English
(This translation only includes content pertaining to Whole Body Clairvoyant Eyes Practice)
The main topic of today's discourse is Mahottara. There have been three turnings of the dharma wheel, 1st turning, 2nd turning, and 3rd turning. While the dharma wheel continuously turns countless sentient being will be saved. Today I am going to discuss a profound and supreme dharma: Whole Body Clairvoyant Eyes Practice.I once wrote this passage, ''One who can concentrate will be able to accomplish everything.'' This means that one will have attainment as long as one can concentrate the mind. The passage further stated, ''One who abides in emptiness radiates light.''
What does ''one'' return to? ''One'' returns to ''emptiness.'' What does ''emptiness'' return to? Emptiness returns to Tao. This describes sentient beings as well as Mahottara. Starting from a single point, Mahottara transforms into a plane. All the myriad phenomenon of the universe and all human beings then transform from this plane. To return to ''single point'' one must first concentrate. This ''single point'' then becomes emptiness which returns one to Tao. Cultivation is returning to the original state. Therefore, in Taoism there is this saying ''The Tao is restored by returning from obscuration. One who restores is a Daluo Immortal.'' What this all means is that one must reverse to ''one'' and from ''one'' reverse to ''zero.'' When reaching ''zero'' one is in harmony with Tao. It is by reversing that one reaches buddhahood, attains the Tao, and becomes a Daluo Immortal.
The dharma I am teaching today is difficult to cultivate. To practice this dharma, one must have met certain prerequisites. It's not as simple as receiving the Whole Body Clairvoyant Eye empowerment then suddenly finding one's entire body transformed into eyes radiating light so that when going out into the night one shines brilliantly.
For this practice, the first prerequisite is to have cultivated the Four Preliminaries to perfection. Has one reached perfection in cultivation of the Four Preliminaries? There are the Six Preliminaries. Is everyone familiar with the Six Preliminaries? The Six Preliminaries are the Four Preliminaries with the addition of Guru Yoga and Dharma Protector Practice. It's written here that the Four Preliminaries must be cultivated ''to perfection.''
The second prerequisite is to have attained spiritual union with the principal deity. This is even more difficult. One must attain spiritual union in the Four Preliminaries as well as with one's personal deity. Have you attained spiritual union with your personal deity? One will be able to tell because, upon attainment of spiritual union, the personal deity will be by one's side at all times. The personal deity is, of course, a buddha or bodhisattva. The personal deity may also be a vidyaraja, dharma protector dakini, daka, or celestial deity. Any of them could be one's personal deity. When one attains spiritual union with the personal deity the personal deity will be by one's side or in one's mind. What if one has attains spiritual union with a ghost? Well, ghosts are not included among our TBS personal deities.
The third prerequisite is to be able to cease thoughts. Stop! In Vajrayana cessation of thought is called Trekcho. Can one stop one's thoughts? One can find out by reciting the High King Sutra. Was your mind clear and free of impure thoughts from beginning to end? It's quite easy to recite this sutra. It only takes a couple of minutes if one recites quickly or about five minutes if one recites more slowly. Recite the sutra and see for yourself. Is one undistracted by thoughts? If one has distracted thoughts during recitation one is not yet able to stop thoughts. What is meant by stopping thoughts? Stopping discursive thoughts is concentration!
The fourth prerequisite is the ability to see to prajna lights linking to form a vajra chain. Can one see prajna lights? ''Tian-yuan-di-fang, lu- ling-jiu-zhang'' means ''the heavens are round and earth is square.'' Thangkas are designed on this principle. It's also the principle which guides the creation of a Vajrayana mandala. The outer shape of a mandala is round. In the center of the mandala there is a square shrine where the deity resides.The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment begins with a discussion of mandalas and explains how to create a mandala. A mandala is round outside and square inside. When one sees a prajna light, it is round. Many photographs taken during fire or dharma ceremonies held at chapters show the presence of large and small prajna light orbs floating in space, orb upon orb. The light orbs appear within the homa fire and all over the place, always appearing as orb upon orb. Some of the light orbs are brilliant. These orbs are the lights of buddhas and bodhisattvas. The darker light orbs are lower level spiritual entities.
