Dharma King Living Buddha Lian Sheng Sheng-yen Lu, Feb. 24, 2013, Xiang Hua Temple, Taiwan, Ragaraja Homa Ceremony, Dharma talk (Beginning greetings and Jokes excluded)

Today we are holding a dharma ceremony for the great deity of love and respect, Ragaraja. This Vidyaraja is truly extraordinary. If you recite Ragaraja's mantra ''hum, tsa-zhi-hum, re.'' 300,000 times, this Vidyaraja will help you attain spiritual union with any deity you are cultivating. What makes this deity exceptional is that he is a matchmaker, an intermediary, which is to say he ties the red lines. If you have been unable to obtain spiritual union with a deity, you can pray to Ragaraja that he will enable you to achieve spiritual union. As long as you pray to Ragaraja, Ragaraja will take you to see the principal deity. When the principal deity sees you and merges with you, you obtain spiritual union. I'm telling you unequivocally. All you need to do is to recite Ragaraja's mantra 300,000 times and then pray for spiritual union with the principal deity. Through this method, upon completing 300,000 repetitions of the Ragaraja mantra, Ragaraja will enable you to easily obtain spiritual union with the deity.

There are many people who listen to my dharma talks but they fail to pay close attention and miss the key points. There are many people who have cultivated for 10, 20, or 30 years and never attained spiritual union. Having failed to obtain spiritual union they lose faith. When there is spiritual union there will be no loss of faith. Losing faith is always the result of failing to obtain spiritual union. I have spoken at length about Ragaraja and have said all there is to be said about him. But the most important principle is to recite the Ragaraja mantra 300,000 times and then pray to Ragaraja for spiritual union with the deity you are cultivating. Because Ragaraja acts as an intermediary, you and the deity will have spiritual union. Now I have extracted the key point and presented it to you, and you must remember it. If you have cultivated but are still unable to obtain spiritual union you must recite the Ragaraja mantra 300,000 times. This lays a foundation. The mantra recitations are an intermediary for forming spiritual union between you and the deity.

Everybody takes a look at Ragaraja's mudra! The middle fingers are extended and crossed while other fingers are interlaced inward. This represents spiritual union. You and your principal deity merging together is spiritual union. Now I have spoken about this at great length. You cannot blame me, Grandmaster Lu, if you cultivate for a long time and still don't know whether or not you have attained spiritual union. During previous talks on Ragaraja, I have mentioned this practice previously without emphasizing it. Today I will stress the key point. Just recite Ragaraja's mantra 300,000 times and pray that you will attain spiritual union with all the deities you are cultivating. This is the best method (applause). This deity is about love and respect on a large scale, although, of course, he's also about love and respect on a smaller scale too. The love and respect of this deity lasts forever, unlike the love between ordinary people, which is relatively short-lived. Let me tell you a simple joke: A wife asked her husband ''If someday I were to leave you, what would you do?'' ''I would die.'' The husband replied. Wow! The wife was so touched when she heard him say this. ''Really?'' she asked. ''Are you truly unable to live without me?'' Her husband replied ''I would die of being too excited.'' So, their love was short-term.

The love of Ragaraja is forever, because after all, he is a Vajra Protector, a Vajra Vidyaraja. His power is enormous and his great love and respect are also enormous.


If you pray to him for small love and respect then the kind of love and respect you get will be just like that in the joke I told you. We hope that the love and respect you pray for, that you receive through the proof of Ragaraja, will endure forever. If you do not receive this kind of love and respect you will be like this: ''Money can buy a house but it can't buy a home,'' which is to say you can't buy the loving warmth of a real home. ''You can buy a marriage, but you can't necessarily buy true love.'' ''You can buy a watch, but you can't buy time.'' ''Money isn't everything. On the contrary, it's the root of all suffering.'' Give all your money to Grandmaster! (Grandmaster and the audience laugh). I'll take on all your suffering! What a funny joke!

