There is a student Lianhua Lo-an whose name denotes peace and happiness, but he was in fact not at all happy or peaceful. Ever since childhood, he had been afflicted with epilepsy, and the episodes of epileptic seizure occurred frequently and at regular intervals.

In looking for a treatment for this illness, his mother has taken him to see numerous doctors ?both western trained as well as traditional Chinese doctors. When medical treatment failed to cure him, his mother had no choice but to turn to religion for help. Whenever she heard of any place where the enshrined Deities were efficacious, she would go and pray for help. But, obviously, time after time, she endured disappointments.

Finally, the mother took refuge in Buddhism. For the sake of Lianhua Lo-an, she became a vegetarian and devoted herself to incessant chanting and worshipping for his healing.

Lianhua Lo-an was not getting any better, and the frequent convulsive episodes at school were setting him back in his studies. Oftentimes, both he and his mother would be found sitting and sobbing together in front of their enshrined Buddha statues at home.

One night, in a dream, Lianhua Lo-an felt someone gently stroking his head. Opening his eyes slightly, he saw in front of him an unfamiliar but magnificent looking Buddha whose head was radiating light. Lianhua Lo-an asked in astonishment, "Who are you?"

"Padmakumara" the Buddha replied.

"Where are you from?"

"The Maha Twin Lotus Ponds."

"Why are you here?"

"I have come to heal you."

"Many different doctors have failed to cure me. What kind of Buddha are you? How dare you to claim that you can cure me!" said Lianhua Lo-an.

Padmakumara answered, "Where affinity exists, there is cure."

Padmakumara again stroked Lianhua Lo-an's head repeatedly and gently and, as he felt a cool breath of air filling up his body, he soon fell into a deep sleep. When he awakened again and opened his eyes to look around, there was no one else in his room. He knew he had a dream.

He told his mother about the dream. His mother was elated at first, but then said later, "Do not get your hopes too high. It will only bring you great disappointment. It was after all just a dream, and dreams are not real."

A week went by and Lianhua Lo-an did not have any seizures. This was quite rare because he usually had one or more episodes a week. One month went by in which he remained symptom free, and he began to feel hopeful. During that one whole month when everything was normal, even his mother felt happy. Another three months passed and he continued to do well. He felt he was cured. Lianhua Lo-an and his mother were overjoyed and wanted to pay homage to Padmakumara. When his mother went to a Buddhist temple to ask about Padmakumara, the staff at the temple told her, "We know nothing about him." She then went to a second Buddhist temple, and the response she met was, "He is a demon, get away from him quickly!

After begging for more information, she was finally told, "Padmakumara and the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds are stories fabricated by a person calling himself the Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng- yen Lu. Such things are absolutely not true. You will be taken in if you believe in such things. Right now, there are too many of these kinds of claims going around, and most of them are just swindles and bluffs."

Although Lianhua Lo-an and his mother were silent after hearing the explanation, they thought to themselves, "For several decades, we have been praying to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and chanting sutras and the names of Buddhas, and the illness did not improve. But after just one dream in which the Padmakumara appeared, the illness was gone. Can Padmakumara be a demon?"

"We have never prayed to him for help yet he came on his own to help us. If he were indeed a demon, then he is a demon who helps people. Isn't a demon who helps people a Buddha?"

Eventually they found me and took refuge in me and started practicing the True Buddha Tantric Dharma. Lianhua Lo-an's illness has never recurred. He is now completely cured.

One day, Lianhua Lo-an said to me, "Grand Master, I do not think you are a swindler."

I laughed and asked, "What is the matter?"

"You have never charged anyone any money."

"Ha ha!" I laughed loudly. "This is exactly why some Buddhist temples are reprimanding me. We are not rich, but we are happy and have an easy conscience."

Lianhua Lo-an and his mother both concurred, "We believe in the True Buddha and practice the True Buddha Tantric Dharma, and we do not feel a bit like we are being cheated. On the contrary, other places to which we have been have charged exorbitant price for their services."

A True Buddha School student named Lianhua Chung-yao has joined a pilgrimage organized by a Buddhist group to visit Putuoshan, a sacred site of Kuan Yin, at Nanhai in Zhejiang Province. Lianhua Chung-yao dared not disclose that he was a student of Living Buddha Lian-shen Sheng-yen Lu, and he did not dare to mention that he practiced the True Buddha Tantric Dharma.

Chung-yao only carried a picture of Grand Master in his wallet. He did his practice and chanted the mantra when no one was around, and he only focused on the core of the practice which includes visualization, mantra-chanting, and entering into samadhi.

