Master Zhenlin’s Commentary on Lingmei’s Second Visit to Amitabha-Buddha

Master Zhenlin’s Commentary on Lingmei’s Second Visit to Amitabha-Buddha, Tour to the Hell, and a Sutra-lecturing Trip to the Heaven of Great Comfort

Why do I arrange for Lingmei the sutra-lecturing trip to Heaven of Great Comfort first? The realm of the Heaven of Great Comfort is quite unique. Though it is a Heaven, it is located geographically at the top of Mount. Kunlun. You won’t get access to it, though, by reaching the top of the mountain. It exists in a space at the mountain top. It is quite a supreme place even though it is so close to the secular world. Its Heavenly King has previously been a Bodhisattva, who later was born in the Path of Hungry Ghost, and then became the King. Shakra and Brahman King would descend to bow to him. His is a heaven of great comfort. It is a very good state. Therefore, I sent Lingmei to the Heaven of Great Comfort first.
Text:
Cast away the small self, and we shall obtain the big self. Cast away the big self, and we shall have no self. Only the state of being no self is permanent, which is what I have been seeking for.
Commentary:
It is quite thought-provoking a passage. What does small self refer to? The small self is our physical body while the big self is the Bodhisattva body. When we are able to cast away the Bodhisattva or Buddha body, we shall be free from the self. Only the state of being without a self is permanent. It is when we attain the true mind of brightness and enlightenment, the Anuttarasamyaksambodhi, and the Buddha Nature. It is where the real life resides. Do not seek externally. Everything that is external is not real, but illusory.
Text:
I’d note it down as long as it shall benefit the people so that you can all read it. I traveled to the West as if in a dream.
Commentary:
The last time she went to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, she was there for a very short while before she returned. She could remember nothing what the Buddha had spoken to her. She then asked me how could she keep in mind the teachings by the Buddhas. I so told her what she should do when in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. As it turned out, unlike in her previous trip, she was able to note down each and every word that Amitabha Buddha spoke to her.
Text:
“The heaven is as big as your mind is. The mind can take you to heaven. No Dharma is fixed. It is a tough journey. It takes as short a span to go through a thousand eons as to give rise to a single thought. The eon is not fixed but made by the mind. Whether something is difficult or not depends on the mind. A mind of the Way should be at peace, but yours is circled by external things. The true mind is like gold. If you can cling to the mind of the Way that is peaceful, you shall attain Buddhahood in the present life. Apply good efforts to cultivation! The Buddha is no Buddha.”
Commentary:
“The heaven is as big as your mind, and the mind can take you to heaven.”
How much our mind can take depends on how big and broad it is. If it is big enough to house the entire universe, the entire universe is in our mind. Therefore, it is our mind that leads us to heaven, the true mind of brightness and permanence.
“No Dharma is fixed.”
There is no fixed model to the Buddha Dharma. We may employ any expedient means to propagate it. When we reach an advanced stage in cultivation, we shall find the Dharma in every word uttered and everything done. Do not take life as life, but as the Dharma. If you get angry and hateful when seeing your enemy, you are being turned by the states. If you do not get angry nor have any complaints, the state is being turned by you, and it shows you have come to understand the Buddha Dharma. Your mind is firm enough and at peace. No Dharma is fixed. It exists in our life. We expound the Dharma according to the changing surroundings. We employ expedient means to propagate it. We'd meet many obstacles as we cultivate.
“It is a tough journey.It takes as short a span to go through a thousand eons as to give rise to a single thought. The eon is not fixed but made by the mind.”
It is because we discriminate that the spaces are created. When we are able to rid ourselves of the discriminative mind, we will be in Buddhahood. There is no eon to speak of. There is no difference between a thousand eons and two eons. An eon may finish after you give rise to a single thought. A mosquito, for example, will get reborn soon if it gets enlightened by listening to the Sutra of Longevity. The eon in the case of the mosquito is very short.
One eon lasts one hundred years in Jambudvipa, 300 years in Purvavideha, 500 heavenly years in the Heaven of the Four Heavenly Kings, and 1,000 heavenly years in the Trayastrimsha Heaven. Therefore, the eon is not fixed. Since it is not fixed, how does it come into existence? It is all created by our mind.
