Master Zhenlin’s Commentary on Lingmei’s Visit to World Honored One Shakyamuni Buddha

I gave you several days’ of break before taking you through Lingmei’s visit to World Honored One Shakyamuni Buddha, so that you got enough time to read and delve into the text.
The text contains mostly the Buddha’s instructions to us and they are in verse form. In fact, Lingmei’s Trips concluded successfully after her visit to Shakyamuni Buddha.
She has visited many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The instructions from them all are centered on the need to cultivate our mind. Why do we have to reflect within? By doing so we’d enlighten our mind and reach the true nature. Practicing the Great Vehicles leads us to Buddhahood, but we have first of all to cultivate our mind. We’d get nowhere if we leave our mind behind in cultivation. Some cultivators end up in the Path of Arhats, and others in the Path of Pacceka Buddha. Some ascend to the heavens while others to the Path of demons. We have to enter the Path of the Bodhisattvas before reaching Buddhahood. By the time our mind is enlightened and we find our true-nature, we’d enter the Path of the Bodhisattvas. Unfortunately, many have always taken the “guest-dust” as the true mind. In fact, our true mind of brightness and permanence is firm and unwavering. We are deluded by the seven emotions, six desires, and three poisons so much so that we are unaware of it even though the Buddha nature stays close to us every single moment.
I talked to you on how to distinguish the Buddha from the demon. The Buddha, no matter what expedient means He employed, helps to enlighten our mind so that we see the true nature. He exhorts us to work on cultivation of the mind. The demon never does so.
You have read the text quite a few times and been practicing the Dharma with me for quite a while. I hope you know that whatever I am doing is to help bolster your faith and guide you on cultivation of the mind.
As is written at the outset,
Text:
“You have inquired about it in all aspects. You have to walk along the path yourself. Reflect within, and consistency is achieved. All in all, it is the mind that matters!”
Commentary:
Lingmei has visited Mount. Sumeru, Earth Store Bodhisattva in His world of Lapis Lazuli, Guanyin Bodhisattva, Manjushri Bodhisattva, Universal Worthy Bodhisattva, Maitreya Bodhisattva, and she has been to many heavens and the Hell. She has put questions to them all. Nevertheless, the road lies right before us, and it is up to us to walk through it. It is rather easy to understand it. Will it helps you satisfy hunger I take the meal for you? We need to apply real efforts to cultivation. The Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Master can only providence guidance to you on how to walk. We cannot cultivate for you.
What is the right way to cultivation? The answer is in the next line, “Reflect within and consistency is achieved.”
We should reflect within everyday to check whether there is anything wrong or inconsistent with the Dharma. When our mind is consistent with the Buddha Dharma, everything goes smooth. In the final analysis, it is the mind that matters. Wherever we are, be it in the state of the Buddha, or the state of the Bodhisattva, in the realm of the heavens, or in the secular world, it is the mind that matters. We need to work on cultivation of our mind, to attain the true mind of brightness and permanence.
Many of my disciples ask me, “Master, why is my mind less at peace these days than before? Why do I feel disturbed?” Well, it is normal! Your mind is not completely at peace. All of you are from different backgrounds. No matter how privileged you are, you cannot avoid being attached by the dusts of seven emotions, six desires, and the three poisons as long as you are in the secular world. It takes time to wash away the dusts. It took Shakyamuni Buddha 15 years cultivating in the snow mountain to cast away the dust. Even the Buddha, having already attained enlightenment, cannot stay away completely from the dusts.
Take Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch, for example. He is completely illiterate. However, his level of comprehension is superb. He chose to stay with a group of hunters for 15 years after attaining enlightenment. When the Fifth Patriarch passed the lineage to Huineng, he said, “The fragrance of plum blossom comes from bitter coldness.”
We’d realize through cultivation whether our mind is at peace or being turned by the states. Do not grumble about anything. Whatever challenge there is before is helps to improve ourselves and empower our mind. Do not get hateful, jealous, or arrogant. While we should live the life no different from ordinary people, our mind should be detached. Having said it all, it is about cultivation of the mind. Don’t get impatient or anxious if challenges emerge before us. Take time and efforts to address them.
Meanwhile, keep cultivating with a singular focus. Gradually, our mind will get awakened and we’d be able to put it all down. We’d be able to take good care of not only worldly affairs but also our mind. In fact, when we attain the Bodhi mind, the six senses of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and consciousness are the Bodhi. The three poisons of greed, hatred, and ignorance become the Bodhi as well. We’d feel unfettered and unobstructed when we are enlightened. Apply the Dharma to our life. After all, we still live in the secular world. The verse spoken by the Buddha at the outset makes it clear to us, “You have asked them all in all aspects. You have to walk along the path yourself. Reflect within, and consistency is achieved. All in all, it is the mind that matters!”
As is written here,

Text:

Inside a blurred outline, great light was emitted before me. The Buddha appeared in golden body. I took a close look, and found the golden body was boundless. All of a sudden, the Buddha light shone forth pervasively covering from heaven down to the Avici Hell which covers eighty-thousand Yojanas. I knew it was the time. The Buddha agreed to meet me.

Commentary:

Lingmei had already met Maitreya Bodhisattva by then. You were expecting me to give you my comment on her article about the visit. However, I did not talk about it immediately but rather lectured a passage of the Lotus Sutra. The next trip would be to visit Shakyamuni Buddha. However, it is not that easy to meet Him. Shakyamuni Buddha is the ruler of our Saha World, and our Master since innumerous kalpas past. He hides Himself from us deliberately. Getting to meet Him, therefore, is particularly difficult for us. What can we do to meet him, and have the Great Arhats and Great Bodhisattvas appear before us? One way is to rejoice in and praise the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, I sat upright and shared with you my commentary on the verse given in the Emergence of the Treasure Tower. The verse was spoken by World Honored One to praise the Lotus Sutra. The creation of such a condition means that all of you have met Him. Lingmei saw the Buddha in His golden body when I was lecturing the Lotus Sutra. She wrote, “The Buddha agreed to meet me.”

Text:
It was really an emotional moment. I experienced a fever of excitement.
Commentary:
It was normal. Who would not be excited to meet the Buddha?
Lingmei was quite good.
Text:
I set my peace at peace and calmed down before I asked Master for a bestowal of power. Soon I’d go to Mount. Lingjiu to Meet Shakyamuni Buddha, and fulfill the wish of so many! With this thought in mind, I found myself already in a different place. It was inexpressibly supreme, peaceful and secluded. Even the ground was golden in color.
Commentary:
It is indeed the case! The Saha World isn’t filled with filth and evil only. The Pure Land where Shakyamuni Buddha dwells is an exception. The road there is covered with Jambunada gold, which is purple golden in color. The palaces, towers, and pavilions stand in the empty space. Well, this is the best I can describe it. Nothing in the secular world can match it in magnificence and glory. We’d feel inexpressibly at peace, at comfort, and at ease.
Text:
I looked up, and saw Shakyamuni Buddha sitting upright on the lion, the mound on the top of His head emitting fine lights.
Commentary:
The mound on the top of the Buddha’s head emits lights. You must have seen it at Buddhist monasteries. It is neither a light bulb or a pearl, but rather the mound growing on the top of the Buddha’s head. It is also referred to as the Crown of the Great Buddha. It certainly is very superb and wonderful when the crow emits lights.
Text:
Amidst the Buddha lights I saw numerous Buddhas and Bodhisattvas transformations, which looked great beyond description. The countenance of World Honored one is just perfect. Word falls short to describe it. I felt Him so amicable, kind, and respectable. I felt like seeing my own master!
Commentary:
Amidst the Buddha lights, she saw numerous Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The light was incredibly bright, and from it appeared numerous transformations. It was very superb and wonderful. Some Dharma masters like to wear a crown with the pictures of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on it. It is like there are numerous transformation Buddhas on their crown. Anyway, they can never match the real Buddha crown. Amidst the Buddha light, they all appear. It is just great beyond description. The countenance of the Buddha is perfect. He has thirty-two marks and eighty minor characteristics.
“I felt Him so amicable, kind, and respectable. I felt like seeing my own master!”
Of course you’d feel so. He has all along been our master!
Text:
At that moment, I saw many familiar faces: Guanyin Bodhisattva, Manjushri Bodhisattva, Maitreya Bodhisattva, and numerous other Great Bodhisattvas. I felt them so familiar. I also saw Heavenly King Shakra, King of the Heaven of the Great Comfort, King of the Heaven of Brahman, and the Brahman King. There is no way to calculate how many. Also present were the Great Arhats who followed the Buddha wherever he goes, whom I also felt very familiar with. I did not know their names, but soon heard a voice speaking to me, “Great Disciples, Maha Kasyapa Sariputra, Maudgalyayana, Purna, Ananda...” I am not going to list all of them.
Commentary:
The Buddha knew she could not tell their names, so He introduced them to her: “Great Disciples, Maha Kasyapa Sariputra, Maudgalyayana, Purna, Ananda, …” He made it very clear to her. These are the disciples who have been following Him since he attained the Way. Since there were so many of them, Lingmei did not list them all. Otherwise, it will take a long time for us to introduce them. Let us focus instead on the instructions to us by the Buddha.
Text:
I felt it so familiar, as if I were a member among them.
Commentary:
Why did she feel so? It is just the right feeling. Take Lingshan for example. She visited Shaoxing city the other day. She felt the people there familiar. It was so because she had met them since innumerable long kalpas before. For the same reason, Lingmei felt it familiar before them.
Text:
It felt like returning home, and I was filled with both joy and bitter memory. I could not bear to see it anymore!
Commentary:
The feeling is like she went on a business trip, but along the way there was a typhoon, a tropical storm, and an earthquake! How could she not feel overwhelmed with emotions going back home to reunite with her family after such a tough journey? She felt like there was a lot to share with them and yet did not know how to start the conversation. Anyway, she did not go there to chat with them over her life. She was very happy and filled with joy to see them all, but also was struck by a sense of bitterness. It is like she returned home safely after having narrowly escaped death.
Text:
Suddenly, I thought of why I went there. I knelt down and bowed to the Buddha, and said, “Venerable Buddha, my best homage to you! It is been so long since I saw you last! My tears could be felt across the Great Thousand Worlds! Before I could finish, I was choked with sobs…
Commentary:
She did not pay the visit to reminisce with them. She thought of why she went there, and knelt down before the Buddha! Certainly she should kneel down before Him! Her greeting to the Buddha is very good, “Venerable Buddha, my best homage to you! It is been so long since I saw you last! My tears could be felt across the Great Thousand Worlds!”
It surely has been a long time since she last saw the Buddha, at least 2,650 years since His extinction. She was so tearful that she was choked with tears before she could finish. Lingmei, how did you come up with all the words? Well-said!
The Buddha knows well why. He knows that the child returns having gone through storms, a typhoon with a magnitude of 15, an earthquake. He also knows that the child need to learn to find her own feet, and the only way to do so is to make her an adult that Him, which is to become a Buddha in this case. As the Fifth Patriarch said, “The fragrance of plum blossom comes from bitter coldness.”
Text:
The Buddha looked me smiling. I suddenly felt all the hardships were worth it! Amidst the Buddha lights, I was back to my true-self.
Commentary:
Take time to delve into the message! Once we get to meet the Buddha, who looks at us smiling, and shines forth Buddha lights upon us, we’d immediately recall all that we have been through since innumerous kalpas past. We’d feel all the hardships endured during the business trip are worth it. After all, we were fulfilling the vows we made. Once the Buddha lights are upon ourselves, we’d find our true-self.
Shakyamuni Buddha proclaimed the Lotus Sutra 2,650 years ago when he was about to enter Nirvana. He bestowed predictions onto the Arahts, including Ananda, as his extinction was nearing. Ananda asked the Buddha how come his level remained so low since he was not only a cousin to the Buddha but also was so much loved by Him. He also told Shakyamuni Buddha that he’d be very happy to receive the predictions from Him, which the Buddha did. Amidst the Buddha lights, Ananda remembered it all. Both the Buddha and Ananda himself had once made the vows before the Spatial King Buddha. Ananda had vowed to remember clearly all the Dharma the Buddha would speak. As it turned out, his memory was extremely accurate. Perhaps more accurate than a recorder.
He also vowed to serve as an attendant to Maitreya Boddhisattva and may other Buddhas. This is how he manifests. He’ll enter Buddhahood after his vows are fulfilled. He’d be King Mountain Ocean Wisdom Sovereign Knowledge Buddha. As his vows are of such great magnitude, he’d have a very long Buddha lifespan.
Amidst the Buddha lights, Ananda recalled it all. He knew he should do it best to serve the Buddha. It’s all worth it! The same holds true for Lingmei. As is written here, “The Buddha looked me smiling. I suddenly felt all the hardships were worthy it! Amidst the Buddha lights, I was back to my true-self.”
Do not grumble about the hardships before us. We are fulfilling our vows.

