His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s Puja Teachings – March 6, 2022

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.

“Shakyamuni Buddha had been continuously, and unceasingly, introducing all phenomena in the land of Immovable Tathagata. Why had He needed to do this? Not only will we not see them but also it is impossible for us to ‘go’ to that land when we are alive in this life. The intentions of such mentions from Shakyamuni Buddha were to let us know clearly that the land of a Buddha and the Saha World (this solar system) are completely different. Why had He spoken of it so distinctly? It is because that there are too many religions in this world. Those religions that are in a bit of higher levels deem heavens are the purposes of their beliefs, and the followers will talk a little about what the heavens might look like in which they believe in. Other localized religions do not explain these kinds of things.

At the time when Shakyamuni Buddha appeared, there were many non-Buddhist religions in India. To this day, these religions are still very powerful there. Shakyamuni Buddha wanted to let the people in the mundane world know clearly the directions and purposes of practicing the Dharma as well as the differences between practices for ‘going’ to the land of a Buddha and practices of other religions. In order to do these, He must need to introduce the merits, the states and the auspiciousness of each land of a Buddha. Those who do not believe in the Buddha will make many criticisms on these. However, we consider that we believe in the Buddha. Also, Shakyamuni Buddha had said, as shown in sutras, that any single word He spoke of was real and true; it was not illusionary. There was not a single word having spoken by Him to ingratiate or flatter any sentient beings. Hence, Shakyamuni Buddha was one who spoke of true and real words. He introduced this land of a Buddha to let us understand that if we are to reach such a state of attainment from our learning Buddhism and doing our practices, the place we are to go to will be one that has been described.

For example, in the Infinite Life Sutra, there is an introduction of what it being like in the Land of Amitabha. When Immovable Tathagata has been introduced, there is also an introduction about his land of a Buddha, showing what it is like. Because humans live on Earth, it is very difficult for them to change all things they are used to or to forget what impressions they have on these things. Thus, in sutras, there are particular emphases on differences between the lands of Buddhas and other worlds, like Saha World and the Heaven Realm. Although the good fortune and enjoyments obtained in the Heaven Realm are already unimaginable by humans, when comparing the states of the lands of Buddhas and that of the Heaven Realm, heavenly beings cannot imagine what Buddhas’ states of being are and what such lands of Buddhas are like either. Hence, heavenly beings cannot describe such lands. Then, Shakyamuni Buddha is a Buddha so He is able to speak of what the lands of Buddhas are about.
Although it has been mentioned earlier that practicing to have a ‘heavenly eye’ will let a Bodhisattva see personally the Pure Lands of Buddhas, the ‘heavenly eye’ of a Bodhisattva still cannot compare with the Buddha’s eye of a Buddha. The ‘heavenly eye’ of a Bodhisattva still has limits in sightings. Only the Buddha’s eye of a Buddha can see anything, therefore, what it sees is exactly a Buddha’s state of being. Shakyamuni Buddha had compassionately explained – through words that we will understand – the Buddhas’ states of being and their Pure Lands. They still cannot be explained clearly though if spoken languages of humans are used. None of an adjective from such languages can explain very appropriately or distinctly about Buddhas’ states of being and the states of the lands of Buddhas. In order to let us have opportunities to comprehend such states, the Buddha had used expedient methods, and with words, to explain simply these situations. If a practitioner has gone through practices, visualizations and meditation, he or she can realize, more or less, the states of the lands of Buddhas spoken of by Shakyamuni Buddha. However, if one has not practiced, one definitely cannot comprehend such states.

In areas with Han ethnicity in China, when a sutra is opened there are these Sutra-Opening Verses: ‘The Dharma is supreme, extremely profound, subtle and wonderful. It is difficult to encounter it in hundreds of thousands of myriads of kalpas. We have now visualized and listened to it, obtaining the acceptance and the hold of it. May we understand Tathagata’s real and true meanings.’ The Sutra-Opening Verses were not spoken of by Shakyamuni Buddha.” (A monastic reported at this point that “They were written by Empress Wu Zetian of Tang Dynasty.”) (Rinpoche continued the teachings.) “Because Wu Zetian was the ruling Empress, when she was alive, the Sutra-Opening Verses had been written in all Buddhist temples. However, these verses are not in the Ratnakuta Sutra; no matter which chapter of the sutra is opened, there are no such verses. In other words, they were not spoken of by the Buddha, nor were they recorded by arhats. They were written by Wu Zetian.

As these four verses were written by Wu Zetian, were there states in them? The verse of ‘May we understand Tathagata’s real and true meanings’ only refers to making a vow, and does not mean doing practices yet. Thus, no matter how you have recited the Sutra-Opening Verses, in the end, they are still just about vows. To monastics, this is ‘a blow on head and a shout’ – a sharp warning. Every time they recite these verses, they recite the words to their hearts’ content. How do the monastics ‘understand’ then? You are unable to write these verses though. At least Wu Zetian had a little root capacity. I am not criticizing her, but she was not a practitioner. If she were, she would not have killed so many people, nor would she have fought for power and robbed for profits. Then again, she was the most powerful person in whole China at that time. When she told people to write those verses, people would not have dared not to. Otherwise, they would have been killed.

You, the monastics, have always been much moved by these four sentences, and would say this: ‘This is such an auspicious and wonderful Dharma so before I open a sutra, I will recite these verses once first.’ ‘May we understand Tathagata’s real and true meanings.’ What will you use to understand these meanings? With vows? You cannot use vows to understand the meanings. What are ‘Tathagata’s real and true meanings?’” (A monastic, who has been ordained for more than 30 years, reported this, “On ‘Tathagata’s real and true meanings’, it means one needs to conduct retreats and do practices in a capability of gaining a fruition level. Only after these have been gone through, can one achieve attainments and understand those meanings. Such acts and the meanings cannot be spoken of and are unfathomable. They cannot be explained by spoken languages or words, which can only describe the subjects approximately.”)

(Rinpoche continued the teachings.) “Wu Zetian had enough of good fortune and the root of wisdom to be able to write these four verses. Even so, there must have been some eminent monks in her era who had told her that the Buddha’s teachings could not be understood with the words in sutras. We need to understand the meanings from the connotations. That is why there is such a saying that ‘Rely on the Dharma, not the person. Rely on revelation of whole truth, not revelation of partial truth.’ What is ‘revelation of the whole truth’? It is being liberated from birth and death. All things that all Buddhas have taught are to help us get liberated from birth and death. Hence, a supplication for striking it rich, having a good health, for this or for that is not relevant to ‘revelation of the whole truth’ at all. Are the Sutra-Opening Verses useful? Yes, they are. However, they are not for practicing the Bodhisattva Path. They only just let you know that you are not to put efforts continuously on words in your learning; you are to work hard from the angle of ‘revelation of the whole truth’. How do you obtain such a revelation? It is not just by repentances, recitation of sutras or prostrations made to the Buddha. You must need a guru to always lead, amend, and scold you as well as to urge you on. Only then will you gradually be able to comprehend the Buddha’s ‘real and true meanings.’

Sutra: ‘Only Immovable Tathagata is regarded as the lord of the Dharma. It is also like in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three that Sakra has been attended to.’

In Abhirati, there is only one Buddha, and that is Immovable Tathagata. He continues to transmit and teach the Dharma there. ‘It is also like in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three that Sakra has been attended to.’ This phrase means as the Dharma in the land of Abhirati has been transmitted and taught by Immovable Tathagata, all sentient beings there need to attend to him, and it is just ‘like in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three that Sakra has been attended to.’

Sutra: ‘Those people worship and respect Tathagata.’

In Abhirati, any things that all sentient beings do are mainly in accordance with Tathagata’s teachings.

Sutra: ‘Sariputra, you should know that in that land of a Buddha for Immovable Tathagata, there are merits with solemnity. Sariputra, sentient beings in that land do not have the mind of “indulgence in ease”. Why is that? This is also because of Immovable Tathagata’s original vows.’

