His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche’s Puja Teachings – July 17, 2022

His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche ascended the Dharma throne, and expounded on “Scroll 20, ‘Immovable Tathagata Assembly’ (Chapter 6, Section 2, Part 6: Causes and Conditions of Rebirth)” of the Ratnakuta Sutra. Rinpoche also transmitted the Dharma Protector Achi ritual through the pith instruction.

“Sutra: ‘At that time, Sariputra spoke to Sakra, “You have seen Shakyamuni Buddha and Immovable Tathagata. Because of this affinity, your body has obtained great, good benefits, not to mention that you have already obtained the Dharmas surpassing those in the Human Realm.”’

At the time, Sariputra did not speak to Sakra in the way when people talk to one another as you imagine. Rather, Sariputra spoke to Sakra with the supernatural power of mind-reading, one type of supernatural powers. Sariputra said to Sakra, ‘You have seen Shakyamuni Buddha and have also seen Immovable Tathagata. Because of this affinity, your body has now obtained great, good benefits.’ This means the body of Sakra in this lifetime had been formed by accumulated goodness with great good fortune. The key point is that he had seen Shakyamuni Buddha and Immovable Tathagata. With sentient beings’ bodies in the Age of Dharma Decline, they do not have good fortune, merits, causes and conditions to see Shakyamuni Buddha and Immovable Tathagata in person. Hence, our bodies cannot obtain great, good benefits.

Some people will explain that all Buddha statues, sutras, and even a Rinpoche can also represent the Buddha and Immovable Tathagata. However, any of such things or a Rinpoche is not a Dharmakaya (Dharma-body), and is only a Nirmanakaya (emanation-body), a representation, unless we can master our practices in this lifetime to be reborn in the World of Utmost Bliss. Only then, in that World, can we see a Buddha’s Dharma-body in person. On Earth, currently, in Exoteric Buddhism, all its teachings are to teach you how to see a Buddha’s emanation-body. For example, in the Praises to Amitabha, which is in the Amitabha Sutra, there is a mention of ‘Amitabha’s emanation-body is coming to receive and lead you.’ You will not get a Buddha’s Sambhogakaya (reward-body) coming to receive and lead you except for practitioners who want to practice Vajrayana and the Bodhisattva Path. Only they can obtain the teachings, guidance, and the lead of a Buddha’s reward-body. If one does not attain a Bodhisattva’s Dharma-body, one cannot see a Buddha’s Dharma-body. From the explanation of modernists, it is in a completely different space. In science, it has now been proved that there is a five-dimensional space. In accordance with the Dharma principles, there is a ten-dimensional space in this universe. In one’s practices, if one has attained Yoga Tantra and Highest Yoga Tantra, one can get his or her attainment to enter the ten-dimensional space. Only then, is there an opportunity for one to be in contact with a Buddha’s Dharma-body and a Bodhisattva’s Dharma-body.

Here the meaning is that Sakra saw Shakyamuni Buddha and Immovable Tathagata in person. There are two explanations for this. The first one is that Sakra should also be a Bodhisattva’s Dharma-body; it is only that his karmic retribution makes him manage a heaven in the Heaven Realm. The other explanation is that Sakra has been practicing with a Bodhisattva’s Dharma-body, and he has seen Shakyamuni Buddha’s Dharma-body and Immovable Tathagata’s Dharma-body. If we look back further on this, and when Shakyamuni Buddha had been expounding the Dharma, Sakra had come to Earth to listen to the Dharma expounded. When Immovable Tathagata had been expounding the Dharma, Sakra had also been on Earth, and had listened to the Dharma expounded by the Tathagata. As mentioned previously in the sutra, heavenly beings have obtained the blessings and protection of the Buddha’s supernatural power. In the sky, they can listen to the Dharma expounded and see the Buddha in person. We, as our bodies being in the Human Realm, do not have such a good fortune. Then, must we master our practices to be in the Heaven Realm? If one attains accomplishment of the Heaven Realm, one still needs to reincarnate. Thus, in the Heaven Realm, Sakra, the Four Great Deva Kings, and so forth, are only to help those heavenly beings to learn the Dharma, and will continue to help them if there are causes and conditions for these heavenly beings to learn Buddhism and to practice. It can also be said that Sakra, the Four Great Deva Kings, and so on, are in a Bodhisattva’s emanation-body. In this sutra quote, Sariputra told Sakra, ‘Why has your body obtained great, good benefits? Because you have seen Shakyamuni Buddha and Immovable Tathagata.’

There is a phrase in the sutra quote ‘….not to mention that you have already obtained the Dharmas surpassing those in the Human Realm.’ In it, the words ‘Dharmas surpassing those in the Human Realm’ do not mean ‘Dharmas of people who have done wrong things.’ (Translator’s note: In Chinese, the words for ‘surpassing’ and ‘wrong’ have the same character, but with different meanings.) Rather, the quote means Sakra had ‘already obtained the Dharmas surpassing those in the Human Realm,’ indicating he had already been in the Heaven Realm. It also means what he had been practicing on were not the so-called methods of the Human Realm. When we enter a fetus for next lifetime, we will not be reborn for certain as a human. If we have not practiced the Ten Meritorious Acts in this life, we cannot be humans in next lifetime. Although there is a population of 8 billion on Earth now, of the 8 billion people, how many people are there who have causes, conditions, and opportunities to listen to the Dharma expounded? There are very few. The rest of the people have not listened to it, and have no opportunities to listen to it either. So, in sutras, we have been taught that we need to make vows. If we cannot be liberated from birth and death in this life, and when we return to this world, we do not want to be reborn in a place where there is no Dharma existing.

