Those who Receive Empowerment for the Kalachakra
Practice Will Certainly Realize Buddhahood in Seven Lifetimes
受灌頂時輪金剛法者
七世之內一定成佛
Grand Master Lu's Dharma Talk at Seattle Lei Zang Temple's Kalachakra
ceremony on October 21, 2006
First, let us pay homage to Reverend Liao Ming, Vajra Master Sakya
Zheng-kong, His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa, Vajra Master Thubten
Dargye, and past Patriarchs of True Buddha School's lineages.
Thank you to everyone and the honored guests who have joined us
tonight (applause). Good evening to all the attending vajra masters (acharyas),
reverends, senior reverends, dharma assistants, and fellow school
members.
The Affinity that Brought About this Great Dharma Assembly in
Seattle
Earlier Master Lian-xiang mentioned the affinity that brought about
this dharma assembly. In reality, it only took five days. Master
Lian-xiang often says that I would say okay to all kind of requests when
she is not around. The other day, I mentioned that I have agreed to
conduct a Kalachakra initiation at Ling Sheng Ching Tze Temple Chicago
Chapter (Chicago's Lei Zang Temple) and visit the Charlotte True
Buddhist Society (the Lei Zang Temple in Charlotte, North Carolina).
Then Vajra Master Dehui said, "We also want one." I was
startled. How come Seattle Lei Zang Temple is also making this request!
So without thinking, I replied, "Okay! When?" Vajra Master
Dehui replied, "[Let us hold this ceremony] next week, next
Saturday." It was just like that. In less than a week's time, a
very short time, we had to make arrangements for a mass Kalachakra
initiation ceremony. This was the beginning of the affinity that brought
forth this ceremony.
I discovered our school's power for mobilization is truly enormous.
In just a couple of days, school members from all over the world arrived
in Seattle. In such a short span of time, over one thousand five hundred
school members came to Seattle. I was rather concerned that the Seattle
Lei Zang Temple did not have the resources to accommodate all these
guests. In the six years that I have been away from the main temple, its
resources have dwindled. The temple staffs here have gone to bed hungry
on many nights during those years. I heard during the time I was away,
the food rations were almost inedible. The rations should not have been
that bad! My description was probably slightly exaggerated. The other
issue was that the temple became fairly desolate. Not many school
members visited the temple, and it was very lonely and sad. Vajra Master
Lian-huo commented that, for many years, it has been rare for the
Seattle Lei Zang Temple to be packed and festive like a supermarket,
like it is today. Actually, I know that the dharma ceremonies presided
by Vajra Master Lian-huo were also very extraordinary.
The Seattle Lei Zang Temple is the ancestral temple of True Buddha
School. It is the smallest of all of the Lei Zang Temples worldwide.
Yet, the Bodhisattvas in this temple are the greatest. All Bodhisattvas
enshrined in Lei Zang temples worldwide are emanations from the
Bodhisattvas here. So, I hope that the Seattle Lei Zang Temple, although
its size is small and is staffed with few personnel, is the most capable
(enthusiastic applause). Although the members here in Seattle have
undergone many hardships over these many years, in reality, this truly
demonstrated their persevering spirit.
Vajra Master Dehui has demonstrated good stewardship. He has a
signature saying, "Everyone is responsible for the karmic
consequences of his/her own actions." If we are to compare his
leadership style to tuning the strings of a guitar, we can say that the
strings are tuned rather loosely. If you listen and follow what Vajra
Master Dehui told you to do, that is good. If you don't listen to him,
that's fine as well. He is that way, relaxed and loose. Then, Vajra
Master Lian-ning came over [to Seattle]. His guitar strings are tuned
high and relatively tight. I often see him supervising this and that.
So, one plays a high-strung tune while the other plays a soothing and
relaxed song. Having them working together, they balance each other out
and produce harmonious music. With these two senior vajra masters
working in the Seattle Lei Zang Temple, it is destined to flourish
(applause).
When I returned to the Seattle Lei Zang Temple, I thought, why not
save money on a meal each day. So, I would come to eat dinner at the
Seattle Temple every day. Yet, as I kept coming back to eat dinner here,
I feel that I owe them something and I feel that I should do something
for the Seattle Temple. So, I have drawn up this Five Thunders
Protecting Residence Talisman. With this talisman in your residence, the
five thunder gods would suppress all destructive energy in the residence
and naturally bring about blessing and joy, enabling the family in the
residence to become prosperous. This talisman that I made today is very
special and there is only one available. It will be put up for
charitable auction later. The proceeds will go to Seattle Lei Zang
Temple, compensating them for the free meals they have provided me
during all this time. I wanted to cover this off-topic matter before
starting the teaching.