‘Sariputra, you should know that in that land of a Buddha for Immovable Tathagata, there are merits with solemnity. Sariputra, sentient beings in that land do not have the mind of “indulgence in ease”’. Sentient beings on Earth have such a mind. What are things being indulged in ease? You, including monastics, are quite experienced on such things; there is no need for me to talk about it again. Well, you might say, ‘I am tired today so I will ask Bodhisattvas for a day off’, or ‘I have something to do today so I cannot do my “homework”, like chanting sutras; I will make it up tomorrow’, or ‘I might need to handle some things first; the Buddha and Bodhisattvas will not be angry with me.’ All of these are instances of ‘indulgence in ease’. What does ‘indulgence in ease’ mean? It means to indulge in ease on things. For example, monastics should get up at 4 in the morning, and do the morning prayer session at 5 a.m. Some of them might ask me, ‘Rinpoche, I am not feeling well today. Is it all right that I do not attend the morning prayer session?’ Yes, it is okay not to do it. In the future when our monastery has been built in completion with you, monastics, living there, if you do not attend the morning prayer sessions, I will not punish you. I will take counts and do statistics. If you have not participated in it for a few times, it will be better for you to go back home!

In the land of Immovable Tathagata, why do people not indulge in ease? It is ‘because of Immovable Tathagata’s original vows.’ What will you say whether Shakyamuni Buddha had original vows or not? Yes, He had. He had wanted to teach the Dharma to humans on Earth. However, there are more of the negative than the good on Earth. Also, it is a place where Animal, Hungry Ghost, Hell and Human Realms are mixed together. This is not the situation in Abhirati. It was mentioned earlier that there are no Three Evil Realms in the land of Immovable Buddha. There are many humans who are born on Earth and they are much indulged in ease after they are born. It has been mentioned in the Ratnakuta Sutra that these humans must have come from the Animal Realm which they were in during their previous lifetimes. What are those in the Animal Realm like? They sleep and eat, and then sleep and eat again; or, they play to have fun; there are nothing else for them to do. Now, there are these two things you have added to your life: having a relationship or being in love and running businesses or going to work. The term ‘indulgence in ease’ has two aspects. The first one is to slacken oneself, and the second one is to disbelieve in impermanence. Those who believe in it will be alert and on their guard in the mind at every minute and every second – even if they are not doing ‘homework’ at that hour – thinking that ‘I am a Buddhist and I cannot indulge myself in ease.’ Again, what is ‘indulgence in ease’? It is like that someone has called and said to you, ‘Come out to walk a bit with me, and then when you go back home, you can do your “homework”. Come out to chat.’ Of course, I am not saying that you cannot have such a social life at all as you are laity. Even monastics nowadays have many social engagements and meetings. Before, many of my ordained disciples had many meetings to attend. All these activities will make practitioners indulge in ease.

Sutra: ‘At that time, there was a bhikkhu, who had heard the praising of the Buddha about the merits in the land of a Buddha for Immovable Tathagata, and the bhikkhu gave rise to greed and attachments. He then said to the Buddha, “World Honored One, I now wish to be reborn in that land of Immovable Tathagata.” The Buddha spoke to the bhikkhu, “With your foolishness and confusion, how can you be reborn in that land?” Why is that? If one does not use a mind of affections and attachments, one can get reborn there.’

A good scolding from the Buddha! It was the same situation as you are in. You only know that ‘This Rinpoche is very amazing. I want to take refuge in him.’ Your aim is not for practicing though. This quote is a scolding to a bhikkhu, ‘who had heard the praising of the Buddha about the merits in that land of’ Immovable Buddha, and he gave rise to greed that he wanted to be reborn there. You are like that. You know that the Land of Amitabha is very good and you want to ‘go’ to that land. You have even said, ‘Rinpoche, please help me die sooner, letting me go there sooner.’ This is exactly ‘indulgence in ease’. We can make a vow to be reborn in the Land of Amitabha. However, if all of your negative karma has not been paid off in this life, you cannot go there either. Although there are people who say that one can ‘take’ karma with him or her and be reborn in the Pure Land, that karma means good karma, and is not negative karma. In the Land of Amitabha, there are no Three Evil Realms. If negative karma exists in a person, it is possible for that person to fall into Three Evil Realms. Then, with negative karma, how can you be reborn in the Pure Land? You cannot.

Simply speaking, as long as you indulge yourself in ease, it is very easy for you to plant causes to fall into Three Evil Realms. Even if you give rise to this thought of greed that ‘the place is so solemn; I want to go there’, such a thought counts as a cause too. It is like that some people might say, ‘This person is a Throne Holder of Tibetan Buddhism. I want to meet him.’ Could it be that if you meet him, you would become a fairy deity or a Buddha? That is impossible. I met His Holiness a very long time ago. I can seek an audience with either of the two Throne Holders of our Order at any time. They welcome me too. Does that mean I do not need to practice anymore after I have met them? People usually praise the Buddha with thoughts of greed, rather than the vows of their practices.

You also have thoughts of greed towards your guru. What kinds of such greed do you have? This is what you think, ‘The guru is amazing; he can treat illnesses and get us liberated. There are benefits in taking refuge in this guru.’ Yes, after one takes refuge in me, one will definitely get benefits from me. It is just to let you not suffer so much when you die; that is all. However, if you wish that taking refuge in me can change your current life for the better, you are wrong. What is wrong then? The life you are living now is of your own making. What has it gotten to do with me, the Buddha and Bodhisattvas? You think that taking refuge and learning Buddhism can change your life at present to become better; that result is impossible to happen. Here, Shakyamuni Buddha spoke of such a matter purposely because all of us have made this kind of error. He said that because of one’s foolishness, ignorance and superstitions, how could one be reborn in the land of a Buddha?

Why are there so many people who cannot go to the Land of Amitabha? It is because of ‘indulgence in ease’. It is like what I have scolded you often. Do not think you will live a good life when you are in that land in that you have thrown all your earthly pain here, which will have nothing to do with you anymore. This is especially for those of you who feel that you are in much suffering and want to go to the Pure Land sooner; you will definitely cannot go. The reason is that you have indulged in ease and thought of living a good life. In the Land of Amitabha, there is no good life to live. The only good things in life there are that there are no needs for dishwashing, stooling, urinating, getting married, giving births or owing lots of things. Nevertheless, in that land, there is no time – not even for a second – for you not to do your practices.

It is like when I conducted a retreat in 2007 on Lapchi Snow Mountain (in Nepal), at a height of 4,500 meters. On the first morning, about three o’clock, there was a bird starting to chirp; once this bird started, the birds of the whole valley followed and chirped too. I had to get up. How could I sleep with the birds’ sounds around? The birds would not let me. It was because they knew I went there to do my practices. If it were you, as you have been much indulged in ease, those birds would certainly not have chirped to get you up. They would have let you sleep longer lest you would have made verbal karma when you have felt the occasion to do it, like saying, ‘What a bird! I am going to throw a stone at you!”, et cetera. Moreover, for the chirp of that bird that started, I never heard it before. Its sound was very loud and very nice too. However, quite strangely, once it chirped, all other birds also woke up to join the chirp. In the later parts of the retreat, I had been practicing faster, and then this bird would start chirping a little later in the mornings. It had spirituality too.

The meaning of this quote is that even if you have gone to a sacred place, and if it is not for practicing to get liberated from birth and death, or not for practicing the Bodhisattva Path either, you will return from that sacred place empty-handed. Do not think that you will get the ‘scents’ of fairy deities in you. There are no fairy deities in a sacred place. Many people like to make pilgrimages. After they come back from the trips, will they become different people? No, they will not unless they have made pilgrimages for sentient beings. If a pilgrimage is made just for oneself, it will be just a trip that ‘I have been here for a visit’. Such a pilgrimage is not useful then.

