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 

Follow your affinity and forget what has passed! This is a dharma, as it tells you not to be attached. Go with the flow.

Also, we have various dharmas for greedy people. For those with strong sexual desires, there is a dharma called consort practice. For people who love money, we have wealth deity practices. If one wishes to be a high-ranking official or the most famous celebrity, there is the Kurukulle Buddha Mother dharma practice to gain great respect and love. You can also gain great power by practicing the magnetizing dharma of Kurukulle or Ragaraja. In Tantric Buddhism, we also have the dharma practice of Dorje Shugden; by practicing it, you can gain a lot of power. However, some sects forbid the cultivation of Dorje Shugden.

In True Buddha School, we also have Mahabala—he is right here. If you cultivate Mahabala, you can gain enormous power! If you love to eat, you can do the practice of the Precept Pig. Don’t you know? The Precept Pig is one who gobbles up all offerings on the altar table. And for those who love to sleep, they can cultivate the practice of the Sleeping Immortal Chen Xiyi and sleep for 3,000 years at a time, just like him. When he wakes up, 3,000 years have passed. See? There are many kinds of dharma for you!

If you encounter calamities, come to Grandmaster, and I will help you to avert your calamities; otherwise, you can practice the purification dharma of the white deities. If you have no money and your career is not going well, you can practice the enrichment dharma practices. If you want to make lots of money, you can practice wealth deities like Red Jambhala. Suppose you are unlucky in love or have poor interpersonal relationships—in that case, do the magnetization practice of Kurukulle Buddha Mother or Ragaraja, both of which are available in the True Buddha School. These practices will let you receive the love and respect you desire, and you will become well-liked. If your enemies are after you, you can do the practices of the vajra deities—herukas—or your own dharma protectors.

These are some of the 84,000 dharma gates, and there are many more, some with details and intricacies.

Their dharma treasure showered nectar everywhere upon all beings...

Grandmaster, too, gives sweet nectar to all sentient beings who come to see me. I give them nectar to drink and resolve their sufferings. I give them happiness, alleviate their sufferings; I do this with joy and most importantly, with equality and equanimity. This is the Fourfold Immeasurable Mind or the Four Boundless Minds.

Equanimity is crucial, so I treat friends and foes equally without discrimination. Every being embodies buddhanature. Thus, everyone is equal. This is the key point of the phrase: Their dharma treasure showered nectar everywhere upon all beings… You must remember it. It is equality for all. Do not discriminate and help only those you like and ignore those you dislike. As you see, Grandmaster treats everyone equally.

I have told you about this before. Suppose someone is so annoying to you. You take another look and find that they are even more so—so much so that you find them repulsive. That’s how it is with most people in this world but not so for spiritual cultivators or the great bodhisattvas!

Grandmaster had this experience in which I disliked someone because I knew what they had done. Even when they greeted me nicely with, “Hi Grandmaster,” it somehow felt malicious. That was not right! Immediately I corrected myself and responded kindly.  

We need to respect their buddhanature and treat everyone equally. Even if you don’t like them, they still have the potential to become a buddha. Grandmaster cannot be unfair and will still take care of them. I will still teach dharma to them. This is very important to remember. We must improve by continuing to remind and correct ourselves.

It applies to pets and animals too. During lunch today, Master Lian Yan saw a small fly roaming around Grandmaster’s table. She took a piece of napkin and slapped that little fly. Afterward, where did you drop the fly? [Master Lian Yan replies, “Outside but it wasn’t dead.”] You released it, and it flew away? [Master Lian Yan replies, “I just wrapped it with a napkin and took it outside, but it wasn’t there anymore.”] Did you see it fly? [Master Lian Yan replies, “No, I didn’t.”] You did not see it because it was pinched to death by you! Don’t you know that the fly flew across the ocean to look for Grandmaster? [the audience laughs] I am just joking! Yet you pinched it to death.

When I saw you do that, I knew! I immediately chanted the bardo deliverance mantra in my heart to help the fly. Of course, a fly roaming around in front of you while eating is really annoying, but you also have to respect it. It is also a living being. So, the moment you slapped it under the napkin, I knew it was over.  Silently, Grandmaster recited the rebirth mantras: “Na-mo a-mi-doh-poh-ye, doh-ta-ga-doh-ye, doh-deh-ye-ta, a-mi-lee-doh-poh-pee, a-mi-lee-doh seh-den-poh-pee, a-mi-lee-doh pek-ga-lan-deh, a-mi-lee-doh pek-ga-lan-doh, ga-mee-nee, ka-ka-nah, zhi-doh-ka-lee, so-ha.” I also chanted Manjusri’s rebirth mantra, “Om ah-la-ba-zha-na-di, Om manjusri-ya, Om ah-bei-la-hong, kan-zha-la so-ha.” I helped the fly by chanting to bardo deliver it to heaven.

Every being you encounter has an affinity with you. Yet you killed it in an instant. At least you still took it outside, but it just somehow disappeared. It didn’t fly away; perhaps it fell to the ground. I recited the mantras so that it could be reborn into a better realm. Luckily, it was not me who killed it, it was killed by Master Lian Yan. But I helped bardo deliver it.

Equality and equanimity. I never resent anyone because everyone around Grandmaster is predestined. They have affinity with Grandmaster, that’s why they are nearby. If they had no affinity, they would have never heard, seen, or thought about coming. Everyone here has affinity. Therefore, I treat everyone equally. Instead of finding faults, I open my heart to be more embracing and all-encompassing.

Grandmaster has written—in the latest book as well—about someone who has done many things I consider bad or wrong. I really dislike that person, but what can I do? I think that they must have their own reasonings for doing it. There is nothing I can do. Although everyone greets Grandmaster, their greetings felt a little repelling at first. I told myself that my heart was still not vast enough. I needed to open my heart to be more embracing; I told myself to be more loving, caring, tolerant, and sympathetic toward them.

This is called …everywhere upon all beings... Look at the sun, it shines upon all—good or bad. It shines upon both good and bad people, even the most evil ones. This is called all-encompassing. Like the sun, we must cultivate ourselves to be like the great bodhisattvas who bestow nectar upon all sentient beings. Here, nectar also refers to bodhi.  

Om mani padme hum.

Next discourse on the Vimalakirti Sutra: Discourse 25, 13 August 2022 - Chapter One—Buddhaverse (Continued)

Previous discourse on the Vimalakirti Sutra: Discourse 23, 6 August 2022 - Chapter One—Buddhaverse (Continued)

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Full webcast of 2022.08.07 Padmasambhava Homa Ceremony (Rainbow Temple, North Bend, USA) and dharma discourse with English interpretation: https://youtu.be/24P7pTo7EKA