His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s Puja Teachings – November 14, 2021

His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche ascended the Dharma throne, and expounded on “Scroll 19, ‘Immovable Tathagata Assembly’ (Chapter 6, Section 1)” of the Ratnakuta Sutra.

“There is another title in sutras for Immovable Tathagata and it is called Aksobhya of the East. In Exoteric Buddhism, it is almost never heard of that there are people practicing methods of this Buddha or making prostrations to this Buddha. In Tantra of Tibetan Buddhism, there are also very few people enshrining this Buddha. However, gurus who practice Highest Yoga Tantra in Tantrism all know that Immovable Tathagata is a very important yidam. In Highest Yoga Tantra practices, there are many yidams with a ‘head set’ (the guru of the yidam) of Immovable Tathagata.

I have not read or spoken of this part of the sutra before, but as I have mastered the practices on Highest Yoga Tantra, my cultivation has a very strong relevance to Immovable Tathagata. Thus, today, I will try to expound this section of the sutra, hoping that all sentient beings can form an affinity with Immovable Tathagata. If you are able to have such an affinity with this Buddha in this life, perhaps in your future lives you will have opportunities to learn Highest Yoga Tantra.

Many people think that the way to learn Tantra is to implore the guru for its Dharma methods, and the guru then is to transmit them; once the supplications have been made, people can then learn these methods and practice them. Actually, when one implores for Dharmas, it is not necessary that this person will receive the transmissions of them. In the past, when the Second Patriarch, Huike, implored Bodhidharma for Dharmas, in that afternoon and in the snow, he cut off an arm, making it as an offering to Bodhidharma; he also knelt until the following morning. Then, Bodhidharma opened the door and saw what had happened; only then, he said to Huike, ‘This is just about right. I will transmit Dharmas to you.’ Not to mention cutting off an arm, even asking you to pluck out a hair is out of the question. Then, how can you implore for Dharmas and receive them? Many people think that practices of Zen School are easy to do in that one just needs to sit there cross-legged. If it were this easy, Bodhidharma would not have tested Master Huike.

The Second Patriarch, Huike, cut off an arm but he still did not bleed to death. This meant that he had already achieved attainment. Those who have practiced Tibetan Tantra know very well that Huike had attained realization in Emptiness; he was completely different from us. For cutting off an arm, not to mention it being so painful, the person will die from too much bleeding. Huike knelt outside in heavy snow for a whole night but was not frozen to death. To practitioners of Esoteric Buddhism, he had already mastered the Kundalini (practices of qi-channel). Many people look down on Zen School, and they think that practicing in that School is just sitting in meditation without doing anything else; it is just pondering some phrases, like ‘Mountains being seen are not mountains. Water being seen is not water.’ All these concepts are incorrect. From this story, we can see very clearly that Master Huike had already mastered Tantra practices, but because he had not obtained citta (essence of the Dharma) of truly attaining Buddhahood, he still needed to implore for Dharmas.

Bodhidharma and Venerable Milarepa of the Kagyu Order appeared in the same era. It has been recorded that they had met; it was just that the citta they had practiced on were different. Venerable Milarepa had inherited the Mahamudra that had been spread from the lineage in areas of the Ganges. For Bodhidharma, the Dharma he had obtained was the Zen Buddhism that had been spread from India. Then, the Sixth Patriarch, Huineng, left this sentence, ‘A flower blooms into five petals.’ It did not indicate that ‘A flower blooms into five petals and then fruits are produced.’ Huineng did not pass down his garb, alms bowl and citta. You can see that the quote is not mentioned in the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch contains words of the Dharma spoken of by Huineng during the pujas he had held. In this sutra, there are no explanations as to why he had been so amazing in mastering the practices of Zen School. Thus, Zen School is also Tantra.

My disciples have been trying to reach for what are beyond their grasps. They think that after taking refuge in me for several years, they will get me to transmit whatever Dharma methods they have implored me for. They also think that after they have received the transmissions, they will be able to master the practices. You don’t really have this kind of attributes to learn and practice such Dharmas. All the Mahasiddhas of the past, in the progresses of their practices, had encountered many hardships and difficulties. How could there have been such comforts for them like you have now? Once you come back home and after you have settled in and eaten your meal, you would then sit down, burn an incense for Dharma Protector Achi and chant the mantra for two rounds of prayer beads; then you would say you have practiced for that day. When you are in a good mood, you would chant three more rounds of the Great Six-Syllable Mantra to Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara; when you are in a bad mood, you would take a day off from chanting, saying that you would make it up on the next day. There are no such methods in practicing the Dharma.

No one knows in which life you have planted a great fortune that has made you find me in this life. I have come to this world in this life to repay debts and to repay kindness. Once they have been paid off, I am gone. Many years ago, when I was not a Rinpoche yet, a good friend of mine asked me once this question, ‘Do you have any disciples who can receive the Dharmas you have taught?’ I said, ‘no’; there were none. Do not think by reciting sutras or chanting mantras every day, you will receive the Dharmas I have taught you. Do not think because you are a university graduate or you are a physician, you can learn Tantra. It is not possible that you can. Even when I ‘see’ the ancients’ ways of practices, I blush with shame. I have not done my practices to such a degree as they had done. At least, to this day, I have not cut off an arm of mine to make it as an offering to His Holiness. Although I have not done that, I have made all of my thoughts, words and actions as offerings to him.

Today, I am going to expound on Immovable Tathagata to let you know a little about and to form an affinity with Immovable Tathagata. Shakyamuni Buddha spoke of Buddhas of the West first; He then turned His subjects back and talked about Buddhas of the East. Perhaps there are some people who like to move towards the West; head towards the East then! From the ways Shakyamuni Buddha speaking of sutras and expounding the Dharma, we know that He explained very clearly on every yidam or every Buddha. These clear explanations included how a certain Buddha has attained Buddhahood and after becoming a Buddha, what kinds of merits that such a Buddha has accomplished. From this point, we know very well that Shakyamuni Buddha is a Buddha. He did not hide information about any yidams or did not speak of them if these yidams have affinities with humans on Earth. If Shakyamuni Buddha wanted to speak about all Buddhas in the whole universe, there would definitely not have had enough time. Thus, He had made introductions on those Buddhas and Bodhisattvas having affinities with humans on Earth.

