Announcement 20150109: Important Announcement Regarding Taking the Test For Holiness Levels
Buddhist disciples! Pay attention to the following 8 points.
1. Among those holding the holy and virtuous status certificate in the various places in the world nowadays, many of them have regressed from being holy to being ordinary and started harboring evil views. They have not dared to register for the test so far, and instead are cheating people with lies. Do watch carefully so that you do not fall prey to their deceit. After the tests are completed at the end of December this year, all original holy and virtuous status certificates will be canceled and obsoleted. Starting from January of next year, all those who do not wear the Dharma robes bearing their levels but claim to be a holy being, whether they are a venerable, dharma king, rinpoche, dharma master, acarya, or a dharma-listening center master, if they cannot show the new certificate, they are all evil masters and liars.
2. People who pass the same levels (from the holy test) may have completely different levels of accomplishment. Some pass the test on their dharma powers, some on their ethics, some on Sutra, Vinaya and Sastra, and some on correct vs. evil understanding and views. Therefore, Buddhist cultivators should pay attention and see which of the four categories—Dharma Powers and Realization Capabilities, the Keeping of the Practice and Ethics, Teachings of Sutra, Vinaya and Sastra, or Correct vs. Evil Understanding and Views—the test candidate uses to obtain their level with, including even the specific item under the category. Point 2 is very important. It gets right to the heart of the issue and allows you to see what the strong point of that master whom you rely on to learn from is. All the other items which the master didn’t get tested on, as well as the items which the master failed in the test, are then their weak points. Maybe they are rusty in those, or they even are completely clueless. For example, some masters had violated the precept and gave teachings on Buddha Dharma. They printed small pamphlets and pretended to be a great Bodhisattva. But when they came to take the test, they didn’t dare to report it on the test document. It says what that person had done before is all wrong.
3. Test candidates taking the test must be extremely prudent when entering the gate of the holy test. You must honestly report the item you are to be tested without a shred of falsity. You must say yes if it is yes, and no if it is no. Once the test document is burned, there will be no way to make any change. If you cannot do it, then don’t take the test on it. On the other hand, if you can do it, then you must report and take the test on it. Otherwise, you will be deemed as saying false words and lying to the Yidam and the Dharma Guarding Deities. If you falsify it intentionally, then you will get a zero score and not able to even get Level 1. You will only have your original quality as an ordinary man revealed in the test!
4. To learn an authentic Buddha Dharma is not to learn how to chant some mantras. A mantra is not Dharma. Only the complete ritual of a Dharma is Buddha Dharma.
5. For all those who have passed the test, we will archive the categories and items which they were tested on and the test scores. To encourage the candidates to benefit living beings with bodhicitta, the Headquarters will only use the highest score in the test as the basis to give the certificate and the robe wear bearing the levels. Our goal is to hope the candidates can learn the lesson. For the items which they have not done well in the test, they shall continue to strive for becoming adept, so that they can be a good person and a good master having holy deeds that are following the meaning of the Dharma.
6. Except for the Holy Gurus of Gold Button Level 3 (Three Stars of Sun-Moon Wheel) whose names will not be disclosed, all those candidates who passed the test and have received a certificate of a level below Gold Button Level 3, including the Blue Button Levels, will have their levels and statuses published in a public announcement. However, the items that they were tested on to receive the level in the test will not be published. If you would like to know the details, you need to inquire with the Archive Department of the United International World Buddhism Association Headquarters. If someone who used to have a holiness level certificate of the One Star Sun-Moon Wheel level or the Sumita Wheel levels, or if that someone claims to be a holy guru but their name is not in the public announcement, then it says clearly that person did not pass the test or has already regressed from the holy to the ordinary and become a man with sinful karma.
7. The holiness level certificates were issued for two types of people in the past. The first was issued for a candidate who had demonstrated their dharma capabilities in a test proctored by seven gurus and ten witnesses. However, it was not affirmed by the holy test and therefore was not definitive. The second was issued from a determination that was based on the investigation by three gurus and seven witnesses instead of the holy test. It was even more unreal because it was purely based on artificial verification. The public announcements and replies to inquiries from the Office of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III many years ago already said that H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III had never agreed with the validity of the holy status for the holy ones and rinpoches whom our Headquarters had certified. To bear full responsibility to all Buddhist disciples, we have set up the holy test, in addition to the human test, as the last checkpoint to determine truthfulness in the test this year. If one can pass the Vajra Array or the Eight-wind Array, then nothing can be further said. Whatever the result shows will be what it truly is because it is determined by the Buddha, the Bodhisattvas, and the Yidam.
