The Transmission of Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother Sadhana Dharma Discourse Transmitted by Living Buddha Lian-sheng after the Autumn Amitabha

ha Buddha Ceremony, at Meydenbauer Center, Bellevue, Washington on September 4, 2010

Translated by Janny Chow, Proofread by Rene Cordsen Release Date: October 6, 2010 Release version: Final

Let us pay homage to Reverend Liaoming, Vajra Acharya Sakya Zhengkong, His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa, and Vajra Acharya Thubten Dargye. Homage to the Triple Jewels of the shrine! Homage to the principal deity of todays ceremony, Amitabha Buddha! Homage to the principal deity of the sadhana to be transmitted, Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother! Shimu, vajra masters, senior reverends, reverends, dharma instructors, dharma assistants, directors of local chapters, fellow cultivators, our honored Director General Liao, all honored guests, and all fellow cultivators joining us through the internet. May all be blessed with auspiciousness! Today I am going to transmit the Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother Sadhana. Earlier during the Amitabha Deliverance Ceremony, I had to bless the presiding master [Master Lianzhe] at the beginning. But once he began to conduct the ceremony, I had nothing to do and decided to just sit in a cross-legged position to have a little shut-eye. At first I thought it would be fine as long as my head did not sway too much. Unexpectedly, as soon as I closed my eyes, I saw the personal deity, Amitabha, lowering a large dharma vessel which was made of gold, instead of wood, and was golden in color. Amitabha then said to me, Come aboard. Doesnt going aboard mean that I would return to the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds? What if I could not come down again? I would be sitting here on this chair with my eyes shut forever. Someone has said, After shutting your eyes, the next time you open your eyes again, the night is gone. However, if you never open your eyes again, your life is gone. That was why, after boarding the big golden dharma vessel, I still felt a little uneasy. It had nothing to do with my conscience. I was just worried that by boarding the dharma vessel, I would not be able to come back! However, Amitabha said, You can still go back. That put me at ease. After boarding the vessel, Amitabha said, You take over the steering wheel. I replied, No! I'll get seasick. If I were going to rock too much, it would be embarrassing if the audience below thought that I was dozing off. He said, Dont worry. This dharma vessel is very stable. Even if you are seasick, your head will only sway a little bit, and they will not think that you are asleep. I then went with all of the bardo spirits to the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds [audience applause]. It was rather strange! While steering the dharma vessel, I could still move slightly while we were doing the procedure of the Armor Protection and the Great Homage. I still had a little awareness of which steps of the liturgies we were doing. Then suddenly we arrived at the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds, and I looked around there for a little bit. The next time I opened my eyes again, I was back on this dharma seat. It was a very quick round trip journey! This dharma ceremony reminds me of a very wonderful word, a word that I had wanted originally to utter at the time of my parinirvana, although I have changed my mind since because this word has such a broad meaning that people would not understand it. I was going to shout Shuang! [The Chinese word shuang has the connotation of awesome and terrific.] But this word has been overused and it no longer has any special significance. I have to think of a different word for that future occasion. I feel very good about this dharma ceremony. Sitting on the dharma seat, I did not have to do much. I just closed and opened my eyes again, and it was over. Wow! Shuang! If you have another ceremony like this next time, I would also attend that one [audience applause]! There was nothing much to do and it was all resolved in a moment. Talking about the word shuang, I remember this story about someone named Shuang. This person named Shuang only lived to a middle age. On the day of his funeral, his wife, sons, and daughters were following his coffin and, with tears streaming down their faces, crying out, Shuang! Shuang! Shuang! People witnessing this scene were puzzled. It was obviously a funeral, why was the family crying out shuang! So they inquired, Why are you shouting shuang [terrific] when you are on a funeral procession? The family replied, Dont you know? Shuang is dead [It is deadly terrific]! Today while sitting here in this dharma ceremony, I had this same feeling. Not having to work hard, I was navigating the dharma vessel through the flying clouds. This rocking from side to side was so soothing and, just like this joke, I wanted to cry out, Dont you know, Shuang is dead! This is life. It is terrific when we can pass our days happily. It is even happier when you can practice Buddhism. I wish every fellow cultivator to be happy and live every day happily [audience applause]. Recently I have spent over four months in Taiwan. I have just returned to the U.S., and am now attending and empowering this September fourth, Bardo Deliverance Ceremony. On September fifteenth, I will go back to the Taiwan Leizang Temple. They have invited me to stay permanently in Taiwan. Earlier, Mr. Sun commented that I love Taiwan, which is indeed true. That is why I am going back to work hard, but I feel very happy working this hard. It is very good going back there. They have this saying, Seattle has wonderful mountains and waters, but it is so boring. Taiwan is dirty and chaotic, but it is so fun. There lie the differences between the two places. I love good mountains and waters, and I also love fun. So what to do? I finally have a solution. When the