Everything in the universe is created by our mind, because it is burdened by the three poisons, six desires, and seven emotions. Whether something is difficult or not, be it curing a disease or cultivation, depends on the mind. It depends on whether our mind is set at peace and sincere. Being sincere means you speak what you think. You don’t have to make a plan for it. Unfortunately, we people in the Jambudvipa are mostly not sincere, and do not speak what we think. Therefore, Amitabha Buddha tells us that we’d be a Buddha if we are completely sincere. We are deluded if taken away by our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, consciousness, and greed, hatred, and ignorance. We get deviated to the demon’s path.
“A mind of the Way should be at peace, but yours is circled by external things. The true mind is like gold.”
As we cultivate the Way, we shall attain the mind of the Way by which our mind shall always be at peace no matter what happens. As I have often told you, a genuine Dharma Master, no matter how prestigious he is, always takes himself as an ordinary person. Most people, however, would rather take themselves as a prestigious master. Their mind is not peaceful, and therefore far away from the Great Way. A genuine Dharma master never discriminates. He treats everyone the same, regardless of one’s wealth or social status. He who makes it has attained the mind of the Way that is peaceful.
What are the external things that circle it? Our mind of the Way is supposed to be peaceful, and yet it is usually circled by many external things, such as the seven emotions, six desires, and three poisons. Inside the circle is our mind of the Way, the true mind of brightness and permanence, the Buddha nature.
“The true mind is like gold.If you can cling to the mind of the Way that is peaceful, you shall attain Buddhahood in the present life. Apply good efforts to cultivation!The Buddha is no Buddha!”
In fact, there is no Buddhahood to be achieved. In the Chinese character, the word Buddha consists of “No” and “Person”. That is to say, a Buddha is not a person. I am not going to dwell on this point. Otherwise, some of you may get confused. You have to be in the state of the Great Vehicle to know what it means to become a Buddha and what the state of the Buddha is like. It is an inexpressible state. No language can describe it. There is nothing to say about it. You will know it when you are in the state.
Text:
I did not quite the the point, and was wondering whether it was because I went there too often. By then, a voice spoke to my ears, " It takes only one thought for you to ascend to the heaven or drill down to the earth. Having tasted all the heavenly delicacies, you still need to find our true mind. Comprehend the Dharma with the knowledge that the Dharma is no Dharma. When you get enlightened to the Dharma, you shall know there is no Dharma. If you understand that there is in truth no Dharma, your mind is awakened to the Dharma. Not until then will you understand all is the same.There is no “self”, and it is not a ‘Self’… Haw-haw!”
Commentary:
This passage is very well-said. Who could have said so if not in the state?
It takes only one thought for us to ascend to the heaven or drill down to the earth. Our traveling between heaven and earth is to find our true mind.
Comprehend the Dharma with the knowledge that the Dharma is no Dharma.
Comprehend the Dharma with our mind. When we get enlightened, we will find nothing can be spoken about the Dharma. Having expounded the Dharma for 49 years, Shakyamuni Buddha said “I have not said a word over the past 49 years.”
If you understand that there is in truth no Dharma, your mind is awakened to the Dharma.
The Dharma appears as the expedient means employed to help the beings learn it. It is very difficult to get enlightened, though.
Our mind is not awakened to the Dharma unless we reach the state devoid of Dharma. Not until then will we understand all is the same. That is to say, all is like the air. You hold some air with your right hand, and other with your left hand, and you will find no difference in the air held.
There is no “self”, and it is not a “Self”.
We won’t find the “self”. You are me, I am you. When in such a state, Guanyin Bodhisattva is Shakyamuni Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha is Amitabha Buddha, and Amitabha Buddha is Manjushri Bodhisattva. There is no difference. It is because of our discriminative mind that creates the difference.
Text:
With the laughter, the voice became less and less audible. The other day, Master suggested that I visit the Hell. I said no because I was fearful of it, though not knowing for what. Having listened to the instruction of Amitabha Buddha, I decided to pay a visit to the Hell.
Lingmei heard the Haw-haw laughter and it became less and less audible. Having read the instruction from the Buddha, she decided to pay a visit to the Hell, without fearing it anymore.
