New Revelations from the Buddha King
- Book 120: New Revelations from the Buddha King
- Chapter 06 (B): Divine Eyes-Part 2
- Written by Sheng-yen Lu
- Translated by Janny Chow
The above eight achievements are quite sufficient to propel an individual towards the peak of any world undertaking. Do not underestimate the power of the Palatial Lord of Tai Yin Mountain. As a king of all mountains, his rank is equivalent to that of an Earth Immortal, and his strength and prowess are as tremendous as those of thunders and lightning.
Hsing Yun`s ambition to establish himself as a leader in the spiritual community and to extend his influence into all spheres, including social, commercial, and political, is actually quite reflective of the characteristics of mountain devas. Mountain devas love to be kings. Hsing Yun has, in his writings, compared himself to `a king helping to save the sentient beings.`
In my observation, Ven. Master Hsing Yun`s `mundane involvements` have outdone his `transcendental involvements` - a trait of mountain devas. This is because Ven. Master Hsing Yun`s affinities are tied to the great earth!
As the saying goes, `To be a Buddha is to be unconventional, while to be a Bodhisattva is to be caring.` In my eyes, Ven. Master Hsing Yun is so coarse and conventional that to be in his proximity is to risk being polluted by his conventionalism. And his caring comes across more like civil formalities and socializing. Yet I cannot bear to blame him, for `coarseness` is part of the `wild traits` of a mountain deva.
Venerable Master Hsing Yun`s spiritual development is at the level of an ordinary man, as he has practically not engaged in any actual practice himself. His way of disseminating Buddhism is to lift Shakyamuni Buddha`s teachings as his own writings and speeches and to move them around, from one place to another, all over the world.
Venerable Master Hsing Yun does not know that he himself is a living truth of the Buddhadharma, and that is why he is still an ordinary person, and his spirit is still in the form of a coarse and wild mountain deva. Perhaps his fiddling with the Buddhadharma can also be considered as one of his merits!
The major reason Venerable Master Hsing Yun has not been able to develop his potential is that he has not done any true spiritual practice. Up to now, he still has not figured out how to go about it! Ven. Master Hsing Yun, the mountain king, is a man of great blessings and has the Palatial Lord of the Tai Yin Mountain helping him at his back. However, these kind of blessings in the human world are, after all, impermanent and illusory.
Someone asked me, `Why is it that the worldly enterprises established by a mountain deva are so huge and extensive, whereas those established by the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and heavenly devas are much smaller in comparison?`
I replied, `Mountain devas build their enterprises in the human world while Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and celestial devas build theirs in the spiritual realm. While the former is visible, the latter is invisible, so it appears that the former is larger in scale.`
Here is a verse:
Sweep the chambers of your heart all the time,
Carefully removing the dusts of emotional attachments;
Do not let the Buddha-truth become tarnished;
By keeping the mind pure,
One then abides in the Primordial Nature;
Allow the sediments to settle,
Breathe in the Tsao-ch`i [a stream associated with Hui-neng],
Do not let your breath and mind run coarse and wild;
It takes true skill,
To stay mindful of the breath, continuously, day and night.
The Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation of Dharma Master Cheng Yen
Dharma Master Cheng Yen is the third person discussed in this chapter. And I have to begin by saying that I totally find her admirable and am in great awe of her. She is the third on my list, not because her Buddhist organization is not as large as that of Hsing Yun, nor because she is not as famous as Lin Yun. In fact, even though she is a frail Buddhist nun, the fame and scale of her organization are so outstanding that they have the strength and impetus to overtake the other two. As I have noted earlier, this third ranking is based on the order of my attention and is unrelated to the magnitude of her fame, position, or strength.
Dharma Master Cheng Yen astonished me and won my praise because although she was a frail woman whose health was poor and whose educational background was unexceptional, she was able to establish such a large charity organization as the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation. So what is the reason behind it? Could there also be some karmic cause behind it? Of course I have great admiration for her work and her effectiveness in rallying people to participate in charity, the first of the Six Perfections practiced by bodhisattvas.