weather is hot in Taiwan, I will return to Seattle for a while [long audience applause]. That is fine! It is wonderful! But your applause definitely will lose to the applause of the devotees in Taiwan. That is enough [continuation of applause]! Wow! This is getting to be a little too much for me. This is my thinking. Summer in Taiwan is indeed very hot. Let me give you a simple example with this dharma crown I am wearing. When I was in Taiwan, after giving everyone the empowerment, I would take off the crown and water would pour down my face over my eyes and my back. Since this dharma crown provided a complete seal around my head, a swimming pool formed in the space between the hat and my skin when I sweated. As soon as the hat was lifted, water splashed all over me. It was really hot. While there, I kept on wanting to say, Aiya! I cant take it any more! I have to go back to Seattle. But, it is really hard to say no to Taiwans passion. On the fifteenth of September, I will again return to Taiwan. I feel that Taiwans winter is quite lovely. So I will return there in winter and try my best to find a chance to come back here in the summer. When I was there this time, I visited almost one hundred of our local chapters in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. While in Taiwan, we held a dharma ceremony every Saturday afternoon at three oclock, and each time at least ten thousand people attended. Indeed, sitting up there looking at ten thousand people, there was only one word in my heart. It is that one word, you can guess which one it is. We know that it is more difficult to get a visa to come to the U.S. It is quite difficult for many people to come over here. I also heard that the airfares have gone up and, since we have not recovered from the economic tsunami, it is better to be a little thrifty. Todays talk is about the Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother Sadhana. Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother is the greatest of all BuddhaMothers, as all buddhas have emerged from her. How is that so? When he was alive, Shakyamuni Buddha spoke of the Great Prajnaparamita Sutra. The condensed version of Great Prajnaparamita Sutra is the Diamond Prajnaparamita Sutra, known as the Diamond Sutra. The condensed version of Diamond Sutra is the Heart Sutra. Therefore, the Great Prajnaparamita Sutra, the Diamond Sutra, and the Heart Sutra belong to the same series of wisdom teachings. When Shakyamuni Buddha gave the second turning of the wheel of dharma, he taught the pathway of prajna [transcendent wisdom], and all of the buddhas have emerged from this teaching of the Great Prajnaparamita Sutra. Therefore, the greatest Buddha-Mother of this transcendent wisdom pathway is called Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother. She is the womb that gives birth to all buddhas. She possesses extraordinary dharma power and the wisdom she bestows is infinite and boundless. In Vajrayana Buddhism, when you practice the Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother Sadhana, at the beginning you have to visualize the Tibetan seed syllable BANG appearing in the Empty Space. The Tibetan BANG is a circle with a square below it, and its sound is exactly the same as the bang in the [Chinese] phrase you say a lot, hen bang [super]. From BANG a lotus is generated. There is a picture of Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother behind me, and her lotus has emerged from BANG. In the middle of BANG is a moon disc. This moon disc has emerged from the seed syllable AH. In Seattle, there are many crows flying around, and they are all chanting mantras. I have said before that the cawing sounds of crows are AH AH AH. Just remember that crows caw in the sound of the Tibetan AH. So, BANG gives rise to a lotus, and from the center of the lotus a white colored AH gives rise to a moon disc. In the center of the moon disc is another yellow colored AH which gives rise to Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother. Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother appears in the form of a celestial maiden with a slender figure. Her upper left hand holds the case with the Prajnaparamita Sutra and her upper right hand holds a nine-spoked golden vajra. The lower two hands hold the Amitabha Meditation Mudra. Appearing as a Sambhogakaya Buddha, she is adorned with the precious ornaments of a crown, earrings, bracelets, necklaces and layers of celestial garments covering half of her body. Her face is yellow and extremely beautiful and majestic. Upon her crown [brow-point] is the OM syllable, at her throat chakra is the AH syllable, and at her heart is the HUM syllable. Lights shine forth from OM AH HUM. From the Empty Space the five Dhyani Buddhas descend together to surround Prajnaparamita, forming a very majestic scene. The Five Buddhas are the central Vairocana Buddha, eastern Akshobhya Buddha, western Amitabha Buddha, northern Amoghasiddhi Buddha, and southern Ratnasambhava Buddha. All Five Buddhas descend together. At this time, the practitioner visualizes Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother in front of one and the Five Buddhas in the Empty Space all transform into light and, OM AH HUM, enter into your heart. Then you