Purple Lotus Publisher > Journal > Volumn NO. 16

Why Are We Conducting the Emperor Liang Repentance, an Exoteric Liturgy?

(A Talk by Master Samantha at the One Day Intensive Workshop on 12/27/2003)

Translated by Janny Chow

Let us thank the four masters for their talks and their dharma teachings. In conclusion, I would like to add a commentary to their talks. Not too long ago, a Buddhist temple in Taiwan organized an exhibit of Shakyamuni Buddha's relics. This exhibit was to travel across the entire island, from north to south. Those of you who have read about it in newspapers or attended the event know what I am talking about. I myself watched the event on television. A shrine encasing the sariras and tooth of the Buddha passed through the streets, and it was reported that women with long hair would prostrate and spread their hair on the ground for the shrine to be carried over as a sign of reverence.

During the procession, as the shrine passed through the streets, many people were moved to tears and knelt before the sariras. These people all missed Shakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, very much. It has been twenty five hundred years since the Buddha was alive. Unlike people in his lifetime, today's followers are unable to meet with him in person and listen to his teachings. So, now, mere mention of his name in association with his relics has brought many people out to worship him.

After its conclusion, Grand Master wrote an essay in the True Buddha News concerning the exhibit. Many people were filled with happiness after attending the event and felt immediately closer to Shakyamuni Buddha. But our awakened Grand Master offered us this piece of genuine wisdom in his essay: If one wishes to be reunited with and not separate from Shakyamuni Buddha at all times, then simply visiting the exhibit, photographing the relics, or paying homage to them is not enough. One should practice a sadhana to invoke the Buddha, merge with him, and keep him in one's heart at all times. Only when the Buddha lives in your heart at all times, will the both of you always be in union, transcending the boundaries of time and space. Merely dwelling on the forms of the relics, viewing and worshipping them, and feeling sentimental is not sufficient. To become truly intimate with the Buddha, there is no need to dwell on the exteriors, expending so much energy decorating, whitewashing, and plastering.

Grand Master's essay points directly and immediately to the heart. But how many people have the wisdom to understand this? How many people can truly understand his words? These are the words of a truly realized being. Every day he sees and meets with Shakyamuni Buddha, not just relics left behind by him.

How should we view exoteric versus esoteric Buddhism? Honestly, whether one encounters one or the other depends on the individual's affinity and root quality. Why are we conducting the Emperor Liang Repentance, an apparently exoteric liturgy? Indeed, in esoteric repentance liturgies, there is no need to exert so much physical energy and time prostrating, getting down on your knees and getting back up. And as noted by Master Lian-wen, our auditorium is not big enough for all these attendees. This over-crowding was a problem already last year.

During lunch today, there was a soy bean-sprout dish. Master Lian-wang had said, "Oh, I can't eat too much of this. It will make me fart later on during the repentance session." (Master laughter, audience laughter)

Last year, many fellow students told me that, because the auditorium was so crowded, when they knelt down, their heads would bump into the behinds of the people in front of them. They had wanted to faint. Before they had engendered any thoughts of repentance, feelings of irritation already arose because of the sound and smell of gas being passed everywhere. We are keeping a vegetarian diet these several days, and these bean products are more conducive to producing gas. You will find this out for yourselves tomorrow when we start the sessions. (audience laughter)

In this exoteric repentance liturgy, we bow and prostrate numerous times before the Buddhas. We are reading ten chapters in the course of three days, whereas many other temples only read one chapter a day when carrying out this liturgy. So what we are attempting is very physically taxing. If you are not physically fit and do not exercise often, after the first day, you will find yourself wobbling when standing upright and needing support to walk. Yet, with all this physical exertion, are you able to truly enter into a state of repentance?

In true esoteric practices such as that offered by the True Buddha Tantric Dharma, as pointed out by Master Lian-wang earlier in his talk, when you are able to truly enter a state where the authentic Cosmic Energy flows through you, and you are able to truly merge into oneness with the Buddha, Personal Deity, or Guru, there is no need to chant and prostrate as required by this exoteric liturgy. When you completely release yourself and merge in with the Void, that is when true repentance and true purification take place.

