The X-Tour: Taiwan ‘2010

This Taiwan trip came all too suddenly. In late 2009, we made a trip to Sabah, Malaysia. While we had yet to recover fully from the shocking experience of some British soldiers who died in the World War II coming forward to seek help for soul deliverance, we were wondering what would be the next exciting extraordinary tour planned by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

Initially we planned to go to Seattle in the US, to visit one of my root gurus, H.H Living Buddha Lian Sheng (Grand Master). But suddenly, I had an urge to go to Shandong in China instead, to see the peony blossoms in April, and the cherry blossoms too. Dancing with the cherry blossoms is a dream in my life that has yet to be realized.

Early April 2010, I had a dream. In my dream, Grand Master told me not to come to Seattle, for he would be leaving Seattle to return to the place where he planned to finally pass away. So, we dropped our plan to visit the US. At the time, Dharma Sister Zhou suddenly said she wished to visit Taiwan. I agreed, partly because the last time I visited Taiwan was about 18 years ago, that I was curious to find out how Taiwan had changed after all these years, and I recalled the special Ginger Duck (a local delicacy) which was popular in the winter seasons.

When Dharma Sister Chan informed the rest via sms about our plan to visit Taiwan, Dharma Brother Shao thought it sounded very much like a very ordinary and casual tour. At that juncture, he suddenly ‘saw’ the Four Heavenly Kings descending from space, indicating their readiness to support the Taiwan trip. He least expected this to be yet another X-tour!

Few days later, Dharma Sister Chan informed me of the breaking news on the True Buddha School Net, reporting Grand Master’s sudden decision to return to Taiwan for good. My dream had been proven right again. We could now celebrate the birthday of Grand Master, with Grand Master, his family and thousands of True Buddha practitioners in Taiwan. It would indeed be an extraordinary experience!

So, 36 of us set off for Taiwan (in 2 batches) on 20 Jun 2010, with the tour ending on 28 Jun 2010. We would be creating a new chapter of X-Tour, this time, in Taiwan. One week before the tour, after a group practice, I told the rest that this time we would be making contacts with friends from the Tibetan Buddhism and Taoism in Taiwan. Later, I received 2 phone calls, one after another. The first one was made by Dondo Rinpoche (the author of “Wingless Garuda”) from Nyingma Kathok in Taiwan. He told me about his plan to visit Hong Kong in May, to attend a Buddhist ceremony presided over by H.H Mocha Rinpoche. He asked me if I planned to visit Taiwan in the near future. He invited me to attend a ceremony that he would be conducting in Taiwan. But I told him that I would not be able to make it due to my heavy work schedule. I told him of our Taiwan tour in Jun. 2 hours after he called, Dharma Brother Lian Kui called from Taiwan, asking me if I was going to Taiwan, as H.E Danzhen Longduo Nima Rinpoche from Nyingma Dzogchen in China was visiting Taiwan, presiding over a Buddhist ceremony. I told him of my plan to visit Taiwan in Jun.
During this mind-training tour, we visited Taipei, Yeliu, Jiufen, Wulai, Gaoxiong and Taizhong. Everywhere we went, rainbows awaited our arrival in the sky. No matter rain or shine, rainbows awaited our arrival, welcoming us. On our way back to Singapore, there were even 2 rainbows vertically descending from the sky below the clouds, clearly visible from our plane soon after it took off from Taiwan airport. It symbolized the perfect arrangement meticulously planned by the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas, and the Dharma Protectors, for this exciting mind-training tour. When we were setting off the sky-lanterns in Shifen, mother nature seemed to work with us in perfect harmony. There was a heavy downpour in Shifen when we arrived, which stopped immediately before we set off the sky-lanterns; and then the heavy downpour resumed immediately after the sky-lanterns were set off completely……

When we arrived at Qijing, our tour guide was introducing the place to us while we stood next to a Ma Zu Temple. At the time, a slight drizzle started. Surprisingly, the rain only fell on one side of the road, leaving the other side completely dry! How strange! After which, I went into the temple to pay my respects to Ma Zu (a taoist deity). This was my first encounter with Ma Zu in Taiwan.

