There were no needs to wonder about other things.)

I was the first of His Holiness’s disciples who had been led by him to go to the Lapchi Snow Mountain in Nepal to conduct a retreat for the Hevajra, which is in the Highest Yoga Tantra. Originally, in 2019, His Holiness had wanted to lead me to be there again for a retreat but, because of the coronavirus pandemic, we could not go. Will we go there again in the future? As His Holiness and I are both old now, perhaps we will not be able to.

It is not that once you have completed the practice of the Guru Yoga in the Four Uncommon Preliminary Practices you can participate in the empowerment puja today. There is a disciple who has finished her practice of Guru Yoga; she cannot attend this puja because she loves her son more than she respects her guru. (Her son has passed away but her deep remembrance of him has hindered her respect towards her guru.) Before, I had brought my child to seek an audience with His Holiness. The first thing I did then was to get my child making prostrations to His Holiness. The reason that this disciple had behaved this way was just to see how I would say about her behavior. If the result was what she had expected that it was for the good of her son, she would then make prostrations to me and said that she was grateful to me, her guru. If what I would say was not what she wanted to hear, she would not make prostrations. There are 99% of you who are having this kind of mindsets. Yunga Rinpoche once said that Tantra will be in this mundane world for only 700 years and then it will disappear. What kind of minds do sentient beings have nowadays? It is the mind of not respecting teachers. People do not know the attitude and manners at all in respecting teachers and their teachings. Everyone thinks that he or she is amazing with thoughts that are different from others.

Yesterday, there were three disciples who came to make their offerings to me. They did not know that they should have made offerings with humbleness and respect in their minds. They thought making an offering was just a process, therefore, they left after finishing the so-called SOP (Standard Operation Procedure). I do not know what they were rushing for. If you do not have time, or are afraid of kneeling in front of me, then do not come to see me.

A disciple passed away recently. Before he died, he had implored me for help to let him die sooner. I said to him to just wait. Why? Because his karma had not been paid off yet; the time of his death had not arrived. This situation had been continuing until one day I had a thought arisen and I helped him by performing a Dharma. Then he passed away the next day. If the time has not come, and if you want to learn something on Buddhism, or if you want a Dharma method transmitted to you, you will not learn the thing as you wish or get the transmission of the method. There are some people who think that as they have been so respectful of me, why I still do not transmit Dharmas to them. Well, if I do not transmit Dharmas, it is just that – no transmissions. There is just nothing there for you. I have a very close relationship with His Holiness, right? Even I have to implore him for Dharmas, not to mention you, needing to implore me for them.

Before, Marpa, for three times, had carried lots of gold in yaks and horses to India to implore Dharmas. In learning this from Marpa, I have also implored Dharmas with gold. The root-guru of the Hevajra, which is in the Highest Yoga Tantra, is exactly Marpa. He went to India three times to implore Dharmas, and each time he carried gold with him. This should have shown that Marpa was very rich, as a local nobleman or at least a man dominating that certain area. Such a person was able to live a very good life. However, he still had this mind to implore Dharmas for sentient beings with all his properties and what he possessed. His Holiness once said publicly that I have supported the Order with donations about US$17 million. Do not misunderstand that the Dharma can be bought with money. No, this is not so. To me, the Dharma is much more precious than gold; I am most willingly to implore Dharmas with gold. The key point here is not about money; rather, it is about my attitude – I have listened. It is about my mind. For you, you can listen to a Dharma and this means you have good fortune; your being able to attend an empowerment ritual also shows that you have good fortune. As for whether you can master your practices or not later on, that depends on your luck and attributes.

I came here, the Center, around 10:00 this morning to perform some rituals of this Dharma. At that time, you were still living your life at home very happily. For those of you having finished the Four Uncommon Preliminary Practices, the completion of these practices does not mean that you will certainly be transmitted this Dharma text. There are many of you present who have not surrendered yourselves completely, for 100% (to the learning of Buddhism and the practices of the Dharma). Tantra is very strict in its rules and details, but it is not difficult to learn and to practice. In the Ratnakuta Sutra, it is continuously mentioned what the mind of Bodhisattvas is. Do you have such a mind? No, you do not. If not, what is your thinking based on that you can learn this kind of great Dharma methods which can immediately ‘benefit others by benefiting oneself’? The Buddha’s reward-body means this: giving you a Dharma method directly.