Transgressions arise from the mind and heart, therefore repent with your mind and heart. When the mind and heart are extinguished, transgression also ceases. (master reading from a decorative banner with this verse written on it.) What is the mind and heart? Consciousness and emotions. When our consciousness and emotions are transmuted into the Void, all of our transgressions will vanish. When mind and transgression are extinguished, they both become Emptiness. The mind referred to in these repentance verses is the ordinary mind, not the enlightened or wisdom mind. This ordinary mind is the judgmental mind and the emotions are the polluted and deluded feelings that we have accumulated through numerous lifetimes. When these consciousnesses and feelings are completely transmuted into Emptiness, merging with the Tathagata occurs, and there will be attainment of pure awareness and freedom.

The hallmark of a successful repentance practice is expression of true repentance. The result is pure awareness and freedom. How does one cultivate pure awareness and freedom? You must rid, through repentance, all feelings, behaviors, languages, thoughts in their various levels of depths, be they good or evil, created and stored in your mind and heart.

Hui-neng, the sixth Zen Patriarch, has stated, "Do not dwell on good thoughts. Do not dwell on evil thoughts." As long as you have dualistic thoughts, you are in the midst of transmigration and will experience karmic consequences. Whether these karmic affinities are good or bad, they will become your attachments and the source of continuous transmigration.

Spiritual cultivation trains us to completely eliminate these attachments. To enter deeply into esoteric practice, you must have this kind of recognition --- this is what we mean by root quality. Few people have this kind of understanding. Because they do not understand this, therefore, they are unable to immerse themselves whole-heartedly into the actual practice of the True Buddha Tantric Dharma.

Why then, after these teachings, is Grand Master now telling us it is fine to simply chant the epithet of the Buddha and to pray for rebirth to the Pure Land? Because he knows that there are indeed few who have the true wisdom to understand the esoteric meanings of the teachings and few who have the time and will to plunge into the actual practice of prana, channels, and light drops. So, for the most part, it is better to have everyone simply chant the epithet of the Buddha. When one has entered the Pure Land, one can then engage in further practice. This is an alternative, because otherwise, what else is there to do?

But, if someone has the root quality and the affinity for the esoteric practices, he knows that he does not have to depend on others to guide him in death. Esoteric practice and True Buddha tantric practice lead to self-mastery and liberation from life and death. One can attain control over the time of one's death and future birth. Yet how many people are willing to undergo such training? Most are unwilling to admit their transgressions, and they are ignorant and unaware of past wrongs committed.

That is why we are conducting the Emperor Liang Repentance Liturgy, which is more physically laboring than an esoteric practice. In order to aid your recall of the many wrongs you have committed, the temple has put together a checklist of transgressions. Before looking at the list, you may not have known that certain behaviors are wrong. Now you will know. For example, the look of disdain given someone may have upset him. This is a wrong. You must repent. Making someone uneasy can be a wrong. The ability to understand that one has committed a transgression also requires a certain degree of wisdom. This is root quality. In the repentance text, many examples of wrongs are listed. When you were a novice monk making fried rice and boiling honey water for others, you had stolen a sip. The repentance text tells us that the retribution will be swallowing heated iron pellets in the hell realm. If nobody writes about these things, how would you know? Upon reading this, people with root quality will realize that it is possible for them to have committed similar wrongs and they will engender feelings of repentance. Some people need vivid descriptions like this. Others only need a little reminding, and they understand.

There was one occasion, more than ten years ago, when I took part in a bardo deliverance ceremony conducted by Grand Master. At that time, the True Buddha Sutra did not exist, and we chanted the Diamond Sutra during the ceremony. Afterwards, Grand Master said, "As far as you all are concerned, this service involved the chanting of a long sutra and participation in a ceremony that lasted a couple of hours. For me, I only had to clap, clap, clap, and all are delivered."

How can we compare ourselves with Grand Master? He is a realized master, and unlike us, he does not have to read from page one to the last page of the sutra. He only needs to take one look at you to deliver you. By simply chanting a mantra and engaging in a visualization, he is able to tap into the Cosmic power of the universe.

We cannot do that and must work gradually, step by step. We do not have the same karmic affinities and connections as he does. He has been cultivating thousands of lifetimes and billions of eons.

Then why does Grand Master still chant the epithet of Amitabha and urge us all to do so? This is because he himself is Amitabha. When he chants "Amitabha," the power generated is not the same as that generated by our chanting. We can also chant "Amitabha," but what is our deficiency? Why are we not able to achieve the same state he arrives at in chanting? Why are we unable to merge with Amitabha? This is because we still have thoughts of our Self. We are unable to bring the Buddha into our inherent being. We are unable to transform ourselves into the Buddha. That is why we do not generate the same power when chanting.

