On the afternoon of November 8th, 2009 at 3:00 p.m., Grand Master, the Living Buddha Lian-sheng conducted the unique Namo Kalachakra Deity Homa ceremony with bestowment of the empowerment thereof.

On dedication of merits, Grand Master single-mindedly beseeched Namo Kalachakra Deity to bardo-deliver all disembodied spirits of concern to the Pure Land of Buddhas, to bless the registered sentient beings such that their karmas of illness are removed, all calamities are overcome, fortune and wisdom are enchanced, venerated affection is satisfactorily fulfilled, all wishes are granted and all hateful adversaries are expelled.

After the ceremony, Grand Master, the Living Buddha Lian-sheng elaborated that fire offering ceremony is meant to offer fire to please the deities. Fire offering ceremony has been practiced since the ancient time in India and mentioned in Islamic Koran and Christian Old Testament Bible; they made fire offering to their gods as a common practice. There is also fire offering in Vajrayana Buddhism. In the ancient days of Buddhism, when the Buddha noticed fire offering practice was commonplace to the Brahmanic sect and that the majority of His disciples who took refuge in Him were originally from Brahamanic and Hindu sects, He adopted and further refined their fire offering practice into a virtuous fire offering homa practice so as to redeem His disciples on good affinity terms; the resulting fire offering homa practice is the homa in practice nowadays. The present homa ritual is different from other common fire offering rituals ; thus, there are the ordinary ritual of homa in the secular world and the sacredly genuine ritual of homa as founded by the Buddha.

Kalachakra Deity is an emanation and universal emanation body of the Buddha proper; hence, today`s homa ceremony is extraordinarily special because the Kalachakra Deity abided in the homa fire. But didn`t Buddhism emphasizes the importance of ``non-abiding`` mentality? Then, isn`t it ironic to say that the Kalachakra Deity ``abided`` in the fire? The veracity is that the anomaly is an expedient means to redeem all sentient beings. Upon concentration of mental energy, the Kalachakra Deity descended on the homa fire from the heavenly space to receive the offerings given by the registered sentient beings. This is expediently a ritualistic way of ``praying`` through fire offering, which is even more effective than the Christian way of praying. That`s because the homa ritual furnishes concrete and material offerings, among which are exotic and expensive articles. Moreover, the offerings are transformed (i.e. multiplied) by means of visualization.

The act of offering to deities represents sincerity at heart, a form of charity or alms-giving. There are various forms of alms-giving: money giving, dharma giving, bravery giving; the best charity is the one that benefits both self and others as this is the most perfect form of charity.

Grand Master continued to point out that Vajra Guardian Deities have to be offered alcohol beverage and meat because they are also known as Enterprise Vajras; they are destined to take care of (practitioner`s) business and affairs and need strength and vigor and heat energy. However, we, as practitioners must abide by the Five Precepts, among which are precepts against alcoholic drinking and cigarette smoking. The reason being that consumption of alcohol can cause a person to lose self control and make trouble, and cigarette smoking can lead to tuberculosis and lung cancer. In Buddhism, there are precepts ranging from the Five Precepts to the Eight Precepts. In addition, there are also the Boddhisattva Precepts which include the serious precepts and light precepts. Those who have been sworn to take the Vows of Boddhisattva Precepts must make effort to understand all the precepts listed in the Booklet of Precepts and abide by the Precepts. The most strict precepts are the ones taken by an ordained monk or nun, which are also known as the Major Triple Altar Precepts including the Five Precepts, the Novice Monk Precepts, Boddhisattva Precepts and Asceticism Precepts. An ordained monk has to observe 250 precepts and a nun has to observe 500 precepts.

White and black mustard seeds were offered in the fire of the homa. White mustard seeds are meant to enhance good karma and black mustard seeds are intended for eradication of bad karma; dark karma engendered by speech, action and intention are thus eliminated through the fire of homa. The significances of white and black mustard seeds are very important. Buddhism is meant to teaching sentient beings to do good deeds and stop bad deeds, to eradicate bad karmas and bring about good karmas, this is thus a course of action to cultivate good merits. All religions admonish people to stop evil deeds and do good deeds, and a practitioner must know how to accumulate heavenly merits, that is to ``firm the mind that is bent on righteous way, depart from evil and do good, cultivate oneself in the Four Preliminary Practices, practice repentance and make offerings to deities.``

Why people have to cultivate themselves in spiritual practice? Grand Master made reference to 3 points: (1) come to a realization that human lifespan is very short and full of suffering, and being not willing to reincarnate as human again in the next life, but willing to be delivered to a even better dimension, (2) being disgusted by human existence and the Six Divisions of Reincarnation and be reborn in the Pure Land of Buddhas and never retrogress and never reincarnate continually again, and (3) directly become a Buddha or Boddhisattva and attain the innate Buddha Nature. When Buddhahood is attained, calling forth the Boddhi Mind to redeem all sentient beings. After Buddhahood is attained, one enters the state of motionless contemplation which is equivalent to Nirvana state. But the Nirvana state is tantamount to the Arbitrary Maneuver state from which the practitioner is transformed back into a sentient being. As being a sentient being, the practitioner would proceed to redeem all other sentient beings. However, wisdom is the utmost and the practitioner shall attain the wisdom of Tathagata Buddha.

Therefore, there are 3 levels of motivation to spiritual cultivation: (1) to excel to a better dimension upon death, (2) never reincarnate continually again and be reborn in the Pure Land, and (3) to reach Buddhahood directly.

What we have learned so far can avail ourselves of deliverance to the Pure Land of Buddhas which is much higher than the heaven. We can also cultivate ourselves spiritually to become Buddhas; when the highest Buddhahood was reached, one could attain the Perfect Wisdom of a Buddha.

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