‘With your foolishness and confusion, how can you be reborn in that land?’ This sentence has been used to scold many people. This bhikkhu was compassionate in that he let Shakyamuni Buddha scold him so that you can ‘hear’ about the scolding. Those, who want to go to the Land of Amitabha to live a better life, and wish not to suffer again or not to repay their debts, definitely cannot go to that land. Even if you have made more vows, it is of no use because you are unwilling to take on responsibilities. On your negative karma you have created through lifetime after lifetime, do you not need to be responsible for it? Are you going to ‘throw’ it to your guru, the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, getting them to repay it for you? Then will you just run away and hide in the Land of Amitabha? Thus, if you have such mindsets, you definitely cannot be reborn in that land.

‘If one does not use a mind of affections and attachments, one can get reborn there.’ This does not mean ‘I love Immovable Tathagata’ or ‘I love Amitabha’. The ‘affections’ here means you do not go to the Pure Land in order to satisfy ‘the mind of “indulgence in ease”’ or your desires. Rather, you are there because you want to continue practicing. If you are like this, you will be able to master your practices. Why have I scolded you often? It is very difficult for you to go to the Land of Amitabha because you are unwilling to practice the Bodhisattva Path. Even with my help, the most you will become is just one in ‘the lowest class of the three lowest classes born in Amitabha’s Pure Land’. If you are even more careless, you will be reborn in the city-of-doubt outside of Amitabha’s Pure Land, and for 500 years, you will not see the Buddha.

Sutra: ‘Only the planting of foundations of virtue and practicing pure livings are reasons that one can be reborn in that land.’

Planting many foundations of virtue and practicing all pure livings ‘are reasons that one can be reborn in that land’. On the term ‘a pure living’, many people explain it as having no physical desires between a man and a woman. It is not so. If it had meant that, Shakyamuni Buddha would not have added, in front of the term, an adjective indicating the term being in a plural form, meaning ‘many’ or ‘various’. What does ‘pure livings’ in the quote mean? It means for all we have been practicing on that are relevant to the Dharma, they are to benefit sentient beings, not for ourselves. It is like that I had chanted the Great Six-Syllable Mantra for 1,000 times today before I started expounding the sutra. Why had I done that? Because your karmic hindrances have been heavy. Without my chanting of the Mantra, your karma will block your ears from proper hearing. Then you will be listening to my teachings but will not get them through your head; you will let them pass. All of you have a supernatural power, a power to get my sayings going in one ear and out the other. You also have a great supernatural power which is that your memory system will totally delete what you have been listening to. All of these are from your karmic hindrances accumulated past lifetimes and from those created by your eating meat in this life. As long as you have not been a vegetarian since the time of your being conceived in your mother’s womb, you – including monastics – will have this kind of karma. You might say, ‘But I did attend penitential rites!” Well, it is exactly because you had done those rites, you have been here to be scolded by me. If you had not attended penitential rites, you would not even have had opportunities to be scolded. There is no one speaking of the Dharma with such honesty; there is only me. I will not tell you things that are nice. The Buddha would not have told you such things either; the Buddha scolded people. If I had not followed His ways to scold people, how could I have been His disciple?

Before, sometime during the celebration of His Holiness’s 60th birthday, he and Garchen Rinpoche sat in front and spoke to each other in Mandarin. I sat behind them. His Holiness said to Garchen Rinpoche, ‘This disciple of mine would hit people.’ Garchen Rinpoche then said, ‘Then he is not compassionate.’ To which, His Holiness said, ‘That exactly shows that he is compassionate. He has done it right.’ Hence, be prepared to get beaten by me. His Holiness said it is all right that I can do it. Why did they talk in Mandarin, not in Tibetan? It was because they knew that I did not (and do not) understand Tibetan, so they talked in Mandarin to let me hear the conversation. They had been afraid that I might worry and think that it was wrong to hit people. Thus, for hitting people, I have a ‘license’ now. However, I only do it in the Center; once I am out of this place, I will not do it.

Sutra: ‘Furthermore, Sariputra, sentient beings in that land do whatever they like. There are pure ponds for them to see by their thoughts, and water of eight merits fills the ponds. Drinking, gargling with, and washing and bathing in the water are all adaptive to people’s expectations. For those who are not happy to see the water, it will not appear.’

The water mentioned here is the same as that in the Amitabha’s Pure Land; there is water of eight merits. If sentient beings there wish to see the water, as long as they have such a thought appearing, they will see the water. This water of eight merits can be drunk, gargled with or bathed in, and the usages of it ‘are all adaptive to people’s expectations.’ There is hard water and soft water on Earth. If the former is too strong in its ‘hardness’, it cannot be drunk. In that land, there is no such kind of water. So long as one does not want to see the water there, it will disappear. This is because whether or not the water appears it will be changed by one’s thoughts.

Sutra: ‘Sariputra, in that land of a Buddha, winds with fragrances are gentle and smooth and they can please the minds of sentient beings.’

In the land of a Buddha for Immovable Tathagata, ‘winds with fragrances are gentle and smooth’, and will not make one feel very cold or uncomfortable; they will just make one feel very elated. Why is this needed? It is because that sentient beings have very ‘heavy’ – strong – consciousnesses. Hence, the Buddha wanted to help us, through various and other things that we are familiar with, calm our minds. When people smell fragrant scents, such scents make them more joyful. Why do women spray perfume on themselves? Because of this saying: ‘Women doll themselves up for those who love or adore them.’ Why do men spray cologne on themselves? Because they wish that the other parties, with whom they are facing, would smell the fragrant scents so that these people can be lured over. Many fragrant scents in perfume used by humans are produced with stuff of animals. That is why such scents have very stinky smells when I smell them. There are some people, who, when smelling these scents, think that the scents have very fragrant smells. This indicates that these people have come from the Animal Realm.

Sutra: ‘Then, those winds with fragrances do fragrance-related things for heavenly beings. By adapting to and following their minds, such fragrances are either be there or not appearing. Sariputra, all of these occur because of Immovable Tathagata’s original vows that have made things attain merits with solemnity.’

When these kinds of winds blow, they help all heavenly beings do fragrance-related things. This means all things that are done by heavenly beings have fragrant scents. This is equivalent to the situation that you will smell a scent when I chant a mantra. The meaning is the same.

The phrase ‘By adapting to and following their minds’ means ‘such fragrances are either be there or not appearing.’ At this place now, there are near 500 people at the puja; some of them smelled the fragrant scent from my chanting of the mantra, and some did not. For those who smelled the scent, raise your hand. (Many people in the audience did.) Some of you did not smell it at all. Why? It was because there was no respect in your mind; it was not calmed and it wandered to places that no one knew where. Naturally, you could not smell the scent. A fragrant scent appears equitably. It is not that if you want to smell it on purpose, you will get it. Then again, it will be smelled unaccountably. This also happens that if you want to smell a fragrant scent, contrarily, you will not smell it. There is a charming aspect about the Dharma and it is that the Dharma is relevant to your mind. If you do not have a right mind or mindset, and even if there is something good happening around you, you will not feel it.

I have often said that when I perform Dharmas or chant mantras in pujas, I do not differentiate who you are. I have done those acts with an equality in the mind. Why has every one of you received different signals from me then? It is because of differences in your minds, good fortune, roots of virtue, causes and conditions; it is you who have made the differences. This quote is not like the song about ‘whether to reach one’s heart or not’. Rather, it refers to the fact that such a fragrant scent is ‘bent’, not ‘direct’, in the direction of its being felt, as people’s minds determine whether or not this scent will be smelled. After I have mentioned this today, when you attend the next puja, do not suck in the air for the scent; by doing that, you will not necessarily smell it.

Sutra: ‘Furthermore, Sariputra, in that land of a Buddha, women’s clothes and adornments are produced from trees, and are accepted and used by women randomly and freely.’