8. The holy gurus who have achieved Gold Button Level 1 (or Sun-Moon Wheel Level 1) after going through the Eight-wind Array in the last test can apply to be tested in the Vajra Array to verify if they have the status of Arahat or Bodhisattva. If they do not pass the test, their Gold Button Level 1 certificate will still be issued. Those who have achieved Blue Button Level 3 (or Sumita Wheel Level 3) can also apply to be tested in the Vajra Array to see if they are a reincarnated Arahat or Bodhisattva. If they don’t pass the test, the Blue Button Level 3 certificate will still be issued. Anyone who knows that themself has the dharma abilities and the status as an Arahat or Bodhisattva can directly apply for the Vajra Array test to verify their true status. They don’t need to be tested on the following three categories—Dharma Powers and Realization Capabilities, the Keeping of Their Practice and Ethics, or the Teachings of Sutra, Vinaya, and Sastra, because they will be tested on the virtuous quality of holy gurus as a whole directly. However, that holy guru must strive hard to validify they have correct understanding and views so as not to regress backward.
This test includes subjects ranging from Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana, the teaching of sutras, and views and understanding. All of them are treated equally. The following lists the subjects for your reference.
(see attachment 1)
For the rinpoches of the Tibetan schools of Buddhism, the following subjects will also be included.
(see attachment 2)
The complete dharma practice ritual of the above-listed dharmas include the Preparation Practice, the Main Practice, the Concluding Practice, the hand mudra, the body mudra, the sitting position, the mantras, the visualization, the cohort, the dharma guardian deities, the setting of the mandala, the special dharma vessels and medicinal materials for presenting offerings, the process of invocation and sending off (the Yidam), as well as the changes of the seed syllable. The entirety of the Dharma needs to be complete and without missing any part, and only then can it be the correct way of practicing the dharma. Simply a mantra does not represent a Buddha Dharma.
The Sutras, Vinaya, and Sastras listed above are part of Tripitaka that H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha has imparted to virtuous Buddhists and cultivators. Likewise, the Buddha Dharmas listed above are the rituals of some Yidam Dharmas He has given the initiation of and transmitted to people. H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III has transmitted many more Dharmas which are not all listed here. For example, the Lion Vajra Dharma (獅子金剛), Unsurpassed Peace and Happiness White Invincible Vajra Dharma (無上安樂白色無敵金剛), Single Heroic Ferocious Vajra (獨雄能怖金剛), Xianliang Great Perfection (現量大圓滿), Sprawl-Body Tummo Samadhi (攤屍拙火定), The Great Formation Dharma of Fetching the Ritual Manual From Across the Mountain (隔山取軌大陣法), The Hundred-Dharma Bright Gate Determination in Complete Darkness Ritual (百法明門黑關擇決儀軌), etc., which are all supreme Dharmas of the State-Practice Initiation Division. Many of these Dharmas cannot be found in the esoteric sects.
The Sutra, Vinaya, and Sastra teachings listed above are what we understand by interviewing the Buddhist cultivators under the Buddha Seat of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III to be the teachings of Sutra, Vinaya and Sastra and the transmission of Dharma received by them. We collected them for the test candidates to reference as the test problems. It is best if you are willing to be tested on these types of test problems. If you are not yet well versed in these types of test problems, you can select the topic that you have practiced and learned to be the subject of your test.
********
H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III said: “Namo Shakyamuni Buddha imparted 84 thousand Dharma Gates in this Saha World, which is immense and broad. Although I have separately expounded and transmitted some Dharmas to you, it is too little to mention compared to the Dharma impartation by the World-Honored One. Fortunately, the two major Mind Essences of the Supreme and Unsurpassed Mahamudra of Liberation, together with the specific grand Yidam Dharma, are the best of the best in all the Dharmas. If one can practice those accordingly, then attaining great accomplishment and liberation is very easy to do!
Based on the test problems which you have listed, the majority of them are not practical. They are too difficult for those who are masters in the current time. Very few Dharma kings, rinpoches, or Dharma masters can answer those questions. You should allow the test candidates to choose the topic to answer by themselves from Sutra, Vinaya, Sastra, or Yidam Dharma. The sutra teachings and the Dharma practices of Shakyamuni Buddha are too broad. You cannot restrict the candidates. Let them each go with their strong suits and have their aspect of achievements. As long as their sutra teachings, dharma meanings, the keeping of their practice, and precept abidance are in accord with Shakyamuni Buddha’s teaching and not the teaching of an evil cult, then it is the correct answer.
