Living This Moment in Purity 

By Living Buddha Sheng-yen Lu
Translated by Janny Chow

This was translated from Grandmaster Lu's 145th book, 當下的清涼心.

CHAPTER 14 - The Gatekeepers of the Southern Heaven Gate

The ninth day of the first lunar month was the Jade Emperor's birthday. That day, I traveled with other deities to the Ling-xiao Jewel Palace for the big celebration.

To reach this metropolis of the gods, we had to pass through the southern gate which was typically guarded. On this occasion, however, the gatekeepers were not the four deva-kings, four heavenly lords, or the four spirit generals. They were Pagoda Lord Li Jing and his sons Jin-zha, Mu-zha, and Na-zha. Everyone's name had to be checked against a list before one was allowed admittance.

This verification of names did not bother me, yet the line was quite long and the process seemed to be taking a fair amount of time.

In principle,

The expansive Ten Dharma Realms

Are but the tapering end of a soft hair in my hand;

There are countless ways to enter through Emptiness;

Waiting in line is just a waste of time.

Yet, because all the other deities were waiting in line, I did not want to stand out like a camel amongst a group of sheep, and I decided to wait in line as well.

The gods all had their invitation cards with them. I, however, had come on my own. Finally, after a long wait, I reached the gate.

Because I appeared in human form and not as a god, Pagoda Lord Li Jing was startled to see me. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I am in the human realm now," I replied.

"Do you have an invitation?"

"I have the Inherent Nature."

As soon as the Pagoda Lord heard mention of the Inherent Nature, he became alert and asked, "What is this Inherent Nature?"

"It is in one who discovers the spiritual light."

"Where does this spiritual light reside now?"

"It rests inside a refuge place."

"And where is this refuge place?"

"It can be found chanting the True Buddha Sutra at the Seamless Jewel Pagoda."

As soon as Li Jing, Jin-zha, Mu-zha, and Na-zha heard the mentioning of the True Buddha Sutra, it suddenly dawned on them who I was.

"Oh, so it is you, Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu." The four gatekeepers at the southern gate joined their palms and bowed.

All the other gods present were extremely surprised. In a flash, I transformed into the Light Body, filling the great Empty Space.

While sleeping in a thatched hut on earth,

I soar past oceans and skies in an instcnt;

Wherever I sit, it is always pure and bright;

When I travel, I penetrate all spaces.

The gatekeepers at the southern gate knew the human being before them was an inconceivable, rare being in samsara.

Only a Buddha recognizes a Buddha. How can sentient beings in samsara really know Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu? If they knew his true nature, would they curse him and consider him a demon, a man who schemes for sex, a devil, a con man, or a lunatic?

Who is Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu after all?

-A drop of spiritual light from the Western Pure Land, 

Exploding in a thunderclap in the skies above the Southern Gate.

Let us resume our story. As the gods filed in line, a dragon king by the name of Wellspring approached the gate clutching an invitation in his hand.

Just as the gatekeepers were about to invite Wellspring Dragon King inside, a loud voice boomed from the sky, "Can a lustful criminal be admitted through the Southern Heaven Gate?"

Greatly frightened, Wellspring Dragon King pleaded, "I am innocent, I am innocent."

"How dare you deny it?" A Divine Eye appeared in the sky.

"Oh! The lightning-like Divine Eye sees everything," the gods spoke in awe.

Perspiring heavily, Wellspring Dragon King bent over on the ground, afraid to rise.

The jeweled pagoda held by Pagoda Lord Li Jing emitted a beam of golden light sucking up Wellspring Dragon King and transporting him into the pagoda. After some time passed, the jeweled pagoda spat out Wellspring Dragon King, crushing him to smithereens!

The gods began discussing amongst themselves the events that had brought the dragon king to his present state. Wellspring Dragon King had come from a Dragon King Temple in a certain coastal town where he had been enshrined in one of the temple's side halls. Enshrined in the main hall of this temple were the four dragon kings from the eastern, southern, western, and northern seas respectively. This was a very busy temple with many worshippers.

In a nearby village lived a very pretty, young woman who often came to work at the Dragon King Temple as a volunteer.

One day, the village girl came to Wellspring Dragon King to ask for guidance on whom to pick from among her suitors as her future husband. That day, she happened to be dressed in a new, attractive outfit. Her face was creamy and pink, and her lips were luscious and cherry-red.

After several trials with the divination blocks, she was still unable to obtain a definitive answer. Finally, with her mind whirling in turmoil, she raised her head to look at the statue of Wellspring Dragon King. The statue was a vivid sculpture of a handsome man. This village girl said to herself, "How perfect it would be if there was someone like this Wellspring Dragon King to be my husband!"

From the shrine above, Wellspring Dragon King heard her words and took a look at the girl below. In an instant, he was transfixed.

How could anyone resist her look, her voice, and her laughter? Wellspring Dragon King began mentally undressing the young woman as a series of erotic images flashed through his mind. The young woman's remark had stirred a yearning in him.

From that day on, when the village girl fell asleep at night, the Dragon King would visit her in her dreams. During these visits, they engaged in conjugal acts as if they were married.

The Dragon King had forgotten the rules by which gods must abide: 1) maintaining purity of mind; 2) observing the divine laws; 3) preserving one's "chi and shen"; 4) protecting the citizens of one's domain; 5) abstaining from filthy conduct; 6) maintaining a diligent and energetic demeanor.

Wellspring Dragon King's intrusions into the young woman's dreams and his assaults upon her were transgressions of sexual misconduct. In the universe, gods and men must follow the laws inherited by each class upon conception. A god who breaks these laws risks losing his godhood. A non-virtuous act, such as debauchery, can result in the extinction of divine light, and send one falling into the realms of hells, animals, and hungry ghosts. These laws govern all gods from those of the highest rank down to the kitchen gods.

