■Book 103 - The Great Spiritual Response Of Tantrayana
■Written by master Sheng-yen Lu
For more information, please call +1(510)473-4818 or fax +1(510)437-1987.
Contact Address: 3440 Foothill Blvd. Oakland CA 94601, U.S.A.
1. He should have very few sickness if any.
2. He should have adequate Qi in his body, and be very energetic.
3. He should not feel tired easily. It is a sign that he is not experiencing spiritual response if he always looks tired and fatigued.
4. His body will radiate all kinds of lights. His brightness may be in certain form or even formless.
5. His body will emit a certain kind of nature fragrance; and his body odour is lessened.
6. He himself will actively cultivate the Tantra. He is not compelled to do so, or treat the cultivation as a chore. He will do the cultivation happily, rejoice at doing good deeds, and enjoy dharma bliss.
7. He will recall his root deity at all times not just during cultivation. As a minimum, a cultivator must remember his root deity, guru and space-travelling protectors at three specific periods of time.
Our sect has reduced the cultivation session to once a day, and yet many disciples could not do it. Surely they will not experience any spiritual response.
If a person always falls sick, and looks tired and fatigued all the while. And he does not radiate any light. Or his body odour is very strong, and never recalls his root deity, worse still he forgets to do cultivation. Or he is simply lazy and have many nightmares, in which others wanted to kill him, or he wanted to kill others, or just did bad things in his dream, i.e. he never have any good dream at all. These phenomena will show he is not experiencing any spiritual response.
The true signs of spiritual response are those just mentioned by me. A cultivator will have auspicious signs; be full of dharma bliss; like to do good deeds; and is fond of cultivation. His body will radiate lights and emit fragrance. He will have good dreams. These are mentioned in the Susiddhi Sutra.
We know that Buddhism is an accommodating and flexible religion that is why it can be divided into five vehicles (forms of practice).
The earliest form is human realm, which teaches us how to be a human－－ a kind and perfect human being. Human realm is considered the foundation of Heaven realm. As a perfect human being can be uplifted and be born as a god; and can continue to cultivate and eventually become a deity. This is the Heaven realm. If a deity in the heaven realm continues his cultivation, he may become a realizer by hearing, and be in that realm. Generally speaking, heaven realm is also the foundation of realizer realm. Once in the realizer realm, and able to get rid of attachment of ego, a person can reach the Bodhisattva realm. A bodhisattva will succour other sentient beings. The Bodhisattva realm stems from the realizer realm. A person in the Bodhisattva realm will have very little karma to stop him from enlightenment. We can say Bodhisattva realm lays the foundation for Buddhahood. Buddhism classifies the five levels of achievement as five vehicles.
These five realms are considered righteous and not the evil ways. A perfect person is considered righteous; so is the cultivation of god and deity. When I first follow the faith of Taoism, I always think of gods and deities. I enshrined the image of Peach Pond Golden Mother, a great deity, in fact the deity of highest order in the eyes of Taoists. Her mission is the same as a Bodhisattva i.e. to succour all the sentient beings. Most people and religious sects consider themselves following the right belief , and yet they reject the Peach Pond Golden Mother and other deities. In the eyes of Buddhism, this is incorrect. A lot of Buddhists, and dharma masters who claimed to be following the right belief dislike the idea of enshrining gods and deities. But the fact is that from Buddhism point of view, it is within the purview of Buddha. There should not be any difference. The so called difference if any is mainly created by human beings themselves.
What is the only thing left in the universe?
If we have to define what is really the right vehicle then only Buddhahood that is perfect can be considered. The remaining vehicles such as Bodhisattvas, realizers, arhats, all the deities and gods, saints are considered incorrect ways - heresy, since they are not perfect yet.
Buddhism is flexible and accommodating to consider all sentient beings as Buddhas. Deity that comes to liberate us therefore deserves our full respect. The True Buddha School advocates all vehicles are right beliefs. There is no such thing as evil way, and heresy. In other words, there are no evil ways, or heresy in my mind. Everybody is a Buddha, the only difference is what level of perfection each has achieved.
Only Buddha has achieved the true perfection. Bodhisattva is less perfect. And a realizer is less perfect than a Bodhisattva. Likewise a being in the heaven realm is less perfect than a realizer; and a human being is less perfect than a heaven being. As long as they are from the five realms just mentioned, we must respect them. Even those that are not from the five realms, we must still show our respect. The most important word in this world is \”Respect\”, other words are immaterial. In other words, if we need a word to describe the universe, the word should be \”Buddha\”, all other words should not exist.
If you can understand this, you will have the thought of Yoga, which is itself a form of spiritual response.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
-End-
