Announcement 20150115

        The Great Venerable Wangzha Shangzun said: “In an attempt to convince others, some individual unlawful masters falsely claim that they could perform inner-tantric Dharma or give holy inner-tantric initiation and that they could communicate with the Yidam and let the disciple who is receiving the initiation attain all accomplishments in a short time. The Yidam of Famen Gongyu does not even approve of these self-bragging masters for entering the door themselves. You must know that Famen Gongyu is not just for joining the entrance to the Holy Test. It is used as long as seeing and interacting with the Yidam and the Dharma Guardians are involved. If you want to receive and learn an inner-tantric initiation, you must be approved by the Yidam of Famen Gongyu to enter the gate as the first step. You can only get the initiation if you have entered the inner-tantric palace. It is forbidden if you can’t even enter the door to the inner-tantric initiation but shamelessly claim to be a great Holy Guru and feign with fakeness, taking advantage of the vague and confusing concept of the Holy Guru status to deceive a lot of Buddhists.

        To prevent evil masters and liars from hurting living beings, the Headquarters has adopted the Divination and Divine Foretelling and Famen Gongyu to definitively establish the titles of masters for the different levels in the Holy Test. Although we have published many public announcements to explain this serious issue about the guru titles for the various levels so far, some masters still go around pretending to be a great Holy Guru and deceiving people with their superficial titles, such as venerable, dharma king, rinpoche, or great dharma master. People fall into their traps even though their essence does not match the title of holy or great holy being they profess to be.

        At present, there are still some individual masters who do not really cultivate themselves or rigorously abide by the precepts. They know well that they do not have the three vidyas and the six dharmas* (三明六法), but they still pretend to be holy and falsely claim to be a sacred being or great divine being. On the other hand, Buddhist cultivators do not read public announcements but only listen to the untrue bragging of these people. Therefore, they always end up being deceived, only to complain a lot afterward. They have no one but themselves to blame because they never read the public announcements. They are incorrigible because they are willing to fall into the trap of deceit.

        To completely put an end to the vile behaviors of those who cheat and hurt Buddhist disciples by feigning to be genuine and high but are fake and low and by claiming to have realized the level but never really have, you must first understand that a 100% pure, Holy Guru must obtain their title and status through the test. This Headquarters confers authentic titles to those Holy Gurus who have passed the test and issues the holiness level certificates and the buttons to be worn on the Dharma robes according to the levels they attain in the Holy Test. The titles given are the most standard and correct guru titles. Other than obtaining the titles through the Holy Test, only the titles obtained from the six categories of guru qualification, such as the Dharma of Knowing in Advance and Foretelling, or the Dharma of Vajra Faman, which is used to determine matters regarding the supreme holy, can be considered definitive and standard. Except these, anyone who is a certified reincarnation from a patriarch or a dharma king, a great dharma king, or a great rinpoche cannot be an authentic and confirmed Holy Guru!

        The titles of the levels we publish today are based on the reasoning of the teachings and are chosen by Divination, Divine Foretelling, and Famen Gongyu, which are employed in the Holy Test. These titles are definitive: Blue Button Level 1 is called Xingde (pronounced like shing-duh); Blue Button Level 2 is called Zengde (pronounced like zeng-duh); Blue Button Level 3 is called Runde (pronounced like ruen-duh). Blue Button Levels 1 to 2 can be called master. As the Chinese proverb says: “Among every three people, there must be one whom I can learn from” because they are good at something to teach others. Blue Button Level 3 is defined according to the Dharma rule as a Vajra Master; Gold Button Level 1 is defined according to the Dharma rule as Ruzun (pronounced as ru-zuen), Gold Button Level 2 is defined according to the Dharma rule as Jiaozun (pronounced as jiao-zuen), Gold Button Level 3 is defined according to the Dharma rule as Shangzun (pronounced as shah-ng-zuen), Gold Button Level 4 is defined according to the Dharma rule as Taizun (pronounced as ty-zuen), and Gold Button Level 5 is defined according to the Dharma rule as Shengzun (pronounced as sheng-zuen).

        This Headquarters beseeched H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III for His approval with the titles defined according to the Dharma rule. His Holiness the Buddha said: “I am not going to take part in setting up the titles for the masters by your Headquarters. As long as it is an undertaking that benefits people, you do it! Establishing these titles according to the Dharma rule to prevent those impostor masters from hurting people and protecting living beings is quite good. It is an action of correct karma.”

        From now on, you must not call someone with the nondefinitive and confusing titles of venerable, dharma king, or rinpoche in person or at writing when it comes to calling someone who has a level, because those titles are vague and nondefinitive concepts. Who knows if the person is indeed a Holy Guru or what kind of Holy Guru they are? If people continue using such nondefinitive titles, these people must be evil people who intentionally help the demon hurt living beings. All Buddhists must respect what is decreed by the holy Dharma and not aid evil to cheat people. You must use the Dharma-decreed titles in your calling. Suppose you do not use the Dharma-decreed titles in your calling. In that case, you have committed the vile act of disdaining the Three Jewels because these Dharma-decreed titles are established using Divination and Divine Foretelling and Famen Gongyu. Only when these titles are fixed can those with an evil mind to feign as holy be prevented from cheating and confusing the world by pretending to be holy and high-level with ordinary and low-level.

        You must pay special attention. Up till now, there has not been one Ruzun of Gold Button Level 1, Jiaozun of Gold Button Level 2, Shangzun of Gold Button Level 3, Taizun of Gold Button Level 4 (an Equal Enlightenment Bodhisattva), or Shengzun of Gold Button Level 5 (a Marvelous Enlightenment Bodhisattva) who is publicly propagating Dharma in the world. Therefore, you can say there is no possibility for people to meet a Taizun or a Shengzun at all. That is because the good retributions and karmic conditions of living beings are not there.

        The exaggeration of some famous people in society where they make a pretense of a Marvelous Enlightenment Bodhisattva or an Equal Enlightenment Bodhisattva is 100% deceitful. They are not the reincarnation of any Bodhisattva at all. Where is their achievement in Five Vidyas? They violate the stipulation of “Bodhisattvas are to be found in Five Vidyas” by Shakyamuni Buddha. Even a great rinpoche, who is a reincarnated patriarch from thousands of years ago, may not be a bona fide Holy Guru because Buddhist history is, all the same, rife with uncertainty and unreal falsity. The title of a Great Holy Guru is not a vague concept. A Great Holy Guru must be a Shangzun of Gold Button Level 3. A Tremendously Holy Guru must be a Taizun of Gold Button Level 4 or a Shengzun of Gold Button Level 5. Anyone who has not realized the status of Shangzun but falsely claims to be a great Holy Guru must be a master who has regressed and become evil!

        Buddhist disciples! Everything depends on the levels, as indicated on the robe the master wears. Based on that, you can call the master without violating the precepts. We hope you all read this public announcement well, lest you should fall prey to the deceit of individual bad people! The Headquarters cannot do much for Buddhist disciples, but we absolutely disapprove of anything violating the causality law! Therefore, we must issue this solemn public announcement!

United International World Buddhism Association Headquarters
September 30, 2015

*translator’s note: the English translation of this phrase needs further confirmation

(This announcement was translated from Chinese to English by Eric Huang and was last edited on 2024-06-09.)