On June 30, 2018, HH Living Buddha Lian-sheng visited Oakland, California to preside over a Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Grand Luotian Ritual, Dark-faced Golden Mother, and Pure Land Trinity Ceremony: Ghost Headquarters Has Now Been Annihilated


【TBSN News】
Over 200 masters and reverends, along with approximately 5,000 True Buddha School (TBS) disciples, came to the Oakland Convention Center to support the Grand Luotian Ritual. There were 10 mandalas constructed at the venue; the seven major mandalas (the Great Buddha mandala, the Eight Great Bodhisattvas mandala, the 18 Arhats mandala, Jade Pond Golden Mother mandala, Ksitigarbha mandala, the Three Heavenly Realms mandala and the Vajra Protectors mandala); the main shrine mandala; a mandala for the deceased; and a mandala for extension of life. Char-faced Ghost Kings, who are manifestations of the mercy and compassion of Guanyin Bodhisattva, stood guard at each mandala. These impressive mandalas, around ten feet in height, along with the rich and abundant offerings, lent the occasion an air of solemnity and elicited feelings of wonder and reverence in all present.

This first-ever Luotian Ritual soon unfolded with the mounting of a black command flag on the apex of the central Great Buddha mandala. The command flag symbolized total command over all ghosts and spirits. The ceremony commenced, and following the sadhana of the Luotian Ritual, Grandmaster led the TBS sangha in the performance of purification. Next, Grandmaster used a gavel made from wood struck by lightning to invoke buddhas, bodhisattvas, deities, vajra protectors, devas, dakas, and dakinis to bless and protect the ceremony, and invoked the bearer of the black command flag, Char-faced Ghost King, as well as all the other ghost kings in the Ksitigarbha Sutra. Finally, all wandering ghosts were summoned and the Great Mandala Offering was performed.

Grandmaster then announced the total count of sutra/mantra recitations dedicated to the ceremony:
Padmakumara Heart Mantra: 595,222,010
Mantras of various buddhas, bodhisattvas, and dharma protectors: 169,076,407
Taoist mantras: 411,254
Names of buddhas, bodhisattvas, dharma protectors, and celestial deities: 14,231,546
True Buddha Sutra: 1,197,214
High King Sutra: 4,150,072
Ksitigarbha Sutra: 102,637
Heart Sutra: 1,001,862
Jade Pond Golden Mother's Authentic Sutra of Universal Deliverance, Retrieval of Perfection, and Liberation Through Meditation, Stability, and Wisdom: 17,548
Taoist sutras: 130,414
Prajna system sutras: 15,115
Cultivations: 452,109
Repentance, water offering, homa, feast offering ceremonies: 4,634
Other sutras: 875,487
Parts of the ceremony were performed in theater dance style, and featured themes relating to the ignorance of sentient beings, breaking open the doors of hell, invocation of the supreme power of buddha for salvation and liberation, and the giving of dharma to spirits by bestowing refuge empowerment and teaching them precepts. These amazing performances caused uproar in heaven and earth!

Following the ceremony, Grandmaster discoursed that the Grand Luotian Ritual was auspicious and perfect, and that many miracles will soon unfold due to the support and blessings of buddhas, bodhisattvas, vajra protectors and the Luotian itself. Grandmaster said that the illnesses of ceremony participants will be eradicated, all registered ancestors were delivered, and that XX Ghost Headquarters was annihilated.

Grandmaster stated that in particular, around 70% of the spirits imprisoned in the adjacent hell, a spontaneously manifested hell contingent upon XX House and located adjacent to the main hell, were delivered. Among these spirits, those with light karmic hindrances were delivered to the buddha land while those with severe karmic hindrances were sent before the Divine Wheel-turning King and will undergo transmigration in samsara.

There were 3,000 extremely evil spirits still remaining in Ghost Headquarters. These ungovernable and vicious spirits received satisfaction from causing harm to sentient beings. The ghost kings took these evil spirits to hell. The Ghost Headquarters has therefore been utterly destroyed. It is hoped that disciples were freed of ghost attachments and their karmic hindrances were eradicated.

