3-8-2011 The Equality of Tantrayana and Sutrayana

The Art Of Meditation 

By Master Sheng-yen Lu
Translated and published by Lei Zang Si Singapore

This was translated from Grandmaster Lu's 45th book, 坐禪通明法.

CHAPTER 23 - The Equality of Tantrayana and Sutrayana

All along I have held that all sects are equal excluding "heretical groups." I hold in respect the Abhidharma sect and the Satyasiddhi Sect in Hinayana, let alone the various sects in Mahayana, such as the Zhan Sect, the Discipline Sect, the Avatamsaka Sect, the Dasabhumika Sect, the Samparigraha Sustra Sect, the Nirvana Sect, the Vijnapti-matrata Sect, the Prajnaparamita Sect, the pure Land Sect, the Suddharma Pundarika Sect, and the Tantric Sect.

I also regard Taoism as equal.
I also respect Christianity, Catholicity, and Sects worshipping celestials and gods.
The Ling Xian Sect, the sect I have founded (please note, my reader, that it is a sect, not a religion that I have founded) embraces the Taoist Sect, the Pure Land Sect, the Zhan Sect, and the Tantric Sect, merging all their teachings. It takes Taoism for its internal cultivation, the Pure Land for its external cultivation, the Zhan for its concentrated meditation, and Tantrayana for its final realization. The ultimate attainment is, without doubt, the most extraordinary transcendence. My students and my readers are advised to ponder deeply over its underlying principle.
My "equality view" of all sects has won the appreciation of a senior Tantric cultivator, whose letter to me is quoted here:
You have received empowerment and instructions from the Living Buddha of the Tibetan Tantric Sect: this is something one does not easily get. Many years ago, I had a close relationship with the Ruler of the Red Sect Dudjom Rinpoche, and received from him the "thousand-Buddha Empowerment" and a relation formation empowerment of Master Padmasambhava, and a luminous Dharma empowerment some time later. I once studied Taoism when I was young. Recently, Daxidu Rinpoche, came over to propagate the Dharma, and I received "the Second Karmapa Empowerment."
I have studied and practiced various teachings, but I always hold Tantrayana and Sutrayana in equality; in fact, I make no distinction among the various teachings and the many sects. All I want to do is to attain Nirvana. Whenever a Dharma King of any sect holds an empowerment assembly, I would go and attend it on most occasions. This Dharma King of the White Sect is very young, much younger than me. However, since he is the Ruler of the White Sect, he must be protected by the Dharma protectors; it is only right for me to prostrate before him. More basically, he is a good teacher and an incarnation of a living Buddha. All those who know all about Tantrayana should be modest and honest. At the mention of Tantric masters, many Exoteric masters would consider it beneath their dignity to look at you. Here I enclose in the letter a piece of news which says that, a Tantric master who came here to give lectures on the Dharma, went to see an Exoteric master before anything else to show his respect for Sutrayana. If, on the other hand, an Exoteric master came here to lecture, would he visit a Tantric master? I am sure he would not, for these masters are extremely conceited.
Now let me say something about Taoism. When I was young I studied teachings of various sects, such as the Dragon Gate Sect, the Mao Shan Sect, the Liu Ren Shen Gong Sect, and the Shen Da Sect. Many masters were fond of me, saying that I would attain great achievement later. However, some of the Taoists had other spirits attached to them and were not advanced at all in their cultivation. What I was after was great teachings which would enable me to transcend birth and death. Naturally, I refused to accept those masters' instructions.
Your skill in talismans and Taoist techniques filled me with admiration. It can be said that you are the most revered in the world. You will be Number One wherever you go, because your teachings are first-rate as you were a student of Mr. San Shan Jiu Hou. Orthodox and effective talismans are nowhere to be seen today. You are the only one among the holy who can evoke the Six Ting Six Jia Mudra characteristics of Mr. Dong Hua Di.
Here in our place, quite a few people practice heretical talismans. Some people cannot be penetrated by knives and have become hatchet men for the underworld. Worse still, some people use talismans to compel beautiful girls to go to bed with them. The Bon Sect is always up to such tricks. Fortunately, there are still people like you to uphold the correct Taoist teachings, who constitute the mainstay for the just cause.
You know all about Tantrayana, Sutrayana, and Taoism, and you have responses in all of them. You say you are a "miscellany." I say you are the greatest Ocean of Dharma nature, into which thousands of rivers ultimately flow. From my life time study of Buddhism, I know only of one person who is truly "miscellaneous," that is Shakyamuni Buddha. He studied Mahayana and Hinayana, Sutrayana, and Tantrayana, and even Brahmin. Not only did he know about them, it was he who let them be known to the world. He knew about the 13 sects in Buddhism. So he could be considered to be Number One Miscellany.