I saw Master Liandeng who came to participate in this ceremony. Master Liandeng was inside a prajna light orb sitting upon a shrine. The principal deity in the center of the shrine was none other than Master Liandeng. He is a great adept whose entire body radiates light. Master Liandeng's prajna light orb is extraordinarily bright. How wonderful these enlightened True Buddha School (TBS) masters are!Master Liandeng was truly incredible. While in his hospital bed with intravenous tubes sticking out all over his body, he still sat straight up and meditated. The entire hospital staff was amazed. The doctors, the nurses, and the head nurse all came to Master Liandeng's hospital room as if he was something bizarre, sitting on his bed with tubes in his body yet still meditating. Master Liandeng had meditative power. He was able to fully concentrate and stop thoughts. That is tranquility, the ability to return to Maha Twin Lotus Ponds! Master Liandeng's entire body was bright light and his clothes were golden. Our homa furnace has four gold colored columns. Master Liandeng was wearing a shining gold robe while sitting in the center of his shrine. He was a truly great master with the ability to fully concentrate and stop his thoughts. In the end, Master Liandeng returned to the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.
Meeting the four conditions I just discussed is extremely difficult. Can one see prajna lights? I can tell everyone that prajna lights have an outer light but they also have one's own light. First there is outer light. Sunlight, moonlight, starlight, and lamplight are all light.
If one is able to constantly collect sunlight, moonlight, starlight, and lamplight together and store this light inside one's body, one will be able to see prajna lights. Everyone close your eyes now. What kind of light do you see? It's not dark. If it is dark upon closing the eyes, squint the eyes, that is, press the upper and lower eyelids together. One will see hazy light.
For example, right after going into an extremely dark room with the door closed and no light able to penetrate, at first one will not be able to see anything. Like Obama it's all dark. After being still for a moment, one can gradually begin to see. Am I right?
One will be able to see. By training one's eyes one can see in the dark. Master Lianhong of Guangming Temple in Surabaya, Indonesia is all dark. When Master Lianhong goes into a room where all the lights are off, even the mosquitoes can't find him, unless they see his white teeth when he smiles a big, happy smile. Otherwise, he is all dark. After a long period of training, even with eyes completely shut and no light penetrating anywhere, one will be able to see furniture, one's household items, one's bed and headboard, and where everything is. This is the training of the eyes.
As I often mention, everyday after getting up in the morning, open a window. Close your eyes and rotate them clockwise, that is, move the eyes to the left, then up, then to the right, and then down. Perform this rotation fourteen times (1st rotation, 2nd rotation?. After completing fourteen rotations, open your eyes suddenly and focus on the furthest place you can see. As a result of this exercise, one's myopia will gradually diminish and disappear. Your vision will be very acute! Grandmaster has excellent vision. At this moment I can see everyone here clearly. People will say ''Grandmaster must have had lasik surgery.'' But I'm telling you, Grandmaster has never had lasik surgery. My eyesight is natural. I can even see tiny words and letters quite clearly.
Whole Body Clairvoyant Eyes Practice should be cultivated in a darkened room where there is no light whatsoever. To train the eyes, sit on the bed. All the walls should be covered with black cloth. The doors and windows should be sealed with black cloth so that not a ray of light penetrates through. Then visualize an eye at one's crown chakra and an eye at one's root chakra looking at each other. Where is the root chakra? The root chakra is located midway between the anus and the sacral chakra. One visualizes the eye at the crown chakra and root chakra respectively looking at each other. How are these eyes able to see each other? While the two eyes look at each other, visualize there is nothing but empty space between the eyes so they see each other. There is an eye at the ajna chakra and an eye at the back of the brain, looking at each other.