Grand Master is full of compassion. He teaches us the True Buddha Tantric Dharma so we can develop knowledge of self-mastery. Then when we chant the epithet of the Buddha, we too will tap into Amitabha's vow to provide guidance to us at the time of our death. With this co-ordination, there is assurance that one can be reborn to the Pure Land. You might not understand this now. But after doing this practice, you will.

At the workshop held this morning, we learned to write the Guru's Heart Mantra, "Om Guru Lian-sheng Siddhi Hum" in Tibetan. Many people are unaware that they should learn these syllables, and many simply are too lazy to learn them. Actually in his books, talks, and previous dharma ceremonies, Grand Master has already taught the importance of visualizing these syllables to help open the heart chakra. But how many True Buddha School students have really put effort into learning them?

In his books, Grand Master has written about the secret to opening the heart chakra. He teaches that, in Tantrayana, one can develop the ability to see light drops, next the vajra chain, thirdly the vajra screen, and fourthly the Pure Land of the Buddha. At this stage, the tantric practitioner will have developed the deva-eyes faculty, and when he looks at a person's light, he can see the light drops, vajra chain, vajra screen, and tell which realm of Pure Land has this person come from.

To develop the five eyes and six supernatural abilities, one must open the heart chakra. The goal of the seven chakra exercises is simply to open the different charkas. Push-ups and the exercises of hitting the armpits all serve to open the heart chakra. The heart chakra is the hardest to open. If your heart chakra is closed, then everything else is futile. That is why Buddhism states that "everything is created by the heart." If one cannot open the heart chakra, one will never succeed in cultivation. You will never be able to bring the Buddha into your inner heart to merge and transform it into the Buddha Heart.

To open the heart chakra, Grand Master teaches that we have to first work on the energy yogas of prana, channels, and light drops to bring about the actions of "blazing" and "dripping." Blazing refers to the elevating of inner fire and dripping refers to the bringing down of light drops, so the two meet at the heart chakra. When fire and water merge at the heart chakra, the heart chakra opens.

Do you realize that in the early days, only students who had received the second level of empowerments could receive this teaching? Later on, Grand Master wrote down all these major practices in his books, imparting this precious knowledge to us without requiring us to make any offerings or attend any ceremonies. This greatly moves me --- his desire to help those sentient beings and True Buddha School students who really want to learn. There are only two major ceremonies in the Redmond temple every year, and some students cannot even travel there due to distance, time, or monetary constraints. These students must wait for Grand Master to travel to their country to teach them. Grand Master has knowledge of eighty-four thousand kinds of practices. How can he teach them all through person-to-person teaching? And how would a student who is really determined to learn be able to learn about them all?

That is why during these last several years, in retreat, Grand Master has continued writing and disclosing all these secrets. Many of you have also read these books, and I wonder what your thoughts are. When I first read his books, because he had taught me the practices before, my initial reaction was one of surprise. "You have said before that these teachings cannot be taught openly, and yet you are now disclosing them openly in books. Even this mantra, which you have said before cannot be taught openly, you are teaching now. Wow, Grand Master, you are indeed opening the universal doorway to bring great salvation to all beings." How many people realize this?

And the method for opening the heart chakra, he is revealing to us that it can be accomplished through visualization of the syllables "Om Guru Lian-sheng Siddhi Hum." The method, as Grand Master has taught us, is as follows: A tantric practitioner visualizes his entire body becoming crystal clear, transparent, and spotless. At the inner heart, there is a red, rootless, eight-petalled lotus. We should constantly engage in visualization of this eight-petalled lotus. Appearing above the lotus is a moon disc. At the middle of the moon disc is the seed syllable "Hum." Positioned around the circumference in a clockwise fashion are the seed syllables: "Om Guru Lian-sheng Siddhi Hum." Dwell on each seed syllable carefully and visualize each one spinning. Look at "Om," and observe how it spins. Every one of the seed syllables is spinning similarly. Make a round and start from the beginning again. Every seed syllable is radiating brilliantly. The syllables are not too big. And the moon disc is not too big either. The smaller you can visualize them, the better. Visualize each seed syllable of "Om Guru Lian-sheng Siddhi Hum" clearly. Dwell on this inner visualization while sitting quietly in meditation. This visualization practice known as the "Eight Syllable Wheel of the Heart" is an exercise to open the heart chakra.

