The Sutra of the Whole-Body Relic Treasure Chest Seal Dharani, the Heart Secret of All Tathagatas 3

The Sutra of the Whole-Body Relic Treasure Chest Seal Dharani, the Heart Secret of All Tathagatas

A General Explanation By Venerable Master Zhenlin

English Translation of the Sutra Text by Rulu (http://www.sutrasmantras.info/sutra03.html)

English Translation of the Commentary by Zhenlin Disciples

Master Zhenlin’s Commentary on the Sutra of the Whole-Body Relic Treasure Chest Seal Dharani, the Heart Secret of All Tathagatas --III

So he pronounced it.

namas tryadhvikānāṁ sarva tathāgatānāṁ oṁ bhuvi-bhavana-vare vacana-vacati suru suru dhara dhara sarva tathāgata dhātu dhare padmaṁ bhavati jaya vare mudre smara tathāgata dharma-cakra pravartana vajre bodhimaṇḍa-alaṅkāra-alaṅkṛte sarva tathāgata-adhiṣṭhite bodhaya bodhaya bodhi bodhi budhya budhya saṁbodhani saṁbodhaya cala cala calantu sarva-āvaraṇāni sarva pāpa vigate huru huru sarva śoka vigate sarva tathāgata hṛdaya vajriṇi saṁbhāra saṁbhāra sarva tathāgata guhya dhāraṇī mudre bhūte subhūte sarva tathāgata-adhiṣṭhita dhātu garbhe svāhā samaya-adhiṣṭhite svāhā sarva tathāgata hṛdaya dhātu mudre svāhā supratiṣṭhita stūpe tathāgata-adhiṣṭhite huru huru hūṁ hūṁ svāhā oṁ sarva tathāgatoṣṇīṣa dhātu mudrāṇi sarva tathāgata sadhātu vibhūṣita-adhiṣṭhite hūṁ hūṁ svāhā

Text:

Then the Buddha pronounced the dharani:

Commentary:

He recited the mantra.

I shall now recite the mantra for you. Please calm down and listen to me attentively. Do not get distracted. It is very superb when the mantra is being spoken.

Text:

namas tryadhvikānāṁ sarva tathāgatānāṁ oṁ bhuvi-bhavana-vare vacana-vacati suru suru dhara dhara sarva tathāgata dhātu dhare padmaṁ bhavati jaya vare mudre smara tathāgata dharma-cakra pravartana vajre bodhimaṇḍa-alaṅkāra-alaṅkṛte sarva tathāgata-adhiṣṭhite bodhaya bodhaya bodhi bodhi budhya budhya saṁbodhani saṁbodhaya cala cala calantu sarva-āvaraṇāni sarva pāpa vigate huru huru sarva śoka vigate sarva tathāgata hṛdaya vajriṇi saṁbhāra saṁbhāra sarva tathāgata guhya dhāraṇī mudre bhūte subhūte sarva tathāgata-adhiṣṭhita dhātu garbhe svāhā samaya-adhiṣṭhite svāhā sarva tathāgata hṛdaya dhātu mudre svāhā supratiṣṭhita stūpe tathāgata-adhiṣṭhite huru huru hūṁ hūṁ svāhā oṁ sarva tathāgatoṣṇīṣa dhātu mudrāṇi sarva tathāgata sadhātu vibhūṣita-adhiṣṭhite hūṁ hūṁ svāhā

Let’s see what’s next.

Text:

After the Buddha finished reciting this spiritual mantra, all the Buddha-Tathāgatas from the pile of earth voiced their praises: "Very good! Very good! Shakya the World-Honored One, you have appeared in this turbid, evil world to expound the profound Dharma for the benefit of sentient beings that have nothing and nobody to depend upon. Therefore, the essence of the Dharma will remain a long time in the world, bringing wide, abundant benefits and joyful peace."

Commentary:

Shakyamuni Buddha spoke the mantra by the pile of earth. After he finished reciting it, the pile said, “"Very good! Very good! Shakya the World-Honored One, you have appeared in this turbid, evil world…” The turbid, evil world is none other than our human world of Jambudvipa.

“…for the benefit of sentient beings that have nothing and nobody to depend upon.” We are now like a child away from home and could find nobody or no where to rely on. By pronouncing such a profound Dharma for us, the Buddha is supporting and protecting us.

“Therefore, the essence of the Dharma will remain a long time in the world, bringing wide, abundant benefits and joyful peace." The benefits and merits of the Dharma are too numerous to be counted. Word fails to describe them. It brings joyful peace to us. We shall obtain peace and tranquility in both mind and body. Everything we do is smoothly done. Cultivate with a peaceful mind, and we shall gain happiness.