When we know that learning Buddhism is not as simple as following steps like going by a simple lettering-order of ABC, nor is it that difficult like managing a big engineering project, we will then realize that the difficult parts of such learning are about whether or not there are these causal conditions and determination. If it is based on the merits and skills of the Second Patriarch, Huike, he did not need to implore for Dharmas again; he definitely was able to be a powerful practitioner, dominating in a certain area. By cutting off an arm and bleeding for a whole night without being dead means Huike was no longer a human. However, he still needed to implore for Dharmas because he had not obtained citta of attaining Buddhahood. This does not mean he thought that he was unsatisfied for being a Bodhisattva; rather, he considered that was not enough. In order to vastly liberate all sentient beings, only a Buddha can have such great power of merits to perform such tasks. If a person has the attitude of ‘I want to learn more and learn quickly on Buddhism; in this way, it will let me know about Buddhism sooner’, this person cannot master his or her practices.

Why can’t you master your practices? You are all laity. You have many, many things to handle every day; even when you have nothing to do, you will find things to deal with. You don’t have time to practice diligently; you only ‘steal’ your time to practice or to make prostrations. Also, you don’t listen and are the type of ‘doing things to suit oneself’; for handling things, you do what you like, what you can or what you understand, and for the rest of things, you don’t listen. Because you are disobedient, you will not be transmitted real citta. Do not think that once you receive a Dharma text, you can master that Dharma method. For a same Dharma text, not to mention His Holiness, for me, say, on the same text of the Simplified Version of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara Ritual, I can speak of ten methods for you to practice on. Do you think that once you receive the Dharma text of this simplified ritual, and once you recite it and chant the mantra, you can master this Dharma method? Why can I speak of the ten methods? It is because there are different levels of practices on this Dharma text. There are many kinds of citta that I will not speak about for you to listen to – you have not reached to such a level yet. You cannot even be respectful to your guru; how will it be possible that I will tell you about citta? It is not that there are secrets or I am reluctant to transmit it. Because of your disrespect towards your guru, if I expound on citta to you, you will think, ‘Is it really so?’ or ‘Is this it?’ If you have these kinds of doubts arisen, and even if you have done very well in your practices, you can only ‘go’ to the so-called city-of-doubt outside of Amitabha’s Pure Land, and you will not see the Buddha for 500 ages. Thus, I do not want to harm you.

Now, my strictness has become prominent with a reputation spreading far and wide. At the lecture the other day, many people from outside of this Center came to tell us this, ‘We all know this Rinpoche; he is very strict.’ From the Buddhist rules set up by the Buddha, actually, I have already been very polite to you. Today, I have even allowed you to come and participate in the puja. What kind of a life do you live in? A good life. It is like having our monastery being built now. Originally, I thought that by relying on some professionals, many issues could have been solved. Now, it has turned out that I have been the one settling all these issues. Why have things become like these? It is because when those (from the Center) handling various things on the monastery project had not understood the working details or processes, they did not speak out. Then, on what I had told them to do, they did not directly implement those things; they thought it was impossible to do things based on my instructions. Actually, what I have said are definitely possible to be done.

Today, I will expound on Immovable Tathagata, and it is not because I hope that you will have a fast progress in your practices; rather, the purpose is to help you form an affinity with Immovable Tathagata, and to let you have opportunities to learn Highest Yoga Tantra in Tantrism in your future lifetimes. In other Buddhist centers, this Dharma method might be easily transmitted, but it will not be so here. Even if you implore me for it by rolling on the ground or crying and making a noisy scene, I will not transmit Highest Yoga Tantra to you because you don’t have this kind of attributes to learn and practice it. If you can accomplish a little of what I have done, then you have such attributes. Are you so obedient to listen? When His Holiness instructed me to conduct a retreat, I went immediately to conduct one; when he said to me, ‘You are to build a gilded roof on Drikung Thil Monastery.’ I did it immediately even without money being ready. Have you ever done what I had done? No, you have not. As that is the case, how are you qualified to let me continuously teach you many Dharmas?

Everybody knows that I am very strict. A very important fact in my being strict is that I refrain from making a false speech. For things I understand, I will not tell you that I don’t; for things I don’t understand, I will not say that I understand them. Simply speaking, if you have the attributes for learning some Dharma methods, and if you implore me for them, I definitely will transmit them to you. If you don’t have the attributes, no matter how you implore for the methods, they will not be transmitted to you; however, on the offerings you make to me, I will still accept them though, like before. Why will I accept the offerings as usual? It is because that for practicing the Bodhisattva Path, the first step is to practice ‘path of accumulation’, and the first thing to accumulate on this path is good fortune. Without making offerings, where will good fortune come from? It is not that I want money; if I have wanted it, I will not have our monastery built. I myself have donated close to NT$200 million to the monastery construction project. I am already 74 years old; if I have kept this amount of money, I could have used it until I die and there is still some left. You are all calculating about your money this way: this sum of money is for the cost of a coffin and that sum is for something else. Only on what money is remaining, you will then give it to me as an offering. No wonder Shakyamuni Buddha called monastics ‘mendicant monks.’ I am one of them, too.

Today, this section of the sutra will be expounded. From it, you should know clearly that every Buddha has different requirements and conditions for all practitioners. This is not saying that each Buddha’s compassion is different; rather, there are differences in each Buddha’s practicing processes. Naturally, every Buddha will require believers to have these conditions met. For example, since I have taken refuge as a Buddhist, I have been strict in observing precepts and in other things, et cetera; by following rules, I have come up like this and been at where I am. Thus, it is not possible for me to open the big gate, allowing you doing whatever you want. You also know very well of this that because I have observed precepts very strictly, there are many things that are quite strange, including your affairs, can all be solved. These are all about precepts and observing them.