Text:
Upon that, I asked the Buddha for instructions: “At Master’s behest, I have come to pay homage to you, and get your teachings.” Heaven and earth shook when the Buddha spoke!
Commentary:
The Buddha’s voice is extremely resonant, and produces very loud echoes. It conveys so much kindness that we’d feel at peace and comfort to hear it. Lingmei did not get such a voice when she visited the Bodhisattvas.
Text:
The echoes of His voice reached my ears: “All Samskrta Dharma is as illusory as a dream. The heaven and earth evolve to the law of Nature. With the knowledge in mind, and you’d feel unfettered and at liberty. Like in the spring breeze and rain, you’d feel enlightened. A Blockhead as you may seem in cultivation, the sincerity demonstrated can withstand any hammering. Many may sneer at you. They just don’t know how rewarding it is. The Dharma power derives from single-mindfulness. Making vows helps you achieve it. Always bear this in mind, that in every single moment, it is up to you yourself!”
Commentary:
Let’s read the verse. We often come across the first two lines.
“All Samskrta Dharma is as illusory as a dream.”
The Samskrta Dharma refers to all that we are doing now, such as making money, raising our kids, getting married, working, and everything. It is all as illusory as a dream and will turn to ashes in less than a second.
Our lifespan is 100 years. Most people cannot live fully through it. Take I myself for example. I feel myself only 18-year-old, while in fact I have lived through two 18 years and nearly three. Time flies by before we know it. It turns into ashes in less than a second, disappearing as fast as the water bubbles on the ground when it is raining heavily. Why get attached to it all? Our priority is to get back to our true-self.
“The heaven and earth evolve to the law of Nature. With the knowledge in mind, and you’d feel unfettered and at liberty.”
When seen from the short-term perspective, neither the heaven nor the earth has changed. When we look up, the heaven faces us downward. When we look down, the earth faces us upward. It is just how natural it is. It remains unchanged. The same holds true for our true mind of brightness and permanence. It has always remained unchanged and at great liberty.
“Like in the spring breeze and rain, you’d feel enlightened.”
No matter how time goes by, with one season following another in rotation, the “self” of us, not the physical self, but the self in terms of the true mind of brightness and permanence, or our Buddha nature, has remained unchanged. It is always at liberty and non-retreating. It is not produced. Not destroyed, not defiled, not pure, and it neither increases nor diminishes.
“A Blockhead as you may seem in cultivation, the sincerity demonstrated can withstand any hammering.”
The Buddha fondly describes us as a blockhead, like how some parents would name their youngest child. Many people do not know that we can cultivate the Buddha Dharma in this way, as if we were dull. Recite the sutra as if we were dull. Sit in meditation as if we were dull. Leave all the material splendor in the world behind as if we were dull. In fact, the sincerity we demonstrate through cultivating in this way is so firm that it can withstand any hammering.
In fact, that was how I thought of people who practiced the Dharma before I became a cultivator myself. “Why bother to recite the sutra everyday? Isn’t enough just to know what the text means?”
The Buddha conveys a message of profound meaning to us by describing us as a blockhead as the sincerity shown can withstand any hammering. Comrade Deng Xiaoping once put it, “Development is the hard principle”, meaning development is the absolute principle, is of overriding importance. The Buddha Dharma is about absolute principle, though others may view we cultivators as being dull.
“Many may sneer at you. They just don’t know how rewarding it is.”
When they see us recite the sutras or practice meditation as if we were dull, and sometimes we even leave aside our business and life, many people sneer at us. So what? As the Buddha said, they don’t know how rewarding it is!
“The Dharma power derives from single-mindfulness. Making vows helps you achieve it.”
Staying single-mindful is very important as we practice cultivation. We’d de endowed with Dharma power so strong that it is all-conquering as long as we hold on to single-mindfulness. Everything is within our reach.
How can we achieve single-mindfulness? Keep making vows. Do it everyday. The magnitude of the vows can help us achieve it. Making a vow is very important. Whether we practice the Dharma to cure a disease or to cultivate, we should always be mindful of the vows we make and make them everyday.
“Always bear this in mind, that in every single moment, it is up to you yourself!”
Always bear this in mind! It is up to ourselves whether we succeed or fail, progress or fall back. No body can replace us in cultivation. Once I was asked whether it helped if we recited the sutra for a patient. Well, will you recover if I take the medicine for you when you are sick? If the bestowal of power by Master can help you certify to fruition, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas would have long ago taken us across.
The bestowal of power is like the small wooden stick that a sapling is tied to so that it can better withstand the attack of heavy wind and rain. It is not nutritious. The sapling has to grow on its own to become a big tree.
It is wrong if you think that you don’t have to practice cultivation with the bestowal of power by Master. It is a misconception. As I often stress to you, Master bestows the same power on all of you. How much you accept it depends on you yourself. He who boasts that the bestowal of power by Master is everything must be externalist. Shakyamuni Buddha never speaks of the bestowal of power. How can a Master give you more power than can the Buddha?
Text:
I asked another question, “What should be our top priority at the moment?”
The Buddha said, “Human’s mind is hard to dwell. Though imperceptible, it is all predestined. You’d experience fun and pleasure for sure. But, don’t forget to reflect within. You should embrace whoever is defiled. If your mind is big enough to house the heaven and earth, it can take you through everything smoothly. A-ha-tuo-ye! The Buddha nature has never left you since time beginless. The pear is not far away. Reach for it, and it is yours. One has always been One. You have to practice cultivation to know it. While it is important to know about your past, it is nonetheless illusory even you know it. Cultivating in the secular world is the most fruitful. The sages and saints are the most firmly in fulfilling their vows so much so that nothing can upset them. Everything they do, it is a success. Hold on to it! Keep it going! I am always aware of it…”
Commentary:
Some lines of the verse are easier to understand while others are tough.
“Human’s mind is hard to dwell.”
Our mind has never stayed calm, not even for a single moment. Idle thoughts keep rising. There may be hundreds of thoughts running through our mind in less than a second. The other day, a disciple called me and said, “Master, I’d pay a visit to you tomorrow.” He changed his mind the second day, however, because it was raining. He had made a very good vow, but still failed to fulfill it. This is an example of “Human’s mind is hard to dwell.”
To dwell means to set our mind at peace and to free it from idle thoughts. You may have understood the message at the moment, but in less than a second, you feel disturbed soon, and will be complaining to me, “Master, why do I feel disturbed again?”
See, this is how hard it is for our mind to dwell. It is so because our concentration is not firm enough.
Lingmei asked the Buddha what our top priority at the moment should be. She raised the questions to almost all the Bodhisattvas she had visited. The Buddha told us that human mind is hard to dwell. He warned us against being impatient and hasty.
“Though imperceptible, it is all predestined.”
People who cultivate the Dharma have been planting deep good roots since innumerable kalpas past. One would not take any time to practice the Dharma without deep good roots. The Buddha knew that Lingmei had asked the question so as to better cross people over. Therefore, He told her that it had all been predestined. When the Buddha was alive in the world, He was followed by so many Great Arhats. In fact, the affinity between them had been created a long time ago, before when human being’s lifespan was 20,000 years. They had made the vow to become Arhats before Shakyamuni Buddha. The message of the two lines is that our human mind does not dwell as our vows tend to change all the time, and be riddled by idle thoughts.
“You’d experience fun and pleasure for sure. But, don’t forget to reflect within.”
We’d experience a lot of fun and meet the states as we cultivate the Dharma. It is all natural and predestined. There is nothing to hide about it. Wouldn’t it be better if we do not focus our mind on it?
Don’t forget to reflect within. As is said often, we need to ferry ourselves over first before we can possibly rescue others. In fact, we do both the same time. Instead of applying a conditioned mind, we’d better set our mind at peace and reflect within.
“You should embrace whoever is defiled.”
Whoever is defiled includes externalists, the humans, ghosts, the Asuras, the hell beings, and spirits and goblins. We should embrace them all. Each and every one of my 3,000 disciples should accept them. Do not repel them nor get jealous. Open our mind and make it as big as the ocean.
“If your mind is big enough to house the heaven and earth, it can take you through everything smoothly.”
Broaden our mind so that it houses even the heaven and earth, everything we do, be it lecturing the sutra, propagating the Dharma, or cultivation, will be very smooth and done successfully.
A-ha-tuo-ye!
A-ha-tuo-ye is an exclamation of emotions. If we have to translate it, it means “there is nothing to say about it.”
“The Buddha nature has never left you since time beginless.”
The Buddha nature is inherent in us and yet we just fail to find it. Never have we found, since innumerable kalpas past, that the Buddha nature has always been with us. Argument over whether it is our heart or brain that controls us has been going on for a long time. There has never been an agreement. People are just deluded. In fact, by the time we find the Buddha nature, we’d realize that nothing is necessary. It has never changed but always been with us. We feel disturbed by afflictions because we are deluded. We mistake the false self characterized by delusion as our true self. We have mistaken the thief as the host.
“The pear is not far away. Reach for it, and it is yours.”
The Buddha drew an analogy. Suppose you want to eat a pear, which it not far away but right before you. You reach for it, and it is yours. If you don’t, you never get it. The Buddha nature, or our true mind of brightness and permanence, which is inherent in us, can be compared to the pear. It stays with us everyday. We need to reach for it as we do to the pear.
“One has always been One. You have to practice cultivation to know it.”
The Buddha nature has never changed nor left us. When I was lecturing the Heart Sutra, I told you that it is One not Two. All the Dharma comes from the same origin. It is not produced or destroyed, not defiled, not pure. It neither increases or decreases.
“You have to practice cultivation to know it.” While we seem to have been changing all the time since innumerable kalpas past, life after life, the Buddha nature has remained unchanged. The changes are illusory, as the Buddha nature, our true mind of brightness and permanence, never changes. One is One. It never becomes two. One is like the finger that directs you to see the bright moon, analogous to the Buddha nature.