Grandmaster explained in his discourse that in cultivation there are the four holy realms, the six realms of transmigration, and the ten dharma realms. The fundamental requirement for reincarnation as a human is to abide by the five precepts. If one goes further and performs the ten good deeds, one will be reincarnated in the celestial realms (Three Heavenly Realms). If one abandons the six thieves (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind), one will reincarnate as an arhat. If one masters the six paramitas, one becomes a bodhisattva. If one follows the holy eightfold path, one attains complete awakening and buddhahood.

At the beginning of this year, Grandmaster stated that the word ''stuck'' (Chinese: 卡 ) could be used to describe the fate of the upcoming year. Grandmaster felt there would be many obstacles to the Grand Luotian Ceremony, and it turned out that just as the ceremony was about to begin, the movable partitions between the two main halls got stuck and couldn't be opened. As a result, some disciples had to be seated behind the partitions. The situation was just as Grandmaster predicted for this year, that is, being stuck and unable to move in either direction. Also, it's unfortunate that several buddha statues ordered for the seven mandalas got stuck going through customs. Due to this delay, tablets had to be used instead of the statues.

Many people suffered spirit disturbances prior to the ceremony, and a disciple who acted as Zhongcun Yiwu, one of the Five Ghost Ringleaders, was especially disturbed. Grandmaster explained that this was because Zhongcun Yiwu was a cold blooded assassin and the leader of the 3,000 evil and ferocious ghosts mentioned earlier. These 3,000 spirits have been sent to hell. The remaining four ghost ringleaders took refuge in Grandmaster. Grandmaster also revealed that he was once a shogun in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. As a result, the Japanese evil spirits were subdued immediately upon encountering Grandmaster.

As soon as Grandmaster saw though the existence of Ghost Headquarters, the evil activities of ghosts in the Ghost Headquarters greatly intensified. They began causing even more serious harm and destruction. In particular, the United States has suffered from frequent mass shooting incidents in recent years, and in the state of California, there have been rampant brush fires. There have been cases of zombie deer and raccoons. These evil deeds have been carried out by ghosts from the Ghost Headquarters.
Grandmaster advised XX to enshrine and worship buddhas and bodhisattvas such as the buddhas of the three times, the Five Buddhas, protectors of the eight directions, and vajra protectors. In addition, Grandmaster warned XX not to invoke evil spirits and ghosts as protectors and advised her that these evil spirits will sooner or later turn against her (XX's cultivation of evil spirits and demons is completely different from how Padmasambhava dealt with evil spirits in Tibet. Padmasambhava never made offerings to demons and only transformed them into dharma protectors after they had been subjugated.).

In the past, XX intimidated many disciples by predicting they would soon die. These terrifying predictions have been shown to be a pack of lies. These ''predictions'' were just a pretext for extorting money from disciples. Grandmaster discoursed that the power of good triumphs over the power of evil, and that buddhas and vajra protectors can never be replaced with ghosts and spirits. Grandmaster hopes that after this ceremony, the United States and the world as a whole will enjoy peace and be free from calamities!

Through this Luotian Ceremony, TBS disciples truly demonstrated a united effort in full and single-minded support of Grandmaster's accomplishment of this sacred and inconceivable grand deliverance. Over just a few months, disciples generated extensive bodhicitta and diligently recited sutras and mantras, dedicating the merit of recitation to the success of the ceremony.

Following his discourse, Grandmaster bestowed refuge empowerment as well as empowerment for Dark-faced Golden Mother, Pure Land Trinity and Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Grand Luotian Ritual practice. The ceremony concluded perfectly and auspiciously.


Chinese Source: True Buddha Vijaya Temple
Translated by True Buddha Translation Team
Translator: Lynn Ang
Editors: Henry Wolf and DJ Chang

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