During the trip, he heard numerous criticisms voiced against his Grand Master.

One person spoke to him, "Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu calls himself a living Buddha, but he basically does not have any lineage transmission."

Another person said, "Sheng-yen Lu is not a proper Buddhist. He even pays homage to the Golden Mother of the Jade Pond!"

"His writings are just packs of lies."

"His school is a devious cult!"

"He is a demon!"

"He is an asura!"

When Lianhua Chung-yao heard all these criticisms, he was too afraid to raise any objection, and he nodded his head to chime in with others.

Some one approached him, "Why don't you take refuge in our master?"

"I already have a master."

"Who is your master?"

"I can't tell you," Lianhua Chung-yao replied.

"No Buddhist on earth is not allowed to tell who his master is!"

Chung-yao's face turned red, and he was afraid to argue. There was a unanimous uproar of laughter from the Buddhist group.

Upon arrival at Nanhai, every Buddhist started chanting reverently, "Namo the Great Compassionate Kuan Yin Bodhisattva." Lianhua Chung-yao also followed suit in chanting the name of Kuan Yin. In addition, he chanted the six-syllable heart mantra of Kuan Yin as well as the High King Avalokitesvara Sutra.

At Putuoshan, the pilgrim stopped at monasteries and temples of various sizes to pay homage and make prostrations. Finally, they arrived at Chaoyindong [the Tidal Sound Grotto], the site where Kuan Yin has made frequent appearances to her devotees. The group started making prostrations but, regrettably, no one saw a vision of Kuan Yin.

It was finally Lianhua Chung-yao's turn to pay homage. Everybody was looking at him. As soon as he knelt down, he suddenly saw the whole ocean surface covered with lotuses, and upon the lotuses sat thousands of Nanhai Kuan Yins. Each bodhisattva was wearing a jeweled necklace on her chest. It was a magnificent scene. As soon as he saw this, he immediately cried out loudly the name of Kuan Yin Bodhisattva, and tears started gushing down his cheeks.

When Chung-yao took another look, each one of Kuan Yin's faces transformed into the face of Padmakumara.

He cried out, "Grand Master Padmakumara."

An instant passed, the vision disappeared.

Lianhua Chung-yao kept kneeling to make prostrations. When others helped him to his feet, his whole face was still covered with tears.

"I saw them, I really saw them. Both Kuan Yin and Padmakumara have indeed shown themselves to me," he murmured to himself.

In the Buddhist group was a master who had been silently observing Lianhua Chung-yao during the whole episode, and he knew Lianhua Chung-yao had indeed truly seen a vision.

The master asked to have a talk with Lianhua Chung-yo.

"Who is after all your master?"

"I can't tell."

"It is all right to tell me, I won't reprimand you for it."

"It is Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu!"

"Oh!" This Buddhist master was lost in thought for a long while, then he said, "There is a need to re-evaluate this person Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu."

Later this Buddhist master told his students, "From now on, do not launch into any negative criticisms against Living Buddha Lian- sheng without first finding out the facts!"

Both Liang Yen and his wife had been practicing the True Buddha Tantric Dharma for a long time. Due to their old age, they had only focused on the Padmakumara Personal Deity Yoga practice. The couple had only been to the Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple in the Seattle area once and, during that visit, I personally gave them the empowerment for the Padmakumara Personal Deity Yoga practice.

I told them, "Come often to visit the temple!"

"We can't." they replied.

"Why not?"

"We are getting on in years, and we also cannot afford it. We believe that concentrating on one practice will enable us to penetrate deep into the Dharma."

I saw that the couple were extraordinarily devoted students, so I gave them special oral instructions on the secret formulae to do the practice. I also gave them a special empowerment for purification and blessing.

I was acting in accordance with what was recorded in Article Fifty- four in the Vajra Coiffure Tantra:

"Just as lion's milk should not be poured into a ceramic vessel, a great yoga practice should not be transmitted to an unqualified practitioner. Such a transmission can cause harm and instantly destroy the student. By transmitting the teaching to an inappropriate vessel, the teacher can ruin the latter's success."

The Padmakumara Personal Deity Yoga is a great yoga practice. Here I would like to state that both Liang Yen and his wife were, in Tantric terms, "appropriate vessels." Students who are "appropriate vessels" meet the following qualifications:

1. They have a pure and total devotion to their faith
2. They respect their masters
3. They frequently engage in good and charitable deeds
4. They are not obsequious, and they refrain from deceptions and lies
5. They frequently attend and expose themselves to holy teachings
6. Their bodhicitta and desire to help others have resulted in the manifestation of virtuous physical signs

Knowing that Liang Yen and his wife were "appropriate vessels," I discussed with them the "three kinds of guidance" that can truly lead a student to learn how to do visualization and practices.