Just because you have learned some Dharma, it doesn’t mean they have also learned the Dharma. You should primarily test them on the sutra teaching or the Dharma which they practice themselves and transmit to people. The purpose is to prevent them from hurting Buddhist cultivators by pretending to be correct with evil. If they are a master, they must understand Buddha Dharma. If they do not even understand the complete ritual of the Yidam Dharma that they practice themselves well and only know to teach people how to chant some mantras, then they must be a neophyte or a cheater.
I repeat these words: your headquarters shouldn’t so randomly and easily issue the holiness level certificates. Even though your purpose is to propagate Buddha Dharma to let more people learn from Buddha, practice good deeds, and listen to Dharma Voice, but if you issue a holiness level certificate that does not match the fact, then it becomes an insulting act and mindset to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, with the more serious consequence of misleading Buddhist cultivators down the wrong path! You must validate holiness vs. ordinariness according to the sutra teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. It is a deed rife with unbound merit that you were checking it for Buddhist disciples. It is great. But among the people whom you had issued the holiness level certificates to, it is hard to find one or two out of a hundred to be truly holy gurus. Even though I am only a humbled one, I will never approve of their status.
I will not approve the status of those rinpoches in the society, including the ones you have certified. Do they know sutra teachings? Do they know Buddha Dharma? Do they know cultivation, and are cultivating themselves? Form this day forward, I suggest that you must not wrongly call people holy gurus and issue certificates. You must be responsible for them and living beings. You must be truthful and practical. To say a heartfelt word bluntly, some of those so-called holy gurus who have the holiness level certificate are not even as good as the people who do not learn from Buddha in the society. You can forget about calling them the holy gurus. They can’t even reach the basic qualification of being a master. To say it directly, they are just liars who wear the Buddhist attire, brandish a lineage, and hide behind grandiose flags while swaggering across the city streets! They are complete outsiders who know nothing about what cultivation is or what Buddha Dharma is about! To inflate those cluas holy gurus is really absurd. Since your Headquarters is formally the organization checking it on behalf of living beings, you should treat it very seriously, because you cannot afford to err on causality. No matter which sect or school someone is the great leader of, the person is an ordinary man if he or she cannot pass the holy test.
Through what happened practically in these past several years, it has been proved that among the so-called holy gurus, including those people whose heads I touched to give blessings to as documented in the book H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III, some, who were very good in that they had truly cultivated themselves and developed their bodhicitta at the time, completely changed within two years and started doing bad things that violated sutra teachings and precepts. We cannot approve of those who have done wrong. Everything must be done according to causality. We approve of those who are good, and we bless them. But soon as they have gone bad, we cancel our approval. When they have become good again, we will then bless them again. At any rate, we must determine it according to the law of causality. Those who are good this year may become bad next year. It is because they are not non-retrograde Bodhisattvas. Many people, including great patriarchs of a generation and dharma kings, have serious problems. Not only they are not non-retrograde Bodhisattvas, but they also are not even Arahats. Other than the Great Holy Gurus of the Three Stars Sun-Moon Wheel level and above, all other so-called world-renowned great dharma kings or great venerables can change their quality at any time. You must check it very tightly before you issue the certificates!”
We repent ourselves from inside our hearts. With a happy and sincerely convinced mind, we deeply criticized ourselves. Indeed, it was only for the sake of compassion and letting them propagate the Dharma Voice to benefit people, we had opened a very lenient standard for them and let them have the titles that they were hardly qualified for. The holiness level certificates we issued before had very serious problems. People who had a single item of holy virtue alone was mistakenly inflated as holy people. In fact, that is not holiness but just one item of the holy deed. It does not mean the person’s fundamental structure is that of a holy being. Therefore, we repent ourselves to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the ten directions, and to the Yidam and the Dharma Guarding Deities. We now rescind all the holiness level certificates which we issued before below the Three-Star Sun-Moon Wheel level and hold the test anew to establish the titles and levels. The Greatly Holy and Tremendously Holy Gurus of the Three-Star Sun-Moon Wheel level and above are all definitively determined by Buddhas and Bodhisattvas through the holy test; They are non-retrograde Bodhisattvas.
Now that you have seen the test subjects mentioned above, you should know you cannot easily pass the test unless you are adept in them. You can’t have your way through it by faking. However, it is quite easy to pass the test for the most basic level—Blue Button Level 1. As long as the Buddhist cultivator can meet one dharma correctly or has done one deed that benefits living beings which is in line with the teachings by the holy people, that Buddhist cultivator can enter the test on the one item alone and get Blue Button Level 1 (One-Star Sumita Wheel). The bar of the basic level which our headquarters has set is very low. However, going into Blue Button Level 2 is a bit more difficult and the bar starts being higher. Blue Button Level 3 is even more difficult. To not repeat the serious fault of naming holy gurus that were made before and to prevent artificial cheating from happening, all levels must be obtained through the 100% accurate and definitive holy test at the end. Therefore, no matter how great a dharma you have learned, how great your capabilities are, and how great the status of dharma king or venerable you vaunt, if you can’t pass the holy test, then it is all fake.
