November 17, 2019, Rainbow Temple, Mahottara Homa Ceremony
[TBS News]
Lamdre Exposition by Dharma King Lian-sheng
Summary of Dharma Talk

On November 17, 2019, Grandmaster Living Buddha Lian-sheng presided over the Mahottara Homa Ceremony.

In Tantrayana’s Nyingma lineage, the Mahottara dharma is very important and supreme. The Chinese term, "Da Huan Hua Wang" means this: “Da Huan” symbolises the universe, "Hua” means change, and “Wang” denotes the net of affinities or cause-and-effect. The various affinities are ever-changing in the net of the universe, and hence, the dharma is inconceivable in magnitude. The Principle Deity for the Mahottara dharma is the ever-supreme Heruka, and hence the name of the Vajra Protector is also Mahottara Heruka Vajra. Mahottara Heruka is the fiery emanation of the 16th-Bhumi Buddha, the Primordial Tathagata Samantabhadra. The mantra is, “Om, bey-za, jaw-da, ma-ha-say, see-lee, hey-roo-ka, hum-hum, pei.”

The mantra is very potent, for not only does it aptly convey the powers of the Mahottara Heruka, it has the meritorious powers to cure illnesses. In a recent Mahottara Heruka ceremony held in Taiwan, there were many mind-boggling miracles.

The rays that Mahottara Heruka emits are like those of 100 treasures combined – in fact, there are 100 kinds of powerful lights with piercing brilliance.

In any Mahottara Heruka ceremony, the organizers would play a recording of the mantra over the public address system for five minutes to request Mahottara Heruka to cure illnesses. On this afternoon, the ceremony was that of Mahottara Heruka as well. The Dharma King prayed for Mahottara Heruka to shine its light on the audience so that they could be cured of their illnesses. The Dharma King said that the ailments would be cured in an instant, and if not, one night’s sleep should do the work. Mahottara Heruka is one of the Five Major Vajra Protectors in Tantrayana.

In general, people find it difficult to adhere to precepts. Man's lust is like wild weeds. If you place a stone on the weeds, the grass will die, but only temporarily. The moment the rain comes and the rock is removed, the weeds will grow again. It is just like binding a person with precepts, hoping to keep the lust at bay. The lust will seem to have died, but the moment the binds are removed, the lust will awaken with a vengeance. In Tantrayana, we use the method of channelizing.

The Dharma King explained, “In Mahayana, the common method is to repress lust in a bid to break it down. When lust arises to reach the sexual organ, the lust is immediately blocked to cut its passage. This is called adherence to the precepts. But in Tantrayana, the channelizing method involves diverting lust into several channels for dispersion, so that the lust flows naturally into oblivion."

The Dharma King used himself as an example: He has cultivated to the stage where he is able to keep and release [lightdrops] at will, and “this is the real martial arts!” In the learning of Buddhism till now, the Dharma King has achieved non-attachment, as in, “anything goes, as long as it is for the best.”

There is an important Mahottara Heruka dharma called the "Black Retreat". When the Dharma King transmitted the “Mahottara Heruka Whole Body Clairvoyant Eyes Vajra Dharma" previously, he had taught the methods. He explained again, when one is in “Black Retreat”, whatever is before one is black [the cultivator is in a dark room with no lights]. Only the eyes will emit light. There are also eyes on one’s body (eg: eye of one ear viewing the eye of the other ear, the eye in the crown chakra looking at the eye in the root chakra); these eyes which face each other at opposite ends have lights that shine on each other, to the extent that the whole body is full of eyes that are eventually radiating light. The cultivator will discover that every skin pore contains a Buddha -- the whole body becomes full of Buddhas. This cultivation practice of Mahottara Heruka requires a high cultivation level. If one can cultivate "Whole Body Clairvoyant Eyes Vajra Dharma" until one’s whole body has eyes, one will radiate light. The light is the original light [of the original nature].

The Dharma King then expounded on the Lamdre.

The text mentioned, “There is no transgression when dew droplets are produced by the body. There is also no transgression if the experiences of the five senses are immersed in dew droplets.” A yogi or yogini will inhale one breath or Qi and hold it in his or her dan-tien; the Qi will then enter the central channel and subsequently to all the five chakras. The Qi will also be pushed to all the branching channels, even the finest ones. Wherever the Qi goes, the lightdrops will go, and so will the bliss. All transgressions are therefore eliminated. The whole body’s Qi is moving, the inner fire is ascending, and the lightdrops are descending. Bliss ensues. Those are all dew droplets.

After the dharma exposition, the Dharma King bestowed the empowerment of the Mahottara Heruka. All ended well in auspiciousness.

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