|
|
||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
Chapter 36 - Treasure The Opportunity To Learn The Dharma This Life
Let me reproduce a piece of news by a reporter from Tawau first. Vajra Guru Living Buddha Lian Shen Master Lu Sheng Yen said: "The Tantra as expounded by the True Buddha School is very suitable for the contemporary cultivation. People cultivating it will have great attainment and be enlightened as a Buddha eventually." He said, "True Buddha Tantra is great to be cultivated personally. It is very difficult to find such good Tantra, therefore we must treasure the opportunity to learn the dharma this life." He also said, "Living Buddha is really a person who advocates personal cultivation. He enjoys the true dharma taste from his cultivation. He is able to show his Buddha nature. As he has attained enlightenment, he is the person who understands the whole truth of the universe."
Two nights ago, Living Buddha Lian Shen Vajra Guru gave a talk on Tantra and presided over an empowerment ceremony held at Lian Hu Lei Tsang Temple for believers who came to have relationship, or to take refuge in him. More than two thousand people took part in the ceremony. The crowds jammed the whole temple, not even a drop of water could trickle through. Living Buddha Lian Shen said, "Combining the dharma from Sutrayana and Tantrayana, I used an inductive method to organise the True Buddha Tantra." He believes that the Tantra is suitable for contemporary cultivation. The time taken is short - only half an hour to one hour per day. "If you spend a little time each day, strive to purify your body, speech, and mind. Once they are clean, you can start cultivating the Buddha nature. One of these days, your Buddha nature will appear, and you will be enlightened as a Buddha." Living Buddha believes that True Buddha Tantra is the best. He himself has walked through the whole course. From four foundation, Guru Yoga, Deity Yoga, Supreme Tantra, Vajra dharma, and finally Maha-perfection. Lately he refined the cultivation stages in more details. The sequence of progress now is from four foundation, Guru Yoga, Deity Yoga, to precious vase - Qi. The last item is the beginning of inner cultivation. Followed by internal fire, opening of middle vein, and unlocking the five wheels - the five vajrasattva. Living Buddha said he has cultivated personally and put in a lot of effort to walk through the whole course himself. He now returned from the destination to tell us it is the right way to go in order to be enlightened as a Buddha. He stressed that he is a truly enlightened teacher. There are very few such teachers in the world, since most of them are not perfect themselves, they are unable to explain the dharma correctly. They just used the text and said, "I read and you listen, you must trust the book, you don't have to believe in me." But Living Buddha is different, he has gone to the destination. And now he is back to teach people to walk the path, that is why he can be called a truly enlightened teacher. Those who are not sure with the dharma and still have the courage to teach are at best "unclear teacher", or "a parrot learning to speak." It is difficult to find a truly enlightened teacher to teach dharma , therefore we must treasure when he gives a sermon on dharma and Buddhism theory. Since the teacher has comprehended the topics perfectly, his talk will lead everybody to the correct path. Living Buddha said, "Life is impermanent, we must cultivate soon. We must look for a truly enlightened teacher, that is why we must take refuge in Living Buddha Lian Shen. We must learn True Buddha Tantra from him. Although Tantra is easily available, it is better to cultivate True Buddha Tantra which is effective. " Can we verify what Living Buddha has just claimed?" Sure, after cultivating the True Buddha Tantra, the dead convicts who were True Buddha disciples had sarira in their remains. These are facts not to be denied. He also appealed to all True Buddha disciples to treasure the opportunity to learn the dharma this life. Since they have come across the Tantra, and cultivated personally. They should not give up or recede in their cultivation. They must understand the Tantra and be unified with it, eventually success will come. Living Buddha Lian Shen pointed out in this world there are few people who have written 103 books. He is one of them. He cultivates daily for more than 23 years, and that without any break. He is one of the few people who have done that. On the offensive slander and rejection he faced, he sighed with emotion. He lamented that people attacked him because he founded the True Buddha School and called himself Living Buddha. When he was attacked, the school was also attacked. Those who attacked him chose to ignore the effort in cultivation he put in, and the 103 books he wrote. His success was attributed to zeal and hard work. People always chose to find faults with his success and overlooked his painstaking effort. They only complained that why people gave land, house, Rolex watch, and the best car to Living Buddha. They never thought that these things were given because he put in a lot of effort in personal cultivation, they did not come from the air. In Lian Hu Lei Tsang Temple, I planted a mangosteen tree, and guru Lian Xiang a Jambu tree. On January 8th, 1993 , at 11:00 a.m. I initiated the Lian Hu Lei Tsang Temple, among others, True Buddha hall, Goddess of golden mother hall, True Buddha Tantric garden, Ksitigarbha hall, virtue hall, fortune hall...... Persons responsible for the construction of the temple are:
