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Roving Over The World
- Book 111: Roving Over The World
- Chapter 26:
Treasure Vase Breathing Method (Bao Ping Qi)
- Written by Sheng-yen Lu
- Translated by Janny Chow
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Today I am going to talk about the second level of Tantrayana i.e. inner tantra and Treasure vase breathing method. Since I am living a secluded life now, I do not preside over any ritual. But many feel useasy if I am not invited to talk, so I am here to chat with you. (applause)
To me, chatting with you is a memorable affair. I hope you don`t treat the chat as kind of discourse nor preaching. Treat it as if we are old friends, having a chat. (applause)
I don`t have to stand on ceremony and commence my talk with \`Dear guru, dharma brothers and sisiters........\`, and send my regard as \`Good morning, good afternoon ...\` I have skipped all those. With a lighter mood, I am able to communicate with you more friendly.
You may wonder why I have closed my eyes and mumbled myself when I started? What did I do ?
I was talking to Buddha , Bodhisattva and patriarches. I beg their forgiveness should I do talk too much tonight. The topic to be discussed is considered an inner tantra, which is normally not taught to the public. I hope all of them can forgive me, do not punish me, do not punish you. If they want to punish someone then go and punish a tree! (laughter)
Today I am going to talk about the second level of Tantrayana and Treasure vase breathing method. And the empowerment we are going to carry out later on is known as empowerment for the `Treasure Vase breathing Method`. The implement used for this empowerment is the highest. It has five forks, the centre representing Vairocana and the other four forks representing the four directional Buddhas.
This implement is originated from Tibet. It was eventually handed over to my teacher Guru Tudan Dorje.
When I went to pay him a visit in Hong Kong this trip, he handed over the most valuable authenticating token of the lineage to me. There must be a reason for this. My teacher used to be a strict person. Why did he present such a valuable token to the True Buddha School ? I do no really know why ? I can`t think of a better reason. Just before I went to visit him, he had a dream. In his dream, I brought him to the heaven realm for a tour. He was very excited when he met many beautiful goddesses. Maybe this was the reason I was given such a valuable token. (applause)
I did not fabricate the story, it was true. He told me he seldom had dreams. But whenever I visited him, he would have one. As I always brought him to nice places, to show his appreciation, he would give me something valuable. I supposed this was the manifestation of cause and effect.
Today I am going to use the highest form of implement to empower you, not the highest form of empowerment, the empowerment for \`Treasure Vase Breathing Method\`. In Tantrayana, the rules are much stricter than that of Sutrayana. The empowerment ritual is considered a secret. Why must we use water for empowerment rituals? Because water is pure and it can contain everything. It can be used for all kinds of empowerment such as four fundamental rituals, Guru Yoga , Personal deity Yoga, and other deities. Water is good for the purposes of purification, eradication of unwholesome karma and eradication of calamities. Water is also most suited for cultivation of our minds, as our human minds are unsettled as the flow of the water. What about the second level of empowerment? We use a different medium. Some of us may think since we use water for the first level, fire should be used for the second level. As the Chinese saying goes \`let the fire burn your ass!\`. (laughter)
In Tantrayana, the second level of empowerment marks the beginning of the inner Tantra which focuses on the cultivation of physical body. While the first level concentrates on the purification of body, speech and mind. The second level centres on qi, Mai and Ming Dian. What do we use to represent Ming Dian?
We use the red Bodhi and the white Bodhi. Previously before we receive the secret empowerment from any Tantric master, we must consume red Bodhi and white Bodhi. But they are very difficult to find. I am telling a secret now, they are all hidden in your body.
Since the second level of Tantra, the inner Tantra call for the consumption of white and red Bodhi, and they are inside our bodies, we use red flowers and white flowers to represent them. Red petal is used to represent the red Bodhi; and the white petal, the white Bodhi. Previously before I received the empowerment for the inner Tantra, I had to make an offering to my teacher. I had to buy 100 pots of flowers, i.e. 50 pots of white flowers and 50 pots of red flowers for this purpose.
