Dari Rulai Temple of Karuna

Living Buddha Dechan Jueren, 21 November 2003
San Francisco Workshop
Translated by: Jaliniprabhakumara
Transcribed by: ChanZhi DeCheng & DeZhi

Stephen:  This evening will be the introduction for Master Yu, his path of esoteric Buddhist practices.  The theme for this entire weekend is spiritual healing, higher consciousness, and ways and means that we can attain higher levels of consciousness and spiritual healing.  I’ve left the subject matter rather vague and general on purpose so that Master Yu will have the freedom to adjust his presentation and his topics toward the audience here and be as personal as possible.  Throughout the workshops, lectures, and programs, Master Yu will be doing healing on each person as he talks.

He has the capacity to look at a person and know their karmas, the conditions, and to heal them at a very deep level.  There isn’t time during the program for individual healings, but you can be quite certain that he is observing each person and taking care and noticing what the issues are and doing what he can to help them.  Tomorrow, during the workshop, which is, all day there will be more time for individual interaction and questions and answers.  So without further ado, let me introduce Master Yu Tian Jian and his translator Kuo Hsia.  Thank you for coming.

Kuo:  Good Evening. Hi, my name is Kuo.  Its Master’s request that I make a little introduction on the history, his background, and his status in Buddhism.  So, it all started about 1700 years ago with Nagarjuna.  Nagarjuna is actually one of the most important names in Buddhist history.  For most westerners, they have heard very little of Nagarjuna.  Most of the westerners have learned of Padmasambhava through the Tibetans.

In fact, Nagarjuna is so important; every modern day Buddhist school traces their lineage all to Nagarjuna.  Including the Tibetans, they do not trace their lineage to Nagarjuna, but they study all the teachings and discussions of Nagarjuna.  So to put it in a very simple term, Nagarjuna was such an important Buddhist master in history, that you can say in fact every modern day Buddhist of every school, in some way, or at some point will come to the teachings of Nagarjuna.  From Nagarjuna he passed, he was most well known for all esoteric Buddhist practice, his yogi power, according to history, he passed all his transmission of esoteric Buddhism to his next successors Nagabodhi.   From Nagabodhi, he passed on to his next successor Vajrabodhi.  From Vajrabodhi’s time, he came to China around the year 720.  At the same time he brought with him his own student, Amoghavajra.  The two of them came around that year 720, that’s during the Tang dynasty in China. 
Amoghavajra, when he came to China he was a young boy, a teenager.  Vajrabodhi was a young man in his 30’s.  They met another Buddhist master in China also from India.  His name was Subhakarasimha.  Subhakarasimha was in his 80’s.  So can you imagine the three biggest names of Buddhist masters in Chinese history at the Tang dynasty period, Subhakarasimha about 80 years old, and Vajrabodhi, thirtysomething years old, and Amoghavajra, just a teenage boy.  Amoghavajra was not a Hindu, he was actually a Sri Lankan.

So in China, Amoghavajra became the disciple of both Vajrabodhi and Subhakarasimha.  According to history all three teachers at the time were well respected by emperors of China and they were treated as the national teachers.  Which means they were like the chief consultants.  The emperor would consult with them all the time.  The emperor, actually at the time took refuge with these three Buddhist masters.  According to history, Amoghavajra actually had a very well known student named HuiGuo.  Who in turn had a very famous student, a Japanese monk named KuKai later better known as Kobo Daishi, who in turn returned to Japan and established the Japanese Buddhist esoteric school.  It’s better known as Shingon Buddhism in Japan.  I don’t know how much you are really into the history part, maybe I am boring you out, but these are very big names in Buddhism throughout history.

What I am leading to is that according to history at the Tang dynasty time, a later emperor, a certain emperor called Tang Wu Zhong, he disliked Buddhism very much and extinguished Buddhist students in China.  At the time, Kukai returned to Japan, basically China had no esoteric Buddhist practitioners.  Supposedly this school was extinct.  According to history pages recorded in the books, people believe today that if you want to learn esoteric Buddhism, either you go to the Japanese Shingon School, or you have to learn from the Tibetan Lamas.  These are the only sources of esoteric Buddhist teaching today.   However, that’s not the case, the fact of the matter is that after Amoghavajra passed onto his student HuiGuo who in turn passed onto the Japanese student, Amoghavajra actually had another very little known disciple.

The fact is the Amoghavajra passed on every teaching, every transmission of esoteric Buddhist practice to this little known disciples who was HuiSu.  He also passed on every piece of dharma instrument, every book, sutra, and tantra to HuiSu.  In turn HuiSu, starting from HuiSu, esoteric Buddhism in China actually stayed underground for this past almost 1200 years, from one master to one student, who in turn became the next successor or next master.  It has been like this for the past 1000 or so years, until, Master Yu’s master told him, “starting from your generation, you have to begin to expound the esoteric teachings and practices to the public.  For the time is now.  It's here.  We have no more time to wait, is time to start the teaching.”