Nowadays there is no Dharma in many countries. Even if the Dharma existed in some countries, it had been destroyed. Or, if it exists, it is not the Right Dharma; rather, it is the Dharma of a non-Buddhist religion. This phenomenon is not because the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha are ineffective, and is not because Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are not compassionate either. It has been mentioned in sutras about such a phenomenon. In the Age of Dharma Decline, the last stage of Shakyamuni Buddha’s Dharma era is precisely like this: On the Dharma, what has been seen is not the Right Dharma; what has been listened to seems to be the Dharma expounded but the deeds acted on are not in accordance with the Dharma.

For example, when a believer implores a Dharma method, if the practitioner uses money to measure the possibility if he or she is to help this believer by performing the method, then, this is not the Dharma. It is because, in sutras, we have not been taught to help people this way. If a practitioner acts on something that has not been mentioned in sutras, and even if the practitioner has an appearance as a monastic, it is wrong and the practitioner is at fault. It is destroying the Dharma. At the time when Shakyamuni Buddha attained the fruition of a Buddha under a bodhi tree, there were nothings that Mara-papiyan, a demon, could do to stop the Buddha. Mara-papiyan personally said that in the Age of Dharma Decline he will send his descendants to Earth, wearing a ‘Tathagata robe’ (a monastic’s robe). In fact, what they have been practicing or acting on are not in the Dharma principles; they have been destroying the Dharma. How did Mara-papiyan describe the situation? (A monastic answered: ‘Worms in a lion’s body fill themselves by eating the flesh of the lion.’) Worms are lice. Lice suck a lion’s blood, laying eggs in its flesh, and destroy this lion continuously. The lion represents the Dharma. There is such a story recorded in sutras.

Nowadays there are many acts or mentions you have seen about specious Dharma. Do not give scoldings on these things and do not say that they are not good. This is our fate. If we had not been born in this era, how could we have encountered such phenomena? This also demonstrates that you have had heavy karma, which only makes you having been born in this era. There are nothings that can be done to help you see the Right Dharma being acted or true practitioners. Therefore, there will be fewer and fewer true practitioners in the future, and they cannot even be seen. Even if they exist, they will not come out of their places to liberate sentient beings. It has been written in the Ratnakuta Sutra, which I have expounded a few weeks ago, that if sentient beings do not value the Dharma or if they despise it, practitioners will not expound or teach the Dharma; they will hide themselves. It was like the person who was at Shakyamuni Buddha’s side, the Venerable Vimalakirti. He carried the Buddha’s garb and alms bowl and went the Jizu Mountain in Yunnan, mainland China to conduct a retreat and enter a meditative state. He has not come out of his retreat. He will wait for Bodhisattva Maitreya coming down to earth. Only then will Venerable Vimalakirti come out of his retreat and meditation. In accordance with what has been mentioned in sutras, this waiting time is 5.6 billion and 70 million years. This period is unfathomable to us.

In the Age of Dharma Decline, the Dharma is increasingly rare and it is difficult to see its functioning because this is the Dharma era. Shakyamuni Buddha’s force of capability to teach in this life is becoming weaker and weaker. This capability will disappear at the end.

Sutra: ‘At that time, Sakra had such a thought, “Those sentient beings, having listened to this Dharma method, have also obtained good benefits, not to mention that they can get born in the land of a Buddha for Immovable Tathagata.”’

Sakra had given rise this thought. He thought that so long as sentient beings can listen to the Dharma methods of Immovable Tathagata, they will obtain good benefits too. This view refers to the concept about the term ‘good benefits.’ It does not mean you will become better immediately or you will have very good things happening to you. Rather, if you have listened to the Dharma methods of Immovable Tathagata, in your future learning of Buddhism or your practices, you will encounter more goodness and less negative things. Even your hindrances will be eliminated. This is the definition of that term.

There is a phrase in the quote ‘….not to mention that they can get born in the land of a Buddha for Immovable Tathagata.’ It means ‘….let alone if you will be born in the land of Buddha for Immovable Tathagata, you have obtained great, good benefits.’

Sutra: ‘At that time, the Buddha spoke to Sakra, “Those people who have been practicing Mahayana should be born in that land of a Buddha, and they will also obtain good benefits. Why is that?”’

Shakyamuni Buddha spoke to Sakra again that when ‘those people who have been practicing Mahayana’ get born in the land of Immovable Tathagata, ‘they will also obtain good benefits. Why is that?’ What is the reason?

Sutra: ‘It is because all those Bodhisattvas should obtain, and abide by, the state of non-retrogression.’

All Bodhisattvas who should be born in the land of Immovable Tathagata should ‘obtain, and abide by, the state of non-retrogression.’ The term ‘abide by’ does not indicate dwelling in that state; rather, it means a Bodhisattva will remain in this level or state. There is a phrase in the quote ‘It is because….the state of non-retrogression.’ For ordinary people, this means once you have given rise to bodhicitta, you will not retrogress. What is retrogression? It is about the mind of benefiting sentient beings, which is starting to get weak, even disappearing, in its strength. This is very easy to happen, especially for those who are born in the Human Realm. So long as people have experienced matters of suffering or happiness of the mundane world, they will retrogress.