Nowadays, many of my disciples came from far away places, whenever they see me. They asked for empowerment for inner Tantra. I told them that they did not observe the rule,as they did not bring along the red and white flowers. You must make offering first. If you cannot find any red and white flowers, then red petal and white petal will also do. In other words, any form of empowerment for inner Tantra must be accompanied by offering. And the best thing to offer is in red and white colours. An accomplished cultivator who has attained certain level of spiritual response will know what kind of empowerment he should receive in sequence as well as what kind of offering he should make to his teacher.
When I asked my teacher to give me an empowerment for inner Tantra, I had to carry all the 100 pots of flowers on my own. I had to climb up the hill and down the hill many times. I was dead tired when I finally received the empowerment. When you came to the True Buddha Tantric Garden to consult me, and you request me to conduct an empowerment for the inner Tantra there and then, I could not fulfil your wish. As there is no such thing, it appears to be too easy! Empowement for inner Tantra must be conducted in the sacred shrine and be witnessed by the patriarchs of our lineage. It is not so simple. I have to explain to you all the necessary movements. You can`t be starting cultivation after your empowerment.
Afterward, I shall demonstrate to you how to do the Treasure Vase Breathing exercise. You can then appreciate then there are many oral traditions and techniques involved. It is not so simple as you deem.
The second level of empowerment will make use of red and white flowers as symbols.
Now we are going to touch on the most secretive \`Unsurpassed Tantra\` empowerment. This is the third level of empowerment, known as the `touch` empowerment. In order to receive such empowerment, a cultivator must have completed successfully the second level of cultivation. In the olden days, all Tantric empowerment were carried out by means of touch. A fact that is known to few people. Nowadays Tantric empowerment follow the new lineage, and the old method was discarded. What is touch empowerment?
The master uses a paint brush to touch a secret spot of his disciple where qi is concentrating. You may not know how to hold the paint brush and how to touch, but I am not going to tell you clearly how it is done, less you should try it anyhow. (laughter)
This is the third level of Tantra, using paint brush to carry out touch empowerment. To empower a male disciple, I will use a Vajrayogini which represents mother of all tantric cultivators. I ask my disciple to use the paint brush to touch the body of Vajrayogini. This is how he would receive the third level of Tantric empowerment. To empower a female disciple, I will use Vajrasattva instead. The procedure is the same. This form of empowerment is symbolic in nature, this is how the third level of empowerment is done now. Of course in the olden days, they used another method.
When you progress to the fourth level, there is no restriction at all. The master can be sipping his tea .....
and remain silent, or just smiling. One disciple may raise and exclaim: \`Aiyah! I understand now.\` He understood and had received his empowerment. You remember when Shakyamuni Buddha was holding a flower and starting to smile. His disciple Kashyapa was smiling beside him, and he understood what the Buddha wanted to convey. That was how he received the lineage of the fourth level of Tantric empowerment also known as the Maha perfection. Zen Buddhism advocate such mutual telepathy.
This level of empowerment does not assume any form, it can be carried out at any moment. When the master is drinking his tea, and if you suddenly come to realization and say : \`I found it!\`, then you are considered to have \`found the right path!\`. If you faked this then you should be sent to mental hospital. You can`t really quantify what you have found, most of the time you do not understand what is going on. Even now I am still dazzled. Leading a muddle-minded life is better than living a sober-minded life.
The more you know about this world, the worse you become.
I have explained the four types of empowerment in the different level of Tantrayana. First level, water is used, Second level, red and white flowers are used. Third level, touching is employed. Fourth level, no fixed form, mutual telepathy is used. This is the sequence used in Tantrayana Buddhism. Only a truly accomplished patriarch and a guru can understand the ritual fully, the ritual cannot be performed casually.
