First of all, let us pay homage to our lineage gurus: Rev. Liao-ming, the Sixteenth Karmapa, Guru Sakya Zheng-kong, and Guru Thubten Daerje.

Masters, Dharma Teachers, Fa-shi's (monks and nuns), Teaching Assistants, and fellow students, good afternoon! (audience applause)

From the talk on Hayagriva just given by Master Lian-miao, the conducting master for this ceremony, we know that she has come well prepared. Very few people launch into singing in the middle of their Dharma teaching. (audience laughter) It is even rarer to find the singing quite good. (audience applause)

At the beginning of her talk, Master Lian-miao wished that people would not doze off during her talk. Well, I guess that implies that you may fall asleep during my turn to speak. (audience laughter)

Master Lian-miao has given a very nice talk. I can say that this is her personal best in all these years. (audience applause) The talks she has given previously were all very good, but this one tops them all.

She talked about her painting of Hayagriva. I think it is a very good painting. If you ask me to produce a painting like this, I wouldn't be able to do it. She did a great job, and spent a great deal of time painting it. Lately Master Lian-miao has painted many drawings. Whenever she finished a new one, she would run enthusiastically to the True Buddha Tantric Quarter to show me. After looking at her paintings, I couldn't help but feel moved to sigh. She has put a great deal of herself into this particular painting and has done a very good job.

I was thinking, "She is such a skillful artist, I must of course be only a so-so artist by comparison!" (audience laughter) But, you have to listen to what I have to say next. I only spend twenty minutes on each painting. (audience applause) She paints in the gongbi style of fine brushwork that pays close attention to detail. It takes her at least one day, and even two or more days, to produce one painting. I paint in large brush strokes without spending time filling in the details. Every one of her paintings is very colorful. Mine are monochromatic. Her paintings bespeak a beauty of skill. Mine bespeak a beauty of ideas. (audience applause) So, you have to bear this in mind when you look at our paintings. (audience laughter) Do not look at hers and say that she paints better than I do. (audience laughter)

Anyway, honestly, her works are quite sophisticated. Her paintings are not mere paintings but have depth.

Let me explain why I am sitting again in the middle of the stage during this Dharma Ceremony. I have been sitting at the side for some time prior to this ceremony. Actually, it was not my idea at all to sit in the middle again. During Master Lian-zhi's recent visit with Guru Thubten Daerji, the two discussed the Kalachakra Dharma Ceremony that will be taking place in Hong Kong this coming August. Guru Thubten Daerji then offered this opinion, "There is a liturgical step in the Kalachakra Ceremony for the students to offer body, speech, and mind to the root guru sitting in the middle. If the root guru is sitting at the side instead when this liturgical step is announced, then it is not very good. It is better that the root guru be sitting in the middle as prescribed by tradition." This conversation was published in an article by the True Buddha News. When Master Lian-miao read this article, she felt that, with the recommendation from shi-gong (the guru of one's guru), she could not very well sit in the middle of the stage during this Dharma Ceremony. She wanted me to sit in the middle of the stage again. Therefore, Master De-hui came to consult me about this matter. I personally do not have any opinion on this. I do not really care where I sit. (audience applause)

In the past, I have insisted on sitting on the side. I felt that, since I had already retired, I should let the master conducting the ceremony sit in the middle. I was grasping onto the idea that I should sit on the side. This insistence is also a form of grasping! (audience laughter) Why must I insist where I should sit? Actually, it is just the same wherever one sits. So, I have understood it now. Do not be so rigid, just be natural. But, you must not mistake this sitting in the middle as a gesture that I am coming out of retirement. (audience laughter)

I also told Master Lian-miao not to think too much of how well she had to perform in her talk. As long as we are ourselves and act naturally in our Dharma teachings, then that will be good. Be natural when you talk, and the audience will listen naturally and effortlessly. When you try to force words, your talk will become crafty and affected. When people feel you are being crafty, your teaching is an inferior kind of teaching.

Learn to be natural, open, and carefree. If you know how to sing, then sing. If you ask me to sing, I won't be able to do it!

Honestly, if she had not become a master, she would have become a singer. There was a time when she wanted to pursue a singing career. She sings very well. She can spontaneously erupt into a song for everyone during her Dharma teaching. (audience applause) It is good to be yourself and be natural. If you can let the teaching flow naturally, then it is definitely a very good kind of teaching.

Master Lian-miao mentioned that now women and men are equal, and that many women are actually courting men. I share the same feeling with her. (audience laughter) Let me tell you this, this master of yours is passive and has never initiated any move. (audience laughter) Just think, I have been living here in the Seattle area and staying here in the True Buddha Tantric Quarter. If there are any happenings, I am definitely the victim being harassed. (audience laughter)

Master Lian-miao was saying that we are living in a different time and a different society now. Women are more ferocious and wild. I have lived all these years and have never seen such wild female students. (audience laughter)

In the red-envelop offerings made to me, I often find love notes inside sent by such students. Even consultation forms have notes attached to them. I should be the one pressing the charge against sexual harassment. Times have changed, and many things can make one sigh. Let me start talking about the Hayagriva Practice, otherwise I would be drifting too far from our subject today.

Just now, Master Lian-miao talked about the Dharma Power of Hayagriva. Hayagriva is also known as the Swift Vajra because of its very swift horsepower. The strength and movement of horses are very swift. Hayagriva's tremendous Dharma Power pervades the five great continents and can destroy voodoo or black magic anywhere.

There is a Hayagriva Mantra that can destroy poisons. Earlier Master Lian-miao had already discussed it. There is also another Hayagriva Practice known as "sha-du fa" (deliverance by killing.)