Text:

Then the Buddha said to Vajrapani, "Hearken! Hearken! The essence of this Dharma has inexhaustible spiritual power and boundless benefits! It is like a wish-fulfilling jewel on the top of a cylindrical banner, constantly raining down treasures and fulfilling all wishes.

Commentary:

The Buddha was talking to Vajrapani Bodhisattva as he addressed the Dharma Assembly. He said, "Hearken! Hearken!”

“Hearken” means to listen carefully and attentively.

“The essence of this Dharma has inexhaustible spiritual power and boundless benefits!” The mantra is ineffably superb! Its spiritual power is immeasurable and its benefits boundless. He made a comparison.

“It is like a wish-fulfilling jewel on the top of a cylindrical banner, constantly raining down treasures and fulfilling all wishes.”

Many of you have seen the Buddha. When the Buddha was alive in the world, cylindrical banners were hung by him. You still find it when visiting a temple. The banners are hung from high places on both sides of the Buddha statues. There are now made from copper or iron ornaments attached to their ends so that they stay droopy. When Shakyamuni Buddha was alive in the world, jewels instead of copper or iron ornaments were used. The jewels were wish-fulfilling. You get whatever you pray for before them. If you pray to the jewels, “I want treasures”, the treasures shall come to you like rains. It is really efficacious. Some people still like donating to have the banners hung before the Buddha statues made to gain the merits.

So powerful is the mantra, so inexhaustible is its spiritual powers, and so boundless its merits and virtues that we can never finish speaking about them.

Let’s read the next lines.

Text:

I will now speak briefly about one ten thousandth thereof.

Commentary:

It is so immeasurable that I can never finish speaking it. I’d just pick one from the 10,000 to tell you.

Text：

You should memorize and uphold it for benefiting all sentient beings.

Commentary:

Please try to keep it in mind, and review it regularly. By memorizing it, reciting it, and upholding it, you shall not only benefit yourself but others.

Text:

"If an evil man falls to hell after death, he will have to suffer uninterruptedly without a date of release. However, if his descendants address his name and then recite this spiritual mantra, upon completion of only seven repetitions, the molten copper and burning iron in the hell will suddenly turn into pond waters of the eight virtues. [This deceased] will have a lotus flower supporting his feet and a jeweled canopy over his head. The door of hell will break and the Bodhi Way will open. His lotus flower will fly him to the Land of Ultimate Bliss. There, his knowledge of all knowledge will unfold spontaneously. Delighting in expounding the Dharma endlessly, He will be in the holy position to attain Buddhahood in his next life.

Commentary:

I had already talked to you about this passage a few days ago. It tells us that we can use the mantra in the Sutra to ferry over the deceased ancestors to the World of Ultimate Bliss. It has to be your relatives to be effective. The Sutra makes it clear, ‘if his son or grandson…’. That is to say, we can do it for our ancestors. We only need to read out his or her name. For example, “Mr. X, I now shall read the Treasure Chest Seal Dharani. I recite it for you and hope that you shall enter the Western Pure Land of Bliss upon the merits and virtues of the Mantra.

You can either recite the whole Sutra, or just the mantra. Reciting the mantra shall work. When you finish reading it for seven times, he or her will soon be freed from the torture of the hell, and arrive at a pond of lotus. It is very comfortable there. A lotus will grow under his or her feet. And, upon the lotus, he or her shall fly away to the World of Ultimate Bliss.
“All the wisdom shall appear naturally”. This means he shall be as powerful as a Bodhisattva. Actually he is. He is no different from Bodhisattva of Complete Enlightenment. A Bodhisattva of the 10th stage, not the first or the second. Shakyamuni Buddha makes it clear to us in the Sutra, “He is happy to speak and stay at a position of supplement of a Buddha.” Staying at the position of supplement of a Buddha is what a Bodhisattva of the 10th stage enjoys. Therefore, if we use this mantra of the Sutra to ferry over our ancestors, he will be very happy. He can enter the World of Ultimate Bliss and become a Bodhisattva there! Certainly it is good for you, too. He shall always bless you. Once in the World, he can reach you instantly as long as he wants. It is very fast for him to come to you.” If a human gets the luck to visit the Land of Ultimate Bliss even for a short while, a much longer time would have passed in the human world. Even his sons would have died by the time he returns from the short trip.