Just now I saw people offering a great deal of money to Ragaraja, but of course, Ragaraja has no use for it. I also don't know who is going to use this money. So, when you make an offering, you must have an object of the offering. Just now a lot of people were offering hatas to Ragaraja. I was thinking, you can give a hata to Ragaraja, but who are you going to give the money to? I'm just joking with you all. Grandmaster is a person who just goes with the flow, and as far as money is concerned, I don't really think about it. So I have no idea how much money there is. I am the most fortunate because all my money is up in heaven. Every time I walk down the road and look at those high buildings in Qiqi, Taichung. I think ''Wow!'' what impressive buildings. They must have cost hundreds of millions of dollars, because the price of just one floor is almost $100 million. ''F.S.C. Property Management Consulting Co.'' is written on the sign, and everyone knows who F.S.C is. Right? I believe he has too much money to count, but is he really happy? Of course he's happy. He has a perfect family, shows great compassion toward everyone, and frequently makes donations. But I want to tell all of you, the most fortunate person is the one who cultivates. Who was the richest person in my era? Mr. Wang Yung-ching. We say Wang Yung-ching was the richest. Is Wang Yung-ching still rich? No, he is not rich, but his daughter is and so are his descendants. Earning temporary wealth and riches is not as good as having wealth and riches in heaven. So, we who cultivate are the most fortunate, are the richest, and understand what love truly is. Ragaraja has great blessing power, and he can cause your fate or destiny to ripen. But whether this fate or destiny will be long-term or short-term, no one can predict. We must view the affairs of this world with ordinary mind. It is best that we cultivate the buddhadharma to attain the true, authentic destination. That is to say, reaching the Buddha Pure Land is your ultimate destination. If you can reach the Buddha Pure Land, your good fortune will be infinite.

《Nectar Dharma》

In order to reach the Pure Land, your body and mind must be pure, and for this Ragaraja has a Nectar Dharma Practice. This deity, Ragaraja, is different from other deities. He is sitting on a nectar vase, a lotus stem growing up from a nectar vase, the stem opens up and becomes a lotus having 1,000 petals. The deity Ragaraja transforms atop the 1,000 petaled lotus. The form Ragaraja has is one face and six arms. One pair of hands holds mala beads in one hand and a lotus in the other. The second pair of hands hold a bow in the one hand and an arrow in the other hand. The pair of hands held lowest hold a vajra sceptre in one hand and a vajra bell in the other. You can visualize Ragaraja like this. Ragaraja transforms from the syllable ''hum'' and the lotus transforms from the syllable ''bang.'' The nectar vase transforms from the syllable ''seh.'' Regardless of anything I may have said previously, today I am saying this. In cultivating the Nectar Dharma Practice, one first visualizes Ragaraja. Transform the mantra syllables into the nectar vase, transform the mantra syllables into the 1,000 petaled lotus, and then transform the mantra syllables into Ragaraja. One then visualizes that Ragaraja moves to the crown of one's head, and nectar drips down through the nectar vase, flowing through your central channel and filling your entire body up with nectar, completely eliminating all karmic obstacles and obscurations from your body. You can visualize that the nectar is red since Ragaraja is red in color.

When you do the visualization it is like this: Ragaraja is sitting atop your crown; beneath Ragaraja is the lotus, the lotus stem, then the nectar vase; nectar penetrates through the nectar vase into your central channel; your entire body fills up with nectar eliminating all karmic obstacles and obscurations from your bod; and then black chi comes out from your pores and drifts away. Then when your entire body is filled with red nectar you will have become purified and it will be easy for you to reach the Buddha Pure Land. This is a Nectar Purification Dharma Practice which I have explained to you simply. You absolutely must remember it correctly. Ragaraja specially has a nectar vase. He is sitting on the nectar vase, sitting on a 1,000 petaled lotus which is growing up out of the nectar vase. Everyone should have a clear visualization. This is the method for cultivating the Nectar Dharma Practice. It's very important. We now have his mudra, his form and his mantra. The mantra is ''hum, tsa-zhi-hum, re. hum, tsa-zhi-hum, re.''

The previous Ragaraja ceremony in Hong Kong was presided over by Master Lian Deng but it was Master Chang Ren who organized the overall event. Master Chang Ren came up with something new. He organized a marching band to accompany the mantra chanting. The marching band was moving back and forth as if they were on a railroad track. They sang the mantra very distinctly ''hum, tsa-zhi-hum, re. hum, tsa-zhi-hum, re.'' It was quite similar to disco dancing. It made a deep impression on me. Just recite the Ragaraja mantra 300,000 times. You form the mudra and visualize first before chanting the mantra. While reciting the mantra, you can hold the mala beads. While you are visualizing, form the mudra; then recite the mantra after the visualization. This sequence applies to every dharma practice. Each dharma practice consists of the preliminary part, the main part, and the closing part. During the main part of each practice, one visualizes then chants the mantra. After you have practiced accordingly and finished 300,000 mantra recitations, pray for spiritual union with the deity. You will attain spiritual union with the deity very quickly. When you attain spiritual union with Ragaraja, because he acts as an intermediary for all the deities, he will enable you to see the deity you wish to see, and it will be easy for you to attain spiritual union with the deity. You really must not get this wrong. There are many dharma cultivation methods which everyone gets wrong.

