Chapter 4 - An Apparition's Call

Ever since she was initiated, Lian-ching of Chile, South America has been diligently practicing Guru Yoga. She is a school teacher and has also brought several Spanish-speaking people to take refuge in the True Buddha School.

One day, while reading in her own study, she suddenly felt tired. She fell asleep and saw her deceased mother appear before her. Lian-ching's mother had worked hard all her life but she was not a believer of Buddhism. While alive, she ran a chicken farm and had slaughtered innumerable chickens for sale. Lian-ching vividly saw her mother standing in front of her. Her mother was wearing some very old, tattered clothes, and she looked sad, as if she were sick and poor.

Her mother told Lian-ching that she was receiving punishments in the nether world because she had not believed in anything while she was alive, and because she had killed many lives. Many spirits came after her. Now, without any possessions, she was acutely ill all the time and had to perform hard labor everyday, a consequence of not believing in karma. One day, a spirit guard told her secretly,

"Your daughter has taken refuge in the True Buddha School and become a disciple of a real Vajra master who has great merits. If Lian-ching asked the Vajra master to perform a deliverance for you, you wouldn't have to suffer in here."

Lian-ching's mother lamentedly begged her and, in the dream, Lian-ching herself was embracing her mother.

With tears on her face, and crying this way, she woke up. Lian-ching is by nature a very filial girl. She couldn't bear to see the way her mother had suffered in the dream and thought of writing to the Master, to beg him to do the deliverance for her mother. But, when she thought about it again, it seemed to be only a dream, and the number of people who sought help from the Vajra-master was so great. Thinking about how busy Master must be, Lian-ching did not want to bother him. After all, it was just a dream. Thinking about her mother and Master, she could not make up her mind, and so it dragged on for a few days.

One day while Lian-ching was still indecisive, her older sister, who lived nearby, came to the door and told her about also having a dream of their mother. In the dream their mother repeated the words,

"Shu-yun is disobedient,...Shu-yun is disobedient...."

This was repeated continuously. (Shu-yun is Lian-ching's real name.)

Because of this unusual dream, Lian-ching's sister had come to tell her about it. Such a coincidence made Lian-ching decide to write to the Master. She detailed everything in her letter and enclosed a photo of her mother, her mother's birth date, the date she passed away, and location of where she was buried, together with a fee for the offerings in the deliverance ritual.

After receiving her letter, I placed her mother's photo, as well as the best offerings to the Buddhas on the altar. I followed the procedure of deliverance, wrote and burned a Prayer. I sincerely invoked all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The gist of that Prayer is as follows:

"To all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the Ten Directions and Three Times, all the great holy sages always abiding in the Ten Directions, please, with your holy eyes, I beg you to guide all sentient beings with compassion, and hope that you will not relinquish the vow of compassion. Please descend onto the altar and ascept Lian-ching's wonderful offerings. Now there is Lian ching's mother who is in extreme torture in the nether world. Without any possessions, help, or protection, she is also inflicted with illnesses. All the negative karmas she created in life are appearing to her in the nether world. Involuntarily she is being punished by the spirit guards. "

Lian-ching's mother now being initiated in the True Buddha School as witnessed by its founder, the Holy Red Crown Vajra Master Lian-shen, the Tantric Practitioner, who wishes that all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas would emit immense brightness with compassion to save her mother and to endow her with great empowerments, so as to release her from her extreme suffering in the nether world. Sages of great compassion and mercy, please release her quickly from her sufferings."

(At this moment, Master performed the ritual with the Great Vajra Compassion Hook. With the power of the Great Compassion Hook, her soul was drawn away from her bad karmas. This is like a drowning person being hooked by the clothes and pulled to the shore by a rescuer.)

During the course of this ritual practice, brightness appeared from the nether world. The spirit guards of the nether world clasped their palms and chanted together:

We all bow to the venerable Lian-shen,

Who apparently resides in the human world,

In the form of a Master to salvage all beings

And to liberate those in the nether world.

We all bow to the great venerable Lian-shen,

Who preaches the fine Dharmas with a mighty voice,

Points out the perfect path of nirvana,

And helps all beings to obtain the fruit of enlightenment.

These spirit guards of the nether world clasped their palms and lauded, "The Western Lotus Ponds Assembly, the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds, the Eighteen Mahapadmakumaras, the Holy Revered One Robed in White,the Holy Red Crown Vajra Master, the Secret Ruler of the Realm of Vajra Mantra, the Enlightened Founder of Ling Shen True Buddha School, the Illustrious Tantrika, Sheng-yen Lu."

Then, from the sky, the World of Ultimate Bliss of Buddha World appeared. Suddenly, a ray of golden light came down and lifted up Lian-ching's mother. Her mother saw a four-armed white Kuan Yin Bodhisattva, smiling, wearing the Five-Buddha Crown on her head, dressed in a celestial gown and necklaces, and looking magnificent. The golden light came from the Gala in her hand.

Lian-ching's mother chanted respectfully, "Namo Kuan Shih Yin Bodhisattva, Namo Kuan Shih Yin Bodhisattva, . . ."

This deliverance was performed daily for a week, yielding perfect merits.

Lian-ching did not dream of her mother again, neither did her sister. Only once, while Lian-ching was bowing to the White Kuan Yin Bodhisattva in the temple and chanting the mantra of the White Kuan Yin Bodhisattva, she suddenly saw white lights emitting from the top of the head of the Bodhisattva. In front of the White Kuan Yin Bodhisattva, there appeared a lotus with someone sitting cross-legged on it. This person was wearing a gray cloak like Lian-ching's mother used to wear and the person looked very much like her mother. But she disappeared almost immediately.

Lian-ching reasoned that the deliverance ritual performed by the Vajra Master had released her mother from her sufferings. Kuan Yin Bodhisattva had shown her that her mother had already gone riding the lotus. Lian-ching told her sister about this, who also thought it was wonderful. Her sister had taken refuge before in other Tulkus, Lamas, and Vajra masters; now she wanted to take refuge in the True Buddha School. She now believed the Holy Red Crown Vajra Master to be a real master and she was willing to take refuge in another real vajra master. The spiritual power of deliverance is unlimited in a real vajra master. Real vajra masters are actually the incarnations of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. They appear in all kinds of manifestations, which are expedient ways of leading all beings from suffering to happiness. Birth, aging, sickness, and death in the human world and the Six Realms of cyclic existence are full of immense suffering. This is because of the effects of the Eight Desires and Angers. For the One Great Cause, the Master has emerged in this world. He is fearless of all slanders and will salvage many beings. Slander only impels him to progress more vigorously because he is a truly Enlightened person. Let us hope everyone will cross the river to the other shore to attain the bodhi, to act according to the Buddha's teachings, and liberate both the living and the deceased.

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