Text:
It seemed like a dream, but in truth was not. As if in a trance, I visited the Hell, and had a short stay there, during which, there was voice speaking to me along the way. Soon after I arrived, I heard “Life in the secular world is dream-like. Both ups and downs come and go quickly. Since you have come to the Hell, please exhort the people to practice cultivation.
Commentary:
These lines are really nice.
“Life in the secular world is dream-like.”
Our living in the world is like a dream. In the twinkling of an eye, the ups and downs in life are over.
“Since you have come to the Hell, please exhort the people to practice cultivation.”
We’d end up suffering in the Hell if we do not put down the secular emotions. Therefore, “please exhort the people to practice cultivation.” We will not end up in the Hell if we cultivate to improve ourselves.
Text:
Whenever I passed a hell, I heard a saying describing it respectively. I now put them together, and it says, “Those who are greedy end up in the Exoculation Hell; those who bully the elder and the underprivileged end up in the Hell of Boiling Oil; those who kill the living beings end up in the Hell of Iron Knives. If you still do not believe in karma and retribution, take a look at how crowded the Hell is. If you want to know the retributions of blessing and misfortune to befall you in the present life, turn the light and reflect back. The dust has all been settled.”
Commentary:
“Those who are very greedy fall into the Exoculation Hell.”
They get deluded by external forms. Greed arises when our eyes see the form (anything in the universe).
In the Hell of Boiling Oil, the hell beings are thrown into the pot of boiling oil. Those who bullied the elder and the underprivileged when alive fall into the Hell.
In the Hell of Iron Knives, there are knives all over that slice the flesh the hell beings off bit by bit. Those who kill the living beings fall into the Hell of Iron Knives.
“If you still do not believe in karma and retribution, take a look at how crowded the Hell is.”
A visit to the Hell will convince you that law of cause and effect. The Hell is so crowded by those falling into it that it is almost beyond its capacity.
“If you want to know the retributions of blessing and misfortune to befall you in the present life…”
Blessing includes holding an high office, or being in possession of a good fortune, or living a decent life.
“…turn the light and reflect back. The dust has been settled down.”
If you want to know how your life is in the present life, just take a look back at what you did in your previous life. Ordinary people do not have the ability to tell what they did in their previous life. If we cultivate, gradually we develop the ability. We won’t be angry anymore if we know what we did at that time. Perhaps we killed someone, and as a result, he or she wants to kill us in the present life.
Text:
I also saw the Great Iron Ring Mountain, where the suffering was exactly as acute as Master had described when he was lecturing the Sutra of Longevity. I could not bear to see it. Why do the hell beings have to undergo such serious retributions? As I just thinking over it, I was told that these beings were impious and bad to there parents when they were alive. Being filial to our parents are the most meritorious. It is suggested that people should read the Filial Piety Sutra.”
After I returned, I thought of what Master had spoken to me, “We cultivators are walking on thin ice. We can either ascend the Heaven, or fall down to the Hell I do not want to fall into the Hell. I don’t want to suffer anymore from transmigration. I must cultivate wholeheartedly to get back to my true home.
Commentary:
She also saw the Hell of Great Iron Ring Mountain and the Hell of Small Iron Ring Mountain.
“the suffering was exactly as acute as Master had described when he was lecturing the Sutra of Longevity. I could not bear to see it. Why do the hell beings have to undergo such serious retributions?”
As she just thinking over it, she was told that these beings were impious and bad to there parents when they were alive, and that being filial to our parents are the most meritorious. It is suggested that people should read the Filial Piety Sutra.
After she returned, she thought of what Master had spoken to her, “We cultivators are walking on thin ice. A single thought can decide whether we go to the heaven or fall down to the hell.”
As Lingmei wrote, “I don’t want to suffer anymore from transmigration.”
Well, who would like to be subject to the cycle of birth and death? Let us apply real efforts to cultivation, to upholding the Buddhist scripture, so that we can return to our true home. The true home lies in our true-self.
Text:
I had decided not to roam around anymore. Some co-cultivators jokingly said to me the other day that I should pay a visit to the Medicine Buddha, and indeed my soul traveled to His Buddhaland. Soon after I arrived, the Buddha spoke to me, “ The Buddhalands of the ten directions are in fact empty. They manifest differently before different people. You have been well-travelled through the trips. Please tell the people not to try to discern the truth. The medicine of miracle lies right in your mind. Why bother to seek it externally? Hold on to single-mindfulness, set your mind at peace, and you shall sit on the lotus dais and get back to your true-self.”