From the perspective of Bodhisattvas, besides the retrogression of their bodhicitta, the most important thing is that their practices of the bodhicitta path will retrogress. It is mentioned in sutras that before Bodhisattvas have been above the Eighth Ground (when they are from the First Ground to the Eighth Ground), they will have opportunities to retrogress in the retrogression of their Bodhisattvas’ level. When Bodhisattvas have been practicing to reach a certain stage, some of them will retrogress very easily. Such retrogression has been produced from hindrances, karma, et cetera in their practices of past lifetimes. These hindrances and karma will affect Bodhisattvas whether they will retrogress or not.

Why is a guru important? Because he or she will supervise you, not letting you retrogress. The easiest fault to be committed before a person retrogresses is to slack off. This is particularly so for some people who have encountered some difficulties in life. After their difficulties have been solved, they will feel that they are not bad, and then they start to get lazy; this is slaking off. These people will practice fewer Dharma methods, and their minds will start getting distracted, disturbed, and indulged in ease. They want to have fun. If you are one of these people, your karma will then be back and ‘find’ you again. Why is this? Because your good fortune has not yet been attained in your practices. It is only that when there are disasters happening to you, your guru, the Buddha, and Bodhisattvas have blessed you so that these disasters can be stopped. You will then be given opportunities to practice and to transform your own karma. When they help you stop your negative karma, you will feel that you seem ‘having practicing well or having mastering your practices.’ You will think, ‘I do not need to be so diligent or working so hard. We are humans, and we should have a life of a human.’ When you think these ways, you are exactly a human. What does it mean being a human? It means your good and negative karma you have created through lifetime after lifetime will become manifest on you continuously.

If you know you have created much negative karma, and if you are not slacking off or lazy at all by practicing and working constantly, the ‘power of negative’ in you will be reduced, and even be stopped. So long as you are unwilling to work hard slightly, the ‘power of goodness’ in you will be starting to get reduced, even disappearing; then the ‘power of negative’ will surpass that of goodness. Once this happens, your karma will be back anew and will ‘find’ you. This is why I have said that I can only save each of you once. Why? After you are saved by me, you will start indulging in ease, slacking off and to be lazy, thinking that you are not bad, and want to live a good life, a life of a human. Then your karma returns, and I will be incapable to do anything either. I cannot save you again; there is nothing that can be done to save you again. Why is that? It is because you have changed your own karma, which has not been ascertained or set yet, to fixed karma.

How has your karma changed? Because you want to live a good life, you have abandoned the Dharma, not wanting it. Wishing to live a good life is to give up the Dharma. The Buddha told us a concept, which is mentioned especially at the time of our taking refuge, that ‘I take refuge in the Dharma, and renounce all desire to gain respect.’ You have been practicing constantly but your desires have been increased. You will think, ‘Nothings have happened to me recently. I will relax a little then.’ I am not saying that you are not allowed to relax. Rather, after you have relaxed, and returned home, you need to double your ‘work load.’ If you usually chant a mantra for 2,000 times, now you need to double the number of the chant, by increasing it to 4,000 times, or 6,000 times, even 10,000 times. I have often exhorted everyone with my own case. I tell myself that before I have attained Buddhahood, how can I have time to slack off, be lazy or indulge in ease?

When I started learning Tantra, I knew that I might have the opportunity to become a guru. From 1997 to this day, I have never seen a movie or have been in a karaoke in Taiwan. Why have I been in this way? Because I have been afraid to get myself indulged in ease or slacking off. Since I am to be others’ teacher, I have even stricter demands to myself than what other teachers’ requirements to themselves. You can go to a movie or karaoke; I will not stop you to go. However, as mentioned earlier, after you go there once, you need to make it up on your ‘work load’ immediately. Why is it? It is because you are a person who does not have enough good fortune originally, and that is why you have gotten sick or have issues. With difficulties, you have gained a little good fortune from your practices, and that has restrained the negative you have faced. Then again, you use such a good fortune in enjoyments. Will you not have good fortune again? Will you not need to double your practices? Whether you are a monastic or a layman, the situation is the same.

You will wonder if this is very painful. No, there is no pain in it! Have you seen me suffering? When I need to sleep, I sleep; when it is time to eat, I eat; when I need to drive, I drive. No matter how tired I am, every day, I will practice all I should practice on that day. And you? You will ask for leave from Bodhisattvas, and there are various reasons like these. ‘Because I want to study abroad. There is no need for me to practice this now; I will see about this when I return from abroad.’ ‘Because I am getting a promotion now. Before that happens, there are many things I need to handle. It is all right; the Buddha and Bodhisattvas will forgive me. When the time comes for me to earn more money, I will make more monetary offerings. Then everything will be fine.’ If money can buy the Dharma, no matter how big the amount is, it is not enough.

The state of non-retrogression is very important. Once a Bodhisattva retrogresses, all the Dharma that this Bodhisattva has practiced through lifetime after lifetime will be transformed from merits into good fortune. Merits can transform your own karma, and can help sentient beings too. Good fortune cannot transform your karma, and can only give you enjoyments. Also, it cannot, absolutely, be utilized in the Land of Amitabha. Good fortune can only be used in Human, Heaven, Animal, Hell, and Asura Realms. It is just that such a good fortune is limited and can be used up whereas merits are inexhaustible.