So certainly, that would be a big surprise for Buddhists all over the world, because according to historical accounts, they believe Nagajuna’s lineage actually ceased to exist in China after Amoghavajra’s time.  And they believe supposedly his teaching went on to Japan.  It’s also believed that the Tibetans, the Lamas actually have the most esoteric teachings, rather than the Chinese lineage, which is incorrect.  Most people don’t know enough of the history to be able to say either way.  The fact of the matter is, Tibetans’ Lamas’ teaching is what we would call a scattered teaching.  You have to pull the teachings of all the different Tibetan schools together in order to form a more complete picture or teaching of esoteric Buddhism.

But it is very widely accepted that Nagarjuna’s successors were actually the main, what I would call main trunk lineage of esoteric teachings, they are the real holders in that sense of esoteric Buddhism.  But historical account says that they disappeared because the Chinese emperor extinguished it, it no longer exists.  So when Master Yu came out and claimed he is the lineage holder succeeding Amoghavajra’s line in China, it was a big surprise for many people.  Especially for the Buddhists that will understand history, especially for esoteric Buddhist practitioners.  It will be a big historical discovery, at the same time; I would call it an archaeological discovery, certainly a big religious discovery.

Anybody who claims he is the lineage holder of Amoghavajra's line passed on from Nagarjuna’s time, he is claiming he is the holder of Mahavairocana’s teaching.  Mahavairocana is a Sanskrit term referring to the great enlightener.  Sometimes translated as the great sun Buddha, which means the great absolute sun, the shining one.  The one that, in order words, the all mighty one.  So in other words, who ever holds this office as the holder of Mahavairocana’s teachings, supposedly, in the Buddhist understanding, at least for the esoteric Buddhist understanding, he is the highest teacher of the whole esoteric teaching.  Whoever comes out and claims to be that he is the lineage holder of this particular school better have something to back it up.  So according to what I have heard so far, when master first came out he was certainly, a lot of Lamas heard about him, and even the Rinpoche’s so they invited him to Beijing, China.  He had a big debate with 20 of the Rinpoche’s of the Gelugpa School.  These 20 Rinpoches, I’m talking about old Rinpoches from the old days that were long ago recognized as Rinpoches, they were like, and some of them were as old or older then……….

So this was a big debate.  In that debate, certainly its not philosophical discussion alone.  Debate includes demonstrations of your attainment, which refers to Buddha-dharma.  Buddha means enlightened one, dharma means the law.  To put it in other words, what can you do?  What can you actually do?  What’s your power?  You have to demonstrate what is your understanding of the teaching of the sutra, you have to be able to expand verbally and at the same time actually demonstrate.  Words alone will not stand up to the test.  You better be able to perform and show exactly what you are talking about.  So in that, to put it in a very short version of that big debate is that after the debate, everybody in the room, every, both Tibetan and Mongolian Rinpoches of the Gelugpa School, everybody all knelt down to Master Yu and paid their respect accordingly.  They knelt down to him, not to him as Mr. Yu, but in as the holder of Mahavairocana’s teaching.  Because they understood about history and the significance of this lineage. It was a discovery for them, and they understood, each Rinpoche in the Tibetan school, they only hold a certain part of the esoteric teaching; they do not hold the whole teaching.  And they also understood, only the Mahavairocana’s lineage holder holds the whole teaching, and that refers to from Nagarjuna’s line.

In fact, he has been scrutinized and proven over and over again by many Rinpoche’s and Living Buddhas.  So in this past, this year, a couple of months ago in September, the Tilopa of the Karma Kagyu lineage enthroned him as the Golden Crown Dharma King.  If anyone who follows the Tibetan school will understand what I mean.  When I mention Karma-Kagyu, it’s a big school in Tibetan Buddhism, when I mention Tilopa, it’s even the Biggest name.  Tilopa is actually the head master of the karma Kagyu School.  People who believe its Karmapa.  But Karmapa’s own master in history, the first Karmapa’s master was called Gampopa.  First Gampopa's master was a famous master called Milarepa.  Most people into Buddhism have heard this name.  Milarepa’s master was Marpa, a great translator.  Marpa’s master was Naropa.  Naropa’s master was Tilopa.  So Tilopa is, not the Tibetan, the first Tilopa was actually a Hindu.  From him, that’s how the Karma Kagyu lineage will form.   Karmapa is such a big name because a few years back, I think it was about 3 or 4 years now, that Karmapa from Tibet left China, just crossed the border into India and stayed….until today.  So in September, it was actually from Tilopa and Karmapa, that they made the offering of the golden crown to Master Yu as the Golden Crown Dharma King.  Dharma king simply means the one that actually expounds the teaching of Buddha dharma who, you can put it this way, who rules in this realm of Buddha dharma teachings.

So they are no longer in a sense the practitioners of the Buddha dharma teachings, they are, in fact, the masters of the teaching.  So there are actually very few dharma kings in esoteric Buddhism.  Most living Buddhas, they are not considered dharma kings.  They may have attained the dharma or have awakened, themselves, but they are not dharma kings.  They are not crowned as dharma kings, they are…awakened beings.  But for the awakened beings, being crowned as a dharma king, then you can think of them as the masters of the masters, the king of kings, in a different phrase.  When Master Yu was crowned by Tilopa and Karmapa as the golden crown, it automatically implies, if someone wears the golden crown, its implied he is the highest master of esoteric Buddhism, that goes without saying.

