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Chapter 4 - The Invisible Teacher
It was two days after the temple incident and my travel to the Great Void. I was sound asleep at night when, suddenly, I heard someone calling my name. Abruptly I turned over and sat up. Because of my previous experiences, I immediately thought of the possibility of unusual happenings. I looked around the room, but there was no one else in it. Outside the window, the moon was high in the night sky. I raised my wrist to look at my watch in the moonlight; it was 1:00 a.m. After draping a jacket over my shoulders, I turned on my sun lamp. The bright light of the sun lamp greatly dazzled my eyes. "Sheng-yen, stay where you are and do not move. I have been instructed to transmit to you the Taoist teaching. Join your palms and memorize the following footsteps which I am going to teach you." I could not see anyone in the room, but I was not afraid since he had come to teach me the Taoist practice. I closed my eyes and joined my palms. Strangely, although I had no intention of moving my foot, my foot was lifted by an unknown force. When I tried to put it down, I could not do so and, instead, the foot took a different turn. I started pacing in a strange kind of footstep pattern. If someone were outside the window at that moment and had peeped into my room, he would definitely have thought that I had gone crazy. Was I crazy? No, I was not, and it was an invisible force which lifted and moved my feet. I rehearsed the steps time after time, memosizing them. "What kind of footsteps are these? What are their functions?" "This is the Stars Worshipping Footsteps. One uses it during memorial services for the spirits of the deceased, invocations of gods, and other shamanistic practices that combine footsteps with mantra and mudra. Do not underestimate its powers; this is a teaching that has been lost for more than a thousand years! You should not use this as you please but only when you absolutely have to." "Then what method should I use during ordinary times when I want to invoke the gods?" "Sheng-yen, all you need to invoke the gods is to say the following: 'Lian Shen, a student of the Three Purities School, acting under orders of the Primordial Ultimate Correct Dharma, requests such and such gods to descend.' In the future, when the time is ripe, I shall direct you to a teacher who is currently living as a hermit in the Lient'ou Mountain. You are predestined to be his student. He is an adept in the sacred practice of Liuchia Heavenly Book of Fu [magic inscriptions written by Taoist priests to invoke or expel spirits and bring good or ill fortunes]. In the future, you will certainly obtain the Linchia Divine Seal. You will learn all the secrets to this art and write efficacious Fu's yourself." "This sounds like a fairy tale." I was somewhat incredulous. "Fairy tale or not, we won't argue about it now. Today I have come on orders to teach you the Taoist practice, and you already have embarked on a fairy tale journey." "May I ask your name?" "From nowhere I come and to nowhere I go. I never have come or gone anywhere. I am originally nameless. Just call me the Spiritual Master, Three Peaks Nine States." This Spiritual Master, though invisible to me then, often stayed close to me. At night, he came to wake me up to teach me Taoist practices. I regarded him as a teacher, while he treated me more like a brother. To him, I unhesitatingly poured out my heart, and in the quiet small hours, engaged him in conversations. Although I could not see him, I could feel his presence. When he taught me the "hand gestures," my hands automatically moved into various formations, such as the Kuan Yin Mudra, Amitabha Mudra, Lotus Mudra, Deliverance Mudra, Five Thunder Mudra, Palm Heart Mudra, Great Heaven Roll Mudra, Shakyamuni Mudra, Sword Mudra, and Deva Mudra. He also taught me the Buddhist method of "offering foods to the spirits and hungry ghosts." (Later I confirmed that, during the Festival of All Souls, monks performed mudras to transform foods, and their hand gestures were very similar to what my Spirit Master had taught me. There were also some dissimilarities, because I had learned directly from my Spirit Master while, generally, the monks had learned information that had been passed from teacher to student from one generation to another.) "Spirit Master, what is the most precious thing in life?" "It is hard to obtain a human birth, and the most precious thing in life is to do spiritual cultivation." "How does one do spiritual cultivation? How does one attain the Tao?" "There are many pathways. Depending on the person's psychological disposition, the methods will be different. There are expedient pathways as well as ultimate pathways. The teachings of the Jade Pure Holy Realm is an ultimate pathway that does not talk about any Dharma, and its formless structure makes it the most difficult path for the students of Taoism. The teachings of the High Pure True Realm has eighteen pathways and seven graduated levels. Regarding the Most Pure Immortal Realm, there are twenty pathways and nine levels. Sheng-yen, do you know that there are three vehicles for the Truth cultivators? They are the initial, middle, and upper vehicles. For example, Li Liang Feng reached Tao through divination; Yen Chun P'ing reached immortality through astrology; Huang Ch'eng Shih reached royal ranks through charitable works; and Chang Tao Ling reached heaven by guiding the dead. Their methods were different, but the Tao is the same. As long as one walks on a correct path, one will ultimately realize the Tao!" "Spirit Master, which pathways have you taken to attain the Tao?" "People call me Three-Peaks-Nine-States. I have attained the Tao through the Dharma. I am an immortal in the upper vehicle." Through the intermittent teachings of my Spirit Master, I have learned a great deal. He taught me a new practice each time he came. From a Christian who used to memorize the Old and New Testaments, I abruptly turned into a Taoist student of the Three Purities School. This was something I had never imagined when I received my baptism. "Spirit Master, what do you think of Jesus Christ?" "Jesus Christ is one of the many saviors. Behind the many pathways is the same principle. Jesus has been the savior of the Occidentals, while in the East, Buddhism and Taoism have been the ways of salvation." "In that case, there is no conflict among them?" "In Christianity, the Trinity is made up of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In Taoism, the Trinity is the Jade Pure, High Pure, and Most Pure. In Buddhism, the Dharma Body, Bliss Body, and Emanation Body are the Trinity. There is only one Tao with many pathways leading to it!"
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