December 14, 2019, Medicine Buddha Group Cultivation
[TBS News]

Christmas is around the corner! The decorative lights adorning the eaves of the True Buddha Tantric Quarter in this corner of the world added cheer to the festive mood.

So it was on Saturday, December 14, that the Medicine Buddha Group Cultivation and the Lamdre discourse took place. After a dignified cultivation session, Grandmaster especially made his wish for True Buddha Boyeh (www.tbboyeh.org) known -- he would like www.tbboyeh.org to be accessible to anyone (not just disciples) who does not know about True Buddha School (TBS) or Grandmaster’s works. He hoped that anyone can easily chance upon www.tbboyeh.org while surfing the Internet.

As Grandmaster has never used the Internet, he enquired about its workings; coincidentally, dharma sister Zhou Huifang was around to answer his queries in detail. Zhou, who is the executive director of www.tbboyeh.org, reported to Grandmaster that anyone, regardless of whether he or she is Grandmaster’s disciple, is able to register as a member to peruse the full contents of the site. In fact, there are currently many members who are non-TBS disciples. Grandmaster is full of praise for www.tbboyeh.org as it is an outstanding site with varied and important functions. The user-experience obviously has been carefully thought through by the designers. He beseeched all disciples to register there, for the site contains many Grandmaster’s ebooks and articles. These works are not just in their original language, Chinese, but they are also in English and other languages translated by volunteers.

Grandmaster encourages the propagation of www.tbboyeh.org so that disciples as well as non-disciples can join as members to read the contents.

Next, Grandmaster expounded on the essence of the Lamdre. He explained the difference between ‘causative position’, the ‘fruition position’, and the ‘path position’.

These terms can easily be explained using the thangkas featuring the mandalas of Garbhadhātu and Vajradhātu, where the former symbolizes causality, while the latter represents fruition. The ‘causative position’ also refers to the exoteric state of existence of a person; after he or she attains Buddhahood, then he or she reaches the ‘fruition position’. The process that takes place between the two positions is known as the ‘path position’. The arising of the development stage [in spiritual cultivation] can be considered causative, while the completion stage [in spiritual cultivation] is fruitive. The process between these two stages is the ‘path position’.

Grandmaster also talked about the importance of cultivating a practice at least once a day for a cultivator. A monk or nun usually must undertake four cultivation sessions a day (in the morning, afternoon, evening and at night). Grandmaster said, “If one does not cultivate at least a session per day, one is a ghost for the day.” Hence, if one gets so busy to the extent that one does not have the time to undertake a cultivation session, then one does not receive empowerment. There is severance of empowerment from the cultivator.

Grandmaster explained further: When one goes about cultivating a Yidam practice, the Yidam will arrive. Once the Yidam sees the cultivator diligently practicing its sadhana, the Yidam will naturally bestow the dew droplets of empowerment upon the cultivator. When the Yidam arrives in front of the cultivator and merges with the cultivator, the cultivator can be said to have received empowerment.

The procedures in the sadhana -- such as “entering of the deity into oneself” and “releasing of oneself into the cosmic consciousness” as well as the blessings on the crown, throat and heart chakras by the three beams of lights (white, red and blue lights respectively) -- all involve the cultivator experiencing the brilliance of the lights. Only then can he or she be considered to have received empowerment. The stream of empowerment is always continuous and ceaseless. Every night, when Grandmaster and Golden Mother of the Primordial Pond merge as one, Grandmaster receives empowerment from Golden Mother. That is every day, and not a day less!

When the first three entanglements in one’s central channel are unknotted, one achieves the first bhūmi of Bodhisattvahood. When another three entanglements are undone, one progresses to the second bhūmi. Hence, as one progresses to the tenth bhūmi, one would have unknotted 30 entanglements. There are altogether 32 entanglements that can be unknotted, and once these are achieved, one would have reached beyond the tenth bhūmi.

As one purifies oneself again and again along the bhūmis’ progression, the development stage [in spiritual cultivation] and the perfection stage take place, leading to liberation (moksha). The four empowerments one receives [along the way] are: The Vase Empowerment, Red-and-White Flower Empowerment (second-level empowerment), Highest Yoga Tantra Empowerment (Wisdom empowerment) and Great Perfection Empowerment.

Grandmaster said, recently, every time he merged with his Yidam, the Golden Mother, he would notice a man entering his door. This man always wears boots, and everytime, when he arrives at Grandmaster’s side, his footsteps would stop. Yesterday, Grandmaster observed that the man was actually a spirit of someone who had hanged himself. Grandmaster said, only spirits of True Buddha disciples are able to enter his house. This spirit is carrying a certificate of refuge-taking. Grandmaster asked the audience if they know of anyone who had hanged himself. Grandmaster would like to identify the spirit in order to succor him.

(Afternote: after the cultivation session, when Grandmaster returned to the True Buddha Tantric Quarter, a disciple informed Grandmaster and Shimu that there was indeed a suicide case in Pingdong, Taiwan. A police officer had committed suicide by hanging himself. His family members had helped him to take refuge under Grandmaster, and they have requested for Grandmaster’s help to succor his spirit.)

Grandmaster told everyone that during cultivation, it is important for a cultivator to experience something [such as the lights], and also, to have the experience of receiving empowerment. If one does not experience anything at all, then one needs to check if one’s cultivation practice is thorough and whether one is wholehearted in one’s practice. One will surely receive empowerment from the Yidam if one does so. During the cultivation session, one must experience the arrival of the Yidam, and the entering of the Yidam via the crown. One must experience the blessings of the three lights -- the white light at one’s crown chakra, the red light at the throat chakra, and the blue light at the heart chakra. During the merger with one’s Yidam, one should be able to experience the Yidam in one’s whole body (from the head to the feet). This is true empowerment. When this happens, it is easier to gain spiritual union with the Yidam.

After the ceremony, Grandmaster bestowed the refuge-taking initiation on the new disciples. He also blessed the compassionate water and performed the consecration ritual on the Buddha statues and images. Before leaving the temple, Grandmaster touched the crown of every disciple to help them in the fulfillment of their wishes.

Walking out of the temple, we were joyous with the knowledge that we were with a Buddha -- we were able to walk with him, able to experience the drizzle with him, and we were in the same space as he was at that moment. We bowed in gratitude to our Lineage Root Guru.

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