After I had finished expounding the Infinite Life Sutra, I found that the next subject in the sutra is to expound on Immovable Tathagata. In the past few years, I have practiced the Dharma methods of a few yidams, and they all have their ‘head set’ (the guru) as Immovable Buddha. Thus, I have implored Shakyamuni Buddha to let me have the capability to expound this section of the sutra to you, letting you being able to form an affinity with Immovable Tathagata.

Sutra: ‘Thus have I heard.’

All the sutras that we have seen now had not been written down at the venues when Shakyamuni Buddha transmitted the pith instructions. More than 2,000 years ago, recording equipment was not available, and such teachings had been relied on by memories of the disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha. After the Buddha had entered into nirvana, there were 500 arhats gathering together; they then entered into a state of meditation and slowly spoke out what they had heard on all the teachings of the Buddha. This is the reason why the first sentence of a sutra is certainly this: “Thus have I heard.” It means ‘I had heard these from what the Buddha had said. These are not what I have thought, nor are they explanations from many reasons that I have come up with from my thinking.’ This also means every word in a sutra had been spoken of by the Buddha. You will definitely ask why there were nothing having been recorded on site. I believe that Shakyamuni Buddha would not have been slow-witted like this that nothing had been written down. This was because when He expounded the Dharma, all arhats, bhikkhus and bhikkhunis were all in a state of meditation to listen to the Dharma He taught. How would they have had the time to write?

Out there, when many people listen to the Dharma expounded, they will write down in pens, or use computers or cellphones to type, on what they have heard. They will even photograph the lecture materials with their cellphones as they think they will know the contents when they look at photos after they get home. These will be of no use. If those things were useful, when Shakyamuni Buddha expounded the Dharma, He would have instructed someone writing down His teachings. For example, now I expound the Dharma every Sunday, and at each puja, I have never allowed my disciples to write down any of my teachings on site. You only need to listen to what I say. Afterwards, I will look at every word written by some disciples (after the puja) from their memories. This is an ancient method of teachings. Before, when I participated in pujas of Exoteric Buddhism or Tibetan Buddhism, I always wondered much why attendees did not listen attentively. In pujas, there will be many Buddhist terms which might not be remembered by participants. That is all right because one can look these terms up in Buddhist Dictionaries at any time. The most important thing on listening to teachings is about their meanings. The quote of ‘Thus have I heard’ about the Buddha’s teachings has broken myths for many people.

In India and in that era, there were already paper and pens to be used for record-keeping. However, Shakyamuni Buddha had expounded the Dharma for decades but He had never gotten anyone to record His teachings. It was after He had entered into nirvana, there were 500 arhats closing the door and entering into a state of meditation on sutras that they had listened to and had been ‘stored’ in their Eighth Consciousness; they then wrote down, one by one, of these sutras taught by the Buddha. This is why I do not allow you to write down my teachings when you listen to the Dharma. If you say that if you don’t write it down, you are afraid that you will not remember it, that indicates you do not have good fortune, you don’t believe in the Dharma or you do not have such root capacity to remember it.

Sutra: ‘Once, the Buddha was at Mount Grdhrakuta in Rajgir with an assembly of twelve hundred and fifty great bhikkhus. They were arhats and had been known and met by people. These arhats had the eradication of affliction and had no more affliction on them. Their minds and wisdom had been liberated and been at ease without hindrances like great dragons.’

Mount Grdhrakuta is a small hill and I might have been there two or three times before. At that time, I had made lots of monetary offerings to His Holiness; he then also bought this small hill. According to history, when Shakyamuni Buddha went to the Trayastrimsa Heaven to speak of the Dharma, He entered into a meditative state and expounded the Sutra of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha’s Fundamental Vows there. He had gone up to that Heaven from this hill. Around Shakyamuni Buddha, there were 1,250 people near Him, therefore, every time when the Buddha spoke of the Dharma, there were at least 1,250 people gathering and listening to it. They were not ordinary monastics; they had already attained a fruition level of an arhat. All their affliction – anything that will produce karmic retribution – had already been eradicated, and they had achieved attainment with no affliction on them. Their minds and wisdom had been liberated from affliction.

‘Being at ease’ is not what we say that one is to live a very comfortable or pleasant life; rather, it refers to a state that one is to have pure wisdom and pure, original essence, with both not having been bound by any affliction. It means this person’s mind and wisdom have already recovered the originally pure features; such a mind and such wisdom are like a great dragon is having that it can fly up to the sky or dive into the sea whenever it wants. Of course, arhats will not be having fun like that all day long. The meaning is that their minds and wisdom will not be bound by any persons, circumstances and objects in the mundane world.

Sutra: ‘Having accomplished what were needed to be done and having abandoned heavy burdens, they had obtained what were to benefit themselves and eradicated knots of affliction’

These arhats had attained accomplishments in the practices of the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination. The Four Noble Truths are suffering, desire, the way to emancipation, and elimination of suffering. In accordance with Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, the arhats had eradicated all affliction and abandoned the burdens of reincarnation.

‘Knots’ means ‘knots of affliction’. Arhats do their practices to benefit themselves. Why did Shakyamuni Buddha, at His later years’ teachings, mention that practicing Hinayana was not very good? It was because such practices did not benefit sentient beings, and only benefited practitioners themselves without benefiting others. If Hinayana practitioners do not have supervisions of good teachers, such practitioners will be easily not practicing compassion in their continuing practices. They will only think about practicing for themselves to get liberated from birth and death, and from reincarnation; it is very easy for them to fall into a state of being selfish and self-serving. Practitioners who practice only for themselves will not care for anything; all day long, they will close the doors, sit in meditation, contemplate and break away from all affliction. Why did the Buddha, in His teachings of later years, spread the Bodhisattva Path and less of Hinayana? This was because in the Age of Dharma Decline, sentient beings will have heavy burden of affliction or heavy karma. If they have been taught to practice Hinayana, they will become more and more selfish while they practice; they will care only for themselves and for nothing else. This will be a little terrible. When practitioners are very selfish, caring for nothing, such behaviors and mindsets are far-off from the greatness of the Dharma. Shakyamuni Buddha then, at His later years’ teachings, specialized in spreading the Bodhisattva Path. What have been mentioned in the Ratnakuta Sutra are the teachings for the Bodhisattva Path.