The ajna chakra is here. The back of the brain is here. The two eyes look at each other. There is an eye at the left ear and an eye at the right ear looking at each other. There is an eye at the heart and and eye in one's back, looking at each other. There is an eye at the left shoulder and an eye at the right shoulder looking at each other. There are altogether ten wisdom eyes looking at each other and projecting light into each other. Ultimately, these lights intertwine into a net of light.
When this visualization is mature (it must be mature), one sits in one's room visualizing an eye at the crown chakra, root chakra, ajna chakra, back of the brain, left ear, right ear, heart, back, left shoulder, and right shoulder respectively. These pairs of eyes all look at each other.
The method I have just described is called ''guiding.'' One guides the outer light of the vajra chains into one's body to completely fill the ten wisdom eyes with the light of the vajra chains. The lights intertwine to form a net of light. This practice is called ''cultivating in the dark'' or ''dark retreat.''
Everyone can visualize, but can one visualize an eye? Regarding the eyes, one's romantic partner will often wear false eyelashes. When one visualizes an eye, however, it doesn't matter whether the eye has false eyelashes. Visualizing the eye open serves for excitation.
Inside the darkened retreat room, there is no light whatsoever. However, whether one is able to see vajra chains is the question. If we are able to see prajna lights, one point of prajna light, two points of prajna light, three points, four points… When points of prajna light link together they form what is called a vajra chain.
First visualize that the ten eyes at the crown chakra and root chakra, ajna chakra and back of the brain, left ear and right ear, left shoulder and right shoulder, and heart and back respectively, are all looking at each other. When one is able to guide the light of the vajra chains and prajna light into the heart chakra, one will be able to see light. This uses the method of ''squeezing,'' like squeezing toothpaste from a tube. This is true cultivation.
As long as one's heart produces light one guides that light throughout one's body, which then brightens the ten wisdom eyes completely with the light of the vajra chains. All the lights intertwine to form a net with lights shooting back and forth. Lights are colliding, pushing, and pulling while they interactively and mutually excite each other. One must first of all master this. Afterwards, one transforms all one's skin pores into wisdom eyes so that one's every individual skin pore looks like an eye. When the light in the heart radiates through the skin pores one attains Whole Body Clairvoyant Eyes. The entire body is transformed into eyes radiating light.
Transforming one's whole body into light is the Rainbow Transformation of the Great Perfection. The attainment of Padmasambhava is transformation of his entire body into light. Padmasambhava's body was entirely rainbow light. The Buddha of Flaming, Multi-colored, Magnificent Light is a buddha with light radiating all over his body. This buddha's entire body radiates light.
Padmasambhava's attainment of the rainbow transformation, our practice of the rainbow transformation, the rainbow transformation of the Great Perfection, and accomplishment of the light body in the Nyingma school are all cultivated in this way.
At the moment of attainment of Whole Body Clairvoyant Eyes, one's entire body is all eyes and light. One manifests the form of the Infinite Light Tathagata. Infinite numbers of principal deities, dakinis, dakas, and dharma protectors emerge from this infinite, boundless light. Once one has reached supreme attainment, the absolute eternal light manifests. In other words, the buddha light appears. It is the tathagata light that manifests in one.
I think of Representative Liao who has the ability to see light. He began by cultivating concentration and thought cessation. Later, he was the able to see blue light. It is through the guided light that one eye sees the other eye, such as the eye at the crown chakra looking at the eye at the root chakra. One guides the light to the heart and then to the two eyes looking at each other. By practicing with extraordinary diligence Representative Liao cultivated the ability to see light.One guides light into one's body. The five pairs of eyes respectively are looking at each other and at the light in one's body. When looking again after the practice has matured, one sees that every skin pore has become an eye. The eyes are all looking at each other, and the body is full of light. One has successfully accomplished Whole Body Clairvoyant Eyes when the light within the heart merges with light outside.