The Two Great Lineage Transmissions of True Buddha School's
Kalachakra Practice
Today we are conducting the Kalachakra initiation ceremony, and it
can only be held by someone with genuine lineage transmission. So, I
have brought the Kalachakra sadhana manual that was transmitted to me by
my guru (Grandmaster held up the sadhana manual for all to see,
receiving enthusiastic applause from the crowd). This manual was
hand-written and entitled "Condensed Sadhana of the Kalachakra
Practice." Vajra Master Thubten Dargye specially gave this manual
to me. He wrote in the preface, "The sadhana of Highest Yoga Tantra
must be transmitted by an Acharya (Vajra Master) in accordance with the
dharma. Otherwise, do not browse through the manual without
authorization, as this is considered stealing the teaching. Any violator
will be solely responsible for the karmic consequences resulting from
such a transgression." The gurus of Vajra Master Thubten Dargye are
as follows: "Kanjurwa Khutughtu, Thubten Nyima, Thubten 'Die-li',
and the multitude of other virtuous and gracious instructors."
Then, Guru Thubten Dargye transmitted the practice to me. Hence, our
Vajrayana sadhana has lineage transmission and this is genuine
transmission. Vajrayana places great importance on lineage transmission.
Without transmission, there is no Vajrayana Buddhism. If the
transmission is broken, then there is no Vajrayana practice. Guru
Padmasambhava said, honor the guru, honor the root vajra master, and all
vajra masters; treasure the dharma - treasure all Vajrayana sadhanas;
and practice diligently - we must put our sadhana into practice. Hence,
today I have specially brought out the sadhana manual for all to see.
All the practices that I teach, I have sadhana manual for every one of
them. Every single practice that I teach was transmitted to me by my
gurus.
All four sects of Tibetan Buddhism hold the Kalachakra Tantra in high
esteem. It doesn't matter whether it is the Sakyapa, Gelugpa, Kagyupa,
or Nyingmapa - they all share great veneration and respect for the
Kalachakra Tantra without exception.
So, Grandmaster has two great lineage transmissions for this
Kalachakra practice. One transmission is from the Seventeenth Kanjurwa
Khutughtu. The Seventeenth Kanjurwa Khutughtu was a great tulku (Living
Buddha) of Mongolia. The highest-ranking Living Buddha of Mongolia is
Jebtsundamba Khutughtu. The next highest-ranking Living-Buddhas of
Mongolia are Kanjurwa Khutughtu and Chankya Khutukhtu (note: Chankya
Khutukhtu's title has also been variously written in Romanized Chinese
as Zhangjia Hutukhtu and Chang-chia Hutukhtu). So, one of our Kalachakra
lineage transmission came from one of the highest-ranking Living Buddhas
of Mongolia. The other lineage transmission came from Vajra Master Sakya
Zheng-kong. He received transmission of the Kalachakra practice from the
Ninth Panchen Lama in Qinghai province, China. Then, Vajra Master Sakya
Zheng-kong transmitted the Kalachakra Tantra to me. Hence, our second
lineage transmission came from the Ninth Panchen Lama, who was one of
the highest ranking Tibetan lamas (applause from the crowd).
When the Kalachakra initiations were held in Tibet during the past,
the initiation ceremonies generally took at least two weeks at the
shortest and two months at the longest. All the ordained lamas must
recite the scripture, recite the Kalachakra Tantra scripture. Then, they
pray for Kalachakra to enter the Kalachakra statue, and the presiding
lama would request Kalachakra to empower all the attendees. This means
that Kalachakra would appear from emptiness, enter into the shrine
mandala, and empower all the attendees through the shrine. This is
divided up into three sections, invoking Kalachakra to appear from
emptiness, invoking Kalachakra to enter the shrine mandala, and invoking
Kalachakra to empower all attendees.