transform into Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother. This is the Prajnaparamita Sadhana. Her mudra is the Prajnaparamita Sutra Mudra, and we hold this mudra at the level of the navel. This is the mudra [Grand Master demonstrates]. Do the visualization as I have just described and chant the mantra. At the end of the Heart Sutra is this mantra: ge-de, ge-de, po-lo-ge-te, po-lo-seng-ge-te, pu-ti, so-ha. When you add De-ya-ta, om before this mantra, it becomes the Prajnaparamita Mantra: De-ya-ta, om, ge-de, ge-de, po-lo-ge-te, po-lo-seng-ge-te, pu-ti, so-ha. There are four key points in Vajrayana practice. The first key is visualization. What I described earlier was the sequence of visualization. The second key is mantra chanting: De-ya-ta, om, ge-de, ge-de, po-lo-ge-te, po-lo-seng-ge-te, pu-ti, so-ha. The third key is mudra. After chanting the mantra, the next step is to hold the Prajnaparamita Sutra Mudra which is the Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother Mudra while entering into samadhi. The fourth key is samadhi. These are the four key points in Vajrayana sadhanas: visualization, mantra, mudra, and samadhi. We will invite the True Buddha Foundation to write down the liturgical steps based on Grand Masters descriptions. The main key point is the descent of Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother and the Five Buddhas, and the complete transformation of them into light which then enters into the practitioners heart. As a result, the entire body-mind of the practitioner is filled with nectar: from the crown to the soles of the feet, all the way to the finger tips, all hair follicles, all channels and meridians - every single spot in the entire body is filled with nectar. First visualize while holding the mudra to enter samadhi. Next visualize while chanting the mantra to enter samadhi, then emerge from samadhi. This should be clear to the True Buddha Foundation. Where is Master Lianning, the number one master of the True Buddha Foundation? Although I have not bestowed a dharma-king robe on him, he is also someone who has attained enlightenment. I have bestowed the dharma-king robes to three people in our school, and Master Lianning will be the fourth one. I have told him that if Grand Master returns to Taiwan, or resides permanently in other countries such as Taiwan or Indonesia, when I return to Seattle from those places, I will personally bestow a dharma-king robe on him.

Let me announce this: If I am not back in Seattle, then Master Lianning can just walk to my True Buddha Quarter and, in the closet there are many dharma-king robes, he can just pick out any robe he likes! He can drape it over himself and call himself the fourth dharma-king of our True Buddha School. But, there is a slight difference between him and the others. In his case, it was I who personally transmitted the most important key points of great transcendent wisdom to him! Therefore he can freely go to my room in the True Buddha Quarter to get the robe. Do you have the key to my room? No! Then get the key from the person who has it. And you can go to my closet to get a dharma robe and drape it on yourself! I am telling you now that if I have not come back, and you want very much to drape one on, just go and do it. Then it will save some time for me to do it here. The Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother Sadhana is a high level practice, although the liturgies appear very simple. We know that prajna is not a simple word. Prajna was what Shakyamuni Buddha talked about at the beginning, it was what Bodhidharma talked about when he came to China, and it is still what we are talking about today. A student said to me, I want to follow a lineage transmission that is a thousand years old. He did not know how far back our transmission of prajna in this Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother Sadhana is. It is twenty six hundred years old! It is the same prajna taught by Shakyamuni Buddha, and our lineage transmission dates back to twenty-six hundred years ago. This student thought that our True Buddha Tantra only started with Grand Master and therefore was only about thirty years old. What was wrong with him? He did not want a lineage transmission that is twenty-six hundred years old, he would rather get involved with one that is a thousand years old! What is called the greatest? Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother is the greatest. That is why she is called Mahaprajnaparamita. The word maha means great. Why is it great? Because it is the boundless and limitless wisdom that pervades throughout the entire Empty Space! This kind of wisdom that is without boundary is called great. If it can be exhausted, it will not be known as great. Only something that is infinite, boundless, with no beginning or end, completely in union with the Tao is called great. I myself have become one with the Tao, and union with the Tao is great [audience applause]. It is neither square nor round, neither big nor small, neither above nor below, neither long nor short, neither green nor yellow, neither red nor white, neither love nor hatred, neither right nor wrong, neither good nor evil, and neither with a beginning nor an end - this is called great. What I have just described was the bulls eye. In our True Buddha School, I have been inviting students to shoot arrows at the target. If you think you have understood the mind or have glimpsed into the Buddha-nature, come and make a statement to me, and I will know right away if you are indeed enlightened. Write it down in four or five words or come to tell me, and