Our schedule was fully packed. We planned our dinner every night at several famous night markets including Shiling Night Market, Danshui Old Street, Ximending, Jiufen, Shenkeng Old Street and Wulai Old Street in Taipei; Liuhe Night Market in Gaoxiong; and Fengjia Night Market in Taizhong. We hunted for the famous local delicacies such as the stinky beancurd that we had been longing for, oyster “me sua” or oyster omelette.

I originally thought that we could at most just make a phone call to greet Dondo Rinpoche during our trip in Taiwan. Out of my expectation, he actually invited us to his centre in Gaoxiong – Khatok Rainbow Dharma Centre in Gaoxiong. Due to some slight miscommunication, when we reached his centre around 5pm, he had already gone somewhere else trying to receive us. When I walked up the stairs and met the person-in-charge of the centre, she told me that Dondo Rinpoche had already gone out to receive a Rinpoche from Singapore. I was in casual attire at the time, so I simply smiled and told her that we could wait for Dondo Rinpoche to return. 15 minutes later, Dondo Rinpoche rushed back to the centre. He immediately offered me a khatak when we met. The person-in-charge of the centre looked slightly embarrassed, for how could she tell that this ordinary looking man was actually a reincarnation of a Tibetan Rinpoche?

Later, Dondo Rinpoche invited me to sit on a high throne, joining the rest in a Vajra Kilaya Prayer. I did not expect Dondo Rinpoche to appear again in Taizhong, where he treated us to a delicious dinner of Italian pasta. After which, we visited his centre in Taizhong – Tibetan Buddhism Dondo Dharma Centre in Taizhong.
When we finally returned to Taipei, he was there too, inviting us on our last day to visit his centre in Taipei – Wish Fulfilling Temple. We did a few rounds of smoke-offering prayer, including a Green Tara prayer.

As I sat on the high throne, wearing the dharma crown and dressing in a lama robe, the rest of the practitioners came forward to prostrate before me and presented their offerings to me. Suddenly, I had a feeling of déjà vu that I seemed to be still sitting on the floor in the Lei Zang Temple during the prayer on that day, with my mind fully immersed in bliss…. For there is no difference between sitting on a high throne and sitting on a floor, doing prayers. Spiritual connections that pervade the universe are far more important.

There was yet another inconceivable spiritual connection awaiting us. I expected Dharma Brother Lian Kui to introduce some Taoist friends to me this time. But he did not make that arrangement. There was a silent arrangement being made by someone else though, in the spiritual world.

After the completion of the Maha White Lotus Bodhisattva Prayer in Lei Zang Temple, we left the temple by walking down the road leading to the foot of the hill. Our coach could not come up to the temple as the road was narrow and the crowd was huge. On our way down, Lian Kui suddenly pointed to someone sitting behind a car parked by the roadside. He asked me if I could remember her. Of course I could! She was the daughter of the former abbot of the Wanshou Temple at Tuchen (Taoism). Her name was ‘Xiao Cui’. Old memories resurfaced in my mind. I remembered more than 20 years ago, late Master Lian Xuan made an acquaintance with the lady abbot of Wan Shou Temple, Lin Jin Ying. Her daughter, Xiao Cui, even came to Singapore to pay a visit to the late Master Lian Xuan. I remembered her very well, albeit she knew nothing about me.

I even knew about her family’s migration to the US. Lian Kui introduced my Rinpoche title in Nyingma Dzogchen of Tibetan Buddhism to Xiao Cui. She then extended her invitation to us to visit her mother at the Ma Zu Temple in New Peitou, to renew our connection. I agreed to her suggestion without thinking too much about it. But our schedule was too full when we had yet to squeeze out some time to visit the centre of Dondo Rinpoche. The rest must have thought that I was not too serious about the promise, and that the visit to her temple would just be impossible!

On our way returning from Taizhong to Taipei, our tour guide told us that the weather in Taiwan was becoming sunnier. It had been raining cats and dogs almost everyday since our 1st day of arrival till the 8th day. According to our itineraries, after visiting the Daxi Floral Farm, we should be visiting Qingsui Master Temple, Sanxia Old Street and Yingge Ceramics Street. However, heavy downpour started during our lunch at the Daxi Floral Farm. We had to cancel the rest of the itineraries for the day and go straight to the Fishermen’s Pier.

