Three Intentions
The main reason behind my pledging these three solemn oaths is that I wish that each of you will be able to experience the same strong and clear perceptions that I do, each time you do the practice. I also wish that you can personally travel to the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds in Sukhavati. Furthermore, I wish that you are able to meet with the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas face to face, to pray to them to bless and empower you to become a Buddha in the future. I hope I have made myself very clear. I hope every one of you who has not been to Sukhavati can travel between here and there. This is my first intention. Second, I hope your cultivation will result in the prophecy of Buddhahood by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
Third, each time you practice, I hope you can obtain a very strong, clear, and profound kind of awareness and perception. If all these three intentions are met, you definitely will not turn away from your initial resolution to do cultivation, nor will you give up the path of cultivation. One will continue practicing the True Buddha Tantric Dharma with determination and perseverance. And subsequently one will reach the fruit of Buddhahood and be able to help bring liberation to more sentient beings.
Grief Before and After Realization
The path of cultivation is not an easy one to tread, but it is a pity if man chooses not to tread on it. Before I attained realization, I labored and grieved with my utmost effort, in soaking sweat and tears, to try to reach the goal. Now that I have attained realization, I still grieve and labor in sweat and tears. Why? I am not grieving or laboring for myself. Although I am awakened and have attained realization and understanding, it is heartrending to look at the world and see so many sentient beings still in ignorance. Before Enlightenment, I was hear broken; after Enlightenment, I am even more heart broken.
This is because I grieve for the people of the world who are not able to understand the benefits and importance of doing spiritual cultivation. Why can't they appreciate the greatness and wonder of this transcendent Dharma that will enable one to become completely united with the Universe? That is why, before realization, I wept in grief and why, after realization, I still weep in grief. But, today, all of you were able to come here to listen to the Dharma that I am teaching, it is an indication of the extraordinarily strong affinity you have with the Buddhas. Therefore, you should cherish this Dharma. After learning how to do the practice, you should practice it with perseverance. I have practiced this Dharma for more than twenty years and, if this Dharma is false, wouldn't I have been cheating myself for more than two decades? By following this path that I already have trodden, one can also attain the same realization that I have attained, and there will come a time when the Buddhas will appear to prophesy one's Buddhahood. One will then attain Self-Mastery, Great Perfection, and Luminosity. These accomplishments greatly surpass all the wealth, fame, prestige, and relationships of the world.
Things of the World Always Return to Dust
What is familial comfort and conjugal happiness? They are but dust and dirt in the eyes of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The greatest mansion in this world is still dust and dirt; the greatest fame in this world is still dust and dirt. The greatest accumulation of wealth in this world is still dust and dirt; conjugal bliss and love is still dust and dirt. Only when one practices and reaches transcendence in the realm of Self-Mastery, Perfection, and Light, will the genuine and supreme Wisdom of Buddhahood be manifest. Therefore I hope that, in our school, more students will completely devote their hearts to walk this path of cultivation. The more the better. Now, many people have made the decision to become renunciants [monks and nuns] and to pursue this goal single-mindedly.
They deserve our commendation because such resolution and determination to liberate oneself from samsara and to generate the Bodhicitta is most rare and noble. If one is unable at this time to become a renunciant, due to worldly entanglements, it is all right as long as one bears in mind that, when the time comes for one to break with worldly affairs, one must let go. After all, that which is of the world belongs to the world and must return to dust. Dust is always dust. There is a saying: the spirit returns to the spirit, the earth returns to the earth. Everything in the world always returns to dust. Only the mind and spirit are transcendent.
Therefore there is really no alternative to this path of cultivation; it is just that people of the world do not understand and are oblivious to this truth. We first have to awaken ourselves and then work earnestly to liberate other sentient beings. This completes my introductory words to the third day' s teachings.
Basics [12]. More to come.....
Readers can write to asklotuschef@gmail.com for a .pdf or .doc copy of this book.