“While it is important to know about your past, it is nonetheless illusory even you know it.”
Often people ask me, “Master, what was I in my previous life?” What is the point of knowing it? It is illusory, and remains so even you know it. Apply an unconditioned mind to cultivation. Some of you are well-read, but only get deluded as a result. You do not know which way to go as a result. Isn’t it better just to take a down-to-earth approach to recite the sutra and sit in meditation? Enjoy the views along the way as they are unfolded, but do no bother to ask why. There is no need to know about our past or future. It is all illusory. These idle thoughts are created by our six senses.
“Cultivating in the secular world is the most fruitful. The sages and saints are the most firmly in fulfilling their vows so much so that nothing can upset them. Everything they do, it is a success.”
Cultivating in the secular world is the most difficult and rewarding. The sages and saints, including the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, are extremely firmly in fulfilling their vows. So firmly is it that nothing can prevent them. The key is to hold on tightly to our vows. As long as we do it firmly enough, everything is within our reach.
We cultivate to cast away the attachment. We should be firm in our faith and fully devoted to fulfilling the vows made. As long as we fulfill our vows wholeheartedly, everything is within our reach.
“Hold on to it! Keep it going! I am always aware of it…”
The Buddha asked us to hold on to our vows to fulfill our missions. This is a process. Some masters tend to ask their disciples to enter Samadhi while ignoring the process. In fact, it takes a process for everything to evolve within the Three Realms. It takes a process for us to be born, grow up, get old … It takes a process before we can rid ourselves of afflictions and set our mind at peace through cultivation. Even for Shakyamuni Buddha, it took him 15 years before he made it. Why should we be anxious? Compared to Him, our good roots are much less deep. The Buddha asked us to hold on to it and to keep it going. We should do our best to fulfill our vows. The Buddha is clearly aware of it.
Text:
I bowed to the Buddha several times. He had known what I wanted, and said, “Why don’t you meet the Medicine King Bodhisattva and the Supreme Medicine Bodhisattva first?”
Having got the instruction, I bowed to Him again. Before I knew it, I was before the Medicine King Bodhisattva and the Supreme Medicine Bodhisattva. They looked mighty and awe-inspiring. I knelt down before them, and said, “I have come upon the behest of Master. Bodhisattvas, could you please grant us your instructions?”
Commentary:
The Medicine King Bodhisattva and the Supreme Medicine Bodhisattva have been propagating the Dharma for us life after life. They often transform themselves into a very insignificant figure to propagate the Lotus Sutra so that it abides in the world. They have numerous transformations across the Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds. As they always side with Shakyamuni Buddha, Lingmei was able to meet them during the visit.
It was such a large assembly. Were it not for the help of the Buddha, Lingmei would not possibly have found the two Bodhisattvas. The Buddha sent her directly to before them.
“Before I knew it, I was before the Medicine King Bodhisattva and the Supreme Medicine Bodhisattva. They looked mighty and awe-inspiring.”
Surely their looked mighty and awe-inspiring.
“I knelt down before them, and said, “I have come upon the behest of Master. Bodhisattvas, could you please grant us your instructions?”
She had a tight schedule. She set aside all formality (laughter), and put her questions to them directly.
Let’s look into the verse spoken by the Medicine King Bodhisattva.
Text:
“You come and go, without grumbling about it. Cultivate in a step-by-step manner. It is by the power of the mind that you shall reap the fruit. It is all up to you yourself. Do not inquire about the result. Take it as empty whatever it is that you are doing. It shall get reflected in your mind.”
Commentary:
“You come and go”: Since innumerable kalpas past, when we first made the vows before the Buddha, we have been shuttling between the worlds in the ten directions to both cultivate the Dharma and propagate it. Sometimes we may be born in the Asuras, or in the Hell, in the Path of the Hungry Ghosts, or in the Heavens, or even in the Path of the Animals. As we had made the vows before, we’d always cultivate wherever we are. I once was a dog and a dog king, but nonetheless kept propagating the Dharma.
We come and go, but never grumble. Why should we grumble? We are fulfilling our vows. We do so to enter the Buddhahood! What we are doing is the practice of the Bodhisattva Way, by ferrying ourselves over and rescuing others. On the one hand, we cultivate to improve ourselves, while on the other hand, we transform others by
“Cultivate in a step-by-step manner. It is by the power of the mind that you shall reap the fruit.”
Having gone through so much step by step, we should nevertheless keep reflecting within. Whichever Path we are in and whatever life it is, it is by the power of the mind that we gain merits and virtues, or Dharma strength.
“It is all up to you yourself. Do not inquire about the result.”
Always reflect within. Focus on the cultivation of the mind. Do not be attached to what we are going to achieve or how we are doing. Some disciples ask me, “Master, what state have I achieved in cultivation?”
Why bother to know it? What is a state, anyway?
“Do not inquire about the result.” Don’t ask how much we have accomplished or how far are we from the destination. We are fulfilling our vows, planting good roots, and accumulating merits and virtues. We are working towards Buddhahood. By the time we become a Buddha, those whom we have rescued shall also come to live in our Buddhaland as Arhats or Bodhisattvas. What are we doing now? We are looking for our disciples. Don’t ask what the result will be. We’d make it by the time we find our true-self.
“Take it as empty whatever it is that you are doing. It shall get reflected in your mind.”
Take it as empty whatever we do, including cultivation. Do it without being attached to the marks. Never get upset if you fail to make it, or make a desperate effort to achieve something. When we take them as empty, they shall be reflected in our mind. Taking it as empty does not mean we don’t apply any efforts to it.
It means we live a life no different from ordinary people. For example, we try our best to love our better half, but not necessarily love him/her so dearly that nothing is more important.
It is the same in work. Do our best to whatever mission is before us, but inside our mind we’d better get disturbed by it if it fails or overjoyed it is succeeds.
Take it as empty is not in terms of action by in terms of our mind.
Below is the teaching by the Supreme Medicine Bodhisattva.
Text:
The Supreme Medicine Bodhisattva said, “Everything, however esoteric, develops by the power of the mind. It has been long since it all began.” The power of mind is so wonderful that that it cannot be taught. When you are free from the obsession for money and power, you’ll see the truth! A-ha-zhi-lian, you’d see the sagely countenance of great liberty.
Commentary:
Though the wording is different, the message conveyed is quite the same.
The Supreme Medicine Bodhisattva said, “Everything, however esoteric, develops by the power of the mind. It has been long since it all began.”
It seems very long since we first have been turned on the wheel of birth and death, making offerings, and cultivating. In fact, we have been doing it since innumerable kalpas past. Isn’t it wonderful? It happens because of the power of our mind. We are fulfilling our vows.
“The power of mind is so wonderful that that it cannot be taught.”
It is all made by the power of our mind.
Some of you got to know Master after you were sick, others because of a failed marriage, and still others came to me in search for the truth. We come together for different reasons.
The problems you face are all created by your mind.
Some of you are short-tempered and impetuous. However, your temper gets mild after you get sick.
Others are irritable, but are forced to solve a thorny issue. The more irritable you are, the more difficult it is for you.
After you get to know Master, however, it has all changed. Your temper gets mild, and mind at peace. You’ve seen it through. Isn’t it wonderful? What makes it happen? Our mind!
Apply efforts to address it when a challenge is before us. Do not ask why. If your mind does not dwell on it, the state will be turned by the mind. Therefore, the Supreme Medicine Bodhisattva reminds us that “the power of mind is so wonderful that that it cannot be taught.”
Everything we experience, the hardships, diseases, or blessings, is made by the power of our mind. Just set your mind at peace, do your best to face it. Do not think “what if I should fail”. If there is a “what if” in your mind, the “what if” may be realized.
A disciple came to me yesterday, panicking,“Master, I am so dead. It is big!”
“What is it” I asked. “Only life and death can be regarded as big.”
“I may get fired soon.”
“You call this big? Why worry about it? You are so young.”
He explained to me, “No, I am not worried about it. I am worried that my parents may be worried about me. I want them to be happy.”
I told him, “Even Shakyamuni Buddha could not make His parents happy everyday. Can you make it?”
This somewhat helped. He said, “OK, I’d just leave it aside. Stay in accord with conditions.”
No challenge can beat us. If you are fired, then find a new one. If your parents are worried about you, then comfort them to make them less worried.
He came to me again earlier today. “Master, my boss didn’t fire me. Why was I so worried about it yesterday?”
The state will be turned by us if we set our mind at peace. This is just how powerful the mind can be.
For those diagnosed with cancer, it is better that they focus on the sutra recitation, instead of worrying about this and that and thinking that they are going to die. Well, if they think in that way, they may really die very soon. The Buddha Dharma can cure diseases. Just recite it with faith, without asking why. Soon the state will be turned by your mind.
Your mind is still riddled by three poisons, six desires, and seven emotions. As a result, you fail to realize how powerful your mind can be. When you rid yourself of them, you’d find that a single thought alone can change it all. You want the bridge before you to break from the middle, and it does break. Hold an egg in your hand. You want it to transform into a cell phone, and it does transform. It happens when our mind and body are extremely pure.
Sometimes, people come to me asking for help when the ghosts or goblins get attached to their body. They make it torturing for the people. I would talk to them, and ask them to leave. If they still refuse to leave, I’d tell them in my mind, “You’d better accept it now that I manifest before you with kindness and compassion. You don’t want me to appear before you as a Vajra, do you?”
Once I appear before them as a Vajra, it is devastating for them. I use my mind power to make that happen. It is just powerful our mind can be when it is extremely pure.
“When you are free from the obsession for money and power, you’ll see the truth!”
The money and power are analogous to the secular world. When we are free from the obsession for them, namely when we rid ourselves of greed, which comes first in the three poisons, the hatred and ignorance shall also be dissolved. When these three poisons are gone, we’d be able to see the truth. We’d understand it thoroughly. As I said just now, everything is created by our mind.

