Kuan Yin Bodhisattva’s Great Compassion Dharma Assemblies
Reposted from Thus Have I Seen by Zhaxi Zhuoma Rinpoche p.186-194
I want to give a little background on the Dharma of Empowerment by Kuan Yin’s Great Compassion. There are two stages to this great Dharma—the generation stage and the perfection stage. The generation stage only has about a 3% manifestation and can be learned successfully immediately, regardless of whether the learner is a good person or a bad person. This person receiving that empowerment can then empower living beings to enter the state of the Dharma right away. On the other hand, the perfection stage which requires the cultivation of Bodhi Holy Water includes a 97% realization of accomplishment and is very difficult to achieve. It has been said that “to perfectly cultivate the holy water that penetrates the Dharma bowl (as you do to generate Bodhi Holy Water) is more difficult than climbing to the sky.”45
“The precepts and disciplines of the Dharma of Empowerment by Kuan Yin’s Great Compassion are very rigorous. The precepts stipulate that the master practicing the Dharma must spend the entirety (minus expenses of conducting the ceremony) of the offerings collected within 15 days on releasing living beings in captivity and carrying out good deeds such as the relief of poverty or disasters. If not acting according to this precept-stipulation, one would violate the precepts of this Dharma and break the essence of abiding by the precepts. One would lose the lineage right away. Once the lineage is lost, the Dharma will be directly taken over right there by the Mara King’s demonic descendants and becomes a demonic dharma. The master will then become a demonic master. In this type of situation, this Holy Dharma would become a demonic dharma doing poisonous harm to living beings. H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III mentioned such possibility long ago in the book Learning from Buddha.”46
His Holiness Dorje Chang Buddha III did transmit the generation stage level of this great Dharma to several of His senior students. I do not believe He does this anymore. I was fortunate to receive that transmission. We can hold Dharma assemblies using this Dharma but we absolutely cannot receive any personal benefit from them. Disciples are most generous in their offerings after they receive the beneficial effects of the Dharma, but the offerings must go to help other living beings. It cannot be used as a temple fund raiser or to enrich the master performing the ceremony.
H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III told another rinpoche before that rinpoche held such a Dharma assembly in Hong Kong, “Holding the Dharma assembly to benefit the great masses is a good thing. However, you must clearly understand the Dharma I expounded in the recorded Dharma discourses. You must remember to practice the ending (concluding) practice of releasing living beings from captivity to truly benefit the great masses with great compassion. Otherwise, you will be a heretic using the name of Buddhism.”47
In Learning from Buddha, the Buddha Master tells us that this Dharma is the easiest to practice. He said that “as long as one has the power of lineage, that is sufficient. You can succeed in practicing it the very same day you take up the practice of it. The next day, you can convene people, empower all of them, and lead them into a supernormal state. However, there must be Dharma-protecting people on the scene to protect the safety of the attendees who are empowered. This is to prevent attendees, who may jump or move about uncontrollably after they enter a supernormal state, from hurting others who are on the floor or beside them.”48
The Buddha Master also said that the concluding practice of dedicating the offerings received from such an empowerment is the most essential and the best part of the Dharma. He told us that “were it not for its concluding practice, I would not advocate practicing this Dharma. I all the more would not transmit this Dharma in the world. Why should we release captured living beings? All living beings have been our family members since beginning-less time. They are the same as humans. It is just that their degree of intelligence and their appearance are different from those of humans. Still, their consciousness is the same as that of a human. That is why in real life we see that some animals can even rescue people, some can do math, some can sing, and some can dance. I even saw a dog that was able to play a highly difficult piano melody. Moreover, the dog played it very precisely. We must help them and rescue them. Furthermore, we must not hurt any living being even in the slightest. We can only rescue them.”49
I conducted my first Kuan Yin Bodhisattva Great Compassion Dharma Assembly in downtown Clovis, California in January 2017. This was the first time this ceremony had been conducted in English. Buddhist and non-Buddhists from the Fresno, Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles areas as well as from New York City, Salt Lake City, Sri Lanka, Germany, Cambodia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Shanghai and various parts of China attended. I told those present that the Great Bodhisattva Kuan Yin would come and empower all present, help remove obstacles from their lives, and enable those who could keep the three pure precepts (avoiding evil, doing good, and rescuing living beings) to have good fortune and much happiness. After the ceremony there were many emotional and moving accounts of what happened. Illusory states and movement were manifested and people were empowered.
FIGURE 74: Heartwood Kuan Yin Bodhisattva’s Great Compassion Dharma Assembly held in 2017 in Hendersonville, North Carolina.
The Great Compassion Empowerment was also held in April at the Xuanfa South Dharma Center, located at the Heartwood Refuge and Retreat Center in Hendersonville, North Carolina (FIGURE 74). Many of those participating experienced profound encounters from the Great Compassionate One and found old illnesses and pains disappear and emotional blockages released. Some had immediate relief, and others only noticed that long-standing aches and pains were gone after the ceremony. People came from all over the United States as well as from Canada, China, and Sri Lanka to participate. The ceremony was part of a Dharma assembly held to invite Kuan Yin to appear and bless all who were attending. Some felt a cool breeze and others saw various lights while they swayed and danced involuntarily. Several shared their experiences with the group after the ceremony.
The ceremony was part of an extended weekend seminar and retreat that focused on Learning from Buddha and translations of other discourses by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha that I read. Benxin Chiren Rinpoche, from Pasadena, California, provided simultaneous translations of recordings of the discourses. The next month I held another similar Kuan Yin Dharma Assembly in Salt Lake City with the help of the Xuanfa Utah Dharma Center.
FIGURE 75: Kuan Yin Bodhisattva’s Great Compassion Dharma Assembly held in 2017 in Thailand.
