Protection Power of The Vajra
When one is lying in bed, regardless of one's sleeping posture, first visualize one's two big toes joined together and extending out until they are very long. Then visualize the area at the top of the crown also start to protrude and become long and extended. Doesn't it seem to turn one into a kind of unicorn? Well, let's not worry about it. Next the kneecaps start to transform into the five prongs of a vajra, and the area between the kneecaps and the neck becomes the mid-section of a vajra, while one's head becomes another set of five prongs. What has one become? One has become a vajra. The five prongs knot at each end tapers out to a point, while the body transforms into the mid-section of a vajra. After such visualization, one chants the tri-syllable mantra, "Lang, Yang, Kang." One chants this twenty-one times, or forty-nine times, or one hundred eight times, or until one falls asleep.
One's visualization has to be very clear before one chants the mantra, then what is sleeping on the bed will be a vajra. When the demons come and take a look, all they see is a sacred weapon that can destroy them! [audience laughter] They leave one alone because one has chanted the tri-syllable mantra. The final syllable "Kong" means strong and sturdy. By chanting the tri-syllable mantra repeatedly, one becomes strong and sturdy, and transformed into a vajra lying there on the bed. The demons would not have the nerve to assault one. This is the simplest and easiest way of protection.
An additional benefit of doing this practice is that one's life-span will be lengthened. So this is a very good method in developing strength and longevity.
Other Applications of Armor Protection
We have to learn to apply the Armor Protection in our daily lives. One of these applications is to chant seven times the mantra, "Om bo ru lan ze lee," while holding the clothes one is to put on and visualizing them transforming into armor. Chant another seven times the mantra "Om bo ru lan ze lee" while holding one's hat and transform it into a warrior's helmet. The clothes become body armor and the hat becomes a steel helmet. This is the way to practice Armor Protection.
One has to learn diverse uses of the Armor Protection due to the power of demonic forces. When one performs the Armor Protection and has the vajra gods guarding over one, cultivation will be free of negative interference. Every spiritual cultivator requires such inner protection.
One can visualize the vajra as golden in color.
"Lang, Yang, Kang." All of you here today who have heard this method can practice it when you go home. You will generate a kind of power. When you repose at night as a vajra, negative forces will leave you alone. This is the most effective method of protection.
Today I have discussed three liturgical steps: the Mandala Offering, Fourfold Refuge, and Armor Protection. Actually there are numerous alternative forms of Armor Protection methods, such as the Four Animal Spirits Armor Protection mentioned in one of my books, but this Vajrasattva Armor Protection is sufficient. When one performs, in addition, the Vajra Transformation at night, I believe one can become very firm and strong and will be able to attain very high spiritual power.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
When one is lying in bed, regardless of one's sleeping posture, first visualize one's two big toes joined together and extending out until they are very long. Then visualize the area at the top of the crown also start to protrude and become long and extended. Doesn't it seem to turn one into a kind of unicorn? Well, let's not worry about it. Next the kneecaps start to transform into the five prongs of a vajra, and the area between the kneecaps and the neck becomes the mid-section of a vajra, while one's head becomes another set of five prongs. What has one become? One has become a vajra. The five prongs knot at each end tapers out to a point, while the body transforms into the mid-section of a vajra. After such visualization, one chants the tri-syllable mantra, "Lang, Yang, Kang." One chants this twenty-one times, or forty-nine times, or one hundred eight times, or until one falls asleep.
One's visualization has to be very clear before one chants the mantra, then what is sleeping on the bed will be a vajra. When the demons come and take a look, all they see is a sacred weapon that can destroy them! [audience laughter] They leave one alone because one has chanted the tri-syllable mantra. The final syllable "Kong" means strong and sturdy. By chanting the tri-syllable mantra repeatedly, one becomes strong and sturdy, and transformed into a vajra lying there on the bed. The demons would not have the nerve to assault one. This is the simplest and easiest way of protection.
An additional benefit of doing this practice is that one's life-span will be lengthened. So this is a very good method in developing strength and longevity.
Other Applications of Armor Protection
We have to learn to apply the Armor Protection in our daily lives. One of these applications is to chant seven times the mantra, "Om bo ru lan ze lee," while holding the clothes one is to put on and visualizing them transforming into armor. Chant another seven times the mantra "Om bo ru lan ze lee" while holding one's hat and transform it into a warrior's helmet. The clothes become body armor and the hat becomes a steel helmet. This is the way to practice Armor Protection.