Last time when I performed the Medicine Buddha for you, it was to let you form an affinity with this Buddha. Although that was the first time I performed that Dharma, those who participated in that puja smelt a very fragrant scent of herb. Why could this have been achieved? Because it was the mind – my mind. There is a saying, ‘delve thoroughly into a Dharma method’. As long as you have attained accomplishments on a Dharma, you can achieve attainments on any Dharmas because of this same principle involved: ‘bodhicitta and compassion’. This Dharma is not transmitted universally or widely because if it is transmitted to wrong persons, such a transmission will harm those people themselves or sentient beings. Also, this Dharma can definitely benefit sentient beings directly. If a person uses it to make money, making himself or herself famous, what will the result be then? It will be undermining the Dharma. His Holiness has so many disciples in Taiwan, and they are very respectful of him, too. Why am I the one who has been able to receive continuously the transmissions of Dharmas? It is because my respect towards him is just one of the conditions; the other factor is that I have listened.

For example, for those who smoke, I have told them to quit smoking; they don’t listen to me though, and they think it is all right not to do it until the following day. I have already known that there are problems in their lungs. The smokers might fall into the Hell Realm after they die. Some of them will ask, ‘Why will I fall into hells? I have not done bad deeds!’ In sutras, it is mentioned that as demon kings and demon women had not been able to counter Shakyamuni Buddha, demon women threw their stool and urine on the earth. Those body wastes have become drugs. Cigarettes are considered chronic drugs and have a very stinky smell, which are disliked by devas, nagas and others of eight groups of non-humans. They and Dharma protectors are the precursors of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. As devas, nagas and others of eight groups of non-humans do not like the stinky smell of cigarettes, they will not come to protect you – if you are a smoker; they leave you. The Buddha and Bodhisattvas will not come either.

If people who have not learned Buddhism and are smokers, and if they fall into 18 layers of hells after they die, those, who have learned Buddhism but continued smoking when alive, might fall into hells with fewer layers. The non-Buddhist smokers may need to stay in hells for a few thousands of years; the Buddhist smokers, however, might remain there for a few hundreds of, or 1,000, years, and then come out of hells. When my father was alive, he had practiced Taoism and attained the state of ‘genuine self-elements being out of the body’. He had smoked though. Because he had done many good deeds, when he died, the power of goodness ‘blocked up’ his passage to hells so that he did not fall into hells immediately. His soul and spirit had then been in an unconscious state and been asleep for two dozen years until I woke him up after I have learned Buddhism. If I have not learned it, what would my father have been through? If you have learned Buddhism but you still smoke, after you die, your soul and spirit will be asleep, being astray and lost; you will not wake up. When you do, you are to fall into hells.

The Dharma text for today’s empowerment performance is called the Empowerment of the Sadhana of Medicine Buddha of Sambhogakaya (Reward-Body). In accordance with the teachings of the guru, the ‘gate’ of siddhi (accomplishment) will be opened. The empowerment bestowed to you today is to open the gate of siddhi. Once this gate is opened you need to get in; then after you have entered through the gate, you are to do your practices. It will be useless if you do not go in after the gate is opened. Do not still behave as the type of ‘doing things to suit oneself’; do not have this attitude that ‘you can say whatever you want and I will just do the ways I wish’, thinking that you will be fine as long as you are not noticed by me. Those who are to receive an empowerment must have full respect arisen towards the yidam and their guru; they cannot have any senses of doubt and arrogance in their minds. Persons who have such senses will not obtain the benefits of the empowerment.”

(Rinpoche started bestowing the empowerments of body, speech and mind. Then the Tsok Ritual and tea-offering ritual were in progress. The Dharma performance came to a perfect completion.)

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Updated on October 17, 2022