Once there was a guy who was counting up the amount of salary he had received and he discovered that he had been shorted $100. He was really angry and went to ask the accountant about it. The accountant said ''Last month I overpaid you $100. Did you get angry about that?'' He held his head high and replied in a loud voice ''I can forgive one mistake but I absolutely cannot forgive the second mistake!'' In cultivating we must not make mistakes. One visualizes first, then recites the mantra. While visualizing you form the mudra, and once you begin to recite the mantra, you can pick up your mala beads. Don't make the mistake of forming the mudra first and then visualizing. When you are visualizing and begin to form the mudra that signifies purification of the body and mind. Reciting the mantra signifies purification of the speech. Purification of body, speech, and mind is the key point of cultivation. When you form the mudra, that signifies purification of the body and visualization signifies purification of the mind. At this time the mind is not wandering and distracted. When visualizing Ragaraja, visualize him having six arms. One must clearly visualizes the object he is holding in each of his six hands. Clearly visualize his face and clearly visualize the 1,000 petaled lotus he is sitting upon. One also clearly visualizes the nectar vase he is sitting on. Don't make mistakes. It is while you are visualizing that you form the mudra. Even now there are still a lot of people who don't know this. They don't know to form the mudra while visualizing, and their visualization is just visualization and nothing more. Visualization is purification of the mind. Forming the mudra is purification of the body. Mantra recitation is purification of speech. The tantric techniques for cultivating attainment of spiritual union require purification of body, speech, and mind. These three purifications are vital for attainment of spiritual union with the personal deity. Do not make mistakes.

There is a joke, but this joke's way of ''missing someone'' is inappropriate. A guy was missing someone and said ''Suppose I am thinking of you, having you in mind, missing you, and have an artist paint your picture and tape it inside my cup so I can look at you every time I take a drink - Will this make you happy? Now I pour hot water in the cup and boil you to death!'' What I mean by this is that within the Ragaraja practices there is the dharma of drawing his image, which means drawing a picture of him. The method of ''drawing an image'' is part of many tantric teachings. Painting a thangka is another ''drawing an image'' dharma, and so is sketching with a pen.

《The Dharma of Drawing an Image》

As you imagine Ragaraja, you should imagine the crown he is wearing, imagine that his hair is standing straight up, imagine his fierce eyes, his nose, teeth, his upper and lower fangs, his ears, his wrathfulness, his boldness and power, and his six arms. Imagine this all gradually and draw slowly. He sits on a 1,000 petaled lotus. A lotus stem goes down beneath the petals, then a nectar vase. Draw as you visualize. While drawing one is not distracted, one's mind is absorbed. It's a method of enabling your mind to become focused. While painting, a painter's mind is concentrated and does not wander. It's like that. Otherwise, if you are distracted and unfocused, your finished drawing will not resemble the image. So, the intent of the ''Dharma of Drawing an Image'' is to strengthen your power of visualization. Drawing the image is equivalent to visualizing and purifying your mind. This is a method of practice. So, Ragaraja has the ''Dharma of Drawing an Image,'' which is also a method of cutting off evil thoughts. One always has improper and unkind thoughts in one's mind. If you want to stop these bad thoughts, then just go ahead and get a pencil and a piece of white paper, think of Ragaraja and draw his image. While one is visualizing and drawing one is able to naturally cut off the flow of improper and evil thoughts. There is merit in your drawing the image of Ragaraja, a tremendous amount of merit. The merit in drawing an image of a buddha itself is already huge. While drawing or painting one cuts off one's bad thoughts. This is very good practice and training in concentrating one's mind and stopping the flow of evil thoughts. Therefore, this practice is also called the ''Dharma of Cutting off Evil Thoughts.'' By frequently drawing images of the buddha you are actually visualizing and purifying your mind. By practicing this method frequently all one's myriad evil and improper thoughts become purified. And after a long period of time, one's evil thoughts will no longer arise. How is one affected by this? Good thoughts increase! As bad thoughts slowly diminish, good thoughts increase. By decreasing evil thoughts, one's mind is gradually purified. This is the ''Dharma of Cutting off Evil Thoughts.'' Why don't you all learn to sketch, get hold of a pen and some paper, and learn to draw the buddha and your personal deity. When you have finished drawing your personal deity the image is immediately imprinted in your brain. It doesn't matter if one is actually drawing an image. As long as able to imagine the personal deity one has practiced the ''Dharma of Cutting off Evil Thoughts.'' Seeing a painting or sketch is also the dharma of cutting off evil thoughts. After you draw for a long time, the image will be imprinted in your brain, and it then becomes easier for you to invoke the personal deity and attain spiritual union. This is the ''Dharma of Drawing an Image.'' Previously, at a dharma ceremony arranged by Master Chang Ren and presided over by Master Lian Deng, I explained in detail the ''Dharma of Drawing an Image.'' You have the time and the place. The ''Dharma of Drawing an Image'' is a useful method for cutting off evil thoughts.