One has to learn diverse uses of the Armor Protection due to the power of demonic forces. When one performs the Armor Protection and has the vajra gods guarding over one, cultivation will be free of negative interference. Every spiritual cultivator requires such inner protection.
One can visualize the vajra as golden in color.
"Lang, Yang, Kang." All of you here today who have heard this method can practice it when you go home. You will generate a kind of power. When you repose at night as a vajra, negative forces will leave you alone. This is the most effective method of protection.
Today I have discussed three liturgical steps: the Mandala Offering, Fourfold Refuge, and Armor Protection. Actually there are numerous alternative forms of Armor Protection methods, such as the Four Animal Spirits Armor Protection mentioned in one of my books, but this Vajrasattva Armor Protection is sufficient. When one performs, in addition, the Vajra Transformation at night, I believe one can become very firm and strong and will be able to attain very high spiritual power.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
INTRODUCTION ( DAY THREE )
Authentic Experiences
Most of you know that, when I was twenty-six years old, I went to visit the Jade Emperor Temple in Taiwan and that it was there that the Golden Mother of the Jade Pond opened the Divine Eyesight for me. Then, that same night, I was brought to the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds in the Western Paradise of Ultimate Bliss [Sukhavati]. I know that this kind of experience is extremely rare, though not unheard of. My experience was so real that, although it happened when I was twenty-six, it still leaps absolutely vividly before my eyes. I saw the Padmakumara [Lotus Bodhisattva] and the white, lightning-like light radiated by him. Every single lotus blossom was as big as an automobile tire. What I saw at the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds corresponded exactly to the Amitabha Sutra' s descriptions of Sukhavati. This true experience later became a kind of spiritual backup force, sustaining me in my pursuit of Taoism and Buddhism.
Until that experience, I did not know who Padmakumara was. Before the age of twenty-six, I had never even heard of Padmakumara. It was from that night on that I came to know of his existence. He told me himself that his name was "Lian Hua Tung Tzu" [Padmakumara]. Such an experience is extremely rare in this world. I have often emphasized and repeated this truth: I have been to the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds of the Sukhavati. I hope that this knowledge will give you a strong and firm faith, just as it has given me a strong and firm faith. With this strong faith, an initiated True Buddha School student can practice the Dharma and arrive at the goal and attain realization. Therefore this faith is extremely important.
Three Solemn Oaths
I have often thought about making an oath to attest to the truth of my visit to Sukhavati. But, on further thought, what would such an oath accomplish if people take me to be a liar? Although I am sincere and honest when I tell everyone that I have been to the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds in Sukhavati, the believers will believe and the nonbelievers will still disbelieve. This is the way it is because faith is based on many causes and conditions.
Today I am going to make an oath to all of you. I have never before made an oath. Whenever I was about to make an oath, I always stopped short of actually making it
Here is my oath: If my traveling at the age of twenty-six to the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds in Sukhavati and my encounter with Padmakumara did not happen, and, if the whole incident was a total fabrication, I am willing to descend to the Vajra Hell and remain there eternally!
I was reluctant to make such an oath before as I realized that even pledging an oath is sometimes useless. Some people will, upon hearing this oath, say it is false! Such an oath just does not do anything for them at all!
Before the Heavens, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and all Deities, I make this pledge: if what I saw and heard that particular night when I was twenty-six years old was fabricated by me, I am willing to be banished forever to the Vajra Hell.
This is a very solemn oath. To remain in the Vajra Hell is to be always in darkness, with no chance of rebirth to the realm of humans. This is a very severe oath, and I make it in front of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
Now, I would like to bring up the incident this year in Taiwan when I met Buddha Shakyamuni and had coffee with him. Many people found this strange. They said in disbelief, "Sheng-yen Lu is getting too ridiculous, having coffee with Buddha Shakyamuni!" So, did Buddha Shakyamuni write for me on a piece of
paper, the epithet "Flower Light Self-Mastery Buddha"?
Let me tell you, he didn't. [audience laughter] What do I mean by that?
At the beginning, Buddha Shakyamuni actually wrote "Great Light Self-Mastery Buddha" on a piece of paper and then showed it to me.
I did not like the word "Great," so I said to the Buddha, "I don't like the word Great and don't want to be known as the Great Master; I would rather be called the Little Master. Instead, why don't you give me the name 'Little Light Self-Mastery Buddha' ?" [audience laughter]
Little Light Master would then become the Rev. Hsiao Kuang. 1('"Little Light" in Mandarin sounds the same as Hsiao Kuang, the name of the Buddhist monk who is the housekeeper at Rainbow Villa. ) [audience laughter] I asked Buddha Shakyamuni not to use "Great" Light, as I preferred to be called "Little."