In general, in Tantrayana, there are two esoteric practices that are not talked about openly. The first is the "shuang-shen fa" (consort practice) that many lineage gurus know of. The second is the "sha-du fa."

Why does Hayagriva manifest in a wrathful form? Isn't the Buddhadharma supposed to be about compassion? Why is the deity manifesting wrath? This manifestation is actually a form of skillful means. Behind this skillful means is compassion. In order to help and deliver those who are incorrigibly evil, the "sha-du fa" is a skillful means to bring and guide the spirit of the deceased to rebirth in the Buddha's Pure Land.

Padmasambhava has employed this skillful means before. Shakyamuni Buddha also has used this practice.

There is also a Hayagriva practice known as the "jian-gu-shen fa" (body-strengthening-method). What is this method about?

Both males and females can lose vital energies through bodily discharges: men through sperm and women through menses. Some women menstruate more than once a month, sometimes twice, thrice, or even more times. What should they do? Practice the body-strengthening-method. For men, spontaneous nocturnal ejaculation is a physiological phenomenon. I was in the military service before. When a soldier got up in the middle of the night to wash his bed sheets, we all knew what it was about. He was embarrassed about his soiled sheets. It does not happen just to young men. Middle age men also experience this, except at longer intervals of once every several months. What should they do? Tantrayana also teaches men to "cherish their sperm as their life." Cherish your physical light drops as if you are protecting your life. There is also a Kalachakra practice striving for the same goal.

This is the body-strengthening-method of Hayagriva. Prepare a piece of white string by empowering it with the chanting of the Hayagriva Heart Mantra eight hundred times. Then tie a knot while chanting the mantra once. Make thirty-seven knots. After chanting the mantras, tie this string around one's waist before one goes to sleep. Of course, do not wear the string too tight, otherwise one will not be able to fall asleep. Also one may instead fasten the string to one's pants. Through this method, sperm and blood will not leak away.

The ghosts and spirits who try to steal chi and light drops will not be able to succeed. The string will render protection for women too. Spirits who try to steal your menses cannot get close to you. This body-strengthening-method is very wonderful. (audience applause)

This is the Hayagriva Vajra Scepter Practice. Use a bowl and fill it with rice. Insert the vajra scepter in the rice and erect a floral shrine around this bowl. While facing the vajra scepter, chant the Hayagriva Mantra one hundred thousand times. Then take down the Hayagriva vajra scepter and fasten it to your waist with a rope. All voodoo and sorcery will not be able to approach you. Because you have built a flower mandala around the vajra scepter and chanted one hundred thousand mantras (Om, xie, bei-ma-da-ji, ha-ye-ji-wa, xie, hum-pei) facing Hayagriva, this vajra scepter will protect and guard you. No voodoo, sorcery, or disaster will descend upon you. (audience applause)

After chanting the Hayagriva Heart Mantra one hundred thousand times, if you experience some blurriness in your vision at the time of a full moon, lift up the vajra scepter and align it with the center of the moon. Look at the scepter. If it starts to change in form, with the appearance of smoke, mist, fire, and water, you immediately form an alliance with him.

Pray to Hayagriva the Vajra Protector to become your eternal Dharma Protector. Pray to him and form an alliance with him. From then on, make offerings to Hayagriva three times a day without any omission, and he will be at your service whenever you invoke him. (audience applause)

In summary, Hayagriva can remove all voodoo. There are the "sha-du" and "jian-gu-shen" practices. There are also the "poison-removal," "sorcery stay away," and "harmony/magnetizing" practices. Hayagriva has great infinite power.

Besides Swift Vajra, Hayagriva is also known as "Dan-shi" Vajra. "Dan-shi" has a special meaning. Just as Master Lian-miao mentioned earlier in her example, a father disciplining his son must occasionally resort to punishment when all compassionate methods fail.

Finally, I would like to announce to everyone the coming Transmission of the Kalachakra Practice in Hong Kong this August. Previously only the Dalai Lama, Panchen Lama, Gelugpa's Kangtangcang and Kagyu's Kalu Rinpoche have given this teaching. Very few people are qualified to transmit this teaching because it is a very high level, special practice. I have also made the following announcement in the True Buddha News:

Firstly, those who receive the Kalachakra Empowerment and are strong in their faith will attain Buddhahood within seven lifetimes even if they do not do any practice. (audience applause)

Secondly, those who hear the Kalachakra Teaching and often chant the mantra can avoid all kinds of disasters including those caused by wind, flood, fire, diseases, wars, vicious illnesses, infectious diseases, and incurable illnesses. (audience applause)

Thirdly, those who hear the Kalachakra Teaching and receive the Empowerment, if they do not commit any grave transgressions such as the Five Unpardonable Crimes, will always obtain human births and be reborn to the Buddha Land of Shambhala. As long as one has received the Empowerment, one will not fall into the three lower realms (of animals, hungry ghosts, and hell). (audience applause)

One can see how special and remarkable this teaching is. Please pay special attention to this transmission of the Kalachakra Practice. There are many preparatory works that need to be done prior to the transmission of this teaching. In Hong Kong, the actual time of the transmission will be very short. Therefore, in the upcoming Dharma discourses, I will be disclosing successively what things need to be done. How many steps are there in the whole procedure? How many days of preparation? How many days will the formal ceremony be? What will be revealed in the teaching? These need to be explained in detail and will be published in a book, so you may get a copy at that time.

I hope you will all cherish the Tantrayana teaching and engage in actual practice. Also, place special emphasis on obtaining the Empowerment of Kalachakra.

Om Mani Padme Hum.

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