How comfortable it is for women to be born there. ‘Adornments’ here means jewelry. Women must need jewelry to be solemn. All the Eight Great Bodhisattvas have worn jewelry. In addition to jewelry, there are head ornaments and accessories for women. Women nowadays are quite complicated, using many accessories on them. In that land, all clothes and the jewelry and accessories that will make women become solemn ‘are produced from trees.’ When a woman passes trees and like what are on them, she can just take the things off the trees, and there will be no one catching her and calling her a thief. If you have good fortune to go to that land, you can accept and use those things ‘randomly and freely’. Those who, at the present time, do not have money to buy jewelry but have made vows to be reborn there will definitely have jewelry. Or, if one cannot afford buying expensive hairpins now, they will be there too; they are produced from trees.

Sutra: ‘In that world, women are without faults of females. These women are not like those of this world who have much jealousies in their minds and talk in divisive and harsh speeches.’

The Buddha was scolding people. ‘In that world, women are without faults of females. These women are not like those of this world’ (Earth) ‘who have much jealousies in their minds and talk in divisive and harsh speeches.’ Look at yourselves then. Do you still have these faults? Even monastics have such faults, let alone you. Why did Shakyamuni Buddha mention women, not men? What do you say whether or not men have feelings of jealousy? Nowadays, men have a heavier sense of jealousy than women. Are men’s speeches divisive and harsh? Yes, they are. Why are women mentioned here and men have not been talked about for having such faults too? Women will certainly feel that this is not fair, and men will also think, ‘Well, these are exactly the problems you women have.’ These mentions are not about such issues between women and men. Confucius said, ‘Only women and base people are difficult to raise.’ The word ‘raise’ here does not mean raising a woman or a base person by offering money to do it. Rather, it refers to the difficulty in developing the minds of women and base people to make them become respectable people. You need to put in lots of efforts and use many methods to get these people in question to change. Why do women ‘have much jealousies in their minds’? Because women love to be beautiful. Even when they say, ‘I don’t want to be pretty; I don’t put on makeup; I don’t wear beautiful clothes’, but are told to wear an ugly mask or a pig-faced mask, to go out, you will see if they dare to be out of door or not. No, they dare not. This indicates that women wish to look beautiful. Once a woman loves to be beautiful, she will compare herself with other women, and then the comparisons will give rise to her sense of jealousy. When this happens, she will ‘talk in divisive and harsh speeches.’

Men’s jealousies are for their careers or businesses. Nowadays, there are also men being jealous of other men’s figures; these jealous men are like those who are constantly in weight training programs, doing weightlifting as a routine exercise, and want to have good figures. Men’s jealousies and divisive and harsh speeches are usually for their careers or businesses, but these types of situations last for a short time, and are not like women’s love for wanting to be beautiful. My mother passed away at 90. Before she died, she still loved to be beautiful, so it was very natural that as long as she was to go out, she definitely would have made herself clean and tidy. She would not have gone out with uncombed hair or without dressing well. Thus, when her corporal body had been cleaned by you after she died, her head could be so soft. That was because she had loved it clean so that it would be especially easy for people to get her head cleaned after she passed away. This is my joke though; do not believe it.

Because women get jealous easily, they will talk readily in speeches that are divisive (meaning making mischiefs) and harsh (meaning daring to say anything if not getting what they want). These three behaviors will make women fall into Hell, Hungry Ghost and Animal Realms easily. However, in the land of a Buddha for Immovable Tathagata, there are no such faults of females. We should believe in what the Buddha said. It was not that He had the mind to intentionally disparage women. Actually, in Tantric practices, the term ‘female’ represents compassion, therefore, there is no disparaging remarks regarding women here. It is just that the physical conditions of women will get their emotions in up-and-down modes. If you have a female form in this life, it is definitely relevant to your liking of being beautiful or being pampered, things like that. After having taken a female form, you should pay attention to the few things mentioned earlier to see whether you have done them or not. If you have but you have not made repentances immediately, such ‘poisons’ from those negative acts will continue to be extended to your future and will not make you be liberated from birth and death.

Sutra: ‘Also, for women there, from the time of their pregnancies to the time of giving birth, the mother and the child will both be safe and comfortable, and there are no filth and dirt on them either. Why is that? It is because that all of these are as results of Immovable Tathagata’s original vows.’

From this quote, we can perceive that in the land of Immovable Tathagata, there are marriages too, and women will also get pregnant. However, ‘from the time of their pregnancies to the time of giving birth, the mother and the child will both be safe’, so the deliveries will surely be easy and normal. There will be no births by caesarean-section. Those who have given birth know that, during childbirth, there is much blood or water coming out of their bodies with very bad smells.

Sutra: ‘Sariputra, in that land of a Buddha, there is such peace, tranquility and happiness. Sariputra, that Immovable Tathagata has been attuned to right equality and right awareness in the land of a Buddha, and then there are no market transactions and merchants there.’

On all things that will hinder practices, Immovable Tathagata’s original vows have made these things not happen in his own land. In there, there are no markets, no trades, no merchants or businessmen. This is because if there are markets there will certainly be some disputes occurring. If there are markets and transactions, people will make calculations and argue with one another so as to get profits for themselves. Then, they will give rise to the sense of being mindful of gain and loss. Hence, in order to get sentient beings doing their practices there, these kinds of things will not appear.

Sutra: ‘There are also no agriculture and farming either. Happiness has often been obtained.’

In that land, there are no people working on fields; still more, there are no fish farms. There are no animals raised or farming done either. ‘Happiness has often been obtained.’

Sutra: ‘Sariputra, in that land of a Buddha, people sing and play things, and there are no sexual desires to be attuned to. The people there have received only the Dharma happiness.’

In the land of a Buddha for Immovable Tathagata, people sing or recite poems. The word ‘things’ here, as in ‘play things’, does not refer to games played by children; rather, it means the activities that people participated in during their leisure hours. However, there are surely ‘no sexual desires to be attuned to.’ This means the songs are not in decadent music to stir up one’s feelings. All the songs sung or all the things played are definitely relevant to one’s practices.

Sutra: ‘Sariputra, in that land of a Buddha, all Sumana trees and Tala trees are in rows. Light breezes blow and the trees produce harmonious, elegant sounds. If the music of heavenly beings has been played, it is inferior to such sounds from those trees.’

Shakyamuni Buddha said that there are two kinds of trees there, and there are rows of them. As long as there are light breezes blowing, the trees produce very nice sounds. The music played by heavenly beings is not comparable to the sounds from those trees.

Sutra: ‘Sariputra, if Great Bodhisattvas want to embrace the land of a Buddha, they should embrace such merits and do pure practices as in the world of a Buddha, like what Immovable Tathagata had done. He had practiced the Bodhisattva Path and embraced merits with solemnity in the land of a Buddha.’

If there are Great Bodhisattvas who want to be reborn in that land, they should embrace all the merits mentioned earlier.

‘….and do pure practices as in the world of a Buddha, like what Immovable Tathagata had done. He had practiced the Bodhisattva Path….’ This means you must need to practice the Bodhisattva Path, and only by doing that can you go to that land.

Sutra: ‘Sariputra, in that land of a Buddha, there are no darknesses. Although there are the sun and the moon, their lights do not appear. Why is that? It is because that Immovable Tathagata often radiates the bright light, illuminating universally the land of a Buddha.’

In that land of a Buddha, there are no nights or darknesses. Although the sun and the moon are seen, their dazzling lights are not. ‘It is because that Immovable Tathagata often radiates’ a Buddha’s light, illuminating universally the whole land of a Buddha.

Sutra: ‘Sariputra, for example, there is a large and high pavilion with doors and windows sealed. A mani treasure is placed in the middle of the place, and sentient beings within, although they have been through days and nights without lights, can often see its brilliant light. It is the same that many types of sentient beings in that land of a Buddha can see the light of Tathagata.’