In the old times, there was a Dharma Master by the name of Maha in Xinchang County. Originally, he was not named Maha. He was a monk at a very small local monastery, where there was only one master and one disciple. He was this very disciple. So dull was he that he could not even remember how to recite “Amitabha-Buddha”. Nevertheless, he was quite diligent and vigorous, always asking his master to teach him how to recite it. The master, knowing he could not acquire it anyway, came up with a new way to teach him. “Why don’t you recite Namo-Maha”? Though the disciple had difficulties reciting Namo Amitabha-Buudha, he learnt to speak Namo-Maha very quickly. In Xinchang dialect, Maha also means blockhead. The disciple so kept reciting Namo-Maha everyday, without stopping it when he was asleep. He had reached single-mindfulness.
Three years later, the master set off to travel around on his own. Before his departure, he made clear to his blockhead disciple where the rice was and how he should cook. He made it all clear to him. He had planned to be away for three months, but returned only a year later. He cared very much for his disciple, though. Soon after he returned, he had a check and found the rice had gone rotten. He called his disciple loudly, “Maha! Maha (in Xinchang dialect, “blockhead”)! There was no response. He thought his disciple must have died from hunger or killed by a wild beast. He searched for him around, and found him at the hill behind the monastery. Believe it or not, the disciple was still reciting Namo-Maha.
“What are you doing, Maha? The riche has gone rotten. What did you eat over the past 12 months?”
“I eat mantou (a Chinese bread made of flour) when I am hungry.”
“Who gave the mantou to you?”
“There are mantous everywhere around the hill. “ He picked up a stone randomly, “This is a sweet mantou.” He put the stone into the mouth and chewed it. He picked up another one, “This mantou has riddish slice in it.”
The master was astounded and thought his disciple must have gone crazy so much so that he took the stone as mantou. In fact, the disciple had already attained the Way. His mind could produce transformations of everything he wanted. The master was so angry to see his disciple like this that he gave him a hard beating.
Having received the beating, the blockhead disciple became skeptical of himself. Immediately, the mantous around the hill became stones. I’d show you the stones when you get the chance to visit Xinchang. The story happened in a place called Water Curtain Cave. The Maha Master eventually entered Nirvana at the Water Curtain Cave. His body turned into a piece of rock. The rock, which is as real as life, can still be found there.
His story shows to us that if we can remove greed, hatred, and ignorance from our mind, we’d get to know the truth. By then, our mind alone can produce transformations that we want.
“A-ha-zhi-lian, you’d see the sagely countenance of great liberty.”
A-ha-zhi-lian is a sigh of exclamation. If we can connect all the merits and virtues accrued through cultivation since innumerable kalpas past, we’d be able to see the sagely countenance of great liberty by the time we reap the fruition.
The sagely countenance of great liberty refers to the Buddha nature inherent in us. It has been at great liberty, unfettered, and unobstructed. It is unmarked and formless. It does nothing but can do everything. It is a state. We don’t need to talk on it too much.
The verses spoken by the Medicine King Bodhisattva and the Supreme Medicine Bodhisattva convey pretty much the same message to us, which is consistent to the instructions to us by Guanyin Bodhisattva, Manjushri Bodhisattva, Universal Worthy Bodhisattva, and Maitreya Bodhisattva, except the wording is different.
Some people challenge it by arguing that Lingmei made it up. Well, how great a novelist Lingmei would be if she could cook up such language of wisdom! (Laughter)
The same message, but spoken in so many different wonderful ways which are nonetheless inconceivably superb.
Anyway who have some basic understanding about the Buddha Dharma will not doubt it, but rather will place faith in it without the least trace of doubt.
Text:
I asked, “What would you advise us practitioners so that we get more peace, health, and less hardships?
Commentary:
I had told Lingmei to put the question before she set off. The Medicine King Bodhisattva and the Supreme Medicine Bodhisattva can help us in this regard! This is where the strength of their spiritual power is. We’d attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi if we hear the name of the Medicine King Bodhisattva and the Supreme Medicine Bodhisattva. We’d enjoy more health and less hardships. They bring to us practitioners more blessings and virtues. Lingmei asked the question on behalf of my 3,000 formal disciples, and 30,000 informal ones.
What is a practitioner in this context? We have been shuttling around the worlds in the ten directions both cultivating and propagating the Dharma, which is what makes us a practitioner. We serve as the messenger for the Buddha. We may have to face a lot of hardships. We, of course, want to have less of them. In fact, we don’t even have to meet the two Bodhisattvas. As long as we hear the name of the Medicine King Bodhisattva and the Supreme Medicine Bodhisattva, there will be less hardships before us. Isn’t it great? Though they are named Bodhisattva, they have become a Buddha a long time ago. They have been the Dharma protector as a Bodhisattva across the worlds in the ten directions since innumerable kalpas past so that the Lotus Sutra abides in the world. They come to the human world as Dharma masters.
Below is the instruction from the Bodhisattva to her question.
Text:
The Bodhisattvas said, “Whatever it is that you are doing, do it with a smile. Medicine won’t help. There is nothing good or bad but your thinking makes it so. There are examples around. The best is not taught, but found in your mind. Take it as a dream and empty, and you’d be strong. Amitabha-Buddha! Cut off your cognition and sensitivity, and you’d experience miracles. With your body and mind harmonized into one, no one can bully you. The worldly affairs are variable. Free your mind from obsessions to them. The task falls on you. Just do it. By the time you resume your original countenance, your true-self shall manifest. You should set your mind in tune with Master’s, and everything is within your reach. What you have experienced life after life will be clearly in view before you. The time will extend endlessly. Take care of the thoughts in your mind. Everything shall appear before you.”
Commentary:
“Whatever it is that you are doing, do it with a smile. Medicine won’t help.”
Smile and we’d recover from illness and stay healthy and at peace. Smile is to be happy, to be pure, and free from afflictions. Who can smile when disturbed by afflictions? We want more health, peace, and less hardships, and the key is to free our mind from afflictions, to purify our mind.
The cure-all is found in our mind. No medicine is more effective than our mind. Stay happy, face it with smiles, and we’d be healthy and at peace. We need to cultivate, though, to remove afflictions from our mind and set it at peace.
“There is nothing good or bad but your thinking makes it so. There are examples around.”
If we take around, those with a big heart always succeed whatever they do. We’d be free from trouble if our mind is at peace. Usually it is those who look dull and are never calculating that enjoy a peaceful life. These are good examples for us to learn.
“The best is not taught, but found in your mind.”
Though Master has given you a lot of teachings, you have to reflect within and find the answer in your mind. That is why the Bodhisattva told us that the best is not taught, but found in our mind. If you get to find it, you’d gain endless benefits!
“Take it as a dream and empty, and you’d be strong.”
Stay dreamy means we keep ourselves muddle-headed, as if in a dream. In this case, we’d get physically strong before we know it. This is so because by staying dreamy, we are unfettered, and unobstructed, care-free and worry-free. We neither get joyful nor angry. No wonder we’d be healthy in this case! Afflictions make people sick. They may want a villa, so work day and night. By the time the villa is finished, they get so fatigued that they are dying.
In the final analysis, we have to keep our mind empty though our stomach is full of food. If we can make it, we’d naturally be strong and healthy.
“Amitabha-Buddha! Cut off your cognition and sensitivity, and you’d experience miracles.”
Amitabha-Buddha here is the expression of his exclamation. If we want to experience miracles, we’d first of all cut of our cognition and sensitivity. We are sensitive when we feel angry if being scolded and feel good when eating something tasteful. In this case, greed, hatred, and ignorance arise in our mind. If we cut them off, all the bad things will turn good. Miracles will unfold before us. We’d experience what usually is heard of in fairy tales.
“With your body and mind harmonized into one, no one can bully you.”
When our body and mind are fully integrated into one, we achieve harmony with nature. When we reach such a state, our body is indestructible as the Vajra. No one can bully us. First of all, however, we need to cut off our cognition and sensitivity. Put it down.
“The worldly affairs are variable. Free your mind from obsessions to them.”
The worldly affairs are variable and never last long. A boy may be saying “I’ll love you for ten thousand years” to a girl while he is thinking about another girl. The girl will be heart-broken if she finds him courting another girl. It is all illusory and won’t last long. We only deceive ourselves by taking the empty as real. The same holds true not only for man-to-woman relations, but also for family relations and friendship.
Take I myself for example. When my business was in difficulty, it was my best friends that made it worse for me. They knew me well, and therefore knew how to strike me the hardest. It was in fact those whom I did not know that helped me. I was very serious about loyalty between friends. I could live with romance, but not with friendship. I also got struck the hardest because of the attachment. Not only did my best friends refuse to help me, but they made it more difficult for me. I later was able to see it through. Realizing that it was all illusory and empty, so I put it down.
People shall get tortured the most in what they are attached to the most. If they are attached to family relations the most, they may feel hurt by it the most. Similarly, if they are the most romantic, they may also get to feel how bitter it can be.
Lingmie took family as second to none. She was heavily burdened by it. She told me how she felt after we met. I said to her, “The pressure has been mounting in you for years!”
She burst into tears immediately. As she wrote it herself, “The line of defense in my mind that cautiously had guarded for over twenty years was cut off by master all of a sudden. I could not bear it anymore and burst out crying.”
The crying was helpful. The second day, she sent a message to me, “Master, I know why. I have always lived for others, but never for myself.” She felt much more at comfort after putting it down.
What does “impermanence” mean? Anything with a form and mark is impermanent. It does not last. Where can we find true love? The Buddha’s love for us is true love.
I often say to you jokingly that Master follows you wherever you go, life after life. I cannot get back if you don’t make it. What else other than the Buddha’s love can be so everlasting and firm? I keep coming and going as your master. Eventually we’d all return to where we belong. We’d be harmonized into one, to the Energy Body.
The Buddha told us that we’d received predictions. You may ask what it means to receive the predictions. By praising, making offerings and paying homage to the Buddhas, for example, to 200 trillion Buddhas, we’d become a Buddha ourselves one day. Our Buddha name will be the Great Penetration Buddha, or the Wisdom Victory Buddha, etc. The prediction was made a long time ago. We are simply doing what is our due. That is why the Bodhisattva said, “The task falls on you. Just do it.”
Don’t get impatient. We are doing what we should do, and it is part of the process.
“By the time you resume your original countenance, your true-self shall manifest.”
The day when we get back to the Energy Body is when we become a Buddha. Our true self shall manifest. In fact, the manifestation of a true-self means we have rid ourselves of the “self”. The Energy Body is formless, unmarked, and tasteless. It does nothing but can do everything. Well, this is how we shall be by then.
“You should set your mind in tune with Master’s, and everything is within your reach.”
He was encouraging us by saying so.
I am your master, and you are my disciples. We should stand united as one. Set our minds in tune with each other. Do not discriminate. Refrain from feeling jealous, not only between you disciples, but also between you and master. Don’t get jealous before master seems to be at a more advanced stage in cultivation than you. Remember we are all in one. I have told you from the very beginning that this is a process we all have to go through. We are different in strengths and weaknesses. Just do what we should do. If our minds are in tune with each other, it will get very smooth for us.
Let me share with you what happened when I took refuge with my master. There were three us of in the refuge-taking ceremony. There was a Guanyin Bodhisattva statue in my master’s room, which was very efficacious. My master asked us to try the Eight Diagrams of Ying-Yang before Guanyin Bodhisattva. We had to make a vow before doing it. The other two co-cultivators were afraid nervous and trembling when told to vow.
I was not afraid at all. Once I made the vow, I’d do my best to fulfill it. This is part of my character. My mind was at great peace when I tried the Eight Diagrams of Ying-Yang. The result was summarized in the verse:
“A little pine of three feet has taken a deep root in the soil. It will one day grow to reach the heaven, with its leaves and branches penetrating the sky.”
“What you have experienced life after life will be clearly in view before you. The time will extend endlessly.”
You’d have different experiences in different times, including something inconceivably wonderful.
“Take care of the thoughts in your mind. Everything shall appear before you.”
Take care of our own thoughts instead of others’. Everything will be visible to us.
When Lingmei visited the Earth Store Bodhisattva, He said : “You shall leave behind a body of gold as the manifestation. ”
People do not have firm faith in the Buddha Dharma. They won’t recognize it even when a Buddha or a Bodhisattva is right before them. They only recognize it when something inconceivable happens. For example, someone’s body, having been burnt in the fire for 49 days, turns into a body of gold. When they see it happen, they’d keep paying the utmost homage to it.
By paying the homage, they plant good roots.
If it were the body of Lingshan or Lingmei that turns into a body of gold having been burnt for 49 days, people will tell it to each other how amazing it is and know they must be a Buddha or a Bodhisattva. Unfortunately, when that happens, it means they have entered Nirvana. They won’t talk to them again.
Everything will be visible to us if we take good care of the thoughts in our mind. Any miracle can happen. These days I am often asked by people, “Master, why do you allow your disciples to show off their spiritual penetrations? Aren’t you afraid that some may say you are externalist?”
I said to them,” Do the sun and the moon rise and set as we want? Of course not. Whether you like it or not, they still rise and set to the rule of nature.
Some people asked me, “Master, why do you lecture the Buddha Speaks the Eight-Yang Spiritual Mantra Sutra of Heaven and Earth? Many high sanghas of great virtues say it is forged. My answer to them is the same. The sun does not rise or set in accordance with the preference of us humans.
Text:
I asked, “What can we do to increase our faith?”
Commentary:
Building faith is the toughest. We often speak of “faith, vow, and practice”. Faith comes first of the three. It is the most difficult to have faith, but once we have it, everything else gets easier for us.
Text:
The Bodhisattvas said, “You’d get joyful when miracles unfold before you. You’d see the Buddha when your mind is not attached to the thought of meeting him. The miracles shall unfold before you one after another, and be reflected in your mind. You disciples, male and female, are so anxious to see the Buddha. It is up to your mind whether you can see Him or not. If you put it down in your mind, you’d naturally encounter it. Where shall you return? However earnestly you are looking forward to it, it lies right in your mind. Stay single-mindful, and you’d melt away the circles. You’ll make it by the time your minds are harmonized in one.”
Commentary:
This passage is rather difficult to understand. The short verse spoken by the Bodhisattvas contain lots of Buddhist wisdom.
“You’d get joyful when miracles unfold before you.”
As you follow master in cultivation further, you’d see more and more miracles. When I first held a sutra lecture at Dongyue Temple, something that we’d heard of only in fairy tales happened. Lingmei’s trips are another example. Isn’t it inconceivable that someone can ascend to the heavens and drill down to the Hell, and meet so many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas? In fact, I sent her for the trips so as to help you increase the faith, and realize that the Buddha Dharma is boundless and inconceivable.
“You’d see the Buddha when your mind is not attached to the thought of meeting him.”
Don’t keep thinking over them after you have witnessed the miracles yourself. Do not keep thinking when you are able to meet World Honored One again. The more you think about it, the less likely you’d meet him. You’d see Him naturally when the condition is ripe.
“The miracles shall unfold before you one after another, and be reflected in your mind.”
If you don’t give rise to the thought, the miracles shall unfold before you one after another. You’d see them when the condition is ripe. They’d be reflected in your mind.
“You disciples, male and female, are so anxious to see the Buddha. It is up to your mind whether you can see Him or not.”
Many of you are anxious to experience the miracles, but they just won’t happen if you are too obsessed to them.
It is all up to us whether we can experience the miracles. “If you put it down in your mind, you’d naturally encounter it.”
“Where shall you return?”
Where shall we return? We should return back to our true-self. In fact, our true mind of brightness and permanence, or the Buddha nature inherent in us, is omnipresent. It has never left the space of the universe. It has always remained wonderful, bright and perfect.
Let me explain it further to you. We see with our eyes. When we close our eyes, we still see something, which is darkness. Whatever it is that we see, it is because of our mind discriminates the forms. That our mind discriminates the form is because we have the Buddha nature. With Buddha nature, we are not only able to see, but also hear, feel, and discriminate everything. By the time we return to the Energy Body, everything will be clearly visible to us. Therefore, my suggestion to you is that you only need to take a step-by-step approach to cultivation. Do not get impatient and attached to anything. It will all manifest before you when your body and mind are at peace.
“However earnestly you are looking forward to it, it lies right in your mind.”
Do not keep waiting for it to happen. Eventually it’ll manifest in our mind. You only need to keep cultivating as I have instructed you, and naturally you’d be in the state where you’d feel not seeing it even if you see it, and you see it time and again.
“Stay single-mindful, and you’d melt away the circles.”
You’d understand the lines easily if you had read the Avatamsaka Sutra. In the Sutra, the Dharma realms in the ten directions are compared to a circle. The very center of the circle is our mind. The circle is analogous to discrimination. If we no longer discriminate, which can be achieved if we attain single-mindfulness, the circle is erased.
Anyone of the 84,000 Dharma doors such as sitting in meditation, sutra recitation can help us achieve single-mindfulness.
When the circle is erased, the Dharma realms in the ten directions shall disappear, and we’d return to the state of quietude and extinction, which means we’ve attained Anuttarasamyaksambodhi, and are in the state of the Buddha. Or, to put it even more plainly, we becme the Energy Body. Shakyamuni Buddha is of the Energy Body, Guanyin Bodhisattva is of the Energy Body, Manjushri Bodhisattva is of the Energy Body, and so are you and me. Can you disinguish the Energy Body from one another? Of course not.
“You’ll make it by the time your minds are harmonized in one.”
By the time our minds are in tune with each other, and we have all returned to where we originally belong. All of us shall become part of the Energy Body, you and me, and all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. We shall be omnipresent like the air. We are no longer different from each other. The key is hold on to single-mindfulness if we are to enter the true state of the Buddha.