Today I told you all the secrets, if you can understand them well and good. If you can`t there is no point I try to explain them to you. As your guru, I have an established lineage. I learned \`Maha perfection dharma \` from Nyingma Sect. From Kagyud sect, I received \`Wu Fo Yan\` empowerment from the sixteenth Kamapa and learned his highest dharma - Maha Mudra. From the Gelugpa Sect, I received \`Wu Fo Yan\` empowerment as well as learnt the Mahayana dharma. And from Sakya sect, Sakya Zhen Kong Lama taught me the most perfect wisdom dharma. All the major teaching of the four sects are now in my heart. (applause)
I used my life, time and money to pursue these dharma. To me, they are priceless treasure, they are invaluable assets. Even with the proceed of selling all the highraised buildings in New York, I still have to consider your innate ability before I could carry out the first level, second level, third level and fourth level of empowerment on you and teach you all the Tantric dharma. (applause)
These dharma will lead you to enlightenment, will get rid of all your worldly anxiety, will let you have an indestructible body. I would not change the dharma for all the postitions. People occupying high position always have a lot of worry, they do not have the tenure of president for long. Whereas I am a dharma king all my life. (applause)
As I am purified now, I am able to know my true self, even if you present Planet Earth to me, I will consider it filthy. Just take a look on the pollution in our environment. The rivers are polluted, the deforestation has affected the ecology badly. I would not exchange my dharma even if you up the ante to ten Planet Earths. Planet earth is just like a marble just fit to be flipped away.
Why did Shakyamuni Buddha leave the Samsara World? Why did he seek enlightenment? Why did he give up fame and status? Actually he was seeking the true treasure.(applause) If you do not care for the salvation of body and mind, then they are no longer important to you. You can use the True Buddha Tantra to liberate your body and mind, I am telling you this dharma is unsurpassed! Other things such as money, house, land, status can be considered trash and rubbish. They are ugly, dirty and debased.
Shakyamuni Buddha detested them, he wanted his body and mind be liberated from them. (applause) The thought of an enlightened person is class one. (applause) A filthy rich person can only be considered class two. Although they have a lot of rubbish, we still considered them as class two. Why? Because we can make use of their money. People from the Flower Light Charitable Society told me not to condemn money too much, as they need the money to help the poor, for the charitble cause. Director Pei is here, I am sorry to have said that, I don`t mean to pinpoint on you. If the money is used in good cause, you can help a lot of people. The karma it created would be wholesome.
As all the dharma are now in my heart, I am an heir to the cosmos consciousnness. (applause) Some of you may wonder, Grandmaster is very superior, `cosmos concinteness` as if he is the most perfect, others are inferior to him. How do we go about verifying what he said? How do we go about proving him right?
I am telling you: \` Heaven and earth know, and I know\`. (applause) Surely I know myself, otherwise I am finished! Just now I mentioned Shakyamuni Buddha said \`I found it!\` I experienced how he felt. And I really know it clearly without any doubt at all. This is how I know. You do not know, you surely do not know. You could only see me superficiously , you cannot read my mind. As do not now my mind, you do not fully understand me. That is why heaven and earth know, I know, all of you do not know. (laughter)
As Shakyamuni Buddha said before we can`t explain all the things happening in this world. I can`t possibly explain to you one by one. I am not eloquent enough as so many of you are still in a daze. How can I explain to you clearly? All I can do is to make a vow. I say: \`What others told you are not true; what I told you are nothing but true.\` (laughter) Actually I cannot claim to be so, as there are high achievers among us. Like my teacher, Liao Ming , the Monk, he had mastered the inner Tantra and taught them to me. He said all of you will have great spiritual achievement in the near future, but very few of you could understand him. Most people judged him from his appearance, they can`t gauge how good he really was. How do I make you understand me better? I can only say \`I swear, I swear, I swear it`s true.\` (applause) (Grandmaster said it in English.)
The inner Tantra is divided into three stages. There are three kinds of dharma to be mastered. The first is known as \`Wu Lou Fa\`(Uncontaminated Dharma). An accomplished culitvator will have an undestructible body, once his body and his mind are no longer contaminated by outside influence.
The second is known as \`Zhuo Huo Fa\` (Primitive Fire dharma) There are many secretive oral traditions involved in igniting the inner fire. By mastering this dharma, you will be able to use your inner fire to burn the Ming Dian into sarira.
