Various Reasons on the Formation of
Different Scenes at the “Moment of Death”
The “scenes at the
moment of death” can be roughly classified in the following
categories in accord with the varieties of the
“main causes” and “auxiliary conditions”:
1.
The “Separation of the Four Elements”
– the
“main cause” (the internal
“consciousness” and “sub-consciousness”, including all kinds of
memories) conjoins with the
“auxiliary conditions” (the
‘Separation of the Four Elements’
in the external circumstances) in
forming the “scenes at the moment of death” (please
refer to the articles on “The Meaning of Near-death Experiences” in
Issues 8 and 20 of the “Lake of Lotus”).
2.
The “Endorphins Inside the
Brain” –
the
“main cause”
(the internal
“consciousness” and “sub-consciousness”)
conjoins with the
“auxiliary conditions”
(the
“endorphins inside the
brain”
of the external circumstances)
in forming the “scenes at the moment of death”
(please refer to the article on “The
Meaning of Near-death Experiences” in Issue 21 of the “Lake of
Lotus”).
3.
The “Karmic
Forces” – the
“main cause” (the internal
“consciousness” and “sub-consciousness”) conjoins with the
“auxiliary conditions” (the
“karmic forces” of the external
circumstances) in forming the “scenes at the moment of
death”. This can be further classified into the following two kinds:
i.
Wholesome Ones
– arising from: (a) virtuous retributions
(please
refer to the article on “The Meaning of Near-death Experiences” in
Issue 21 of the “Lake of Lotus”);
and (b) the efforts of one’s Dharma practice (the
main theme of this article in issue 22).
ii. Unwholesome
Ones
– arising from: (a) vicious retributions; and (b) the forces of
karmic creditors in seeking compensations on one’s karmic debts.
(please
refer to the article on “The Meaning of Near-death Experiences” in
Issue 23 of the “Lake of Lotus”
According to the
records of different surveys, most of the dying people had seen the
following scenes:
1.
Protectors or avengers:
(i)
good ones – saw kith and kin who
had passed away, unknown protectors, deities or Buddhas coming to
fetch for oneself.
(ii)
bad ones – being besieged by a
crowd of ferocious persons or beasts, and going along in company
with groups of people who looked confused.
2. Strange places:
(i)
good ones – saw pavilions,
balconies, buildings, flower fields, rivers, light zones, towns or
cities.
(ii)
bad ones – saw wilderness,
forests, darkness, caverns, hells.
3.
Messy Issues that cannot be recalled clearly.
How would the Buddhist point of view comment on these
phenomena? According to the Buddhist teachings, it was said that
rebirth would take place within forty-nine days after a person has
passed away, then why would a dying person see the kith and kin who
had passed away long time ago
still coming to fetch for him or her? Why had not the kith and kin
taken rebirths after so many years posthumously? Are the appearances
of these deceased persons merely the illusions of the person who is
going to die? Or were they really true? Are there any other reasons?
Are those strange places the destinations where they are going to be
reborn into? Under what circumstances would the normal rebirth of a
dying person be negatively encumbered? Is there any way to help a
deceased person to avert sufferings and elevate to a better place of
rebirth?
Human beings
have four kinds of conditions of consciousness (please
refer to the article on “The Wisdom in Directing One’s Dharma
Practice” in Issue 26
of the “Lake of Lotus”
)
as follows:
-
Beta
β
waves
– the “conscious condition” of daily living;
-
Alpha
α
waves –
the relaxed “consciousness condition”,
such as in entering into the elementary stage of
‘visualization”, or at the first stage of “mental
concentration”; or the condition when the “spiritual body” is
slowly separating
from the “physical body”;
-
Theta
θ
waves –
the peaceful “conscious condition” of having
entered into higher levels of “visualization”, or at the deeper
levels of “mental concentration”;
-
Delta
δ
waves –
slow “conscious condition” of not having any
dreams, and in a stage of slow-wave deep sleep.
In fact, how
does the arising of the different stages in approaching death and
its “transformation of consciousness” affect the thoughts and
behaviors of dying patients? What are their relationships with the
“scenes at the moment of death”? (Please
refer to
the article on “The Wisdom in
Directing One’s Dharma Practice” in
Issue 29 of the "Lake of
Lotus"
)
How should the family and kin and kith who take care of the dying
patients respond to the “transformation of consciousness” and change
of “scenes at the moment of death” for guiding the emotions and
spiritual direction of the dying patients? Could the “transformation
of consciousness” and the change of “scenes at the moment of death”
be complementary to each other? Furthermore, the “disintegration
of the Four Elements/Essences”
of the physical body also affects the
“transformation of consciousness”, as well as on the change of the
“scenes at the moment of death”. Hence, how should one support and
provide guidance to a dying patient in order to
reduce or resolve the predicament
from these problems?
What is the Ultimate Assistance in the
First Stage of Approaching Death?
The care-givers, kin
and kith and professional counselors should perform the following
steps when a dying person is approaching the
“first stage of death”:
1.
Accepting
and Understanding
(please refer to
Issue 30 of the "Lake of Lotus");
2.
Listening
and Observing
(please refer to Issue 30 of the "Lake of Lotus");
3.
Analyzing
and Adopting
(please refer to Issues 31, 32 and 33 of the "Lake of Lotus");
4.
Leading Out
and Guiding In
(please refer to Issue 34 of the "Lake of Lotus");
5.
Accompanying with Unspoken Consensus
(please refer to
Issues 35-40 of the "Lake of Lotus").
The General Change of the Dying Persons’ Emotions
(Please
refer back to Issue 41 of the “Lake of Lotus”).
What is the Ultimate Assistance in the Second Stage
of Approaching Death?
(Please
refer back to Issue 42
of the “Lake of Lotus”).
The Secret of “Flash-back” During the Third Stage of
Approaching Death
(Please
refer back to Issue 43
of the “Lake of Lotus”).
Various
Adventures While Progressing towards the Fourth Stage of Death
(Please
refer back to Issue 44
of the “Lake of Lotus”).
