Announcement 20150109: Important Announcement Regarding Taking the Test For Holiness Levels
Buddhist disciples! Pay attention to the following 8 points.
- Among those holding the holy and virtuous status certificate in various places nowadays, many have regressed from being sacred to being ordinary and started harboring evil views. They have not dared to register for the test and are cheating people with lies instead. Carefully observe 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 claim to be holy but do not wear the attire indicating their levels or cannot show the new certificate are all evil masters and liars, no matter if they have such a fancy title of venerable, dharma king, rinpoche, dharma master, acarya, or a dharma-listening center master.
- 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. Poicriticalmportant. It gets right to the heart of the issue and allows you to see the strong point of that master whom you rely on and learn from. All the other items that the master didn’t get tested on, as well as the items that the master failed in the test, are then their weak points. Maybe they are rusty in those, or they even are entirely 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.
- Test candidates taking the test must be highly prudent when entering the gate of the Holy Test. You must honestly report the item you choose to be tested without the slightest 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 changes. If you cannot do it, don’t take the test. On the other hand, if you can do it, you must report and take the test. Otherwise, you will be deemed as saying false words and lying to the Yidam and the Dharma Guarding Deities. If you falsify it intentionally, you will get a zero score, not even Level 1. You will only have your original quality as an ordinary man revealed in the test!
- Authentic Buddha Dharma is more than learning how to chant some mantras. A mantra is not Dharma. Only the complete Dharma ritual is Buddha Dharma.
- For all those who have passed the test, we will archive the categories and items on which they were tested and the test scores. To encourage the candidates to benefit living beings with bodhicitta, the headquarters will only use the highest score on the test as the basis for giving the certificate and the attire bearing the levels. Our goal is to hope the candidates can learn the lesson. For the items for which they have not done well in the test, they shall continue to strive to become adept so that they can be a good person and master and have holy deeds that follow the meaning of the Dharma.
- 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 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 Sumeru Wheel levels, or if that someone claims to be a holy guru but their name is not in the public announcement, then it clearly says that person did not pass the test or has already regressed from the sacred to the ordinary and become a man with sinful karma.
- 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 through a determination 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 our headquarters had certified. To bear full responsibility to all Buddhist disciples, we have set up the Holy Test, besides the human test, as the last checkpoint to determine truthfulness in the test this year. Nothing can be further said if one can pass the Vajra Array or the Eight-wind Array. Whatever the result shows will be what it truly is because the Buddha, the Bodhisattvas, and the Yidam determine it.
- 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 an Arahat or a Bodhisattva, their Gold Button Level 1 certificate will still be valid if they do not pass the test. Those who have achieved Blue Button Level 3 (or Sumeru Wheel Level 3) can also apply to be tested in the Vajra Array to see if they are a reincarnated Arahat or Bodhisattva. The Blue Button Level 3 certificate will still be issued if they don’t pass the test. Anyone who knows that themself has the dharma abilities and the status of an Arahat or Bodhisattva can directly apply for the Vajra Array test to verify their actual 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, they must strive to validate their correct understanding and views lest they regress backward.
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This test includes subjects ranging from Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana to the teaching of sutras and views and understanding. All of them are treated equally. For your reference, the following list contains the subjects covered in the test.
(see attachment 1)
The following subjects will also be included in the rinpoches of the Tibetan schools of Buddhism.
(see attachment 2)
The complete dharma practice ritual of the above-listed dharmas includes 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, unique and 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 completed without missing any part, and only then can it be the correct way of practicing the Dharma. Simply put, 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 III has expounded 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 not 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., 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 Sect 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 test problems, you can select the topic you have practiced and learned to be the subject of your test.
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H.H.Dorje Chang Buddha III said: “Namo Shakyamuni Buddha expounded 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 teachings 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, attaining great accomplishment and liberation is very easy!
“Most of the test problems you have listed are not practical. They are too difficult for those who are masters at the moment. 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 achievements. As long as their Sutra teachings, Dharma meanings, the keeping of their practice, and precept abidance are in accordance with Shakyamuni Buddha’s teaching and not the learning of an evil cult, then it is the correct answer.
“Just because you have learned some Dharma doesn’t mean they have also learned the same Dharma. You should primarily test them on the Sutra teachings or the Dharma they practice and transmit to people. The purpose is to prevent them from hurting Buddhist cultivators by pretending to be correct but are actually 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 how to teach people how to chant some mantras, then they must be neophytes or cheaters.
I repeat these words: your headquarters shouldn’t randomly and quickly 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 the Dharma Voice, if you issue a holiness-level certificate that does not match the facts, then it becomes an insulting act and mindset to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, with the more severe consequence of misleading Buddhist cultivators down the wrong path! You must validate holiness vs. ordinariness based on the Sutra teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. Your checking it for Buddhist disciples is a deed of unbound merits. It is great. But among the people you had issued the holiness-level certificates, it is hard to find one or two out of a hundred to be genuinely 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 society, including the ones you have certified. Do they know sutra teachings? Do they know Buddha Dharma? Do they know cultivation, and are they cultivating themselves? From this day forward, I suggest you refrain from incorrectly calling people holy gurus and issuing 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 society. You can forget about calling them holy gurus. They can’t even reach the essential qualification of being a master. To say it bluntly, they are just liars who wear Buddhist attire, brandish a lineage, and hide behind grandiose flags while swaggering across the city! They are complete outsiders who know nothing about cultivation or Buddha Dharma! Inflating their status as holy gurus is 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 they cannot pass the Holy Test.
“Judging from what has practically happened in the past several years, it has been proven 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 indeed cultivated themselves and developed their bodhicitta at the time, wholly 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 as soon as they went wrong, we canceled 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 are they 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 venerables can change their quality anytime. You must check it very rigorously before you issue the certificates!”
We repent from inside our hearts. With a happy and sincerely convinced mind, we deeply criticized ourselves. Indeed, it was only out of compassion and to allow them to propagate the Dharma Voice to benefit people that we set a very lenient standard, which let them have titles for which they were hardly qualified. The holiness level certificates we issued before had severe problems. People with a single item of holy virtue were mistakenly inflated as sacred people. In fact, that is not holiness but just one item of qualified deed. It does not mean the person’s fundamental structure is that of a holy being. Therefore, we repent 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 below the Three-Star Sun-Moon Wheel level we issued before 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 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 them unless you are adept at them. You can’t have your way through it by faking. Passing the most basic Blue Button Level 1 test is relatively easy. As long as the Buddhist cultivator can satisfy one Dharma’s standard correctly or has done one deed that benefits living beings, which is in line with the teachings of the holy beings, that Buddhist cultivator can enter the test on the one item alone and get Blue Button Level 1 (One-Star Sumeru Wheel). Thus, our headquarters has set the bar for the basic level low. However, entering Level 2 of Blue Button is more challenging, and the bar is raised. Blue Button Level 3 is even more difficult. To avoid repeating the severe fault of incorrectly naming holy gurus 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 excellent your capabilities are, and how great the status of dharma king or venerable you brag about, it is all fake if you can’t pass the Holy Test.
The United International World Buddhism Association Headquarters
August 12, 2015
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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)
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Attachment 2: List of Buddha Dharmas
The Dharmas include 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 Dharmas in Attachment 2 are only partially translated because many cannot be easily found in online English literature. Further work is required.
(Eric Huang is responsible for translating this announcement into English. It was last modified on 2024-09-14. )
Announcement 20150109: Important Announcement Regarding Taking the Test For Holiness Levels