The third is known as \`Ming Dian Fa\` (Bright Spot dharma). Ming Dian can be considered a Buddha by itself. As it is the only remaining thing left after we die. It is the only conciousness remained, and it is considered an aggregate in Tantric sense. These three dharma are collectively known as the inner Tantra. Let me reiterate: Ming Dian Fa is the Buddha, the Sarira. Zhuo Huo Fa is to use the inner fire to burn the Ming Dian into a Buddha; and Wu Lou Fa is to strengthen your body and made it indestructible.
My present spiritual accomplishment is a result of cultivating all these three dharma.(applause) I have personally cultivated all these three dharma. If I lie about learning, if I do not know the techniques, if my body is not uncontaminated, I vow to descend to the Vajra hell and never be able to ascend away from transmigration! In the process of learning these dharma, I have to find time to do it, I have to do it secretly and I have to cultivate it painstakingly. I really feel tired to walk all the journey; and finally I am reaching my spiritual end. (applause)
Now I want to talk about my teacher, Qing Zhen, the priest. Please pardon me, my teacher, I want to divulge your secret. He is sitting over there, and doing his meditation. Chin Zheng, the priest is also known as Liao Ming, the monk. He had achieved a very high spiritual level through cultivating inner Tantra. When I went to pay him a visit, he was attended by five followers. Officially he disappeared in Si Chuan province (Mainland China), but the fact was he was accompanied by his followers and settled at a mountain call Lian Tou (Lotus head) in Taiwan`s Nan Tou. It is not nice to carry on with his story. I am also not very sure whether I should carry on talking. (applause) As these oral traditions and techniques involved are considered top secrets, they should remain secrets. Facing my teacher, I am really afraid, I do not have the courage to tell you all the secrets. What I can say is my teacher and I both mastered the Wu Luo Fa. And I really can claim to receive his lineage. Ching Zheng, the priest once told me .......
on second thought, I`d better not go on. As long as you have culitvated and mastered the Wu Luo Fa, you will have an indestrutible body. It is so valuable that I won`t exchange it for anything in this world.
What benefit we do have after mastering this breathing method? It is beyond words, and it is priceless. (applause) I will tell you all the oral traditions later on. When the qi , mai and ming dian are flowing in your body, you will be enjoying the bliss that is being enjoying by the Buddhas and those residing in the heaven realm. That is why I am unable to name a price for this method.
In this Samsara world, all of us are considered contaminated, once you have master the uncontaminated dharma, your body will be indestructible. When you have experienced this sensation, you will find it to be better than any material joy. You live a life of a deity, and really enjoy the dharma taste.
You know when the qi is flowing through the mai, when the mai is being messaged by the passing qi, the sensation is tantamount to eternal bliss, which is unrivalled by whatever human beings have experienced. (applause) The joy can never be found in the Samsara world. It is a pity that we human beings do not know how to enjoy such joy. In future, depending on your foundation, your alms-giving, I may teach you one or all the ways to culitvate the Uncomtamination Dharma, Primitive Fire and Ming Dian.
You must not give offer white and red flowers to me, and forced me to be a gardener. Apart from these flowers, you must also offer other \`yellow and white\` articles. Do you know what I mean? Yellow and white gold. But alas! You may rebut me by saying that since these dharma are beyond value, why am I so greedy, asking for such filthy things. All of you should know, I give the money to Flower Light Charitable Society, and Internal Brightness Buddhist society so that they can do charitable deeds. Moreover, the money can also be used for other purposes such as building the Lei Zang temple in Taiwan. We need the finance. As you can see, this Lei Zang Temple in Seattle is unable to accumulate all of you, maybe we should build a better one soon, don`t you think so? (applause)
The inner tantra is cultivated inside our bodies; Sutrayana schools will not talk about this. Sutrayana schools advocate the cultivation of human minds, and neglect the cultivation of physical bodies. As a result whenever a sutrayana dharma master gives a sermon, you will hear coughing sound. All the monks and nuns look very pale. They are suffering from all kinds of sicknesses. Among them, pneumonia, liver cancer, gastric disease, indigestion, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes are not uncommon. And they look very tired. On the contrary, Tantrayana value mind as well as body. Without a healthy body, how can we carry out spiritual cultivation? Our mind will eventually be afftected by our poor health. It is a pity, if your spiritual cultivation is superb, and your health is in a mess. From Tantrayana point of view, we cannot separate body from mind, they are one and the same. If you try to analyse all the material, eventually everything is empty; therefore all things are spiritual! Our body is formed by the four aggregates i.e. earth, water, fire and wind. If you segregate them, only the spirit remains. Therefore it is not wrong to say mind is the master of all actions. As we need our physical bodies to assist us in our spiritual cultivation, we cannot neglect them. Therefore Tantrayana School of Buddhism value the cultivation of physical body.