Sutra: ‘For other Bodhisattvas, if they are present and wish to be born in that land of a Buddha, they should know that all of them are to abide by the state of non-retrogression.’

Shakyamuni Buddha emphasized again that only for other Bodhisattvas who could be present in the land of Immovable Tathagata, and who were willing to be born in that land of a Buddha, they should know that they could ‘abide by the state of non-retrogression.’

Sutra: ‘When the Buddha spoke of this Dharma method, the minds of five hundred bhikkhus had been freed on the Dharma without deficiencies. For five thousand Bodhisattvas, six thousand bhikkhunis, eight thousand Upasakas, ten thousand Upasikas, and countless kings (or “Sons of Heaven”) of the Heaven of Desires, all of them had wished to be born in that land of Buddha. At that time, Tathagata bestowed assurance to them all that they should obtain their rebirth in that land of a Buddha.’

When the Buddha was expounding the Dharma method of Immovable Tathagata, there were 500 bhikkhus whose minds ‘had been freed on the Dharma without deficiencies.’ For the phrase ‘the Dharma without deficiencies,’ the opposite is ‘with deficiencies.’ On anything we do in the mundane world, there are deficiencies (with residual effects). Eating too much will be bad for your health; indulging yourself in anything will certainly have residual effects. The term ‘without deficiencies’ means when our practices have attained a certain state – generally speaking, in the practices of Arhat Path, for example, such a state is after affliction has been eliminated – all the Dharma methods that have been practicing on are without deficiencies. This means in one’s practicing processes, it is very easy for the person to attain the goodness of the Human and Heaven Realms. So long as in our hearts our practices on the Dharma and our learning of Buddhism are not for the purpose of getting liberated from birth and death and are not for the reason of getting reborn in the Pure Land, then our practices of the Dharma, chanting of mantras, and reciting sutras are precisely for obtaining good fortune of the Human and Heaven Realms. Such a good fortune is with deficiencies in that people with this type of good fortune will reincarnate. The meaning of ‘without deficiencies’ is that all goodness you have been practicing on will benefit sentient beings, and will not let you reincarnate continuously because of good karma you have produced.

Many people think that if they themselves have done many good deeds in this life, they will surely live a good life. Such a thought is not wrong but it is the Dharma with deficiencies. In next lifetime, you will come back as a human or will be in the Heaven Realm. So long as you are reborn or reincarnate once more, you will have opportunities to create negative karma, and you will also have a chance to fall into the Three Evil Realms. The so-called the Dharma without deficiencies means all Dharma methods you have been practicing on or what spoken languages you speak of are in pure goodness, and they will not produce any karma. Only in such a situation, can it be called ‘without deficiencies.’ It will not let you produce any karma to reincarnate.

Amitabha said that one is to be reborn with karma. The ‘karma’ he referred to is good karma, not negative karma. This means if your negative karma has not been purified, it is impossible for you to be reborn in the Western World of Utmost Bliss. There are two methods to get negative karma purified in this life. One method is that a person practices diligently after his or her guru has transmitted Dharmas, especially Tantra. Then this person’s negative karma of accumulated past lifetimes can be purified. If there are no ways that the person can do this, then the person needs to rely on his or her guru to help his or her negative karma get purified in this life.

Many people think that it is very easy to ‘go’ to the Land of Amitabha by just reciting about it. However, it is not that simple. If one could go there by just reciting about it, there would not be a population of 8 billion in this world because everyone would be practicing in the Land of Amitabha. What would anyone remain here for?

There is this phrase in the sutra quote: ‘the minds of….had been freed on the Dharma without deficiencies.’ The words ‘minds had been freed’ mean minds will not produce concerns, worries or any affliction on anything in the mundane world. The key point is at the time of a person’s passing away, he or she will not have worries on any mundane affairs. What do we practice for every day? It is exactly for the purpose of letting our minds have no worries and getting the minds freed when we are to be reborn and at the time our breathing stops. Therefore, Shakyamuni Buddha once taught us in the sutra that we are to think of our family members as being prison guards. This means you are not to consider them as your loved ones or children. Rather, think them as your prison guards. That is to say that they are the people who supervise or control you. So, when you are about to die, you are released from the prison; you do not need to be in it. Then will you still think of those prison guards? Absolutely not! Prison guards are to control you.

For someone you love or a certain person around you, if we look at this person from the concept shown in sutras, we can see that the person is to control you. As there is a force of karma existing between this person and you, he or she appears in your family in this life, and has used many ways to control you. If the person has treated you not in good ways, it is the person’s control of you. If you have been treated too nicely, it also shows that the person controls you. The mention of ‘minds….had been freed’ in the sutra quote means as a practitioner has been practicing the Dharma without deficiencies, his or her mind will not be bound by any mundane issues anymore; this practitioner’s mind has been freed. To put it simply, although this person’s body still exists, the practitioner’s mind has already left various affliction of the mundane world, has been at ease at any time, and been freed.