We arrived at the Fishermen’s Pier at around 5pm. When I reached the Fishermen’s Pier, immediately I ‘saw’ a dragon king appearing before me, asking me to help the sea beings killed and stranded in the spiritual world. So, I performed a soul deliverance prayer to help the sea beings. Later, we proceeded to the Danshui Old Street for dinner. At that juncture, I made an impromptu decision to go for the meeting with Xiao Cui. 7 of us went for the meeting by taking a sub-way train. At the time, it was still drizzling, and, again, a rainbow quietly appeared in the sky…….

The rest must have assumed that I could not make it for this meeting, but deep in my heart I knew that this was yet another very unusual connection; the arrangement would have already been made by the spiritual world……

In fact, Xiao Cui was a reincarnation of Ma Zu (妈祖). What then was the connection between Acho and Ma Zu in their past life? Xiao Cui could forget about Acho, but Acho had never forgotten about this past connection that had gone beyond time and space……. Acho visited the Ma Zu Temple in New Peitou at night and offered the blessing, for there was a secret hidden in the heavenly realm that could never be spoken…….

Acho
7 Jul 2010  

More Pictures：http://picasaweb.google.com/BuddhaEyeAlbum/Taiwan2010#

One Hundred Deities of Bardo (中阴文武百尊)

I wish to talk about the teaching of The Hundred Peaceful & Wrathful Deities of Bardo (an intermediate state of being between death and the next birth). We did the empowerment ceremony for the practice at Alice’s home recently. According to Tibetan Buddhism, if one practices The Hundred Peaceful & Wrathful Deities of Bardo diligently, not only will he cleanse his Five Sins of No Respite, he will also not fall into the Vajra Hell but will instead gain a swift rebirth in the Buddha Pure Land.

Any sentient being who has heard once the Mandala of The Hundred Peaceful & Wrathful Deities of Bardo, or the name of any of the deities, will not fall into the Three Lower Realms.

The god, demi-god and the human realms belong to the Three Upper Realms, whereas the hell, hungry ghost and the animal realms belong to the Three Lower Realms. We should strive for a rebirth in the Three Upper Realms and avoid the Three Lower Realms for the latter is full of sufferings. You would suffer tremendously if you fall into the hell or become an animal. If you were born as an animal, you would become very ignorant and would be slaughtered easily by others. If you were born as a hungry ghost, you would perpetually live in starvation, forever deprived of food; any food that you could find would become inedible. So, we need to, at least, be born into the Three Upper Realms.

After hearing the teaching of The Hundred Peaceful & Wrathful Deities of Bardo, even one who has transgressed the Five Sins of No Respite will not fall into the Three Lower Realms, for it is “Liberation Upon Hearing” that will lead one to the attainment of Buddhahood. This is the most supreme teaching, as recorded in the Buddhist doctrines. Samantabhadra Buddha said, “Male or female yogis who pay homage to the hundred peaceful & wrathful deities will purify all their mistakes, including the broken samaya bond and bad karma, and they will be able to attain the common and uncommon accomplishments swiftly in their present lifetime.”

The Hundred Peaceful & Wrathful Deities of Bardo is the most supreme treasure that can benefit all sentient beings widely, through which one could attain Buddhahood without doing the practice. Guru Padmasambhava said, “This is a very special and supreme teaching, as one can attain liberation by simply hearing it – attaining enlightenment without practice, and attaining Buddhahood in a split second. It is the most profound method of attaining the perfect enlightenment, and also a method for freeing one of all negative karma created through wrongful actions. One who hears this teaching will not fall into the dark realms. It is a teaching only revealed to sentient beings who have accumulated great merits through their past practice. Upon hearing the teaching, one will receive great blessings and instantaneously attained Buddhahood.”

It is a hidden teaching (terma) transmitted by Guru Padmasambhava, not revealed to those without merits. It is generally unheard of by most people. But once you hear it, you will have the seed of Buddhahood planted within your being. You ought to know that Guru Padmasambha is someone who spoke of the true speech – the vajra speech.