Light visualization in the Great Perfection can be cultivated by looking at sunlight, moonlight, and lamplight. In addition to the so-called guided lights, there is multi-colored light that is not guided inside from an external light.
The Whole Body Clairvoyant Eye Practice involves guiding external light into the body and using total darkness to trigger the buddha nature. The key cultivation formula is to ''guide the vajra chains inside.'' The interactive excitation of one light with another transforms into laser light. This light enters into all the channels and meridians where there is colliding, pushing, and pulling. Then, with the sound of ''bang!'' the meridians, channels and the five chakras are all opened.
Using the light of the inner eyes in conjunction with the outer light, one can open the meridians, channels and the five chakras. This is namely meditation. First Trekcho, then Togal, and accomplishment of buddhahood in this present body follows.
To cultivate Trekcho, the body must be free of all distractions. The mouth must quit speaking. There can be no talking at all. While lights are looking at each other, one should not say a word and the mind should be free of distractions. The only thing present in mind is eyes and light. As a key point, at the moment there is no speech, no talking, and mind is free of forms, the body is liberated.
When one's concentration is neither too loose nor too tight, it becomes the Middle Path. What is meant by the Middle Path? To put it simply, one attains the Middle Path when one's mind is neither too loose nor too tight. When concentration is too tight, one is unable to meditate. If concentration is too loose one enters ''si-madhi'' which means one falls asleep. Eh? Grandmaster only teaches samadhi. If meditation is too tight one can't enter samadhi. If meditation is too loose one falls asleep.The Middle Path is neither too loose nor too tight.
One should apply the principle of the Middle Path within one's body. The organization hosting today's ceremony happens to be Zhongguan [Middle Way] Chapter. It's by adhering to the Middle Path that one sees the outside light. This light is guided into the body and transformed into inner light. When this light radiates through one's pores it's called Whole Body Clairvoyant Eyes.
Here is an important verse:
Realizing non-differentiation and no-self nature through cultivation
Seeing it emerge and manifest naturally
Emerging and manifesting as perfect in itself
This is great perfection free of attachment
Attainment of Whole Body Clairvoyant Eyes is attainment of the Great Perfection. Light manifests. One dissolves into emptiness and realizes the empty nature of the tathagata. One is the tathagata ''who thus comes, who thus goes.'' Everything is the tathagata.
Everything I have discussed so far is a key point! The key points are all here. Of all practices, this practice is supreme.
Upon cultivating to the ultimate, ''Eh? This person's body shines with light.'' I just saw Master Liandeng. His entire body was shining with light, real light, light he cultivated himself. Some people have red light around their face. There was a master who went to Malaysia. When Lei Fengpei saw that this master's face was all reddish, she asked ''Why is your face always full of red light?'' The master told her ''It's from cultivation.'' Sure, it's from cultivation. She ''cultivated'' by tattooing rouge to her face needle by needle. Dharma Sister Bi Zhiyi from Brazil is here.
The master told Dharma Sister Bi Zhiyi, ''Don't tell anyone.'' Dharma Sister Bi Zhiyi said ''I will never tell.'' Dharma Sister Bi Zhiyi then told Grandmaster and Shimu ''You are the only one's I've told about this, so don't tell anyone.'' Later a lot of disciples found out anyway, and they all said to each other ''Don't tell anyone about it.'' Now it seems that although the master claims the red color is ''cultivated'' everyone knows that the red color on her face is rouge tattoo which Ms. Bi Zhiyi helped her apply. It's actually just rouge tattoo so it doesn't count, it's just artificial red light.
If your own face is a shiny red color, I don't mean high blood pressure! High blood pressure is dangerous. In this climate it's easy for blood pressure to elevate when the blood vessels shrink. As one sits upon a ''lotus,'' [toilet] huh ~ pop! One's blood pressure elevates, one's face gets red, a crack appears in the brain, the blood vessels in the brain burst, and one has a stroke. In the Whole Body Clairvoyant Eyes practice there is no faking. One's entire body radiates light and transforms into rainbow light. It is indeed magnificent when light manifests.