Text:
I asked, “How can we better protect and practice the Dharma?”
Commentary:
We have come to the world to propagate and protect the Dharma so that it abides permanently in the world. We come to not only ferry over ourselves but rescue others.
Text:
The Bodhisattvas replied, “Clench your fists. Rid of the self and arrogance. There is no self in the first place. Where is the origin anyway? Do not get attentive to whether it is right or wrong. Use your mind! Use your mind! Wisdom is gold.”

Commentary”
“Clench your fists.”
The Bodhisattvas told us that we should stand united. To clench our fists means we should be united firmly. We have to be united to better fulfill the mission of protecting and practicing the Dharma in the world. All of us, including the 3,000 formal disciples and 30,000 informal disciples of mine, should stand united together. Let us work in cohesion, to rid our mind of idle thoughts and selfishness.
“Rid of the self and arrogance.”
We need to remove off our mind arrogance, selfishness, and the idle thoughts. Do not create a unique style as if we are different from each other, otherwise, we’d be like the loose sand and disunity will set in. What should we do so that we don’t get loose?
It is quite easy. Do our best to do what is before us. Do not place the attention over other people. Refrain from feeling jealous if others make bigger progress than you do in cultivation. There is no competition in cultivation. Keep cultivating with a singular focus on the Dharma door that suits you the best. Do not overlook it because it is insignificant. This is also my suggestion to my 3,000 disciples. You have all come to the world to fulfill your vows.
“There is no self in the first place. Where is the origin anyway?”
Originally there is no “self”. Who are we? Where are we? Do the fame and wealth belong to us? Nothing is ours. If there is no “self”, there is no original shape to speak of. Can you find it and show it to me if you have it? If we are able to remove selfishness off our mind, the no-self shall manifest.
“Do not get attentive to whether it is right or wrong.”
Do not try to distinguish the right from the wrong. Why bother to do it?
As the Bodhisattvas stressed, the key is to “Use your mind! Use your mind !”
Contemplate it with our mind! Try to observe how things in the world change and evolve with our mind, fathom it with our mind, naturally the wisdom will grow. This is the real treasure.
As the Bodhisattvas said, “Wisdom is gold.”
It is different from the cleverness that some people have. Cleverness is associated with selfishness. Every Bodhisattva reminds us to contemplate with our mind.
Text:
I wanted to ask further about it, but the two Bodhisattvas, placing the palms together, said, “Put it down! Put it down! It is all but unmarked. ” I was quite confused for a while, but soon decided not to ask more. I bowed and gave my thanks to them.
Commentary:
Lingmei wanted to put another one but the Bodhisattvas said, “Put it down! Put it down! It is all but unmarked.”
As was said earlier, “Don’t look at it, whether it is right or wrong. Contemplate with your mind!” There was no need to ask further about it. Forget about it. Dispel the thoughts, and we’d get liberated. The Bodhisattvas told Lingmei not to ask anymore. Lingmei also realized it immediately when se was in that state. She bowed and gave her thanks to the two Bodhisattvas.
Text:
I went back to the Buddha, knelt down before him, “Do you have more instructions to me?”
Commentary:
Lingmei was in good spirit, having so many questions to ask. She was back to the Buddha again to see whether there were more instructions from Him before her departure.
Text:
The Buddha said, “Do not bother to argue about it since you are following your master in practicing the Buddha Dharma. No matter how myriad the transformations are, they are but created by the mind. Your master shall know all that I have said. Stay vigilant! Stay vigilant!”
I did not get it.
Commentary:
“Do not bother to argue about it since you are following your master in practicing the Buddha Dharma.”
The Dharma is always centered on the mind. I told you the other day how to distinguish the proper way from the deviant. In the true Dharma, emphasis is given to the mind. We work on cultivation of the mind in practicing the proper Dharma, purify our mind and set it at peace. We cultivate to rid our mind of the seven emotions, six desires, and three poisons.
These days there has been a heated debate over how to distinguish the Proper Dharma from the deviant or false one. Why bother to distinguish it? As long as it helps to cultivate our mind, remove greed, hatred, and ignorance off our mind, it is the Proper one. If it only makes us more greedy, it is the deviant. For example, if someone promises to you that he’d guarantee that you’d attain the fruition if you pay him 100,000 yuan, his must be deviant. Don’t get deceived.
Therefore, Shakyamuni Buddha warns us against arguing or making any comment on it. We disciples practicing the Proper Dharma should refrain from such a debate.
“No matter how myriad the transformations are, they are but created by the mind.”
Cultivation of the mind is the very focus of the Proper Dharma. It has never changed. “Your master shall know all that I have said.”
“Stay vigilant!” He warned us to be careful.
Since Lingmei did not get His point, the Buddha explained further.
Text:

Again I heard, “Once you think it through, you’d realize there is nothing you need to do. Everything is like the shadow of the cloud. Let’s meet again in the future at the sutra-lecturing assembly. Return to your true-self! Return to your true-self! Do not get anxious about it! Your own body is a great Dharma vehicle. Do not seek for it externally.

Return to the state of single-mindfulness and refrain from being greedy. Practice vowing with a mind of hatred, and you’d gain power when it reaches single-mindfulness. You may show passion for the Buddha Dharma to the extent of obsession. But you have to cut off the idle thoughts first before you can see the Bodhi. Wake up! Wake up! I have been teaching you this so earnestly for long.”

Commentary:

Shakyamuni Buddha showed such great compassion and kindness to us! “Once you think it through, you’d realize there is nothing you need to do.” When we are enlightened, and are in the state of the Buddha, we’d find there is nothing we need to do. Our mind is at an unconditioned state. Everything is illusory. Whatever we have done is like the shadow of the cloud, which does not last.
I feel keenly about it thanks to what I experienced before I came to practice the Dharma. I had worked as an intern technician in a local factory before I graduated from school. In less than six months working as an intern, I had acquired all the techniques and skills and was good enough to be a master. It so happened that township enterprises were mushrooming around. A newly set up company asked me to help them, and agreed to pay me 1,000 yuan a month. At that time, the average monthly salary was only a little over 100 yuan. 1,000 yuan was huge. I also got as bonus two cartons of Liangyou Cigarettes every month. Though students were prohibited from working on a contract basis at the time, I was so enticed by the offer that I accepted to do it. I did so at the risk of not being granting the diploma. Anyway, I still did it, and bribed my supervisor in the factory with the cigarettes. He helped to do the registration of attendance for me while I was working for another factory.
Later the condition was gone. Punitive regulation was promulgated against such a practice. I was back to the factory. However, I disliked my job as it was so physically tiring. It so happened that I was reading Romance of the Kingdoms and Tactics of the Warring States. I applied the tactics of removing the burning brands from under the boiling caulron mentioned in the novel and successfully became a quality inspector. I did not have to do manual labour but rather was an office clerk. Before long, I was tired of it. As a quality inspector, I was always bullied by the directors of the production line. I fought with them all day with the tactics I learnt from the novel. Though initially I had wanted to replace the director of the production line, I ended up being promoted to be head of the Youth League of the factory.
The standard setup of the management team at the time consisted of the communist party office, the political study office, and labour union, and the youth league. I was at the time, therefore, quite a senior leader. Nevertheless, I again found it boring. I came up with the idea of setting up my own business. After I resigned, I started my business, from scratch.
It was quite a success. In less than three years, it was famous locally. I grew arrogance because of the success, and made an investment without thoughtful planning. Soon I lost almost all I had to it. The failure pushed me to think it over. It was just like what the Buddha said to us, “Once you think it through, you’d realize there is nothing you need to do. “Everything is like the shadow of the cloud.”
This is what our life is about. When still a student, we want to be outstanding academically. After graduate, we want to be rich and powerful. A girl may also want to marry a good man and have a happy family. Nonetheless, everything shall end like the shadow of the cloud in the sky. It does not last.
The Buddha, by saying “once you think it through” to us, wants us to put it all down, which, however, does not mean to be passive but that we need to take it as empty. Just do not be deluded, or disturbed by the state.