I obtained this linage of empowerment from three great masters through H.E Konde Riponche (H.E Konde Rinponche received the empowerments of this teaching from H.E Padma Gelsang, H.H Penor Rinpoche and H.H Kyabje Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche). I, in turn, conferred the empowerment to the rest of the participants. Such empowerment has great power of blessing, which is evident in the pictures taken during the empowerment ceremony – the amazing round lights appearing in space during the ceremony testified the great power of blessing.

The genesis of The Hundred Peaceful & Wrathful Deities of Bardo began in this samsaric world dating back eons ago. There was a Brahmin who possessed supernatural power but he was harmed by his student. The student was a prince who had also developed the Five Supernatural Powers. Out of jealousy, the student harmed his teacher and therefore fell into the Three Lower Realms and suffered great pains. Out of great compassion, Samantabhadra Buddha taught him the teaching of The Hundred Peaceful & Wrathful Deities of Bardo in order to end his sufferings. Upon hearing the names and heart mantras of The Hundred Peaceful & Wrathful Deities of Bardo, the student immediately received the magnificent power of blessing from Vajrasattva and Vajrapani, and he was liberated from the great sufferings and regained a human birth once more.

When you are free, you may visit our BuddhaEye website (www.buddhaeye.net) and take a look at the pictures of the hundred peaceful & wrathful deities. When you enter the bardo state after death, they will appear before you, one at a time. If you have not learnt this teaching and did not receive the empowerment, you will be frightened by their appearances, especially the wrathful ones, and run away from them instead. You might even blackout and become unconscious out of great fear. However, if you have received the empowerment and blessing, and you have seen their pictures in the past, you will recognize them and attain instantaneous liberation in the bardo state. When you recognize them and follow them, you are, in fact, following Samantabhadra Buddha - you will attain Buddhahood. So, it is possible for one to attain Buddhahood in the bardo state.

The Hundred Peaceful & Wrathful Deities of Bardo is a teaching that only requires “recognition”, without practice. Go visit the BuddhaEye website. Take a look at their pictures and store them well in your Alaya Consciousness. One day, when you die, you will see them in your bardo state. “Yes! I received the empowerment for this teaching in the past.” Follow the hundred peaceful & wrathful deities, and you will end up being born into the Pure Land of Samantabhadra Buddha. This is a very supreme teaching.

Reference：http://buddhaeyelibrary.blogspot.com/2009/04/blog-post.html

Non-Sectarianism (不分教派 )

I have not come across any Buddhist precept that forbids anyone in a particular school of Buddhism from accepting the empowerments, blessings or lineage transmissions from other schools of Buddhism. At least, to my knowledge, I have not come across any such precepts.

Due to our past karmic connections, we will have more opportunities to interact with friends from Tibetan Buddhism in future. So, we need to understand it clearly and develop the right attitude towards dealing with such situations in future, to avoid the unnecessary confusions and hindrances, paving a smoother path ahead.

I think we cannot stop the development of events due to our past karmic connections. Dharma Sister Chan joked about it by saying that maybe we should quickly learn the Tibetan language, in order to communicate with our Tibetan friends more effectively. I think it makes sense. I don’t mind telling all of you that, every one of us here had been a Tibetan in our past life. So, every one of us here has a strong karmic connection with Tibetan Buddhism too. We had practiced Tibetan Buddhism diligently in our past life. So too is Grand Master who also had a strong karmic connection with Tibetan Buddhism in his past life.

We are merely going back to our past and re-establishing the spiritual relations. I hope you will welcome our Tibetan friends with joy. Open up our mind and welcome them, and help them within our means. This is walking the Path of a Bodhisattva. Why not? To me, I opened up my mind to anyone. I will remain steadfast in upholding the important precepts, the rest are trivial matters that do not bother me at all. I don’t think it is wrong in making a connection with other schools of Buddhism.

All schools of Buddhism belong to the same family. The splits should not even have happened in the first place. Who was the one causing the splits? It was only an act of man. When a person becomes strongly sectarian and thinks only highly of his own group, this is no longer Buddhism but a different religion. For instance, assuming that you are a Nyingma and you think that only Nyingma is the right school but others are not, and you disallow others in your group to visit other schools of Buddhism, or otherwise accusing them for transgressing the precepts and breaching the Dharma, then I think you have already deviated from the teachings of Buddhism, and that you have developed a wrong view of sectarianism.

