《Guru’s Talks》
Book 129 Entering the Most Hidden Yin-Yang Realm: Accounts of Spiritual Response from Padmakumara
( 《走入最隱祕的陰陽界》＜蓮花童子──靈驗篇＞)
by H.H.Living Buddha Lian-sheng, Sheng-Yen Lu
(continued from issue #1509)
When the group read this message, they were taken aback, and nobody knew what to do.
Later, after Lianhua Chengying told me the story from beginning to end, I performed a special refuge empowerment for the “Han Creek Goddess.”
I kept the “Han Creek Goddess” by my side and taught her the True Buddha Tantric Dharma. The practice brought her many benefits; much of her ghostly energy has gradually disappeared, while more and more god-like aspects have manifested, enabling her to now approach me with ease.
●
There was a man by the name of Han Li.
He was severely ill and had to be hospitalized.
While lying unconscious in the hospital, he suddenly saw two men dresses in black appearing by his bedside. The two men started pulling and dragging him to go with them. Han Li struggled to resist but to no avail. He found himself brought to a place that looked like a government office in ancient times, with many black-clad men lined up on both sides looking forbidding, stern and austere. A man sat above, very much like a king, and wore a pearl-strewn cap and embroidered dress.
The kingly person asked, “Are you Han Li?”
Han Li moved forward and, feeling like a criminal, bent over and answered, “Yes.”
The kingly person cried out, “Guilty soul of Han Li, as a judge in the human world, you engage in corruption and accept bribery. Accounts of your insatiable greed are too many to enumerate. You release the guilty and convict the innocent. Today, the severe illness that has stricken you is only a slight warning of your punishment. Judges on both side, which hell should he be sentenced to?”
Han Li’s face turned ashen.
The judges on the left said, “Sentence him to the Hell of Fiery Coins.”
(At the Hell of Fiery Coins, guilty souls have to swallow, one after another, copper coins that have been heated red-hot.)
When Han Li heard this, he almost fainted.
He recalled how he had studied and worked hard to achieve his position. But compelled by circumstances, accepting bribes became a habit, and he had, indeed, made many improper judgments and sentences. Now that he himself was sentences to hell, he knew he well deserved it. Remorse welled within him, but it was too late! He was now standing at the edge of a precipice, without a single road open to him. All honor and dignity had been stripped away.
At this time, there suddenly came the sound of mantra chanting through the door of the government office.
“Om, Guru Lian-sheng Siddhi Hum.”
“What mantra is that?” asked the kingly person.
The judges on the right answered, “It is the Padmakumara Heart Mantra!”
“Who is chanting?”
“A group of volunteers from True Buddha School.”
As the sound of mantra travelled into the office, luminous lotuses also entered. These bright and beautiful lotuses were small at first, but they became larger as they spun around, emitting a lovely fragrance throughout the office.
Han Li also started joining in and chanted,
“Om, Guru Lian-sheng Siddhi Hum.”
As soon as he chanted, he felt his body become lighter. Looking down, he saw that underneath each foot, a lotus was supporting him.
Han Li started chanting with greater speed and vigor while the spinning lotuses became larger, supporting and pushing his whole body upwards. In an instant, he soared up and away.
The black-clad men shouted from beneath, “The guilty soul is flying away, hurry and pursue!”
The kingly person said, “Hold it! This is a powerful mantra, and it is also Han Li’s fate. Earlier, remorse was generated; the arising of this remorse together with the purifying power from the mantra is a praiseworthy event. Let him go freely!”
Although Han Li was flying away into the air, he could hear distinctly every word spoken below. With palms joined, he turned towards the kingly person and bowed.
Han Li awoke, and opened his eyes.
He saw several strangers surrounding him, joining their palms and chanting a mantra, and it was precisely the Padmakumara Heart Mantra. He did not know these people, and it turned out that one of his relatives was a student of True Buddha School. When this relative saw that Han Li was in a crisis, he asked several fellow students to help with mantra chanting.
Han Li nodded to the group to express his gratitude!
Soon later, his illness which was originally very serious and grave, gradually took a turn for the better, which was truly a miracle.
From the moment on, he turned over a new leaf and conducted himself entirely differently from before.