Anyone who holds the Mahavaironcana’s lineage is in fact in the highest position…esoteric hierarchy.  Certainly in Buddhism has no such thing as a hierarchy, unlike other religious, its more like everybody is equal, but they will respect it as having this hierarchy.  They respect certain person as holding the highest position, it’s simply means he holds the teaching more completely than any other teacher.  So it was quite a discovery.  As of now we have learned that since the September enthronement that Tilopa and Karmapa made their offerings to Master Yu as the Golden Crown Dharma King, there are many people in Buddhist countries that heard this news.  They are mainly practitioners monks.  So they crossed over the border on their own on foot from Buddhist countries such as India and Nepal, and crossed over on foot into Tibet and walked toward North China headed for Master Yu’s hometown to seek a blessing from him.  So this is how big the news was shaking up the Buddhist countries.  Certainly in the west people don’t follow that, they don’t know how important, how significant this is.  That’s a little bit on his school and lineage.

Living Buddha Dechan Jueren (Master Yu):  Good evening everyone.  I always wish that every time I meet someone that I will bring you good luck and fortune.  So I will always give my blessings to everyone that I meet.  If you have any illness, through tonight, attending this lecture, it will improve.  If you have any bad luck, then I hope your luck will change.  If you would like to receive the healings, then simply relax, sit with your feet flat on the ground, and put your hands on your lap, turned over with your palms facing up.  As long as you keep your hands with palms facing upward, relaxed, then you will begin to have this sensation in your hands or through your body.  See if you can experience any sensation right now.  What do you feel?

Perhaps you were wondering some are feeling sensations in different parts of the body, yet you do not see that I am doing anything.  I don’t have any movements.  But through this way of giving my blessings, I can only tell you, whether your physical condition, or whether your luck, they will all improve.  Some of you who are more sensitive not only will you feel this kind of sensation in your hands, but you also feel on your head or through your body.  Certainly not every one will feel the same thing, each individual will feel different things.  You can say every individual has his own different kind of personality, different blood type, different background and thinking, therefore their level of sensitivity for different things also is different.  As I am continuing to provide you that blessing through this form of healing, I would like to talk about little things of life.  Even though we call them little things, they happen in our lives all the times, and they tell us a lot of truth.  What can we do….to solve all the problems we have?  In everyday life, everyone has their own problems.

Lets think about this, everybody we know, living today in this world, whoever he is and whatever position or status in society, that person has his own type of worries, his own level of worries these kind of worries deepen their suffering, and they have disasters.  What can we in terms of solving this problem, free ourselves from worry, disasters, and problems?  Have you noticed, the more we try, however we try to avoid all these problems, it will seem like the more we will run into them?  The more you seek a peaceful life, the more worries will continue to bother you.   Its most peoples wish to have good health, and at the same time, good luck.  Have you also discovered, whatever we dream about, our ideas, they don’t align with reality.  Is it possible, whatever we wish or will, it will happen and become a reality for us?

Everyone certainly has dreamed, this possibility, if I can just wish something or will something, it will become a reality for me.  The question is, is the person able to accomplish this?  What can that person do in order to accomplish this?  In other words, basically, people’s worries begin with dissatisfaction, from this misalignment, what they wish and their reality.  Pose this question; what is the origin, the cause for people worries?  We can put it simply, because we thought of something or wished for something, but it never really happened as reality for us, because it did not equate, therefore we begin to worry.  What can we do to change that in order to experience whatever goes on in our heart or mind, it will be the same as we have thought or wished, with the changing conditions of the environment?  What can we do, to free ourselves, to liberate ourselves from worries?  Why is that for most people, they are unable to rid these kind of worries from their lives?

These are the questions that for most people in the world have yet to solve.  Think about this, every one of us, everyday, constantly, we have all kinds of questions marks popping up in our heads.  Before that first question is answered, the next question mark comes up, before that one is answered, another one comes again.  Pondering in the daytime, you have all these questions pondering in your head, and in the night when you go to sleep, the question marks still continue to pop up in your head.  What’s this phenomenon, what you have….When you can find the root cause of how this comes about, and then you have found the solution.  When we are unable to find or see to the root cause of the problem, then we will never be able to find a solution.  What….can we do to free ourselves?  As I said, first we have to see to the root cause of the problem and yet we do not see our worries, our problems, as being generated by ourselves.  Only when people truly solve their problems which were generated by themselves, then they begin to really change.

Only when they really start to change, will all of their worries and problems disappear.  In other words, if one wants to change everything, then that person must change himself first.  He who is truly able to change himself, he will be able to change the conditions of his environment.  So what can one do to change?  Or the question should be, is the person capable of changing himself?  We have also discovered, the hardest thing to do is actually changing oneself.  Why is it so hard for one to change?  The reason is, simply, we do no truly know ourselves, that’s why we do not see ourselves clearly and change.  Then what can we do to truly know ourselves?

