2-8-2011 The Dark Side Of The Soul

The Flying Carpet of the East 

By Living Buddha Sheng-yen Lu
Translated by Shan Tung Hsu P.hD., Bekka, Karin Greenway

This was translated from Grandmaster Lu's 31st book, 東方的飛氈.

CHAPTER 30 - The Dark Side Of The Soul
When I was a child I heard a story:
One day after he had reached enlightenment, the compassionate hearted Shakyamuni Buddha was in heaven. He looked through the worlds and observed the six paths of reincarnation.
Suddenly he heard a tiny voice calling
"Buddha! Help! Buddha! Help!"

Shakyamuni Buddha followed the voice.
Looking down, he saw a red lotus flower at his feet.
A tube in the lotus petals extended directly to the bitter ocean of hell.
All the entities in the ocean of hell were drowning - floating up and sinking down again, unable to free themselves, they were suffering terribly.

Among them there was an entity named Afuka.
He was a bandit when he was alive, and he had killed many people.
When he died he went to hell, and had no chance to be freed.
He had heard people praise Shakyamuni Buddha, and had heard that Buddha could rescue spirits from the Ocean of Suffering.
He cried out to Buddha for help.

The compassionate Buddha was touched.
He saw a spider weaving a web on the lotus, and threw a strand of the spider's silvery thread down to the Ocean of Suffering.

Afuka grabbed the thread and began to climb.
Other entities in the Ocean of Suffering followed Afuka up.

Seeing them, Afuka thought, "I am the one who called Buddha for help. Now all these people follow. The thread was thrown for me. How could all these people be saved? Besides, maybe the thread will break and I will be stuck here."

He hardened his heart and began to kick the others off the thread.
The cries of confusion and anguish caused Buddha to look down at them.

He sighed deeply.
Then the thread broke.
All the entities, including Afuka, dropped once again into the Ocean of Suffering.

Afuka cried out to Buddha again, but since the connection was broken Buddha could not hear.

There was a period of some months when I felt that something was wrong.
At home, I could feel some entity in the corner of the house watching me.
When I was on my motorcycle, he followed.
When I meditated I could feel the entity beside me.
But I could see nothing.
I ignored the phenomenon for two months.

When I couldn't stand it any more I said,
"Who are you? Please manifest yourself."

"I dare not. I look too terrible," a voice said.

"Where do you come from?"

"I am in hell. I have heard that you can unlock peoples' bondage. Therefore, I've followed you for nearly two months. Since you didn't acknowledge me, I didn't dare to speak-only to follow you silently."

"What do you want from me?"

"To free me from hell."

"What crime did you commit?" I asked.

"I broke into houses and stole things. I stole motorcycles, cars, tourists' money-anything I could get my hands on."

"You have earned your bondage," I said.

"I swear! I will never do it again!" the entity pleaded.

Relenting, I said "Very well, I'll help you."
I chanted:

"The most significant things in the world are life and death. When the next breath no longer comes, then you are in a different world. When one thought is evil then you return to the reincarnation circle. When one's heart becomes pure he is able to see the blue sky again."

I continued to chant:

"Om Cha ro di ya so po ho"

I chanted the Seven Buddha Chant, which removes karma:

"Lee bo lee bo bee Cha ho cha ho be
Tou lo ni bee
Ni ah la bee
Bee le nee bee
Mo ho cha dee
Tseng lin chan dee
So po ho."

In the silence which followed, I told the still invisible entity, "When you think about Buddha, Buddha will immediately appear in your heart. Your bondage is gone now. You are free."

I pointed to the bondage with two fingers, and the bondage disappeared.
The entity went dancing off in delight.

A few days later, the entity was back.
His hands were in bondage, and he asked me to free him again.

"I did that already!"

"But it came right back," he wailed.

"So, what crime did you commit this time?"

He mumbled something, not answering.

Finally, he confessed that he stole the lotus flower under the Buddha's seat in a temple, and instantly the bondage was upon him again.

When mind rises,
dharma rises;
When mind disappears,
dharma disappears.

I chanted for him again and threw the mudra and said the Seven Buddha chant, but the bond held fast.
I could no longer help.

Amituofo

Lotuschef

Pure Karma

True Buddha School

2-8-2011 Medicine From Grandmother

The Flying Carpet of the East 

By Living Buddha Sheng-yen Lu
Translated by Shan Tung Hsu P.hD., Bekka, Karin Greenway

This was translated from Grandmaster Lu's 31st book, 東方的飛氈.

CHAPTER 29 - Medicine From Grandmother


When I was young, due to malnutrition, I was rather skinny.
I always got sick.
My mother told me that grandmother really loved me, and to help maintain the proper shape of my head when I was a tiny baby, grandmother always turned me this way and that way as I slept.