As I am afraid that you might not understand this quote, I will explain it a little. It is like that there is a very large pavilion with all its windows and doors closed. Then there should not be any lights there. However, a mani treasure is placed in the middle of the place, ‘and sentient beings within, although they have been through days and nights without lights, can often see its brilliant light.’ This is because the mani treasure will put forth a light. Thus, the light of Immovable Tathagata has such a similar concept. Although sunlight and moonlight cannot be seen in the land of a Buddha, sentient beings there can see a Buddha’s light.

Sutra: ‘Sariputra, a large pavilion refers to that place, World of Abhirati. The “mani treasure” is an analogy of Immovable Tathagata. The “light of mani treasure” is analogous to a Buddha’s light. The sentient beings in the pavilion exemplify those in the land of Abhirati.’

Shakyamuni Buddha mentioned the descriptions once more. The so-called large pavilion is like the World of Abhirati; the ‘“mani treasure” is an analogy of Immovable Tathagata’; the ‘“light of mani treasure” is analogous to a Buddha’s light’, and the ‘sentient beings in the pavilion exemplify’ all sentient beings ‘in the land of Abhirati.’

Sutra: ‘Sariputra, wherever Immovable Tathagata stops at from a walk, there are lotuses with thousands of leaves holding his feet naturally. The golden color of the lotuses cannot be metaphorized in the mundane world. Sariputra, these are also Immovable Tathagata’s accomplishments that he has obtained the auspicious power of having been attuned to right equality and right awareness.’

The term ‘stops at from a walk’ means ‘to walk and then to stop’. As long as Immovable Tathagata stands at a place, there are two ‘lotuses with thousands of leaves holding his feet naturally.’ This means, under his feet, there are lotuses; their color is golden and cannot be seen in the mundane world.

Thus, as long as someone says that he is a buddha, just take a look under his feet to see if there are two lotuses. If not, he is not a Buddha unless he himself has carved two lotuses and put them underneath his feet. What is mentioned here is that the lotuses will appear naturally. No matter where Immovable Tathagata walks to, once he stops walking, two lotuses will appear on their own. This means his feet will not touch the ground; they will be held by the lotuses. Hence, when we visualize the Buddha or a Bodhisattva, we imagine that He or that Bodhisattva is on a lotus, not on soil.

Sutra: ‘At that time, Sariputra said to the Buddha again, “World Honored One, if that Immovable Tathagata enters a room, will the golden lotuses hold his feet?” ‘The Buddha spoke to Sariputra, “This is a small matter. Why did you ask about it diligently? If that World-Honored-One Buddha enters villages or houses, those lotuses with thousands of leaves will appear immediately. If there are good men and good women thinking this, ‘If Tathagata, a World-Honored-One Buddha, descends himself and enters into this room, the lotuses under his feet should gather in one place.’ Following this thought, the lotuses will thusly gather. If, again, there are people wishing that the lotuses are to dwell in the air, they will reside there as these people wish. These are because of that Tathagata’s majestic, miraculous power.”’

‘This is a small matter. Why did you ask about it diligently?’ This phrase means ‘as this is such a small matter, what did you ask it for?’ The Buddha then said that if Immovable Tathagata enters a village or anyone’s house, the ‘lotuses with thousands of leaves will appear immediately.’ If there are good men and good women in the land of Immovable Tathagata giving rise to this thought of lotuses being gathering, the Tathagata’s lotuses will gather together. If those good men and good women think ‘that Buddha will come into my own home’, then by following such a thought, the lotuses will enter the home too. Because those men and women think of that Buddha, the lotuses will gather together. If some of these people wish that the lotuses are in the air, they will be in the air.

Sutra: ‘Sariputra, those lotuses, that hold Immovable Tathagata’s feet, have given people there what they wish. They are then to make offerings with stupas.’

Why is it so important? It is because the lotuses, that hold Immovable Tathagata’s feet, have given all sentient beings what they wish. This represents that sentient beings are to make offerings with stupas.

Sutra: ‘Sariputra, for expounding Dharmas, that World-Honored-One Buddha has been journeying through the trichiliocosm. Wherever the places he walks to, those lotuses will immediately appear. Also, and again, whatever an emanation of the Tathagata has been, his golden lotuses in other lands of Buddhas will also appear there. Because of that Buddha’s majestic power, in the trichiliocosm, all lands are solemnified with golden lotuses with thousands of leaves.’

This quote means no matter where Immovable Tathagata goes to, even if it has been his emanation who goes to the place, there will always be golden lotuses appearing. This indicates that he has been there. Why is it in this way? It is because of that Buddha’s majestic, miraculous power that will make this kind of phenomenon appear. Hence, as mentioned earlier, if, today, good men and good women in Abhirati want to make offerings to, or enshrine, Immovable Tathagata, as long as they think of it, the lotuses will appear. If those men and women wish that the lotuses gather together, the lotuses will; if those people’s wish is that the lotuses are in the air, then they will be in the air. These do not come from your thoughts; rather, the phenomena are from that Tathagata’s majestic, miraculous power. So long as one respects the Buddha, wants to practice and learn Buddhism earnestly or looks forward to the Buddha’s blessings, such majestic, miraculous power will appear.

If majestic, miraculous power appears, because sentient beings easily get attached to outward appearances – as they will be so before attaining Buddhahood – and if they do not see some things, they will wonder whether or not such power will be useful or will get them to be attuned to. Thus, the characteristic of Immovable Tathagata is his golden lotuses, which Shakyamuni Buddha does not have, and they are not in the Land of Amitabha either; however, Immovable Tathagata has these lotuses. So, if someday there are golden lotuses appearing in where we are, it might mean Immovable Tathagata has come. Then again, that possibility is not high.

Sutra: ‘Furthermore, Sariputra, when that Immovable Tathagata expounds the Dharma, he is very capable to subdue countless sentient beings, making all of them instantly gain the fruition level of an arhat. There are many of them who abide by meditation with eight forms of liberations. Sariputra, that Immovable Tathagata has been attuned to right equality and right awareness. There are countless, innumerable Sravakas. I do not see if there are masters in calculations or their disciples being able to calculate the number of those Sravakas in such numbers: vimbala (100 billion), bala (one billion), pratima (one million), artha (10,000), a few anapramaṇa (infinite numbers) and apara (immeasurable quantity of numbers). Sariputra, with such calculations, there are no capabilities to know about the number that those Sravakas set on how many of them there are.’

You will feel it very strange that as Immovable Tathagata has been practicing the Bodhisattva Path, why are there many arhats appearing, and being mentioned, in the quote? This is because there are not many sentient beings who can really practice the Bodhisattva Path. Many of them have root capacity suitable to practice Hinayana or to be an arhat, because a lot of them practice only for themselves. They wish to get themselves liberated from birth and death; they are not to help sentient beings to be liberated first, and then to get themselves liberated. Hence, for them to fulfill their wishes, Immovable Tathagata has embraced these Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas. It is like these ordained disciples who have now taken refuge in me. All of them wish that they can be liberated from birth and death in this life. Strictly speaking, they have not been practicing the Bodhisattva Path but Arhat Path. It is not that practicing Arhat Path is not good; rather, it is a long path to attain Buddhahood and it takes a very long time to reach it too. Why does one have an appearance of a monastic? Because if someone has such an appearance, it will be easier for him or her to break away from afflictions than laity like us. People who can become monastics in this life must have a lighter sense of attachments to their families. However, I have found that monastics nowadays have a heavier sense of attachments towards their secular families than the sense I have towards mine. Why is that? It is because that they feel they have great good fortune as they have been ordained, so they want to get their family members liberated first. There is nothing to say against such a concept, and it is not saying that they are wrong either. Nevertheless, getting a family member liberated is also a matter of adapting to rising conditions. It is just like the situation of a monastic, who has been ordained for thirty years. He still has a younger brother who eats meat. This monastic has already been the second-in-command of a Buddhist temple, but there is nothing that can be done by him to help his younger brother. As there are no certain affinities, a family member cannot be liberated either.