Only when a person truly knows himself will he be able to really change.  So what are the ways to know yourself well?  When a person is unable to grasp the methods or ways of knowing himself well, he will not be able to hold himself…..What we know of ourselves is only the appearances, what would appear to be superficial views of the self.  We do not see our actions, the essence, or….jist that’s driving us.  What can we do in order to truly know ourselves?  As I have said, only when we truly know ourselves will we begin to change.  In reality, changing oneself should be the easiest thing to do.  The hard thing to do is to know the self, knowing oneself is the hard thing to do.  Certainly quite a few people will have questions and wonder, “How is it that I don’t know myself?  For a simple example, every night I go home, and I find my own door.  I don’t end up at somebody else house.  We have a group picture taken together, I recognize myself right in the photograph.  How is that I do not know my self?”

Yes, you do know yourself, only the appearance of yourself.  Your appearance, is only a representation of yourself, the existence of what you look like, or your physical body is indisputable, its you.  But it’s only a representation, an appearance of you.  It is something everybody can see for themselves and they will say, “I know this guy,” So what is that I refer to when I say you do not know yourself, you do not see it clearly?  What all and every behavior, action, and deed you have done so far.  Think about this, how many people in the world actually remember themselves well enough to be able to remember back and recall every little detail, their motives, their actions, and so on?  When you are remembering yourself, in most cases you are remembering the good things you have done or the bad things you have done.  But have you thought about, perhaps for your life so far, whatever good deeds you feel you have done, how many of those good deeds actually led to bad results for others?  Have you thought about what ever bad deeds you may have done, may actually have been the start of something good?

So then, for your life so far, what is the standard to tell you whether this is a good thing or bad thing to do?  Have you thought about everyone of your actions or behaviors, do others see more clearly than you?  Have you thought about, whatever you have done in the past others around you saw it, and did any one of them tell you the whole truth?  Why is that most of what you have done nobody will ever mention it to you?  No matter whether it’s your friends, your family, or your relatives, they will not point it out for you.  If you would like to confirm this, why don’t you do an experiment?  Purposefully, you just do something bad, and then ask the people around you, “what do you feel about what I just did?”  I bet if you are in a position to ask others like that, in most cases they will say, “You did a good job, try it again!”  Or something like that.  They will not be very frank and tell you you’ve done something very bad.  I say this is an experiment, you purposefully do something you know is really bad, yet not everyone will say this to you that its bad…Put it this way, if you ask some people like that, most cases most people around you do not want to anger you.  They want to……At least they want to maintain a good relationship to you, think about it.  This is the environment we live our life.

So in other words, how good you do or how bad you have done in your life, you really don’t know yourself.  So when I say know yourself, you want to know what you have done so far, your behavior, your actions, many of the actions we have taken, we were not aware of it, many, we were not aware of.

Therefore, in our life, its unavoidable there are certain things we will not…we still do it.  Do you want to be able to see what you have done, yet….others to point this out.  Therefore, how are you going to know any other way, and how are you ever going to change if you don’t know?  If we follow so far what I am saying, we lack this knowledge into ourselves, therefore we are not able to change according to the conditions of the environment.  Therefore, whatever actions we have taken, they misaligned with the conditions of the environment, they didn’t jive.  Therefore, whatever we wish in our careers, they don’t go smoothly.  Therefore, whatever we plan, they just don’t work out as well in reality, in real life, and then we begin to have a lot of worries.  These kinds of harassments in our lives are the beginning of all our worries.  In other words, for our lives, our goal is really to continue to better ourselves.  To better oneself means to overcome many things of ourselves that…lack.  Only so will we ever become better.  And to perfect ourselves, only when we have perfected ourselves have we truly changed.  If we are unable to perfect ourselves, then we will continue to be limited by ourselves.

So bettering oneself is certainly a critical point.  First we must grasp this understanding of the truth.  Think about what I am going to say next, it’s very simple.  Only he who is able to change himself, is able to change anything in his environment.  In other words, if anyone wishes to be able to help others, then that person must first learn the ways to help himself.  To put it another way, only he who is able to help himself out, will he have the means, the ability to help others.  When a person is not even able to help himself, then he is unlikely; it’s impossible for him to help others.  It’s in everyones good nature, wanting, thinking, they want to help others, but it’s never a reality.  So in other words, the goal in your life should be learning the ways to be able to help yourself so you may be able to do more.  As I have said, again, only he, who is able to help himself, will he be able to change the conditions of the environment.  If a person never grasps the methods to help himself out, then he will be continually stuck at his….point, stuck at that spot, he will be limited by himself, unable to change.  So in order for that person to learn the methods to help himself, then he must begin to change.  If he is unable to change, then he will never be able to learn the methods and ways to help himself.  Lets say everybody wishes to have good health, to have good luck.

If you have so much on your mind, so much worry and stress, would you believe you will have a good healthy body….now if you follow the logic so far, if you do not have a good healthy body, over the long term, how are you ever going to have good luck?  So things don’t happen by accident, they link together.  Cause links to the next effect.  Certainly, I do understand we do have certain obstacles in communication.  There are many things we discuss that are difficult to translate into English, there are no good terms for that.  Certainly, there is a big difference in terms of culture.  For Americans, their history really is only a few hundred something years old.  For Chinese culture, they have been around for thousands of years, and they can trace back to 7500 years ago.  You understand, whatever a people’s knowledge, it’s accumulated over time.  It’s an accumulation of their culture.