Every time, upon completion of the visualization, visualize the lotus and moon disc being absorbed into the seed syllable "Hum" in the center. This "Hum" further shrinks to become a dot of light. No more seed syllables remain. Then this light dot surges upward and exits through the crown chakra. In an instant it disperses infinitely into the vastness of the Void, filling up all space as countless dots of lights. At this moment, one is the Void, and the Void is one. In this state, nothing is to be attained, and the reality of Tathagata is as it is. What kind of state is this? This is exactly the state of enlightenment revealed in the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra as "Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, upon deeply practicing the Prajna Paramita, perceives that all five aggregates in their own being are empty."

So, you can do more than just chant the Buddha's name. By meditating on "Om Guru Lian-sheng Siddhi Hum," by practicing the Padmakumara Yoga True Buddha Tantric Practice, you will learn to develop self-mastery and merge into oneness with the Buddha. But, how many people are aware of this? That chanting the one mantra "Om Guru Lian-sheng Siddhi Hum" can guide one into this state of enlightenment? How many masters, monks and nuns, and students understand this?

So, finally, Grand Master has resorted to simply urging us to chant Amitabha's epithet and to generate the desire to be born to Amitabha's Pure Land. Since one does not have self-mastery and time is running out, this will at least deliver one to the Pure Land's border city where one can continue to cultivate. Who really understands the great love and compassion behind Grand Master's intents?

When you perform this repentance liturgy, you will read about numerous transgressions and have an opportunity to genuinely repent. You will also come to appreciate how extraordinary the True Buddha Tantric Practice really is. How can we not cherish it? How can we continue to engage in power struggles? At the least, I wish to be able to pray and repent on behalf of all sentient beings so that their wisdom and fortune will increase. Kuan Yin Bodhisattva has instructed me to conduct eighteen sessions of the Emperor Liang Repentance Liturgy in three years on behalf of the severe karmic disasters occurring worldwide during this period. Though I may not be able to help everyone in the world, at the very least, students of the True Buddha School who have the affinity to read the ads about the repentance liturgy can come participate and repent for their past transgressions.

We have provided everyone with a list of possible transgressions, so please take some time to reflect upon the wrongs you may have committed. You can also reflect further by asking yourself, "What have I been doing with all the precious resources, time, money, and energy I have been given?" Have you been creating karmic transgressions everyday, when those same resources could have been used to transform your fate and attain pure awareness and self-mastery? Let us see after the repentance liturgy whether we will be able to achieve some purification and wisdom. To make sense of all this requires wisdom. Without wisdom, these teachings will be hard for you to understand. No matter how much I talk, you will not understand. Now, by giving you this list of wrongs to reflect upon and repent, let us see if you are able to gain some insight and understanding into the workings of karma.

Although I am overweight, I have kept up with all the bowing and kneeling required by this repentance liturgy. I have traveled to different parts of the world many times a year to conduct this practice, and those who have the affinity to participate are truly blessed. The radiation of lights from Grand Master and the thousands of buddhas, bodhisattvas, and deities will purify one's karmic obstacles. In fact, people with lighter karmic loads will immediately, after the liturgy, acheive a deeper understanding of the practice. They will be able to see their own transgressions committed through body, mind, and speech, and thus make the necessary changes in their lives.

Some of you have been practicing the esoteric practices every day and still are unable to experience the truth. Esoteric teachings are not always apparent, and indeed only people with great wisdom roots and merits are able to realize the truth through the esoteric pathway.

I have four children and am leading such a busy life that I cannot even take good care of my family. Yet I have resolved to learn and disseminate this teaching because I understand how remarkable and supreme the True Buddha Tantric Dharma truly is. By simply meditating on "Om Guru Lian-sheng Siddhi Hum" as described earlier, one is able to arrive at inconceivable realms. Grand Master has taught this in his books. I did not create this out of thin air. But how many have read his books? Who, after reading them, sincerely practices these methods? Who takes the time to seriously work on this practice after hearing it? So many of you are still living out your days in a daze.

But, by seriously reading and studying his teachings, I was able to understand them. What I have attained is also tantamount to the Void. Grand Master received this secret mystery transmitted to him through the Void, and he has turned around to tell us about it. This is extremely remarkable. But, how many people know this?

So, this is the difference between esoteric and exoteric practices. In esoteric practice, although we have insufficiencies, there are methods to guide the accomplished buddhas and bodhisattvas into our hearts to empower us, to quickly awaken us to our true nature. At the time of rising and release from the small self, freedom is attained over life and death. In exoteric practices, the teachings are more apparent and steps are taken one at a time. The combination of esoteric and exoteric practices provides us with a more effective, accessible method for realizing enlightenment. This is the original intent for doing this repentance liturgy.