Wellspring Dragon King was unable to escape the observation of the Divine Eye Disobeying the divine law resulted in a severe punishment for his crime. He was pulverized and sent to wander the netherworld as a ghost. Not only had he betrayed and thrown away the godhood he had inherited from previous generations, but he also brought dishonor upon his family's name. Will there be peace in his mind?

Incorporated in the pictogram for the word "sex" is the pictogram for "knife," a tool that can take away one's life.

Lusting for finite pleasures while alive will lead to infinite suffering after death.

I later had an opportunity to visit the Dragon King Temple in that coastal town. The temple was magnificently built and enjoyed a great reputation in the area.

When I walked over to the side hail, I noticed that Wellspring Dragon King's shrine was empty. The words "Wellspring Dragon King" appeared above the shrine, but there was no statue.

I asked the abbot of the temple about it.

"Something strange happened in this side hall!" he said.

"Oh? What happened?" I asked, pretending I knew nothing about it.

"Last year on the ninth of the first lunar month, the statue suddenly fell down on its own. It dropped to the floor and broke into pieces. It happened when the temple had not yet opened, and no one had been around, It was very strange."

"Oh!"

The abbot continued, "When I saw that the statue had broken into pieces, I had the place cleaned up. I had planned to purchase another statue or have another sculpture made."

"What happened?"

"That same night, I dreamt the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas had come to tell me that Wellspring Dragon King had broken a divine law and lost his godhood. There would be no need for me to replace the statue in the shrine. I did not take the dream seriously at first. I consulted the divination blocks, and they confirmed the dream. Yet I still did not believe it and went to the sculpture studio to request another statue of Wellspring Dragon King.

Strangely, whenever the sculptor prepared to begin work on the statue for Wellspring Dragon King, he would get sick. When he recovered and again tried to work on the project, he would become sick again. Now, this sculptor is refusing to work at all on Wellspring Dragon King's statue."

"How strange. What happened in the end?" I was curious.

"That is all. There was nothing more to it," the abbot pointed at the empty shrine.

Just as I was about to leave, the abbot suddenly ran after me, "Another strange thing has happened around here. In a small village nearby, a young woman has suddenly developed psychic power. She claims to have the divine sight and can read past and future lives for others. When people asked her how she attained the power, she initially refused to say. Later she said Wellspring Dragon King had taught her. She is very accurate in her readings. You can go and look her up."

I followed the directions given by the abbot and looked up the village girl. As soon as I laid my eyes on her, I saw upon her body the presence of chi from Wellspring Dragon King.

Typically, when the energy from a god enters the body of an ordinary human being, the latter will develop some unusual abilities. By employing this energy, the village girl was able to make some pretty accurate predictions. For example, if a pregnant lady came to see her, she could accurately foretell the sex of the baby. This one ability alone had made her quite famous.

I sat before the village girl and waited for her to give me a reading of my past and future lives.

After observing me for a while, she made a surprised sound and shook her head. Then she nodded and shook her head again. Finally she said to me, with some embarrassment, "I am sorry, I can't do it."

"Why not?'

"I can't see anything."

"Why is that?"

"I don't know. Normally when I do past life readings, two patterns appear. The pattern in front represents the former life and the one at the back represents the future life. The patterns have always emerged very clearly. But, when I looked at you, there was no pattern at all. There was no previous life or future life. I don't understand this."

"Having no former or future lives is a condition of no-birth and no-death. It is a state that has transcended birth and death. It is the Right Path."

"What is the Right Path?" the village girl asked me.

"Realization of one's inherent nature, and the liberation from birth and death is the Right Path. In contrast, practices involving talismans and incantations, the commanding of thunder and lightning, and shifting through different realities, etc. are only magical practices. They do not constitute the Right Path. Similarly, arts of healing, astrology, and divination alone will not lead to the Right Path. Even practices of breathing and internal alchemy reliant on the intake of external supplements are practices of the phenomenal worlds and will not lead one to the Right Path."

If all these practices do not lead to the Right Path, do they serve any purpose?

I replied, They can only be considered auxiliaries to one's cultivation to reach the Right Path. They will not liberate one from the cycle of birth and death. As a practitioner of Buddhism, one must understand the True Condition and intuit the supreme wisdom that cuts away all illusions pertaining to the phenomenal worlds. All phenomenal appearances are projections of one s mind and consciousness. Only a practice that enables one to unite with the Divine or the Buddha, where there is no separation between body and mind and where the ultimate reality is non-duality, is an authentic Buddhist practice.

The village girl asked, "What level is the possession of divine sight and the ability to read past and future lives?

Such abilities alone will not allow one to transcend birth and death, be liberated from the seas of suffering, or escape punishment from hells

"I thought I was at a very high spiritual level!" remarked the village girl.

"Not at all. You only have your ability because you have been touched by a god's chi."

The village girl then spoke to me, "Since you claim you have realized the Right Path, show me something so If will believe you. If you do, I will take you as my teacher!"

"Fine," I said. "Take another look with your divine sight!"

The village girl took a look and was greatly shocked. Immediately she knelt down and pleaded earnestly to take refuge in me. I told her that in order to be liberated from the six realms of transmigration and to attain true freedom, one must break away from all concepts of time and all concepts of selfhood.

So, what did the village girl see when she tuned into her divine sight?

She saw a blooming lotus with glistening pearl-like dews on its pistils. A true Tathagata sat above the lotus expounding words of truth that radiated forth in golden rays. Someone sat below the lotus listening to the teachings, and it was none other than Wellspring Dragon King himself.

The village girl immediately took refuge in me

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