The Actual Departure When Approaching the Fifth Stage
of Death (Please
refer back to Issue 45
of the “Lake of Lotus”).
Scenes at Death and Revelation of Sharing Death
Experiences (Please
refer back to Issue 46
of the “Lake of Lotus”).
What are the “Risks and Opportunities” in the
“Posthumous World” and Its “Corresponding Training on Death”?
(Please
refer back to Issue 47 of the “Lake of Lotus”).
Who are the Protectors in the “Posthumous World”?
What is Meant by “Liberation”?
(Please
refer back to Issue 48 of the “Lake of Lotus”).
To Which One of the “Six Realms” will a Human Most
Easily Be Reborn After One’s Death?
(Please
refer back to Issue 49 of the “Lake of Lotus”).
Can “Rebirths” be Avoided After One’s Death?
(Please
refer back to Issue 50 of the “Lake of Lotus”).
“Automatic & Gradual Transforming
Patterns of Rebirths” Without “Purposely
Linked to Materials”
(Please
refer back to Issue 50 of the “Lake of Lotus”).
Would One Still Be Reborn into the “Hell Realm” Even
if One Does Not Do Anything Evil in This Lifetime?
For many
people, the impression for the “Hell Realm" is like this: “It is an
extremely painful place, and that only very wicked people will be
reborn into these places. When asking ourselves in an honest way, we
will usually think that as we have not done anything evil in this
lifetime, but only good deeds, and so we will definitely not to be
reborn into the hells." This kind of thinking is based upon the fact
that we do
not quite
understand and comprehend
the“structures and formations of karmic forces". If the“structures
and formations of karmic forces" are as simple as what we think them
to be, like "one plus one equals two," then there is no need for the
Lord Buddha Shakyamuni to have
sadly
said that: “All sentient beings have
very
wrongly
suffered from the sufferings of the cycle of karmic existence."
After
all, what make up the “karmic forces”? And what are the
keys
and their unpredictable circumstances?
In fact, all “karmic forces” are “tractional forces” in nature.
Their complex intricacies lie in the fact that they are formed into
a
“network of karmic forces” by myriad changes of
“mutually-interdependent causes and effects, which are
mutually-influencing each other”.
Why this kind of network has been formed? It is because the source
of these “tractional forces” originates from the “mental strengths”
of all sentient beings. Due to both virtuous and wicked deeds
amassed through countless past lifetimes, the linkages of the
“mental strengths” of both one’s inner self and of others are
crisscrossing and inter-influencing each other, so as to form the
interactive and interplay network of “tractional forces”, which can
then be collectively known as the
“karmic
network”.
(Please refer to the DVD on “The Inconceivable Law of Karma”,
published by the Dudjom Buddhist Association,
or visit the Dudjom Buddhist Association YouTube TV Channel at
http://www.youtube.com/user/DudjomBuddhist
for further viewing).
“Mental strengths”
are one kind of “tractional forces”. This is because of the “greed,
hatred and ignorance” within sentient beings’ nature of mind in
using one’s own “loves and hates”, as well as one’s “habitual”
thinking patterns, and thus transform them into actions with
perseverance, and
entangled them with things until
they succeed. For example, “revenge for hatred, hate for resentment,
attachment due to love, mourning for the loss of loved ones, and
become irrational due to ignorance .........” and so on. This kind
of entangled “mental strength” will
continue for infinite lifetimes, and will become more and
more intensified during
the various processes of development.
This kind
of entanglement will not only happen in the “minds” of either one,
or some sentient beings, but in fact they will be
entwined
in such a way as to radiate
towards the “minds” of countless sentient beings, and will keep on
growing in both its
breadth
and depth. The
strengths of these
forces will become a tornado-like “intensively strong suctional
force" due to its accumulation within countless lifetimes. The
breadth and scope
of these forces will definitely be implicated for all those who come
to touch upon them; while the
depth
of these forces will become so fathomless that one just cannot reach
its bottom, and will definitely be unable to locate its source and
origin. As such, that is why the Lord Buddha Shakyamuni had said
that “Karma
is inconceivable”.
Because of
this, for those who have touched upon and breached on this kind of
“cause”, even only for a very
slight
touch upon it, had already been involved in the
relentless
suctional forces within this “cycle of tractional forces”, and would
inevitably suffer from their terrible kramic retributions.
This
is, indeed, very much un-deserved.
Yet, the most
un-deserved and innocent situation is that: regardless of whoever
makes such a slight touch upon such “strong
suctional forces”, when one dies, one will be drawn to be
reborn
into hells. The
most horrible thing is that there are
lots
and lots
of
these
tornado-like “intensively strong suctional forces”. In this way,
sentient beings would usually touch upon and breach on these
without even the slightest sense of vigilance and psychological
preparations.
Therefore, the
most
likely
realm for sentient beings to be reborn is actually the “Hell Realm”.
Really that bad? Could we provide some such examples?
There is a kind of
super
“karmic wind”,
where its source is coming from the countless kalpas since
beginningless time. (“Kalpa"
, coming from the
Sanskrit term
कल्प
, is a
terminology in the Hindu and Buddhist cosmology. It means a very
very long period of time for human beings. A "kalpa" is equal to
4.32 billion years. A “small kalpa” is equivalent to the time
required for a universe to go through the processes of “formation,
persistence, disintegration, and annihilation”. Twenty “small kalpas”
are equivalent to one “medium kalpa”, and four “medium kalpas”is
equivalent to one “big kalpa”.)
The
“karmic wind”
of this kind, which has been accumulated for such a long long time
that is beyond estimation, with its breadth and scope to be
extremely wide. Hence, this has become the easiest
trap
so that
all
sentient beings
will be most easily become prey and “fall into hells”. Under the "Vajrayana"
precepts and vows, this kind of
“karmic
wind” has been
listed as the
“black karma”
of the “most fundamental, which cannot be touched upon even
slightly”, and would lead one into the
“Vajra Hell”.