“Let’s meet again in the future at the sutra-lecturing assembly.”

Eventually we’d all turn back to Him to hear His sutra lecture. Let’s talk by then. It may not be long. Perhaps for a particular we’d meet again soon.

“Return to your true-self! Return to your true-self! Do not be in a hurry!”

We need to get back to our true-self, to the true mind of brightness and permanence. Nevertheless, “do not get anxious about it!.”

“Your own body is a great Dharma vehicle.”

Our body is the Dharma vehicle to cultivate. We cultivate our mind with the three poisons of greed, hatred, and ignorance, with the seven emotions and six desires, with our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and consciousness.

“Do not seek for it externally.” We’d find nothing externally.

Some of you have a misconception about the “bestowal of power”. Should that be so effective, the Buddha and Guanyin Bodhisattva would have long ago bestowed power on us to bring us into Buddhahood. Why do we have to cultivate?


“Return to the state of single-mindfulness and refrain from being greedy.”

Everything manifests because we are greedy. We are greedy for food, for sex, for material comfort. Of the three poisons, greed comes first. Dissolve the greed, and the other two shall disappear accordingly. We cultivate to rid of the greed and attain single-mindfulness. By the time we reach it, the greed is turned to the Bodhi mind.

“Practice vowing with a mind of hatred, and you’d gain power when it reaches single-mindfulness.”

Greed, hatred, ignorance, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and consciousness, when applied in the proper way, can turn into the Bodhi. A mind characterized by hatred, can also be a mind of attachment. Vow with the attachment. Make the vow powerful with the sense of hatred. By the time we attain single-mindfulness in vowing, the power shall manifest.

As mentioned earlier, cultivate to rid our mind of greed and to attain the single-mindfulness. This makes the greed the Bodhi. Cultivate our mind to rid of hatred and attachment, so that it is single-mindful and by the time we make it, we’d gain incredible powerful from it.
“You may show passion for the Buddha Dharma to the extent of obsession.”
Our mind is riddled by ignorance when we are deluded. We get deluded by the dust of seven emotions, six desires, and three poisons. Nevertheless, if the ignorance can make you greatly interested in the Buddha Dharma, fine, the ignorance shall turn into the Bodhi as well.
“But you have to cut off the idle thoughts first before you can see the Bodhi.”
Many of you are challenged in this regard. While you may have thought it through this moment, but in less than a second, you are disturbed by idle thoughts. Even you as cultivators are so disturbed, not to mention those who don’t practice the Dharma. If our mind is constantly occupied by idle thoughts, how can we possibly feel the power and see the Bodhi?
“Wake up! Wake up! I have been teaching you this so earnestly for long.”
The Buddha pats our shoulder, “Wake up! Wake up!” Wake up from your doze!
“I” here is Shakyamuni Buddha! Since innumerable long kalpas till now, He has been teaching and instructing us earnestly. This is how big His heart is!
After the Buddha had finished saying it, as Lingmei wrote,
Text:
I kowtowed to the Buddha again and again, and knelt down before Him for a long time, reluctant to stand up.
Commentary:
Lingmei was so in love with the Buddha that she wanted to stay there longer. She bowed to the Buddha time and again, and knelt down before Him for a long time, reluctant to stand up.
Text:
The Buddha rubbed my head with kindness and compassion. He said, “Get back, quickly! I know well your sincerity. You’d gain benefits from all that you are doing.”
Commentary:
Get back, quickly! I know how sincere you are. It is good that you are helping to propagate the Buddha Dharma. You’d gain benefits from the great work of propagating the Buddha Dharma.
Text:
I stood up, tearfully. Everything disappeared. I felt sad and was in a bad mood after I was back. I did not want to write about it. I wanted to get online, but there was an internet breakdown. When it was restored, I met Master, who told me, “You forgot to ask Venerable Master Shakyamuni Buddha to bestow prediction onto us.” I immediately felt better.
Commentary:
This is the background of the passage. I was quite busy those days when she went for the visit. A road was being constructed in the monastery. I forgot to mention to Lingmei that she should ask Shakyamuni Buddha for bestowal of prediction onto us. Only Shakyamuni Buddha can do it. Wouldn’t it be a great pity if she does not ask Him for it when she gets the chance to meet Him? Well, I was so busy that day, so I forgot to mention this to her.
I still managed to get on line after the busy day, and met Lingmei. So I told her what she should do.
She said, “But, Master, I have already been back.” I told her, “Doesn’t matter. You can go there again.”
She also asked me what the bestowal of prediction was. Take the story in the Lotus Sutra for example. The Buddha told Shariputra, “you will make offerings to some thousands, ten thousands millions of Buddhas, and will honor and uphold the correct Law. You will fulfill every aspect of the way of the Bodhisattva and will be able to become a Buddha with the name Flower Glow Thus Come One, worthy of offerings, of right and universal knowledge, perfect clarity and conduct, well gone, understanding the world, unexcelled worthy, trainer of people, teacher of heavenly and human beings, Buddha, World-Honored One.”
The Buddha also bestowed the prediction onto Maitreya Bodhisattva, telling him that sometime in the future he’d become a Buddha, what his countenance would be by then, and how many under his instruction would become Bodhisattvas and Arhats.
This is what bestowal of prediction if about. Lingmei immediately felt better after I had told this to her. She said, “No wonder I felt so bad after I came back. I did not want to write about it nor do anything. I simply lied on bed for two hours.”
The following passage is what happened the next day. She paid the visit again while in meditation.
Text:

I arrived at Mount. Lingjiu again. What I saw today was different from yesterday. The mound on Venerable Master’s head was emitting great fine lights that illumined it all. In every ray of the lights, which were of five colors, that shone forth from His face, there appeared uncountable Transformation Buddhas. Numerous flowers were dancing gracefully in the air.

Commentary:
When she last met the Buddha, she saw Him emitting lights and there appeared uncountable Transformation Buddhas in the lights. This time it was different. Flowers kept falling from the rays of the colorful lights. As bestowal of prediction is very significant an event, the Buddha shone forth lights of different colors.
It conveys different meanings when the Buddha emits lights from His face, from between His eyebrows, and from the mound on His head.
It must be something huge if the lights are emitted from His crown. It is the summit. That is just how important it is. Those who are always by the Him know well that when the Buddha emits lights from His mound, something huge involving important conditions is happening.

Text:
I was not in the mood for it. Kneeling down, I kowtowed to the Buddha, “Venerable Master, could you please bestow the prediction onto us?”
Commentary:
I told her to say it in this way. Lingmei was quite worried, “Master, I did not even know what prediction bestowal was. What shall I say to the Buddha?”
I so told her what to say. The Buddha bestowed the prediction not for Lingmei alone, nor for any particular person, but for all of us. Though He knew I had forgotten to mention it to Lingmei, and Lingmei would be back to Him again, He just would not say it without being asked. As we often say, He hardly opens His gold mouth.
Text:
Venerable Master said with a smile, “The prediction has been bestowed. It has been on-going. Make the Lotus Sutra abide in the world, and you’d become the Great-Penetrating-Wisdom-Victory Buddha. When your mind is in tune with the Lotus Sutra, miracles happen. You have to practice earnestly what you preach, though. You have to reach for the pear before you can eat it. You have to practice the Dharma before you gain wisdom.”
Commentary:
“The prediction has been bestowed.” It means we received it a long time ago, when we first met the Buddha. It was all settled at that time as to who we are, when and how we are going to become a Buddha, and how our Buddhaland would be like.
It has been on-going. We are doing what we are obliged to do. It is all predestined. There is no need to be in a hurry. Take Anada for example. He made the vow to serve as the attendant to the Buddha life after life. After the vow is completely fulfilled, his merits and virtues will reach perfection, and he will become a Buddha. “It has been on-going.”
“Make the Lotus Sutra abide in the world, and you’d become the Great-Penetrating-Wisdom-Victory Buddha.”
He who makes the Lotus Sutra abides permanently in the world will become the Great-Penetrating-Wisdom-Victory Buddha .
Perhaps he will also leave a miracle behind in order to help the Lotus Sutra abide. For example, after he passes away, his body turns into a body of gold having been burnt in the fire for 49 days. By then people would know how powerful the Lotus Sutra is. For thousands of years after that, people will pay homage to the body of gold and plant good roots by doing so, though they may be too ignorant to recognize him as the Buddha when he is alive. Anyway, I don’t want to explain to much on it. You try figuring it out yourself.