Every time the scripture is recited, all forty-nine scrolls of the
Kalachakra Tantra scripture must be recited. This takes a long time. It
is not easy to receive this empowerment. Yet, Grandmaster can
successfully invoke Kalachakra's presence in the shrine mandala in an
instant. Then, in another instant, Kalachakra would enter into your
bodies. During the empowerment, I only need to form the Kalachakra mudra
and close my eyes for a second. Kalachakra will emerge from emptiness
and enter into the shrine mandala. This occurs very quickly. This is
because that instant of time encompassed the past, present, and future.
By merging the three times of past, present, and future into an instant
of time, we also successfully requested the presence of Kalachakra
(enthusiastic applause).
Experienced Death During Retreat, Reborn Now to Promulgate Great
Dharma
Last time, when I was in Hong Kong conducting the Kalachakra
initiation, the Golden Mother of the Jade Pond told me that it would be
the last time I gave a talk on stage to a mass audience in my lifetime.
Why then am I here on stage giving another talk? Isn't this
contradictory? Wouldn't the Golden Mother of the Jade Pond's prediction
now be untrue? On this matter, I made a point to ask her specifically.
Golden Mother said that I responded too fast, saying that she foresaw
extremely difficulties in my immediate future back and that was probably
going to be my last talk. Since I jumped to conclusion and revealed it,
it cannot be withdrawn. I told Golden Mother that I almost died, was on
the brink-of-death during my retreat and experienced the death process.
This is equivalent to dying once. Today, I am starting over again,
restarting over, and this can be considered a second life. How about
that? Golden Mother answered, last time she spoke in English, "This
talk is your last talk in your life." So, she said that was the
last talk of my life, but I told her, I have already died once. So, she
said, "You go ahead." (crowd bursts into laughter, applause).
Hence, I can once again expound dharma. Maybe I will transmit even
greater dharma in the future (cheers and applause from the crowd). I
still want to entrust the dharma to everyone, I want to entrust the
teaching of what is "knowing the heart"? How to understand
your heart's nature? How to see Buddha-nature? This is also the
experiential insight of Shakyamuni Buddha himself.
The Kalachakra Tantra was revealed when Shakyamuni Buddha was in the
Avatamsaka Realm expounding the dharma. His emanation transformed into
Kalachakra and travelled to Shambhala Pure Land and taught the tantra to
King Suchandra and all the deva and devi of Shambhala. Hence, that was
how the Kalachakra Tantra came to be. I have already mentioned in Hong
Kong that Shambhala Pure Land had golden, silver, and bronze
chakravartins (universal rulers). Two of them have been reborn and are
True Buddha School's students. Hence, the Shambhala Pure Land is also
one of the Pure Lands where True Buddha Students can be reborn in
(applause).
Vajrayana Buddhism Transforms Desire into Cultivation
Recently, I wrote a book titled, "Staircase of Heavens";
the level of heavens are like steps on a staircase. It was like how I
was forming mudra earlier. Did all of you see it? Our human world is in
the desire realm, it is in the level of desire. What kind of desires do
people have? Everyone wants to have money immediately, so we put money
on "horseback" and that is called having money immediately
(note: in Chinese, the phrase "on the back of a horse" or
"on horseback" has the meaning of something occurring
immediately). This is the desire for wealth. The next one is sensual
pleasures. What do we mean by sensual pleasures? It means that young men
want to marry beautiful women, and this is because although beauty is
temporary, being ugly lasts forever. Those pretty women also want to
marry handsome men. This is the desire for sensual pleasure. Then, there
is the desire for fame. Just look at what they are reporting on TV. What
are people fighting over? They are fighting over fame. Some people want
to be famous, and some people want to drag down famous people.
What is next? Well, I just mentioned this a bit earlier, everyone at
the Seattle Temple was going to bed hungry. It is a bit better now; they
are eating a bit better. This desire is craving for food. Some people
are into gourmet and exotic food. For every meal they must have shark
fins or other exotic delicacies. I personally don't really pay attention
to what I eat. I eat basically whatever food is available. Everyone
knows that I lived in retreat for five and a half years. What did I eat?
I typically had some vegetables, two small slices of meat, and a bowl of
pot-soup. That cost about $50 Taiwan dollars or less than $2 USD a meal.
I ate like that for five and a half years. When I first returned, some
people thought they saw a ghost when they saw me. I was very, very thin.
I have re-gained some weight since then.
In reality, Vajrayana transforms desires into drive for cultivation.