One of the
precepts and vows of "Vajrayana" has mentioned that: one “should
not show disrespect,
either verbally or
mentally,
by
denigrating women
whose
nature is
considered to be the
embodiment of
wisdom,
the
self
nature
of attaining Buddhahood.”
Why has
this
precept and
vow only appeared in "Vajrayana", but not in “Sutrayana”?
This is because:
1.
Realized Verification and Authentic Transmission of
Dharma -
The
early translation of the Buddhist Tantras and Sutras, when being
directly transmitted into Tibet from India, had been conducted under
the close personal supervisions by the
realized Master
Padmasambhava and the Great Khenpo Shantarakshita. Which sutras were
apocryphal,
which sentences had been
tampered with
and not rightly conformed to the genuine Dharma, and which sentences
had been
inserted and
not rightly conformed to the genuine Dharma, all these could not
have escaped the deeply “realized
verification”
of both
realized Master
Padmasambhava and the Great Khenpo Shantarakshita. As such, all
those Buddhist Tantras and Sutras of the Ancient School in Tibet,
known as the Nyingmapa (or
more commonly known as the “Red Hat Sect”),
was
able to preserve the authentic transmission of the Holy Dharma.
[Please
refer to the articles on the “Eight Manifestations of Guru Rinpoche”
in Issues 8 and 9 of the "Lake of Lotus"
,
detailing the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet. Though
experiencing the decline of Buddhism under King
Langdarma's
dark period (hence some ordinary historians had split the historical
periods for the Buddhist transmissions from India to Tibet into two
main periods, namely: the “early transmission period” and the “later
transmission period”), the majority of the original Buddhist sutras
and tantras were still being able to have been
completely
preserved
in their
authentic
and
original Sanskrit texts,
and were thus handed down in their entirety without any omission or
distortion.]
Whereas
for the Buddhist sutras, when these were being transmitted into the
Chinese soil, even just for one sutra it would have been different
versions, and some of their contents differed very greatly. This is
because there had been
no
realized
masters or Dharma practitioners who were able to conduct “realized
verification”, and thus
caused
a lot of confusions.
As a result, many of the Sutrayana’s sutras in the Chinese soil
often appeared to have the phenomena of either being
apocrypha, or being tampered with, or being inserted with certain
contents, such
that they could not be able to preserve the genuine contents and
meanings of the original Sanskrit texts of the Buddhist sutras.
(Please refer to the articles on the “Wisdom in
Directing One’s Dharma Practice” in Issues 8, 22 and 51 of the "Lake
of Lotus”, detailing the tampering and insertion of the Buddhist
sutras.)
Take for
example, there had been twelve translated versions just for the
“Infinite
Life Sūtra"
(Please
refer to
Note 4
),
with only of five them still being preserved up to this very date.
The
“Infinite
Life Sūtra",
also known as
"Longer
Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra”
(Sanskrit:
सुखावतीव्यूहः sukhāvatīvyūhaḥ)”,
was being considered as the
main
sutra for the Pure
Land School of Buddhism, which introduces the great merits of
a monk
called
Bhikṣu
Dharmakāra
who had practised great Bodhisattva deeds, during the “causal
ground” of Buddha Amitabha’s past lives,
as well as his 48 great vows made in order to attain Buddhahood.
These remaining five translated versions of this sutra were
translated during the periods of "Han, Sun Wu, Cao Wei, Tang, Song”
Dynasties respectively, and had many of their contents to be
differed as a result. Among them, some statements of the vows within
the forty-eight vows were
very much
different. The
largest discrepancy in the "Buddha Amitābha's Forty-Eight Vows” had
been tampered with, and inserted with statements of
gender
discrimination.
Beginning
from the Song Dynasty, believers of the Pure Land School had made
and edited the so-called
"Integrated Edition”,
to be euphemistically claimed as an edition so as “to integrate all
the various differences” from the different translated versions.
But, in actuality, they had attempted to tamper with the sutra in
order to
"set this
so-called
Integrated Edition as the one and only one true edition."
Unfortunately, up until the Republican period, there existed four
such "Integrated Editions”. As for these so-called "Integrated
Editions”, their
appraisals from the past dynasties varied greatly.
One of the four eminent monks in late Ming Dynasty named
Master Ouyi
Zhixu (A.D.1599-1655),
commonly known as the Ninth Patriarch of the Pure Land School, had
mastered the essences of the different schools of Chinese Buddhism
including the Schools of "Tiantai, Huayan, Chan,
Fǎxiàng,
Vinaya”, etc. He was a great wise sage who had
truly
comprehended and mastered the totality of the Buddhist Dharma.
Master
Ouyi Zhixu
strongly believed that these "Integrated Editions” had greatly
undermined the purity of the original translations.
As such,
they
were being
suspected to have misled and misguided
the general public.
Dīng Fúbǎo,
a renowned contemporary Buddhist scholar (A.D.1874
-1952), had edited
the well-known
“Great Dictionary of Buddhism”
(Chinese:
Fóxué dà
cídiǎn)
in
1922,
was also a great Buddhist Kulapati. He was a translator, an ancient
coins and ancient books collector. He taught in the School of
Translation Studies at the
"Imperial University of
Peking" (Chinese:
Jīngshī Dàxuétáng).
In 1909, he travelled to Japan to do research on medicine over
there, and later he practiced medicine in Shanghai, and had
established a Medical Press over there. In January of 1924,
Dīng Fúbǎo had
published the
“Annotated
Sūtra of Immeasurable Life”,
in which he stated that: “When the
“Infinite
Life Sūtra"
was transmitted into China, there existed a total of twelve
translated versions, in which their contents differed very greatly,
and thus are most difficult to integrate. During the Han Dynasty,
scholars were very cautious on the scriptures of the Buddhist
Sutras, they would be extremely careful in examining and translating
every single word of them, and dared not to either wrongly delete,
or tamper with a single word of them. However, by the Song Dynasty,
scholars tended to believe that, so long as they were justified,
they could tamper with any Buddhist sutras. Over time, these
phenomena of deletions or tamperings of the Buddhist sutras had
become the norm and habits, such that the scriptures of the Buddhist
sutras have become even more and more confusing, thus making it
even more difficult to be reverted back to their original faces.