I will know whether you are still outside the red circle at the center of the target. I already told Master Lianning that the other three dharmakings had landed their arrows right inside the bulls eye. Many others have landed outside the red center. There were many whose random shots landed who knows where. What I have just described was the bulls eye, without giving it away. It is neither square nor round, neither big nor small, neither above nor below, neither long nor short, neither green nor yellow, neither red nor white, neither love nor hatred, neither right nor wrong, neither good nor evil, and neither with a beginning nor an end. This is the description of the bulls eye. Dwell on it to figure it out! However, if you say, Grand Master is talking about emptiness! You are being silly! I dont have any time [a pun used for the word emptiness in Chinese]. There was a person and one day his wife said to him, What would you do if one day I died? The husband replied, Wow! If you died, I would definitely go crazy. This wife felt so gratified hearing this and continued to ask, Will you remarry? Her husband replied, I am not that crazy yet! If you think Grand Master was talking about emptiness and you answered me with emptiness, you are wrong! I am not that crazy yet! If someone enters into emptiness, it is very easy for him to become mad. Nowadays many people have depression, even young people. Their minds become empty. They are apathetic, like walking corpses, not wanting to do anything, and not having fun with anything. Isnt everything empty? Grand Master is talking about emptiness! Now I have this depression, and why should I do anything. Everything is empty: the sky is empty, the earth is empty, real estate is empty, money is empty, work is empty, even games are ultimately empty! So he becomes depressed. Now there are no more immovable properties [the Chinese term for real estate]. Why? We know that the whole world is shaking. There are earthquakes everywhere! In New Zealands South Island, the immovable properties in Christchurch are all moving. What immovable properties are not moving? People with great wisdom advise, Do not become attached to emptiness. Why? Because the buddhas and bodhisattvas are still here! The Buddha-nature still exists! How can it be all empty? That is why it is wrong to say it is all emptiness - that is leaning towards emptiness. You cannot lean towards either existence or emptiness. Our mind is unstained and there should be neither attachment nor aversion. In Zen Buddhism, there is the Mind-only School and they dont talk about existence. Why? Because when you lean towards existence, it turns into materialism. However, when you lean towards emptiness, it turns into nihilism. Do not lean towards either side, and this is called neither attachment nor aversion and not stained. This is an important point of great transcendent wisdom. The attitude of Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother is one that is neither indifference nor attachment towards all things. It is a mind that is free of stains and pollutants. Regardless of whatever happens, the body-mind is free of stains and pollutants. Our environment can become polluted. Likewise, genetics can become polluted. Regarding the issue of environment versus genetics, I told this joke last time. A teacher asked, What is the difference between environment and genetics? Little Ming stood up and answered, If I look like my dad, that is genetics. If I look like Uncle Yang next door, then that is environment. Do you get it? This is how you differentiate between environment and genetics. We have to remain unstained and unpolluted from neither environment nor genetics. We must remain free of stains and pollutants from either one. Neither stained or polluted by emptiness nor existence. This is the correct view of the Middle Way as taught by Shakyamuni Buddha. The three principal aspects of the path taught by the Buddha are: renunciation, bodhicitta, and the correct view of the Middle Way. The correct view of the Middle Way is what prajna is. It is also what I have described earlier that your hitting right at the bulls eye of the target indicates a realization of the great wisdom. The great wisdom is called paramita. Paramita means you have already reached that realm of the great wisdom. So, someone who has seen his own Buddha-nature and understood the mind

has arrived at the realm of great wisdom. Upon arrival at the realm of great wisdom, you will be able to realize the inherent purity of your nature very quickly. When you realize your inherent purity, you attain buddhahood. This is called Maha Prajnaparamita, the great wisdom. With this great wisdom, you arrive on the other shore: Om, ge-de, ge-de, po-lo-ge-te, po-lo-seng-ge-te, pu-ti, so-ha. This mantra means that with the great wisdom, one will arrive on the other shore. As long as you develop this wisdom, you can come and go freely. There is in fact neither coming nor going, it just appears that way, and that is why it is called Rulai [Tathagata]. What does the term Rulai Fo [Tathagata Buddha] mean? [The Chinese term rulai can mean like coming or as if coming.] It seems like the Buddha has come or gone, and that is why we call him Rulai. To be able to appear to have come or gone anyone who understands this has a mind that is free of attachment or grasping. Grasping leads to loss of wisdom. When the mind is free of grasping, one can come and go freely. Grand Master himself is without beginning or end [audience applause]. Now you must say this to yourself, He was born and in the future he will die! This is what I would like to tell