Answer 2 On Day 2 of the Lunar year

        What you said is half right. If you genuinely wish to receive an inner-tantric initiation, first of all, your greatly holy master must be happy to perform the Initiation for you. However, that is only passing the first checkpoint. If even the great holy master does not agree, then there is not the slightest hope at all.

        It does not matter what merit you have accrued. The quality of your mind-cause is fundamentally damaged if you cannot eliminate doubt to generate faith, if you cannot exterminate all forms, or if you cannot elevate yourself beyond sectarian pursuits, when you are facing a Buddha or a Bodhisattva who is presiding over the Inner-tantric Initiation. The World-Honored One said in the Vajra Praise that one has to “cut off doubt, generate faith, exterminate all forms, and transcend all sectarian beliefs.” It clearly says that doubt is the fundamental reason for eradicating one’s good roots. If you are insincere and you speak falsely–even if you only say one sentence of false words on purpose to your master who is presiding over the inner-tantric Initiation, you have violated the “Precept against the Fundamental Sin of Speaking Casually.” As a result, you cannot receive a successful Inner-tantric Initiation.

        Furthermore, if a disciple who has successfully received an Inner-tantric Initiation or an Initiation of State Practice purposely says one sentence of false words to the master who presides over the Inner-tantric Initiation or Initiation of State Practice, the Yidam will leave the disciple. The seed planted from the Initiation will be weakened or damaged. Consequently, the power of the dharma will naturally recede.

        Anyone who has committed such an offense must repent thoroughly right away. Having corrected yourself, you absolutely cannot violate it again even once and must be completely loyal. In the case of receiving an Initiation of Dharma Affinity By The Yidam, it is one-hundred-percent certain that the Yidam will not come to accept a disciple who speaks falsely.

        You have to clearly understand that for a person to receive an Inner-tantric Initiation, he or she must go through two checkpoints. If the master presiding over the Initiation is pleased to transmit the Initiation to you, you have only passed the first checkpoint. You must also go through the second checkpoint, the checkpoint of Zejue (lit. Determination by Holy Selection). The master presiding over the Initiation does not decide the outcome of Zejue. If you have purposely spoken false words to your master who presides over the Initiation, you will not pass the checkpoint of Zejue without a doubt. In that case, the Inner-tantric Initiation will not happen successfully, because the Yidam does not approve of you.

Inquiry Center of the World Buddhism Association Headquarters
Written on behalf of great holy virtuous ones to answer questions raised
February 17, 2018

(English translation by Benxin, last revised by Zunba 2020-06-05)