A war was going on then and we were moving a lot.
Food was scarce; I was lucky to grow up healthy.

I was born in Chia-yi County.
Later, my father was transferred to P'ing-tung by the electric power company, and the family moved there. By then, my grandfather and grandmother had died.

After we moved to P'ing-tung, I was still chronically ill.
Mother feared I was dying, and had consulted many doctors.
Some said I had pneumonia; others said inflammed intestines, and still others that it was a heavy cold.

My mother was at wit's end.
Late one night my father and I were both asleep while my mother lay half asleep with worry.

Suddenly a wind blew into the house, and my grandparents appeared in front of my bed.

The two souls looked around and my grandmother said, "Look how these people sleep!"

My mother, half awake, told them about my disease.
Grandmother bent down to examine me, then reached into her pocket in search of something.
She took out a bag of medicine and put something into my mouth, then she and grandfather silently disappeared.

My mother told me she saw this very clearly.
She wanted to get up but could not move.
Amazingly, my health returned and I recovered completely.

After I grew up, I went with my mother to look for grandmother's tomb.
We finally found it on a mountain slope.
The tombstone was tilted forward.
We decided to dig up the bones and lay them to rest in a pagoda.

After that, my uncle's wife bore two sons, then many daughters.
I suppose this is the influence of the Feng-shui, that when one's ancestor is buried in a propitious spot, the family will prosper.

After my psychic opening we held a ritual ceremony for the souls of all our ancestors, chanting and making offerings.
Both my sets of grandparents appeared, and many other relatives too.
We talked with them a long time.
They stayed with us for several days before they vanished again.

Amituofo

Lotuschef

Pure Karma

True Buddha School

2-8-2011 The Passage To Death

The Flying Carpet of the East 

By Living Buddha Sheng-yen Lu
Translated by Shan Tung Hsu P.hD., Bekka, Karin Greenway

This was translated from Grandmaster Lu's 31st book, 東方的飛氈.

CHAPTER 28 - The Passage To Death


It was a long, lonely and silent road.
Its length seemed as unlimited as a superhighway.
The wind was blowing.
This is what the spirit world is like, not bright, but misty.

I saw a woman approaching from the distance and wondered,
"Why would a young lady such as this walk on this road?"
Drawn by curiosity, I approached her.

"Sir! Can you tell me where I am?" She discovered me as if she'd found a savior.

"You have died and you are on the passage to death," I replied.

"No! I haven't died! I am still alive! See, am I not talking to you now?"

"Put your hand into your pocket and take a look," I advised her.

She put her hand into her pocket and became immediately frightened.
Since her clothes and her body were both transparent, her hands, thrashing in invisible pockets, also were transparent.
She was already a spirit.

"Where is my body?" she asked in panic.

"Look." I pointed to a city far away.
The city immediately appeared in front of us and we saw a funeral home in which lay a coffin surrounded by crying people.
The corpse was herself.

"Oh! Is that me?" She looked at the people who were around the coffin-her father, cousins, classmates and neighbors were weeping and talking sadly.
The picture faded.

"I don't believe I'm dead! If I'm dead why am I standing here? I don't understand. Where am I going?" She looked at me with large wondering eyes. "Have you died too?"

"I travel often between the space of life and death," I answered.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Lu. How about yours?"

"I am Wen."

"I guess you committed suicide. Did you take poison?"

I saw a dark smoke on top of her head.
Those who commit suicide are alone, and have no one to guide them in the spirit world.

"Yes," she began to cry.

This was her story:
Wen's mother died when she was a freshman in college and Wen was already in love.
However, her father was a businessman and he wanted her to marry the son of a rich business associate. She refused.
Because her father forbade her to marry the one she loved, she took poison.

"You really didn't have to commit suicide," I told her.

"I had no choice."

"You died so young. What a pity and a waste. You have lost the meaning of your life."

"It is too late," she wailed.

"Where would you like to go now?"

"I'd like to see my mother."

"Well, I can help you. Close your eyes. Visualize your mother's face. Call her name. Your soul and hers will connect no matter how far away she is. Your mother will appear and guide you to her place."

Soon, far away, a face appeared. It was Miss Wen's mother, emanating light.
Being an experienced old soul, she drew her daughter to her.

Miss Wen's spirit body became smaller and smaller, flying away like a butterfly, merging into the spirit world.
The road stretched long and lonely, up and down. I picked up a picture Miss Wen had left.

I thought, "On this road will pass many people."

The thing I don't understand is, when I woke from meditation the photograph of Miss Wen was still in my hand.