Master Lianning, If in the future something happens and I cannot come back here, you just go and put on a dharma-king robe, and you will be a dharma-king. Please put on the robe and propagate the dharma on my behalf. Even Grand Master will die! What is called unborn and undying? In the teaching of the Buddhadharma, if you have the great wisdom, you will understand that you yourself are unborn and undying. Why are you unborn and undying? You have to dwell on this to figure it out. What is meant by unborn and undying? When Bodhidharma traveled to China, this was what he taught and transmitted - prajna. He wanted all of his students to dwell on this to understand the mind and see and validate the Buddha-nature, and whereby attain great wisdom and buddhahood. In my opinion, women are of great wisdom. That is why we call Prajnaparamita a Buddha-Mother. There was this couple who went to a department store. Suddenly the husband became separated from his wife and he could not find her. So he went up to a pretty sales girl at the cosmetics counter and said, Can I have a chat with you? The sales girl said, Fine! What do you want to chat about? Just anything. The sales girl then asked, Why do you want to chat with me? The husband explained, Because my wife is lost. However, as soon as she sees me talking to a pretty girl, she will appear. This is the formidable power of Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother. Those of you married, just go and chat with any young girl, your wife will immediately show up. It is just amazing, Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother. Maha is great, prajna is total liberation and freedom, paramita is arriving on the other shore. The wisdom of inherent purity is prajna, and it is coming and going in total freedom. Paramita is the other shore. Lets talk about the four couples who just got married. I have told them that I feel that the feminist movement is a little too much. But, sometimes there is nothing you can do about it, because women have the ability to give birth. So why are women so formidable? There was this couple of newlyweds, and the husband said to his wife, From now on, I am going to be the CEO in our family, and you can be the Vice CEO. This is only right and proper! The wife replied, I dont want to be the Vice CEO or CEO. The husband then said, I am sorry that I am putting you through this. She said, I dont mind suffering a little and would take the post of CFO. You see, this is how formidable Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother is. So she becomes CFO, and the man is the CEO. What kind of CEO is this if he has no control over money? I give up! Anyway, I have just given those four new couples a little warning. You go and discuss among yourselves whether the men should be CFO and the women should be CEO. The conventional cleverness and intellect cannot compare with the great wisdom of Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother. The great wisdom of Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother allows you to be free of emotional afflictions. This is very awe-inspiring who in this world is free of emotional afflictions? Every one has problems and emotional afflictions. Buddhas have no emotional afflictions. Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother has no emotional afflictions. Why does Prajnaparamita Buddha-Mother have no emotional afflictions? Why do buddhas have no emotional afflictions? Why is it that someone who has understood the mind and seen its nature have no emotional afflictions? This is very awe-inspiring. This is what everyone has to go home today and dwell on at night, to figure out why there will not be any emotional afflictions after realization and enlightenment. After realization and enlightenment, you will discover that your inherent nature is pure awareness and full of wisdom. Why? All of our fellow cultivators have to figure this out. When you figure it out, you will be the fifth dharma-king of True Buddha School, and I will bestow the dharma-king robe upon you [audience applause]. Apart from freedom of emotional afflictions, there is also one more important point - an enlightened person is also free of greed, anger, and delusion. All three poisons will be eradicated. There will be no arising thoughts of greed, nor wrath, nor stupidity nor ignorance. This is because you have attained enlightenment and the great wisdom. You will no longer be deluded, greedy, or become raging mad all the time. You understand that greed or lust will lead to the realm of hells, wrath will lead to the realms of asuras and evil ghosts, and delusion will lead to the realm of animals. You will become creatures flying in air, crawling on earth, or swimming in water and transmigrate to the three lower realms. Why is it that after you have understood your mind and seen your nature and put what you have figured out into practice, you will be rid of greed, anger, and delusion? This is also something you need to dwell on and figure out. What is great wisdom? What is prajna? When you are truly able to practice this pranja pathway, which was transmitted by Shakyamuni Buddha twenty-six hundred years ago, you will live your days joyfully. Here I would like to thank Shimu, all of the masters, senior reverends, reverends, and fellow cultivators who have traveled from many countries including the United States and Canada. Also, I am very grateful for all of the honored guests who have come to participate at our grand gathering. May everyone be blessed to live everyday happily and cultivate on a daily basis. May everything be fulfilling and auspicious!