So what I am saying, because of that big gap, the big differences in terms of cultures, and their understanding of different things, it becomes difficult to translate many terms from eastern traditions into western languages.  In order for, in this case, a westerner to understand some of these eastern teachings, it becomes, through different means, instead of one term what we have to use, for example, ten sentences just to elaborate on what that term is.  What I have been doing for these last few minutes in order to get this point across, only when a person continues to change in his life, then that person’s behavior continuing to change himself, is closer to what nature meant to be.

We all live in this environment of nature.  Yet we do not understand what is nature all about.  For example, when I use the term nature, you thought about all these things, rain, wind, storm, snow, are they nature?  No.  They are only phenomenon of the nature.  But we do have bodies, and our bodies do feel the changes of nature.  As I say, you may feel the changes of nature with your body, but for most people, you do not see the changes of nature with you eyes.  Why do I say your body experiences this change, but your eyes do not see it?  For example, you feel cold, you feel hot, and you may feel this.  But that change from cold to hot, as this change is happening, why is it that you do not perceive with your eyes the changes taking place in space?  All these changes of nature follow a certain rhythm, certain laws.

Why is it that we do not see certain rhythms or laws?  By the time you feel this, it’s already passed.  But yet you did not perceive it as it was happening before hand.  So what exactly are these rhythms or laws that are changing things taking place in nature?  Or perhaps we should ask the question, why is that it, or this nature, or this kind of rhythm or law take place?  And yet, why is it that we do not see, do not perceive this?  Its possible for a person to grasp this law, grasp this rhythm, how is this…rhythm formed in the first place?  Let me tell you, only when a person is truly able to change himself, then he will see for himself this rhythm, this law of nature.  If that person is unable to change himself, then he will be forever limited, bondaged in these laws in nature.  If we were not able to see the existence of these laws of nature as rhythms continually changing, then we will not see what will happen to us tomorrow.

Putting it another way, when we do grasp and see for ourselves all these changing rhythms in nature as they are taking place, then we will be able to grasp what will take place next, tomorrow.  In other words, if any one is a spiritual practitioner seeking enlightenment, then you must come to that point where you know for yourself past, present, and future.  Of all and everything, if we do not see our past, present and future, we will continue to be limited by our environment.  Why are we limited by the conditions of the environment?  Because first, we have placed ourselves, or limited ourselves.  People may understand this intellectually that we place ourselves under our own self-limitation, even though we may understand this intellectually, but we do not see it actually.  Because, once this happens that you have limited yourself, then, automatically you will be limited by the conditions of your environment.  Yet, we still do not see the changing of the nature and the environment.  That’s why, for most people, we don’t see what will happen tomorrow.  What will happen to the weather tomorrow?  What will happen to my luck tomorrow?  What will happen to my health tomorrow?  Can you see into tomorrow that you know….  Can you see into tomorrow that you know when you are going to leave, how you are going to leave this world?

After you pass away, can you see where you are going to go?  These are all the questions, understandings, we should grasp them.  If you want to be able to grasp this, know for yourself, then you must learn to change yourself.  Only when you are able to truly change yourself, will you be able to change the conditions of your environment.  I remember there was a person once asked me this question, “ If I were to know my future, then its meaningless for me to live now, since I already know what will happen.  Then I will have no more drive, or aspiration to do anything.  What’s going to happen?”  My response is, “Only when you do know your future, then you live a more gallant life, more worthy of this life.”  If you do see your future then you will understand what you need to do right in order to, for example, better your career.  This example in your career, then you will see what steps you need to take to develop it in the further.  If you know the problems ahead of time, then you have a target, then you have the time now before it happens to solve the problem.

For most people, they do not see what will happen in the future, what problem they will face, so the problem will simply down on them, it will happen, and usually it’s too late to do much about it.  Think about people who run all kinds of business, how many of peoples businesses that failed because of sudden problems.  If someone’s career or business fails suddenly with just one problem, then they feel a lot of stress….emotionally.  Then because of this emotional stress from of their failed career or business, then they place the stress on their body.  So in other words, only when you do know your future, what’s in store for you, you will actually benefit from this type of knowledge.  When you do see your future and you know this ahead of time who will be your best partners that you should work with.   When you have these kind of partners in your life, your partners will solve most of your problems.  When you do not see and know your future, then you have no idea who you should be with or work with.  When anyone has run any business, you will understand, how many businesses fail because its partners problem.  Because the partners problems, that person is unable to continue, and making more problems for themselves.  If we were to know what will happen in the future for all and everything, then we will see what will come in the future, whatever natural disasters, and since you know ahead of time, you can avoid them.

If you do know all and everything in the future, then it will make your life much more comfortable.  What ever or disasters that may be waiting for you in the future, since you do know them ahead of time, then you have time to prepare to avoid them.   When you are able to avoid all your disasters in your future, then it will really make your life much more comfortable.  Therefore, it will lessen your suffering.  For example, since we have so many cars especially in California, if you do……your future, then now many car accidents would you…avoid.  Only when we do know all and everything in the future, then we will be able to change the future.  This is any practitoner, following any teaching, most basic goal.  You should at least know yourself…….

