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The Glorious Emei Mountain
Ah, only the Buddha can measure the heights of the glorious Emei Mountain, sacred abode of the Maha
Bodhisattva Samantabhadra. This year the Chinese Government has spent six to eight billion Chinese
dollars (300 million USD) just on reconstructing the Golden Summit of Emei Mountain. With thousands
of people working on this massive dharma project it should be completed in time for Sacred Journey’s
annual pilgrimage and teachings in 2006. The Hua Zang Monastery where our precious Emei Sudden
Enlightenment School comes from has been totally rebuilt from the ground up. As the temples name
implies it is truly a storehouse of dharma treasure.
In front of the Hua Zang Temple they are almost done erecting an eighty-meter (24 story tall)
Samantabhadra statue made of bronze with pure gold faces. He is sitting on four elephants that
are eight stories tall and traverses the four winds. Samantabhadra’s elephants have six tusks
that liberate the six-realm world with the six parimitas of generosity, morality, patience,
discipline, meditation and wisdom. They have perfect recollection and the strength of their
purity can carry the vast copious of dharma teachings throughout the cosmos.
Samantabhadra has ten faces that consecrates the ten directions with his samadhi gaze, seeing
all, blessing all. The main body faces the dharma land of Tibet with the majestic twenty four
thousand foot snow peaked Konga Mountains of Kham shinning on the horizon. After the Bodhisattva
Samantabhadra became a dharmakaya Buddha he manifested the Vajrayana teachings and passed them
down to Vajrasattva and Padmasambhava brought them to Tibet. In his hands he holds a giant vajra
representing the indestructible wisdom of the dharma. Samantabhadra also gazes to the north where
the Vajrayana teachings went to Russia and Mongolia. Samantabhadra also gazes south where he
passed the Pure Land teachings down to Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. Samantabhadra also gazes
east where he passed down the teachings of the Buddha all the way to Japan and beyond even to the
United States. His merit can only by Buddhas be told.
Our daily Samantabhadra Chant
Samantabhadra’s achievements and wishes are profound.
He admonishes people to make the supreme resolve to attain Bodhi.
He enables all those in the three sage states and the ten holy stages to see the honored Amitabha Buddha.
If the ten kingly vows are followed and carried out benefits only by Buddhas can be told.
Fruition of enlightenment and cause in the mind both harmonize for realization of the pure and undefiled
dharmakaya.
Fruition of enlightenment and cause in the mind both harmonize for realization of the pure and undefiled
dharmakaya.
The Bodhisattva of the greatest achievement named Samantabhadra with his multitude of vows so vast and
boundless dignifiedly rides a six tusk elephant.
With wisdom he manifests in the seven-jeweled lotus.
All his samadhi serenities are invariably sovereignly free.
Originally his wonderful virtues are all perfect and complete.
Augustly he comes to assist in the salvation of the saha world.
His supernatural responses and powers shake the great cosmos.
Blessed be Emei Mountain the silver colored world.
Blessed be the Primordial Bodhisattva Samantabhadra
Namo pu xian wang pu sa!!!
Namo Emei Mountain the silver colored world, Namo Samantabhadra the king of bodhisattvas!!!
Empowerment
Empowerment means to instill someone with a power. Em means to put in. Power is what is being transferred.
Ment means that the power has been conferred. On an outer level you can say that when a teacher or a
spiritual friend increases the power of a student through training that is an empowerment. On an inner
level when a teacher brings them into the light source of intrinsic awareness that is an empowerment.
On the secret level when a teacher shows the student the nature of their mind that
is an empowerment.
There are many forms and applications of empowerments. In the Sudden Enlightenment School empowerments
were always conferred spontaneously to individuals of varying capacities when their karmic disposition
was ripe for receiving them. The Buddha Shakyamuni gave the first empowerment in the Emei lineage. During
his teaching of the Prajnaparimita the king of the gods Indra appeared in the sky and offered the Buddha
a flower and became his disciple. The Buddha held the flower in his hand and blinked three times and out
of three hundred human beings that were in the audience only one, Kasyapa suddenly realized enlightenment.
Realization took place spontaneously and that is why it is called sudden. This transmission of empowerment
has been passed down in an unbroken line to the present time.
The Vajrayana schools have many tantric empowerments, which is the process of connecting the body, speech
and mind of the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, dakinis, and dharmapalas with that of the body, speech and mind of
the student. During the empowerment the master transmits the essence of the diety to the student and after
receiving empowerment they have the permission to visualize themselves as the diety and recite its mantra.
By doing so a practitioner of the sublime tantras begins to develop all of the qualities of that diety
until full enlightenment has been accomplished.
In the Emei Sudden Enlightenment School the qian neng empowerment is used to introduce students into the
nature of light. It is called qian neng, which means primordial ability. All sentient beings have the
primordial ability to realize the nature of light and through this empowerment most students suddenly
enter the light stream of this awareness according to their own capacities. In this tradition students
use this awareness to increase their health, healing capabilities, disease diagnosis and to develop the
ability to totally surrender unto the light to reach complete enlightenment. Once a practitioner
recognizes the light, the light becomes the teacher and the fruition simultaneously.
Though the light of intrinsic awareness has been with us since beginningless time most people don’t
recognize it and continually take rebirth in the ocean of delusion. However, through the empowerment
process cultivators of the profound path of dharma have an expedient to work with so that they might
eventually reach Sudden Enlightenment.
Empowerment is the doorway to our own true nature!!!