In general, exoteric Buddhism schools reject the five desires of
"wealth, sensual pleasure, fame, food, and sleep." These
rejections are codified in the monastic rules and forsaking these
desires is regarded as genuine cultivation. This is correct! There is
nothing wrong with that. Exoteric Buddhism's cultivation forsakes
wealth, sensual pleasure, fame, food, and sleep.
Yet, on the other hand, Vajrayana Buddhism transforms them into
cultivation method. Desire for wealth is transformed into the Jambhala
practice. Everyone knows that there are many wealth deity practices:
grandpa wealth god, grandma wealth god, papa wealth god, mama wealth
god, brother wealth god, sister wealth god, then there are also the
offspring of wealth gods. There are many other wealth god practices such
as Five Directional Wealth deities, Eight Directional Wealth deities,
Twelve Directional Wealth deities, Hundred Directional Wealth deities.
This is transforming desire into cultivation method.
Vajrayana also transforms sexual desire into cultivation, which is
the twin body (yab-yum) practice. I have mentioned it before in the Hong
Kong Kalachakra Initiation. Today, I don't dare to bring it up again.
This is because my Vajra Master Thubten Dargye said, "Sheng-yen Lu,
how dare he reveal the twin body practice in Hong Kong. I would not dare
to reveal this practice even if someone was beating me to death with a
club. Yet, Sheng-yen Lu dares to reveal it." This is the reason why
I suffer misfortunes (crowd laughs). So, okay, I cannot mention the Twin
body practice. Twin body practice is the transformation of sexual desire
into cultivation.
What is the cultivation for the desire for fame? It is the
Wish-Fulfillment Practice. If you cultivate a wish-fulfillment practice,
you will be able to gain fame and social prominence. What is the
transformation of desire for food? The transforming cultivation for the
desire for food is making offerings, making offerings to Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas. So, even when you are about to enjoy your food, you make
an offering. What is the cultivation for sleep? It is the dream yoga,
sleep in the luminosity. Even in sleep, you can cultivate -- this is the
dream yoga. Hence, these are the differences between Exoteric Buddhism
and Vajrayana Buddhism. The key difference is that Vajrayana takes the
desires of the desire realm and turns them into cultivation method. This
is absolutely not allowed in exoteric Buddhism. Although there are
differences between the two systems, all these different paths still
lead to the same goal.
So, if you cultivate Vajrayana practice properly, you can ascend to
the Desire Heavens. Very many Vajrayana practitioners who reached the
six heavens of the Desire realm attained bliss. If you open your bank
statements and find that there is an extra zero at the end, you would
feel as if your spirit just floated up into the air. This is a kind of
happy bliss. Happy bliss is by its very nature formless. Yet, your
spirit floated up into the air from looking at that one extra zero. That
kind of happy bliss doesn't come easily, right? Earlier, Master
Lian-xiang said when there is no money in your pocket and bank account,
it is very difficult and sad. A lot of bliss in this world is
money-related. So, if you ascend to the Desire Heavens, your desires
will be satisfied. The Desire Heavens can be summed up with this one
word, bliss. What is sex? It can be summed up with one word, bliss. What
is social status? It is bliss. To sum up eating in one word, it is still
bliss. To sum up a good night of peaceful sleep in one word, it is still
bliss. When you reach the Desire Heavens, it is bliss. I'll tell you
right now, all of the Desire Heavens are just bliss and that's it. The
bliss there lasts much, much longer. The bliss in the human realm is
very short, lasting just an instant. In an instant, it is gone. The
bliss in the heavens lasts much, much longer, but it will still come to
an end one day
Going higher is the Form Heavens. To sum up the Form Heavens, it is
joy, happy joy. When you cultivate meditation, the four dhyanas and
eight concentrations, you will generate dharma joy. Cultivators of
Buddhist practice know what is called dharma joy. When you leave behind
the bliss of the Desire realm, what you attain is dharma joy. When you
ascend to the second division of the heavens, that is the Form Heavens.
那麼，「色界天」
這個「色」，不是表示人間的那個「色」
(this whole discussion is purely an issue in Chinese semantics and it is
not an issue when properly translated, so it will drop from the
translation)，而是非常亮麗的光明，是一
種無量光。你能夠修到禪定有法喜出現，就是「色界天」。「色界天」是因為你捨掉了欲界天的樂，修禪定得到的法喜。
The Form Heavens are extremely luminous. This brilliant luminosity is
a type of boundless luminosity. When you meditate and cultivate
generating dharma-joy, you have reached the level of the Form Heavens.