Tonight I thought I would only touch on these few simple points of the truth.  In the future when you get to know more of me then you can ask all sorts of questions you want, and I will elaborate further in greater detail.  If I were to help you, and the only way to do that is if I were to teach you what you need to do, but that’s not enough.  What you need to do, you need to actually learn it well.  What are you going to do with it once you learn it?  That’s what matters.  In other words, if I were to teach you a certain dharma teaching, and if you have learned how to do it, once you learn how to do it, it does not mean you have attained to that practice.  It still depends on yourself to make that effort to practice.

So in other words, only when you have learned from the master, for example if I taught you a certain practice, you actually put it into practice, enter that state, attain that purity, then you can say you have accomplished in that particular practice.  The general question will be, “How do you know whether you have attained to this particular dharma practice?”  It will be like this, in the first impression, you met someone, you seem to just know what this person is thinking of.  Now if you do know ahead of time what this person is thinking of, yet in most cases he’s not going to say what’s on his mind.  He will say something else.  And what you hear from his mouth and what’s going in his mind are two different things.  You realize, through many of these kind of experiences, you realize most people in this world, what they say and what they do, what they think about and actually do, its completely different.  They don’t say and do what they think about.  In the beginning of you attaining the dharma, realizing the truth, in the beginning there’s no better way to put it, you feel angry, you’re pissed off by the people in the world.

Because you know what’s going on in their mind, and yet they say the completely opposite thing.  That’s why you feel anger.  Gradually, you actually begin to sense the changes taking place in the weather.  You may feel this, as you can sense the changes in the environment, then you will have this intuition and know, three days later, and at what hour, it will rain.  You have this intuition, you have this thought and you realize, “OK, so it’s going to rain,” but you are not even sure yourself, and you wait, and three day later it actually rains at the hour you thought.   Over time you begin to believe yourself.  If this kind of intuition happens to you in detailed accuracy ten times, if it happens ten times like this, then you can pretty much assure yourself, you begin to see the laws of nature, you begin to see the truth.  Once you have confirmed to yourself, and you know your intuition is correct in regard to this, you begin to become more perceptive and observant of all these changes taking place in the weather, in the environment.  You become more observant to the point you will see how wind happens, how wind will generate.  Through this kind of direct experience, direct observance of all these changes happening, then you will check the books of what you studied in school and see whether people’s theories are actually correct against what you have observed yourself in nature.  Through these kind of experiences over time, slowly you begin to have doubts about what you have learned in the past, what you called knowledge in the past.  When you come to this point, when you are at this stage in your experience, your changes really begin.  You are now changing.

Slowly, you will be more and more willing to let go, to give up all of your attachments in the past.  You will change your old habits or behaviors.  At this point, the new you begins to surface.  Because your thoughts, because your behaviors have changed, and the people around you who know you the most, will notice this change in you.  Once you have changed, then every condition in your environment will all begin to change.  At this point of your experience, you will begin to realize, life is a wondrous mystery.  Yet life is transparent.  It’s an open book to the enlightened.  At that point of your experience you will realize.  There is nothing you can hide in this world.  Nothing is a secret.  Everything is an open book.  At this stage in the Buddhist teachings, they describe it as, you now have wisdom.  Not only you know all and everything of yourself and others’ past, present and future, not only yourself, but anyone else’s past, present, or future, then you know what was your relationship with anybody you have met, in your past lives.  Including you know why your son becomes your son this life, what was your relationship with your son in your previous one, what will you do with this relationship now, all and everything, in detail.

When you do realize and know….knowledge of anyone’s current relationship with you in this life, you know about your relationship with that person in your past life, whatever problems you have in your current life with this person, you will simply drop it and let it go.  People’s worries really come from their relationship with each other.  Many of these worries come from their problems with their relationships.  Worries happen because they do not know the cause, the reason why it led this relationship to be this way.  When we do see it with that knowledge, this cause, the reason that led to this point, you will no longer worry about it because it’s simply what we call karma.  If you were to know, see to your past life and realize, this person, I owed him big money in the past lifetime.  So this lifetime, he borrowed some money from me but never intended to pay it back.  Then you will no longer worry about it because you have actually just paid it back to him.  You no longer say such superficial stuff on appearances, “Someone cheated money out of me!”  If you see the whole truth you actually realize you owe him and need to pay him back.  You no longer say things like that and you no longer worry about these kind of things happening to you.  In other words, life, most people really have yet to experience.  There are many wondrous mysteries of life, people are simply just not aware.  What can we do in order to be able to see for ourselves?

The only way to sum it up is to learn the ways to change yourself.  If you want to change yourself, then you have to grasp the ways to know yourself well.  That wonder that mystery, is in the tiny little things.  The tiniest things, the tinier it is, it’s hard for you to grasp, yet its right there.  If you want to be able to grasp the truth, then you have to begin to balance your mind.  I think that should be enough.  If I go any further, I worry that you may be unable to digest them all.  You are welcome to ask any questions on any parts that you don’t understand.

Q:  My role is to serve others, if I understand Master correctly.  Do I need to experience some self-development in order to liberate myself from my ego and attachments before I serve others?