The concept that monastics have about their families is that family members are part of sentient beings. Do not think of liberating these members first and then liberating other sentient beings. In the Buddha’s mind, there is no distinction between who family members are and who sentient beings are. If there is such a difference, the four forms cannot be broken free, therefore, the breaking of four forms (like sentient beings, self…., et cetera), mentioned in the Diamond Sutra, cannot be broken free either. This means one has not practiced the methods on kindness, compassion, joy and giving. If you have not done those practices but you want to get liberated from birth and death, it will be very difficult for you to achieve that aim. The reason is that you have also not acted on those finicky ways that arhats have done. Those who truly practice Arhat Path do not even wear a string of prayer beads on them; also, they do not cook. What about you? How can it be that you are practicing to be an arhat? Although you are not definitely the person who cooks, at least you should do the cooking occasionally!

When Shakyamuni Buddha was alive, there were 1,200 of his disciples following him. Wherever they went to, they begged for food. Now, all of you live in peace and enjoy your work; you have fixed dwellings to live in and you eat and drink regularly. Hence, you have not practiced to be an arhat. Not only that, you do not have the mind of a Bodhisattva either. What have you been practicing on? The more you have practiced, the more you are confused. As laity, at least you know that you have suffered and wanted to get liberated from birth and death. Such a contradiction is very difficult for you to solve while you are on Earth, unless you have determined to break away from reincarnation.

Immovable Tathagata has been compassionate. When he has encountered this kind of people, he cannot reject them. They have root capacity to learn Buddhism but they do not have attributes to practice the Bodhisattva Path. Well, fine. They will practice to be an arhat first then. After they have understood the fruition level of an arhat, they might someday be in the situation of ‘returning to the light’, which is not the usual meaning of ‘momentary recovery of consciousness just before death’. Rather, it is that an arhat ‘returns’ himself to the ‘light’ – his own original essence or self-nature; he then sees clearly that he should not have practiced just to be an arhat. He is awoken suddenly and then practices the Bodhisattva Path. Such occurrences are because of the compassion of Immovable Tathagata. Although he himself had practiced the Bodhisattva Path to attain Buddhahood, he has not forsaken any sentient beings who have opportunities to do practices. It is equivalent to my situation today that I do not forsake my disciples. Even though I have driven some of them out of here, scolded them or punished them, I am still too soft-hearted sometimes.

When ‘Immovable Tathagata expounds the Dharma, he is very capable to subdue countless sentient beings’, as it is very difficult to subdue their minds. His teachings have made them, in quietness and in contemplation, ‘abide by meditation with eight forms of liberations’. There are many of these kinds of arhats. Shakyamuni Buddha said that, in the land of Immovable Buddha, there are countless, innumerable Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas. The Buddha also said that ‘I do not see if there are masters in calculations or their disciples….’ Then, in later part of the quote, there are many Indian terms on mathematics having been mentioned.

Sutra: ‘Sariputra, it is like in my land of a Buddha that there are countless good men who have obtained these three fruition levels: srotapanna, sakrdagamin and anagamin. In that land of a Buddha, it is the same that the number of good men who have attained the fruition level of an arhat is also innumerable.’

There is no mention of good women here but only good men. It means only men do practices, therefore, those who had been practicing in olden times were all bhikkhus. During the time of Shakyamuni Buddha’s living in this world, there were no female monastics. Nevertheless, His aunt had continuously supplicated Him to let her be ordained, so Shakyamuni Buddha sighed and said, ‘All right then.’ This sigh resulted in His saying that ‘The Age of Right Dharma will have 500 years less in existence.’ Why is there 500 years less? It echoes what has been mentioned previously in a quote that women ‘have much jealousies in their minds and talk in divisive and harsh speeches.’ Shakyamuni Buddha only spoke of good men here. Do not misunderstand that He despised women.

Shakyamuni Buddha said that, in His land, ‘there are countless good men who have obtained’ the fruition levels of an arhat in the first, the second and the third level. Now, here on Earth, we should not see there being people who are able to attain the fruition level of an arhat. However, there are still those who have obtained the first, the second and the third fruition level. These people are still there in areas where Theravada Buddhism is prevailing. In Taiwan, among monastics, there was someone who had obtained those fruition levels we just mentioned, but he himself was not aware of this fact. He thought he had been practicing the Bodhisattva Path but, with methods of Zen School, he had practiced and obtained the fruition levels of an arhat in the first, the second and the third level. Only when he passed away, did he realize that he had obtained those fruitions.

Why did he not know it? Because in Taiwan nowadays, most of people develop and promote the Bodhisattva Path. All of monastics like to say that they have listened to many Dharmas; they sit in meditation in a room and contemplate continuously without getting in touch with outside world. In these ways, no matter how well they have mastered their practices, they cannot be on that side – the Bodhisattva Path – but on this side, Arhat Path. However, if people, say, you, get to Arhat Path, and as on Earth today, there are no such environments that can absolutely make people break away from all afflictions, you definitely cannot do your practices on this path. Nowadays, if you are told now to ask foods as alms with bowls, no one will give you the foods.” (Rinpoche then asked a monastic, who has been ordained for many years, if the situation has been what Rinpoche said. Also, those who do not believe in the Dharma will scold the monastic who has asked for foods. This monastic then answered, “Yes, the situation is like that. Not only will people give no foods but also the monastic will get scolded.”) (Rinpoche continued the teachings.)

“Thus, there are no such conditions now to be on Arhat Path. When we read sutras, we need to understand that Shakyamuni Buddha had foreseen the modern world, and had already mentioned good men. Hence, for you, the women here, if you do not want to practice the Bodhisattva Path, then, I will say to you, ‘Goodbye’. You thought you were okay now that you had been enlightened and had attained a fruition level. However, Shakyamuni Buddha did not speak of women; rather, He mentioned good men. If women do not determine to practice the Bodhisattva Path and if they do not eliminate jealousies and the liking for talking in divisive and harsh speeches from their minds, they will not be able to practice.

The more you listen to this subject, the more you feel your scalp tingling, right? Those monastics, who have been ordained for so many years, only understand now what their problems are. (At this point, Rinpoche asked a monastic, who has been ordained for many years, if methods to solve the problems have been spoken of. The monastic answered yes that they have been.) So, when we read sutras, we need to know why, in them, a particular topic is stated in a certain way. Why did the Buddha mention only good men here but not good women? In the Amitabha Sutra, both good men and good women are spoken of; why in here did it only say good men? Moreover, in the quote, it is ‘….in my land of a Buddha….’, which refers to the Buddha’s own land, and it means Earth. Thus, if female practitioners, being ordained or non-ordained, do not practice the Bodhisattva Path, and if you implore things for your sons all the time, or to seek this or that, you are wasting your time in this life. You are just supplicating some good fortune of the Human and Heaven Realms for next life; there is nothing you can do for this life. It is only now that I have perceived that Shakyamuni Buddha had spoken of His own citta (essence of the Dharma).

Why is this the situation? It is because that women have menstruation, which is something that they can do nothing about – women cannot break away from this affliction. (Rinpoche then asked the women present to raise their hands if they did not agree. There was no one raising the hand.) Female monastics have this kind of affliction too. Originally, practicing needs to break away from afflictions but women cannot break away from this one. Even when they have experienced a condition of amenorrhea (absence of menstruation), they will still have such an affliction. We can gradually realize from what have been described in sutras why Shakyamuni Buddha had advocated for the Bodhisattva Path. It is not that He despised Arhat Path. Rather, there are some matters that the methods of Arhat Path cannot handle; only the ways of the Bodhisattva Path can deal with such things. This is because in the practices of the Bodhisattva Path, things are not to be disposed of, be ridded of or be ‘chopped’ off; rather, the path is to teach us how to transform circumstances or ourselves so as to do our practices.