United International World Buddhism Association Headquarters
August 12, 2015
Attachment 1: List of Sutras, Vinaya, and Sastras
Sutra of Impermanence (無常經)、
妙法聖念處經、
佛本行集經、
正法念處經、
寶梁經、
觀佛三昧海經、
Diamond Sutra (金剛經)、
佛說三世因果經、
Lotus Sutra(法華經)、
Surangama Sutra (楞嚴經)、
Sutra on Understanding and Realizing the Definitive Truth (了義經)、
頂聖極密經、
The two Mind-Essences of The Supreme and Unsurpassed Mahamudra of Liberation (解脫大手印兩大心髓)、
The Grand Prajna Sutra (大部般若經)、
Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva Pūrvapraṇidhāna Sūtra (地藏經)、
Sukhāvatī-vyūha (彌陀經)、
Mahā-Vaipulya Buddha Avataṃsaka Sūtra (大方廣佛華嚴經)、
Agama Sutra (阿含經)、
Heart Sutra (心經)、
The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom (大智度論)、
集異門足論、
菩薩本生鬘論、
大乘廣百論、
The Hetuvidya Sastra (因明論)、
The Kosa Sastra (俱舍論)、
Treatise on the Middle Way (Madhyamakaśāstra中觀論)、
他空論、
道果論、
Treatise on the Stages of the Path of Enlightenment (菩提道次第論)、
辯中邊論、
解脫道論、
Satadharma Prakāśamukha Sāstra (百法明門論)、
Vinaya Sastra (戒律論)、
Bodhisattva Caryāvatāra (菩薩入行論)、
制惡見論、
Vijñāptimātratā Siddhi Sastra (成唯識論)、
Dhyana Samadhi (禪定)、
Samatha Vipassana (止觀)、
淨土念佛心要、
Tantras (密典)
Attachment 2: List of Buddha Dharmas
The tangible rituals of the Dharma practices of the Four Classes of Tantra Yoga (四部瑜伽), including the outer-tantric initiation, the inner-tantric initiation, and the detailed rituals of the Yidam Dharmas.
For example, in the Kriya Tantra (ritual deity practice, 事部):
大白傘蓋二十九尊儀軌、
黃財神九尊儀軌、
釋迦牟尼佛三十五儀軌、
白文殊五尊儀軌、
尊勝佛母九尊儀軌；
In Charya Tantra (行部 Behavioral deity practice):
秘密主降魔金剛手三十三尊儀軌；
In Yoga Tantra (Integrated Deity Practice 瑜伽部):
無量壽敕壇城十三尊儀軌、
如火燃業壇城十七尊儀軌、
一面二臂金剛手以護法方天王等圍繞二十三尊儀軌、
八龍王圍繞十三尊儀軌、
諸事成就壇城五十七尊儀軌等；
In Anuttarayoga (Highest Yoga Practice無上瑜伽部):
紅閻羅敵十三尊儀軌、
金剛怖畏九尊儀軌、
大輪金剛單身二十尊儀軌、
總攝輪十三尊儀軌、
宗白色贖死勝樂金剛九尊儀軌、
義成金剛亥母十三尊儀軌、
中大幻母五尊儀軌、
巴宗大幻化嘿汝嘎儀軌、
馬頭蓮花舞主明王十八尊儀軌；
無上瑜伽父續部中金剛鬘法諸本尊儀軌、
馬棚金剛八尊伏藏儀軌、
密集妙金剛十九尊儀軌、
開伏藏地聖母儀軌、
密集不動金剛三十二尊儀軌、
遍照幻網妙金剛四十三尊儀軌；
無上瑜伽母續中勝樂根本續總攝輪四面十二臂六十二尊儀軌、
藍色金剛亥母十三尊儀軌、
阿必達納續中勝樂轉輪智慧空行金剛薩埵七十二尊儀軌、
嘿汝嘎金剛空行七十二尊儀軌、
露續金剛甘露明王二十一尊儀軌、
甘露漩王十三尊儀軌、
佛顱續所說九尊儀軌、