Whenever Dharma Master Cheng Yen speaks, the first words are frequently, `Let`s all put in some good work.` The Mahaparinirvana Sutra says, `Compassion is the basis of all good roots.`
Regarding the practice of generosity and giving, the Flower Adornment Sutra says, `Bodhisattvas are great donors who can give up all wealth and possession to sentient beings without any regrets. They seek not fame nor profit, nor any birth to higher places, nor other kinds of return. They just want to help and succor all sentient beings, to benefit them, to bring them to learn, practice, reveal their own innate nature and to turn all sufferings into happiness.`
When I tuned into my divine sight to observe Dharma Master Cheng Yen, I was startled to see the vision of the Golden Mother of the Jade Pond. Can the Golden Mother be the Helper Guide behind Dharma Master Cheng Yen? I found it incredulous as the Golden Mother is of Taoism and Dharma Master Cheng Yen is a Buddhist.
I asked the Golden Mother, `Why has the Golden Mother come when I inquired into Dharma Master Cheng Yen?`
The Golden Mother replied, `There was an encounter between Dharma Master Cheng Yen and me.`
This time, I was stupefied by the answer. The Golden Mother gave the following explanation:
When Dharma Master Cheng Yen first became a nun, she had a hard time finding a permanent lodging place. After climbing mountains and hills to reach Taitung in eastern Taiwan, where she was a stranger, she found that no Buddhist monastery, except the Mother Empress Temple in the village Lu-yeh, would take her in. During the two months of her stay in the Mother Empress Temple, Dharma Master Cheng Yen knelt in front of the statue of the Mother Empress, crying out her grief to her.
When the Mother Empress took a look and saw the great love Dharma Master Cheng Yen had for her parents, she was greatly moved and emitted a beam of light which transformed into a `wish- fulfilling bracelet` around Dharma Master Cheng Yen`s wrist. Although it is a `wish-fulfilling bracelet` that is invisible to physical eyes, it was going to gradually change the Buddhist nun`s luck for the better.
`Who is this Empress Mother?` I asked.
`Empress Mother and Golden Mother of the Jade Pond are just aliases for the same being,` answered the Golden Mother.
I asked again, `In that case, is the Golden Mother the Helper Guide behind Dharma Master Cheng Yen?`
`That is not the case either. I was just giving her a helping hand. The real Helper Guide behind her is the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.`
`Why is it the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva?`
The Golden Mother answered, `Because of her love and devotion for her parents.`
I have given a discourse on the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Original Vow Sutra, and I know that the sutra was spoken especially by the Buddha for his mother, after ascending to the Trayastrimsas Heaven. In the sutra there are many mentions of filial daughters who were previous incarnations of the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. Almost every sentence in the sutra can be traced to filial love. Just as the Brahmin Maiden and Kuang Mu Maiden, previous lives of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, were filial daughters, Dharma Master Cheng Yen is also a devoted daughter. Therefore, based on these karmic causes and conditions, it is no accident that Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva is her Helper Guide.
Based on my divine sight observation, there is presently not just Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva helping her, nine other Bodhisattvas from the Ksitigarbha Court of the Garbhadhatu Mandala have all descended to help her. They are: Bodhisattva of Compassion, Bodhisattva Who Bestows Fearlessness, Virtuous Protecting Bodhisattva, Inconceivable Wisdom Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva of Compassion and Wisdom, Mercy Happening Bodhisattva, Dismantling all Afflictions Bodhisattva, Sunlight Bodhisattva, and Shattering Evil Interests Bodhisattva.
Due to factors in her physical condition, I would suggest Dharma Master Cheng Yen to meditate on the eight negations of the Non-dual School [a meditation on Emptiness]:
1) Neither birth nor death - Images reflected on a bright mirror are illusory and dependent on conditions.
2) Neither end nor permanence - Water in a river changes but never ceases its flow.
3) Neither identity nor difference - Pictures portraying different poses may be taken of the same person.
4) Neither coming nor going - Any coming or going is like the entrance and exit of characters in a drama.
Contemplating on these eight negations can lead one to directly realize Emptiness and achieve great spiritual accomplishments.
Regarding her charity works, which have blossomed with the coming together of many causes and conditions, some people have ventured to guess that Dharma Master Cheng Yen is the emanation of Kuan Yin Bodhisattva, while others have suggested that she is the incarnation of the Thousand Arms Thousand Eyes Kuan Yin Bodhisattva. People have naturally made such assumptions because Kuan Yin is the manifestation of compassion!
Is Dharma Master Cheng Yen then the manifestation of Kuan Yin? She herself should know the best!
The Supreme Master Ching Hai and the MahaBrahma Deva
As the Supreme Master Ching Hai is the fourth personality who has caught my attention, she is thus the fourth person in this discussion series. `Ching Hai` is her name, and `supreme master` is one of the ten epithets of a Buddha. Therefore, the epithet of Supreme Master Ching Hai is equivalent to Buddha Ching Hai.