Kuo:  Basically, that’s the idea.  If you are unable to liberate yourself, how are you going to help out anybody?

Q:  How do learn how to know someone from the past lives?

Master:  You have to start from the basics, foundations.  It’s more about perseverance and diligence, whether you are able to follow the discipline, then its not that hard to get it.

Q:  What do I need to know about this relationship to make it easier? (A young woman points to her son)

Master:  When you do know what’s in both of your karma from your previous life, then you understand about this life, and you will no longer worry about anything that will happen.  We all talk about love.  I think the best manifestation or demonstration of love is mother’s love to the children.  Because no matter how the children behave in general, the mother will love her children unconditionally.  It’s in their nature, a mother is even willing to give her own life to protect her own children.

Q:  Do we have to meditate to learn how to see into the future?

Master: Yes.

Kuo:  You have to be able to enter into that meditative state.

Master:  We have a couple of workshops this weekend.  Tomorrow I will talk about what one can one do to raise himself to a higher state of consciousness.  Through what means or methods can a person learn to change himself.  How to do this in the most expedient way.  Tomorrow, in tomorrow’s workshop I will also teach a real meditation practice to realize Zen.  I came to the United States for a few years.  There were many meditation centers and Zen centers, have invited me in the past.  I discovered for myself, all these Zen centers and meditation centers were run by people that have no idea what Zen is all about.  Let me just say, Zen, you can only attain through realization.

Zen, you cannot attain with purposeful meditating to get it.  When we sit there and calm our minds down and…meditation, its call entering into a state of calmness, that experience of calmness is not the Zen state.  To enter that state of calmness is through our willful effort, man-made effort, it’s not natural.  Zen is a natural experience.  Most people are so confused, they simply cannot tell any different.  Especially there are people that have written books on defining and telling others what Zen is all about.  That’s even worse.  It’s an old Chinese saying, because the Zen school actually became mature in China, “Anybody who will truly realize Zen, does not know how to tell you about Zen.”  These who write books about Zen, have yet to realize what Zen is.  I don’t know whether anyone here tonight has ever read a book on Zen.  If you have read a lot of those books, perhaps you will realize there is a commonality among every one of those books out there on the market.

If you really noticed there are common points in all these Zen books, then let me tell you, it’s the first writer’s fantasies, then the second writer copycatting, then the third writer copycatting.  Pretty soon you have all these common points in what they believe Zen is.  This is how books on Zen happen.  When you practice meditation and truly enter into the Zen state, the self, then you will realize this point.  Whatever people write, putting words in a book on paper about Zen, they are all wrong.  Why is that we say, anyone who actually realizes Zen never really talks about what Zen is like, and why is that we say it’s even harder to put them into words, to write them down? I can only tell you, for different kinds of people entering that Zen state, they will experience differently.  So if you understand this statement, different types of people entering that zen state, remember its all the same zen state, but they experience it differently, how are you going to write a book standardizing everybody’s experience exactly the same when each individual experiences differently?

Now can you also understand this logic, for different types of people entering that same state all having the exact same experiences, is this nature?  Is this possible?  Then it’s a rule, everybody sticks to it.  It’s a man-made business, it cannot be natural.  Let’s say everybody needs a good healthy body, yet, that’s what they crave, to have a healthy body, yet they do not know where to find the best ways to have a good healthy body.

So people learn all sorts of meditation, all kinds of special practices.  Let me point this out, even though you may calm your mind down entering info that state of calmness, relax yourself, but its only temporary.  It’s not the final solution for your enlightenment.  It’s not the final solution to all your problems.  If you want to find the ultimate solution you have to enter that same state and experience for yourself.  Tomorrows workshop, I will cover extensively and in more detail on this topic of Zen, and this kind of awareness or consciousness.  I will also teach a meditation to help you to realize Zen.

So what is Zen?  We can only put it in a rough idea, Zen is, based on these theories, you have to put into practice, experience for yourself, all this combined together, once you realize it, then you can say you have realized Zen.  You learn certain methods, you practice them….able to enter into that certain state,  in that certain state of experience, changes happen with you.  Once you have changed, you realize something is there.  Whatever that abstract concept that you have experienced there.  Then you refer to it simply as a name, as Zen.  I say abstractly speaking, you can just give a name, Zen.  It’s only a name, something you have to use to refer to something.  Only when you truly enter that Zen state yourself, whatever will reveal in you in that state of experience is unimaginable, it’s indescribable.  Therefore whatever words of language or whatever you can put on paper or in a book, you will not be able to do that at all.

Then on Sunday afternoon at 2pm, we will have a workshop teaching the Medicine Buddha Dharma practice.  The Medicine Buddha practice, traditionally, in the esoteric Buddhist disciple is only a transmission passed down in the esoteric school.  Traditionally, this dharma practice was never really taught to the public.  Once you have learned the Medicine Buddha dharma and put it into practice, then you will free yourself from disasters for the rest of your life, and suffering for the rest of your life.  At the same time you will extend your life and change your luck.  As I said, traditionally it was never taught to the public because without receiving abhiseka, or Buddhist baptism, empowerment, a person will not be able to proceed on that practice.  In the old days, Medicine Buddha practice was only taught to the initiated students.  However, I have decided to begin to transmit the Medicine Buddha practice to the public, to non-initiated students.  Since June of last year, I already foresaw a big disaster coming for the whole human race.

