|
 |
|
|
"I vow to always protect
the right dharma and smash demon heads into 84,000 pieces."
|
In the first issue of Vajra Bodhi Sea,
the "Demon-Cutting Sword" sliced many Demon Kings. With this second
issue, I introduce the "Demon-Pounding Pestle", which subdues demons
everywhere. You demons must all surrender now, lest I be even more
severe in the future.
So that the perfection of the true Buddhadharma
may quickly appear, unsoiled by the deluded and the confused, these
principles must now be made clear:
All those who wish to succeed in realizing the
utmost, right, equal and proper enlightenment of all Buddhas, must
take refuge with the Triple Jewel: the Buddha; the Dharma; and the
Sangha. In the world, the Sangha represents the Buddha by revealing
the Dharma. Therefore to actually take refuge with the Buddha
requires the assistance of a properly ordained Bhiksu
of unquestionable virtue. Certainly one must not take refuge with
gods, demons, or with those who seek enlightenment outside of the
self-nature. Lay people who have already taken refuge, as well as
those who have also taken the five precepts, do not have the right
to represent the Buddha in accepting disciples who take refuge with
the Triple Jewel.
Before now, no one in America has truly and
properly understood the Buddhadharma. False teachers have spread
counterfeit Dharma, and are unlike teachers of the True Dharma in four ways:
- In The Leng Yen Sutra,
the Tathagata, speaking of the limited vision of such people, says,
"It is as if one were to disregard the one
hundred thousand clear and pure great seas, and recognize only the
substance of a single bubble of foam, looking upon it as if it
constituted all moisture, and as if it utterly exhausted all gulfs
of the ocean. You are just the same, a doubly confused person
among the confused."
- Confused and spun about by the myriad
thoughts of desire, false teachers do not seek the Tathagata’s true principle.
-
They are like those who have no eyes, yet
claim to possess true vision, leading other blind people about in an endless maze.
-
Because they have misunderstood cause and
effect, hand–in-hand they wander into the Avici hells.
Although false teachers may appear to be
Buddhists, it’s for sure that they are not. They may look like
Taoists, but we know they are not Taoists. Are they Catholics, or
Protestants perhaps? No! They resemble a cross–breed of platypus and
phoenix, a strange and clumsy spectacle utterly incapable of flight.
The Tathagata looks upon these people as truly the most pitiable.
Old Demon Kings! I know that you really don’t
wish to listen because now you are greatly afflicted. You little
demon kings certainly are endowed with even less spiritual power
than the old demons; hearing this Dharma talk, you are undoubtedly
scared to death. But I hope you are not actually frightened to death
because all of you are able to return from falseness to the proper
path. Walk out of the darkness and come towards the light! The
Bhiksus and Bhiksunis
will help you to truly understand the Buddhadharma, but only on one
condition: you must abandon your demon doings. Otherwise you really
needn’t bother to come. Moreover, if you don’t change for the good,
this Demon–Pounding Pestle will knock you senseless. Accordingly, I
have a gatha which says:
The Crooked can't
subdue the flourishing of right Buddhadharma.
Supreme heroes leave darkness and emerge into light.
If not, they surely fall into Avici Hells.
This was proved long ago by Devedatta.
I have a mind of compassion for you demon
kings, so you shouldn’t get angry. Ohh? So you say you are not a
demon? Then why are you so upset?
–––Dharma Protector
|