She is a unique and independent character whose teachings on the Buddhadharma differ completely from the general Buddhist teachings. As a result, the mainstream Buddhist circle in Taiwan has launched an attack on her. An eminent lay Buddhist, Chen Hui-chien, has listed in his Buddhist dissertation both me and the Supreme Master Ching Hai respectively as the number one and number two controversial figures. In his Hui-l?fa-shih yen-chiang-chi (A Collection of Speeches), Dharma Master Hui Lu also has targeted me and Supreme Master Ching Hai for criticism. He showed his disapproval of her by referring to her in the Taiwanese dialect, as `That woman Ching Hai.`
What is all this ruckus about? Why has the whole Buddhist community become so feverish and agitated over her?
In brief, instead of going into the details of her life story here, she is an ordained Buddhist nun from Vietnam who has been to India to learn mantras from Sikhism. After first engaging in the practices of `inner sound hearing` and `inner light seeing,` she started teaching the `transmission of mind` and the `Kuan Yin Method.` The `Kuan Yin Method` is the Kuan Yin Bodhisattva`s Universal Hearing Method recorded in chapter six of the Shurangama Sutra.
By integrating the five phrases of Sikh mantras, the transmission of mind, and the Kuan Yin Method, Supreme Master Ching Hai teaches one to become aware of the inner sound and light. Thus, in first training one to develop psychic awareness, she is able to appeal to and draw many devotees to her. Generally, if there is empowerment from a high being, one is able to sense and experience `inner sound and inner light.` Once that happens, people become curious and throngs of devotees flock to her with full force. Also, the new wave speeches Supreme Master Ching Hai gives has attracted many followers to her. This combination of inner and outer factors created an enthusiastic following in the Taiwanese. From Taiwan, it spread to the rest of the world.
The Kuan Yin Method first trains one to listen to inner sound through the faculty of hearing. However, after the appearance of inner sound, one has to follow and trace the sound back to the self and, finally, to enter the next stage where not only the sound, but also the faculty of hearing, disappears. When the dual phenomena of action and inaction vanish together, and when both sense organs and sensations of the sense organs are extinguished, perfect Enlightenment manifests itself.
It is a method that by dwelling subtly on one faculty, the faculty of hearing, one is able to trace the sound to find out the nature of the mind. When all six sense organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) are extinguished, the Self Nature manifests. This is called Complete and Illuminating Samaya.
One does not stop and remain at the illusory realm of `hearing sound and seeing light,` as the `sound and light phenomenon` also can cause one to fall easily under the destructive spell of maras. Yet, Supreme Master Ching Hai`s claim to teach one to attain `Instantaneous Enlightenment` has sent more than a strong vibration throughout many people`s hearts.
Such a character would of course have drawn my attention and observation. In fact, she has also taken similar notice of me. When someone asked the Supreme Master Ching Hai if she knew of me, she gave an interesting reply, `I know of him, and he also knows of me.`
The Supreme Master Ching Hai has adopted a new look. She has grown back her hair and now wears fashionable clothing and jewelled accessories. Her powdered and rouged face is carefully made up with painted eyebrows and eyeliners and occasionally accented with sunglasses and flowers in her hair. She is lauded by her students to be the elegant and graceful master, with a royal mannerism and the compassionate face of the Great Mother Earth. Her students think she is a manifestation of Kuan Yin.
When I tuned into my divine sight observation of this Buddhist nun from Vietnam, I noticed that the Helper Guide behind her was the Great Bahmadeva. It was unmistakenly the Great Brahmadeva.
How can the Great Brahmadeva be the deity who is pulling the strings behind Master Ching Hai?
The Great Brahmadeva has four traits:
1) He likes to lay down rules of purification and commandments; for example, stipulating a vegetarian diet.
2) He likes to rally others to attain Instantaneous Enlightenment.
3) He leads a great assembly of followers.
4) He establishes himself as a king over all.
The above four traits are demonstrated fully by the Supreme Master Ching Hai, so who else can her Helper Guide be if not the Great Brahmadeva? Not only that, the various talks and speeches given by Supreme Master Ching Hai are all in the tone of the Great Brahmadeva and reflect fundamentally the realm and level of the Great Brahmadeva!