Since June of last year, in many places, whether Los Angeles, or Amherst Massachusetts, or Hawaii, I already told many of my disciples what’s in store, what’s coming.  I told them, this world will soon see a few different kind of epidemic diseases or viruses.  In June of last year, I first described to them the first virus symptoms like this: In the beginning, it appears to be a common cold, once it turns into what appears to be pneumonia, that person may die in a few days.  The second thing I said that will come is skin disease, this kind of rash or bumps on their skin, if it turns into red in the middle of it and breaks out, then this person will probably not be able to live.  I also have mentioned other things, and only described the symptoms having to do with the brain and inflammation.  Rat disease, and two other different types of skin disease.  Then, old stuff that will appear again that we thought was already gone such as cholera.  So now we know the first one, now we call it SARS, we have a name for it.  And there are already other things showing up.  I can tell you the truth.  These epidemic diseases and viruses, we have yet to stamp them out, they are still continuing, going on.  All the countries and governments no longer mention it because they realized since the first thing, SARS, its bad for the economy of the whole country. So they will no longer mention it.  I have decided to teach the Medicine Buddha for that very purpose, for the medicine Buddha practice can help, preventing from catching any of these viruses and diseases.

Once you have learned, you will also be able to heal others of any illnesses.  In addition to the Medicine Buddha practice just for yourself, you will also learn the healing technique for others.  At the same time, the purifying dharmas to purify food, air, and water.  Because, if you think about it, these are the three items, necessities of life.  To purify food and water, a lot of food is labeled healthy food, but it’s only a label.  It’s a way for the businessmen to promote their items.  Can you see it this point?  If we grow any food in a contaminated environment, can this food not be contaminated?  So these purify dharma techniques, you can apply to the food you are going to eat, purifying all the problems our of the food.  When we do teach these kinds of techniques we will certainly experiment with it, and you have to learn to do it.  For example, take a cookie, break it in half, purify one half and leave the other half untouched, and you have to taste the cookies yourself and you will notice the change in the taste.  Once you have learned how to do this, then the only way to know whether you have learned, you have to do it yourself.  You must practice and become skillful so you will actually be able to do this and have the same effectiveness.

In the Medicine Buddha workshop on Sunday, you may also learn how to purify air, water and food.  Certainly, I hope that for those who learn this, I hope you remember to use them every time you are going to eat something.  If you keep doing these purifying techniques every time you eat something or drink water, every day for 100 days, you will notice a change in yourself, you may appear to be 5-15 years younger.  You will notice 100 days later, if you have any illness, they will all disappear.  If you are still young, then you will stay young.  Now I would like to show you the pendants here.  These were empowered by the 108 Lamas in the Palace of Harmony, the biggest Lama temple in Beijing, China, and at the same time also by the 11 living Buddhas the 11 Rinpoches in the yellow temple also in Beijing after the September 11 event.  They prayed, chanted over these pendants for 100 days.  They are also meant for the coming wave of viruses.  This one is the Dharma Wheel, I believe it is 24 karat gold plated.  You can see if you can feel this.  Turn your palms face up and relax.  What do you feel on your palms.  Anybody?

A:  I feel a sensation going back and forth on my palms like a pressure…..more sensation in my thumbs………….sensation in the center…..in the middle……

If you wear this pendant, or hang it in your house or put it in your car, you can take a pendent as a real piece of lucky charm.  It will give you certain protection you will not be able to imagine. 
This translator actually coined a new term, to mantrize.  To empower an item with a mantra.
That’s it for tonight, I hope to see everyone tomorrow.

Stephen Quong:  Before you go, Thank you all for coming and thank you Master Yu for the dharma talk and Kuo for the translating.  Tomorrow we are having a one day workshop on meditations for spiritual healing.  I have chosen that theme as a very general, open theme so Master Yu can choose the exact topic and expound upon whatever he feels is most appropriate for the group.  It should not be put off if you came with the intention for a physical healing for a specific ailment.  When I first met Master Yu two and a half years ago, I drove to Los Angeles with a sprained back.  I could hardly move for six weeks.  I came specifically to learn techniques for healing my back, and then Master Yu started talking about Zen for 8 ½ hours.  I thought “ I came for healing, and he’s talking about Zen.” The last half hour of the weekend, Master Yu just looked at me for a few seconds and said, “ There isn’t time to heal everybody, because the program is almost over, but I’ll heal everybody in the audience as I talk for the last half hour.”  He just looked at me and I experienced heat in my lower back, both sides, for five minutes, 110 degrees.  After that, all the pain was gone.  I had full flexibility and full range of motion and full strength.  That’s when I realized that he has the ability to heal anyone whenever he wants to regardless of time, space, or the topic of his talk.  So regardless of what it was you were expecting, whether it was talks on enlightenment, higher consciousness, healing, personal problems, whatever it is, I’m quite certain that it will be addressed in tomorrows workshop in a very specific and personal way.  So I invite you all to come if you can to tomorrows program as well as on Sunday.  I thank you all for coming.