‘For five thousand Bodhisattvas, six thousand bhikkhunis, eight thousand Upasakas, ten thousand Upasikas, and countless kings (or “Sons of Heaven”) of the Heaven of Desires, all of them had wished to be born in that land of Buddha. At that time, Tathagata bestowed assurance to them all that they should obtain their rebirth in that land of a Buddha.’ It is mentioned here about how many practitioners who had wished to be reborn in the land of Immovable Tathagata. The term ‘Upasakas’ refers to laity of male practitioners. The number of Upasikas is described in words of ‘ten’ and ‘thousand’ in Chinese, and refers to ‘ten thousand Upasikas.’ There is also a phrase in the sutra quote ‘and countless kings (or “Sons of Heaven”) of the Heaven of Desires.’ All of them had made vows in their lands of Buddhas that they had wished to be reborn in the land of Immovable Tathagata.

Sutra: ‘If there are other sentient beings who wish to be born, Tathagata should also bestow assurance to them that they should be born in that land of a Buddha. At that time, in the trichiliocosm, there are six types of “earth shaking.” They are so-called movements occurring universally, movements of equal, average-scale, shakes occurring universally, shakes of equal, average-scale, quakes occurring universally, and quakes of equal, average-scale. These have occurred because they are blessed by this Dharma method.’

For other sentient beings, when they are willing to be reborn, Shakyamuni Buddha will also help them by bestowing assurance that they will be in the land of Immovable Tathagata. It is often mentioned in sutras about ‘earth shaking.’ When the Dharma has been expounded very auspiciously, the earth will shake. Why will it? This means the auspiciousness of the Dharma expounded by the Buddha makes all sentient beings on the earth feel touched, and that gets the earth tremors happening. With the naked eye and instruments, we detect the earth, which consists of soil and its elements, and so on. However, in fact, there are many sentient beings, whom we cannot see, inside the soil. Only Shakyamuni Buddha’s great supernatural power can know about them, including deities of Earth Mother (the mother of the earth), which have been mentioned in Tantra we have performed.

The deities of Earth Mother have many family members too. All things regarding whether a piece of land is auspicious or not are relevant to deities of Earth Mother. It was like our situation about the monastery. Before our monastery had been constructed, we had needed to go to that site to perform a Dharma method, imploring the local deity of Earth Mother to lend us this piece of land to use. In this way, in the processes of the construction and in its events of later period, there will not be unsatisfactory matters occurring. All of you have seen or known that during big construction processes, there are accidents happening often when workers die. It is because people engaged in the projects do not understand this Dharma, and do not know how to perform it, borrowing from deities of Earth Mother this piece of land to use. In Exoteric Buddhism, there is no such a Dharma either while it has been shown in one of Immovable Tathagata’s Dharma texts.

After this Dharma has been performed, it is equivalent to telling the deity of Earth Mother and the mountain deity of that place that ‘Now we are borrowing this piece of land to practice the Dharma. Please come to protect us.’ It is not that we want to drive them out of there. All these six types of ‘earth shaking’ will not harm any sentient beings, and will not let them give rise to fear in their minds.

Sutra: ‘The Buddha had finished expounding this sutra. For Sariputra, others, and in the worlds of heavenly beings, asuras, gandharvas, garudas, kinnaras, and mahoragas, they had listened to what the Buddha had expounded. They had all been joyful, and had believed in, accepted, and acted in accordance with what had been spoken of.’

In the later part of this sutra quote it is about devas, nagas and others of eight groups of non-humans. Some of these eight groups of beings have protected and supported the Dharma, and some of them have not. In our Order, there is a yidam that specializes in controlling devas, nagas and others of eight groups of non-humans, and can even command them to help this yidam do things. So long as this yidam has been performed in a ritual, these eight groups of beings will listen. Hence, if there are many accidents, natural disasters or floods happening, and if this yidam has been performed in a ritual, these types of occurrences will be reduced.

Today, the expounding of the chapter on ‘Immovable Tathagata Assembly’ has come to a perfect completion. Whether you want to practice on this chapter or not is not the key point. The key point is about the causes and conditions you have in this life, and they have given you chances to listen to these Dharma methods mentioned in the chapter. This fact indicates that you had learned Buddhism in your accumulated past lifetimes. Then in this life, because of ‘obfuscation between lives,’ once you had entered, and then came out of, the fetus, you have forgotten things of your past lifetimes. This continues until there are opportunities that bring forth your memories of the past and your causes and conditions, and only after that can you start anew to learn Buddhism in this life.

Learning Buddhism is not a matter for one or two days, or for one or two years, to finish. The learning needs to be accumulated continuously. In the Dharma, there are eighty-four thousand Dharma methods, and each method can help us solve our affliction or get liberated from birth and death. If one wants to finish learning all these methods, it is a matter that is impossible to happen in this life. Thus, we are to act, step by step, in accordance with the methods taught by our guru. On the aspect of practices, a guru has been more experienced than you. Such a guru knows what methods that you can act on, and he or she also knows what methods you should not do; the guru teaches you step by step. After the teachings, whether you want to practice the methods or not, it is for you to decide, and it is irrelevant to the guru.