The Form Heavens are reached when you let go of the bliss of the Desire
Heavens, continue to cultivate to achieve dharma joy.
Today, when we entered samadhi during the Kalachakra Sadhana, I
stayed in samadhi for a short time. Although it was very short,
Kalachakra entered my body and quickly one can attain dharma joy. This
is because when your middle channel is already clear of any blockages,
it will generate luminosity and manifest luminous brilliance. If you
achieve that state, you will be reborn in the Form Heavens. How do you
cultivate to reach the Desire Heavens? When you accumulate enough prana
so that you can guide it in your body, you can generate the bliss
experienced in the Desire Heavens. When the blessing power of Buddhas
and Bodhisattvas enter into your body, the blockages in your middle
channel will be completely cleared, and then the luminosity will be
generated. When clear light manifests, you will attain dharma joy. At
that time, the desire for wealth, sensual pleasure, fame, food, and
sleep will all vanish. All you have left is this joy which is the dharma
joy of meditation. What do you eat? You consume the dharma joy as food,
what you eat is this dharma-joy.
I know the whereabouts of my deceased students's transmigration
When you go above the Form Heavens, there is neither bliss nor joy.
When you abandon both bliss and joy, all you are left with is letting
go. Then, you enter the heavens of the Five Pure Abodes (Suddhavasa) of
the fourth dhyana heavens. The first heaven of these five heavens is the
Heaven Free from Anxiety (Avrha).
I encountered a True Buddha School student in that heaven. She is
almost at the level of an Arhat. Who is this student? She was Vajra
Master Lian-pin. When I saw her, I was very surprised. I asked,
"How come you are here in the heavens of the Five Pure
Abodes?"
She told me that she had severe heart disease and the doctors
surgically implanted a device to keep her heart functioning. However,
she was still very sick, so she was waiting to die everyday. Waiting to
die everyday, she was able to see through it -- she saw through her
anxiety for life and death. She saw through all of her anxiety and
completely let them all go. She treated being alive and dead as the
same.
I'll tell you something: if you can reach this state of treating
being alive and dead as the same, you will not have any anxiety and you
will arrive at this Heaven Free of Anxiety. Why is that? Afflicted
emotions and thoughts are all bodhi, and bodhi is anxiety. Who in this
world is without afflicted emotions and thoughts? Everyone has afflicted
emotions and thoughts. Yet, if you can see through the afflicted
emotions and thoughts, transform them so they are no longer afflicted
emotions and thoughts, such that these transformed afflicted emotions
and thoughts are just bodhi, then you have achieved real success in your
spiritual cultivation. She was severely ill and her heart was in very
poor condition. She was prepared to die at any moment, so she saw
through death. She saw through her attachment to her husband, children,
money, and all of her desires. She saw through them all, and reached the
state of seeing living and dying as the same. Therefore, she ascended to
the Heaven Free of Anxiety, the heaven without afflicted thoughts or
emotions. This is the first heaven of the heavens of the Five Pure
Abodes.
The second heaven of these heavens of the Five Pure Abodes is the
Heaven Free From Heat (Atapa). After entering and experiencing this
Heaven Free From Heat, I dare to say that it got its name because it has
Buddha-dharma. Vajra Master Thubten Dargye had given me a plaque with
the inscription, "All awakened sentient beings are the Hum
syllable." Where did this Hum syllable come from? The Ah syllable
transformed into Hum. Ah was the transformation of Om. This Hum
represents sentient beings. It represents the source, your principle
deity, and it represents Buddha-dharma. When I reached the Heaven Free
From Heat, I encountered another True Buddha School student. I can tell
you that he is Lian-hua Tie-yun. He was the deceased husband of that
female student who just stood up with her palms joined. That heaven is
the realm of Arhats. If he cultivates further, he will become an Arhat.
Why would he reach that level? That is because Arhats taught him that
all sentient beings have Buddha-nature and can achieve Buddhahood.
Hence, achieving Buddhahood in seven lifetimes is true. If you receive
the Kalachakra empowerment, you can achieve Buddhahood in seven
lifetimes (applause).
One of these days, you will encounter someone who tells you that you
are originally a Buddha, so you can definitely achieve Buddhahood. When
your affinity matures, you will receive the Kalachakra empowerment.
