By Grandmaster Sheng-yen Lu
Translated by Lianhua Zhi-wei, Edited by Alice Yang and Jason Yu.
Dharma discourse on July 6, 2008 after Kalachakra Homa at Rainbow Temple in North Bend, WA.
Homage to Reverend Liaoming, Vajra Acharya Sakya Zhengkong, His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa, and Vajra Acharya Thubten Dargye. Homage to the Three Jewels of the shrine, and the principal deity of homa, Kalachakra. Shimu, vajra masters, senior reverends, reverends, dharma assistants, and fellow school members, good afternoon.
We have conducted Kalachakra homas for the past several weekends. Kalachakra is the wheel of time, representing the revolution of time. The wheel of time consists [of the outer, inner and other time wheels]. The outer time wheel encompasses the universe, sun, moon, constellations, and all directions of space. All the stars of the universe are part of this outer time wheel. The inner time wheel is the aspects of our body like our internal organs, limbs, the elements of earth, water, fire, and wind. Even the prana, channels, and drops are all part of the inner time wheel. When the inner and outer time wheels are completely harmonized, which means the inner and outer time wheels merge-as-one, revolving-as-one, the result is called the other time wheel. You can realize and validate the nature of emptiness and true suchness through the revolution of the other time wheel.
Hence, Kalachakra consists of the outer, inner, and other time wheels. The other time wheel is equivalent to merging-as-one. This is the Kalachakra cultivation. Every time we perform Kalachakra visualization, we need to visualize Kalachakra standing on a lotus flower atop the twenty-eighth heaven with Mount Sumeru, space, wind, fire, water, and earth beneath. This is "opposing body" visualization [facing Kalachakra]. When you are proficient with the "opposing body" visualization, you move onto "self-body" visualization [visualize yourself as Kalachakra]. Here, you visualize yourself standing above the lotus flower atop the twenty-eighth heaven, with Mount Sumeru, space, wind, fire, water and earth underneath. Your own body transforms into Kalachakra, which represents the outer and inner time wheels merged-as-one inside your own body.
I experienced two instances of merging-together while conducting the homa earlier. The first instance occurred after I formed the mudra and started meditating. The second merging-together occurred when I was performing invocation. While performing the homa, I prayed that all of attendees' wishes would be fulfilled through the great power of Kalachakra [audience applause], all participants' illnesses would be cured [audience applause], all participants' misfortunes would be eliminated [audience applause]. I prayed that your blessings and wisdom would increase [audience applause]. All your families would be harmonious and together [applause]. Also, all your enemies would leave you. Who are your enemies? These enemies are your formless karmic creditors who are constantly following you. They cannot harm you when your blessings are abundant. But, they will wait for their opportunities. They will wait until you run out of good fortune, then they can harm you. These enemies are the formless karmic creditors. In this homa ceremony, we also asked all these karmic creditors to leave us [applause].
During the joint cultivation last night, I mentioned the center of true suchness, which is the supreme perfect enlightenment the Buddha talked about. Shakyamuni Buddha said enlightenment was not what common sentient beings could envision. Their minds would never come to this central point. Shakyamuni Buddha knew that common beings would never come to this realization, so enlightenment would be impossible to explain. Hence, Buddha thought about entering nirvana. He was going to enter nirvana soon after he achieved enlightenment. It is genuinely very difficult for common beings to awaken to this central point. But, the answer is contained in my [200th] book, "Glimpses of Enlightenment." I specially flipped through the book this morning. However, you won't recognize that answer. You will read the answer and overlook it. You won't pay attention to the answer. You won't think that it is the center of true suchness. That is the supreme perfect enlightenment. Discussing the answer in this way already makes it very clear. You should read "Glimpses of Enlightenment" very carefully again. Not every chapter in the book touches on the center of true suchness. Not every chapter touches on the Buddha's supreme perfect enlightenment. But, there is a small part of the book that discussed the supreme perfect enlightenment and touched on the center of true suchness. Hence, you should read that book very carefully because you might solve the mystery of true suchness and attain supreme perfect enlightenment.
Last night, a student asked an important question about karma. He said that Grand Master often says that dharma doesn't exist, that there is no dharma, heart, incident, phenomenon, or action. Everything is empty. Grand Master also mentioned no causation, fruition, or validation. He asked, then, doesn't Grand Master's statement mean that there is no karma because there is no causation and no fruition? If karma doesn't exist, doesn't that repudiate all Buddhist doctrines? How could that be right? So, there should be karma. I answered at that time, "the law of karma is not violated."