Sutra: ‘The right teachings have connections and accessibilities in reaching the opposite shore.’

Although they were practitioners practicing only for themselves, they had practiced in accordance with all the methods taught by Shakyamuni Buddha. They knew all the connections and accessibilities among such methods. ‘Connections’ means one Dharma method can connect with all other Dharma methods, and such connections can also have ‘accessibilities’ to achieve the goal of reaching the opposite shore, the Buddha’s Pure Land.

Sutra: ‘There was only Ananda abiding in a place of learning.’

There was only Ananda who continued to learn the Dharma. Ananda was an attendant of Shakyamuni Buddha, whose daily life, like in food or in drink, had all been attended and served by Ananda. This meant Ananda had made sacrifices on his own practices and focused his life on attending and making offerings to Shakyamuni Buddha. In order to protect Ananda, Shakyamuni Buddha said that Ananda had not practiced. Because of this, other disciples of the Buddha thought that Ananda had not practiced, so they despised him. Later, after the Buddha had entered into nirvana, and when these 500 arhats gathered together to write down sutras from what the Buddha had taught, they locked the door and did not allow Ananda to get in. Then Ananda showed his supernature power and entered into the room by passing through the keyhole. This proved and confirmed that Ananda had indeed achieved the learning of the Dharma. The Buddha was worrying that others would be jealous of Ananda (because of his being an attendant of the Buddha); then everyone would create negative karma. It is like the situation of my attendant. Some people will think that the person must be very amazing so as to be at my side all the time to attend me. They then will think of ways to convey their matters to me through this attendant; they deem that he definitely has practiced very well. There were stories like this more than 2,000 years ago, and now you have repeated the situation. In order to get Ananda remaining at the Buddha’s side to attend Him, the Buddha said that Ananda was still learning His teachings and that ‘he is just my attendant’.

Being a guru is very toilsome. Ananda’s guru, at the Buddha’s state of being, would not have lied. It was just that the Buddha did not tell others at what states that Ananda had mastered his practices. During the time I had started spreading the Dharma, His Holiness had never said, in front of other people, how amazing my practices had been. He has only started saying so in recent years. This is because I have done my practices in accordance with the Dharma principles, and other people have seen my accomplishment, too. Thus, it has been all right to say such a comment; before I have not attained accomplishment, there would not have this kind of saying. Here, the Buddha suddenly had been ‘fixing’ Ananda, giving him trouble, by saying, in front of 1,250 great arhats, that he had not yet attained accomplishment. This quote is an addendum. So, if one day, all of a sudden, I say, ‘This person has not practiced.’ Do not think that the person has not done practices. Shakyamuni Buddha taught me this trick.

Why have I expounded the Dharma this way? Because my mind is too subtle and meticulous. Some people say the reason that His Holiness has transmitted so many Dharma methods to me is because I have made lots of offerings to him. It is really not like this. Actually, at that time I had just become a guru and started accepting believers as my disciples, and I did not have these many Dharma texts. Now I am able to have them because I have braced myself and not been afraid to die. I have taken on all your things as my responsibilities. It is strange then; when I have started wanting a monastery built, you do not take on the responsibility for the project. You still want to wait, to see clearly about the situation, and to evaluate whether there are benefits to you or not if you help me get the monastery built. I am old now; if you treat me this way, I will treat you the same way as well.

When expounding this passage, I have felt the same as what had been described in the sutra. I have experienced it before. Shakyamuni Buddha was the one spreading the Dharma, and He would not have gotten this quote suddenly emerged when He was teaching the sutra. Now, I have seen this quote, and I thank Shakyamuni Buddha for speaking it out – He was protecting His attendant.

Sutra: ‘At that time, the Venerable Sariputra rose from his seat, uncovered his right shoulder, knelt upon his right knee, joined the palms of his hands together towards the Buddha, and he said to the World Honored One, “How did Great Bodhisattvas of the past give rise to Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhicitta (Supreme Enlightenment), do their practices with pure behaviors all over the places, and, with diligence as their covers of armor of mails, attain merits and solemnity? For those Bodhisattvas, as they were covered by such an armor, they had obtained the state of non-retrogression in Supreme Enlightenment.”’

Sariputra implored for the Dharma on behalf of sentient beings. He asked Shakyamuni Buddha a question as how those Great Bodhisattvas of the past gave rise to Supreme Enlightenment, did ‘their practices with pure behaviors all over the places, and, with diligence as their covers of armor of mails, attained merits and solemnity’.

‘With diligence as their covers of armor of mails’ means with the Dharma and precepts as armor of mails and helmets, the Bodhisattvas could only then attain merits and solemnity. Under the protection of the armor of mails and helmets of ‘precept body’, these Bodhisattvas could then be able to practice and obtain the state of non-retrogression in Supreme Enlightenment. It is mentioned very clearly here that without precepts there will be no protection. Do not think that you have observed precepts; almost every one of you has not done that. If you don’t observe them, there will be no protection for you. Precepts are not rules and standards that will not let us do a certain thing or if we do it, we will be punished; rather, they are to protect us. It is because we do not know that there are various kinds of negative karma we have committed through lifetime after lifetime. Such negative karma includes the karma having been committed by our ancestors, and it is related to us, too. We don’t even know about it. When you are aspired to learn Buddhism and do practices, and if there is no ‘precept body’ as your armor of mails and helmets to protect you, the karma from your accumulated past lifetimes will infringe on you and even undermine your practices. Why am I strict? It is because I know very well that if there is no protection of precepts for me, I will be harmed, at any time, by my karma committed through lifetime after lifetime and by the karma created by my ancestors. It is not that I am afraid of being harmed by such karma; rather, I will be harmed by not being able to attain realization in Supreme Enlightenment with the state of non-retrogression.