Hence, it is highly recommended that Buddhist believers should ‘use
visualization
while reciting the Buddha’s Holy Name’ in order that one can have
the real certainty to be reborn into the Pure Land.”
So far up
till now, when the general knowledge of the general public has been
spread with progressive scientific advancements, most unfortunately,
the "Pure Land School" has continued to spread those 48 vows of
Buddha Amitabha in the so-called“Integrated Edition”, containing
gender discrimination and were
being
falsified, that
has been
anti-intellectually
being boosted up so suddenly to become the most popular edition
nowadays. The main cause comes from the fact that this so-called
“Integrated Edition”, which is actually misleading all sentient
beings, has been
boosted up by the
Pure Land School’s contemporary
Master
Chin Kung who has regarded it as “the best edition”.
As such, it has become the
laughing
stock of other
religious believers and all those knowledgeable persons.
Furthermore, it has
brought
shame and disrepute into Buddhism, and has thus officially led
Buddhism to enter into the dark age of “Degenerate Era”
(Sanskrit:
Kaliyuga).
In this way,
the level of the Buddhist Dharma has now been
retrogressed back to the uncivilized age.
Most ironically,
however, within the pictures of the "Three Saints of the West", two
of the Saints are great Bodhisattvas who have appeared in female
forms, as depicted in Chinese Buddhism. They are Bodhisattva
Avalokiteśvara and Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta. Yet, these "Pure
Land School" masters, who are so
blind
with ignorance and without any wisdom,
still continue to speak out plausibly and volubly, by continuing to
poison the minds
of millions and thousands of their faithful believers in saying
that: “The ‘Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss’ (Sanskrit:
Sukhavati)
does not have any woman. If there is any, then it only means that
that place is not the ‘Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss’. The
‘Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss’ is so holy and most adorable,
and thus it could not have any woman in it.”
The Old
Master Chin Kung
(AM,
b. 1927)
presented the so-called “Integrated Edition” of the
"Buddha Amitabha's Forty-Eight Vows”
(The
second Episode 1990/6 at the National Heroes of Armed Force in
Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Filename: 02-006-0002,
http://wlsj.foz.cn/article-3131-3.html)
when
he said
of the following words:
“When
I (Buddha
Amitabha)
attain Buddhahood, my country
(the
Pure Land)
will have no women in it.”
He further explained that: “the ‘Western Pure Land of Ultimate
Bliss’ is very
solemn and
has no woman
in it. Perhaps,
some fellow practitioners might ask: what would our women do if
they ever want
to be reborn (in
the Pure Land)?
Here is the
answer. The answer
is as follows: “If a woman has heard my name, has pure faith and
aspire with bodhicitta that she is now tired of having a female
body, and is willing to reborn in my
country (Pure
Land), then
she will
turn into
a male form when
she die, and go to my
Pure Land.” That
means that
all
those who
will be
reborn in the ‘Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss’
will all
have the male forms.”
Does it
imply
that all women are filthy, and not solemn enough? Then, why was it
that both Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara and Bodhisattva
Mahāsthāmaprāpta did
not
simply appear in
male forms? And why did both Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara and
Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta
not
conform to what
Buddha Amitābha had said: “When
I (Buddha
Amitabha)
attain Buddhahood, my country
(the
Pure Land)
will have no women in it”,
and did not appear in male forms instead? Do they
“intentionally want to go against"
Buddha Amitābha? Or, is it a
“strong
evidence”
for
us
to prove that the scriptures of the Buddhist sutras had been
tampered with?
Just have
a thought on this: in ancient times when the
knowledge
of
the general population had not been so well-developed and widespread,
men had the view that women was considered as part of their
properties. They could see women as slaves, so that they could
freely exchange, trade and abuse them, and all these were done
without feeling guilty. People born with female bodies, in which
they had to live the kind of abject life, were basically having the
status of beasts which were so painstaking for them. In this regard,
this had made so many women in the past who did not want to become
females again in their next lives. Hence, in their minds, this had
also made so many women to hate their female bodies, and instead
pray and hope that they would be able to get male bodies in their
future lives.
Due to
this kind of thinking on social
injustice
and
inequality, for
countless lifetimes,
inestimable women
who thought of themselves as lower forms of animals, and so even if
they had tried hard to practice, it would still be impossible for
them to attain Buddhahood. So, they must first have to be reborn in
male bodies before they would be able to attain Buddhahood. This
kind of thinking had
delayed
the time required to attain Buddhahood for countless people.
Because of the delay, many sentient beings had been affected by
their karmas, and were
reborn
into the "three
lower realms: hell, hungry ghosts, animals." And because of
the cause
and effect relationships,
those men who had oppressed women in the past would also had their
own bad karmic retributions to be reborn in female bodies
themselves.
In
addition to those great criticisms on the ridiculous remarks made by
Master Chin Kung, there are also other leaders within the Buddhist’s
community who had
directly criticized him by name
on the rest of his
conducts that had misled many sentient beings.
For more details, please refer to the
strong
criticisms made
by the 'Old
Venerable Master Ben Huan’
(1907-2
April 2012,
one of
the most respected contemporary Chan masters who had died in 2012 at
the age of 106)
on Master Chin Kung at the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03F6RN5ctNI
What is The Most Easiest Way in Trapping Sentient
Beings to Be Reborn into the “Hell Realm”?
In circling round and round, this has become a loop
of hatred
and
grievances for falling into hells,
thus
forming a kind of tornado-like black
“karmic
wind”, which
has been accumulated unnoticeably for immeasurable kalpas.
Whoever have
made slanders upon women’s Buddha nature, they will be attracted by
this huge tornado-like black
“karmic
wind”,
and to be drawn into the “Vajra Hell” without any date of leaving.