Amituofo

Lotuschef

Pure Karma

True Buddha School

2-8-2011 Red Blood Shadows

The Flying Carpet of the East 

By Living Buddha Sheng-yen Lu
Translated by Shan Tung Hsu P.hD., Bekka, Karin Greenway

This was translated from Grandmaster Lu's 31st book, 東方的飛氈.

CHAPTER 27 - Red Blood Shadows


Since my miraculous encounter eight years ago, I have been in constant contact with the spiritual realm.
I am amazed at everything I see.
My perceptions and values have been changed a great deal.
I am still not always willing to talk about all these new discoveries.
Yet there is this one discovery that I feel I have to talk about.

I found that beneath the beautiful clothes of some women there are red blood shadows.
They exist in the married women as well as single women.

Within the shadows I can see immature and abnormal entities.
Some women have more than one.
The entity emanates white light.
Since the shadow is bloody red it is easy to tell how many entities are there.

One late afternoon, when I passed by a street in a Tai-Chung City, I happened to glance at the top of a maternity hospital. I saw a huge floating blood shadow as big as a water pond!
I was frightened and shocked!
How and why should a blood shadow be there?
It was like a sunset, heavy and bright red.

Even more frightening, in the shadow I could see a tangle of abnormal entities, like a nest of white worms crawling over each other.
It was horrifying.
I felt my hair raise and my skin prickle and I became dizzy and thought I would vomit.
I could smell the bloody odor.
It was intolerable.

Just as I was overcome, a woman I recognized walked out the side the door of the hospital.
Her name was Tsai.
She had come to me for a reading, two years ago.
There were blood shadows against her body.

"Oh! Mister Lu!" She was embarrassed to see me.

"This is number four, right?" I said in a straightforward manner.
Two years ago when I saw her I told her she had had three, and now I saw the fourth white entity in the blood shadow.
She nodded.

"You should take care of your body. Do not destroy yourself."

"I don't feel much meaning in living," she answered.

"Don't say that! There is value and meaning in every life!
You must find your own bright direction. Accomplish this and fulfill your life."

"You told me before I would have five children. Now I guess I only have one chance left!" Miss Tsai said.

"Then you must take care of yourself. It is your last chance."

"I think I must have cancer.
I feel tired and dizzy, and my face is so pale that if I don't put make-up I look like a ghost.
I have no appetite. My heart jumps. My hands sweat and I catch cold so easily."

"No. You don't have cancer, Miss Ts'ai. Listen to me.
Return to your parents. You will have everything."

Miss Ts'ai's family lived in northern Taiwan and she had come down to central Taiwan to be free of them, and play around.

I repeated, "Go home and chant to Buddha."

"I am going to listen to you." She thanked me, walking on in her shy, timid way.

Whenever I saw the bloody shadow on a woman's body and saw how many entities were in the shadow, I could see how many abortions she'd had.
I was always correct.
I have discussed abortion with a friend who is a doctor.
He said,
"There is not much we can do.
We are hired by the patients and they want abortions.
It's quite common.
Although our principles are against doing it, there's no denying that it helps people solve their problems. There are so many conflicts."

He thought a moment, then added, "Maternity hospitals make quick money this way."

I felt sad about all the damaged lives.
The entities are so helpless.
Either they are attached to their mother, or they just float around.
Either way, they enhance the violent energy of this world.

Often women have weak physical bodies because of abortions.
Prayers and meditations can improve life.
Women who have had abortions are helped through their own prayers and through the prayers of their friends.
The kind, gentle and hopeful thoughts of all who pray are a great help to both the mothers and the entities.

I was thankful that Miss Ts'ai listened to my advice and returned to her parents.
She married a man who works for the government.
They have a nice baby boy.

Amituofo

Lotuschef

Pure Karma

True Buddha School

2-8-2011 The Hat Kingdom

The Flying Carpet of the East 

By Living Buddha Sheng-yen Lu
Translated by Shan Tung Hsu P.hD., Bekka, Karin Greenway

This was translated from Grandmaster Lu's 31st book, 東方的飛氈.

CHAPTER 26 - The Hat Kingdom


I rarely dream, but whenever I do it seems there's a revelation there.
Dreaming is different from astral traveling.
There are two kinds of astral travel:
in one you can control your coming and going whenever you wish;
in the other you can't.

Often astral travel reflects reality, but dreams are much more disorganized.
Sometimes you remember dreams and sometimes you don't.

One evening I was meditating about the idea of normal and abnormal, natural and unnatural.
I thought about the contrast and about how it might relate to good and evil.

That evening I dreamed I returned to an ancient city.
The entrance to the city had a big sign that said Hat Kingdom.
Upon entering the city I saw that everyone wore a hat.
Different professions were represented by different hats.
One man, a sturdy soldier, noticed I had no hat.