I wrote a verse to commemorate
People have questioned me how a Lei Tsang Temple can be built in a small town like Tawau. They want to know the reason. I believe by keeping close to True Buddha Tantra, we can achieve outstanding result. True Buddha Tantra is the most respectable and valuable Tantra, what are its specialities? They include: purification, invocation, taking refuge, prostration, making offering, recital of sutra, mudra, visualisation, chanting mantra, meditation, recital of Buddha's name, transference. Outwardly, we cultivate the purification of body, speech and mind. Inwardly, we cultivate the pure light from Qi, Mai and Ming Dian. (vital energy, veins, and luminous point) It consists of combined wisdom of Manjusri and Samantabhadra's ten vows. We do not rest on our laurels. True Buddha Tantra can be described as a dharma vessel, big enough to bring countless sentient beings to the other shore (enlightenment). The attainments of Lian Hu Lei Tsang Temple is no mean feat. The spirit of the temple reflects in the structure of the whole building. The unrivalled True Buddha Tantra is very charming. Appendix The speech by Guru Lian Xiang Guru Lian Xiang of True Buddha School, Seattle, USA said at the initiation and opening ceremony today that during the construction of the temple , three miracles have happened. She pointed out that the cause of building the temple is remarkable. When Living Buddha last went to Singapore for propagation, Lian Hua Yan Sheng and a few disciples from Lian Hu Chapter went to Singapore and asked Living Buddha for empowerment so that the planned construction work can progress smoothly. Three miracles have since happened. First, after they returned from Singapore, the permit to build Lian Hu Lei Tsang Temple was approved immediately. Second, the building fund was a miserable ten thousand after the permit was obtained. The committee members and follow disciples nevertheless went ahead with the building plan. They asked for empowerment by Buddha and Bodhisattva. And miracle happened again. Whenever money was short, Padmakumara will show his mystic power by delivering the money. Third, when Living Buddha confirmed he will officiate the initiation and opening ceremony, only six months were left for the construction work - a time just enough for the construction of an ordinary house. As you can see, this solemn temple needs time and effort to build. During construction, follow cultivators asked for empowerment by Buddha and Bodhisattva, so that the rain came as and when required. True enough, favours were given to the True Buddha disciples. During day time when work had to be carried out, it never rained. When the cement needed water at night, it rained automatically. It is really a miracle. The greatest contemporary Tantrica, Living Buddha Lian Shen this morning at 9:30 a.m. officiated the initiation and opening ceremony of the True Buddha Temple - Lian Hu Lei Tsang Temple. More than one thousand people attended the function. The crowds jammed the roads leading to the temple. The grand temple, completed in under six months, is situated at True Treasure way off Xin An Road 3rd mile. The temple's surroundings are elegant. It is quiet in a noisy place. The True Buddha hall enshrined Shakyamuni Buddha, the three saints of the Western Pure Land, Avalokitesvara, Mahasthama, Padmakumara and four Isvara gods. On the right of the main hall is Ksitigarbha hall, where the great vow Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva is enshrined. Virtue hall is just behind it. On the left of the main hall is goddess of golden mother hall where Jade-Pond-Golden-Mother is enshrined. These pure and solemn images were all imported from China. Inside the temple is also a room that can accommodate more than one hundred people cultivating together. Another auditorium will be used to train True Buddha personnel. There are library, office and dinning room in the temple also. Guru Lian Xiang opined that the solemn temple is a good place for cultivation. Follow cultivators must uphold the True Buddha spirit and view salvation and cultivation as the most urgent tasks. She said two days ago she planted a tree on the left side of the main hall. The tree can only grow properly if there are sunlight, water and tender care. To be fruitful in our cultivation, we must grow, expand and bear fruit like a growing tree.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|