Why are there many people who have learned Buddhism, in their practicing processes, still moving two steps forward but then one step backward, or even keeping three steps forward and then moving four steps backward? It is because those people have not observed precepts. You do not think that you have broken away from the Five Precepts! Nevertheless, within the scope of the Five Precepts, there are many subtle and detailed ones. Recently, there was a disciple who wanted to follow what other people do on ‘pure living’ as a celibacy in that she wanted to sleep in a separate room from her husband; she used me as a ‘shield’ – an excuse (that she is learning Buddhism from me) – for her thinking of this way. Obviously, I had told you before that in the Ratnakuta Sutra, it is written that the laity cannot refuse reasonable requests from family members. If requests are made to monastics from their family members, of course, the situations are not allowed. Practicing ‘pure living’ refers to the practices of monastics. There are now half of you present here using me as your ‘shields’. If you know clearly that there are things you don’t want to do, then just tell people directly so; it is all right. If you don’t want to do certain things, do not use me as your ‘shields’.

Yesterday, a believer brought his girlfriend here for an audience with me, and he implored me for the permission to let them participate in pujas. At prior two times, when he implored me for the same thing, I did not give the permission. They came again yesterday for the same reason, and again, I did not tell him why I refused his request. I instructed a monastic to talk to him. It turned out that some of his girlfriend’s family members were ill, so he and the girl would like to attend pujas, thinking that such participations would bring them blessings and protection. I then scolded this man, the believer. His father had cheated me and later had a terminal disease. This believer, having seen his father suffering very much during the illness, got scared. He had also witnessed that before his father died, I had blessed the old man a little. After my blessing, his father’s pain had been reduced and then he passed away. The son knows I am amazing so now he has turned around and sought audiences with me. That is all right. However, he did tell me directly the real reason of his girlfriend’s imploring to participate in pujas; rather, he was like holding a beautiful sign saying that they wanted to learn Buddhism. If she had implored for what she wanted at another Buddhist center, she would have been very welcome and been told to be there quickly. I would say to her that she was not to come here because she did not really want to learn Buddhism. If one does not really want to learn it, there will be issues occurring to the person later. This believer had taken refuge in me before. Yesterday, when he came to implore me for attending pujas, I scolded him again. I said to him, ‘For a dozen or twenty years, you had seen your father slandering me but you had thought nothing of it as he had seemed all right. Your mother could not have handled you and your father, either. Then, you left the Center. For the past few years, your mother has always been worrying about you so you have let your mother down. She has been living frugally to save money so as to give you all you want. Then, today, you still did not tell the truth.’

My power of forbearance is very strong. Do not think that I just scold you all the time. I will wait until the time is right, and then I will ‘shoot an arrow’ at you to point out your faults. There is a special reminder mentioned here that whether you want to become a Bodhisattva or attain Buddhahood, getting liberated from birth and death, precepts, transmitted to you by your guru, are what protect you. You must be covered by them (as your armor); there are no reasons for you to cut corners, observe precepts slowly or say to yourself that it is all right to wait. To me, it is all right but to you, it is not. The armor of mails and helmets – precepts – must cover you every second of 24 hours a day. This armor has no weight and does not cost money, so why don’t you want it? People are strange. If I tell you that I will give you an armor made of gold and you need to cover your body with it, you will definitely do so.

It is like the situation that some of my disciples, when they are at the Center, will lose Dharma texts or the vest worn by Glorious Jewel disciples. They never lose their money though because money is very important, and they certainly will keep it safe. If disciples have lost their vests and think that they can implore me for a new one, I absolutely will not give them another one. Similarly, if they have lost a Dharma text and implored me for a new text, thinking that as such texts are printed copies, printing another copy is all right, I will not give permission for a re-print either. The reason is that they have broken away from precepts, and have no respect for the Three Jewels. You will say, ‘Are these things so important? The vest is just a piece of cloth, and a Dharma text is just from a few pieces of paper.’ However, in the form of consciousness, if your mind has not been trained to think that these things are very important, and if you view forever that the Three Jewels are not important, you will use them incessantly to satisfy your desires. In this way, you will break away from precepts at any time. Once precepts have not been observed, you will have issues occurring. After things have happened to you, you will then say, again, that you want to repent. The one who suffers is you, not I. I will only feel sadness, not pain. I feel sad because I will need to liberate one more sentient being; that is very toilsome, and is a hard work.

Sutra: ‘“World Honored One, on such actions, vows and with aspirations, we implore you, the Honorable One, to expound and speak of them in great compassion. World Honored One, those Great Bodhisattvas, for benefiting and giving comforts and joys to the worlds of heavenly beings and humans, have diligently practiced and learned with pure behaviors all over the places and with diligence as their covers of armor of mails.”’

The Buddha said that all Great Bodhisattvas, for benefiting ‘the worlds of heavenly beings and humans’, will get them to abide in the states of no affliction or suffering. It is just like that Amitabha will get all sentient beings, having vowed to be reborn, to abide in the Buddha’s Pure Land, and in that land, there is no affliction or suffering. ‘Joys’ does not mean the joys of mundane world; rather, that word refers to the joys of doing practices or the joys of not to reincarnate forever.

The word ‘pure’ is mentioned many times here. The definition of purity is asking for nothing. For instance, in the way of my spreading the Dharma, I do not prepare to do something else later through my presiding over some puja. Here is an example. The Great Indiscriminate Amitabha Puja for Transferring Consciousness has been held each year. I will not use this puja to carry out some matters that I want to do. In the puja of last year (2020), there were more than 20,000 people coming to participate in it. I could have openly announced that ‘As I am currently having a monastery built, whoever makes monetary offerings to me will get my blessings.’ However, I did not say it, and there was not even a promotional video of the monastery construction shown. Originally, the puja organizers (my disciples) had wanted to show such a video in the puja but I said ‘no’ that I would not allow it shown. This was because, on that day, I was to preside over the Amitabha Puja of Transferring Consciousness; it was not a puja for fundraising.

You do not know the differences between promoting or not promoting the monastery project in the puja. Of all my disciples, none of them knows why I did not have such promotions made at that time. The reason is of purity. I have had pujas held for sentient beings, not for the money, and that is why I have been able to liberate so many sentient beings without mishaps. In that puja, if each one of you ‘brought’ (by listing names to be liberated) ten ghosts (dead loved ones), there were 200,000 ghosts, not to mention the count being in 100s from every one of you; there were bunches of sentient beings. From the fact that none of you knows the reason that I did not promote our monastery project in that puja, I will say that there are these two things leading to such a fact: you have not observed precepts and you have not done pure practices. You totally do not know where your guru’s mind is.

