A Detailed Exposition of the Vimalakirti Sutra 

by Grandmaster Lu, Living Buddha Lian Sheng of the True Buddha School 

Translated into English by the True Buddha School Vimalakirti Translation Team 

Discourse 8, 12 June 2022 - Chapter One—Buddhaverse (Continued)  

Thus have I heard: At one time, the Buddha was in the Amra Garden near the city of Vaisali, accompanied by eight thousand great bhikkus, thirty-two thousand bodhisattvas, and the assembly of virtuous and knowledgeable spiritual practitioners.

Their attainments of the great wisdom and fundamental conduct were solely due to the divine might of the buddhas. Together, they formed a dharma-protecting fortress to uphold the true dharma. Their lion’s roar resounded throughout all ten directions. People were naturally enticed to join, and the atmosphere was affable.

We have talked about Their attainments of the great wisdom, and fundamental conduct were solely due to the divine might of the buddhas. Following is the phrase they formed a dharma-protecting fortress to uphold the true dharma.

The explanation for this phrase is very simple. The great bhikkus and bodhisattvas, upon receiving blessings from the buddhas, inherited the wisdom life of the buddhadharma and became dharma protectors to sustain the wisdom life of the buddhadharma. Essentially, the great bhikkus and bodhisattvas carry on the wisdom of the Tathagata by upholding the true dharma.

During my Vajra Sutra exposition, I talked about the importance of upholding. First, you believe in the buddhadharma, and you accept it. Then you cultivate the buddhadharma so you can spread the buddhadharma. [Upholding the dharma means believing, accepting, practicing, and teaching/spreading the dharma.] You are a disciple who supports and upholds the true dharma. The true dharma mentioned here refers to the buddhadharma.

As a follower of Sakyamuni Buddha’s teaching, we learn buddhadharma, and must uphold it. We firmly uphold the dharma, like a fortress, forming the dharma-protecting fortress. So we believe in the buddhadharma, cultivate the buddhadharma, and transmit the buddhadharma. That is the meaning of the phrase: formed a dharma-protecting fortress to uphold the true dharma.

In essence, they would say, the great bhikkus and bodhisattvas were all blessed by the buddhas and inherited the wisdom life of buddhadharma. They believed, accepted, cultivated, protected, and propagated the dharma. They became very strong, like a fortress, protecting and continuing the buddhadharma.

While other people explain it this way, my understanding is different. I see “lineage” implied in the text. In Tantrayana, the most important thing is lineage. [In my calligraphy] I often write the True Buddha Lineage. All the things Grandmaster gives you are tokens of lineage. All the things that my guru gave me are lineage items.

Where does our lineage come from? This is very important. I see “lineage” within this phrase …formed a dharma-protecting fortress to uphold the true dharma. It is a crucial point. Others may not mention the word lineage, yet continuing the wisdom life of Sakyamuni Buddha is all about lineage.

What kind of lineage does Grandmaster have? Let’s talk about Tantrayana first. For the Ningmapa, Grandmaster holds a lineage through the Venerable Monk Liao Ming, who was very close to Master Nuona of Xi Kang—his teacher and friend. The Venerable Monk Liao Ming held the lineage of Master Nuona, who belonged to the Ningma sect, the red sect. All the tantric dharma that Grandmaster learned from the Venerable Monk Liao Ming is from the Ningma lineage.

Grandmaster obtained the lineage of the Sakyapa from Master Sakya Zheng Kong, known as His Eminence Dezhung Rinpoche, from the Sakya Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism in Seattle. He built the temple and did all the fundraising for its construction. The Sakya sect is also referred to as the multi-color sect.

Grandmaster’s lineage of the Kagyupa came from H.H. the 16^th Gyalwa Karmapa. Everyone knows his lineage transmission from Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, Milarepa, Gampopa, the 1^st Karmapa—Dusum Khyenpa, all the way to the16^th Gyalwa Karmapa. That is the lineage of the white sect, the Karma Kagyu sect.