Subsequently, Buddha Shakyamuni changed the word Great into Flower and that was how it became the Flower Light Self-Mastery Buddha. This is the truth. I clearly watched while he changed the word. Buddha Shakyamuni was wearing a western suit at the time.
If this incident of how I saw Buddha Shakyamuni writing the epithet "Great Light Self-Mastery Buddha," followed by my request for the change and his subsequent changing of the word "Great" into "Flower," is all a fabrication of mine and, if I have not actually seen and heard this entire sequence of events, I am willing to descend to the Vajra Hell and remain there eternally, with no hope of leaving. In front of the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Tathagatas, Dharma Protectors, and all Deities, I pledge this, my second solemn oath.
Today I am making three solemn oaths, and the third solemn oath has to do with the sensations and perceptions I experience in my practices. As do many of you, I practice the True Buddha Tantric Dharma on a daily basis. I have been practicing for more than twenty years without skipping a day. Of course, many students have also been practicing for many years. Some have experienced mystical experiences, while others have not. Some have achieved yogic responses [union with the meditating Deity], while others have not. In regard to my own experiences: when I was living in Ballard, a suburb north of Seattle, my awareness and perceptions varied each time I did the practice. Sometimes there were very good responses and sometimes there was no response. Sometimes the sensations were very strong but sometimes they were very subtle. During that time I experienced a whole range of sensations during my meditations.
However, in recent years my experiences at the True Buddha Tantric Quarter have been quite different. Now how does it feel each time I do the practice? During each practice, I can feel my whole body being enveloped by a swirl of chi, and outside the chi is light. In between the chi and light is fire. That is, there is a swirl of chi surrounding my body and outside this chi is fire and, beyond the fire, is light. My whole body is held and supported at the upper portion of the Empty Space. These are very strong and
tactile sensations. I can feel the layer of enveloping chi which, unlike the sensation of wind blowing against one, is like coming into contact with electricity or being surrounded by something that is substantial and firm. These sensations are very strong and are clearly perceived each time I do the practice. I do not know what kind of awareness and perceptions you experience when you do the practice, and I cannot pledge for you. Therefore, I can only make this pledge: every time I do the practice, I am completely surrounded by chi, fire, and light. This kind of sensation of mutual merging is strong and extremely vivid. If these sensations that I have described do not happen, if I have made them up, I shall go to the Vajra Hell without any chance of liberation.
Basics [11]. 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
Authentic Experiences
Most of you know that, when I was twenty-six years old, I went to visit the Jade Emperor Temple in Taiwan and that it was there that the Golden Mother of the Jade Pond opened the Divine Eyesight for me. Then, that same night, I was brought to the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds in the Western Paradise of Ultimate Bliss [Sukhavati]. I know that this kind of experience is extremely rare, though not unheard of. My experience was so real that, although it happened when I was twenty-six, it still leaps absolutely vividly before my eyes. I saw the Padmakumara [Lotus Bodhisattva] and the white, lightning-like light radiated by him. Every single lotus blossom was as big as an automobile tire. What I saw at the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds corresponded exactly to the Amitabha Sutra' s descriptions of Sukhavati. This true experience later became a kind of spiritual backup force, sustaining me in my pursuit of Taoism and Buddhism.
Until that experience, I did not know who Padmakumara was. Before the age of twenty-six, I had never even heard of Padmakumara. It was from that night on that I came to know of his existence. He told me himself that his name was "Lian Hua Tung Tzu" [Padmakumara]. Such an experience is extremely rare in this world. I have often emphasized and repeated this truth: I have been to the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds of the Sukhavati. I hope that this knowledge will give you a strong and firm faith, just as it has given me a strong and firm faith. With this strong faith, an initiated True Buddha School student can practice the Dharma and arrive at the goal and attain realization. Therefore this faith is extremely important.
Three Solemn Oaths
I have often thought about making an oath to attest to the truth of my visit to Sukhavati. But, on further thought, what would such an oath accomplish if people take me to be a liar? Although I am sincere and honest when I tell everyone that I have been to the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds in Sukhavati, the believers will believe and the nonbelievers will still disbelieve. This is the way it is because faith is based on many causes and conditions.