• The first kind of guidance is transmitted through instructions of "secret formulaes"
• The second kind of guidance is transmitted through a direct experience
• The third kind of guidance is transmitted through a personal perception or realization

After Liang Yen and his wife returned home, they started minimizing their social activities and, apart from doing the necessary daily chores, they devoted themselves every day to practice in seclusion.

When their children visited with them and suggested that they take some trips, they would reply, "There is not that much time left!"

When their children wondered why their parents were giving away so many of their possessions, they would say, "Life and its provisions have come from Heaven, so how can men claim exclusive rights to their possessions" People who understand know that accumulations of such wealth bring them no benefits. It is better to practice charity and give things away.

"Why are you spending so much time doing the practices?" asked their children. They replied, "It has to do with the matter of life and death. As being alive does not necessarily make one happy, and being dead is not necessarily a sad thing, we are intent on transcending this world. That is why we are devoting our time to doing spiritual cultivation."

The two of them explained to the children the wonderful benefits of spiritual cultivation, but the young people could not comprehend it. And the couple continued to put more effort into their practices.

One day, about five years later, Lian Yen said to his wife, "People usually leave their funeral matters for their children to take care of. Why don't you and I go and pick our cemetery plots and get our coffins and everything else ready."

"That's great." his wife concurred.

When their children came to visit, they were shocked by what they saw in the house and asked, "What are these two coffins doing here?"

"You will not understand," they replied. The coffins notwithstanding, there was nothing else strange about their behavior, and they talked and laughed as they normally did.

Suddenly one day, Liang Yen and his wife each took a bath and, after cleansing and donning their dharma robes, they called their children to come and see them. When the children arrived, they announced to them, "We are going to die now. Please notify the Grand Master in Seattle that we two shall go first and we will see him in the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds."

The two then stepped inside the coffins, laid down and said, "Padmakumara is here to guide us away."

When the children called after them again, there was no longer any response. Both had shut their eyes and they were, indeed, gone.

When the news of Liang Yen's and his wife's departure reached me, I thought to myself, "What an innocent and romantic couple! Also, their departure was just like that of adept monks. These two pure-hearted spiritual partners are indeed a splendid role model for our students."

Their story is truly inspirational!

There was a group of young people who were into playing tieh- hsien, which is a Chinese version of the Ouiji board game. During their frequent meetings, they would invoke gods, spirits, ancestors, and sometimes even Jesus to come down to the board to talk to them. The Ouiji board is a tool used for spirit channeling and, through it, one can communicate with the world of spirits. But it can be a dangerous game when one is not careful; people playing it should be very cautious.

Among the spirits who have manifested on the board was one who called herself the Han Creek Goddess. This spirit was quite a gifted poet and provided her answers in the form of verses.

For example, one of the young men had a crush on a young lady in his class. When he asked if there was any chance of them getting married, the Han Creek Goddess gave this answer:

Lovesickness is most melancholy when one gazes longingly into a window too small;
When it is time to graduate and each goes his separate way,
Where will all the couples be?

It was obvious from the poem that it would be a doomed love. Later, things did turn out that way. In another example, one of the young men asked what he should select as an academic major in the future. He got this answer:

Among the numerous mediocre doctors, a bright star will be born;
Kind-heartedness is most virtuous, bringing infinite help to the world.

The poem clearly indicated that medicine would be the choice. The young man, indeed, later went on to study medicine.

One young man in the group, Hsu Cheng-yin, was attracted to Buddhism and had read many of my books. He eventually took refuge in me and, apart from practicing the True Buddha Tantric Dharma, he also has enshrined a statue of Padmakumara at home.

One time, the group gathered at Lianhua Cheng-yin's house to play tieh-hsien. Normally, the Han Creek Goddess came down fairly quickly to the board, but that particular time, she did not respond at all. After repeated attempts failed to establish a contact with her, the group decided to move somewhere else to continue the game.

When they resumed the game at a different location, the Han Creek Goddess came through right away. The group asked her for an explanation for her failure to come through earlier. She replied, "There was the presence of a Buddha in that place, and I could not go in!"

"Buddhas are compassionate beings that can be approached by anyone. Why couldn't you?" asked the group.

The answer was, "This Buddha had some terrifying Dharma Protectors guarding the door. That was why I could not go in." "Which Buddha was it?"

"Just ask Cheng-yin about it."