The white bodhi in our body will descend from the eye-brow chakra. Heated by fire, the white bodhi can turn into red colour and ascend. If these two bodhis meet and union into oneness at the heart chakra, the a lotus flower will blossom in our human heart. Water will flow downward, fire will lift it upward, and Buddha will be the fruit if they embody at the heart chakra. If we are able to transport the Buddha so formed in our heart by means of air flowing through the middle mai to where our personal deity is, we can achievement enlightenment instantly. This is how Tantrayana is being cultivated. In short ,qi is a means of transportation, middle mai is the road to be used, and ming dian, the Buddha is the object to be transported.
Today I am going to teach you \`The Precious Vase Breathing Method\`. Why must we learn this method?
In order to transport our ming-dian and ignite our pristine fire, we must accumulate adequate qi in our body in the first place. Therefore the precious vase breathing method is considered the foundation of inner tantra. After the mastery of this method, you can use it to culitvate the uncontamination dharma.
You spiritual achievement will be excellent. Without this method, your effort will be wasted. Therefore we must learn it. (applause)
The method is really simple. Some of you may claim to have learned it before.
First you exhale three times , to clear all the filthy air in your body. Then you inhale to take in all the fresh air. By confining the air to dan-tian (4 inches below the navel), you hold your breath as long as you can. Exhale the air if you can`t hold it any longer. That is it. It is so simple that some of you may dismiss its usefulness by saying: \`I have learned nothing by coming to Seattle, it is really a waste of my time. The method may sound excellent. Its too simple to be true\`.
Is the breathing method really so simple? Yes it is. I may take my leave now. (laughter)
You can practise the breathing method not more than 21 times a day. This is because holding the air for too long, may cause harm to your body. Remember, you should not do more than 21 times a day. To tell the truth, my teacher had taught me an oral tradition concerning this method. It is also very easy, and all of you should be able to master it easily. As the Taiwanese saying goes :\`Once the secret is revealed, it is worthless. Otherwise you may have to take three years to crack it.\` (laughter, applause)
Qi is the most important element in the body; and it must always follow the mai (meridian). The Qi must always enter into the mai. As I told you before, the mai did not connect at two locations: between the throat and the head, and between the puvit and the naval. How do we go about connect them? Many of our disciples and other disciples have claimed that \`My mai is now connected .\` I asked them: \`You claim that your mai is connected, tell me how do you connect the broken locations ?\` They could not answer me.
Actually this is very simple, and yet they do not know the answer. That shows that their mai are not connected at all. Apart from these connections, the middle mai must also be straightened. If your posture is such, your mai will not be straight (Grandmaster demostrated). This is hunch back. You must not bend, and adopt a PiLu - seven- point seat. You need to learn some technics in order to have a straight
mai. You must always practise. How do you straighten your mai? If your mai is not straight, your qi and ming dian might not go through. How do you know when your qi enters into your mai? Let me tell you the answer first.
