Namo Eastern Land Medicine Gem Halo Tathagata.
Namo Western Blissful Paradise Amitabha Buddha.
Namo Present Blessed One Sakyamuni Buddha.
Namo Lord Supreme Maitreya Buddha.
Revered Sir,
Today, on the 29th day of the 9th month of the year of the Dragon, 1988, at this sacred moment, in the presence of the Lord through His respected and loved golden body attests the Great Ceremony. All domestic and international disciples are respectful and faithful in their solemn robes. I am representing all our disciples in this Dharma-Ending Age, respectfully offering to Long Hoa Chief Monk incarnating Lord Supreme Maitreya Buddha, the dharma path that leads to attainment of the supreme perfect truth that He has laboriously and diligently created and granted to us.
Revered Sir,
From the beginning of time, all living creatures originally have Buddha nature within them. However, they are polluted with greed and hatred that brings about ignorance. Therefore, they create the evil nature themselves that, in turn, suppresses the Buddha nature in them.
The evil nature creates its magic force. The Four species are controlled and dominated by this magic force, which is very difficult to overcome. In order to overcome the magic force, we must rely on the Awakened One who is either Buddha or maha bodhisattva for guidance to create appropriate abilities and merits by ourselves. Then according to our degree of faithfulness, obedience, and respect, they shall be appropriately and equally saved.
In the process of training, the practitioner must first pray in mindfulness and patiently pay attention to correct his nature. Patience is especially crucial for examining all dharma carefully without error. He must be capable of recognizing his mistakes, individual deeds, or his nature that creates his own karma and not by someone else. The awakened one only provides the guidance, but he must himself intuitively recognize the continual movement of the karma, which arises from the situation, but depends neither on the situation nor on the mind. The disciple who has such insight is the one who has basic wisdom.
He, who has patience while enduring the bad, accepting the hardship, has no more attachment and faces the favorable or unfavorable things or situations, still keeps patience. He, therefore, calmly finds the appropriate and correct solutions, and handles everything according to time and space. Until, he gets enough abilities and merits and immediately perceives the ultimate wisdom, He then continues to penetrate into the right practice and advances to Prajna. His wisdom is precisely a seven precious sword that cuts everything. The disciple who attains Prajna wisdom will no longer create bad situations for himself in his mind; he can see that greed and hatred clearly create ignorance and passion. Being ignorant and passionate, he will be mistaken in innumerable lives.
We must vow thousands of times to be tolerant and patient, handling everything correctly to generate Prajna, and deeply penetrating all dharma. We realize then the utilization of Tathagata store by practicing so that we can see the baseline, and by clearly manifesting this patience, we shall see and recognize with patience that does not produce a bad outcome. This is ‘no-birth’ patience. ‘No-birth’ means “that it does not produce a bad outcome”. Once we reach the full achievement, we can see that patience is the exact atom of Buddha, also called Buddhist Patience.
When practicing for the charity, manifesting our compassionate heart, we shall have the no-birth compassion, which is the exact atom of Buddha also known as Buddhist World Compassion. When we can observe the precepts, be diligent, wisdom, meditating and clearing up we shall attain no-birth observed precepts, no-birth diligence, no-birth wisdom, and no-birth meditation.
The atoms of Buddha are also called Buddhist Diligence, Buddhist Wisdom, and Buddhist Meditation. All are atoms of Buddha. From the acts, the words to the thoughts all are entirely manifesting the atoms of Buddha, Ksana of Buddha, to immeasurable and no boundary, entirely attain no-birth (does not produce a bad outcome).
Penetrating into continued practice, the practitioner who naturally feels happy when he is praised and ashamed when he is humiliated, and never let the hatred invade all his body, he attains no-birth. The voluntary, respectful offering of the bowing, one pointed-mind to Tathagata is known as the cessation of the ego. Once he considers his body as non-self, he attains Tathagata’s dharma and penetrates into the Prajna wisdom. He realizes that all dharma are originally equal, carries out this equality without discrimination in all dharma, and clearly knows no-birth of four of great elements (Mahabuta). This is the true form of suchness, escaping from the cycle of birth and death.
Every nature is composed of many real form and formless qualities, which are all in motion - clarifying the true form while neither being attached nor detached. That is the understanding of the formless and the perception of the no- birth.