Everyone turned their astonished faces to Hsu Cheng-yin. Feeling embarrassed, Lianhua Cheng-yin said, "Recently I have been reading books written by Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu. Since the books made perfect sense to me, I decided to take refuge and have been learning to practice the True Buddha Tantric Dharma. Since then I have enshrined the statue of Padmakumara at home. That is all."

The group asked the Han Creek Goddess another question, "What kind of Buddha is Padmakumara?"

The Han Creek Goddess replied with the following poem:

'The Buddha King is also the Secret Master with his face concealed;
Playing in a drama on the world stage, while focusing on the deliverance of beings.'

"Since you know he is the Buddha King, why don't you takerefuge and seek to rise to a higher plane of consciousness?" This next question was posed to the Han Creek Goddess.

"Let me be honest with you. I am not a goddess; my name is Fragrant Red. I had a hard life and, after being repeatedly abandoned by my lovers, I killed myself by jumping into the Han River. I am really just a spirit full of bitterness and grievances. I feel so unclean, how can I go to see the Buddha King?"

When the group read this message, they were taken aback, but nobody knew what to do.

Later, after Lianhua Cheng-yin told me the whole story from beginning to end, I performed a special initiation empowerment for the Han Creek Goddess. She has been staying near me and studying the True Buddha Tantric Dharma. The practice has brought her many benefits: much of her ghost-like attributes have disappeared, while more and more god-like spirit and aspects are coalescing and manifesting themselves. She now approaches me with great ease.

There was a man by the name of Han Li. Han Li became severely ill and had to be hospitalized.

While lying unconscious in the hospital bed, he suddenly saw two men dressed in black appearing by his bedside. The two men started pulling and dragging him to go away with them. Han Li struggled to resist but to no avail. He found himself being brought to a place that looked like a government office in ancient times. Lined up on both sides were stern and awe- inspiring black-clad men, while a man wearing a kingly outfit of pearl-strewn cap and embroidered dress was presiding at the end of the office.

The kingly person asked, "Are you Han Li?"

Han Li moved forward and, feeling like a criminal, he bent over and answered, "Yes."

The kingly person cried out, "Han Li, although you are a judge in the human world, you are now found guilty of the crimes of corruption and accepting bribery. On numerous occasions, your insatiable greed has led you to release the guilty and convict the innocent. The severe illness that has stricken you is only the tip of the iceberg of your punishment. Judges on both sides, which hell should he go to?"

Han Li's face turned ashen.

The judges on the left said, "The Hell of Fiery Coins." (At the Hell of Fiery Coins, the guilty souls have to swallow, one after another, copper coins that have been heated red hot.)

As soon as Han Li heard this, he almost fainted. He thought back to how hard he studied and worked to achieve his position, and of the circumstances which forced him to start taking bribes which soon became a habit, eventually completely engulfing him. He had, indeed, made many improper judgments and sentencings, and he knew he well deserved to go to hell. Remorse welled up in him, but he felt it was too late now! With all honor and dignity stripped away, he felt like he was standing at the edge of a precipice, with not a single road open to him.

At this time, there suddenly came the sound of mantra chanting through the door of the government office.

"Om, Guru, Lian-sheng Siddhi, Hum."

"What mantra is it?" asked the kingly person.

The judges on the right answered, "It is the Padmakumara Heart Mantra!"

"Who is chanting?"

"It is a group of volunteers from the True Buddha School."

As the mantra sound came inside the office, luminous lotuses appeared. These bright and beautiful lotuses were small at first, but they became larger as they spun around, emitting a lovely fragrance throughout the whole office.

Han Li also started joining in and chanted, "Om, Guru, Lian-sheng Siddhi, Hum."

As soon as he chanted, he felt his body become lighter. Looking down, he saw that underneath each foot, a lotus was supporting him.

Han Li started chanting faster and more powerfully, and the spinning lotuses became larger and, in an instant, his whole body, supported by the lotuses, began to soar up.

The black-clad men below yelled, "The guilty soul is flying away. Hurry and pursue!"

The kingly person said, "Hold it! As this is a powerful mantra, Han Li's fate has been given a new lease. Earlier, he sprouted remorse in his heart and, as soon as the remorse arose, he was able to make use of the purifying power from the mantra. This is also a good thing, just let him go."

Although Han Li was flying off in the air, he could hear distinctly every word spoken by the kingly person. With palms joined, he turned towards the kingly person and bowed.

