Highest Yoga Tantra and Mahamudra By Master
Sheng-yen Lu This was translated from Grandmaster Lu's 51st book, 無上密與大手印. CHAPTER 5: The True Practice of Speech Purification For you to truly learn the practice of Speech Purification, I would like to first draw your attention to a little story: A certain godly being, whose name was Immortal Benevolent Fruit, resided in the Heaven of Constant Enjoyment in the Realm of Desire. As his heaven was adjacent to the human world, he often received the offerings of human beings, and often looked me up. He had enjoyed a great meritorious blessing in the celestial realm and had not continued any form of cultivation. As his blessings had come to an end, he displayed the five signs of decay of a celestial being. The five signs of decay of a celestial being are: *The pure celestial clothing suddenly becomes tainted. *The adornment of crown and flowers on the head suddenly lose their shine and wither. *A godly being radiates light, yet this aura of light suddenly gives off a degrading smell and releases a bodily odour. *Sweat is seen at the armpit. Where once the being could travel to any realm at will, he is now bound to one place, and appears to lose all his transformation power. *The godly being begins to feel agitated and a dislike for his present condition. When Immortal Benevolent Fruit experienced the celestial beings five signs of decay, the only person he could ask was me. As he had been living in the Heaven of Constant Enjoyment, whose celestial citizens are enjoying the fruits of their blessings, he had been living with the attitude of enjoy the blessings now and be careless about the future. The beings who reside in this heaven absolutely do not engage themselves in any cultivation, and thus are less ideal than beings in the physical world, for life on earth includes both suffering and joy. Some beings partake in cultivation only because they have gone through much suffering. If a human performs meritorious deeds, he ascends into the Heaven of Constant Enjoyment to enjoy his blessings. However, the lack of knowledge about cultivating the right dharma subjects him to the phenomenon of the celestial beings five signs of decay upon reaching the end of his blessings. (These facts are detailed in the sutras.) Immortal Benevolent Fruit came to me and said, "Lian-sheng, you must help me." "You are experiencing the five signs of decay?" I asked. "Yes." "You're my friend. I will definitely help you." In my meditation, I formed the Mudra of the Bodhi Middle Way and transformed the soul of Immortal Benevolent Fruit into a sleeping baby. Then I transferred the nature of the immortal being into the nature of his true mind, so that his mind would not wander, and he remained in a constant state of meditative contemplation. I taught Immortal Benevolent Fruit to abide his self-nature in his mind and recite the mantra OM AH HUM GURU BEI AH HO SA SA MA HA LIAN-SHENG SIDDHI HUM, focusing only on the recitation of this mantra and ignoring everything else. When one cannot speak, it is called the purification of speech. When the body cannot move, it is called the purification of body. The mind itself is mantra, and mantra is the true word which continues without cessation, purifying the mind and keeping it in a perpetual state of meditative contemplation. In this way, Immortal Benevolent Fruit was sent by me using the Bodhi Middle Way Mudra to the world of changing phenomena, and incarnated to the human realm. When he was born as a baby, he was born a mute. In this respect, he observed speech purification. The baby was born with a case of soft bones where he could not move or stand. In this respect, he was observing bodily purification. The baby was handicapped at birth, endowed with a body of soft bones and a speech handicap. He found two individuals who had some karmic debts to balance with him and made them care for him, worry about him, protect him, and treat him. Yet, no one was aware that the baby was the incarnation of Immortal Benevolent Fruit. All he knew was that his self nature resided in his heart and never ceased reciting the mantra OM AH HUM GURU BEI AH HO SA SA MA HA LIAN-SHENG SIDDHI HUM. Immortal Benevolent Fruit was unperturbed by anything and concentrated only on his mantra recitation within the confinement of his little physical life. As he was unable to speak, he was in no position to create speech karma. As he was unable to move, he was in no position to create body karma. As his mind was reciting mantra, he was engaging in true cultivation. In this respect, Immortal Benevolent Fruit was unafraid of being tainted by the human world, where he might never have been free from its bondage. Hence he was overwhelmed with joy and, upon the death of the baby, his soul ascended to the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds at the Western Paradise of Ultimate Bliss as a result of his genuine cultivation. Immortal Benevolent Fruit later achieved great accomplishments. It was my use of the Bodhi Middle Way Mudra that had helped him. This is a true account of the incident. I