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Chapter 37 - The Secret Seal
"The so-called spiritual man knows that everything is an illusion." This is a verse from the Transmission of the Lamp. It also says, "A spiritual man can travel through all ten realms. He can manifest himself anytime, anywhere, as he desires. He can be the Buddha of ten directions. He can be the master of twenty generations. He can be the Bodhisattva, Pratyeka Buddhas, or Sravakas. He can be the devil. He can be the Dieties of all the different heavens. Any animal, any bird could be his reincarnation. He could even be in hell or be a hungry ghost. Such a person has great, great power! Unmeasurable. Unthinkable. He can do evil, create hungry ghosts, and create all forms of animals. He can do good. He can create heaven and the 33 celestial worlds. He can be both evil and good. He can manifest riches, nobility, joy, suffering, all the manifestations of the world. He can cultivate virtue yet not cut off the root of hatred. The manifestation of the devil, Satan, are his to create. He can be a hermit and cultivate himself, or he can pledge to deliver other people, like a Bodhisattva. After all of this he can return to his original face and sit in his Buddhahood expounding on the dharma to the point that there is no dharma. He can deliver a sentient being to the point where there is no sentient being to be delivered." Someone told me of a small temple on a mountain where there was a lot of good psychic energy. Everything asked there was answered. I was curious so I went to visit the temple. Behind it was a cemetery. In front of the temple stood a sign with three Chinese characters: You-Ying Hung." The temple was small and dilapidated, yet lots of incense was burning inside, which meant the place was popular. I noticed that the temple hosted many wandering souls. I didn't want to be there. While I was trying to leave a voice surprised me: "Lian Shen! Where are you going?" "Who are you to know that I am Lian Shen." "I am in charge of this temple! San-shan-chiu hou! Lian Shen, don't you recognize me anymore?" "San-shan-chiu-hou!" I was shocked. My spiritual teacher. He is in the realm of the formless. How could he be in charge of this dingy temple? I couldn't believe it. I went inside. The room was narrow and incense filled the air. On the altar stood the figure of a god wearing a red robe. Two coins hung around his shoulders indicating he was from the Yin realm. I closed my palms and asked, "San-shan-chiu-hou, if you are in the formless realm how could you be a Yin god here?" "Lian Shen, have you never heard that I can freely travel throughout the ten dharma realms? I can hide myself in a grain of sand! I can manifest into ten thousand forms. I can transform heaven and hell. I can be the Buddha of the eons. Ordinary people don't recognize me. Monks insult me. Dieties of other realms avoid me. Yet can't you recognize me? I am San-shen-chiu-hou! Use your psychic eye and look!" I used my psychic eye to look. I was astonished! Frightened! Frozen in fear! The temple became wider and wider, taller and taller, expanding beyond the clouds. The width of it covered four or five mountains. In front of me appeared strange-looking ghosts; some had blue faces and fangs, others had long horns, long tails, three heads, and four hands. All were fierce-eyed and ugly. They sat in two rows. Above them, in the center, sat an especially strange creature. It had a head like Buddha; gentle and loving. Above him were nine heads, all with the dignified faces of Bodhisattvas, but below their necks they had snakes' bodies, bluish-green and luminescent. They had claws as sharp as knives. Their backs curved to sit on chairs. "My spiritual teacher is the god of the formless realm. He has no body. How could he look so ugly?" I said aloud. "Look again." The temple then became infinitely large. In the sky appeared 72 gods and 36 bodhisattvas. All held fragrant flowers to worship San-shan-chiu-hou. The golden chair changed into a lotus flower, and on it sat a beautiful Buddha. The two rows of ghosts transformed into arhats and Bodhisattvas. A wonder fragrance arose as the temple itself was transformed to gold and crystal. Facing this scene I couldn't help kneeling. The Buddha said, "So-called spiritual man knows everything is illusion and not real. Lian Shen, you should understand what this means. I am San-shan-chiu-hou. Nobody knows that I have the power to travel through ten different realms. I can create everything. I can do anything without obstruction. I can transform to any form as I wish." "In this temple," he continued, "under the table of the altar a wooden seal lies wrapped in a rag. This seal is very special. Take it home. Later it will become the seal for your temple. That is the purpose of your visit here today. See it as precious. Use it carefully." "Master, what power does the seal have?" "The seal comes from the Eastern Emperor god. A superior person who obtained it could transcend to heaven. A middling person would merely take care of the seal. He would have the respect of the deities, and hungry ghosts would avoid him. The low and pitiable person who has this seal can manage and stabilize the country. "Lian Shen," he commanded, "as you keep this seal, be careful in using it. You don't have to return to this small temple. I have only stopped here temporarily to deliver this sacred seal to you. "Because of the seal hidden in this temple there has been great energy here. Many guardians have protected it. After the seal gone I will leave, and the energy will be gone with me. This temple will become the ward of Asura - the ghosts." When San-shan-chiu-hou finished talking, the vision of the infinite temple, the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas all disappeared. I was back in the old rundown temple. I bent down and reached under the altar table, searching with blind fingers. My hand closed around something wrapped in a rag. Opening the rag, I found a very old seal. I bowed to San-shan- chiu-hou and left. After I returned home I cleaned the seal and placed it on my altar near the statue of the Golden Mother. That is the story of the sacred seal on my altar.
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