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New Revelations from the Buddha King
- Book 120: New Revelations from the Buddha King
- Chapter 11:
To Engender the Self-Power Personal Deity
- Written by Sheng-yen Lu
- Translated by Janny Chow
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Other-Power Personal Deity
At this time, many Tantric practitioners, as well as some people in other religious schools, have a major and erroneous concept. They feel that the only purpose in practicing the Personal Deity Yoga is to supplicate power from a Higher Being or Helper Guide, and that the power engendered this way is entirely from an outer source. Thus, at the highest level of the Personal Deity Yoga practice, one only receives `empowerment,` `help,` and `psychic responses` from the Personal Deity and the source of one`s power is completely derived from the `Other-Power Personal Deity.`
This is why some people have advocated:
There is no need for any Personal Deity;
One should send the Personal Deity away;
One should even subjugate the Personal Deity.
This kind of proposal has already been put forward by some people. In reality, such comments reflect only a one-sided view, a view that only concerns the surface, and not the true heart of the matter.
Such erroneous propositions, however, also have caused many Tantric practitioners to be at a loss; they even take such propositions to be true and give up their Personal Deity Yoga practices. Eventually they stop doing the Tantric cultivation altogether and switch to other practices. This is a shame.
Someone asked this question, `Master Lu, does the Other-Power Personal Deity exist?`
This is my reply,
Yes, the Other-Power Personal Deity does exist. This Personal Deity can bestow to us empowerment, help, psychic responses, and power. But this Other-Power Personal Deity is only one of the many phenomena that happen when one succeeds in yogic practices. After realizing a yogic union with the Other-Power Personal Deity, one must still engender the Self-Power Personal Deity within oneself. Only with the engendering of the Self-Power Personal Deity is true accomplishment achieved.
The circulating idea that the Personal Deity power is an entirely other-power is erroneous. In our True Buddha Tantric Practice, we do not just cultivate to engender the Other-Power Personal Deity, we also have to engender the Self-Power Personal Deity. It is absolutely true that the True Buddha Tantric Dharma can enable one to attain Buddhahood in the present life. I am someone who has walked this path, so how can I not know what this is about?
There is a group of people who are not Tantric practitioners and, after standing at the door of the Tantric Pathway for a little while, they start criticizing the Tantric Personal Deity Yoga. They opine that the Personal Deity is an outside power. Therefore, it is undesirable and should be dismissed, as they believe that one should entirely rely on one`s own cultivation. This kind of thinking is intolerable, which is why I am writing this article to show how one may cultivate to engender the Self-Power Personal Deity. As soon as this Self-Power Personal Deity manifests, one immediately attains Buddhahood in the Present Body. This is absolutely true!
Self-Power Personal Deity
In my opinion, the `Self-Power Personal Deity` is what is referred to in Taoism as the `Original or Principal Spirit` [yuan shen].
In my [40th] book, The Secret Taoist Method of Spiritual Communication, I have written about the Taoist methods of cultivating the Original Spirit:
1) Observe one`s own Original Spirit (spirit-viewing method)
2) Respiration of the cosmic chi and light to reveal the spirit (spirit-nourishing method)
3) True formula to reveal the image (spirit-manifestation method)
4) Contracting and merging with the spirit (spirit-union method)
5) The miracle of bilocation (spirit-travelling method)
Although the Taoist method of nurturing and tempering one`s own Original Spirit is different from the Tantric cultivation of engendering one`s own Self-Power Personal Deity, their principles are the same. There is basically no difference between the Taoist cultivation of `ching, chi, and shen` and the Tantric cultivation of `chi (prana), channels, and light drops.`
The distinguishing features of the Tantric Self-Power Personal Deity are as follows:
1) The Self-Power Personal Deity is the true and enlightened consciousness of the practitioner. It is a new body that is different from, but also one with, the physical body.
2) The Self-Power Personal Deity has a head, upper limbs, lower limbs, and a body, but it is not a physical body.