It is equivalent to a situation that after a teacher has taught students, he or she will then give them homework assignments. If the students do not work on the assignments after getting home, the teacher cannot do physical punishment to students; nowadays nothing can be done to punish them. Nevertheless, at the time of school examinations, from test results, the students’ efforts on homework will be known. The examination of a life is not that in a short time of a few decades, whether one has money or not, gets married or not, has children, or children are dead, or not. Rather, it is at the time of one’s last breath that the real examination of a life occurs. Whether you have learned or practiced the Dharma in your life, the truth will be revealed when you are at your last breath. Such a situation cannot be deceived, faked, or counterfeited, absolutely. Rather, it is unpretentious and is to show whether you have achieved attainment or not in this life.

People go through this stage unless you have encountered a Rinpoche who has abilities to help you by performing a Dharma. However, even if you have met this Rinpoche, you also need good fortune, causes and conditions to make the encounter work. It is not all right if there is good fortune but causes and conditions are lacking; it is not all right either if there are causes and conditions but there is no good fortune. So, ‘being oneself’ is just very important. On what we have been practicing every day – no matter it being chanting mantras, making prostrations to the Buddha, or making an incense offering – the best way to do is dedicating all merits to the Western World of Utmost Bliss. This would only be in accordance with what has been mentioned in the Amitabha Sutra that for good men and good women, they must have no lack of good fortune, merits, causes and conditions, and they are to make vows. Only then, can they be reborn in the Pure Land.

If there is no bloodline connected directly between you and a practitioner, it is not possible for this practitioner to help you make vows. You need to rely on yourself to make vows, and only then can you be confident about yourself when you are at your last breath in this life. Many people think that ‘I am very young; I am nonchalant. Other people say that I will only die when I am 70 or 80.’ For those elderly disciples, they think that ‘I am now 70. Others say I will only die when I am 80, so I still have 10 years that I can muddle along. I am planning when the time comes, I will implore Rinpoche to perform a Dharma for me.’ However, I will die too; I will sleep as well; it is also possible that at that time I will not be in Taiwan and will be gone to another place.

If everyone has this kind of mindset, it is ‘relying on someone,’ not ‘having a shoulder to lean on.’ ‘Relying on someone’ is to throw any of your issues to the other person, in that you want him or her to do things for you. ‘Having a shoulder to lean on’ means there are the Dharma and your guru to let you lean on. So long as you are willing to practice, you absolutely have support. There will certainly be results at the time of your last breath when the real examination of a life occurs; surely, there will not be different results appearing. Therefore, the true Dharma is not to teach us how to strike it rich, run businesses, or give births to children. Of course, in Tantra there are many Dharma methods to practice on for getting matters in these areas achieved. Nevertheless, these methods are only to help certain believers who have these kinds of suffering. It is not the Dharma of the end-all-be-all. The true Dharma of the end-all-be-all is to be reborn in the pure land of a Buddha.

Hence, you can see that in the chapter on ‘Immovable Tathagata Assembly,’ no matter how much that has been expounded, it always exhorts you to be reborn in his land. It does not mention because you believe in Immovable Tathagata, your property will be inexhaustible in this life. The chapter does not say so. It is also not stated that because you have practiced the Dharma methods of Immovable Tathagata, the children you have given birth to in this life will have much filial piety and will listen to you. Why have these not been mentioned? It is because the final the end-all-be-all on the Dharma is to practice in the land of a Buddha. Only after one has practiced and attained Buddhahood, can one benefit even more sentient beings.

Then, is it now that nothings need to be done? We, the laity, cannot let anything undone. This does not mean we do not want things done either. We still need to do them but we should have a different mindset. It is like what has just been mentioned in a sutra quote that ‘the minds of ….had been freed on the Dharma without deficiencies.’ This means our bodies still live in this mundane world but our minds are different, in that they have already been freed. We are living our lives now. It is only that we need to pay off the karma produced from our own accumulated past lifetimes, and we just need to pay it off during this period when we are alive. After such karma has been paid off, when our time comes that we should leave this world, then we leave. If it is not the time yet, we cannot leave even if we want to.

For example, some people came to seek an audience with me, saying that their parents had been ill with much suffering. Then, they asked me if they could implore me to help. I told them I could not let their parents die. Only when the time comes or when they have enough of good fortune, can they pass away. When people are to die, they need good fortune to make that happen except for those people who die immediately because they have very negative karma. Otherwise, people will be seriously ill and be on the verge of death as mentioned in the Sutra of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha’s Fundamental Vows that they lie in bed but they would not die, and they cannot live well either. Their conditions show that their karma is quite heavy.

People with heavy karma will be seriously ill and be dying. For instance, some people who have strokes would not die after lying in bed for several years. Some people who get cancer pass away only after a very short while; then again, some cancer patients will still be alive after several years’ – even 10 years’ – treatments. Why will such people not die? It is because they have not paid off their karma. They still do not believe they have it as they think that they themselves have gotten cancer, and that fact is karmic retribution. Then, is there still karma for them? Yes, there is. What kind of karma? Because they have not transformed all their thoughts into the thinking with goodness energetically, and still have not worked very hard to turn whatever they speak of to the talks with goodness, they still have negative karma.

