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The Aura of Wisdom
- Book 154: The Aura of Wisdom
- Chapter 68: The Authenticity of the Principal Deity
- Written by Sheng-yen Lu
- Translated and edited by True Buddha Foundation
- Translation Team (Cheng Yew Chung, Victor Hazen, Dance Smith)
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Those who follow Zen Buddhism often have the idea that during meditation, should they see the Buddha or any patriarch approaching, they should regard it as the presence of an evil being or simply the appearance of illusion, which must be dismissed as falsehood. Thus, there is the saying `When you meet the Buddha, kill him. When you meet the devil, kill him.`
Zen Buddhism regards the Tantric approach to establishing mandalas, forming mudras and chanting mantras as attachment to form. Zen Buddhism views itself as the formless gate, and when it meets a cultivator of mantra, it often slanders the cultivator as it does not see mantra recitation as proper cultivation.
Yet, this is what I have to say. In the endless Dharma realms, there already exist infinite Dharma gates, and the formless gate is but one of the countless gates. The Dharma gate of Amitabha Buddha`s Land of Ultimate Bliss is one, and Maitreya`s tower shall be the Dharma gate of the future. In the view of Tantric Buddhism, every Buddha who attains buddhahood and delivers sentient beings accomplishes this through the practice of mantra. This is the gate of revealing truth through respective manifestations of activities as described in the Ten Mysterious Gates.
Therefore, in the view of Tantric Buddhism, if one sees the principal deity appearing in one`s meditation, dream, or in the waking hours, and the principal deity radiates light towards oneself, touches one`s head, gives precious objects, or offers medicinal pills, these are seen as signs of enhancement of one`s blessing and wisdom. Thus, one should not have doubts, for these are auspicious signs. We are here to teach you not to be attached to what you see, and to refrain from developing thoughts of taking and rejecting, as we need to view these spiritual occurrences as means of encouragement. In this way, the practitioner avoids being drawn, out of attachment, into the Mara realms.
Should the Tantric practitioner see the principal deity and suspect that it is an illusory manifestation of the Mara demon, what should he or she do? Let me teach you how to resolve this. When the principal deity appears, and the practitioner is unsure of its authenticity, he may recite the root Guru`s mantra three times: OM GURU LIAN-SHENG SIDDHI HUM and verify its identity.
If it is a manifestation of the Mara demon, it will immediately vanish. If it is the authentic principal deity, it shall appear even clearer than before. Another way is to empty oneself of the attachment to the ego-self, and at this point, the Mara`s manifested deity should vanish just as well.
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