Why did those disciples want to show the promotional video for me in that puja? Because there were so many attendees there. The video might as well be shown and the monastery project could be promoted incidentally. Then, more believers could be ‘grasped’ to make ‘offerings’ – monetary support – to the monastery project. However, I have distinguished very well about our activities that a concert is a concert and a lecture is a lecture. In concerts that have been organized by Glorious Jewel, on related documents, like tickets or programs, have I ever told you to include additional information about donations to the monastery project? No, I have not. Contrarily, you have differentiated quite clearly between you and me on many things.

In that Grand Puja, I did not publicize the matter of fundraising of our monastery project because I believe in Shakyamuni Buddha and cause and effect. All my behaviors need to be in accordance with what have been mentioned in sutras. On the contrary, you do things in opposite ways; you do what you like to do. Why is it that whatever you have recited or chanted are useless? Because your mind is not pure. The Dharma is pure; in it, there is no tiny bit of affliction, greed or desires of the mundane world. If the fruition level of a Rinpoche has been attained, it is all right for the practitioner to perform Dharmas for the Order.

Why will you become all right if I continuously chant mantras or recite the Buddha’s name or sutras? It is because I have the sense of goodness in my mind. Thus, the time for your negative karma becoming manifest will be delayed; such karma will even not be manifest. There is just a fine line between a Dharma activity and doing a business transaction. Once the line is crossed, an act will not be connected with the Dharma but will be simply running a business. Long before the government proclaimed a salary increase, my companies had already announced a salary increase of 4% because of the consideration of current inflation.

Sutra: ‘“Thus, they have benefited and given comforts and joys to all sentient beings, and have shown the Bodhisattvas, of the present and of the future, ways for prevailing the brightness of the Dharma.”’

What these Bodhisattvas had done were to show us that those deeds were like templates for Bodhisattvas of the present and of the future to follow. If you are to practice, you should do methods in such ways, and only then the Dharma can be prevailed in its brightness. If one’s practices have not been done in accordance with these methods, the brightness of the Dharma cannot be possibly revealed. The brightness of the Dharma is not because of there being many people practicing, or many of them reciting Buddha’s name, or sutras, or chanting mantras every day. The most important factors of this brightness come from what have been talked about previously; they are purity, diligence and with precepts as covers of the armor of mails and helmets. These conditions should be practically implemented; there are no compromises.

For Instance, when you chant mantras, you need to sit up straight, and if you do that, your qi-channel will have a good flow of energy. This is relevant to precepts, too. Can you disrespect sentient beings? Can you perfunctorily chant a yidam’s pure mantra? There are some people who will hold their prayer beads and put their feet up, when chanting mantras; there are also others doing such chanting, leaning their bodies against desks. These exactly show that such practices are without diligence or without observing precepts. I am able to sit up straight in chanting mantras because every thought of mine is for sentient beings; I do not chant mantras for myself. Although there is a saying in the Dharma that ‘benefiting others by benefiting oneself’, it is a very simple principle. Once you have benefited sentient beings, you yourself have gotten benefits from the same deeds. If you do not respect sentient beings, you will not sit up straight while chanting mantras.

While conducting retreats, one needs to chant mantras all day long, in six parts a day with two hours a part, totaling 12 hours of chanting a day at least. As for you, not to mention 12 hours, just after chanting for half of an hour, you will collapse. Only when you sit up straight will your qi and blood vessels have a good flow of energy and a good blood circulation. Chanting a mantra is emitting a sound wave, and will be good to your body through your qi and pulses. Why do you need to utter the sound when you chant mantras? It is because when the sound is out, the resonance of your body to the sound will make vibrations to all your bodily channels, circulation of the blood and endocrine. All these ‘internal activities’ will be helpful to your body. If you bend from your waist or tilt your head while chanting mantras, your blood vessels will be crooked.

Some of you will say that you feel unwell. Even so, you should still straighten your body when chanting mantras; you can chant them by sections. For example, for chanting a mantra for a total of 10,000 times, you can divide that number into parts, take a break between parts, and then continue chanting. However, you hope you can finish chanting a total number of times in one-shot so that you can do other things after you have done the chanting. Some people will be in a hurry to watch TV series, and some will be in a rush going for a date. With this kind of mindset to chant mantras, there will be of no use.

What have been talked about earlier are all methods of practicing. Do not think that only Bodhisattvas need to practice these methods. We should start training ourselves to do them even when we are in the land of ordinary people. I am 74 years old, and I also have S-type scoliosis; my cervical vertebrae are crooked, too. I do not feel well when I sit up straight but I still keep my back straight when I chant mantras. This is because I respect sentient beings and yidams. If you do not have right posture, your mind is definitely distorted. When you are at home, think about how you chant mantras. If you tilt your body this way and slant it that way, you do not have any respect for sentient beings and yidams. It is like that today when you are hungry you eat a meal. (This is an ordinary routine.) It means no matter how you have practiced you will be unable to gain a tiny bit of effectiveness. This exactly shows that you are not listening.

Sutra: ‘“Praising the merits is the reason that has been proved in obtaining roots of virtue.”’

In the Sevenfold Offering Prayer, there is a mention of ‘rejoicing in the merits of others.’ That and the praising of those merits can quickly accumulate one’s good fortune. As long as you have praised merits of sentient beings, including those of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, you will have your roots of virtue planted. This is because that as you have identified with and approved all the good that they have done, you have then planted your roots of virtue. If you do not praise sentient beings, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and if you only use them, no matter how you have practiced, you will not have roots of virtue; without such roots, you will have nothing. Many people will say this, ‘Rinpoche has blessed me.’ However, they are unwilling to praise their guru, even if they are put in a situation to be beaten to death (this is an analogy). Why has it been so toilsome to do the fundraising for our monastery construction project? It is because you do not usually praise the merits of your guru to your relatives and friends. You chat with them on many things, so why don’t you tell them, at the same time, about the merits of your guru? You feel very ashamed to talk about these merits; you think that as other people will not believe such things, why will you bother talking about them? Then, you can avoid future quarrels among you and these people. It can also be said that you have no respect for your guru, therefore, you do not have skills to praise the merits of your guru.