The birth, making it clear that it is neither birth nor destruction, is the no-birth birth.
The death, making it clear that it is neither connection nor separation, is the no-birth death.
Therefore, no-birth does not mean without birth, but the birth clearly understood is seen and attested as no-birth. Insight, or awakening, is an immortal and true concept. Even the concept has neither passion nor attachment. The true heart comes into sight.
The karma is always in motion and movement, evolving to deter every vow. Those who have the ultimate wisdom clarify all things while those who do not yet have the ultimate wisdom have to strengthen their karma. Each karma is just the universe of small ego.
Being wrongly attached to the small ego; therefore, we are living creatures. The karma sees the karma, it is seen by itself. It delicately covers our own hearing, seeing, and knowing. Everyone can easily be mistaken, making it clear, that is attested No-Birth karma.
Even for the form, making it clear, it is seen and attested no-birth form. It is the awakening concept of the form. The no-birth is not directly a true no-birth, based on sound, odor, taste, touch, and dharma. Once they are thoroughly understood, individually, they are attested no-birth sound, no-birth odor, no-birth taste, no-birth touch, and no-birth dharma. (These do not produce a bad outcome)
We must clarify every small ego. Thoroughly understand every awakening concept, numberless awakening concepts numberless small egos, numberless atoms, and defilement in each Ksana (The smallest unit of measure for time or space in Buddhism). Everything once well understood is enlightened no-birth. This is the exact atom of Buddha and Ksana Buddha. Buddha nature and Mara nature are two, but only one, and cling to each other just like shape and shadow. When we are confused or mistaken, our Buddha nature is hidden and suppressed in the Mara hood. When we have wisdom, Buddha nature suppresses the Mara hood. As a result, Buddha nature itself appears everywhere.
Every living creature contains in itself the seed of good and evil. But there is no good or evil in the insight aspect. In the absolute dharma, all these dharma are neither good nor evil, but become evil when there is no Insight. Those who have the insight must be impregnated with thousands of dharma situations and overcome them to strengthen their abilities and merits so that they shine brightly in their authenticity.
Being fully attested will soon lead to great awareness. Being awakened will soon lead to ultimate awareness. Those with ultimate awareness will soon be attested as immortal and then return to the essence, the nature. The nature is the origin of living creatures who are naturally very close to Buddhas. The Buddha's body, lasting forever everywhere, is unchanging and available boundlessly from the beginning to the end of time.
Thus, there would be no Buddha without living creatures, and there would be no enlightenment without ignorance.
Having sufficient abilities and merits, the living creatures are intimately close to the Buddha, and it is in the same body as the Buddha. However, being ignorant, the living creature is, of course, separated very far from the Buddha.
Because of ignorance, the living creatures do not know the Buddha. Only the Buddha knows living creatures. As no-birth, living creatures attest formless to have cleared form. Being no-birth, the dharma knows neither birth nor death, neither impurity nor purity, neither increases nor decreases. Being no-birth, the dharma appears wonderful and full of compassion everywhere.
Originally, all dharma are absolute in their nature. It is at this point of intersection that the bodhisattvas' minds respectfully make their offerings to the Buddha. It is at this point that the minds of the Buddhas of Ten Directions and Three Lives take their permanent refuge unchangingly and the absolute illumination is unalterable from the beginning to the end of time. There is no higher dharma. All attested dharma is co-equal. Being co-equal, they are supreme, and so are the minds. There are no higher minds or dharma. That is unbelievable! Why?
It is beyond the preaching, practicing, researching and thinking, we cannot fully express it in secular examples.
Co-equal dharma are attested Prajna dharma, and co-equal minds are attested Prajna minds. These minds escape from knowledge, no longer using the intelligence of the body to think, or using consciousness in thinking. The very deep and wonderful point is a self attested signal that one naturally knows oneself. The spontaneous handling of the intelligence is named main force and is also the all knowing at the entry of non-thought.
This is the precise path of the Supreme Tathagata Vehicle or Buddha Vehicle. It is present neither in the past nor in the future because it combines the absolute illumination with the motion of the universe. It is impossible to say that a man is previously sympathetic, but very bad now. Since the Buddha Vehicle make it clear that it is based on the existentialism, it can predict and discreetly manage according to the unceasing and rhythmic Tathagata motion, calmly making one's mind in concord with the mind of the universe.