3) The Self-Power Personal Deity appears only when the wisdom chi manifests. It is composed of the five kinds of chi, chiefly the ming chi (vital chi), found in a human body.
4) The Self-Power Personal Deity is a luminous body which is engendered when chi enters into the central channel and transmutes into the five-fold rainbow light.
5) The Self-Power Personal Deity may develop to manifest in thirty-two forms, eighty notable Buddha characteristics, and numerous transformations to travel outside, to benefit other beings.
6) The Self-Power Personal Deity is the `body of form` of a Buddha and represents the Buddha Nature.
7) Only a person who has already engendered his own Self-Power Personal Deity may authenticate and communicate with the Self-Power Personal Deity of another person.
8) The achievement of a Self-Power Personal Deity results in the accomplishment of Buddhahood in the Present Life.
The Practice Itself
The Tantric practitioner must be able to succeed in the `psychic heat` practice, causing the `psychic heat` to ascend and the `light drops` to descend. He or she must also engender the `four kinds of ecstasy and four kinds of voidness.`
At such a time, the luminous form appears.
`Voidness` becomes firm, concrete, and vivid.
The result of the `dual employment of bliss and voidness` is the generation of light. As long as all subtle constrictions are open, the true and ultimate light, which is the pure and clear Self-Power Personal Deity, will manifest.
The Self-Power Personal Deity is not engendered by visualization.
The Self-Power Personal Deity is not a deception.
The Self-Power Personal Deity is not an illusion.
The Self-Power Personal Deity is the manifestation of the `subtlest mind-energy,` also known as the `victorious and inscrutable light.`
It is the `yang spirit` (in Taoist terms).
Another person has asked me, `What then is the `yin spirit`?`
My reply is, `There are two kinds of mind-energy, the turbid mind-energy and the refined mind-energy. The emergence of the turbid mind-energy is the emergence of yin spirit while the refined mind-energy is the yang spirit. In some people, when they sleep, their turbid mind-energy may travel outside of the body and this is known as the `emergence of the yin spirit.` Also, when a person who has not had any spiritual cultivation or training dies, the process he or she undergoes is equivalent to the emergence of the yin spirit.`
A Summation of the Personal Deity Yoga
In the present world, men, including those in the religious field, have become more and more wildly presumptuous. Some cultivators, after experiencing their first Dharma Taste, make the mistake of thinking that they have arrived at the summit.
Vying with each other, these cultivators proclaim themselves to be leaders. The following poem best describes their state of mind:
How can I let him sit on the royal palace of spiritual clouds?
Even the historical kings have to be replaced;
It should be my turn as the most powerful person should reign;
Only a hero of exceptional abilities would strive to be first.
These cultivators have all become powerful personages. For example, Ven. Hsing Yun has created his own Fo Kuang group and Ven. Cheng Yen has created her own Tzu Chi group, with each seemingly wanting to rule over all other schools. There are also other Dharma masters surging forward and struggling with each other to expand their domains, as they are dissatisfied with the size of their territories and want to build up their own enterprise.
Of course, they are all waving the banner of Buddhism; but, whether they want to and have the determination to cultivate to become Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is a different matter!
Furthermore, there are some fools who are unaware of the most profound and ultimate truth of the Personal Deity Yoga, and regard the Personal Deity merely as an external source of empowerment, help, and psychic response. As one has to rely on one`s own power and refrain from dependency on others, they thus decide to abandon, send away, or subjugate the Personal Deity. They want to raise foolish fights against the Personal Deity, Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas.
In reality, at the most profound and absolute level of the Tantric Personal Deity Yoga Practice, there is empowerment from the Other-Power Personal Deity, as well as emergence of the Self-Power Personal Deity. The two merge into one, which is without any separation or differentiation; there is the inherent existence of other-power as well as self-power. This is the basic truth of attaining Buddhahood.
Perfectly round and splendidly brilliant, this one bright luminous pearl has always and eternally been in existence. No fire can burn it, and no water can drown it.
How can man attempt to create it on his own? How can one send it away? How can one abandon it? How can one subjugate it?
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