It seems few have the courage to explain the Sutra of the Whole-Body Relic Treasure Chest Seal Dharani, the Heart Secret of All Tathagatas. I don’t care how others may dislike it, I’ll just speak it and tell you exactly what Shakyamuni Buddha has spoken. Let us do what the Buddha has instructed us to, and refrain from doing what He has not. I will talk on it no matter how some may scold me. I don’t care. It is not my business if this makes some people unhappy. Scold me if you like. I never get annoyed, anyway. Some of you keep asking me the same questions these days that even the listeners around get impatient. I don’t. You get impatient because your skills of cultivation are not as good as mine. A true cultivator of the Buddha Dharma never gets angry or afflicted. You should have found that this is what I am like through the Dharma Assembly these days. I am always patient no matter how many times the same question may have been asked before me. This shows that I do have the skills of cultivation.

You have yet to reach this level of cultivation, and would get impatient being asked for just three times. In fact, as long as you keep cultivating the Buddha Dharma, you will be able to make it as well. Nothing can disturb you or make you afflicted. You never get angry, or feel treated unfairly. You shall gain release from all these negative feelings.

Recite the mantra for seven times, and the deceased ancestors shall immediately gain release and enter the Land of Ultimate Bliss. Shakyamuni Buddha spoke it in clear-cut terms and it must be the right way to do. Mind you, though, you’d better stay vegetarian on the day you do the ferrying over rites. Is it ok to ask others to perform it for you? Surely OK. Nevertheless, it is not that easy to get the right people to do it for you nowadays. Usually it takes a team of seven to perform the Buddhist rite. If one of them takes two bites of meat on the day furtively, the ferrying over will fail. Why don’t you just do it yourselves? If you are illiterate, you may just ask someone who can read to teach you how to pronounce the words in the mantra. Staying vegetarian for just one day isn’t that difficult for you, right?

Text:

"Furthermore, for a person who, in retribution for his grave sins, is suffering from 100 diseases with a heavy heart…”

Commentary:

It is stated clearly in the sutra that we contract diseases in retribution. When, doctors may simply tell you that you catch a cold, without knowing what is behind the cold. The problem won’t be solved if you don’t address the root causes. For sure, when people are sick, they feel very uncomfortable “with a heavy heart”.

Text:

“…he should recite this spiritual mantra 21 times. Then 100 diseases and 10,000 distresses will be eliminated after sometime.”

Commentary:

A patient needs just to recite the mantra 21 times, and gradually, bit by bit, he’ll recover. It takes time to apply the Buddha Dharma to curing diseases. As long as he recites it, the cause and conditions shall change bit by bit. The mantra can cure diseases!

Many Buddhist scriptures can cure diseases, such as the Mantra of Great Compassion, the Former Deeds of the Bodhisattva Medicine King, etc. I am always “boasting” to you that curing diseases is but a piece of cake in the application of Buddha Dharma. This is truly the case! When people come to me asking for help in curing a disease, I always say that I never cure disease. I only teach people how to cure diseases themselves. You can be your own doctor!

Many people here in Xinchang (translator note: the city where Master Zhenlin lives) have made it. They get recovered by applying the Buddha Dharma, without having to take any medication or injection. Don’t trust the TV Advertisement that says they help you recover without having to take medicines or undergoing any pain. Only the Buddha Dharma can make that happen!

You have to be patient and perseverant, though! Many give up having recited the sutra or mantra for just two days. You don’t get recovered by taking medicines for two days, do you? Applying the Buddha Dharma to cure diseases is like taking medication and it takes time. Do you get recovered if the doctor asks you to take the medicine three times a day and two pills a time while you do only one pill a time and once a day?

If you apply the Sutra of Longevity to curing diseases, you should recite it everyday during the first three months. If you fail to do it someday during the first three months, all the efforts in previous days will be in vain and you need to start a new round of three months. This is a foundation-laying period. Keep doing it everyday, and it is for sure that you’d evoke the responses. The sickened part shall feel it. You may come to consult me if you feel something unsual. I will tell you what to do. Keep doing it for three months, a patient will get recovered largely, be him suffering from leukemia or diabetes. The blood sugar of a diabetes patient will drop if he or she keep recites the Sutra of Longevity everyday for three months. A patient paralyzed and bed-ridden from a stroke will come to feel numbness in less than one month after he starts to recite the mantra, if he can open his mouth. Feeling numb shows he is evoking the responses, as such a patient hardly can feel anything.

I tell this to you because already there are people having recovered by reciting the sutra. You have to do exactly as I have told you. Do not cut corners. Do not be a lazybones. Reciting it is just like taking medication, except you don’t feel any pain. Of course, the mantra can do more than curing diseases.

Let’s see what’s next.

Text：

His life span will be extended, and his fortune and merit will become infinite.

Commentary:

It extends one’s lifespan. “…and his fortune and merit will become infinite.” People who are poor will get rich, and whose life is miserable will turn happy. They may get promoted to be government officials even though originally they are not destined to enjoy it. A child who has been underperforming academically may show progress and enter a university. It just all gets changed!

(To be continued)