Buddhism is accommodating, open and advocates equality. All schools of Buddhism are equal. Grand Master advocates equality all the time. No matter which group you belong to, do not be discriminative of other schools. We should treat the different schools with equality, and welcome all the Rinpoches, Lamas and practitioners from the different schools.

There is only one Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava, the founder of Tibetan Buddhism) and He belongs to all schools of Buddhism. His heart mantra is “Om A Hum. Becha Guru Padma Siddhi Hum.” It is being chanted by the True Buddha School and Sakya in the same way. Guru Rinpoche will confer his blessings to a Nyingma, a Kagyu and practitioners from other schools of Buddhism in the same manner. He will not just bless the True Buddha School and ignore the Kagyu. That is impossible! Guru Rinpoche is non-sectarian. If He had a differentiating mind, He would not be Guru Rinpoche!
It will be best if you could learn from Bodhisattva Respectful-of-All who was mentioned in the Lotus Sutra. He treated everyone as a Buddha or Bodhisattva, and he was ready to accept blessings from anyone he met. However, the sentient beings tend to be discriminative, exclusive and egoistic. As long as you have such negative mindsets, you will never break free from the cyclic existence. It is crucial for a practitioner to develop the right view, particularly the Madhyamika (Middle Way) - keep an open mind and do not be discriminative.

The Purity of Mind (意念清净)

Dharma Brother Shao:

I would like to share with you what I recently read from a website related to Master Nan Huai Jin (南怀瑾).

The story dated back in the Ming Dynasty in China. There was a Zen Master who was also a great scholar and a young and beautiful lady who was very skilled at poems. When the lady wanted to take refuge in the Zen Master, the latter said to the former, “So, you want to take refuge in me – good! I shall confer you the precepts. But I want to ask you first whether you did transgress any precepts in the past? You have to be frank and tell me all your transgressions. First, the three types of sins committed through actions which are killing, stealing and sexual misconduct. So, did you kill?”

You’ve got to know that the ladies in ancient China did not have to work in the kitchen, so they never had to kill the pigs, chickens or fish personally. The Zen Master asked if the lady had killed in the past. The lady pondered for awhile and answered, “I did, for I once asked my maid to remove the bugs on the flowers and hit a butterfly with a fan held in her hand.”

She reported on such trivial misconducts long kept in her mind. Such misconducts are made even by the heavenly beings in the lower realm of the Form Realm.

“Did you steal?” the Zen Master asked again. She said, “I did, for I ever asked my maid to plug the flowers hanging on some trees belonging to others, and I listened quietly to the music produced from a flute played by a neighbor next door.”

“Did you commit any sexual misconduct,” asked the Zen Master. She said, “I did, for I made up my face in front of the mirror and I sew a pair of mandarin ducks on my dress.” That was a mere reflection of motives in her mind! However, to her, it was no different from committing an action.

“Did you lie,” asked the Zen Master. She said, “I did, for I think I was from the Blissful Ground in my past life and that I am skilled in debates.”

The scholars and Buddhists tend to make the same mistake because we tend to think that we are as rhetoric as the great Vimalakirti (维摩居士). The Blissful Ground is the First Ground of Bodhisattvahood. A First Ground Bodhisattva is very skilled in his writing. So, she admitted transgressing the precept of indecent speech. One who writes beautiful poems and essays will easily make such mistakes, for beautiful writings are often indecent speeches. I share the same mistakes with her.

“Did you make any divisive speech,” asked the Zen Master. She said, “I did, for I criticized the works written by others.”

We must be very careful about examining our own mind. A scholar who turns to Buddhism will lose his courage in writing, lest falling into the pitfall of divisive speech.

He asked, “Did you say bad words?” This includes the use of vulgar languages and cursing of others. She said, “I did, for I scolded the east wind for making the flowers fall from the trees.” Look, blaming others is also a transgression of precept.

