The power of compassion is inconceivable and manifests in wondrous and surprising ways. This power was demonstrated by an extraordinary event on June 15, 1997, at the opening ceremony of the Purple Lotus University, presided over by Guru Grand Master, Living Buddha Lian Sheng. At that time, 3830 ghosts received their ordination vows by His Holiness. This was truly a remarkable and unusual event.

These 3830 ghosts are actually of the Jing Ying Fu( ‘Elite group’ ) class of ghosts, mostly of Japanese origin, from Taiwan. After their human deaths in Taiwan many years ago, they formed together into a large group. On a visit to Taiwan in 1993, Master Samantha Chou was contacted by them through various mediums. They took refuge in Grand Master Lu through Master Samantha Chou and then asked to take their ordination vows. Master Samantha Chou consulted with His Holiness about this highly unusual case. With boundless compassion, Grand Master Lu agreed that the Jing Ying Fu could become monks of the True Buddha School. Consequently, at the opening ceremony of the Purple Lotus University, His Holiness gave the ordination vows to eight humans and 3830 Jing Ying Fu!

Since becoming monks at the Purple Lotus, the Jing Ying Fu have served as great protectors of the school and temple. Many have also reached great attainments in their spiritual cultivation. Even some have already attained true liberation. As well, Master Samantha Chou has recognized two children students at the Purple Lotus school as being incarnations of the Jing Ying Fu. The Jing Ying Fu have also assisted Master Samantha in a variety of ways in her compassionate work. Indeed, the building of the Purple Lotus University was achieved in large part by the help of the Jing Ying Fu, and they continue to help her in her bardo deliverance ceremonies.

In early December of 2001, Master Samantha Chou went to New York to conduct various empowerments and bardos at the True Buddha Diamond Temple, located only a few blocks away from the devastation of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Of course, much of Master’s compassionate work in New York involved the relief and liberation of deceased victims of the terrorist attack. At one of these ceremonies, a relative of a fireman who had died in the rescue efforts of the disaster, had brought a picture of a mangled fire truck that had later been pulled from the wreckage of the attack. The picture shows two feet, dismembered from the body, at the wreckage of the fire engine. As well, many firemen who had died in the rescue efforts had been wandering in the bardo state as ghosts. Some of these spirits attended the bardo deliverance ceremony. Master Samantha instructed the firemen ghosts to continue their rescue efforts in the bardo state by finding more of the deceased and bringing them to the ceremony, or teaching them cultivation to attain higher rebirth or liberation in a pure land. This was a very practical situation of ghosts helping ghosts, and of suffering assisting the suffering.

One of the Dharma sisters at the Diamond Temple had lost a husband in the tragedy who had worked at the Bank of Fuji, which was located in one of the twin towers. Many of the employees at the Bank of Fuji were Japanese, of whom twenty-eight had died in the disaster. After a ceremony conducted by Master Samantha at the temple in New York, Master Samantha saw, in her meditation, some of these deceased spirits sweeping a solid gold bar into the Diamond Temple. Later, Master Samantha realized that the ghosts had presented the solid gold bar as an offering. This gold bar had come from the bank and, thus, the ghosts used it as an offering. At that time, the Jing Ying Fu assisted the Japanese ghosts by teaching them the means to a higher rebirth or liberation in a pure land. This was easy for the Jing Ying Fu to do, because of their high degree of cultivation, and because they could communicate with the deceased in Japanese.

After returning from her trip to New York, Master Samantha Chou related these events in a dharma talk to students and disciples at the Purple Lotus University. Master also talked about the extreme suffering of many of the ghosts in the aftermath of the destruction of the World Trade Center. Because of the swift and violent nature of the tragedy, many of the ghosts, most of whom were not spiritual cultivators, experienced a mixture of extreme bewilderment and denial after such a violent and sudden separation of body and spirit.

This was especially the case for those deceased who had been buried deep beneath the rubble of the twin towers. Many of these ghosts had remained in a deep slumber and shock. Because of their strong attachments to their bodies and to the appearances of this human world, it was very difficult for the ghosts to assimilate the realization that their bodies were gone and that their spirits were no longer of the physical world. This was especially the case for those ghosts who were not spiritual cultivators. Master was very concerned about those beings in particular who had been buried beneath the rubble, so Master and some students gained permission to go directly to the site of the disaster and then performed a bardo deliverance ceremony. Master Samantha instructed disciples to form the deliverance mudra and to imagine that the mudra expanded into a vast dharma vessel, and that the spirits all entered the vessels-their negative karma purified-and ascended to the pure land of Grand Master, Sheng Yen Lu and Amitabha. Master related about how sobering and real this deliverance ceremony was, at the actual site of such tragedy and suffering. Later Master instructed the firemen ghosts to continue their rescue efforts. Many of these ghosts were able to arouse themselves from their confused state when they realized, from Masters urging, that there was still a lot of rescuing to be done!

The power and compassion of enlightened beings such as Grand Master Lu and Master Samantha Chou can manifest in all six realms of samsaric existence. It is said that when the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, taught at the Vulture’s peak in Northern India, there was an immediately apparent audience of humans, as well as an invisible audience consisting of gods and beings from the six realms of samsaric existence. Often, Grand Master Lu and the Vajra Masters of the True Buddha School talk about the importance of recognizing that all beings from the six realms of samsaric existence have Buddha nature, and thus we should treat all sentient beings as family. Indeed, because our births and deaths have been limitless, we can logically assume that all sentient beings have at one time been our own kind mother.

Master Samantha Chou often says in her Dharma talks that we should spend less time concerned about ourselves and more time generating a vital concern for the welfare of others. In a logical, and yet mysterious way, this achieves two things: we are liberated from the burden of ego and self by relieving the sufferings of others. Thus, we achieve the liberation of self and others by generating the mind of compassion. The example of the firemen ghosts continuing their rescue efforts in the bardo state, as well as the Jing Ying Fu assisting the deceased Japanese workers, perfectly exemplifies the liberation of self and others. The power of compassion can generate a fearless state in which one becomes a source of refuge to others who suffer.

We sincerely pay homage to your compassionate ways, Grand Master Lu, Samantha Chou, the 3830 Jing Ying Fu of the Purple Lotus, and the brave firemen who continue their work of salvation at the World Trade Center in New York!

Om Guru Lian-sheng Siddhi Hum

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