REALIZATION
Through actual practice, one will achieve "Realization." What is "Realization"? Realization is Enlightenment. By engaging in the process of actual practice, one will ultimately arrive at the realm of Enlightenment. Therefore, starting with "Faith", "Comprehension", and "Practice", one finally reaches "Realization".
Some people have practiced for a very long time (thirty or even fifty years) but have not attained Realization. When they give Dharma teachings, they just open the sutras and read what the Buddha has said. Sometimes they will add some of their own explanations. They urge people to have "Faith" and "Comprehension." Their definition of "Comprehension" is to read and explain the sutras. Do they engage in actual practice? No! This kind of Dharma master is numerous.
Oh! Today and the day before yesterday, I saw many clouds in the sky, covering up the sun. In the future I am going to call my Master Wu Yun (Master Dark Clouds). [audience laughter] It is quite a good name! The Great Master Dark Clouds. These dark clouds are quite powerful. They have covered up the whole Seattle area and almost the entire state of Washington, and they are bringing much rain. From now on, just call me the Great Master Dark Clouds. [laughter and audience laughter] Or call me the Venerable Master Hsuan Nao (the Venerable Master Rowdy). Since sentient beings are so boisterous, I don't want to remain quiet all by myself. I also want to be rowdy. [laughter, and audience laughter and applause] After all, we are all mixed up in this together! I can think of an even better name. You know that among the Dragon Kings of the East, South, West, and North Oceans, the East Ocean Dragon King is the greatest. I should call myself the Supreme master Tung Hai (the Supreme Master of the East Ocean), since Ching Hai is just a small inland lake! [audiendce laughter] From now on, when you write to me, just address your letters to Master Dark Clouds, the Venerable Master Rowdy, or the Supreme Master of the East Ocean. Those will be my aliases. [audience laughter and applause]
Dharma teachings given by people who have attained Realization are infused with the Dharma Taste. People who have not attained Realization do not really know how to give teachings with the Dharma Taste. These are two distinctly different kinds of Dharma teachings. An Enlightened master only needs to bring a little of his Realization into play and one will immediately recognize the Dharma Taste in his teachings. This Dharma Taste is the expression of Wisdom through spoken words. Wisdom arises when one gains an insight into Reality and when one resides permanently in the Condition of Ultimate Reality. This Wisdom can be expressed in the form of either verbal or written language.
Many Zen riddles are expressions of this Wisdom in the form of a spoken language. For example, the Fifth Patriarch Hung Jen met the Sixth Patriarch and asked, "Where are you from?" The Sixth Patriarch replied, "I am from Taiwan." The Fifth Patriarch then questioned, "How can someone from Taiwan attain Enlightenment? Do the Taiwanese have the qualifications to attain Enlightenment?" To this the Sixth Patriarch replied, "Although there are different kinds of people, all, whether they are Taiwanese, other Oriental, or Occidental, have the same Buddha Nature! Their Buddha Nature does not differ." As soon as the Fifth Patriarch heard this, he knew the Sixth Patriarch had understood the Equality Wisdom aspect of the Buddha Nature. Words spoken by a person who has attained Realization are infused with the Dharma Taste.
Similarly, even though the fellowship of our school in Los Angeles is not thriving as well as fellowship elsewhere, when the potential of the Los Angeles students to attain Enlightenment is being questioned, one can still answer, "Although people reside in different cities, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle, their Buddha Nature is the same." This answer demonstrates the same awareness as the Sixth Patriarch's and is also infused with the Dharma Taste. Zen riddles can be used to ascertain the level of one's Realization and, through their dialogue, the Fifth Patriarch was able to recognize the superior root qualities of the Sixth Patriarch. As the Sixth Patriarch had already obtained the View of Emptiness, the Wisdom of Equality (one of the Five Buddha Wisdoms) immediately shone through as soon as he spoke. This was, of course, perceived by the Fifth Patriarch.
When an iota of obstruction is removed, an iota of luminosity is revealed or "realized." This is what happens in our spiritual cultivation. Each time we do a practice, we enter into a period wherein obstruction is removed and where there is only pure consciousness [that transcends the ego]. When one is able to maintain these moments of pure consciousness and expand them into an unbroken continuity of pure consciousness, one realized the Buddha Nature!