Today, the coming forth of this passage of the sutra is to teach us to do our practices. Why, contrarily, did Shakyamuni Buddha mention good men but not good women? He would not have been with partiality for good men. There must have been a connotation about what He had said. It is that women cannot break away from afflictions from practicing Arhat Path, unless they do not have such an affliction. Some women are without menstruation from birth to old age. These kinds of women can practice Arhat Path. There is another type of a woman, called ‘stone girl’ in Chinese society. These women have an appearance of a woman but they do not possess female organs in that there is no womb in them at their birth. These types of women can practice Arhat Path too.

However, for women here, all of you are in complete and perfect conditions. Then, there is nothing you can do; you can only practice the Bodhisattva Path to be reborn in the Pure Land. Then again, you do not listen. You have implored, all day long, a good life for this lifetime. Well, if your life has become a good one, so what? You cannot break away from your afflictions. I am already in an old age of 75 years, so I am qualified to say this. Even if your menstruation has now been discontinued, there are still many physiological problems you will face. How can you break away from your afflictions then? You cannot. Hence, Shakyamuni Buddha taught us to practice the Bodhisattva Path. See, there are many female yidams in our lineage too. Machig Labdron of the Chod and Tara Achi are also females, and on others, I do not need to mention them now. There are many Mother Buddhas being females as well because they had mastered the practices of the Bodhisattva Path.

Why can the practices of the Bodhisattva Path make you break away from your afflictions? The reason is that there is Tantra in later practices of the Bodhisattva Path. Tantra can change our physiological conditions. If only methods of Exoteric Buddhism have been depended on, and if Arhat Path is used as an example, the practices of this path cannot change arhats’ physiological conditions. That is why men were mentioned here but not women as women’s afflictions cannot be changed on this path. Now I have spoken of too many secrets on practices. I should not have.

After you have understood what have been talked about, you should help yourself in setting up a good direction of your practices. Do not live in confusing ways again. Just think that what you have been practicing on in this life are for next life, not for improving your current situations, like being ill, et cetera. Do not mind all of those troublesome circumstances. It is exactly that you are to practice continuously. Even if there are serious matters occurring, because you are practicing, such serious things will not hinder you doing your practices. Even if it is an illness, there will also be a little less pain. It is like the disciple who had just now shared his story before the puja started. If his disease is judged from a doctor’s point of view, with a malignant tumor of 28 centimeters (in his kidney), the patient should have already died! However, why is he still alive? Because he believes in me. It is not that I have given him time to live; rather, I am helping him have time to continuously practice until he has enough of good fortune to go to the Pure Land. You are not to come here and say to me, ‘I am dying. I implore Rinpoche for getting me liberated.’ If you do not have the good fortune, how can I help you and send you to the Pure Land? There were many times that I scolded you but I did not do it because I wanted to; in many occasions, when I did not bless you, it was not that I was not compassionate either. Rather, I wanted to let you understand, after listening to what I had expounded on so much of the Dharma, that in order to go to the land of Amitabha, good men and good women must have no lack of good fortune, merits, causes and conditions. Is it that you will go there just because you have implored me for getting you there? No, you will not get it – you must do your ‘homework’ yourself.

I have also mentioned many times that your wish to go the land of Amitabha is equivalent to the processes of this occasion that today, you want to go to some country. Without money to buy airplane tickets, can you go there? Do you need to work first to earn money for the tickets and travel expenses? Yes, you do! Why, then, for going to the land of Amitabha, do you want to rely on your guru totally to give you what you need? Even if I have things to give you, how many of you can I give the things to? At least you should have some ‘capital’, and then I can help you a little. For example, if a ticket cost NT$10,000 and if you have NT$8,000, then, it is okay that I can help you on the remaining NT$2,000. It is not that the whole NT$10,000 is given to you by me. How many of you can I give it to? I have 1,300 disciples now. Am I to give you NT$10,000 each? If I did that, all of my merits would be emptied out of me by you.

This is not saying that I am unwilling to give things to you; rather, my merits are to help people who have some merits to go to the Pure Land. If there are little merits in you, I can then ‘push’ you going there. However, if you do not have any merits at all, how can you go there? Now, I have instructed my disciples to do grand prostrations; that is precisely to help them to accumulate their merits, and only then can I push them to the Pure Land. It is tantamount to an example that your karma has already weighted over 100 kilograms but I have only 65 kilograms in weight; how can I push you to move? Thus, you need to lose weight by 30 kilograms so that I will be able to push you to the Pure Land. Nevertheless, nowadays I have a powerful, bodily strength in pushing; I can push away a person, with a weight of 100 kilograms, flying.

This section of the sutra is very important. It lies in this: you, especially female monastics, should understand your practices. Do not close the door to recite the Buddha’s name or sutras or chant mantras continuously, thinking that you need to do that until you have attained enlightenment. What is enlightenment for? The fruition levels of an arhat in the first, the second and the third level are also about enlightenment! You need to understand what enlightenment is for when you have been enlightened. If you do not perceive its functions, do not make vows randomly all the time. The most important vow to make is to be reborn in the Pure Land. Since one wants to be reborn there, one needs to accumulate one’s resources. Such resources are very important; do not rely on me to give all of them to you. Particularly, as you, being monastics, do not have children – even if you have, you do not believe that they will make grand prostrations for you – you need to depend on yourselves. Do not think that your recitation of the Buddha’s name or sutras or the chanting of mantras every day can get your resources back to you. That is of no use. Why is it useless? It is because you have not achieved attainments in Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhicitta (Supreme Enlightenment) or in merits. So, the fastest method for accumulating your resources is to make grand prostrations. Just do them continuously and unceasingly.”

(Rinpoche was concerned about an ordained disciple’s illness, and asked her if its conditions had become better. This monastic answered that she had been much better. Rinpoche instructed her to describe what had happened to her. She said that she went to take the first dose of COVID vaccine. One month later, she started having urticaria [skin disorder], so she did not take a second dose of the vaccine. As people are not allowed to enter the Center without taking the second dose, and since she wanted to come in here, she went to get vaccinated the second time. Then, her urticaria got ‘exploded’ – the symptoms became very serious. She could not sleep at night and her whole body was swollen. Then, after one month, she took a shot of antihistamine [a drug in the treatment of urticaria]. After the shot was taken, she had cardiac arrhythmia [irregular rhythm of heart] with a high rate of heartbeat of 130 per minute. Then she went to see a doctor-disciple of western medicine. The doctor made a change for her, giving her a different kind of medicine. After taking it for a few days, her cardiac arrhythmia still showed the fast heartbeat of 130 per minute. After Rinpoche had been informed about her illness and conditions, the guru bestowed her a nectar pill with his blessings by puffing once onto the pill. She had been able to sleep last night. Today, she felt much better, and the symptoms of urticaria were not further affected; cardiac arrhythmia was much improved too. In ending her narrative, she said, ’Thank you, Rinpoche.’)

(Rinpoche continued the teachings.) “Only now the monastic knew about expressing her gratitude to me. The reason that I wanted her to explain this matter of her illness is not to show how amazing I am. For this kind of thing to have happened, there must have been many causes and conditions integrated in the matter. Why are doctors unable to cure urticaria?”

(Rinpoche named a doctor-disciple of western medicine to explain what urticaria is. The disciple indicated that urticaria is a condition of skin allergies on the body. They will cause blood vessels swelling, and such swelling irritations will produce much itchiness on the skin. If urticaria becomes severe, it will affect one’s respiratory and digesting systems, and sometimes the person’s nervous system will be affected too.)