Later that year I went with Gesang Suolang Rinpoche and other students to conduct two more Kuan Yin Bodhisattva’s Great Compassion Empowerment Dharma Assemblies at a beautiful private retreat center located in the parklike suburban Nongjok District of Bangkok, Thailand (FIGURE 75). After all of the Dharma assemblies, the participants would come forward and explain what they had experienced as shown in FIGURE 76. The Dharma Assembly was followed by a fish release ceremony performed as part of the Kuan Yin Bodhisattva Empowerment. The first of these Dharma assemblies was for volunteers who received the empowerment of Kuan Yin Bodhisattva so that they could serve as Dharma protectors and help others the following day
FIGURE 76: Testimonials given after Kuan Yin Bodhisattva’s Great Compassionate Dharma Assembly, Thailand.
FIGURE 77: Class on Learning from Buddha after Dharma Assembly, Thailand.
I also read in English (and had translated into Thai by Kunlanat Makboon) preliminary translations of Dharma Discourses given by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III and transmitted Dharma in a charming and unique concrete “tree house” (FIGURE 77.) Gesang Suolang Rinpoche from Salt Lake City, Utah, and Gongjue Tuji Rinpoche from Cologne, Germany joined in leading chants early every morning from the Holy Vajrasana Temple Hymnal. Gongjue was able to stay in the tree house in a most unusual suite above the meeting room. He has the Xuanfa Dharmazentrum (Dharma Center) in Cologne.
Gesang and I left Thailand for Vietnam to conduct three more Kuan Yin Bodhisattva’s Great Compassion Empowerment Dharma Assemblies at the precious Thai Son Pagoda (temple), in Da Nang. Khatas were offered, along with chanting and prostrations to the Holy ones. We paid our respect to our Buddha Master whose photo not only graced the main altar, but also the private altar next to the monastic quarters (FIGURE 78).
Many received healings and various forms of empowerments. Some even saw the magnificent Great Bodhisattva. Some spontaneously started singing, dancing and doing graceful mudras that they had never done before (FIGURE 79). Everyone was very happy. Even the fish, frogs, and critters that were released into a nearby creek were jumping for joy and eager to return to their homes, receiving the refuge vows in the process (FIGURE 80). Two weeks later more turtles, crabs, and other living beings were released into the Han River within sight of the Golden Dragon Bridge and according to the requirements for concluding Kuan Yin Bodhisattva’s Great Compassion Empowerment Dharma. In fact, the most important aspect of the Kuan Yin Great Compassion Empowerment Dharma, as the Buddha Master said, is selflessly benefiting and helping living beings.
FIGURE 78: Disciples from the United States, China, and Taiwan who served as Dharma protectors, in the Founder’s Room at the Chua Thai Son (temple) in Da Nang, Vietnam just before the Dharma Assembly.
FIGURE 79: Kuan Yin Great Compassion Dharma Assembly held in warm rain at Chua Thai Son (temple), Da Nang, Vietnam.
FIGURE 80: Captive animal release after the Kuan Yin Bodhisattva’s Great Compassion Dharma Assembly, Da Nang, Vietnam.
I did not hold animal releases to fulfill that requirement for the Dharma Assemblies we held in the States. Instead, I got a special dispensation to use the money collected to help bring the Dharma to captive human beings in prison. I needed an extension of the requirement to use all the offerings within 15 days of the event as it takes much longer to accomplish anything in our state prisons. I will write more about that later.
The warm rain that fell on the last Dharma assembly seemed to add to the mystery of Kuan Yin Bodhisattva’s presence as warm breezes wafted across the beautiful white sand beach to the temple. Da Nang, Vietnam is deserving of the title, the Riviera of Asia. It is not surprising that Kuan Yin Bodhisattva should make such a pronounced presence in Da Nang during the ceremony. Her images are everywhere. The small temple where we performed these Dharma assemblies was located on one of the five famous marble mountains in Da Nang. The marble is harvested to make many beautiful statues which are seen everywhere and many of those statues are of Kuan Yin Bodhisattva.
Later, with Gesang’s help, I also conducted an all-day class in Da Nang to discuss the book based on discourses given by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III entitled, Learning from Buddha (FIGURE 81). The tiny temple was packed as was the patio outside the temple with disciples who were eager to hear the Dharma. An English translation of that precious sutra is now available on-line and discussed more later on.
FIGURE 81: Disciples crowd into Chua Thai Son (temple) to eagerly hear a reading of Learning from Buddha.
However, I must confess that once again I was quite sick for most of this trip. It seemed I always overestimated my strength and underestimated the difficulty of travel as I had earlier in Hong Kong and on the Dharma Propagation Mission. It started in Thailand and by the time we got to Vietnam I knew I needed help. I cannot say enough good things about the care I got in a local hospital and the kindness of our hosts and the students. I would manage to rally for the classes and ceremonies and gave refuge vows and Dharma to many students, but the rest of the time I was in bed. Gesang was wonderful, as usual, and kept me on a complex, but strict schedule of meds. It had been almost that bad in Thailand. We stayed at a private retreat in Thailand that had floating restaurants on a beautiful lake and a spa with all sorts of treatments and wonderful hosts, but I was mostly too sick to enjoy it. Gesang and others had to conduct the fish release while I suffered. I am so grateful to have such talented and generous students.
Footnotes
45 World Buddhism Association Headquarters Public Announcement #20170112, November 15, 2017. ↩
46 World Buddhism Association Headquarters Public Announcement #20170111, November 2, 2017. ↩
47 The Office of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III Public Announcement #50, September 13, 2016. ↩
48 P. 26, Preliminary translation of Learning from Buddha. ↩
49 Ibid. ↩