For example, she said, `How do we know we are already Enlightened? It is not hard to tell. Enlightenment is light, and one can see light in this state as our innate nature is light.`
`Our doctrines are compatible with those of Christianity and Islam, because we are also teaching people to practice goodness.` This is exactly the tone of Great Brahmadeva, a deva in the Realm of Form. Here I would like to make a special clarification that the God Jehovah, Jesus Christ, the Jade Emperor, and Allah are all manifestations of the Great Brahmadeva.
Someone has asked, `While praying sincerely to the Supreme Master Ching Hai brings one liberation, praying to Jesus Christ brings one eternal life, and praying to Shakyamuni Buddha brings one liberation. Are there any differences among the three?` She replied, `While both Jesus Christ and Shakyamuni Buddha have moved on, I am still here.` This is also what the Great Brahmadeva often says.
When asked how many Enlightened masters are in the world, she answered, `To have one Enlightened master is more than enough for everyone!` This is undoubtedly the tone of a Brahmadeva. Such examples are extremely common and, from a logical viewpoint, it is practically the Great Brahmadeva himself speaking.
Someone asked me, `Living Buddha Lian-sheng, what are your thoughts on the fact that, after becoming ordained and having had her head shaven, Supreme Master Ching Hai went back to growing her hair long and decking herself in conventional clothing and heavy make-up?`
My reply was, `Reverting back to growing one`s hair and wearing conventional clothing and heavy make-up, after taking the rites of ordination and tonsure, would definitely invite criticism from mainstream Buddhists. But, my views are not the same as those of conventional people. To me, whether one shaves one`s head or dresses up and wears make-up is only a matter of form. In other words, someone who is truly enlightened in the heart can disregard all outer appearances, which are not very important anyway. I would not criticize her for that. My criticism is geared towards her level of spiritual evolvement. Everything else is unimportant.`
Others
I originally intended to also write about Master Sheng Yen, Dharma Master Miao Lian, Dharma Master Hsin Tao, Dharma Master Hui Lu and Dharma Master Wei Chueh, or again bring up Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, but such an undertaking would take up almost all remaining pages in this book. Therefore, I have decided to include only Lin Yun, Hsing Yun, Cheng Yen, and Ching Hai here and save the others for future occasions.
Perhaps one will ask, `Could the divine sight of Living Buddha Lian-sheng, Sheng-yen Lu, make mistakes? What if what he saw were all illusions? What if he was fooled by his own psyche?`
It is not surprising that people generally harbor such suspicions, especially in today`s society with so many charlatans. People of unusual psychic talents of course exist, but there are more who are passing off the fakery as genuine, who falsely claim that they can read past lives and see the world of spirits.
Although one can try to pass off fish eyes as pearls, it is still possible to make a distinction between the two. After all, I have been doing spiritual cultivation for twenty-seven years and written one hundred twenty books. Having done all these meditation and spiritual practices on a daily basis for all these years, I know full well if my divine sight is dependable or not. At least, I do not make casual statements about what I observe unless they conform to contemporary reasoning and logic.
Is the divine sight an illusion?
`Of course it is an illusion,` I would reply.
When one reaches the most subtle state of prajna, and looks at the three realms of heavens, one sees the innate and fundamental nature of absolute quiescence - nothing there exists independently, just like the nature of Emptiness.
Therefore, people like Master Lin Yun, Venerable Master Hsing Yun, Dharma Master Cheng Yen, Supreme Master Ching Hai, Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, etc., are, under the observation of my divine sight, merely an illusory manifestation lasting only a moment!
As described in the following verse, these masters have all earned great merits!
The more seeds one sows in the field of blessings,
The greater the harvest year after year;
The deeper one dives into the ocean of blessings,
The stronger the return year after year;
Wide and deep merits bring blessings and fortunes
On heavens and earth;
With infinitely increasing blessings,
Fullness becomes eternal.
Take `Mountain King Hsing Yun` as an example. The highest points on this earth have all been created by mountains, and do people know how many mountains there are in the world? Tall mountains are so towering and lofty, with their roots tapping into the veins of Mount Meru, their peaks touch upon heavens beyond heavens while thousands of brilliantly colorful clouds dance around them. Yet, even when there is the backing of such a great mountain deva as the `Tai Yin Mount Palatial Lord,` I still would like to give this advice to him, `Be prudent and start cultivating the correct spiritual practice. When all attachments and desires are swept away, one returns to the True Condition.`