What about the lineage of the yellow sect, the Gelugpa? It is through Master Thubten Dargye, whom many of you have visited in Hong Kong. Please raise your hands if you have visited his temple! Wow, that’s a lot of people. The lineage transmission was from Jetsun Dampa Kanjurwa Khutughtu to Thubten Nyima to Thubten Dali to Thubten Dargye and to Thubten Qimo—which is Grandmaster’s Gelug name.

Grandmaster holds all the lineages from the four major sects of Tibetan Tantrayana: Ningma, Sakya, Kagyu, and Gelug. [Audience applauds]

Next, Grandmaster also holds a lineage from the Shingon Sect of Japanese Tantrayana, founded by Kobo Daishi—Kukai. Grandmaster took refuge in Master Pu Fang, who holds the Shingon lineage. He bestowed upon me a dharma name Yuan Chi, meaning Perfect Pond.

Regarding the lineages in the Sutrayana tradition, the first guru I took refuge in was Master Yin Shun, a patriarch of the Three Treatise Sect. The Three Treatises are The Treatise on the Middle Way (Madyamaka Sastra), The Twelve Door Treatises, and The Hundred Treatises[1] of Nagarjuna Bodhisattva. So, Grandmaster holds the lineage of the Three Treatise Sect—also called the Chinese Madyamaka—the lineage of Nagarjuna.

The second guru I took refuge in was the Venerable Dao An at the Xuan Zang temple in Sun Moon Lake. We all know that Xuan Zang was sent by the court of the Tang Dynasty to study at Nalanda University in India, where he learned the Yogacara tradition—the Consciousness-Only School. Please raise your hand if you have read any Yogacara literature! Some people raised their hands.

There are many sutras in the Yogacara School of Thought: The Noble Sutra of the Explanation of the Profound Secrets, Lankavatara Sutra, and many more. Also, the treatise Twenty Verses on Consciousness-Only or Thirty Verses on Consciousness-Only is a compendium of commentaries by ten acclaimed masters. Who established the Yogacara? Maitreya Bodhisattva, Asanga, and Vasubandu. In China, it’s called the Dharmalaksana School (the East Asian Yogacara School). The Venerable Dao An holds a lineage from this school. So we have the lineage of the East Asian Yogacara School.

I also took refuge in the Venerable Elder Le Guo at Foguang Temple in Puli, Taiwan, and was bestowed the dharma name Dao Yan. And Shimu’s dharma name is Dao Hua. I listened to his exposition on the Vajra Sutra. He holds a lineage from the Caodong School of Zen Buddhism. So, Grandmaster has the lineage of the Caodong School—one of the five schools—of Zen Buddhism.

Next is the Venerable Elder Guo Xian from the Linji School of Zen Buddhism. The Ven. Elder Guo Xian ordained Grandmaster to be a monk. Therefore, Grandmaster also holds lineages from Zen Buddhism. 

Now, how about Grandmaster himself? 

The first patriarch of the Tiantai Sect was Hui Wen. The second patriarch was Hui Si, and the third patriarch was Master Zhi Yi. A reincarnation of Hui Si was Prince Shotoku in Japan. [And Grandmaster is a reincarnation of Prince Shotoku.]

The Tiantai Sect was established based on Nagarjuna Bodhisattva’s concepts of emptiness, falsehood, and the middle way. These are the Threefold Contemplation of the Tiantai Sect. The school mainly talks about the intrinsic emptiness of all things; and that all existences in the material world are false. What we see is a false reality; they are just illusions and unreal like a dream. The middle way is the middle ground which embraces both the false existence and the true emptiness. Form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. Form is no other than emptiness, and emptiness is no other than form. It is the combination of both emptiness and falsehood. The three concepts of emptiness, falsehood, and the middle way are the teachings of Nagarjuna Bodhisattva.