Nowadays, there are still people who will say, once they open their mouths to speak, that so-and-so is not good or so-and-so is not right; this is exactly creating negative karma for themselves. If one speaks in a negative language, saying the kinds of things that other people are not good, it is like the concept of many poisonous snakes coming out of one’s mouth to bite and harm people. What we say can harm people, make others feel sad, and slander others; those things we speak of can also let people obtain good thoughts. This is not teaching you to fawn over people with every word you say, and to make them feel very good. Rather, you are not to talk in a negative language and harsh speeches. If you do not want to talk, do not do it then. This is especially so for a married couple. If, over trivial matters, they speak harshly to each other, scolding the other one in very unpleasant words, thinking that they ‘can quarrel at the head of the bed but they can also make it up with each other at the end of the bed.’ There is no such a thing. So long as you have said anything unpleasant to others, there will certainly be karmic retribution for you.

A married couple who likes to quarrel with each other needs to do a self-review and find out why this is the way. If these two people do not do self-examination attentively, they will create negative effects for themselves continuously. If some of you criticize others with the Dharma and say that ‘this has been said by Rinpoche,’ you have made harsh speeches too. Why? It is because that I have exhorted you not to speak harshly, but then you use the Dharma that I have taught you to counter, threaten, and intimidate others. Such people like you will have your vices increased twice in severity or in number. After we have learned the Dharma, we need to watch out for our own thoughts, words, and actions. When you took refuge, I taught you to ‘commit no negative acts, and do all good deeds.’ This means we cannot do any bit of a negative act, and for a little good deed, we are to do it. This is what the true Dharma is. It is not wishing to change, amend or replenish our fate through the Dharma. There is no such a thing.

Here is the ending of my expounding of the chapter on ‘Immovable Tathagata Assembly’ for today. I hope there will be help – from my teachings of the chapter – to all of you in your practices, and in obtaining your good fortune too. As to what subjects of sutras I will expound next time, I do not know. I will speak of a subject wherever I turn the pages of a sutra to read.
(初稿）Today, here is the ending of the sections about Immovable Tathagata. I hope to help every one of you in the way related to your practices as well as your good fortune. As to which part of the sutra I will expound next time, I have no idea about it. I will expound the part wherever I happen to turn the pages to read.

(His Eminence Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche recited the Prayer for Being in the World of Utmost Bliss, written by Drikung Kagyu Lord Jigten Sumgon.)

This is the aspiration prayer for rebirth in the Pure Land, written by Drikung Kagyu Lord Jigten Sumgon. From this prayer, we can see that it is a very good thing to go to the Pure Land; in there, there is no suffering of the mundane world at all. Once one goes to that land, one will have five types of supernatural powers. When these powers are possessed, one can practice the Dharma continuously. In the Dharma text, Drikung Kagyu Lord Jigten Sumgon also mentioned that the practices done there will let us attain the state of a Bodhisattva of the Tenth Ground as quickly as possible. A Bodhisattva of the Tenth Ground is a Bodhisattva’s Dharma-body. The next stage is to attain the Buddha’s state of being.

Thus, for many of you, there are family members who have passed away, and if the deceased have gone to the Land of Amitabha, it is impossible for you to dream of them. If you do, it means those deceased must be in the Heaven Realm, or perhaps in the Human Realm. Why will they not let you see them if they are in the Land of Amitabha? It is because they have been liberated from all their affliction, and their affinities with their family members of the mundane world have been eradicated. What remains among them is Dharma affinity. When the deceased do their practices in that Land, they still have contacts with their family members of this lifetime. The latter do not feel, hear, or touch it though. However, those deceased have five types of supernatural powers, and will bless and protect the family members constantly, letting them being able to practice diligently and not to slack off.

So, if you slack off easily, this represents that you do not have ancestors in the Land of Amitabha. It also indicates that you still have not made efforts to make your own vows to be reborn in the Land of Amitabha; you still have not been certain of it, have been in doubts, have been thinking, have been looking around, and have been talking about conditions! If you have made up your mind to be in that Land, there will be no such indecisions for you; things will be very clear to you. Those of you who have not made up your mind will consider that ‘This is just a talk. I will think about it when the time comes.’ You think there are still plenty of time to do things, and you still do not know what day you will pass away anyway! Hence, no matter what pujas you participate in, and what places or temples you go to, you will hear about things that are not good; about good things, you will hear them wrongly, and you will have no feelings about them either. All these happen because you have not made up your mind.

Therefore, this decision is very important! Such a decision of yours is exactly the so-called making vows to be reborn in the Pure Land. Do not worry that if you decide to go there you will die early. If you die early, you will go to the Pure Land early then! What will you be worried about? If you are not supposed to die, and even if you recite Amitabha’s name every day, he will not come to receive you. Thus, do not worry about this. For me, I would not die for so many times. People who are afraid of being dead will certainly not be able to master their practices. Everyone will die in this life surely, including me.

Our learning of Buddhism is to practice toward the direction of death. If you wish to live a good life, do not come here to learn Buddhism then. You can donate all your properties, and you will live a good life too. This is because people will then recall you with gratitude every day, saying that you are a very good person or a ‘person of great virtue.’ We, as Buddhist practitioners, might not be known that we have been in goodness because we do many good deeds every day; nevertheless, these acts cannot be seen, heard, or known by people.

For those of you who have not determined assuredly to go to the Land of Amitabha, any Dharma methods you have been practicing on will not generate effects for you. Do not think if you frequently recite the Buddha’s name or chant mantras, you will make the decision, eliminate your karmic hindrances, or get your health better. No, these things will not happen! Even if you implore me for some Dharma texts, and if I give them to you, those situations just mentioned will not occur either. The reason is that you still have not made up your mind. It is possible that you might ask, “How do you know I have not decided yet?’ From looking at you, I will know if you have or not. Those who have determined that they will certainly go to Amitabha’s Pure Land are different.