Today I am going to make an oath to all of you. I have never before made an oath. Whenever I was about to make an oath, I always stopped short of actually making it
Here is my oath: If my traveling at the age of twenty-six to the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds in Sukhavati and my encounter with Padmakumara did not happen, and, if the whole incident was a total fabrication, I am willing to descend to the Vajra Hell and remain there eternally!
I was reluctant to make such an oath before as I realized that even pledging an oath is sometimes useless. Some people will, upon hearing this oath, say it is false! Such an oath just does not do anything for them at all!
Before the Heavens, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and all Deities, I make this pledge: if what I saw and heard that particular night when I was twenty-six years old was fabricated by me, I am willing to be banished forever to the Vajra Hell.
This is a very solemn oath. To remain in the Vajra Hell is to be always in darkness, with no chance of rebirth to the realm of humans. This is a very severe oath, and I make it in front of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
Now, I would like to bring up the incident this year in Taiwan when I met Buddha Shakyamuni and had coffee with him. Many people found this strange. They said in disbelief, "Sheng-yen Lu is getting too ridiculous, having coffee with Buddha Shakyamuni!" So, did Buddha Shakyamuni write for me on a piece of
paper, the epithet "Flower Light Self-Mastery Buddha"?
Let me tell you, he didn't. [audience laughter] What do I mean by that?
At the beginning, Buddha Shakyamuni actually wrote "Great Light Self-Mastery Buddha" on a piece of paper and then showed it to me.
I did not like the word "Great," so I said to the Buddha, "I don't like the word Great and don't want to be known as the Great Master; I would rather be called the Little Master. Instead, why don't you give me the name 'Little Light Self-Mastery Buddha' ?" [audience laughter]
Little Light Master would then become the Rev. Hsiao Kuang. 1('"Little Light" in Mandarin sounds the same as Hsiao Kuang, the name of the Buddhist monk who is the housekeeper at Rainbow Villa. ) [audience laughter] I asked Buddha Shakyamuni not to use "Great" Light, as I preferred to be called "Little."
Subsequently, Buddha Shakyamuni changed the word Great into Flower and that was how it became the Flower Light Self-Mastery Buddha. This is the truth. I clearly watched while he changed the word. Buddha Shakyamuni was wearing a western suit at the time.
If this incident of how I saw Buddha Shakyamuni writing the epithet "Great Light Self-Mastery Buddha," followed by my request for the change and his subsequent changing of the word "Great" into "Flower," is all a fabrication of mine and, if I have not actually seen and heard this entire sequence of events, I am willing to descend to the Vajra Hell and remain there eternally, with no hope of leaving. In front of the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Tathagatas, Dharma Protectors, and all Deities, I pledge this, my second solemn oath.
Today I am making three solemn oaths, and the third solemn oath has to do with the sensations and perceptions I experience in my practices. As do many of you, I practice the True Buddha Tantric Dharma on a daily basis. I have been practicing for more than twenty years without skipping a day. Of course, many students have also been practicing for many years. Some have experienced mystical experiences, while others have not. Some have achieved yogic responses [union with the meditating Deity], while others have not. In regard to my own experiences: when I was living in Ballard, a suburb north of Seattle, my awareness and perceptions varied each time I did the practice. Sometimes there were very good responses and sometimes there was no response. Sometimes the sensations were very strong but sometimes they were very subtle. During that time I experienced a whole range of sensations during my meditations.
However, in recent years my experiences at the True Buddha Tantric Quarter have been quite different. Now how does it feel each time I do the practice? During each practice, I can feel my whole body being enveloped by a swirl of chi, and outside the chi is light. In between the chi and light is fire. That is, there is a swirl of chi surrounding my body and outside this chi is fire and, beyond the fire, is light. My whole body is held and supported at the upper portion of the Empty Space. These are very strong and
tactile sensations. I can feel the layer of enveloping chi which, unlike the sensation of wind blowing against one, is like coming into contact with electricity or being surrounded by something that is substantial and firm. These sensations are very strong and are clearly perceived each time I do the practice. I do not know what kind of awareness and perceptions you experience when you do the practice, and I cannot pledge for you. Therefore, I can only make this pledge: every time I do the practice, I am completely surrounded by chi, fire, and light. This kind of sensation of mutual merging is strong and extremely vivid. If these sensations that I have described do not happen, if I have made them up, I shall go to the Vajra Hell without any chance of liberation.
Basics [11]. 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
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