I mentioned previously that when we are done next year with the 18 sessions, I have no idea whether we will conduct these practices with such intensity again in the future. Prior to Kuan Yin Bodhisattva's instruction for these 18 sessions in 3 years, we have never conducted this before at our temple. So, will we do this in 2005? I don't know. Life is impermanent. It is hard to say. Will I still be around? Will you still be around? I don't know. One temple member who has recently passed away had taken part in almost two years of this event and now can no longer attend. Will we all be healthy and safe next year? I don't know. I try not to worry about the future and to focus fully on the present moment.

Therefore, this repentance liturgy is to help you appreciate and gain a better understanding of the True Buddha Tantric Dharma. When you generate feelings of genuine repentance, your karmic hindrances will be removed. Otherwise, your karmic hindrances will prevent you from cherishing and putting this practice to good use. Everyone has the power to do so, but not everyone understands how to put this power to good use.

We are all children of the true buddhas, emanation bodies of the Padmakumaras from the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds in Sukhavati. If you have taken refuge in our guru, you have the refuge name "Lotus." We are all lotuses, "padma." Today you have learned how to write the seed syllables for the Guru's Heart Mantra. This is very important.

At the moment, we have all forgotten our origin. You look at me but do not recognize me. I look at you and I do not recognize you. Yet we have all come from the same source. According to the teachings of Padmakumara, we have all come from the same body. I am able to recognize it because Grand Master has directly announced this very early on. I am one of the eighteen Great Padmakumaras, one of his many emanations. That is why I am very grateful to have learned about this source early on. That is why I greatly cherish this practice that gives us methods to return to the original source. I cherish every practice Grand Master has taught. The most direct and fundamental practice, the Padmakumara Yoga (Root Guru Yoga), will enable us to arrive at the liberation realm described in the Heart Sutra and Diamond Sutra. "Om Guru Lian-sheng Siddhi Hum." The goal of all the practices we engage in is to awaken the Inherent Nature within. How much of this you can appreciate depends on you.

In response to the talks given by the four masters earlier, I would like to sincerely remind everyone that if you are able to put your mind into the practice with a clear understanding of why you are doing it, you will gain a great deal from it. We will start with three chapters tomorrow, four chapters the day after tomorrow, and complete the remaining three the last day. If you believe that you are already very pure, then you do not have to do this repentance. But if you harbor a shred of unease, the tiniest disturbance in your heart, or a single impure thought, then you should engender shame, repent, and bow before the buddhas. Why are we bowing and prostrating to the buddhas? We are beseeching these beings who have attained liberation and enlightenment to have mercy and compassion on us and to remember their vows to help us. As long as all these buddhas and bodhishattvas shine their lights upon us, we will be saved.

One buddha is the equivalent of one sun. One thousand buddhas are equalivalent to one thousand suns. Can you imagine the power of one thousand suns shining upon us? We are like the blind when our souls are in the midst of darkness. But by reading the liturgy texts, realizing the horrors of suffering and transmigration, generating genuine repentance, and praying to the buddhas and bodhisattvas for help we will be saved. That is why you chant their names, prostrate, and visualize that their light shine down upon you.

When you call upon each buddha in this way, you will be transformed. Even the simple act of prostration holds its secrets. By employing visualization methods during prostration, the benefits generated are infinitely greater than mere superficial bowing. During the liturgy, generate a repentant state of mind. You have read the transgressions committed by you and other beings and their respective retributions, and now, resolve to no longer commit such actions. Pray to the buddhas and bodhisattvas to help you, to send their light into your body, speech, mind and soul to expel all the transgressions stored in your consciousness as black smoke. You want to store only light and dispel darkness. Then with reverence, kneel down and prostrate. Next, as you rise, focus on another buddha and draw in his light. If you are able to do this as we read through each chapter, you will not be the same afterwards.

So, even with repentance liturgies, you must know how to conduct them properly. Whether the liturgy is esoteric or exoteric, dwell on the mystical level when practicing it, and the power you generate will magnify. Everyone may be going through the same motions and reading the same text, but those who immerse themselves in the practice, will feel different and lighter afterwards. After each chapter, you feel more at ease, freer, and lighter. You will feel the effectiveness of repentance.