“Tibetan Buddhism’s” vows aim to help Dharma practitioners to
prevent themselves, under the circumstances of
not
knowing the dangers of these bad karmas,
from violating these bad karmas and thus fall into the
“Vajra
Hell”.
Therefore,
Bodhisattva
Aśvaghoṣa
had based on the sutras and tantras to establish the
“Fourteen
Root Downfalls of Vajrayana”,
and had particularly added in the important precept and vow of “Not
denigrating
women who are
considered as the nature of wisdom". This has
demonstrated the fact that the wisdom and actual realization of
“Tibetan
Buddhism”
is very extraordinary,
and which is very different from that of the “Sutrayana”.
In
deciding whether to violate such a massive black karma or not, it
should meet
four
kinds of violation conditions.
Once having met these conditions, it will immediately constitute the
causes and conditions to fall into the
"Vajra
Hell".
These four designated violation conditions are:
1)
Object:
refers to all women.
2)
Time:
from one’s own mind, and not having any confusions in it.
3)
Intention:
having thoughts from the mind, and believing that this kind of
speech is correct.
4)
Deed:
the three karmas of the
body,
speech and mind
to jointly made those deeds.
(Reducing one or two karmas from either the body and
speech would reduce the bad karmas accordingly.)
The Comment on Drana Tantra
has mentioned
that: “Women are the manifestations of
deities
(referring to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas)
in order to tame sentient beings.” Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara is
such an example. There was a case in point that: “Brahma
(the
god in a high-level "heaven")
had presented himself before the ‘Buddha of Infinite Light’
(Buddha Amitabha in Dharmakaya Form)
in a female form. Indra
(a god
in the lower-level “heaven of the Desire Realm”)
talked to Brahma and said: ‘Do not stay here.’”
The Lord
Buddha Shakyamuni then told Indra: “Truthfully
observe, truthfully observe. You will get the
bad
consequence.”
Indra
immediately repented.
Bodhisattva Playfulness asked the Lord Buddha Shakyamuni the
question: “What
heterogeneous
(Sanskrit:
vipāka)
consequence
will be aroused?"
The Lord Buddha Shakyamuni replied: “It is like the slandering of
eighty-four thousand sentient
beings’
loved mothers,
and thus will have eighty-four thousand times to be reborn as
females.”
The above
case has clearly illustrated that
“karmas
are inconceivable”.
Indra had
just only slightly
mentioned a sentence
implying
that women should not appear in front of the Most Honourable Lord
Buddha, but did
not
specifically said
words that “denigrate
women who are of the nature of wisdom”. Yet, Indra still needed to
suffer from the long-term consequence of karmic retributions. The
Lord Buddha Shakyamuni had clearly stated that, even for just a
slight few words
of speech, the
"mind" so
involved had
already
violated
and offended all
those people of eighty-four thousand lifetimes whose "minds" have
loved their mothers. Even for a
god’s
“mind”, it is still very
difficult
to combat the
“minds” of countless sentient beings, and thus would be drawn into
the “bad karma’s swirl”. In order to save Indra, the Lord Buddha
Shakyamuni thus spoke out to remind him.
Immediately,
Indra had repented of his deed, which had showed that his
faith and
confidence in the
Lord Buddha Shakyamuni, as well as the fact that he
has had the "awareness" to do so.
As for the
Buddha Amitabha's wisdom, even at the time when he was still
Bhikṣu Dharmakāra
in his "causal ground of practice before his enlightenment", he had
already revealed his wisdom and compassion of becoming Buddha.
Therefore, in His Thirty-Fifth Vow (of
the "Forty-Eight Vows”),
He particularly added in this one - “Vow
to leave
behind the female body:
If I were to become a Buddha, in the ten directions’ immeasurable
and inconceivable Buddhas’ worlds, if there are women who have heard
my name, awakened in good faith with joyful aspirations, and aroused
their Bodhicitta while disliking their own female bodies, but still
to be reborn in female bodies after their deaths, then I will not
attain Buddhahood
(meaning
that: if some women who have heard His name and accepted with good
faith, and also made vows to leave behind their female bodies, yet
if this is not successful, then He will not attain Buddhahood)”
.
What a
great compassionate vow this is, which does not have any derogatory
meaning to women, and was totally in response to all those women who
were extremely oppressed for innumerable kalpas, and thus he has
made such a vow out of His great
compassion so as
to save them. If Buddha Amitabha's vow would be like this: "If I
could not
reverse
the sentient beings’ mindsets of patriarchal mentality, by reverting
them back to gender equality and equal status for all sentient
beings, then I would not attain Buddhahood", then this vow would be
even
more
admirable and most adorable.
The
teachings that
“every
sentient being is equal, and all possess the Buddha Nature”
in the Holy Dharma has
been, most unfortunately, severely and completely
tampered
with.
We just do not know when this had happened, and now it has become a
self-contradictory and
paradoxical
doctrine of
inequality
which has gobbled up many sentient beings’ wisdom. In this civilized
era, those
so-called great
masters, while trying to spread the Buddhist teachings,
still
continue
without
any awareness,
but
continue to carry out in large scale with
audacious
acts
in humiliating the incomparable wisdom of Buddhism.
They do not even have the slightest wisdom and
humanity when
they continue to boost about such statements as “When I attain
Buddhahood, my country would have no women in it”, etc., in
the
slandering of the Buddha.
They would continuously appeal to the general public by loudly
proclaim that: "Women is unable to attain Buddhahood. Where there
are women, then definitely it would not have been the ‘Western Pure
Land of Ultimate Bliss’.”
For
those people who believe in and follow with these comments, they
would also be swallow up by those bad karmas that have been
accumulated through hundreds and millions of kalpas
to fall into the "Vajra Hell" without any exception. This has
nothing to do with whether someone has taken the precepts and vows
or not, but then this has to do with
the
“Law of Causes and Effects”.
One should know
that
whosoever have made slanders to the Buddha and the Buddhist Dharma,
then all of them would not be able to be reborn into the “Western
Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss”. Do not ever think that by simply
applying the "ten thoughts”, then one could be able to be reborn
there, and thus do not even fear of violating the precepts and vows.