Wisdom has been classified into Wisdom generated from Insight into Reality or Wisdom generated from the Permanent Condition of Ultimate Reality. Wisdom has also been classified according to its mode of expression: through verbal or written language. The Zen School masters have traditionally abandoned the written words as a mode of transmission, preferring to speak directly to disciples in order to bring them to see their own original Buddha Nature and thus achieve Enlightenment. In Tantrayana, this transmission is effected through "the Empowerment of the Guru." Blessing and empowerment from a Realized Guru brings about transformation and quickens the process of Instantaneous Buddhahood or Enlightenment. This kind of Tantrayana transformation is affected through the secret power of mantra. Do you think your Grand Master is a Realized Guru? [Audience replies, "Yes!" and audience applauds] I am of course happy to hear this affirmation from you. How can I be sad with such an answer! [audience laughter]
There are several current events in my life which I would like to share with you. Although certain aspects of a Realized person are extraordinary, in some areas he lives an ordinary life like everyone else. Lately, many people have come to help with the correspondence at the True Buddha Tantric Quarter. As a result, the number of people staying for lunch and dinner has increased to more than twenty, sometimes even more than thirty. The two nuns, Bi Chen and Bi Yen, who are in charge of preparing the meals would call out to us, "We are running out of food!" Well, someone had to go and purchase more food. Since it is quite a chore for Mrs. Lu to do all the purchasing by herself, over the last several months I have been grocery shopping every night at the Uwajimaya, Safeway, QFC, Larry's Market, as well as a few other stores. [laughter and audience laughter] You might wonder why I have to go to so many different markets. Sometimes I even go to different Safeway supermarkets. This is because many little bodhisattvas, very small in size, were following me. They stayed on top of my head, above the ears, and also at other parts of my body. They were the happiest when I went grocery shopping. [laughter and audience laughter] Wherever I went, I just needed to clap my hands and announce, "Go and help yourself!" Then they would help themselves to a free meal! [laughter and audience laughter] After enjoying themselves and exhausting everything in one supermarket, we had to try a new one the next day! [laughter and audience laughter] That was why we shopped at the Safeway in Redmond one day and visited the Safeway in Bellevue the next day. I had to switch supermarket everyday. The bodhisattvas came like a gust of wind or, rather, using a not very nice analogy, they suddenly descended like a dark cloud of locusts and in a few minutes all the corn was gone! [laughter and audience laughter] When I entered the supermarket, I knew when they were coming. The doors of the supermarket suddenly opened by themselves and, with a blast, closed again. Other people in the store were dumbfounded at the inexplicable automatic opening and closing of the doors! [audience laughter]
I am not making this up. I am living in a state wherein many bodhisattvas are following me around. [audience applause] This morning during the "news review" session - you might wonder what that is. It was a common activity in the army and at the surveying school. Since not everyone then has access to the newspaper, a student representative would be selected to read the morning newspapers and then review the headlines and important news with everyone else. This morning I had a "news review" session. Who read the news to me? The bodhisattvas. I was shown a news item that read "the xxx Temple was turned into rubble." A certain temple which, in the past, had some connection with us, was destroyed in a fire. I am telling everyone of this incident which, of course, has not yet happened, and I hope I can have this verified in the future. Anyway, I have already read about it in a future newspaper. [audience laughter] the bodhisattvas showed me this newspaper item of the temple being consumed in a fire. I learn about many events in the future through the "news review."
For example, in Taiwan during one particular "news review" session, I was shown the China Times. Then, suddenly, the China Times disappeared and turned into a xxx Daily. What could that mean? How can the China Times disappear? I cannot disclose the answer to this because there are implications concerning a nation. The reading of future newspapers is a kind of divination into the future. The newspapers that you read are current ones that report events that have just happened. The ones that I read are sometimes ten years into the future. Actually, the negative criticism written about me in the newspapers is previewed by me courtesy of the bodhisattvas. [audience laughter] The people who slander me have printed "Sheng-yen Lu" in such offensively large print! [laughter and audience laughter] Actually by the time the little, slanderous booklets were being printed, I had already read the contents. How could I not know? Through the same means, I found out about the fire that destroyed the residence of one of our students. I also had read about that beforehand in the "future newspaper." But how could I talk about it beforehand? Although I know of many future happenings, what good will their disclosure serve? Just think about this, how can I not know of certain things that are going to happen? But how or to whom should I divulge it? It is not possible to print such things in the newspapers! Even if I told these things to people who are intimate with me, (the tight-mouthed ones,) no rumors would be created. So the ones who are qualified to leak the news do not do so, while the ones who have no knowledge at all fabricate rumors. [audience laughter]
This clairvoyance into the future is not always pleasant, but the bodhisattvas have told me that they cannot show me the good news exclusively. Nor is it appropriate for them to show me just the bad news. The bodhisattvas were at a loss what to do. So I told them, "Do it anyway you want! Just show me whatever future happenings you want me to read." [laughter] So, the fact is, when they show me a newspaper from several years from now that contains an article that reprimands me, I have to be sad for several years before it becomes a fact in this reality. [laughter and audience laughter] What a snub! [audience laughter] Therefore it is not always pleasant to know of future events! Sometimes the bodhisattvas do not want me to know of certain events because they do not want me to get worried. Anyway, my philosophy is to flow and be free. Although fate exists, one has to have Self-Mastery, no matter what fate has in store for one.