Commentary:
This passage tells us that the Buddhalands of the ten directions are in fact empty. Our Saha World is empty, too. However, they become real if you are in the state. It all depends on who you are. Lingmei is well-travelled as she has visited the heavens and the hells.
“Please tell the people not to try to discern the truth.”
The Buddha warns us against ever trying to discern it. After all, we are not able to make it. We just need to place our faith in it.
“The medicine of miracle lies right in our mind.”
Why bother to go out of our way to look for it everywhere?
“Hold on to single-mindfulness, set your mind at peace, and you shall sit on the lotus dais and get back to your true-self.”
When we are single-mindful, our mind is at peace, and all the Buddhalands in the ten directions hall appear in our mind. By then, we shall be able to get back to the state of the true-self, the state of the Buddha, by sitting on the lotus dais.
Text:
Again, he said, “Be mindful of it! Always!” He then added, “Apply the medicine of miracle to your mind. Clean away the secular dust and you shall be free from the self. Always be mindful of the fine words and hold on to your true self. Do not forget the trip and you shall transcend time and space”. As I was thinking what the real treasures are, a voice spoke to my ears, “Being-able-to-give-it-up Herb, the Cure-all.” Put it down, and it all gets smooth. Your mind shall be set at peace and free from afflictions.”
The medicine of miracle is our mind. How can we be free from the self? We have to first clean away the secular dust of greed, hatred, and ignorance. He hoped that you could always be mindful of it.
“Do not forget the trip and you shall transcend time and space.”
The trip refers to our being born as humans. Do not forget that we shall transcend the time and space, gain release from the Three Realms and Five Elements. Do not be buried by the secular dusts.
“As I was thinking what the real treasures are…”: She was wondering what the real treasure is.
Then a voice spoke to her ears, “ Being-able-to-give-it-up Herb, the Cure-all.”
What kind of herb is it? Well, we will get it as long as we can put down the unreal things in the world. Our being able to put them down is a cure-all! Put it down, and our mind shall be set at peace and free from afflictions.”
Text:
A Sister suggested that I recite the lines for Master when he got on-line. Master told me, “I won’t send you around any more.” He also told me that these verses could be very thought-provoking for our co-cultivators, so I wrote them down. I was still thinking why not more traveling when Master spoke to me again, “Lingmei, you’d better not visit the Medicine Buddha. You may pay a visit to the Heaven of Great Comfort, though.” I always do what Master instructs me to. I know well that I can always make whatever Master wants to me do. By the way, let me share with you a secret: Miracles can happen anytime. We ourselves are a miracle.

Commentary:
Lingmei felt it a miracle that she was able to travel around to all the wonderlands. She felt it true, amazing, and miraculous.
Text:
Below is what happened when I was in the Heaven of Great Comfort. Miracles did take place when I followed Master’s instruction and treated them with equality and reverence.
Commentary:

“Below is what happened when I was in the Heaven of Great Comfort.”
She noted it down.
“Miracles did take place when I followed Master’s instruction and treated them with equality and reverence.”
I had a long talk with her before she set off for the Heaven of Great Comfort. She was fearful and worried whether she was being too arrogant. She would not have arrived there when so concerned. I talked to her to help address her concerns the other day. She understood and accepted it. Miracles did happen when she treated them with equality and reverence.
Text:
It turned out exactly as Master had said, that I was lecturing the Sutra of Longevity for them. I won’t go into details about it, though. They liked it very much and many asked for a copy of the Sutra. Believe it or not, when in such a state, as soon as I gave to the thought on whether Master could send them a copy of the Sutra, they got the copy.
Commentary:
Her description is correct.
“It turned out exactly as Master had said, that I was lecturing the Sutra of Longevity for them.”
Lingmei was in the state of the ordinary people. Never had she thought of giving a sutra lecture to heavenly beings. She was just too nervous and thought she was being arrogant. In fact she was not. She just did not know why. She wrote down how she felt.