(Then, Rinpoche named a doctor-disciple of Chinese medicine to explain the case. This disciple said, ‘From the perspective of Chinese medicine, urticaria is just like a disease of ‘wind’ as a cause. The conditions of urticaria are physiological obstacles on the liver and lungs, therefore, the skin disorder will appear and stop suddenly, and occurring intermittently with the whole body itchy. Hence, from the viewpoint of Chinese medicine, the treatments for urticaria will be on liver and lungs.’ Rinpoche asked the monastic in question if she had seen this doctor of Chinese medicine for her conditions. She replied that she had. Rinpoche then admonished the doctor-disciple of Chinese medicine, saying how the disciple could actually have not been feeling embarrassed in that he had just been talking now. Rinpoche also asked him where the ‘wind’ comes from. The doctor indicated that the ‘wind comes from the disorder of qi [flow of energy] of the liver. In the monastic’s case, she had experienced sleep disorder before and had not enough of hepatic blood [blood in the liver]; that was why she had urticaria occurring to her.)

(Rinpoche continued the teachings.) “In puja teachings of last week, there was a mention that in Abhirati, there are no ‘diseases of “wind, yellow and phlegm” as causes.’ The reason that this monastic had this illness was that in the COVID vaccine she took, there must have been some chemicals. Everyone’s absorptive capabilities to such chemicals are different. Some people can absorb these chemicals and some cannot; also, some people who have very fast metabolism will be able to metabolize these chemicals. Also, why did she have urticaria? That illness demonstrated that she had consumed quite a lot of sentient beings’ blood in this life or in prior lifetime, so the poison contained in such blood had been with her too, like after eating coagulated pig-blood, or duck-blood, cakes.”

(Rinpoche asked the monastic whether she had eaten those cakes or not and if she had, how many of them she had eaten. She indicated that before, she had lived in a rural area of Taipei. When she was a child, after chickens were killed for food, she would pour their blood on sticky rice and steam it. She had also eaten many coagulated pig-blood cakes. She had liked eating them very much. Rinpoche then asked people present to raise their hands if they had ever eaten such cakes. Most of them raised their hands.)

“You need to be careful about urticaria. Do not think that you will be all right because you have made repentances. The monastic is ordained and she has made repentances every day. Then, once a dose of COVID vaccine was taken by her, the poison had been brought out. So, she should thank this occurrence of coronavirus pandemic. Otherwise, this poison in her will come out in her old age. Why will everyone get shingles once or twice in his or her life? Because of the poison in the body. Even for those who have been vegetarians since the time of their being conceived in their mothers’ wombs, they will get shingles too. This is because the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe are not pure. Thus, there is poison in them for sure.

The monastic sought an audience with me yesterday as she knew that there had been no use in seeing doctors. Well, if they could have treated her, she would not have come for my help either. The doctor-disciples, each being either of Chinese medicine or of western medicine, had already exhausted their methods of treatments, and had also talked about many medical theories. However, diseases of cause and effect are irrelevant to medical science. Why, after a nectar pill had been taken, had the illness been cured? Because there are merits. If a guru cannot attain accomplishments in merits, no matter how he or she has recited the Buddha’s name or sutras or chanted mantras, such practices are of no use. How have my merits come from? Of course, they are bestowed on me first by the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, and because I have given out all I have, I then have obtained merits. After having them, in benefiting sentient beings on the Dharma, all gestures of the deeds produce merits. I did not bless this monastic yesterday; I just puffed once onto the nectar pill and gave it to her. She dared to eat it without being afraid that she might be infected by me because I had blown a breath onto the nectar pill.

All of you need to understand one thing. Do not think that you have been practicing very well. This ordained disciple has already been a monastic for 28 years, and she still had this kind of illness. At least she has not eaten meat in these 28 years. And you? Hence, everyone needs to understand that you are to eliminate your own karma created by yourself. If you want to do that in an easier way, you should have no lack of respect for your guru and the Three Jewels. Only then can you accumulate your own good fortune, causes and conditions. Be sure that you do not have your own thoughts.

In later part of this section, there is also an article about Immovable Tathagata. Here, there is even a mention later that some heavenly beings are much envious of us, humans in Jambudvipa. It is because we can listen to Immovable Tathagata expounding the Dharma. Although it is I who is speaking of it today, I am only representing Immovable Tathagata to do this teaching. So, for the Dharma that has been expounded today, it is not only you who have listened to it but also there are many sentient beings having done so as well. Many heavenly beings like to come to the world here but it is not because the world is a good place to live; rather, it is that these heavenly beings have good fortune to listen to this Dharma. Today, you have opportunities to listen to it, and it is not definitely because I have practiced it and then expounded it to you to listen. All things occur because of the law of causes and conditions.

At the present time, this Dharma of Immovable Tathagata has almost not been expounded in Taiwan because no one knows about it. Today, as I have been practicing Vajrayana, I have only then been aware of Immovable Tathagata. Thus, I often had an expectation in my mind, thinking how I could speak of Immovable Tathagata’s merits. Then, after I had finished expounding the Amitabha Sutra, I opened the sutra which contains the one just mentioned and other different subjects, and I saw this section about Immovable Tathagata. I did not expect that after the Amitabha Sutra, it is followed by this section about the Tathagata. The causes and conditions we have received about Amitabha let us know another Buddha. This is also a way of accumulating our good fortune, merits, causes and conditions. You will say, ‘By listening to a sutra expounded, what kinds of good fortune, merits, causes and conditions will there be?’ There will be such things because it is not you who are listening; you are representing many sentient beings in listening to a sutra expounded. Such acts of yours are exactly about those good things I just referred to.

Hence, on all the merits gained from your listening to a sutra today, do not dedicate them to your sons or to some specific person, wishing that his or her illness gets better. Please. Dedicate such merits and make them as offerings to the Western World of Utmost Bliss. Also, dedicate the merits to Supreme Enlightenment. These kinds of dedications and offerings made are what Immovable Tathagata, Shakyamuni Buddha and Amitabha had so painstakingly done to keep the Dharma being able to flourish in the world. Do not think that there should have been such things existing on their own. Now, there are 12 monastics present. You can ask them whether they had listened to these sutras before or not. (All of the monastics answered that they had not.) How do you explain this then? (One of the monastics responded that it was because there had been no one who had expounded these sutras.) Why was that? (The same monastic answered that he did not know. There had been no affinities.) The reason was that this specific sutra is not easy to expound. If one does not understand the meanings and connotations of the Bodhisattva Path, one really cannot explain the mindful efforts of Shakyamuni Buddha and Immovable Tathagata.

The reason that this sutra has been seldom expounded in Taiwan and in Tibet is that we are unable to get to the land of Immovable Tathagata. In that land, there are all those things, which are described in the sutra, existing. We cannot go there because we have not done the practices required in this lifetime. However, speaking from the opposite angle on the same subject, if you are in the Land of Amitabha and suddenly you want to go to the land of a Buddha for Immovable Buddha, you can go there in no time, and be back again within the time of taking a meal. So, do not hope wishfully that you want to go there now or after this life has ended, because ordinary people cannot do so. There are only two types of people who can be there; one is an arhat and the other is a Bodhisattva. Then again, you are neither of these types. You will then need to go to the Land of Amitabha first.

Once you are in the Land of Amitabha, regardless of whether you are there as ‘the lowest class of the three lowest classes born’ or as ‘the highest class of the three highest classes born’ in that land, if you want to go to the land of Immovable Tathagata, and if you have supernatural power of teleportation, you will go there. Then, after you have finished listening to the Dharma expounded, you will be back. If you feel that, in this life, you have much jealousies in your mind and like to talk in divisive and harsh speeches, you must make a vow to be reborn in the Land of Amitabha. Then, you will go to the land of Immovable Tathagata and let him ‘fix’ you. This is because that I cannot ‘fix’ you as I only have a little majestic, miraculous power compared with that of the Buddha – I even do not have that ‘little’ of such power. From sutras, we should be aware of how we have done our practices. In the later part of this sutra, what have been mentioned are more and more wonderful. They have verified what I have learned about the Dharma. I will not speak of them today though.”

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Updated on March 29, 2023