Many people have come here to bluff, deceive, or swindle me. I am not easy to be swindled though because I know what type of mindset those people have who have made their decisions. It does not mean because you have made up your mind, you cannot get a wife, have children, make money, run businesses, or get entertainments; such an idea is not mentioned in sutras. The most important thing is that you must make the decision. When you do any acts that are relevant to the Dharma, you are to make dedications to Amitabha’s Pure Land, and only then will such records of yours appear in that Land. If all your recitation of the Buddha’s name and the chanting of mantras every day are for yourself to implore the enlightenment, make yourself understand clearly, or keep yourself healthy for the purpose of reciting more of the Buddha’s name or chanting more mantras, your efforts will be ineffective absolutely. It is like a believer who came yesterday to see me. He said he was ill and implored me to bless him for getting well from his illness; he then said that after he was well, he would learn Buddhism and eat vegetarian. I said to him, ‘You have come here to threaten and intimidate the Buddha and Bodhisattvas!’ Nowadays, many people are like this. They negotiate the conditions first before doing things. If the Buddha and Bodhisattvas cannot help you, then you will not learn Buddhism. Do the Buddha and Bodhisattvas lack a believer like you? That kind of attitude is about ignorance on self-ability, thinking how great you are.”

Rinpoche transmitted the pith instruction on the Dharma Protector Achi ritual to new disciples, and then he started the teaching. “From the perspective of a temple, it is best for people there to practice this ritual after 5 o’clock in the afternoon every day. It is because at that time all the day-time activities have stopped; people are prepared to rest or eat supper. Then, practice the Dharma Protector Achi ritual once for the day, imploring Dharma Protector Achi to protect you in your practices. For a layman, the time to practice this ritual is after getting home from work. Wash your hands and face, and make change a bit to clean clothes; then start practicing the ritual. Do not rush. If you are in a hurry, it is better not to practice the Dharma Protector Achi ritual than to practice it.

The Dharma Protector Achi ritual must be practiced every day. There is nothing in its Dharma text that teaches you what you are to implore for. However, if you follow the text to recite the contents, you can obtain anything that you have implored for. It is of no use if you use your own thoughts to add many things mentioned in the Dharma text. It is because that there are two types of Dharma Protector Achi, and these types are as ‘civil Achi’ (peaceful yidam) and ‘military Achi’ (wrathful yidam). The type I transmitted to you today is peaceful yidam. Only the ‘military Achi’ can help sentient beings; this Achi will make a point of helping those in the rank of an abbot of a monastery or a Rinpoche do some matters. The peaceful yidam you practice on is to help you reduce the hindrances in your practices, and will also protect and support you to get your accidents decreased. Thus, no matter where you go, even going abroad, you need to practice Dharma Protector Achi ritual every day.

Some people went abroad to study, and before they went, they had come here to implore me for the Dharma Protector Achi ritual. However, I did not grant their requests because they did not have a right mindset for imploring this ritual. They wished Dharma Protector Achi to protect them for living peacefully. They did not implore me for the ritual for the purpose of learning Buddhism. Wanting to live with peacefulness does not mean one will live peacefully just by imploring for this Dharma text. If one is not respectful of one’s guru, how can one live peacefully?

The Dharma Protector Achi ritual only exists in the Drikung Kagyu lineage. Its Dharma text cannot be copied and given to others. From the perspective of Esoteric Buddhism, such an act is called ‘Dharma-stealing.’ The ‘Dharma-stealing’ is ‘stealing,’ which in the Five Precepts, we are to refrain from doing. For one thing, if any Dharma methods that have not been transmitted by the guru through the pith instruction, and if you give such methods in any forms to others, you have done the ‘Dharma-stealing.’ Secondly, you have not observed the precept of ‘no false speech’ because you are not a guru and are not qualified to transmit Dharma methods. Do not think that if you do such an act to others, it is for their own good; you will then have many hindrances in your practices in the future.

Many people also like to tell others what kinds of sutras to recite or to read. Shakyamuni Buddha had once expounded that if a person does not have such a root capacity, even the name of a particular sutra cannot be revealed to this person, let alone giving him or her the sutra to read. There is a mention too in the ‘Immovable Tathagata Assembly’ that people who do not have good fortune, cannot even listen to the Dharma method of the merits of Immovable Tathagata. Do not think if you want to listen to this method, you need to be told. There is no such a thing. This had been taught by Shakyamuni Buddha. So, nowadays, many people for the sake of convenience, have put lots of sutras on internet, letting others select and read online any time they want. This should not have been done because it will get some people even more disrespectful of the Dharma. In ancient times, if people wanted to implore for the Dharma, they needed to walk a very long distance for it. Now, you can just make a phone call or send an electronic message, requesting other people to tell you whatever you want to know. How can there be such a thing? Therefore, in cases when people do not have the mind of imploring the Dharma, I will let my disciples handle the situations. Why is the Dharma in decline in the Age of Dharma Decline? It is because sentient beings’ mindsets have not been right.”

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Updated on April 1, 2024