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Appendix A.2. All Offerings Are Voluntary Many people have asked: How much does it cost to take refuge in the True Buddha School? What is the tuition for learning Tantras? What is the fee for the special and higher level Tantras? How much does the Master charge for empowerment? How much should one pay to the Master when one writes to him for advice? What is the fee when one asks the Master to perform a deliverance ceremony for one's deceased ancestors? To tell everyone honestly, from the very beginning, I have never asked for a fee for anything. In other words, it is up to the student to pay voluntarily whatever he likes to pay for taking refuge, for learning meditation, for learning higher Tantras, for empowerment, for solving problems, as well as for performing deliverance ceremonies. In the past, when I was inspecting Fung Shui for others, it often took days, sometimes even months, to solve a case. From the initial inspection, to providing a solution to the problem, would require much energy, and yet I still told the people who requested my service to pay me whatever they liked. To people who were poor, I gave free service or let them pay, as a gesture, one hundred Taiwan dollars (less than US$4.00). Many, many students know that, because of my easy-going nature, there were times I had to pay out of my own pocket for gas and lodging when I was invited out of town to do Fung Shui inspection. In the end the hosts did not pay a single cent, but I was not upset. I felt that, when people paid whatever they liked, they would be happy and, hence, I would be happy too. Regarding making offerings to the guru, it is all the more up to the students. Why does one have to make offerings to one's guru? Because the guru is the representation of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Making offerings to the guru is equivalent to making offerings to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. That is why one has to make offerings to one's guru. What is the meaning behind making offerings? Actually, to make offerings is to be generous; to be generous is to rid oneself of one's greed. "To give is more blessed than to receive" is a statement well made. Offering is an act of charity. One receives much blessing if one makes offerings to all the Buddhas and sentient beings. Making offerings stops greed and has great merit. Offerings made to one's guru are equivalent to the performing of a good deed; when we make offerings to all Buddhas and sentient beings, we are performing great, benevolent deeds. The guru represents the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha as well as the enrichment of life through Dharma teaching. When one supports one's guru so that he can teach to spread the Dharma, one is helping mankind and doing good deeds. The guru spends his lifetime in spreading the Buddha Dharma, in helping alleviate sickness and suffering; therefore, giving offerings to one's guru is equivalent to performing good deeds. One should know that making offerings to all the Buddhas and all the sentient beings is like planting seeds in a field of blessing. The guru is one of the transformations of the Padmakumara, who resides in the Maha Double Lotus Ponds of the Western Paradise of Ultimate Bliss. The Padmakumara has emitted a great, bright light over the world and manifested Himself in numerous division bodies. The guru is the Great Fortune Vajra Deity. Devotees who have committed evil deeds in their past and are heavy in karmic hindrances can, through their offerings to the Great Fortune Vajra Deity, receive blessings from the Holy-Red-Crown-Vajra-Master and spontaneously experience a gradual removal of their hindrances. When one makes offerings to the guru, the guru will surely bestow blessings to ef-fect a decrease in one's hindrances and an increase in one's fortune and wisdom. The Holy Red Crown Vajra Master is equivalent to the representation of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas; that is, "Namo all the Buddhas of Ten Directions and Three Times that permeate everywhere, name all the Dharmas of Ten Directions and Three Times that permeate everywhere, name all the Sangha of Ten Directions and Three Times that per-meate everywhere, name the great compassion and the great kindness Buddha Vairocana, name the great compassion and the great kindness Buddha Shakyamuni, name the great compassion and the great kindness Medicine Buddha, name the great compassion and the great kindness Amitabha, name the great compassion and the great kindness Kuan-yin Bodhisattva, name the great compassion and the great kindness Mahasthama Bodhisattva, name the great compassion and the great kindness numerous Bodhisattvas of the Sea of Purity." In general, making offerings to the guru is equivalent to making offerings to all the Buddhas. So, apart from the elimination of greed, and the accumulation of merits through charity, making offerings also means taking refuge in and paying respect to the Triple Jewels and repenting for one's negative karma (purification of the three karmas of body, mind and speech). Offerings made to the Buddhas can be anything one can afford; items such as food, drink, utensils, clothes, and houses are often mentioned in scriptures. In general, an impoverished cultivator who cannot even afford flowers, incense, food, or drink as offerings to the Buddhas, can form the Mudra of Offering and visualize flowers, incense, and food as offerings. Such a visualization offering is of the most sincere kind. Thus we have offerings through recitations of the "Transformation of Food Mantra" and the "Transformation of Sweet Dew Mantra." This is to employ spontaneous visualization to make boundless offerings. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will also bestow blessings upon the cultivator to diminish hindrances and to increase fortune and wisdom. A person who makes offerings to his guru and all the Buddhas above, and aids all the sentient beings below, will become purified in heart. All thoughts of greed will vanish and he will become totally purified-just like the splendor of a full moon, extremely bright and clear. Such a feeling best explains the statement, "Those who perform charity are happy people." A person who makes offerings will find his inner world extremely calm and open. His heart will spontaneously become kind and extremely happy. Under such circumstances, the Cosmos will automatically endow him with fortune, wisdom, and light. Making offerings to all the Buddhas and lending a helping hand to all the sentient beings, are the basis of performing charity and the ten wholesome actions, and the foundation for the achievement of Bodhi. When these become a natural habit, one will then automatically receive limitless reward in this life and in the future. Holy-Red-Crown-Vajra-Master wishes all his disciples to learn to make offerings to all the Buddhas and to help all the sentient beings, to perform good deeds with all their hearts, and also to keep the ten precepts: no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no lying, no improper remarks, no double tongues, no evil speech, no greed, no anger and resentment, or no ignorance. Holy-Red-Crown-Vajra-Master knows that many false gurus and Dharma masters demand large sums of money for their services. They charge tens of thousands of dollars for granting refuge, for empowerments and special teachings, and up to millions of Taiwan dollars for bestowing the rank of acharya. They are trading Tantra for money instead of proclaiming the Buddha Dharma to profit all living beings. Some temples are charging ten thousand dollars for the lighting of a lamp at the top of the lamp pagoda, and a lesser fee of a thousand dollars for lamps below. Such temples are engaged in the merchandising of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Buddha Dharma. If one exacted a fixed price from each person signed up for a Bardo Deliverance Cere-mony, if one charged a high fee for repentance ceremonies such as The Compassion Water Repentance and The Rite of King Liang's Repentance, how could poor people afford them? Holy-Red-Crown-Vajra-Master feels that everything should be voluntary: the fees for taking refuge, for learning meditation practice, and for high level teaching should be paid voluntarily by the students. If one wants to be an acharya, one does not have to pay anything as long as the guru certifies one to be an acharya. To sign up one's ancestors for deliverance ceremonies or to light a lamp in the temple, one only needs to send the names in and whatever fee one would like to send. When I first became a Buddhist, I made the following five vows:
These vows are for the benefit of myself, as well as all beings in the Dharma realms. Inherent in the act of offering are all the liturgies for achieving purification of the Bodhisattvas. The act of offering has many indescribable merits, many profound secrets. It shines brightly and universally over all sentient beings. A person who makes offerings will not be greedy and miserly.
A true master will also not be greedy and miserly. A true master will:
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