In fact,
these
"ten thoughts" have now been further distorted to become just the
“recitation on ten times of the Buddha’s Holy Name successively”,
which is definitely not the original intent of the sutra itself.
(Please refer to the article on the “Meaning of
Near-Death Experiences” in Issue 22 of the "Lake of Lotus” for
detailed explanations.)
We
hereby advise all sentient being, regardless of men and women,
not to
follow those people, either monks or nuns, who are having gender
discrimination in their minds to practice the Holy Dharma.
Because of the accumulations from countless kalpas, this
tornado-like bad
karmic wind of grievance,
which soars high up to the “realms of formless, form and desire” and
throughout the six realms, is
almost
everywhere. It
has already brought
countless sentient beings who have gender discrimination
into the “Vajra Hell”, and without ever being able to leave it
behind.
For all
those people who still continue to
say often
that: “women was
filthy and thus cannot be able to be reborn into the ‘Western Pure
Land of Ultimate Bliss’, and even cannot be able to attain
Buddhahood”; or by saying that: “only when women can
turn into
male bodies will
they be able to attain Buddhahood, and so on”,
none of
them will be spared
of being sucked into the
“Vajra Hell”
by this bad karmic wind of grievance
without
ever being able to leave it behind.
The
“karmic forces of causes and effects” are very terrible, so that
no one shouldn’t be
cautious
about it. If
you have followed those people,
either monks or nuns, who are having gender discrimination in their
minds to
practice the Holy Dharma, this has already violated the precepts and
vows, and so you should
immediately repent your sins.
Furthermore, you should also
immediately leave
these vicious people, regardless of monks or nuns. Otherwise,
you
would be entangled and interfered
by their bad karmas as well, and would
also
be drawn into hell together with them.
It is well
known that we could constantly pray and
make
aspirations, and
there is
no limit
on how high those aspirations could be.
But then, whether these aspirations could be fulfilled or not, will
still have to depend upon whether
there is
a match on the “combinations of the causes and conditions, and
should not violate the fundamental rules of the Buddhist Dharma.”
Those aspirations, as made by someone who has not yet achieve
Buddhahood, are certainly not yet reaching the “Supreme Level on the
Attainment of a Buddha”. Hence, we should not think that these
aspirations will “certainly succeed”. Otherwise, this will violate
the the fundamental
rule
of the Buddhist
Dharma on
“impermanence” (Sanskrit:
अनित्य Anitya; Pali:
अनिच्चा
Anicca).
Buddha
Amitabha
deliberately
allows both Bodhisattvas Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta to
appear
in
female forms on
His two sides, and to be reverened as the
"Three Saints
of the West" so as
to help save all sentient beings into the ‘Western Pure Land of
Ultimate Bliss’. This informs all sentient beings that Buddha
Amitabha definitely has all the Buddha’s wisdoms, and possesses
hundred percent of the “Buddha Nature”. Buddha Amitabha understands
very well that, if we still continue to
force
all those women (who dislike their female bodies) to be turned into
male bodies, then it would not only act against the “karmic forces
of causes and effects”, but it would also
make even more
sentient beings
to
believe that "only
male bodies could attain Buddhahood”, and thus
really
think
that this is the truth.
This is
not only in contravention to the truth that the "Buddha-Nature of
all sentient beings are the same", but it will also lead to
delays
for even more sentient beings on their time required in attaining
Buddhahood, as they could not apply the "singularity
of equality in mind" to enter into the “singularity
of the Dharma Realm” so as to attain Buddhahood. And this is,
indeed,
a very
grave and serious bad karma.
As Buddha Amitabha has
hundred percent
wisdom, and so He wants to manifest an image of the "Three Saints of
the West”as having
a male
in the middle with
two
female
by
His sides. This
will then let all male sentient beings to understand and respect
that “both men and women could become
Saints”.
Simultaneously, it also lets all female sentient beings to
understand in having their self-respect that “both men and women
could become
Saints”,
and thus they should not arouse their
discriminating minds
in belittling themselves. “Degrading oneself tends to make oneself
unable to live; while degrading others will also make themselves
unable to live.
Causes
and effects must always circulate.”
Indeed, Buddha Amitabha wants to
make
up
for
the inadequacies
of His Vows that He had made before His attaining Buddhahood, and so
He has specially made this kind of arrangement.
We must
know that:
“The
mind will manifest as the Pure Land, while our own Self-Nature is
the very nature of Buddha Amitabha".
The entire ‘Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss’ is manifested by
the very “Self-Nature” of Buddha Amitabha, in accordance to the
“minds” of sentient beings so as to make arrangements in saving
them. The
“Infinite
Life Sūtra"
says that the gods in the Pure Land have the “sovereign supernatural
powers”, which was the original intent of Buddha Amitabha’s vows. To
explain the key points as follows: “They could manifest in the forms
of both men and women. Yet, by manifesting in the forms of both men
and women, it actually does not manifest anything at all in these
forms”, which actually means that “whether they manifest in the
forms of either men or women, both of which are not real in nature
and is actually manifested by the
supernatural power of visualization,
and thus one should not cling to them as real."
2. Differences in the Levels of the Buddhist Dharma -
In
Sutrayana, many scriptures in the Buddhist sutras, as well as many
teachings, have been tampered with by the
related
stakeholders.
For example:
1) Not
conforming to the teachings of the Buddhist Dharma
by adding in such statements as "women cannot attain Buddhahood, and
they must turn into men’s bodies" and “the solemn and Holy Pure Land
should not have any women in it", all of which will lead to those
believers to be
involved in
these “bad karmas” and thus fall into the “Vajra Hell”.
