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Today in America there are people who sincerely
believe in Buddha, cultivators who truly study and practice the
Bodhisattva path, constantly promoting the happiness and peace of
all men. Every day they allow the pure water of perfect wisdom to
fall, settling the floating dust of ignorance, dissolving dark veils
of anger and greed. Seeking no reward, they wish only to enlighten
all beings to the original bright nature.
Readers, beware! There are also among you false
teachers: "Zen–masters", "Lamas", "Yogins", and "Gurus", smooth
swindlers seeking only profit and fame. In every bookstore, on every
campus, among the young and the old, resorting to flattery, koans,
and intellectual Zen, false patriarchs peddle their wares, saying,
"You are a Buddha. I am a Buddha. We are all Enlightened! Listen to
me. Just BE! Be Free!"
Dressed in bright and colorful robes, offering
"Instantaneous Enlightenment", claiming to be guardians of the
esoteric meaning, initiates to the Secret Sects of Tibet, or
Patriarchs who transmit the mind– to–mind seal of Shakyamuni Buddha,
they gather about them naive and deluded "disciples" who are unable
to distinguish the real from the false. They slither from place to
place like garish golden snakes with fluorescent
eyes, chanting incantations, beating drums, and tinkling bells,
mesmerizing timorous fools, all for the sake of fame and fortune.
I have a question for these strange creatures
who lead the innocent astray. "Have you taken refuge with the Triple
Jewel and received the orthodox transmission of moral precepts?" If
you haven’t taken refuge with the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha
and received the complete precepts of a Bhiksu,
then you are a laymen and may not, therefore, accept disciples. If
one accepts disciples while still a laymen, one opposes the
principles spoken by the Buddha. How is one who daily opposes those
principles able to properly transmit them to others, revealing the
orthodox path to Enlightenment? From the time when Shakyamuni.
Buddha transmitted the Dbarma to Mahakasyapa, there has not been one
Patriarch who has not "taken refuge" and received the complete
precepts. Although one who has not done so may claim to be a
"Patriarch", or "Zen–Master", he is certainly just a demon posing as
a son of the Buddha.
I also have a question for the "disciples" of
these hypocrites. "What is your goal in studying? Do you wish to be
an ‘old fraud’ too?" To study with a false teacher for even one more
day is to plant the seeds of future suffering. As you allow the
original wisdom light of your self–nature to become further
obscured, you fall deeper and deeper into the dark abyss of
confusion.
Confused understanding spreads confused
understanding.
Because one preaches, two don’t understand.
The master falls into the hells, and
His disciple reverently follows along.
––Dharma Protector
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