At 2:00 p.m., on August 27th, 2000, a moment keenly awaited by tens of thousands of True Buddha School students, the True Buddha School Kalachakra Ceremony formally opened at the old wing of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. Vajra masters, masters, venerables, teaching assistants, and students of the True Buddha School, nearly seventy thousand from around the world, filled up the fifth and seventh floors of the Convention Center.

Master Lian-Han, who was conducting the ceremony, first performed a purification, blessing, and deliverance ritual in accordance with the Tantric liturgy, invoking the boundless pure light of lineage to shine on all participants and registrants to bring them benefits. In addition to the offering of kata, Master Lian-Han also offered the "body, mind, and speech" to the Guru as a sign of highest reverence.

Before teaching on behalf of the Guru, Master Lian-Han, in accordance with Tantrayana rules, offered a golden statue of Kalachakra to the Root Guru --- this was to beseech the Guru to transmit the Kalachakra Practice to us. Next, on behalf of all students, Master Lian-Han offered a golden statue of Vajravahari, eight auspicious objects, and a diamond to our Guru --- these symbolized respectively the collective offering of "body, speech, and mind" from all students. The diamond was chosen particularly to signify that the collective mind of all students to reach Enlightenment and liberation was just as pure, strong, and indestructible as the diamond.

Master Lian-Han said, "In the several thousand years of Tantrayana history, His Holiness Living Buddha Lian-sheng is the first Chinese to transmit the supreme Kalachakra Practice on such a large scale."

Traditionally, the preparation leading up to the conferring of the Kalachakra Initiation is a long and complicated process. In addition to the construction of the Kalachakra mandala, there are the rituals of "tossing of divination flowers, drinking of holy water, distribution of reeds of kusha grass and five-colored strings, and the putting on of blindfolds." A major ceremony of this teaching usually takes place over several days. Then why are we able to carry this out in a ceremony lasting one half a day? The reason is that our Root Guru, Living Buddha Lian-sheng, is an adept of supreme realization and he has completed all these very complicated rituals ahead of time. This is an expedient means in response to the special circumstances of modern sentient beings. For example, the construction of the Kalachakra mandala usually requires three to seven days, but our ceremony had the most revered kind of Body Mandala in our Root Guru, His Holiness Living Buddha Lian-sheng, who is the living embodiment of the Kalachakra Mandala.

Master Lian-Han taught that there are seven kinds of initiations or empowerments to be bestowed. The first is "water initiation" that transforms the five elements into the Five Female Buddhas. The second is "crown initiation" that transforms the five aggregates into the Five Dhyani Buddhas. The third is "silk ribbon initiation" that purifies the ten winds in the cultivator. The fourth is "vajra-and-bell initiation" that purifies the two main (right and left) energy channels. The fifth is "conduct initiation" that transforms the five senses into bodhicitta. The sixth is "name initiation" that bestows the names of vajra-rajas to the students. The seventh is "permission initiation" that bestows the right to the students to do the practice. These were the seven empowerments bestowed to the students at the Kalachakra Ceremony.

People receiving the Kalachakra empowerments will obtain the following three great and remarkable benefits. First, as long as one has received the Kalachakra empowerments and maintains a strong and unwavering faith, one can attain Buddhahood within seven lifetimes even though one does not do the Kalachakra practice. Second, people who have received the Kalachakra empowerments and are able to frequently chant the Kalachakra Mantra will escape all kinds of disasters stemming from earth, water, fire, wind, and air, as well as avoid wars and nasty and incurable diseases. Third, people who have received the Kalachakra empowerments will not fall into the three lower realms, and if they do not commit any of the five deadly sins, they can be reborn to the Buddha Land of Shambala. These are the extraordinary and unique merits of Kalachakra Practice.

Kalachakra Practice places great emphasis on the generation of bodhicitta, as it is a major factor in the success of cultivation. There are three aspects to bodhicitta: vow bodhicitta; action bodhicitta; and samadhi bodhicitta. Master Lian-Han explained, "First, one must generate a vow to benefit all sentient beings; this is vow bodhicitta. When one acts on the vow and strives to bring it into realization, it becomes action bodhicitta. When action bodhicitta deepens over a long period of time, one will feel the increasing presence of the Cosmic Flow or Consciousness in one. If a practitioner is able to enter into a state of fearlessness and altruism and realize the inherent non-existence of all personalities, phenomena, time, and identities, all emotional afflictions will be uprooted. One can then enter into the state of Great Luminosity, and the four emptiness stabilities, and achieve the samadhi bodhicitta."