Every thought and act of sentient beings of the Saha World produces karmic consequence and fruition. Thoughts produce repercussions, and actions create consequences. If you rob somebody, steal someone's belongings, tell a lie, or commit sexual misconduct, these actions all have consequences. Killing, sexual misconduct, lies, gossip, disparaging others, theft, and taking intoxicants all have karmic consequences. Hence, there is the Five Precepts. The Five Precepts exist to prevent Buddhists from committing these acts. Why should we avoid these actions? This is because they produce severe negative karmic consequences.
Why does Grand Master say no causation and no fruition? What is no causation and no fruition? This is talking about the identity of true suchness, the supreme perfect enlightenment. The supreme perfect enlightenment produces neither causation nor fruition. But, your actions and thoughts will all produce karmic consequences if you have not yet realized and validated supreme perfect enlightenment. Even the supreme perfect enlightenment cannot violate karma. The supreme perfect enlightenment does not produce any causation, so it will not create any fruition. This is because an awakened being has already transformed to [a state of being] without a trace, which means that there is no record.
In your journey in life, there is a record for every thought and deed. Every one of them will bear fruit. If you have endured a life full of misery and misfortune, you reaped the fruits of your past negative actions. These misfortunes might not just be karmic consequences of your past actions from previous lives. You don't have to wait for these past actions to bear fruits in your next life because sometimes, you reap the fruits in this very lifetime. You reap what you sow, that is the law of karma. If you sowed peanuts seeds, you wouldn't reap squash! If you planted squash seeds, you wouldn't reap peanuts! It doesn't happen!
There is no choice in karma. Our "Seattle Temple's Grand Restaurant" is a good example. You don't have a choice on the meals served in the dining hall. If Reverend Xuanren's team prepared the meal, then the meal would consist of Reverend Xuanren's particular set of dishes. He would present the full spectrum of his same old repertoire. They prepare the same set of dishes this year. It will be the same repertoire next year. We will still be dining on the same set of dishes prepared by Reverend Xuanren the year after that.
What other dining service teams are there? There's Reverend Xinmei team. Frankly, her dharma name was really well chosen. Reverend Xinmei [Xinmei literally means "beautiful heart" in Chinese], her heart is really beautiful, yet the flavors of her cooking are really strange. Basically, meals prepared by Reverend Xinmei are strange flavored meals. Grand Master doesn't have a choice and has to eat his dinner at the dining hall. Some very unusual dishes would be served when Reverend Xinmei's group prepares the meal. Shimu likes to recount the time when a big frog floated on top of the soup. It still had its head and all four limbs, floating on the soup. It was really a scary sight, though this type of soup is rare these days. The teams of Reverend Xuanren and Reverend Xinmei take turns cooking. They rotate and each group cooks for a week. Then, there is Reverend Jiuru's team. The meals prepared by his team are also problematic. Basically, these three teams rotate preparing the meals. You don't have a choice! No choice! You have to endure the food prepared by these three teams whenever you eat at the dining hall.
But, Vajra Master Dehui, he has choices. He chooses whether to eat or not to eat. If I see Vajra Master Dehui eating at the dining hall, then I know that the meal would be good! Whenever Master Dehui doesn't show up, I would inquire on his whereabouts. He chose not to eat! He chose to eat what he cooked himself. Hence, there is a choice even when there isn't any choice. In the Seattle Temple's dining hall, there is no choice on the food. But, there is also a choice. The so-called choice is that you can eat or choose not to eat. That's your choice. Grand Master doesn't have a choice. I eat every meal. That is karma.
If you don't have a choice, then it is certain that every causation produces fruition. If you have choices, you can choose that I don't plant this seed, so this fruit won't be produced. That is the principle of no causation and no fruition. Although you choose no causation and no fruition, this no causation and no fruition is still governed by the law of karma. Since you didn't plant the seed, you obviously wouldn't reap the fruit. You chose not to eat, and so you didn't get diarrhea. This is still governed by the law of karma! If you had eaten the food and gotten diarrhea, that is still karma! So, no causation and no fruition is still governed by the law of karma. Why doesn't "no causation and no fruition" violate the law of karma? This is because you didn't eat any food. But, the result of choosing not to eat is still governed by law of karma. Hence, you don't have diarrhea.