At first, he kept his experience of falling into the netherworld completely to himself. He spoke not a single word about it to anyone and only read up on the books written by Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-Yen Lu. He wrote in to ask for a remote refuge taking.
He travelled twice to Seattle to participate in the Dharma ceremonies by True Buddha School. He did not bring up the matter, because he was a judge and was afraid that the publicity would bring him embarrassment. It was only during his third visit to see Grand Master that he divulged the story in detail.
Han Li said to me, “If Grand Master wants to write an article about this, please be sure to change my name.”
“Certainly.”
Hence, Han Li is just an alias.
●
Many people know that Ganden Tripa, the leader of the Tibetan Gelugpa sect, presented to me one of his personal ceremonial robes.
However, behind this “Dharma king’s ceremonial robe” is a hidden story of which few people are aware.
H.H. Ganden Tripa had heard of my name for a long time, and he had also enshrined a picture of Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-Yen Lu in his own monastery, the Drepung Tsawa Khangtsen Monastery.
The image of Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-Yen Lu is enshrined at two Tibetan Tantric monasteries:
1. Ganden Sokpa Monastery
2. Drepung Tsawa Khangtsen Monastery
One year, H.H. Ganden Tripa arrived on the east coast of the United States, with the intent to travel to Ling Shen Ching Tze in Redmond to visit. He wanted to give me his “Dharma king ceremonial robe.”
News of this travelled…
H.H. Ganden Tripa received two letters imputing me:
One letter asserted that Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-Yen Lu was a demon, and under no circumstances must the Dharma king ceremonial robe be presented to him.
The second letter pointed out that, since Living Buddha Lian-sheng Shen-Yen Lu was not Tibetan, under no circumstances must the Dharma king ceremonial robe be presented to him.
As a result, hesitation arose.
“Can the Dharma king ceremonial robe be given to someone who is not a Tibetan Rinpoche? Someone who is a demon?”
“Please do not go,” one of H.H. Ganden Tripa’s attendants urged.
“We have to believe the person who wrote the letters, because this Great Master’s background and connections are too powerful,” said another attendant.
Another lama said, “This Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-Yen Lu is a highly controversial figure. Almost all traditional Buddhist sects are against him.”
“Well…” H.H. Ganden Tripa was at a loss over what to do.
If he didn’t go, and Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-Yen Lu turned out to be an enlightened sage who engaged in actual practice, while these gusts of rumors and criticism merely concealed his true identity, wouldn’t he have let a golden opportunity slip by?
It was a dilemma…
H.H. Ganden Tripa was also intrigued by Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-Yen Lu and found him utterly unusual: an author of over one hundred books, a teacher of four million students, extensive knowledge of the Buddhist canon, someone who has made extraordinary comments and attained profound realization, a person surrounded by numerous legends and hearsay. Whatever kind of person he was, he was one capable of being a pillar of the religious world.
Amidst this hesitation, Ganden Tripa went into meditation:
He saw the great sun.
Within the great sun was a being.
This person was none other than Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-Yen Lu.
(What Ganden Tripa saw in his meditation was exactly the same scene that Gungthang Tsang Rinpoche had seen in meditation. Separately, the two had seen an identical vision.)
H.H. Ganden Tripa made up his mind to come to Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple in Redmond to give me his Dharma king ceremonial robe.
“We thought you were a demon!” He held my hands tightly.
“If I were a demon, outsiders would definitely not know,” I said.
“So what are you?”
“I am not anything, I am merely me.”
“You don’t mind criticisms from strangers?”
“It is no longer surprising.” I smiled.
Ganden Tripa gave me a poem of compliments written in Tibetan, and its gist is as follows:
Twinkling stars may number in the thousands,
They pale in comparison to the splendid sun.
Althought one’s hand,
holds the precious staff of Dharma dissemination,
Behind one’s back,
There are still those who are jealous and envious.
Amidst the multitudes of sentient beings in samsara,
Even though the wise and clever are numerous,
Before the sun of all being arises,
Who can drive away the shadows of darkness?
Now upon the lotus seat of Vajrayana Buddhism,
Only you, compassionate savior,
Have graced us with the true essence of the Buddha’s teachings,
Showering us with the golden rain of auspiciousness.
(the end)