2)
A
“vow"
made before Buddha Amitabha had attained Buddhahood should
not be
viewed as the “truth of permanence”,
such that the
"ten thoughts which refers to ten consecutive thoughts, without any
interruptions with deluded thoughts in-between, which then enables
one to be reborn into the Pure Land” has now been tampered with and
changed into the “recitation on ten times of the Buddha’s Holy Name
with any interruptions, then one will be able to be reborn into the
Pure Land" instead, so this has made Dharma practitioners to “become
fearless while not practicing at all”. As such, they
will be
misled
and will
fall into
lower rebirths.
3)
“Thoughts
(which
means visualizations)
of the Buddha's face" has been tampered with and changed to the
“recitation of the Buddha’s Holy Name”. This will
dramatically
reduce
the successful rate to be reborn into the Pure Land.
4) “To
use the practice of
‘Five
Devotional Gates’
(Please see
note 5
)
so as to ensure one could be able to be reborn into the Pure Land”
has been tampered with and changed to “just reciting on the Buddha’s
Holy Name, with no need for visualization, and then one should be
able to be reborn into the Pure Land”. This will
dramatically reduce
the successful rate to be reborn into the Pure Land.
5) “The
sixteen visualization on Buddha Amitabha"
has now been tampered with and changed to: “this teaching
has
already been lost for long,
just reciting on the Buddha’s Holy Name, with no need for
visualization, and then one should be able to be reborn into the
Pure Land”. This will
dramatically
reduce
the successful rate to be reborn into the Pure Land.
6) During the
Song Dynasty, Wang Rixiu had changed the contents of the
“Infinite Life Sūtra" by
deleting the provision which stated that: “except
for those wicked people who
have
made slanders upon the deep and
profound Dharma
teachings, as well as those wo have committed the five grave sins
and the ten non-virtuous deeds will not be
able to be reborn into the Pure Land”. This tampered edition has
affirmed that: for all sentient beings, so long as they have the
deep faith in Buddha Amitabha, they could be reborn into the Pure
Land. All one needs to do is to recite the Holy Name of Buddha
Amitabha ten times and then one could be assured of being
successful. This kind of
“permanent” tampering-style of deception has
made “sentient beings to become fearless
in violating the vows”, and thus becomes the
main reason in
making the way
for the
Degenerate Age to appear, with the world in great chaos
nowadays.
This has also gone against the Law of Nature on
“Impermanence”.
7)
There are
numerous cases
for such kinds of tampering and distortions of the sutras.
(Please refer to the articles on the “Wisdom in
Directing One’s Dharma Practice” in Issues 8, 22 and 51 of the "Lake
of Lotus”, which have provided detailed explanations.)
The
argument and reason for their tampering with the Sutras is as
follows: “In order to attract more believers, and to brighten up the
door of Buddhism”; “Compassion has been the main principle of the
Buddhist teachings, and so the tampering with and the deceptions on
the Sutras have been used as means for benefiting all sentient
beings." If it is really that simple and easy to be able to be
reborn into the Pure Land, then the Lord Buddha Shakyamuni would not
have to work so hard in teaching the Buddhist Dharma for forty-nine
years. Wouldn’t it be ideal for the Lord Buddha just to teach his
disciples to recite on a few Buddhas’ Holy Names, so that they can
be reborn into the Pure Land where they can happily enjoy their
lives over there, and then do their practices afterwards? Had the
Lord Buddha Shakyamuni actually
done
something which were unnecessary?
All those
circumstances of the above-mentioned deeds in the tampering of the
truth, by using those cheating tricks, have made countless sentient
beings to have
missed
out their formal training and practices,
but instead to use their whole-heartedness in believing that the
recitations on Buddha’s Holy Name would be most
invincible and permanent.
However, they could not hold off the "Inconceivable Law of Causes
and Effects”, and thus would all be reborn into hells as a result.
In convincing those people in just
believing in and repeating the following statements: "women cannot
attain Buddhahood, and women must first have to be turned into male
bodies", and the “solemn and Holy Pure Land could not have any women
in it”, this has already made countless sentient beings to be reborn
into the "Vajra hell” ever since the ancient times till present.
Such tragic circumstances have made all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to
have
lamented of such miseries.
In
the
“Sixteen Visualizations on Buddha Amitabha”,
the Lord Buddha
Shakyamuni had requested all sentient beings that they
must
use their powers of "visualization".
And the kind of “visualization practice" method is the way that can
enable sentient beings to be successfully reborn into the Pure Land.
However, this method has been buried by those ignorant people.
Instead, they have changed it into just using the method of sound as
their practices. We should realize the fact that:
“everything comes from the mind",
especially in the spiritual world, where
all
things are operated by the "minds".
“Sound" is a
very
inferior level of energy
and does not even go through a vacuum condition. Hence, sound is
unable to be effectively and flexibly applied in the contexts of the
spiritual world. If one relies solely on “sound", then the
successful
rate
for one to be reborn into the Pure Land is, indeed,
most
minimal.
The Sutras
have clearly pointed out that it is required to have “one-pointed
concentration of
mind, without any
scattered thoughts, neither can the
mind
be in a state of confusion, for one day up until seven days" in
order to maintain one’s
mind
to have no delusions at all, but only thinking of (visualizing)
Buddha Amitabha and His Pure Land, in order that one could
successfully be reborn into the Pure Land.
Please remember
that this is NOT the case in point:
“even one voice would not be disturbed, with one voice not in
confusion, reciting for one day to seven days”. I do sincerely hope
that in the coming or next century, there will be not be anyone who
simply tries to tamper with, or delete, even this sentence.
As there
have been
no
realized
practitioners in the Chinese soil to
help
verify the
authenticity
of the
Buddhist Sutras,
thus resulting in having only a very
few
realized (in
Dharma practices)
Dharma practitioners. This has a tremendous effect upon the levels
of the Buddhist Dharma, which are
getting
worse and worse.