She was in the Heaven of Great Comfort, where everything is transformed from thoughts.

Text:
Below is what the King of the Heaven of the Great Comfort said to me after hearing me talk: “At great comfort our happiness is endless. In the twinkling of the eye, thousands of years are gone. We shall be turned on the wheel of transmigration. We now avail ourselves of the opportunity to practice cultivation. Those who can put it down are as at comfort as the immortals. It is never too late to practice cultivation. I used to feel it a pity but now it is solved. Let us meet again in our Homeland in the future. Please drink the glass of wine, as your presence brings to us warm breeze that pervades the whole Immortal Mountain. We shall keep in mind the precious sutra you send to me. Put it down, and we obtain true merits and virtues.

Commentary:
“At great comfort our happiness is endless.”
This is the state in the Heaven, where the heavenly beings are great comfort and extremely happy.
“In the twinkling of the eye, thousands of years are gone.”
Thousands of years pass in the twinkling of an eye.
“We shall be turned on the wheel of transmigration.”
They will be subject to the cycle of life and death when their heavenly blessings come to an end.
“We now avail ourselves of the opportunity to practice cultivation. Those who can put it down are as at comfort as the immortals.”
They also need to seize the precious opportunity to cultivate. Those who can put down the great blessings they enjoy in the Heaven will be as at comfort as the immortals.
“It is never too late to practice cultivation.”
They will be as great as the immortals if they can put it down. Living in the Heaven of Great Comfort is too comfortable. If they can put it down, it is never too late to practice cultivation.
“I used to feel it a pity but now it is solved.”
It was quite a pity for them as they still have to be subject to transmigration when their heavenly lifespan comes to an end. Fortunately, having listened to the sutra, they are able to gain release from the Three Realms and Five Elements. There isn’t any more pity.
“Let us meet again in our Homeland in the future.”
We shall get together again before the Buddha.
“Please drink the glass of wine, as your presence brings to us warm breeze that pervades the whole Immortal Mountain.”
Lingmei’s visit to the Heaven of Great Comfort brought warm breeze to the land so much as that it pervaded the whole Immortal Mountain.
“We shall keep in mind the precious sutra you send to me. Put it down, and we obtain true merits and virtues.”
Lingmei brought to them the Sutra of Longevity, and it was such a precious book! The king said he’d be mindful of it. The merits and virtues shall accrue if they can put it down.
“Before I left, he again said to me, ‘We feel ashamed of ourselves having listened to what you have said. We now vow to reach the other shore of perfection, no matter how difficult it is!’”
The King of the Heaven of Great Comfort said that they were ashamed of themselves compared to us humans. They vowed to practice cultivation to reach the other shore of perfection, to become Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, no matter how hard it is.
Text:
Two days later, I paid a visit to the Heaven again while sitting in meditation, as I was not sure that I could really lecture the sutra for them. When I was there, I again requested that I talk the Sutra for them. I quoted the ending passage of the Sutra of Longevity, “As these livings do not realize their danger, which resembles that of burning eye-brows, so they greedily indulge in the benefits of wealth, love and sensual desires. Or they consume so much wine that their life span is at stake. There are also those who are jealous, deluded and arrogant. Most of them will sink in the seas of suffering with no chance for liberation. Only the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are able to cross over the seas of birth and death. The common sentient beings are sure to sink into them.”
Commentary:
This passage is copied from the Sutra of Longevity, which I have expounded. No need to talk more on it.
Text:
Some heavenly beings got enlightened just when I was reciting it. I returned soon after I had finished saying it. I think I’d better not think too high of myself. I again was struck by secular thoughts. I thought I was out of myself with the bestowal of power by master. I was fearful. I feared I might just fall down.
When I was thinking about it, a voice spoke to me, “Nothing that you fear will happen if you are acting according to the Buddha Dharma and on the vow you’ve made! I am just too dull. I feel unhappy after returning from the Heaven of Great Comfort. I want to ask master why face to face, but master is just too busy. I think I need to find the answer myself, and the key is to work on my mind!
Commentary:
Some of them got enlightened as she was reciting the sutra passage. Why did she visit it again? Some of the heavenly beings would gain enlightenment and release from the Three Realms immediately after they listen to the sutra.