Then, you will achieve Buddhahood in seven lifetimes. I encountered
Lian-hua Tie-yun at Heaven Free From Heat. I asked him, "How did
you arrive here?" He replied, "I was originally here."
What can you actually gain? Nothing. What can you actually enjoy? Also
nothing. What you think you "possess" is just like a dream --
they are empty and illusory. So he is there learning "no
birth."
I asked, "What have you learned?" He answered, "No
birth," there was never birth! When have we ever really been born?
If you were born, then you will die. So, there never was birth. Very
many sentient beings are in this state of no-birth. In principle, we are
in the state of no-birth, not no-sound (Grandmaster dropped in a pun,
the Chinese character for "birth" and "sound" are
homophones), it is never born. This is because birth and death are in
reality the two sides of the same coin. When you die, aren't you born
(reborn)? If you are born, isn't this same as dying (you have to die to
be reborn). So, when there is birth, there must always be death, where
there is death, there is always birth. They are really the same! So, in
this world, I never really came. Did I leave anything behind? No.
(Note: If you see yourself as this flesh body, you are born and will
die. If you recognize the primordial pristine awareness that is in you,
it was not born nor has it die, it has never came or left).
He also told me he is learning to "kill thieves" (a name
for Arhat is the "killer of thieves"). Kill thieves? Where can
you find these thieves? (translator's note: here "thieves"
refer to desires) What "killing thieves" means is to kill off
all desires. Kill off the desires that arise from seeing
[desirable/undesirable forms]. Kill off the desires that arise from
hearing [pleasant/unpleasant sounds]. Kill off the desires that arise
from smelling [pleasant/unpleasant fragrances]. Kill off the desires
that come from tasting [delicious/revolting flavors]. Kill off the
desires from touching. Kill off desires of thoughts.
I often say, if you caress a woman's soft and fine skin, it produces
the pleasure/bliss of touch, a very blissful sensation from touching.
But, if I tell you to look away, while I put up a screen and put a white
pig in the woman’s place, then tell you to stroke the pig's skin, you
would still feel the same pleasurable sensation while caressing the pig.
That's because you think you are still caressing the woman's skin and
not that of a pig. When I remove the screen and you see that you are
caressing a pig, that pleasurable sensation vanishes (crowd bursts into
laughter).
So, where is the bliss? What is exactly is this pleasure? If you see
what you are caressing, the bliss vanishes. So, this is called
"killing thieves" (killing desires). "Deserving
offering" (arhat) make offering to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
Sentient beings should make offerings to Arhats because Arhats eliminate
eighty-two kinds of thought delusions. Kill-off deluded thoughts.
Eliminate various kinds of delusions. So, he is in the Heaven Free From
Heat of the heavens of the Five Pure Abodes.
When you let go of everything, you will reach the four formless
heavens, which are the heavens of the Formless realm. If you go beyond
the four formless heavens, you can become Arhats, Bodhisattvas, and
Buddhas. What do I mean? The important aspect of the Kalachakra Tantra
is to eliminate the desires inside of you through cultivating the
Kalachakra practice. This enables your luminosity to emerge and the
ascension of you nature of emptiness. Eliminate the desires inside of
you, and reveal the luminosity of your heart. Then, you can reach the
eternal Buddha and Bodhisattva, eternal no-birth, this is
none-other-than an Arhat (enthusiastic applause).
The meaning of Kalachakra (time wheel) is the Other Time Wheel. The
Other Time Wheel is siddhi (yogic accomplishment). The Outer Time Wheel
is emptiness. The Inner Time Wheel is prana, channel, and drops. What we
mean by Time Wheel is the giant wheel of time. Time is like a giant
wheel that is revolving. Roll this giant time-wheel over this process of
birth, old age, illness, and death. Roll over it, and completely crush
it. This is precisely the time-wheel. What is called time-wheel? It is
none-other-than destroying this giant wheel of time, destroying it
completely. So, time no longer exists, which is also eternal existence.
The ultimate goal of the Kalachakra Tantra is to remove the
beginningless delusion and recover your the primordial awareness that
existed since beginningless time. This ultimate goal is becoming
Shravaka (another name for Arhat), Pratyeka-buddha, Bodhisattva, Buddha.