"Who are you? Why don't you have a hat?" he said.

"Forgive my ignorance. I didn't know when I arrived here at Hat Kingdom that everyone has to wear a hat."

"Yes. In this kingdom, from king to beggar, everyone has to wear a hat so people can know who and what you are."

"What is the philosophy behind the hat?"

"You ask Sun Po-t'ao about that."

"Who is Sun Po-t'ao?"

"He is a man in the human world."

After the dream I barely remembered the man's name.
I wondered if there really was such a person.
A few days later, I'd nearly forgotten the whole thing, the receptionist in our office called me. "Mr. Lu, there is a man from Kang-shan (city) to see you."

"Tell him I am not receiving any people now."

"He says his name is Sun Po-t'ao."

"Sun Po-t'ao! Oh! Ask him to wait! I'm coming right away!"

I remembered the man in the kingdom of the hats had told me to speak with Sun Po-t'ao.
And here he was-Sun Po-t'ao, a real person!

My first glance at Sun Po-t'ao focused on his big round white grass hat.
He was dressed entirely in white, and looked clean and neat.
I guessed his age to be about 40.
He grasped my hand in a firm handshake.

"Mr. Lu! I have heard about you and admired you for a long time.
Today I am here for no other reason except admiration.
We are all disciples of Buddha.
We are all on Buddha's path.
I have read your books.
I know you have great wisdom.
I have come to give you a push.
Don't become discouraged because of blame, criticism and misunderstanding.
The more slander you receive the more accomplishments you will achieve.
Don't be afraid. Don't get discouraged."

"Thank you Mr. Sun . . . While you're here, I'd like to know one thing. Do you wear a hat every day?"

"Oh, yes! Yes!-' He touched his hat. "Many people call me Dr. Hat. There's much to be said about hats."

"I'd like to hear about it."

"First, hats have different sizes.
Some are big, some are small.
So are people's heads.
Big heads should wear big hats.
Small heads should wear small hats.
Otherwise, the hat will be too loose or too tight.
It is important that the hat fits.
If it fits, it is natural.
If it's natural, it's right.
Life should be lived the same way.
If you live very naturally then you are happy.
You have harmony."

"Second, you wear different hats in different seasons.
In the winter you wear a wool hat.
In the summer you wear a grass hat.
You wear more clothes if you're cold, less if you're hot.
I have many hats.
For different occasions I wear different hats.
Also, I change hats depending if it's day or night.
The colors of my hats change too.
There's a real art to wearing hats.
In art we are looking for beauty."

"Third, there are many varieties of hats.
There are men's hats, women's hats and professional hats.
Students wear student's hats, soldiers wear soldiers' hats.
Gentlemen have their own styles of hats, and farmers have straw hats.
What one is looking for is the completion of style.
If the style is complete, then it is real and true.
If the farmer wears the gentleman's hat or the student wears the soldier's hat, confusion and disorder results.
Disorder is not natural and beauty is gone.
Truth is gone.
When the right hat is worn, purity and truth are apparent and real.
This is normal."

"Mr. Sun, you have said some wonderful things. The hats teach a valuable lesson."

"Thank you."

"Mr. Sun, do you know of a place named Hat Kingdom?" I asked curiously.

"Hat Kingdom? No. Never heard of it."

Amituofo

Lotuschef

Pure Karma

True Buddha School

29-7-2011 Fire Puja - Special dedication

I received request for help from 3 fellow students.
Decided to do 7 session of Fire Puja for blessings & dedication to ancestors & karmic negatives.
Well, I did 5 sessions on Friday the 29th July & 2 more on 30th July, a rounded 7 sessions.

Bin 5 & 6

This is for the 7th session.

Here goes!

Amituofo

Lotuschef

Pure Karma

True Buddha School

30-7-2011 High King Avalokitesvara Sutra Visualization

                                                      There were 22 attendees.

I share the visualization when chanting this amazing sutra.

Sharing the wonders of sarira that I wear as a pendant. It has good energy vibrations.

There's a light orb captured here.

SUPPER!!! we had satay, fried kway tiow, fishball soup, mee rebus, oyster omelete, kambing soup, coconut juice, barbecue chicken wings, ................................

For those that unable to join us this round, please watch out for next course of session for this visualization practice. It is difficult to watch over too many, as this is what I am doing, after sharing the visualization method. 

Anyway, just can't enumerate the wonders of chanting this sutra. Add visualization on & Viola! 

It's benefits are infinite. 

GM reiterates that this is a very good sutra to chant daily.

Amituofo

Lotuschef

Pure Karma Vihara

True Buddha School