So, tomorrow when we start the repentance liturgy, please take it seriously. Why are you having so many problems in your life? Why are things so difficult? Why do you have so much hatred in you? Why are you having problem at home and at work? Why are you always sick? All this is karma. Participants in both the living and the deceased realms [master is referring to the deceased registered by the living registrants] should take this repentance seriously. This particular repentance originated from the spirit world when Emperor Liang's deceased wife requested a repentance liturgy be conducted and dedicated to her. This makes this liturgy tantamount to a "supernatural" repentance liturgy sprung from the invisible reality into physical reality. There are numerous buddhas listed in this text. Who here is familiar with them and has seen them? Yet now we have the opportunity to chant all their names. This opportunity of affinity is possible because of the buddhas' and bodhisattvas' compassion.

Overall, I urge you to put your whole heart into this practice. We have put a great deal of effort into its preparation. The venerables and volunteers have worked very hard, especially with so many activities going on this December. This month, we have collected clothing from students in the Purple Lotus Temple for a garage sale to raise money for charity work. On the 18th, a treat was provided at the school for five hundred people from low-income families in the neighborhood. The students have been rehearsing dances for the New Year's Eve party, and we have been installing and decorating a shrine in this auditorium. Additionally, people have worked hard in preparing food for the event. People have been going to bed at 2 or 3 a.m. and are working very hard. It is not easy for students who have traveled from around the world to come here for this event either. Since we have generated the intent to do this together, let us focus our minds on asking for repentance for ourselves, for all beings born into this era of degeneration of the dharma, and for the turbulent times and suffering in countries around the world. Wherever you are from, every area has its own local problems and worries.

In the United States now, we are all worried about terrorist attacks. So, when we prostrate and supplicate, call upon the light to shine not only upon ourselves, but also on all beings visualized, whether they have an affinity with us or not. You actually should visualize the light shining upon the land and country in which you live. Many of you have traveled here from all corners of the world, so let us guide this Buddha Light to shine on all corners of the world. This way, the black energy and collective karmic retribution of these places will naturally be vanquished. People living in these places will naturally live peacefully and harmoniously amongst one another. This is our mission and also our responsibility as children of the buddhas. We have not come to this event or taken up this practice just for ourselves. We are not accumulating merits just for ourselves. Our wish is to help all beings within the six realms of transmigration attain liberation from the revolving cycles of suffering. This is a very important mission and responsibility.

If you only think about yourself, you will be forever small and your heart chakra will remain blocked. Cultivating the dharma practices taught us by our guru will open our heart chakra so that we can become as expansive as the Void, accomplish great tasks, and relieve the sufferings of sentient beings. Think of the beings suffering in the hell realms. Whose fault is it that they suffer? It is our fault. From ancient times we have been rolling together through cycles of transmigration, creating so much hatred and vengeance, that these beings have ended in hell to receive their retribution. It is my existence then that has brought about their suffering. When you think of things in this way, you will truly understand the necessity of repentance liturgies. You may not understand the mystical significance of this, but if you can see the apparent aspects of this need to repent, integrate this into the practice.

Therefore, repentance liturgies are very profound practices. If you can practice Grand Master's teachings on their deepest level, you will be able to release your consciousness to become one with the Void, and you will succeed at true repentance, entering into the pure awareness of the Tathagata.

The exoteric or scriptural schools can do this too. But, if we integrate all this with the True Buddha Tantric Dharma, along with Grand Master's empowerments and the power of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas, the results will be more effective. Very quickly, karmic hindrances will be removed and we will succeed in our practice. Grand Master gives us his assurance of this. I myself have received his assurance and have been practicing with his blessing. I have experienced the Cosmic Flow, dharma taste, and dharma joy. I feel that this is something I should not hide for my own enjoyment. It is my responsibility to spread the dharma and speak of this everywhere and to encourage everyone to follow the same path. Sentient beings have different root qualities. Which method is best to lead each individual to understanding and accomplishment? One hundred people have one hundred different root qualities. It is not easy.

Nevertheless, we must first understand the mystical truth that Grand Master is teaching us. Then with all that is available from the scriptural schools and teachings taught us by the buddhas, bodhisattvas, sages, and saints, we should continually work with and practice these methods.

You are all indeed very fortunate students of the True Buddha. You are all emanations of the Greatly Fortunate Vajra. If you do not eliminate your transgressions and hindrances, how will you access the original Great Fortune within?

My sincerest wish is that you all enter a state of true repentance, and after true repentance, engender true wisdom. Then when you practice the True Buddha Tantric Dharma, you will experience the difference and be able to merge into union with the buddha and achieve faster yogic responses, auspicious responses, and accomplishment in your practice.

May you all generate successful merits from this repentance liturgy.

Om Mani Padme Hum. (audience applause)