Whenever Reverend Xuanren says that school members has added some extra delicacies to the meal, you can pretty much guess that they most likely brought either shrimp, oysters, crabs, or lobsters, which is the most expensive seafood that they would purchase. These four ingredients are the extra delicacies. You might ask them, so what special exotic dishes did you cook with these extra delicacies? These extra delicacies are generally seafood. As soon as I hear extra delicacies, I know that there would be extra servings of cholesterol in the meal! But, it is not that bad. This is because these types of food are rare treats. Frankly, we are not making fun of the food prepared by Seattle Temple's dinning service. The meals prepared by the dining service are much better than food served by restaurants. The meals prepared by these three teams are far superior.
I used the food of the dining service as an analogy to illustrate karma. You can choose not to eat and it would appear like there was no causation and no consequence. But, the law of karma still governs this result. The law of karma is not violated. If you choose to eat, then there definitely is causation and consequences. If the food was too salty, your blood pressure will go up. If there was too much sugar, you might end up with diabetes. I am not saying if you consume sugar, you are going to develop diabetes. Many factors contributes to Diabetes! You might cough frequently if you eat too much spicy food. The elderly shouldn't eat food that is too spicy. The throats of the elderly are very sensitive and spicy food might [irritate their throats and] cause them to cough non-stop. These are all karma!
You will become fat when you eat too much fatty food and consume too many calories. Hence, you don't see too many slim people in America. But, there are many fat people. People say that nobody in Seattle is going to look at your figure, so why stay thin? This is even truer at the temple. Why try to be thin? We are all monks, so nobody is going to look at our figures. Many female school members also eat too much fatty food. Everybody just wears whatever is on hand, even if it is just tattered clothing. This attitude really prevents us from eating healthy [Grand Master laughed].
Whenever we have some extra delicacies, all the young women and female school members come to scare us. They really need to make themselves more presentable and dress better. If there's a big ceremony, celebration, or banquet, you can't keep wearing the same old clothing year-after-year. Please wear something cleaner and more presentable. Change into some new clothing or some splashy skirts. Don't keep wearing the same ripped pants. I discovered that the women at Seattle Temple like to dress in black. It is true that black clothes will make you look slimmer, but wear a skirt once a while! You see the monks, vajra masters, and reverends wearing "skirts" every day. The ladies do the opposite. They wear pants every day. It is as if we are here for you to evaluate our appearances. No choice. That's the way life is. These kinds of frustrating issues are unavoidable in life sometimes.
Frankly, Seattle is our cultivation ground. We should calm our hearts and diligently cultivate, exercise regularly, properly manage our diet, and pay attention to our health. These are all very important issues. Exercise, diet, health, maintenance, and cultivation all need to be coordinated and harmonized.
The Kalachakra teachings also instructed that we can't just cultivate every day. We also need to accumulate resources. These resources consist of provisions for the mundane world and heaven. The mundane worldly provision is wealth. You need to work and earn money so you have provisions to live on in the human world. Additionally, you have to know to make offering, so you will accumulate provisions for life in heaven. So, you need to perform smoke offerings, fire offerings, and water offerings. Make offerings to the buddhas and bodhisattvas. Make great offerings of flowers, incense, light, tea, and fruits. Make charitable donations to aid the needy and help victims of disasters. These are all acts accumulating provisions for your life in heaven.
Hence, Kalachakra teachings do not instruct us to just cultivate Kalachakra practices and do nothing else. That's not the way. You still have to accumulate your provisions for the human and heaven realms. Use your provisions for the human and heaven realms and transform them into your blessings [audience applause]. Use Kalachakra cultivation to develop purified virtues. With the full complement of virtues and blessings, then you can obtain the fruits of cultivation. This is a vital point. So, they must be performed simultaneously. We can't overly concentrate on cultivation alone; we also have to accumulate human and heavenly resources.
Vajrayana has a saying that your lifespan will shorten if you stay in mountain retreat and concentrate on cultivation and do nothing else for ten to twenty years. If you concentrate on cultivation and live alone in mountain retreat, your life will not be long. If you do not cultivate and only accumulate provisions for the mundane world and heaven, your blessing would be abundant and you would live a long life. However, you will lack purified virtues and merits. Hence, these two aspects must be harmonized. I accumulated provisions for the mundane world and heaven. I also cultivated diligently. By having the full complement of virtues and merit, it is easier to achieve accomplishment.
Om Mani Padme Hum.