“I returned soon after I finished saying it.”
Why? The heavenly beings in the Heaven of Great Comfort made offerings to her with their treasures. Lingmei was unprepared for it and quite scared. She did not write it down in the article. She did tell me about it, though, and that she dared not accept the offerings. I told her why not. She had to accept the offerings so that those making the offerings to her could accumulate merits and virtues.
“I think I’d better not think too high of myself.”
She still had some concerns.
“I again was struck by secular thoughts. I thought I was out of myself with the bestowal of power by master. I was fearful. I feared I might just fall down. When I was thinking about it, a voice spoke to me, ‘Nothing that you fear will happen if you are acting according to the Buddha Dharma and on the vow you’ve made!’ I am just too dull. I feel unhappy after returning from the Heaven of Great Comfort.”
Why was she unhappy? She was fearful. Even those living in the Heaven of the Great Comfort, a place so full of comfort, are subject to the cycle of life and death. She could not figure out why. It was the first time that she had been to the heaven. Her mind was being burdened with many secular thoughts as yours.
I want to ask Master why face to face, but Master is just too busy. I think I need to find the answer myself, and the key is to work on my mind! She then wrote about how she felt.
Text:
I seemed to find the answers as I was sitting in meditation this morning. Why was I fearful when in the Hell? Why did I enjoy the stay in the Buddhaland? Why did I feel uncomfortable while in the Heaven of the Great Comfort so much so that I did not stay there for longer than necessary? Why did I fail to hold back my tears when I heard some telling their past experience or complain that it was torturing for them? I have been quite tearful since I returned from the visit to the Heaven of the Great Comfort. I think I now know why. We have been cultivating for so many lives, and gone through, so to speak, numerous eons being turned on the wheel o the Six Paths. We are still being entangled in emotions. Not just emotions between man and woman. I am very much attached to friendship. I used to think I have put it down, but I have not yet.
In the Heaven of Great Comfort, there is no need to practice cultivation. They get whatever they want. Time flies by quickly as their life is fully of joy. As a result, they get lost. They had endured great hardships before being born in the heaven. Isn’t it a great pity that they now forget what they have gone through?
I think I am fully ready now. No matter how challenging it is, I will keep cultivation in the present life. I must find my way back home! Put all the burdens down! We won’t be able to take any of them along. There is always winning and losing. We need to let it go from our mind. Remove the obstacles in our mind by cultivating the mind. By the time we overcome ourselves, we shall find our true-self.
Commentary:
This passage explains how she felt. It is well-said. Nevertheless, we have to cultivate in a step-by-step manner when in the world. A popular Chinese saying goes like this, “passing through five barriers and fighting against six generals”. The five barriers refers to form, feeling, cognition, formation, and consciousness and the six generals refers to our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and consciousness. We need to chop them off to find the true-self. Only by then will we feel truly at comfort.
Every time Lingmei returns from her trip, Master will have a talk to her to encourage her. She is getting more and more courageous and her mind more at peace. She is really like an immortal now! (Laughter)
Text:
This is how I feel after I return from the trip. We cultivators need to apply real efforts as well as time to it. Time is the best touchstone. With the passage of time, everything comes, and everything goes. There is nothing to fear as long as we are equipped with a fearless mind. Besides, Master is always with us when at critical junctures. Master is omnipresent!
Amitabha-Buddha!
Commentary
She certainly knows what to get from Master. (Laughter).
She is right to say that Master is always with you. This is truly the case. Why do I become your Master? It is to bestow power on you. You are like a tree. You have to rely on your own efforts to grow, while Master is the wooden stick standing closely by the tree so that you remain upright when blown by heavy wind. I have to shield the wind for you because you have yet to be grown-up. I protect you and support you as you grow. Nevertheless, you still need to absorb nutrition yourself even with the bestowal of power.
Amitabha-Buddha!

May the merit and virtue accrued from this work,
Adorn the Buddha’s Pure Lands,
Repaying the four kinds of kindness above,
And aiding those suffering in the paths below.
May those who see and hear of this,
All bring forth the resolve for Bodhi,
And when this retribution body is over,
Be born together in Ultimate Bliss.
Amitabha-Buddha! May we all be filled with the joy of the Dharma!