Abiding in precepts is even more important than the generation of bodhicitta. As a Kalachakra practitioner, one has to abide in the basic Tantric precepts: the Fourfold Refuge; the Ten Virtuous Actions; the Fourteen Root Precepts; the Fifty Guru Devotions. Master Lian-Han also explained to everyone the fourteen kinds of primary and eight kinds of secondary prohibitions in the Kalachakra tradition, as well as the twenty-five kinds of forbidden behaviors and the six kinds of Buddhist rules. If one is careless and commits a transgression in any of the above categories, one must again purification. There are three methods of doing this. First, one may go to the Root Guru to express repentance and ask for another empowerment. Second, one may go into retreat to do fire pujas and, after sincere repentance, request the Root Guru and Buddhas to confer another empowerment. Third, one may sincerely repent the transgressions and chant, a minimum of one hundred thousand times, the Hundred Syllables Mantra.

After a discourse on the essence of Kalachakra, Master Lian-Han went on to outline the liturgical steps of the Kalachakra Practice and to disclose the mudra, visualization, and the Kalachakra Heart Mantra. He also shared with everyone the formula he has experienced for entering into the state of "Merging of Self and Deity" in samadhi.

This is the essence of the Tantric Kalachakra Practice as explained by Master Lian-Han, "The universe is a large time-wheel while an individual is a small time-wheel. The Kalachakra Tantric Practice is a method that enables the individual to be identified with the Cosmos until the goal of complete union and Buddhahood is reached. As to the question of why there is the manifestation of Kalachakra in sexual union with his consort, Master Lian-Han explained, The time-wheel is a symbol of the continual waxing and waning of the cycles of time. Day is followed by night and yang is followed by yin. The Buddha-father represents days while the Buddha-mother represents nights. The sexual union is an embodiment of the continual cycling of days and nights. The twenty-four arms of Kalachakra represent the twenty-four solar terms in the calendar. The four faces (blue, white, red, and yellow) represent the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Since the Wheel of Time has given birth to men and all creatures, Kalachakra and his consort represent Father and Mother to the human race and, therefore, manifest in the sexual union form. There is great profundity in the manifestation and depiction of each Personal Deity.

Master Lian-Han touched upon the three major kinds of meditative stabilities in Kalachakra Practice. The first stability is that of Bliss, the second is that of Light, and the third is that of the Four Emptinesses. Finally, Master Lian-Han encouraged everyone to be energetic and diligent in doing the practice, to enable the development of the meditative stabilities and the revelation of the inherent light inside ones heart.

When Master Lian-Han finished his talk, His Holiness Living Buddha Lian-sheng then gave a more in-depth discourse on the secrets in the Kalachakra Practice, a practice belonging to the highest yoga system. His Holiness said, "Every ordinary and trivial thing we do in our daily lives is the Buddhadharma. A Tantric practitioner has to learn the method to attain self-mastery and to be grounded in total, pure awareness in everything he or she does. The Kalachakra Practice is a great method to attain self-mastery." Then His Holiness divulged the precious secret of how to perform meticulous and subtle visualizations in the Kalachakra Practice, in order to enter into the three important meditative stabilizations of Bliss, Light, and Emptiness.

In discussing the key points of the Kalachakra consort practice and their profound Tantric significance, His Holiness emphasized that, although the actual consort practice is prohibited in the True Buddha School, students who are married to each other may engage in the practice. However, married couples who are both students first still need to cultivate to the stage where they have mastered energy practices in the Internal Level and, only after approval by the Root Guru, may they do the consort practice. Students who have taken ordination vows cannot engage in practices involving physical consorts, though they may employ visualized consorts when they reach that level of practice.

His Holiness then explained how to enter into yogic response with Kalachakra and how to enter into the Pure Land of Shambala. He also taught the mudra and mantra for the Shambala Kingdom. Finally His Holiness pointed out the essence of Tantrayana that, when one cultivates to the realm of Non-duality, one will arrive at fearlessness and, without any perturbation or deviation from the Truth, one will definitely attain Buddhahood.

His Holiness also encouraged the members of audience to be earnest and down-to-earth practitioners, engaging in actual practices in the proper, prescribed order. Then he blessed everyone to attain realizations and to eventually arrive at the realm of Great Perfection.

Afterwards, His Holiness conferred the Kalachakra empowerments upon the assembly. Tens of thousands of students walked through a canopy of five-colored Buddhist banners to receive the seven kinds of Kalachakra initiations. It was a majestic and dignified event. The whole ceremony had lasted more than five hours when it came to its magnificent and auspicious conclusion.

Toolbox

Back Top Print Bookmark Tell a friend:

© 2008 Padmakumara. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright & Terms of Use.