《The Dharma of Shooting Arrows》

Ragaraja carries a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other. If you feel a person is mistreating you and you want that person to change and start treating you well you can use a ''flower arrow,'' an arrow transformed from a flower. The bow is used to shoot the ''flower arrow'' into the person's heart. Woosh! You have shot it into his heart. Now that person will love and respect you because it is a flower and red is the color of love and respect. However, don't just randomly shoot. In a nutshell, the person's love and respect for you will increase, and this is a good thing. Shooting with red colored flowers is the dharma of love and respect. Shooting with blue colored flowers is to subjugate his feelings of revenge or hatred toward you. This is very useful. If you shoot red flowers at the person his feelings of love and respect toward you will grow and strengthen. If you shoot blue flowers at him, this will eliminate his feelings of revenge and hatred toward you. This is a really good method. It is important that, besides the ''Dharma of Drawing an Image,'' there is also the ''Dharma of Shooting Arrows.''

《Love and Respect Dharma》

There is one more love and respect dharma which I have spoken about previously while teaching Ragaraja dharma. You will need 108 stamens from a red lotus. After reciting the mantra, you throw the 108 stamens into the homa burner and then pray for mutual love between you and the person. The person will fulfill your prayer and fall in love with you. This is a method which those in love can use. Get 108 stamens from a red lotus, and then at a homa for Ragaraja throw the stamens into the homa fire. Wish to be with the person for the long-term and the person will be with you for the long-term. This is a dharma method to gain love and respect.

《The Dharma of Carving an Image》

If what you want is love from the general public, there is the dharma of carving an image. The dharma of carving an image involves carving an image of Ragaraja about the size of your thumb from wood, stone, or any other material, and wearing it around your chest. However, prior to wearing the carved image on your chest you must first recite the Ragaraja mantra 300,000 times. After you have hung the image around your chest it will become your badge of protection and an emblem bringing great love and respect. Once you have it then run for councillor, the legislature, or even president. You just need to show up, and because of wearing on your body this carving of Ragaraja which has been blessed by your recitation of 300,000 Ragaraja mantras, the general public will be drawn to you by the great Ragaraja and will vote for you. This is a dharma of tantric buddhism. Here with us today are councillors and legislators. Yesterday, Legislator Ma Wen-zhun and Legislator Representative Cha Chi-chang were here with us. All you need is a carved image of Ragaraja the size of your thumb- then recite the Ragaraja mantra 300,000 times, hang the carved image on your chest, and no matter what office you are running for you will be elected. It is equally powerful for election to any office. Very few politicians and political candidates know about this Tantric dharma method. I'm secretly telling you this because you are not running for office. But those politicians running for office will need this method. Really, carve the image of Ragaraja, recite the mantra 300,000 times, and wear the image as your badge of protection. Wherever you go the public will follow you.

The singing star Cho Zhu-lwun - Chou Tung, everyone calls him Chou-tung, must have cultivated Ragaraja or Kurukulle in a previous life. Otherwise he could never be such a big star today. And two of our own reverends? Where are those two? Please stand up. Which one of these two reverends' figure, height, built and facial features is not as good as Cho Zhu-lwun? As long as they show up, many young ladies will attend the group practice. Their facial features are well shaped, and they look very delicate and handsome. They are also tall, not like Grandmaster, who is quite short. Grandmaster also cultivated this dharma in previous lives. Although I am short, I am well-liked by everyone. My attendants are tall and handsome, but what about me? Of course I'm better! Seeing how Chou Zhu-lwun is able to have such huge success these days, it is definitely the result of his cultivation in a past life. All he needs to do is smile, casually toss his hair that randomly covers half his face, and all the girls start screaming. Think about it, if you cultivate this dharma in this life and pray that in your next life you will be able to attract the general public, then this is a very beneficial dharma, very beneficial to you personally. The Dharma of Carving an Image can likewise be useful for saving many sentient beings. Some Masters do wear a carving of Ragaraja on their body. This method must be used properly for the purpose of saving sentient beings.