“When your mind is in tune with the Lotus Sutra, miracles happen. You have to practice earnestly what you preach, though.”
When our mind is in tune with the Lotus Sutra, we’d gain spiritual penetrations and experience miracles. They all appear naturally. We have to practice earnestly what you preach, though.
“You have to reach for the pear before you can eat it. You have to practice the Dharma before you gain wisdom.”
The pear stands for the Great Vehicle. We have to reach for it to eat it. The pear won’t jump into our mouth itself. We’d gain great wisdom by practicing the Great Vehicle. Isn’t it a pity that, instead of looking for the Dharma, you keep asking for more power, more money, for a good husband, and for romance? Amitabha-Buddha! Do not let go the precious opportunity before you. We have to practice the Dharma, make us part of the Dharma to gain great wisdom.
Text:
I remained puzzled as I could not understand it.
Commentary:
It was true that she did not understand it. Only Master knew the message conveyed. She therefore was puzzled.
Text:

Venerable Master smiled to me, and said, “Keep your mind characteristic of emptiness. Keep searching for the true mind of brightness and permanence no matter how hard it is. Bitter Coldness makes the plum fragrant. When the clouds smile, the rain stops. It is easy to obtain the good affinity. Nevertheless, it is empty literature. It is devoid of it all. Auspiciousness shall surround you and you’d attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.”

Commentary:
“Keep your mind characteristic of emptiness. Keep searching for the true mind of brightness and permanence no matter how hard it is.”
There is nothing we need to do if our mind is of emptiness. This is consistent with what the Bodhisattvas had spoken. We practice the Buddha Dharma to brighten our mind so that we see our true-self. By the time we make it, we’d feel at great leisure and liberty both physically and mentally.
“Bitter Coldness makes the plum fragrant.”
When the Fifth Patriarch passed the lineage to Huineng, he said to Huineng, “The fragrance of plum blossom comes from bitter coldness.” We have to cultivate and this is a rigorous process. We’d always face challenges in where we are the weakest. Those who are greedy always encounter greed-related challenges and those ignorance ignorance-related.
“When the clouds smile, the rain stops.”
What ever challenge it is before us, just face it squarely! Just as the Buddha said, “When the clouds smile, it stops raining.” The sun shall shine again after rain.
“It is easy to obtain the good affinity.”
While it may seem easy to get the good affinity, fulfilling it is difficult.
“Nevertheless, it is empty literature. It is devoid of it all.”
It is easy to get the good affinity. For example, google for it online and you’d get access to all the sutras of the twelve divisions of the Tripitaka. Nevertheless, it is empty literature. We should not be attached to the literary mark. We’d know what to do when we truly understand the sutras and the teachings of the Buddha.
As is stated in the Vajra Sutra, we don’t have a mark of self, a mark of others, a mark of living beings, a mark of a life, or a mark of Dharma.
To be devoid of the mark of self is to remove selfishness.
To be devoid of the mark of life, is to rid our mind of the mark of everything in the universe, as it is but created by our mind.
To be devoid of the mark of others means we find no others around. We won’t mind it even being scolded or bullied. Nor do we feel hateful for it. We don’t find in others any strengths or weaknesses.
To be devoid of the mark of life may baffle many of you. In fact, it includes the life of heavenly beings, Bodhisattvas, Arhats, and the Buddhas, whose lifespan is very long. Nevertheless, its mark should also be removed.
Eventually, we shall have no mark of the Dharma. We take even the Dharma as empty, because we ourselves are the Dharma.
“Auspiciousness shall surround you and you’d attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.”
When we reach the state of being devoid of it all, it is time for cherry blossoms. As the saying goes, we’d see the Buddha when the flowers blossom. By then, you’d be surrounded by auspiciousness, and attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. That is a state where we cultivate while we seem not doing it and we get nothing. The Buddha revealed the truth to us. While I have explained to you, you really have to take time to delve into it before you know how to apply it. The Buddha sends tons of messages to us within the short verse. We have to spend time on it to understand it.
Text:
I thought to myself, “Why is it different from the book?”
Commentary:
Lingmei was thinking why it was different from the book.
Text:
Venerable Master said, “People are unwilling to do it if it is insignificant, or bring little benefit to them. Your master knows it well. Take a step-by-step approach. For the sake of the Proper Dharma, the Great Penetration Wisdom Victory Buddha, the Thus Come One goes to you. The self is not the self. He has his needs. He shall leave you one day, and leave behind what is needed by the people. The language is wonderful and thought-provoking. It is as natural as the breeze in the mountains and the billows of the sea. Be patient and bearing. It is a state wonderful beyond description. Understand the enigma contained in the lines, and you shall get it through. All of you shall be able to attain the Bodhi. Follow your mind whatever you do. It'll bring boundless benefits to the people. I have already bestowed the predictions onto you. Just keep it going.”
Commentary:
In fact, the Buddha spoke the verse to bestow the prediction onto us. Nevertheless, ours is such a time that He could not make it too clear to us. He was trying to protect us. It was not that He did not want to make it clear. If He told us who we were, we’d be in great trouble. Human beings are very good at getting jealous.
The Buddha spoke quite vaguely. Only people with good roots and wisdom can understand and fully believe in it. Those who understand it but do not believe in it will for sure come to create troubles for us.
People are unwilling to do it if it is insignificant, or bring little benefit to them.
“Your master knows it well. Take a step-by-step approach.”
Master knows it clearly. We only need to take a step-by-step approach to doing what we are obliged to do. It is a process we must go through.
I guess you must have met many masters before me and none of them have stressed the world “process” to you. I want you to know that you are progressing in the process, and there is no need to be in a hurry. Everything has a mark within the scope of the Three Realms. This process is a must for all of us to go through. Don’t get anxious. Walk with steady steps.
“For the sake of the Proper Dharma, the Great Penetration Wisdom Victory Buddha, the Thus Come One goes to you.”
It is for the sake of protecting and propagating the Proper Dharma that the Great Penetration Wisdom Victory Buddha, the Thus Come One comes to the world.
“The self is not the self. He has his needs.”
The “me” living in the world is not my true-self. I shall also have my own needs. I run my own business. I have a family with my wife and son. However, at the same time I am also propagating the Dharma. The “I” is not my true-self. That is why I need the things that ordinary people need.
“He shall leave you one day, and leave behind what is needed by the people.”
Suppose He is referring to me. Decades later I will enter Nirvana. Nevertheless, after I leave, I shall leave behind a body of glittering gold to which people shall make offerings. The body of gold is what is needed by the people.
“The language is wonderful and thought-provoking.”
The language is wonderful and thought-provoking. We need to take time to appreciate it. Perhaps several hundred years later, many people still will fail to get it, as they are too attached to the mark.
As the Buddha stated, “It is as natural as the breeze in the mountains and the billows of the sea.”
“Be patient and bearing. It is a state wonderful beyond description.”
We need to be patient and bearing.
Shakyamuni Buddha is worried that we might lose control and show off our spiritual penetrations. Not only will it be unhelpful to the propagation of the Dharma, but can cause us a lot of troubles. People are good at getting jealous. When the Sixth Patriarch Huineng met the Fifth Patriarch, the master asked Huineng to pound up the rice at the sutra lectures. Huineng had such a superb level of comprehension that others would get jealous of him. Therefore, the Buddha asked us to be patient and bearing, which is something very esoteric and wonderful. We’d be at great peace by then. We’d be able to propagate the Dharma, and sit peacefully in our wayplace. The wayplace is not necessarily a temple but rather an honest mind.
The Buddha knows that not everyone of my 3,000 disciple can understand it. He makes it clear to us: “Understand the enigma contained in the lines, and you shall get it through.”
The next two lines are the prediction bestowed onto us.
“All of you shall be able to attain the Bodhi.”
He was trying to reassure us. What we are doing is based on the prediction onto us before. We will for sure attain the Bodhi and become a Buddha. Just follow our mind and do our best.
Lingmei wrote about how she felt upon hearing the verse:
Text:
I was quite confused like being surrounded by cloud and mist.
Commentary:
She could not get it, which is normal.
Text:
Venerable Master then rubbed my head, and said, “Get back. Delve into my words. This is what I have to say to you.
Commentary:
The Buddha asked Lingmei to get back, and carefully study the message. “This is what I have to give to you.” Everything is contained in the message.
Though she did not understand the message, she was nonetheless excited.

Text:
I kowtowed to Him time and again, fully inspired. Soon I found myself sitting on a lotus. Amidst rays of golden lights, I was back.
Commentary:
This is very superb and wonderful. She was back amidst golden lights and sitting on a lotus.
As in previous visits, she kept pondering over the message after she was back.
Text:
I kept thinking over what the Buddha had said. My feeling was beyond description.
Commentary:
Yes, it is truly difficult to describe it. She has met Shakyamuni Buddha, and experienced it all. It is really hard to say how it felt.
Text:
A voice spoke to me, “Amitabha-Buddha! Master sees clearly your efforts and devotion. The visit brings an end to your trip, which is of far-reaching importance. May I exhort you to vigorously practice cultivation to improve yourself? Awakening! Awakening! Awakening! Emptiness! Emptiness! Emptiness!
Commentary:
Master was talking to her. Seems that there are two Masters. One Master is the one speaking in the state, and the other one is me sitting here lecturing the sutra for you everyday. In fact, don’t distinguish the two. The “I” is not me. He is he. Me and me.
Master said, “Amitabha-Buddha!”
As I often say, we all see it clearly how hard you try and devoted you are. The trip has ended successful, and it is going to have profound impact. I exhort you all to vigorously practice cultivation. Hopefully, having experienced all these miracles, you are able to better cultivate the Dharma to find your true-self.
Awaken your mind to it!
Emptiness means you need to put it down! Leave behind the secular thinking.
Lingmei concluded with what she had learnt:
Text:
I now understand it. Master, I shall always bear in mind your words! It is all over. I shall not be attached to it. Nor will I want to see it again, or show it off—it is my original true-self.
Commentary:
Lingmei had made it. Her mind is quite at peace. She is not attached to it. Nor does she want to visit it again or show it off around. She has done it right! This is our original true-self!
Text:
Well, being original means being ordinary. Reflect within, and our true-self shall manifest. It all starts from our mind!
Commentary:
We now come to the end of the text.
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.