Om Guru Lian Sheng Siddhi Hom
Lama Lotuschef
The main reason behind my pledging these three solemn oaths is that I wish that each of you will be able to experience the same strong and clear perceptions that I do, each time you do the practice. I also wish that you can personally travel to the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds in Sukhavati. Furthermore, I wish that you are able to meet with the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas face to face, to pray to them to bless and empower you to become a Buddha in the future. I hope I have made myself very clear. I hope every one of you who has not been to Sukhavati can travel between here and there. This is my first intention. Second, I hope your cultivation will result in the prophecy of Buddhahood by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
Third, each time you practice, I hope you can obtain a very strong, clear, and profound kind of awareness and perception. If all these three intentions are met, you definitely will not turn away from your initial resolution to do cultivation, nor will you give up the path of cultivation. One will continue practicing the True Buddha Tantric Dharma with determination and perseverance. And subsequently one will reach the fruit of Buddhahood and be able to help bring liberation to more sentient beings.
Grief Before and After Realization
The path of cultivation is not an easy one to tread, but it is a pity if man chooses not to tread on it. Before I attained realization, I labored and grieved with my utmost effort, in soaking sweat and tears, to try to reach the goal. Now that I have attained realization, I still grieve and labor in sweat and tears. Why? I am not grieving or laboring for myself. Although I am awakened and have attained realization and understanding, it is heartrending to look at the world and see so many sentient beings still in ignorance. Before Enlightenment, I was hear broken; after Enlightenment, I am even more heart broken.
This is because I grieve for the people of the world who are not able to understand the benefits and importance of doing spiritual cultivation. Why can't they appreciate the greatness and wonder of this transcendent Dharma that will enable one to become completely united with the Universe? That is why, before realization, I wept in grief and why, after realization, I still weep in grief. But, today, all of you were able to come here to listen to the Dharma that I am teaching, it is an indication of the extraordinarily strong affinity you have with the Buddhas. Therefore, you should cherish this Dharma. After learning how to do the practice, you should practice it with perseverance. I have practiced this Dharma for more than twenty years and, if this Dharma is false, wouldn't I have been cheating myself for more than two decades? By following this path that I already have trodden, one can also attain the same realization that I have attained, and there will come a time when the Buddhas will appear to prophesy one's Buddhahood. One will then attain Self-Mastery, Great Perfection, and Luminosity. These accomplishments greatly surpass all the wealth, fame, prestige, and relationships of the world.
Things of the World Always Return to Dust
What is familial comfort and conjugal happiness? They are but dust and dirt in the eyes of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The greatest mansion in this world is still dust and dirt; the greatest fame in this world is still dust and dirt. The greatest accumulation of wealth in this world is still dust and dirt; conjugal bliss and love is still dust and dirt. Only when one practices and reaches transcendence in the realm of Self-Mastery, Perfection, and Light, will the genuine and supreme Wisdom of Buddhahood be manifest. Therefore I hope that, in our school, more students will completely devote their hearts to walk this path of cultivation. The more the better. Now, many people have made the decision to become renunciants [monks and nuns] and to pursue this goal single-mindedly.
They deserve our commendation because such resolution and determination to liberate oneself from samsara and to generate the Bodhicitta is most rare and noble. If one is unable at this time to become a renunciant, due to worldly entanglements, it is all right as long as one bears in mind that, when the time comes for one to break with worldly affairs, one must let go. After all, that which is of the world belongs to the world and must return to dust. Dust is always dust. There is a saying: the spirit returns to the spirit, the earth returns to the earth. Everything in the world always returns to dust. Only the mind and spirit are transcendent.
Therefore there is really no alternative to this path of cultivation; it is just that people of the world do not understand and are oblivious to this truth. We first have to awaken ourselves and then work earnestly to liberate other sentient beings. This completes my introductory words to the third day' s teachings.
Basics [12]. More to come.....
Readers can write to asklotuschef@gmail.com for a .pdf or .doc copy of this book.
Om Guru Lian Sheng Siddhi Hom
Lama Lotuschef
No comments:
Post a Comment