The Ling Xian Sect you have founded makes no distinction between celestials and Buddhas. This "theory" may bring pressure upon you, for the earthly sects will label it as "departing from the classics and rebelling against orthodoxy." Such is the superficial view shared by ordinary people, who are short-sighted. In fact, your character Xian refers to gold celestials who are equal with Bodhisattvas, not just gods. Ordinary people do not have the required intelligence, so you need not at all expect them to understand you. You should be content as long as all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and the gold celestials understand you. You once talked about being "calm, clean, care-free, and happy-go-lucky;" that is a strong evidence for your realization.
I remember there was once a book called Combined Sect of Celestials and Buddhas, which caused quite a bit of debate at the time. The superficial question was how celestial beings and Buddhas could ever go together. Common people could only stay on the surface in their thinking. Wu Chong Xu and Liu Hua Yang, two realized Taoists, were also once under attack from Buddhist believers. I have always had a hunch that people with advanced ideas are invariably under attack. However, you should feel comforted, since you are indeed a great deal ahead of them, particularly in your judgement of what is right and what is wrong. As they can not match you in any respect, all they can do is to heap slanders upon you, calling you mara, or devil. It is a common practice of these earthly people to wantonly defame others. You can simply ignore them.
I had some personal experience with the doctrines of the Wu and Liu Sects. They were genuine. They could attain the sixth supernatural power: consciousness of the warning of vicious propensities. They had no problems with the other five powers either. They could completely break away from lust. As regard the Bon Sect, you know a great deal, and I too, know that it is a printine superstitious heresy in Tibet, which does nothing but bring calamities to people by various dirty tricks.
As regard the question of whether there is geomancy in the Tantric School, well, I have not come across the phrase "Tantric geomancy" in my reading of all the classics, current or ancient, on the doctrines of the Tantric School. Shakyamuni handed down Tantrayana which was carried forward and developed by Master Padmasambhava and Bodhisattva Nagarjuna, who had never heard of "Tantric geomancy" either. From this one can see that Mr. Lin Yun's claim for Tantric geomancy is invalid, which tried to peddle heretical teachings under the name of the Tantric School. Genuine geomancy should belong to us Chinese; it was handed down by the Taoists. In geomancy, again, you are the number one expert. You are the successor to the Qing Cheng Sect in Taoism.
I deeply feel that among the multitude of people in the world, you enjoy the greatest "root of goodness" and have been instructed by intelligent teachers. You first leaned the "abrupt method" (for sudden fulfillment or enlightenment) and later got the "gradual method" (spending a long time accomplishing meritorious practices). Now you can enter a Buddha's realm as you like. At this stage it is likely that you are subjected to many tests. I hope you remain "calm, clean, carefree, and happy-go-lucky" and spread your great doctrines all over the world.
Wish you perfection and freedom from hindrance!
Vajrayana disciple Kao Nan-bao With hands cupped
This letter holds Sutrayana, Tantrayana, and Taoism equal. I tell all practitioners honestly that there is only a difference in realms among all schools of doctrines; no other difference exists. And besides, at the very final stage of cultivation, all these doctrines are in fact identical; if they are not, I Sheng-Yen Lu, am the greatest liar. Buddhas of one school and Buddhas of another are also in correspondence. In the ultimate supreme realm, all differences and factions, who believe that the various doctrines are not connected and who always praise their own sect to the sky while censuring all other sects.
Such a mentality is very much like that of a Christian, who tends to believe that God is the only savior, and that all others are Maras like Satan. The same is true of Islam which believes that Allah is the only ruler and that all others are Maras. This is also the case with some Buddhists who believe that Buddhism is the most superior and Taoism is heresy. In Japan, disciples in the Nichiran Sect only chant "Hoke-kyo" (lit.: "Homage to the Sutra of the Lotus of the Wonderful Dharma" once recited by Sage Nichiren (who was named post-humorously Rissho Daishi by Emperor Taisho) and that only the Nichiran Sect is true Buddhism and all other sects are incarnations of Maras.
Everybody says that what he has got is the best and what others have is nothing. This is a common disease among under-enlightened ordinary people. I would say that I accept any doctrine that is correct and I believe that all correct doctrines are closely connected and have mutual responses. The most important thing is to know what is orthodox and what is heretical. One can attain enlightenment with one doctrine and can attain enlightenment with several doctrines. This is the crux of the matter.

Amituofo

Lotuschef

Pure Karma

True Buddha School