The mind of the universe is that of Tathagata. Through the cleared equality of nature and wisdom and delicate management, we have a continuous understanding of real form and formless dharma of Samadhi.
Once we are capable of managing the true emptiness and understanding the birth, we have joy. The mind can certainly concord and sympathize with the universe without any further dependence on it.
Being no-birth, the dharma are no longer originated and destroyed. They are permanent, but changed their form through so many ways that even the sravaka, the Pratyeka Buddha and the arahants who have insufficient abilities and merits are unable to see all of them either. Only the bodhisattvas, who are attested supreme dharma, know how to transfer their merits to the Buddhas so that the latter is able to demonstrate a profound understanding of it.
The practitioners, who are insufficiently awakened, often make a mistake in seeing the originated form of dharma or the destroyed form of the dharma and hastily believe them to be originated as destroyed dharma. In fact, all dharma are absolutely pure, neither originated nor destroyed.
The practitioner, falsely named the form of self, will be wrongly impregnated with the self. Once he has self-possession, he will wrongly perceive all dharma, thinking they are originated and destroyed. The seed of the self yields its seed of sorrow and prevents us from attaining supreme enlightenment.
In practice, when we could know ourselves that all dharma are originally neither originated nor destroyed, we would rely on the dharma for clarification, preventing every mistake in order to understand well all dharma and enjoy the happiness.
During the period of constant mind, knowing completely that all dharma are equal, you will be very careful to acquire the absolute illumination, to be able to manage all dharma. You will eliminate barriers and obstacles as enormous as the Meru Mountain and the dharma then returns to your mind. This is called moving the Meru Mountain into a mustard seed, but none of the living creatures in that world have this understanding.
The disciple who attains the constant supreme mind without separating time and space is still able to incarnate to have the Three Lives of Buddha.
–The Buddha in the past has appeared in the boundless space.
–The Buddha in the future starts to act in the boundless space.
–The Buddha in the present is based on the present birth and makes it clear.
Each of his speeches, gestures, and thoughts, represent the same great loving powers as the Three Lives and is communicated with the Buddha-Power. Being attested with no ignorance and no extinction of ignorance are quiet and at ease all the time. Every act emits wonderful dharma, realizing the many vows, until perfection, to achieve the ultimate vow. This great compassion, deeply vowed of the bodhisattva, can't be measured by the sentiment of living creatures.
Therefore, we can see that the disciple cannot obtain supreme knowledge while remaining in false consciousness and seeing that he cannot yet enter in the depth. Consciousness is the base of birth and death. It is only when we have plenty of stained merits, including numberless rare merits. We are naturally attested for the stainless merits.
At this point, all karma is definitively eliminated and no longer increase in accordance with conditions. The nature becomes quiet and bright, and the stainless seeds are found everywhere. By attaining the purity, we can discover the fearlessness. The absolute illumination, with no cause of fear or suffering, is called fully enlightened fearlessness. There is no more hindering dharma or birth and death karma
At that point the Prajna appears. That is the true wisdom of no-birth and no-distinction. Living creatures originally have the true form of prajna. Masked by ignorance, we are unable to realize the formless prajna. That is why we can't attain Samadhi.
Entering Prajna wisdom, the disciple will from time to time continuously wish to have all the twelve stages. Not yet attested as all knowing, the disciple could not carry out the wonderful application. Thus, he would never have supreme knowledge, even if he patiently meditates, learns, and studies thousands of sutras. He still remains at the level of knowing the Buddha dharma through intelligent spirit, which is difficult to escape from reasoning.
The practitioner who fully realizes “The vow of making the Tathagata's Merits” is closer to the living creatures and understands them better even though they are not aware of it. Each of our wishes, communicated by induction, fully concords with the twelve stages, thus achieving the ‘Nine Classes of Lotus Flower’. Entering into the Samadhi, we can communicate with the Ten Directions of the Buddha-Power.
Revered Sir,
We vow to lean on the living of all dharma to preach and handle cleverly to understand the living dharma well in order to be attested no-birth and be able to follow the same immortal path as the Buddhas of Ten Direction and Three Lives.
Buddhist true disciple, Phap Kha,
the representative of all the followers, respectfully offers. |