Grandmaster in a past lifetime was the Patriarch Hui Si. If you read my book carefully, you will know that Grandmaster was Hui Si. When I talked about Prince Shotoku as my previous incarnation, someone immediately recognized that Hui Si was also my previous incarnation. Hui Si was the second patriarch of the Tiantai Sect. Therefore, Grandmaster also holds the lineage of the Tiantai Sect.

Grandmaster also has the lineage from the Pureland School through the lay Buddhist Li Bingnan. I listened to his sutra expositions at his center, the Lotus Society of Buddhism. From the Pureland School, I teach everyone to recite: Homage to the 36 trillion 119 thousand and 500 Amitabha Buddhas. It came from a passage in the Longshu’s Treatise on Pure Land. This Longshu, meaning Dragon Comfort, is a different person from Nagarjuna. I took this phrase and included it in our True Buddha Tantric Dharma practice procedure. This is a teaching from the Pureland School.

Also, our merit dedication is from the Pureland School, “May all who chant Buddha Amitabha ascend to Sukhavati. May we repay the Fourfold Generosity above and aid those in the three lower realms below. Upon seeing a buddha, may we transcend life and death. Like a buddha, may we liberate all beings.” 

Sakyamuni Buddha teaches us to abide by the precepts. This is the Vinaya School. We also abide by the precepts. The lay practitioners must observe the five basic precepts: no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no lying, and no intoxication.

The ordained monastics must observe five more precepts in addition to the five basic precepts, so they must abide by at least ten fundamental precepts. There are, of course, many more precepts in the Vinaya/Precept School. 

Now, you are the second generation of the True Buddha School lineage. Look at how many lineages you have just by taking refuge in Grandmaster! You can see clearly that I hold the lineages of all four schools of Tibetan Tantrayana, the Shingon Sect of Japanese Tantrayana, the Three Treatise Sect—the lineages of Nagarjuna and the Madyamaka, the Yogacara and Dharmalaksana Sect, the Tiantai Sect, Zen Buddhism, as well as the Pureland Sect and the Precept Sect.

True Buddha School encompasses numerous lineages. One refuge empowerment, and you have them all. What else are you looking for?! It’s all within the True Buddha School lineage. 

In sum, we have all lineages from Tantric Buddhism—Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, to Tiantai and Zen Buddhism, as well as Sutric Buddhism—Pureland and Precept Sects.

Today, I only explained this phrase: formed a dharma-protecting fortress to uphold the true dharma. In it lies the keyword “lineage.”As the lineage has been transmitted to you, you must form a dharma-protecting fortress to uphold the true dharma.

This is quite a challenging exposition and will take a long time to expound. There is much to discuss, such as the meaning of the names of the bodhisattvas—and the list of bodhisattvas are very long. What do the following names mean? The Equal Contemplation Bodhisattva, The Unequal Contemplation Bodhisattva, The Equal and Unequal Contemplation Bodhisattva… Wow! Just for a name with “Contemplation,” there are three of them. I must explain them. Otherwise, you will not understand what they all mean. This exposition is moving very slowly, but we will take our time. One day, we will get to the finish line.

Om mani padme hum. 

[1] Madyamakakarika Sastra, Dvadasanikaya Sastra, and Shatasastra 

Next discourse on the Vimalakirti Sutra: Discourse 9, 18 June 2022 - Chapter One—Buddhaverse (Continued)

Previous discourse on the Vimalakirti Sutra: Discourse 7, 11 June 2022 - Chapter One—Buddhaverse (Continued) 

Index of links to all discourse on the Vimalakirti Sutra: https://en.tbsn.org/guidem/detail/2975/ 

Back to the main index page of all dharma discourse: https://en.tbsn.org/guidem/index   

Full webcast of 2022.06.12 Amitayus Homa Ceremony (Rainbow Temple, North Bend, USA) and dharma discourse with English interpretation: https://youtu.be/tDlWT6JAo2Q