March 22, 2020, Dragon-riding White Jambhala Homa Ceremony,
Rainbow Temple
Lamdre Exposition by Dharma King Lian-sheng
Summary of Dharma Talk
[TBS News]
On March 22, 2020, Dharma King Living Buddha Lian-sheng presided over the homa ceremony of Dragon-riding White Jambhala.
The debut transmission of the practice of Dragon-riding White Jambhala took place in Seattle in February 1997’s Spring ceremony.
This cultivation practice is also documented in an article entitled, "Living Buddha Lian-sheng’s Discourse on the Practice of White Jambhala'', in "Book 123_The Comet and the Red Maple". White Jambhala is not just a wealth deity tasked with alleviating poverty, he is also one of the numerous compassionate emanations of Avalokitesvara. The embodied nature is that of Avalokitesvara.
In addition, on April 21, 2018, the ever-compassionate Dharma King revealed the dharma practice within the dharma practice of White Jambhala -- that of winning lotteries.
There are three marvelous merits that can be obtained from the cultivation practice of White Jambhala. One’s compassion and kind-heartedness will naturally arise; one will have plenty of food and clothing; one would be delivered to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss and not enter the three evil realms of existence in the future.
In the ceremony, the Dharma King once again expounded on the pith instructions of the practice of White Jambhala and the setting up of its shrine.
The White Jambhala resides in a crystal palace. “Hence, offering crystal pyramids to him will spark joy in him. It is as if he is in the comfort of his home,” said the Dharma King. Therefore, in the setting up of the White Jambhala’s shrine, one should place seven such crystal pyramids around White Jambhala. Between the seven crystals, place seven bowls of soapy or bathing water. Bathing water is important to White Jambhala because his hobby is bathing!
The Dharma King explained, “This is the main shrine for White Jambhala. You must dip a finger into the bathing water and flick the water. The act of dipping into the water denotes that you have acquired treasures bestowed by White Jambhala. Then visualize money coming out of the Cosmic Space and dropping into your house. Your home becomes full of money.”
The Dharma King also revealed the connection of White Jambhala to the Four Heavenly Kings. To protect against the coronavirus, if one has the bathing water at one’s shrine, one can pray to White Jambhala for help. The Four Heavenly Kings will then subdue the plague gods. The Dharma King said, “You must flick the bathing water in your house, so that the plague will not be able to enter. This is a way to chase the virus away.”
In addition, if one has fever or flu, one can do this: after cultivating a practice, dip a little of the bathing water with one’s finger, place the water in one’s mouth, and hold it there. Pray to White Jambhala and the fever and flu will be gone.
Reverend Liao-Ming had taught the Dharma King a few special dharma practices before. Besides the cultivation practice that enables the winning of lotteries, there is also the cultivation practice of locating treasures using the bathing water. This is how it works: find a green bamboo stalk (representing green dragon) and tie a white cloth to it; wet the white cloth with bathing water beforehand. One can then use the ‘device’ to find treasures. The Dharma King said, “Take the green bamboo stalk with the white cloth (wet with bathing water) to a place where you know has hidden treasures (for example, Padmasambhava and Yeshe Tsogyal had previously hidden lots of treasures in Bhutan and Nepal). When you walk past a spot where there is treasure in the ground, the bamboo stalk will shake, and the white cloth will flutter as if there is wind. That’s the cultivation practice of locating treasures for you.”
Next the Dharma King discoursed on the Lamdre.
The Kriya cultivation practices include those of the wish-fulfilling conch, the empowerment vase, and the five-colored string. The latter is used for boundary protection of the shrine.
The Dharma King explained, one can embark on the Yoga Practice of the Yidam at this point. Upon attaining spiritual union with the Yidam, the practitioner can visualize the empowerment vase transforming into the "Ah" seed syllable which in turn transforms into a moon disc. The moon disc has a "Chung" seed syllable, and this turns into a treasure vase.
In the treasure vase, there are five herbs which transform into a moon disc. The five treasures from the treasure vase also turns into a sun disc; the five grains from the treasure vase transform into the "Hum" syllable between the sun and moon discs. The "Hum'' syllable then turns into a vajra scepter. The "Hum" syllable is a kind of ornament which transforms into Immutable Buddha (Akshobhya Tathagata). The Buddha-Father holds the vajra bell and scepter, while the Buddha-Mother holds the kapala and the kartika.
At the same time, in front of the practitioner at the top, visualize the Yidam (which the practitioner has become) coming out of the conch. The two of them [the practitioner and the Yidam] are hooked into the body of Akshobhya Tathagata. The practitioner therefore gets the blessings of the mind, body and speech. The practitioner, who is receiving the empowerment of the Yidam, has Akshobhya Tathagata sitting on his crown. The practitioner, who is facing the two, offers praises and offerings and chants the mantra of the Yidam. Visualize the mantra wheel emitting brilliance as it spins along the five-colored thread.
Next, invoke the Yidam (Vajravarahi) of the vajra scepter navel; Vajravarahi’s skin pores emit the dew droplets of the innate nature of the Five Wisdoms. These dew droplets fill up the water-offering container. The dew droplets then stream into the vase, and flow downwards through the crown of Akshobhya Tathagata (who is in the vase). The skin pores of Akshobhya Tathagata emit clear, soft white dew droplets of the Five Wisdoms. Chant mantras 108 times, and [the dew droplets] fill up the vase. The practitioner of this cultivation practice can eliminate the Mara of any magnitude -- big, medium or small. In addition, homa ash can halt the spread of any virus in any place.
The Dharma King said, “Today, I’d like to thank everyone who tunes in to the webcast, thereby adding luster to the ceremony. Although I am not able to see you, you are able to see me. This simply enhances the vibrancy of the place.”
The Dharma King joked, “I am seeing more empty chairs in front of me than people. This is a precedent. In the 76 years of my life, I have never encountered such a situation before. I can say that my life is full of excitement!”
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