The doctrine of the Kalachakra practice is extremely profound. When
you have severed your desires, let go of the bliss, joy, and emptiness,
and even let go of the act of letting go, letting go of your heart, you
will enter into eternity; this is what is called nirvana.
At this time, not only can you go to the Shambhala Pure Land;
Avatamsaka Pure Land, the Western Paradise of Ultimate Bliss, Maha Twin
Lotus Ponds Pure Land, Vairochana's Pure Land, the Copper Mountain
Paradise, the Dharani Pure Land, Maitreya Bodhisattva's Pure Land - you
will be able to go to any Pure Land. The key to this is letting go: are
you able to let go of all of your current desires? Are you able to let
go of dharma joy? Are you able to let them go? Let go of your joy and
bliss, extinguish all of them, let go of whatever remains, even let go
of the act of letting go, let go of your heart, entering into nirvana,
then you are able to gain genuine Buddha-nature. Isn't this right?
Hence, what make cultivators extraordinary is the ability to let go.
If you are able to let go of things, then you are able to aspire
bodhicitta (the awakened heart), aspire the heart of compassion, and
actively engage in the action of awakening sentient beings, guiding them
to the shore of liberation. If you are unable to let go, then you still
have grasping and cravings. Then, you can only continue to transmigrate
in the six realms of the Desire realm. Since you crave bliss, and only
bliss, the highest realm you can reach as someone who has cravings and
grasping are the Desire Heavens. If you can let go of bliss and maintain
dhyana (or meditative absorption), then you will be able to ascend into
the Form Heavens, but the Form Heavens will not last forever. This
dharma joy is not eternal. If you can let the dharma joy go, then you
are able to enter the state of Arhat, then you enter the heavens of the
Five Pure Abodes. If you can transcend the nature of emptiness, then you
can enter into nirvana. Then, you will finally find your eternal
Buddha-nature.
How do you enter the multitudes of heavens? How do you ascend into
heaven? This is not an easy task. In the Buddha-dharma that was passed
down by Shakyamuni Buddha, there are a total of twenty-eight heavens.
Grandmaster has visited each of them, and experienced every one of them.
I will reveal my experiences in these twenty-eight heavens in my
writings (enthusiastic applause). Simply put, the Desire Heavens only
have bliss. There is a vajra master in the Transformation-Delight Heaven
(Nirmanarati). He is in the Transformation-Delight Heaven in the Desire
Heavens, and he is Vajra Master Lian-lian (enthusiastic applause). Some
of you have wondered about the whereabouts of some of the vajra masters
after their deaths, I will reveal many of them. I have a list of where
all of them have transmigrated. Those of them who have gone to the Three
Evil Paths (hell, hungry ghost, and animal), I will not name, because if
I name them, then people will be after me, and that's very scary. We
cannot fall into the Three Evil Paths. At least, at the very least, we
have to go the six heavens of the Desire realm. If we can go to the Form
Heavens, that would be even better. Reaching the heavens of the Five
Pure Abodes is even better. Going into the four formless heavens is also
good. It is the best to transform into the Four Holy beings of the Arhat
or Shravaka, Pratyeka-buddha, Bodhisattva, and Buddhas. Then, you must
practice the Kalachakra Tantra.
So, you may say that you have cultivated the Vajrayana practices
using the five desires of wealth, sensual pleasure, fame, food, and
sleep. Although you cultivate these practices, you can only enter the
six heavens of the Desire realm. If you continue to practice the
principle deity practice, you can reach the Pure Land in the Form realm.
If you cultivate Consciousness-only, you can reach Maitreya's Pure Land.
By cultivating higher Vajrayana practices, you can enter the Pure Lands
in the Heaven of Boundless Light (Apramanabha, or Infinite Light Heaven,
the fifth of the eighteen heavens in the Form realm). The multitude of
heavens and Pure Lands sometimes overlap. This is because even in hell,
there is Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's Cui-wei (Sublime Emerald Green) Pure
Land. The Uddiyana Pure Land, the Dharani Pure Land, and Vairochana
Heaven Pure Land are all in the Boundless Light Pure Land, and they all
overlap. These overlapping heavens and Pure Lands are separated into
inner and outer courts. Those who are in the inner courts (the Pure
Lands) do not need to transmigrate. Those in the outer courts (heavens)
will still transmigrate in the six realms. Does everyone understand my
explanation? (enthusiastic applause)
Q and A
Q: Should we achieve yogic union in the Guru Yoga practice before
cultivating the Kalachakra practice?