After we inhale the air, how do we know whether the qi enters into the mai ? If you are just like me, with a big belly, how do the air enters into the mai? After you inhale, you must remain calm for a while. Let your saliva accumulate to be a mouthful, then swallow the saliva with your breath. Strange enough, just because you swallow your own saliva , you are able to force your qi into your mai. It is really very simple. (applause If I do tell you, how do you know this is the trick. Of course there are other ways to this end, afterwards I will show them to you. How do you connect the upper link? I will lose out if I tell you the secret. Just use your tongue to support the upper jaw, this is how the bridge is built. This is how the mai is able to connect with your head. If you don`t use your tongue to touch the jaw, it will stop once it reaches your mouth. You have benefited from my revelation. Whenever you need the upper link, just use your tongue to touch the upper jaw. All of you will benefit from my revelation. (applause)
There is another unconnected spot from navel chakra to puvit chakra. In fact, the link is broken. It is simple to overcome this problem, all you need to is Ti Gang (to lift it). By lifting it, is to shrink the anus. This is how the broken spot is connected. (applause) You have probably heard of these terms before, those martial arts exponents also know how to do this. Use your tongue to touch the upper jaw and shrink your anus, it is so simple. You may feel cheated. (applause) In fact, it is so simple, but if I don`t tell you, you will never know. These are considered secrets, only when you teacher teaches you in person then he will explain to you. Whenever you do the Bao Ping Treasure Vase Breathing method, you must connect
the upper and lower link. How do we straighten our mai, how do we force the qi into our mai? I must demonstrate it to you. Look carefully, I am going to show you now. (applause) (Grandmaster demonstrated the movement of Bao Ping breathing method).
We must use your hands to hold our toes. How do we straighten our mai. We must lie down. (Grandmaster demonstrated) If you use your hand to pull, your mai will be straightened. (Grandmaster demonstrated) This is also the way you force your qi into your mai. (Grandmaster demonstrated and explained at the same time) Sit upright, inhale, swallow your saliva, twist your body to the left three times, twist your body to the right three times. This is how you force the qi from Dan Tian (4 fingers below the navel) into your mai. Twist to your left three times, twist to your right three times, this is how your force your qi into the mai. That is the end of my demonstration. (applause)
Generally speaking, our human mai are twisted. If you carry out this exercise,you will be able to straighten your mai. The first exercise you use your hand to pull the big toe. Then you lie down and get up. This is how you straighten your mai. You have to twist your body in order for the qi to enter into your mai. You twist it to the left and right, the qi from the Dan Tian will be compressed and enter into the mai. Once it is in the mai, the qi will flow through, then your body will be very strong. You will be able to make use of your qi. Forcing your qi into the mai, is the most important point in Bao Ping Qi (Treasure Vase Breathing Method). The mai is blocked if the qi does not enter into it. Just now I demonstrated how you can force the qi into the mai by pulling our toe. Then I twisted my body to the left and right three times each. I was not doing the twist dance. I was forcing the qi, since it has no where to go, the blockage at the mai will be clear. This is very important. In short the three most important points to remember:
You must straighten your mai, you must connect the broken linkes in your mai, and finally you must ensure the qi enters into your mai.
Moreover you must indulge yourself in visualization. When the qi enters into your mai, you have to visualize all the five chakras in your body are gyrating. When the qi reaches the eye-brow, you visualize the qi is gyrating clockwise. When the qi decends to the throat chakra, the qi is also gyrating clockwise.
Likewise at the heart chakra. The only difference is when it reaches the naval chakra, it is gyrating anti-clockwise. It is still gyrating closewise when the qi reaches the puvit chakra. You have to use your mind to gyrate your qi. When you really master the art of Bao Ping Qi (Treasure Vase Breathing Method), the qi will flow to wherever you will, whether it is your eye-brow, your throat, your heart, your naval or your puvit. Your ming dian will be where you concentrate. You can then use your qi to push your ming dian to your head. Don`t push it out of your body, then that is the end of your life! I assume that you have already had spiritual response with your personal deity, then you can invoke him to reside on your head. Once he is there, you can move your ming dian into the heart of your personal deity, then you will be able to achieve instant Buddhahood! (applause)
If you can`t force your qi into your mai, you can`t move your ming dian upward, you can`t use your inner fire to burn the ming dian into sarira, then most likely, you will give birth to babies. Many culitvators do not have \`She Li Zi\`(Sarira) but they have Zi (children). I am telling you, most people will have children. They have babies inside. (applause) All of us know how to give birth to babies. In order to produce Sarira, you must know the uncomtaminated dharma, i.e. you must master the primitive fire. Use your inner fire to burn the ming dian into sarira. Many culitvators have aspired to reach a high spiritual level, but they do not know how. Their effort go to waste instead of having Sarira, they have a few children.
I was just joking! It is worrying seeing such cultivators.
You must experience! |
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