If one truly wants to leave the mundane world, one must cultivate Vajrayana. What I have transmitted to everyone today is the Whole Body Clairvoyant Eyes Practice which is the highest and most profound teaching of the Great Perfection. Are you able to cultivate non-leakage? Are you able to cultivate inner fire? Are you able to cultivate light drops? The light drops descend, the inner fire ascends, and the two merge together. As the light drops descend and the inner fire ascends, one utilizes water, fire, descending, lifting, holding, and dispersing to open one's meridians, channels, five chakras and seven chakras. When the heart chakra is open one sees blue light, the light of the tathagata. The Karmapa said, ''Whatever environment one may be in, one must maintain the light of one's body. This is a key cultivation formula. Regardless of what place or environment one is in, as long as one is able to maintain the light of the body without distraction, one will be able to use this light to attain buddhahood.''
Let me tell you this. Whole Body Clairvoyant Eyes has lightwaves. After accomplishment of Whole Body Clairvoyant Eyes, one's light may extend an inch or a foot. A person with heavy karma is dark all over, that is, if one doesn't cultivate, one's body has no light whatsoever. One who truly cultivates can have light that extends an inch, a foot, ten feet, or 100 feet. Vajrayana therefore emphasizes actual practice.
The Whole Body Clairvoyant Eyes are squeezed out. At the beginning one can't see anything at all. The two eyes are looking at each other. The body is completely empty. In order to see light, one squeezes one's eyes shut so that light squeezes from the eyes.How is light squeezed out? One rotates the eyes then squeezes the eyes shut. If one closes one's eyes but keeps ''blinking'' them, a kind of light squeezes out from the eyes. Can you do this? Sure you can! This is what I mean by ''squeezing.'' When I close my eyes I can't see anything. But if I squeeze my eyes, a kind of light will appear. (squeezing won't damage the eyes!) One will gradually be able to see lights, points of red light. These points of red light transform into a red light and one guides this red light through one's body. The light is guided to the crown and the root chakras and these two red lights then look at each other.
This squeezing method can actually squeeze out light. However, don't strain yourself. One can injure one's eyes by being too forceful. I perform fourteen eye rotations each morning. By rotating one's eyes, myopia, farsightedness, blindness, and presbyopia can all be corrected.
Now everyone knows to use one's own technique to squeeze with one's entire strength. First, bring light into the body. When outdoors, one doesn't look directly at the sun because this can harm the eyes. In the morning when watching the sunrise, just look at the light beneath the sun. Keep this sunlight in mind and continue to visualize this light. This is called ''storing.'' When seeing moonlight, one stores the moonlight in the mind. One visualizes a moon in the heart chakra. When seeing twinkling, shining starlight, one guides this starlight into the body and the body will then produces lots of starlight. When seeing sunlight, one visualizes sunlight in one's heart. One instantly visualizes the sunlight and upon seeing the sunlight, one also has sunlight in one's eyes. One gradually guides this sunlight into the body. Using the ''squeezing'' technique, the ten eyes which are looking at each other squeeze light out. One performs this practice daily.
One can use something which is not real to cultivate something which is real. We use expedient means to cultivate. What's ''real'' is wisdom. What's ''not real'' is expedient means. One's body, when used in cultivation, is not real. Wisdom, however, is real. Light is real, and a visualized light can be cultivated into real light.
At this point I will tell you that, after all, mind itself is priceless. There is a case of Bodhidharma asking Huike to find his mind and Huike failing to find his mind. Huike said to Bodhidharma, ''My mind is troubled.'' Bodhidharma replied, ''Bring forth your mind and I will relieve it for you.'' Huike replied, ''I am unable to find my mind.'' Bodhidharma answered, ??In that case, your mind has been relieved.''