Sutra: ‘“Letting Bodhisattvas listen to this Dharma and then they will diligently practice and learn the ‘True Suchness of the Dharma essence’, and will attain Supreme Enlightenment.” The Buddha said, “Excellent! Excellent, Sariputra! You have been able to ask about the Great Bodhisattvas of the past and of the future. Those who are Great Bodhisattvas have acted brightly with pure behaviors, been covered with vast and great armor of mails and helmets and have expounded and spread the merits. These actions are all for the purpose of embracing the Great Bodhisattvas of the future.”’

‘True Suchness of the Dharma essence’ is another way of saying ‘the essence of the Buddha’. Bodhisattvas’ diligent practices and learning are in ‘True Suchness of the Dharma essence’, and they have not done their practices and learning with consciousness or with minds of the mundane world. Thus, they will definitely attain Supreme Enlightenment.

The Buddha said to Sariputra that he had asked for instructions like that, and the Buddha also said what had been done by all Bodhisattvas of the past could be set as examples to embrace the Great Bodhisattvas of the future.

Sutra: ‘“Listen closely. Listen closely. Contemplate in accordance with truth and principles. I shall explain them to you.”’

The Buddha told Sariputra that he should listen attentively to what the Buddha would say. The words, ‘contemplate in accordance with truth and principles’, do not mean using a human brain to think about whether certain words in the Dharma are right or wrong. The ‘truth and principles’ here refers to those of the Dharma. If they are about the Bodhisattva Path that the Buddha had taught, they are the practices of the Six Paramitas for benefitting a great number of sentient beings. If any behavior or word is not to practice the Six Paramitas to benefit a vast number of sentient beings, such an action done or a word uttered does not abide by truth and principles. The meaning of ‘contemplate in accordance with truth and principles’ is that when the Buddha taught the Dharma, we need to listen to it attentively, and contemplate whether or not we have followed the Dharma truth and principles taught by the Buddha. It is not for us to say that ‘I have never heard of it. Is this the meaning? I do not understand it either. I cannot accept it. There is nothing I can do.’ These are the talk of ‘not contemplate in accordance with truth and principles.’ You definitely should not think of the Dharma with human brains. What things people have learned in life are from their life experiences, not from the Dharma. After having listened to the Dharma, one should abide by the Dharma principles taught by the Buddha, and contemplate whether one can master them or not.

‘I shall explain them to you.’ It is that ‘I will tell you about them.’

Sutra: ‘Sariputra said, “Yes indeed, World Honored One; I am listening with great anticipation.”’

The Buddha set up conditions like these: ‘If I see you sitting there casually and listening distractedly, I will not talk; if I feel you thinking nonsense, I will not talk either. If you have met the condition of listening closely to me, then I will talk.’ Many people think that the saying, ‘Listen closely. Listen closely.’, is just telling everyone to listen attentively. No. It is not that; rather, it is that when I tell you to listen concentratedly and if you do not, I will not talk either. I will even drive you out of here. Why have I told you to straighten up your body? Because in that way, you will not fall asleep easily. People who tilt their bodies this way and slant them that way or lean their heads to one side will fall asleep very easily and with their thoughts scattered. If your body is straightened up and your qi (the flow of energy) is quieted down, your mind will be less distracted. For ‘Listen closely’, it is not just relying on your ears; your sitting posture is very important, too.

For pujas organized by the Glorious Jewel Buddhist Center, except for the Grand Pujas held at the Nangang Exhibition Hall, there are no chairs provided for attendees to sit on – not at the Center or anywhere else. After the monastery constructions are completed later on, there will be no chairs to sit on in the monastery either. This is because if one sits on a chair, one will lean on it, and then his or her mind will be distracted. If you sit up straight to the point that you get a backache, you will remind yourself to keep your spirits up and to listen attentively. It is not for you to lower your head pretending that you do not look at me. If you do that, your mind will be distracted.

The Buddha had His requirements to the audience when He spoke of the Dharma. The conditions were that ‘I will not speak about it just because you want to listen to it. Listen closely. Listen closely. Contemplate in accordance with truth and principles.’ If one had not met these conditions, He would not talk. It would be useless for Him to talk because there would be no way for one to accept His teachings. It would then have been a waste of the Buddha’s and the person’s time. It would have been better talking to someone else, who has the affinity and root capacity. If you had met the conditions set up by the Buddha, He would talk to you.

Sariputra also responded to the Buddha that he certainly would do what the Buddha had said, and he would be much willing and very happily being able to listen to the Dharma.

Many of you will think, ‘As the guru doesn’t want to talk, I will get up from my seating position.’ This is why when people – there being many of them – have come to implore me for some things and when I don’t pay much attention to them, they will just hand over their monetary offerings to a monastic at my side. This is because they are not willing, or not quite happily, to implore for things from me. When I cannot satisfy their desires, they will naturally give the monetary offerings to the monastic (who receives the money on my behalf). (Say, you are one of those people.) This is something to do with your thoughts. If you have respected your guru, you will listen to every single word that your guru says. You do not choose between those you like or dislike; all your thoughts, words and actions having existed, uttered or done are for the respect for your guru. Why have you disrespected your guru? Because you choose things you like or you ask for from what your guru has said. When the guru says some words which are not what your heart wishes to hear, your sense of respect towards the guru will be gone immediately. Then, your actions will also be changed in that you will start showing your disrespect and casually messing things around.

All your acts come from the moving of your minds. It is not that your guru who is amazing; you are the persons who are amazing. All of you should listen to this clearly: If you do not respect your guru, your thoughts, words and actions will immediately be changed and be influenced. Do not think this about me, ‘Whatever I want to do, you need to do the same; if you don’t, then you are not compassionate.’ Well, if I am not compassionate, how can I still sit here teaching you for such a long period of time?