“Did you create three types of karma in your mind? Did you succumb to your lust,” asked the Zen Master. She said, “I did, for I have collected 1000 books and I planted a garden full of flowers.” We are so alike – I like to read books and I have bought more than 1000 books, and I still want to buy more; such action is driven by lust.

“Did you succumb to your sense of hatred,” asked the Zen Master. She said, “I did, for I was mad at a lady scholar for her bad poem belittling the virtues of women.”

“Did you succumb to your ignorance,” asked the Zen Master. She said, “I did, for I traded my pearls for jades for my ornaments” Trading the current ornaments for a better ones, not satisfied with a one carat diamond but wanting a three carat diamond are examples of one’s succumbing to his lust.

“Fine,” finally the Zen Master said, “now that you have confessed all your past transgressions, do not make such mistakes in future anymore.” Thus, he conferred her the precepts.

So, I thought we should be more alert about our mental transgressions, after reading this story.


Acho Rinpoche:

What Dharma Brother Shao has just shared with us was no different from what is being said in the Ksitigarbha Sutra that, every single thought arising in us is a transgression of precept. If you are not upholding the precepts well but let your negative propensity turns awry, you will transgress the precepts. It will be hard for you to even keep a human body in your next life; most people will tend to fall into the Three Lower Realms instead. So, upholding the precepts is a key practice.

It is rather unusual for one to kill another person with knife or to deceive others. However, one can easily commit small transgressions. Do not belittle such transgressions that seem to be trivial, they will gradually snowball and lead one going astray finally. So, keeping a pure mind at all times is very crucial. Your progress in spiritual cultivation is reflected by the purity of your thoughts. I hope you would keep your mind pure at all times, do not let it go astray.

Disciplines (修行要守戒)

Disciplines are important to both the ordained folks and layman Buddhists. You might not know that once you start practicing the Dharma, regardless of Tibetan or True Buddha Tantras, you have immediately come under the watchful eye of the spiritual world. Every action, speech and thought of yours will be watched closely by the spiritual world.

Disciplines are very important. When you aspire to the attainment of Buddhahood, someone will be watching you in order to prevent you from falling. You are aware of what you do, whether right or wrong, for you cannot deceive yourself. Both the practice and disciplines are of equal importance. When you have accomplished your practice, you will naturally behave well, by then the situation will be different. Otherwise, you must be cautious about your actions at all times. Once you make a mistake, you will face the bad consequence immediately, and you will fall. Once fallen, it will be difficult for you to regain a human life in your next rebirth.
You will no doubt accumulate merits from the recitation of sutras or chanting of mantras. However, such merits cannot free you from the cyclic existence. If you don’t understand the notion of emptiness and the true meaning of practice, you will end up accumulating only merits and be reborn as a wealthy man, and fall. The practice is important. Knowing the right objective of the practice is even more so. It is very important to learn the right teachings to avoid practicing the wrong way. If you practice the wrong way, you will fall, and then you will not be able to regain a human life.

I have repeated this many times that most of the people in the world today will find it extremely difficult to be reborn as human beings in their next lives. Instead, they will very likely fall into the animal realm and be reborn as chickens, dogs, worms, snakes, birds etc. If you want to keep a human body, you must abide by the Five Precepts (no stealing, no killing, no lying, no sexual misconduct, no reckless drinking of alcohol). However, how many people can abide by the Five Precepts? So, you see, the world has become what it is today - constantly plagued by the numerous problems including the financial crisis; for most people do not uphold their disciplines. People fought over money out of lust, hatred and ignorance. So, the world is plagued by the numerous problems. Australia is hit by big forest fires because of a long dry spell etc. Such phenomena occurred because mankind fails to cultivate their mind. Instead, they create negative karma all the time. The world has plunged into a big chaos, with terrifying news reported daily in the newspaper; for mankind has failed to cultivate their mind.

Spiritual practice is very important. I hope you would guard your mind and do not let it go awry. You will know it when you have accomplished your mind training. All your worldly possessions will vanish at the blink of an eye including your family, career, money etc. They will vanish in no time. What is more important is the cultivation of our mind. When you have accomplished your mind training, you will have the ability to help the world and the universe, you will then find your life meaningful. Otherwise you are just wasting your time, and you will not know what you will become in your next life. So, please observe the disciplines closely.