The true principle is that one cannot find either the mind or the body. In reality, both are just expedient means. In the true tathagata wisdom, neither body nor mind actually exists. As I stated previously ''One who can concentrate will be able to accomplish everything. One who abides in emptiness radiates light.'' One attains the light by completely letting go of both mind and body.
If one cultivates to the point of completely letting go of body and mind, then there is ''no way in.'' Grandmaster has cultivated letting go of body and mind and hence has no fear of ghosts. It's because one ''has a body'' that a ghost can attach to one. If one ''doesn't have a body'' then there is nothing for a ghost to attach to.
By having no thoughts there is nothing for a ghost to attach to. The true principle is ''no way in.'' It's by ''not allowing a way in'' that ghosts are unable to attach. Because of ''no way in'' there is nothing whatsoever to fear. For protection from ghosts one must cultivate to this point. By having a body one becomes host of a boarding house for ghosts. When XX walks by, ghosts surround her. Ghosts will use an ordinary person as host of their shelter and reside there. One then becomes insane. This is a spirit illness. When one truly strips oneself of body and mind and returns to emptiness, one's entire body is light. Since there is ''no way in,'' ghosts cannot attach to one. This is the only way to treat a spirit illness. This same treatment is applied to evil.
Ghosts are like this. When one becomes a boarding house for ghosts they will be attached to one at all times. To get rid of them one must first rely on Grandmaster's power to strike them out. One then relies on one's own power. The method of substitution can also be used to get rid of ghosts.
I will now tell you about a simple method that had been used even when I was little. If attacked by a ghost, place your own well-worn clothing on your altar. Get a plate and put some rice in it, and place your well-worn clothing on top of the rice. Then insert three sticks of incense into the rice and place some offerings on the altar. Because the clothes represent you, the ghost attached to you will come out and attach to the clothing instead. As soon as the incense has partly or completely burned down, take it outside. The ghost will follow the incense and leave the house. Then burn the rice on the plate and throw the clothes away. The ghost is guided out of oneself through the rice, the clothing, and the incense. Afterwards, one performs boundary protection and recites the Mahabala mantra, ''Om。 ma-ha-ba-la。ye。 so-ha。''
Turn this way. (Grandmaster demonstrates how to turn). The ghost can no longer get inside one's body and one's sickness will be cured.
What I just told you is the truth. One can remove a ghost by using one's old clothes, rice, a rice plate, three sticks of incense, and some offerings. This method works because when a ghost sees the offerings, it will leave your body and attach to your old clothes and the rice. The ghost then enjoys the offerings. While the ghost is enjoying the offerings, you must quickly take the rice outside and throw it away. Also throw your old clothes in the trash can and let the ghost go smell the trash. By using this method the ghost will be drawn out of the body and leave the house. One then performs strong boundary protection.
On his birthday, a boy blew out the candles on his cake and made a wish, ''I will be a big success, make lots of money, buy a good car, and buy a mansion, all for my parents. I will also give my parents lots of money.'' The father said: ''That sounds great, but what if you are unable to do it?'' The boy immediately replied, ''I will burn them to you on Tomb Sweeping Day.''
Spiritual Affliction Removal Using Rice & Clothing is a method one can use to remove an attached spirit by using rice and old clothing. When we were youngsters, we used the method to help a child afflicted by spirits. Although it is an ''unreal'' method it can guide the attached spirit out of the body and remove it. This is also a substitution practice.
The joke I just told was about substitution dharma. ''I can burn a refrigerator, burn a TV, burn a computer, burn an Apple iphone…'' It doesn't matter if the dead don't know how to use an iphone because the founder of Apple, Steven Paul Jobs, can teach them in the netherworld.Ok! Does everyone have a clear understanding of what I talked about today? Regarding cultivation of Whole Body Clairvoyant Eyes, did everybody understand? Thanks everyone!
Om Mani Padme Hum.
Translated by True Buddha Translation Teams
Translator: Henry Wolf
Editor: DJ Chang