A: In Vajrayana, we should always practice according to the
cultivation progression. Just like if you achieve siddhi (yogic
accomplishment) in Guru Yoga, you will continue onto Principle Deity
yoga. When you achieve siddhi in the Principle Deity yoga, you will be
able to ascend into the Pure Lands. Then, you can cultivate the heruka
(or fierce deity) practice, which is cultivating using the prana,
channel, and drops. There is also a cultivation progression in this
practice. Some of it starts when you are practicing the Principle Deity
practice. There are some overlaps.
Q: During the talk for the Kalachakra ceremony in Hong Kong Lei Zang
temple, Grandmaster discussed the union of Kalachakra and the
cultivator's middle channel as one -- what does this mean? What signs
should cultivators look for to determine if he has achieved this union?
A: This is none-other-than yogic union as one being. I will tell you
that is a formless sensation, yet it's very real. It is formless and yet
absolutely real.
Q: Dear Grandmaster, what level do you have to reach in your
cultivation before you can be certain that you have reached the level of
non-retrogression?
A: I'll tell you, this level of non-retrogression is, generally
speaking, very difficult to explain. In the case of empowerment, there
is an empowerment called non-retrogression empowerment. This
non-retrogression empowerment refers to the empowerment for cultivators
to become vajra masters. Empowerment for vajra masters are called
non-retrogression empowerment. The word vajra (in Chinese) is made-up of
two characters, the character for "gold" and
"steel." When we say "gold," we know one of its
qualities is that its color will never fade. We know that one of the
qualities of "steel" is that it will not deform. When you are
a genuine vajra (literally "golden steel" in Chinese) master,
the golden color doesn't fade and the steel doesn't deform. If the
confidence in your heart is like a vajra, then it is non-retrogression.
If the confidence in your heart has not reached the level of vajra, you
will definitely experience retrogression. If you experience some
setback, some confusion, some slander, hear some rumors, you will find
that the gold that you have was gold-plated. So, its color will
definitely fade. I recently found out that there is pure gold plating,
and whether or not the color of that pure gold plating will fade, I
don't know (Grandmaster giggles). Hence, genuine gold's color will never
fade. Genuine steel will not deform. When you are a genuine vajra
master, you are at the level of non-retrogression. Then, you ask, what
is non-retrogression? You really have to ask yourself, has the
confidence in your heart become as strong as a vajra?
Receive Kalachakra empowerment, definitely achieve Buddhahood in
seven lifetimes
In a moment, I will give out the Kalachakra empowerment. This is a
very rare empowerment. After you have received the empowerment, you must
recognize that you are the same as the Buddha. In seven lifetimes, you
will have the affinity to meet a great virtuous being who will transmit
to you the Buddha-dharma. You immediately will achieve Buddhahood in the
present body. This affinity will be generated in seven lifetimes, and
then you can achieve accomplishment. This is what it means by achieving
Buddhahood in seven lifetimes (enthusiastic applause). Next, we will
have the empowerment for the seven great practices of the Golden Mother.
We will have these two empowerments together because many people have
not received the empowerment for the seven great practices of the Golden
Mother. Detailed teachings on these seven practices have been already
made into DVD. You can contact Seattle Lei Zang Temple to order it, and
then you will know what the seven practices are. Also, those who have
not sought refuge, you may treat this empowerment also as refuge
empowerment. For those of you with illnesses, through Kalachakra's
power, the blessing power of Kalachakra can liberate you from your
suffering of illness (enthusiastic applause). So, I hope everyone will
have enough confidence, so everyone can be freed from the illnesses that
they are suffering. Kalachakra said his practice includes bliss, joy,
emptiness, and letting go - it includes them all. So, if you have a wish
you would like him to fulfill, just think of it during the empowerment.
This is like when people asked for the Immediate Wealth Practice
empowerment, they were thinking, will they really be able to come into
wealth immediately? Will it happen? You see! You don't have any
confidence. All things require confidence. So, Kalachakra and the Golden
Mother's empowerment can provide many benefits. I hope the two
empowerments will generate the greatest power, and fulfill all the
wishes of the attendees (enthusiastic applause).
Om Mani Padme
Translated by True Buddha Translation Team
Source: http://www.tbtts.org/translation_work/DT/DT.06.10.21.ENG.html
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