The spreading of the Buddhist Dharma in the
Chinese soil has now
been
deteriorated
into an “anti-intellectual
religion”. Furthermore, there are
no
talented people
who, in
possessing the good knowledge and judgment,
are willing to stand up against the tide, in order to rescue the
Buddhist teachings in the Chinese soil, as well as to save those
innocent believers who
solely
rely
upon the teachings of the “Sutrayana”
for their Dharma practices. In fact, the Buddhist Dharma in the
Chinese soil has been continuously spreading those
harmful
messages to all sentient beings concerning their future rebirths,
thus making these sentient beings
unable
to have the
correct and formal
“visualization” practices
while
they are still alive in order to save themselves.
The
Buddhist Dharma in the Chinese soil has just followed the
obscurantism policy
of
other
religions in
their spread of the Holy Dharma. For example: “All
believers will be saved
— so long as they are reciting ten times of Buddha’s Holy Name
continuously in one breath while dying, then one could be reborn
into the ‘Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss’. Whether one has
violated any precepts or vows is not important and not to be afraid
of;
in the
Holy Name of the Buddha,
one could be saved without any austere practices, and so on.” As
such, it has turned their believers towards the
high-risk
situations of having
without any wisdom
(ignorance)
and
of
blindness, but
only of
“having faith without any practices, having faith but without having
any formal practices”.
They
have mistakenly believed in that: “by
just
doing some good deeds
while they are still alive
is
already equivalent to Dharma practices;
the recitations of the Buddha’s Holy Name is also equivalent to
Dharma practices; that the body of the corpse is soft or its head is
warm would already mean that one has already been reborn into the
Pure Land; or that the cremation of the corpse to find relics would
also mean that one has already been reborn into the Pure Land, and
so on.”
(Please
refer to the article of “A rare real-case with evidence to have been
instantly reborn into the ‘Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss’” in
Issue 51 of the "Lake of Lotus” for more details, or in the DVD with
the same title produced by the Dudjom Buddhist Association.
)
This will only make all sentient beings to be unable to counteract
the "Inconceivable
Law of Karmas”, and this is in complete contradiction against the
“Law of Causes and Effects”. Indeed, this has made Buddhism in the
future to have deteriorated in becoming a “self-contradictory,
anti-intellectual”
doctrine of
inequality. As
a result, the
“truth
becomes unjustifiable”.
It is exactly the same as the situations of other religions, in
which “emphasis on superstitions, not seeking the truth, with
eternalism” and so on existed.
If the
situation continues on like this, it will eventually become the
scenario in which “those who love us will feel very painful, while
those who hate us will become very happy”!
That is
all due to the fact that the Chinese Buddhist Sutras has been
tampered with, so that the original sources of the Holy Dharma have
now been contaminated and deteriorated. As there were
no
realized Dharma practitioners who could recognize this
tornado-like black
karmic wind, which has spread
throughout the
Three Realms. It has
already made countless followers of the “Sutrayana”,
those who believed in that “only men could attain Buddhahood, and
that there will not be any women in the Pure Land”, to be
all
drawn by this
black karmic wind to be reborn into
hells.
Such miserable and
tragic
circumstances are most
astounding. It
is indeed most unfortunately, as such in the “Sutrayana”, that there
are
no one
who will be able to know or understand this taboo, and neither are
there any “precepts and vows”
to remind its believers to avoid such kind of situations.
On the
contrary, they have
intentionally
tampered with the Buddhist Sutras by adding in some
traps,
thus the most
unfortunate destiny have
befallen upon
all
their believers by falling
into
hells. On top
of this, there are those “Sutrayana” preachers who, having very
low
levels in their understanding of the Buddhist teachings, and are
ignorant without any wisdom,
have
publicly boosted
upon those “fake editions of Buddhist Sutras” and the so-called
“Integrated Editions”, which have totally distorted the truths of
the Buddhist teachings, resulting in making “Sutrayana” to have lack
of such a vow in saving its believers, while only have those
low-level
preachers and
their “fake editions of Buddhist Sutras” and the so-called
“Integrated Editions” in
harming
their believers.
As far
as the present conditions are concerned, with their very low levels
of understanding on the
Buddhist teachings and practices,
it is simply
impossible for
those “Sutrayana” preachers to be able “to
restore the
original appearance of the Buddhist Sutras, to
verify the
authenticity of
the Buddhist Sutras, and to provide the necessary ‘precepts and
vows’ that could protect their believers." As such, their believers
could only have one choice to
ensure
their safety,
which is
not to
follow those
“Sutrayana” preachers to learn the Buddhist teachings. Otherwise,
“there is no door for Hell but you dare to break in,
simply because you have mistakenly believed in those people who have
no wisdom.”
If
there is such a day when the “Sutrayana” will be able to nurture a
number of real talented people, who will be able to
set
things right from their wrongs,
and to be able to protect their believers by adding in the necessary
“precepts and vows”, such as this one on “not denigrating women who
are of the nature of wisdom”, then this will be
a
great blessing for the Chinese soil.
In fact, within the Buddhist teachings, there are not any
distinctions between the so-called “Sutrayana” and “Varjayana” as
such, but only in having the various different levels of teachings
to cater for the different levels of sentient beings in order to
save them, but not to harm sentient beings. What is even more
important is the fact that these different levels of teachings are
not here to be used as means to
differentiate
Buddhist believers, nor to be used in the setting up of different
schools and sects, neither are they being used
for
competition with each other, nor to compete for their believers.
To be sure, this has never been the true and original intent of the
Lord Buddha!
In many
of the Sutras, the Lord Buddha Shakyamuni had taught all sentient
beings the various means of
“visualization” practices,
such as
the
“Sixteen Visualizations on Buddha Amitabha”.
In order to
save all those believers, who have previously followed those
“Sutrayana” preachers of having gender discrimination, not to be
reborn into hells, but instead just want to be reborn into the
“Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss”, the “Dudjom Buddhist
Association” will transmit, in the future,
this
important teaching on the “Sixteen Visualizations on Buddha Amitabha”
to those
disciples who have the
merits, in order that sentient beings could be successfully reborn
into the Pure Land.
We do
sincerely pray that this will be able to revert those previous bad
karmic retributions of falling into hells due to the tampering of
the Buddhist Sutras…........(To
be Continued)