《Dharma of Exorcising Demons》

Also, there is a dharma for exorcising demons. Because Ragaraja is a Vajra Vidyaraja he has great power. Looking at the world, we can only see tangible things in the realm of form but not the intangible the in formless realm. In reality, there are many spirits who disturb certain people. But if you have spiritual union with Ragaraja, when these spirits come to disturb you, recite the Ragaraja mantra 300,000 times and pray to Ragaraja to sit on your crown. Or you can ''self engender,'' which means transforming yourself into Ragaraja. ''Dependent engender'' is when Ragaraja appears in front of you or sits on top of your crown. In addition, you can merge with Ragaraja. After you have merged with Ragaraja, write the syllable ''hum'' on your right palm and write a ''hum'' syllable on your left palm, then pat with both your palms the person possessed by an evil spirit, the mentally disturbed person, or a person who has a sickness caused by a ghost. When you pat him, pat his back. You have the dharma power of Ragaraja. You recite Ragaraja's mantra ''hum, tsa-zhi-hum, re. hum, tsa-zhi-hum, re. hum, tsa-zhi-hum, re.'' First write the ''hum'' syllable on both palms (you have already chanted Ragaraja's mantra 300,000 times) then you pat. When you pat the person's shoulders the ghost or devil inside the person will be unable to withstand the power of Ragaraja and will quickly get out. This is a subjugation dharma. It's very useful. On top of that, Ragaraja's mantra is short and easy to recite. With only 300,000 recitations you have earned it, it's cheap! Moreover, all of you can be great dharma masters! If someone is afflicted by evil spirits, or someone (such as a child) is frightened by a demon, just lightly pat his back and recite ''hum, tsa-zhi-hum, re. hum, tsa-zhi-hum, re.'' The devil will not be able to stand it and will leave in a hurry. Those afflicted by evil spirits, possessed, with illnesses caused by hateful ghosts, or who are being terrorized, can all be cured with this method. If someone has a true sickness, then that person should first consult a physician. If it is an illness which can't be cured by a physician, then you can use this method. If there is an illness which a doctor cannot cure, but you are able to cure it, then you are greater than the physician.

In cultivating the dharma practices of Ragaraja, as the Vice Chief Councillor said previously, one must have a righteous mind. This is how it must be - have a righteous mind, perform good and virtuous deeds and speak kindly to others. When you have right and proper thoughts, virtuous thoughts, good thoughts, you will naturally attain results in your cultivation. If you have bad thoughts, perverted thoughts, or inappropriate thoughts, then your cultivation will not lead to spiritual union. To obtain spiritual union from cultivation the first requirement is to have right and proper thoughts, virtuous thoughts, and really good thoughts about universally saving sentient beings. When your thoughts are right and proper, virtuous, and concerned with saving sentient beings, then you will definitely attain spiritual union from your cultivation. If you have twisted and perverted thoughts, bad thoughts, improper and inappropriate thoughts, how do you think you will attain spiritual union? It would be strange indeed if you did obtain spiritual union. Right? So, generally speaking, it is this kind of person who loses faith. Grandmaster has attained spiritual union and thus will never lose faith. As I have said before, you can backslide in your faith, but where are you backsliding to? This is how it is when one loses one's faith. No matter what, you must maintain right and proper thoughts in cultivation. This is what is most important.

Today we talked about the dharma practices of Ragaraja; the Dharma of Drawing an Image, the Dharma of Carving and Image, Nectar Dharma, the Dharma of Love and Respect, and the Dharma of Exorcising Evil Spirits. This is already a lot of practices for you to use, so I'll end todays dharma talk here.

Om mani padme hum

!!Please be cautioned that before anyone can practice any uncommon dharma practices, they are advised and recommended to take refuge and the respective empowerment. The alternative is to be responsible for facing inherent cause and effect!!