Han Li woke up and opened his eyes. Around him were several strangers who were joining their palms and chanting a mantra "it was the Padmakumara Heart Mantra." He did not know these people. It turned out that one of his relatives was a student of the True Buddha School and, when this relative saw that Han Li was in a crisis, he asked several of his fellow students to help chant the mantra. With gratitude Han Li nodded to the group.

Han Li's illness was originally very grave, but soon there was a miraculous turnaround, and he eventually recovered.

From then on, Han Li turned over a new leaf and he conducted himself completely differently than before.

At first, he kept his experience of falling into the afterworld to himself. He spoke not a single word about it to anyone. He only read up on the books written by Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu and then wrote to ask for a remote refuge taking. Later, he travelled twice to Seattle to participate at the True Buddha School's Dharma Ceremonies. On those two occasions, he still did not bring up the matter, because he was a judge and was afraid that the publicity would bring him embarrassment. It was during his third visit to the Grand Master that he decided to tell the whole story exactly as it had happened.

Han Li said to me, "If Grand Master wants to write an article about this, please be sure to change my name."

"Of course," I promised. So, Han Li is just an alias.

Many people know that Ganden Tripa, the leader of the Tibetan Gelugpa sect, has presented to me one of his personal ceremonial robes. Behind this "Rinpoche robe" is hidden a story of which few people are aware.

H.H. Ganden Tripa had heard of my name for a long time, and he had also enshrined a picture of Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng- yen Lu in his own monastery, the Shavagon Monastery.

The picture of Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu is enshrined at two Tibetan Tantric monasteries: the Ganden Sokpa and the Shavagon.

One year, H.H. Ganden Tripa arrived on the east coast of the United States. He wanted to travel to Ling Shen Ching Tze in the Seattle area to visit me. He wanted to give me his ceremonial robe.

After news of his intent was released, the Rinpoche received two letters of accusations. One letter asserted that Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu was a demon, and the Rinpoche must under no circumstances pass the ceremonial robe to him. The second letter pointed out that, since Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu was not Tibetan, the Rinpoche robe must not be given to him.

These letters cast some doubts into the Rinpoche's mind.

"Can the Rinpoche robe be given to someone who is not a Tibetan Rinpoche?"

"Can the Rinpoche robe be given to someone who is a demon?"

"Please do not go," one of the attendants of H.H. Ganden Tripa urged.

"We have to believe the master who wrote the letters because he has some very powerful connections," said another attendant.

Then another lama said, "This Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng- yen Lu is a most controversial figure. Almost all of the traditional Buddhist sects are against him."

"Well, ..." H.H. Ganden Tripa himself could not decide what to do.

If he went and gave Sheng-yen Lu the Rinpoche robe, and if Sheng- yen Lu later did turn out to be a leader of a demon cult, wouldn't it be awkward then? On the other hand, if he let the matter drop, and Living Buddha Lian-sheng did turn out to be an enlightened sage who engaged in actual practice, while all these rumors were just a cover up for his true identity, wouldn't he have let a golden opportunity slip by? It was a difficult dilemma.

H.H. Ganden Tripa also was intrigued by the Living Buddha Lian- sheng Sheng-yen Lu and found him utterly unusual: an author of over one hundred books, a teacher of four million students, someone with an extensive knowledge of the Buddhist Canon, someone who has made extraordinary comments and attained profound realization, a person surrounded by numerous hearsays and legends. A person of such accomplishments had to be an outstanding pillar of the religious circle.

While debating internally what he should do, Ganden Tripa went into meditation and this was what he saw: a great sun appeared and inside the great sun was no other person but Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu.

What Ganden Tripa saw in his meditation was exactly the same scene that Kong Tang Dain bel Wang Chug Rinpoche had seen in meditation. Separately, the two had seen the same vision.

H.H. Ganden Tripa made up his mind to come to Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple in the Seattle area and to give me his Rinpoche robe. "We thought you were a demon!" He held my hands tightly.

"If I were a demon, people outside definitely would not have found out about it," I said.

"Then who are you?"

"I am nobody, I am simply me."

"Don't you take offense at the outside criticisms?"

"I have long grown accustomed to them," I answered with a smile.

Ganden Tripa gave me a poem of compliments written in Tibetan, and this is its gist:

A thousand stars are twinkling,
But they pale in comparison to the splendid sun;
Although the jewel staff of Dharma propagation is held in hand,
There still could be envy behind one's back;
The wise and clever are numerous,
But before the sun of all beings arises,
Who can drive away the shadow of darkness?
Now upon the lotus seat of Tantrayana,
Only you, the compassionate savior,
Have graced us with the essence of the Buddha's authentic
teachings,
And showered us with the golden rain of auspiciousness.

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