Sutra: ‘The Buddha spoke to Sariputra, “From here across one thousand worlds towards the east, there is a land of a Buddha, and it is named Abhirati. In the past, Broad-Eyed Tathagata, having been attuned to right equality and right awareness, appeared there, and spoke to Great Bodhisattvas of the subtle, wonderful Dharma, starting with the Six Paramitas as the lead-subject.”’

The Buddha told Sariputra that from where they were, across one thousand worlds – one thousand Milky Way Galaxies – towards the east, there was a land of a Buddha, and in that land, there was a Buddha named Broad-Eyed Tathagata. Even when the Buddha expounded the Dharma, He had the Six Paramitas as the lead-subject of His teachings. You have not practiced the Six Paramitas; wait slowly to get some accomplishments then! Practicing the Six Paramitas is not to exhaust all your family financial resources, and these methods are not to be practiced with your full strength either; rather, you need to do these practices continuously whenever or wherever there are opportunities. Do not think that ‘There is nothing I can do; my practices have not reached this level yet.’

For the diligence, meditation and wisdom that are mentioned in the later parts of the Six Paramitas, do not wait to have the first three parts done first and then practice these later parts; rather, you need to practice these later parts constantly. Meditation is not sitting there cross-legged and being motionless. The definition of meditation is when you are in concentration to do well in something about the Dharma, as in observing precepts, giving alms or practicing forbearance, and when you are doing it diligently, your mind will then be ‘settled down’. This ‘settled down’ in the mind does not mean you do not contemplate, think or feel completely; rather, your mind will be settled in a state of reduced affliction. If you do not practice the first three methods of the Six Paramitas, you will not gain the later parts at all. If the first three parts have been practiced, then the later parts will all come out. As to when there will be karmic retribution occurring, it is not important; you are to do you practices continuously.

‘Diligence’ is not about practicing very amazingly or the practicing being in progress constantly; rather, it means one is to practice the methods very day. Why do we need to make offerings, give alms, make dedications and observe precepts? It is because that these are for practicing the first three methods of the Six Paramitas. When you are a person who can observe precepts, you are then be able to forbear everything. Otherwise, you cannot forbear anything. This is a very important point.

Sutra: ‘Sariputra, at that time, there was a bhikkhu, having risen from his seat, uncovered his right shoulder, knelt upon his right knee, joined the palms of his hands together towards the Buddha, and he said to the World Honored One, “It is like the Buddha has said that one is to aspire and vow to practice the Dharma teachings of Bodhisattvas.” The Buddha said, “Good man, now you should know that the teachings of Bodhisattvas are difficult to practice and learn. Why is that? It is because Bodhisattvas do not give rise to the senses of hatred and harm towards sentient beings.”’

The teachings of Bodhisattvas are very difficult to practice and learn. This is because Bodhisattvas do not ever give rise to the thoughts of hatred and the sense of harm towards sentient beings.

Sutra: ‘At that time, that bhikkhu said to the Buddha, “World Honored One, from today onward, I give rise to Supreme Enlightenment. Without flatteries, without deceptions, with true words and without false languages, I seek all ‘wisdom and wisdom’. Even before I attain supreme bodhicitta, if I give rise to the senses of hatred and harm towards sentient beings, I will then go against Buddhas and Tathagatas who have been expounding the Dharma at the present time in countless, innumerable and boundless worlds.”’

This vow was so seriously pledged. It means this: ‘Starting today, I give rise to supreme bodhicitta, and I will not say any false words or lies; all I will speak of are true words. I will not speak of certain words so as to satisfy anyone’s thoughts.’

‘Seek all “wisdom and wisdom”’. Why are there two words of ‘wisdom’ here? It is because one is primordial wisdom and the other one is acquired wisdom. Originally, every sentient being possesses the primordial wisdom, which has been covered by the karma of accumulated past lifetimes. Our learning of the Dharma is for practicing to gain the acquired wisdom. When such wisdom has been practiced and mastered, the primordial wisdom and the acquired wisdom will then be combined, and ‘wisdom and wisdom’ is formed. Wisdom is not for us to get better grades in examinations or to have better brains to function.

‘Even before I attain supreme bodhicitta’. This means ‘Before I have attained the fruition of a Buddha and when “I give rise to the senses of hatred and harm towards” any sentient beings, “I will then go against all “Buddhas and Tathagatas who have been expounding the Dharma at the present time” in all the worlds.’ Some people will say, ‘The yidam in my practices is Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. I will not go against this Bodhisattva, but I can do so to other yidams.’ This is not right either. The quote means as long as we have done hateful or harmful things to sentient beings, we have gone against the Dharma expounded by Buddhas in the ten directions and in Three Periods. Thus, others have become Buddhas and we are still ordinary people.

Immovable Tathagata is exactly one who cannot have ‘the senses of hatred and harm towards sentient beings.’ One does not hate or harm sentient beings, let alone doing such acts towards one’s guru. You will say, ‘No. I have not done that to my guru. How dare I?’

To you, making such a vow seems a very simple matter, but actually it is a very serious one. It is because that as long as we go against the teachings of a Buddha, we will never attain Buddhahood. Many people feel that ‘I do not want to become a Buddha; I only want to live a good life.’ If this is the way you think, then the Dharma is irrelevant to you. In order to benefit a great number of sentient beings, there are no ways to do it without being a Buddha. Amitabha’s Pure Land is a place for you to practice first before you have attained Buddhahood. In there, you will practice from the fruition level of a Bodhisattva continuously until you have attained the fruition of a Buddha. Then, by your vows, you can be reborn in places having affinities with you, and liberate sentient beings there.

To practitioners, this vow made by Immovable Tathagata is a vow that is more serious than the life itself. As long as he gave rise to the senses of hatred and harm, and then acted on them, towards any sentient beings, he would go against the teachings of Buddhas in the ten directions. So long as his thoughts or acts were in contrary to the teachings of one Buddha, he would forever not be qualified to attain Buddhahood. Such vow is so great that, in general, it is not a vow that people dare to say or follow it through. Thus, there must have been reasons that he has become Aksobhya.”

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Updated on September 13, 2022