My Guru, Thubten Taerchi, has written for me the verses [now hanging in the dining area of the Rainbow Villa]. He is teaching me through the verses to abide in the state of Freedom! The first verse urges me to propagate and uphold the proper Buddhadharma transmitted by Buddha Shakyamuni. The second verse encourages me to cultivate to the highest realm of Pure Light. The third verse points out the Nature of Equality shared by all beings who have arisen out of the Sanskrit seed syllable "hum." The fourth verse states that Tantrayana employs the Wisdoms of the Buddha to bring auspiciousness to all sentient beings. The putting together of the first word from each of these four verses forms the name he gave me: Thubten Tsu Ju [thubten Freedom] - to be in Freedom. I am aware that I could teach you these methods of psychic vision or psychic hearing, but such abilities can bring much unhappiness. What use is it to know of inevitable suffering in advance? Although you might have good intentions to help others, can you really help others alleviate their pain when it is sometimes predestined by fate and karma?
The most important task one can engage in is to practice the Buddhadharma. When one engages in the "actual practice" and attains Realization, one's psychic abilities will develop naturally. Buddhist practitioners will ultimately attain Self-Realization and understand the Ultimate Truth of the Universe. When one attains Self-Realization, one transmits this method of awakening to others, enabling others to achieve Realization. This continues until everyone attains Perfect Enlightenment in both body and mind. A Buddha is one who has attained Perfect Enlightenment. The purpose of "actual practice" is to attain Perfect Realization in body and mind, then to help others to achieve the same goal. When one achieves Perfect Enlightenment, every single action one carries out in the world brings tremendous value to others.
How does one attain Realization? One has to practice and gain a radical understanding of the Truth of the Universe. In the next several days, I will discuss these individual aspects of practice. In other words, I will explain how one can experience the different levels of the Dharma Taste. [audience applause]
The question is, "Do transcendental powers arise when one attains Realization?" Of course, they do. In the condition of Realization one can get in touch with other energies in the Universe. It is something like coming into contact with electricity. Before Realization, one is like an insulated body and not aware of other dimensions. With Realization, one automatically knows of karma and fate. For example, I have related to you this incident from one of my past lives. In that lifetime, I was an important Lama at the Potola Palace in Tibet. During that lifetime, a woman who was the proprietess of a metal shop on Octagon Street in Lhasa made accusations against me. In this lifetime, she [the same female student who made false accusations] is repeating her previous behavior. These events are karmically entwined and fated to happen. One cannot escape from them. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas expressed to me that this was the way it had happen because of the underlying karma.
During another lifetime, I was an abbot at the Golden Mountain Monastery in Mainland China. Master Sheng Fa [of the local chapter in Edmonton, Canada] was an administrator at the Monastery during that lifetime and was known as Dharma Master Kuang Miao. Individuals with affinity will meet again. During that lifetime, he got rid of me [audience laughter] and succeeded me as the abbot at the Monastery. Well, what really happened was that Impermanence had beckoned to me. Do you think an abbot can stay forever as an abbot? Do you think one can eternally be an executive? There is nothing in the phenomenal world that stays forever unchanged! Only Arhats, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas who have reached Enlightenment and abide in the Realm of Non-birth and Non-death live in the Eternal Condition.
When you interpenetrate time and space, you will have knowledge of your past and future lives. You will have a clear understanding of the workings of karma and the causes and consequences of interrelated events. There is a karmic basis to the coming and going of events and the transmigration of individuals. Such being the case, how can one cling to any phenomenal condition? When, through the practice of the Buddhism, you reach Realization and Enlightenment and abide in the Inherent Perfection, you will not grasp onto anything in the phenomenal world, becoming happy or sad over it. At such a stage, you are completely Sovereign and attain Freedom, as stated in the verses written by Guru Thubten Taerchi. Do you want to attain Freedom? If you do, you have to work on your practice seriously. You will then enjoy the Dharma Taste and transcend your problems. If you do not want Freedom, then you will continue to have problems and experience the cycles of birth and death. Freedom is the most valuable thing in life! Or do you think that antiques are the most valuable things in life? I was given a gift of some antiques by a student who had inherited them from her husband. In the future, I will give these antiques away to others. Valuable antiques are not to be owned forever by a single person. They are to be passed from one generation to the next!
The Buddha has made it very clear: Is there anything in the material world that belongs inherently to one? Only one's karma will follow when one departs from the world. You think that the acquisition of antiques and money is a worthwhile pursuit and you work desperately to accumulate them in this life. You keep yourself busy, working every day including Sunday. You even wish that there were eight days to a week so you could make more money. [audience laughter] At the end, you cannot take any material thing - money, antiques, houses, cars - with you when you pass on. You have spent your life acquiring things for nothing. What is the most valuable thing in the world? Freedom! When you embark on the path that starts with Faith and Comprehension, and engage in Practices that lead ultimately to Realization, you will understand the Ultimate Truth of the Universe. This is what is most valuable in life. How can you not choose this pathway which is a shortcut which will return one to the Source Condition?
I have found this life of mine very meaningful because I am able to achieve and abide in Self-Mastery. No matter what happens, I abide continuously in an Enlightened condition that is full of Bliss. My body is filled with a Luminosity and Radiance that is empowered by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
Amituofo
Lotuschef
Pure Karma
True Buddha School
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