持顱胎藏喜金剛九尊儀軌、
嘛哈嘎拉續大幻母五尊儀軌、
二品續所說分別身語意喜金剛各九尊儀軌、
空行母金剛藏續之法五十三尊儀軌、
乍續之無我佛母二十三尊儀軌、
品續之無我佛母十五尊儀軌、
二品續所說沽汝沽勒十五尊儀軌、
時輪金剛身語意悉圓六百三十四尊儀軌、
革日雅續之依財續母略品財續母十九尊儀軌、
頂髻尊勝佛母三十三尊儀軌、
鎧甲黑色上樂金剛儀軌、
鎧甲閻羅王母儀軌、
長壽白色上樂金剛儀軌、
The Ritual of the Nine-Zun Yamantaka Vajra (大威德金剛九尊儀軌)、
天足亥母儀軌、
三昧耶佛母儀軌、
憤怒獨髮母儀軌、
多聞天王儀軌、
準提聖母儀軌、
鐵鍊金剛母儀軌、
藍色不動金剛儀軌、
蓮師盔甲普巴金剛儀軌、
大黑袍金剛儀軌、
熱呼啦無敵護法儀軌、
Ritual of the Black Garuda (黑色大鵬金翅鳥儀軌)、
Dharma Ritual of Water and Land Dharma Assembly with Three Mandalas (水陸法會三壇法儀軌)、
焰口儀軌、
普佛儀軌、
蓋天金剛儀軌、
Homa Fire Offering Ritual (伏魔火供儀軌)、
施身法儀軌、
施餓鬼食儀軌、
氣入心升空儀軌、
Tummo Samadhi Ritual (拙火定儀軌)、
飽瓶輪氣儀軌、
九級佛風儀軌、
火關儀軌、
黑關儀軌、
白關儀軌、
修閉關壇法儀軌、
住山閉關壇法儀軌、
The various rituals of the Wealth Deity Dharma (財神法多種儀軌)、
Ritual of Empowerment Dharma (加持法儀軌)、
八猴不動金剛儀軌、
長壽金剛天母儀軌、
薩迦紅黃文殊儀軌、
慈氏菩薩儀軌、
紅色妙音佛母儀軌、
密汝唏咔牟尼儀軌、
吉祥心金點母儀軌、
媞孥天母儀軌、
除魔憤怒金剛儀軌、
黃紅藍黑綠山居葉衣佛母儀軌、
煙色穢跡金剛儀軌、
良馬空行步雲儀軌、
時輪彩色金翅鳥儀軌、
黑文殊儀軌、
夏日嘛那天母儀軌、
大憤怒佛儀軌、
無量光佛儀軌、
阿達爾瑪佛普賢王如來根本始儀軌、
多杰羌佛三身頂首儀軌、
Ritual of Amitabha Buddha Dharma (阿彌陀佛儀軌)、
Ritual of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva (普賢菩薩儀軌)、
Ritual of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva (地藏王菩薩儀軌)、
除蓋障菩薩儀軌、
Ritual of the Grand Mandala of the Thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva (千手觀音大壇法儀軌)、
佈設內密大中小壇三尊上架儀軌、
憤怒秘密主儀軌、
勝義浴佛法儀軌、
瑪瑪格天母儀軌、
無能勝金剛儀軌、
起屍天母還魂儀軌、
The Ritual of the Black Wealth Deity (黑財神儀軌)、
The Ritual of the Five Wealth Deities (五財神儀軌)、
The Ritual of the Red Wealth Deity (紅財神儀軌)、
世雄多聞子儀軌、
壇城一百零五尊儀軌、
外修娘舅伏魔金剛儀軌、
白色四臂部眾主儀軌、
杖母三姊妹儀軌、
雄威護法儀軌、
綠色壽主護法儀軌、
四臂護法儀軌、
烏鴉面羯磨護法儀軌、
寶帳護法八尊儀軌、
熱嘛堤魔母儀軌、
藍色閻羅法王儀軌、
屍陀林主護法儀軌、
役魔黑閻羅王儀軌、
貞慧仙女翠顏仙母合修儀軌、
四臂觀音菩薩儀軌、
The Green Tara Ritual (綠度母儀軌)、
The White Tara Ritual (白度母儀軌)、
The Ritual of the Demon-subduing Vajra (伏魔金剛儀軌)、
大力金剛儀軌、
般若佛母儀軌、
馬頭金剛儀軌、
獅子吼觀音儀軌
Translator’s Note: The English names of the sutras, vinaya and sastras in Attachment 1 and the names of the Dharmas in Attachment 2 are only partially translated because many of the names cannot be easily found in online English literature. Further work is required.
(English translation by Zunba)