began the chapter with this story, and leave it for anyone to believe or disbelieve. It is really up to you. So what exactly is the true practice of speech purification? In principle, those who practise the Mahamudra are considered persons of true renunciation, persons in retreat. This retreat is not concerned with a retreat in the mountains, in caves or stone houses, but refers to a retreat that encloses the thoughts and speech within ones body. This is a retreat of the mind, not body, which thus constitutes an invisible retreat. When we enclose the speech and mind within this physical body made up of the four elements, we attain the true state of retreat, which is essentially the enclosure of the six root senses. The actual state of Mahamudra is a state of True Voidness, known as Sunyata in Sanskrit. It does not refer to a world of total emptiness where absolutely nothing exists. It is the state of true reality. As we abide in a state of cultivation, we are not subjected to the arising of the senses, maintaining an attitude of neither yes nor no, good nor bad. We maintain this meditative insight, remaining silent in our speech and keeping the body in a calm and tranquil state. This cultivation approach is similar to the way Immortal Benevolent Fruit had maintained his mind. The state of a babys sweet slumber reflects the true purified state of one practising Mahamudra, for at that time no discursive thoughts exist in the mind, which itself is free from any other thought forms. The body also remains calm and still. When one practises in this fashion, it wont take long before one gains realization. In other words, this situation in which the heart remains undistracted is a state of complete purity, which includes the purification of speech, body and mind. These states of purification of body, speech and mind are interconnected and undivided. Those who cultivate with these three purification secret tantras shall attain yogic response. Their practice of Mahamudra will achieve fruition. The true practice of speech purification is this. When we ignite the psychic heat, which passes through the crown chakra, we may visualize the Master appearing as Padmakumara above the crown chakra, wearing the Five Buddha Crown and dressed in his dharma robe. His right hand holds a vajra and his left hand holds a bell. Two strips of cloth printed with the Six Syllable Mantra OM MANI PADME HUM hang from his crown to his shoulders. He is seated on an eight-petalled lotus throne whose stem reaches down beneath the throne through the crown chakra of the practitioner. Then the practitioner circulates his psychic heat through the stem of the eight-petalled lotus. As the practitioners psychic heat arises, reaching and becoming one with the Master, the psychic heat from the Master also descends into the practitioner. This two-way energy exchange results in a condition called Bliss through the Arising of Wisdom. This constitutes the great yogic response of Guru Yoga. When one enters into such a deep, profound state of meditation, everything relies on the action of the mind. The exhalation of breath is slow and drawn out, and similarly, the inhalation is equally slow and drawn out. The exhaling and inhaling of breath is delicate and subtle, as is the heartbeat, for all digestive functions, excretion, blood circulation and sensation are reduced to the minimal. This is the phenomenon of the three purifications experienced when the six root senses are shut off, which resembles the condition of a baby in sweet slumber. During this period of cultivation, all three delusions are eliminated: delusions arising from incorrect views and thoughts; the numerous delusions which hinder knowledge; and delusions arising from ignorance. Following the elimination of delusions, the three wisdoms arise: the wisdom of omniscience, the wisdom of the types of paths and the all-inclusive wisdom [also defined as the wisdom of the two vehicles, the wisdom of the bodhisattvas, and the wisdom of the buddhas]. This leads to the attainment of the wisdom eye, the dharma eye and the buddha eye, and attainment of the three virtues: the virtue of the Buddhas wisdom; the virtue of his freedom from all bonds; and the virtue of the Buddhas truth body. Mahamudra is therefore the highest form of wisdom. To explain this true practice of speech purification, it is necessary to review the incident of Immortal Benevolent Fruit and use the example of a babys sweet slumber as a metaphor to point to the actual state of attainment. When one practises in stages, one may actualize the bodhi middle path, in which the interaction between ones body, speech and mind and the middle path is realized in perfect interpenetration. Thus, the purification of speech, the purification of body and the purification of mind are essentially undivided, where their unity expresses the three aspects of purification. These three aspects are one reality. This expresses the Perfect Interpenetration of the Three Teachings of Void, Unreality and the Middle Way. |
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