Enlightenment
Enlightenment mean to enter the light until all is light. En means to enter. Light means the light of
intrinsic awareness, the ground primordial luminosity of all apparent phenomenon, or one’s true nature,
which is none other than pure light. Ment means that the process has been completed. There are eighty
four thousand doors in the sutric school to reach enlightenment. There are six hundred and forty thousand
in the tantric school. The Daoists, Hinuds, Muslims and Christian also have many doors to enlightenment.
One might ask since there are so many doors to enlightenment why isn't it more pervasive. Well actually it
is in the spheres of enlightened activity but because of peoples grasping at dualistic fixation and
discursive thinking the light becomes blocked from reaching their experience of life. All the sacred
traditions teach morality to develop the field of calm abiding. They teach meditation to release ego's
grip on our delusion of life. And, they teach ultimate wisdom where confusion and suffering dissolve
into the pure light. So, if we take the light as the door, path and fruition we are never seperated from
our goal. May all sentient beings see the light.
Enlightenment is our true nature, the path and fruition!!!
The Seven levels of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Complete enlightenment can totally cure all diseases be it physical, mental or spiritual.
As it is said in the Heart Sutra when the Bodhisattva Avalokitishvara was coursing in the deep
prajnaparimita he saw that the five skandhas were empty thus he overcame all ills and suffering.
That means when one realizes the nature of mind all forms of suffering are immediately vanquished.
Not just dampness heat in the urine bladder, tennis elbow, bad relationships, disaster, poverty,
famine and war, but all forms of suffering are completely cured. To reach enlightenment we must
follow a path that leads us there and practice the medicine that cures all disease. Regardless of
tradition all spiritual paths are based on contemplating the sacred teachings and meditating on
their truth to discover the nature of mind. If we dedicate ourselves to a spiritual path we will
eventually begin to pacify our suffering and if we reach complete enlightenment then all of our
suffering will also be completely pacified. There is no higher medicine that that. What bothers us
flesh bound beings the most is this flesh body and the emotions that go along with it. Through
meditation and contemplation we can be released from this world of delusion and enter the space of
intrinsic awareness which is free from all forms of suffering be it physical, mental or spiritual.
Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on never separating oneself from the Dao. If seperation
occurs then the application of Traditional Chinese Medicine is used to reunite the patient with their
original nature, the Dao. Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on using meditation, contemplation,
astrology, fengshui, qigong, prayers, mantras, mudras, tuina, bana, massage, chairopractics, acupuncture,
herbal medicine and diet to strengthen the body to be able to practice qigong, the practice of qigong to
stregthen the meditation and meditation to reach enlightenment. As it says in Padmasambhava's hidden
treasure "The Shower of Blessings" unless one meditates in ultimate reality release from suffering is
impossible. So, turn your mind to that which is really beneficial in one's life.
The second highest form of Traditional Chinese Medicine is the transference of consciousness.
Through our own practice or with the help of other advanced practitioners and spiritual friends we
can project our consciousness outside of the six realms of suffering and take rebirth in a heavenly
realm that is totally free of suffering. Whether it is a Buddhist, Daoist, Hindu, Muslim or Christian
heaven it makes no difference as long as we no longer have to take rebirth in the six lower realms of
suffering ever again. Then after reaching the heavenly realms the fertile ground of dharma is just
waiting for the mind seed of sentient beings so that complete enlightenment can take place and total
liberation from all forms of suffering can be achieved. Transference of consciousness is achieved
through meditation on a Buddha, Bodhisattva, Dakini, Heruka, Dharmapala, God, the divine or any savior
for that matter. By developing a relationship with these catalysts of enlightenment negative karmas
can be purified and the remaining consciousness can take rebirth is an enlightened sphere where
completion of one's destiny can be achieved.
The third highest form of Traditional Chinese Medicine is the practice of purification, which is
on par with the transference of consciousness. The only good thing about suffering is that it can
be purified. The way to purify suffering is through meritorious activity and meditation. Meritorious
activities are cultivating the foundational principles such as the Five Precepts or the Ten
Commandments while performing selfless actions that benefit all sentient beings physically, mentally
or spiritually. This fertilizes the peaceful ground of our existence so that the seeds of meditation
can be planted. Then through the practice of meditation practitioners can enter the mind stream of
their own true nature, which is the state of enlightenment free from all form of suffering.
The fourth highest form of Traditional Chinese Medicine is astrology. When we are born the year,
month, day and time sets a biorhythm that dictates much of what we experience in this life. Through
the science of astrology we can calculate the time of our birth, which is then divided into its
yin/yang pairs to reveal our eight primordial characters. These eight primordial characters are
then translated into their five elemental patterns so that we know our excess’s and deficiencies.
Through the tonification or sedation of our imbalances we can harmonize our lives so that disease,
poverty and many forms of suffering will not arise. However, it is difficult to live life one hundred
percent by our astrological biorhythms and as a result suffering arises. Not only do these various
forms of suffering arise but the four stages of birth, old age, sickness and death are still
unavoidable. Even for the higher deva or god realms with very high levels of astrology they still
can not escape the wheel of birth and death. Though astrology is not complete enlightenment it can
still help harmonize the ground of cultivation so that the fruition of enlightenment can be realized.
Once a person becomes realized then their astrological chart dissolves and their destiny is fulfilled.
The fifth highest form of Traditional Chinese Medicine is geomancy or fengshui. Where astrology
is based on the harmonization of the celestial elements fengshui is based on the harmonization
of the terrestrial elements. Fengshui is on par with astrology and uses astrological calculations
in coordination with geomantic calculations to achieve harmony between heaven and earth. When we
find out what our celestial and prenatal dispositions are we can coordinate that information with
where and how to live. For instance if we lack the wood element we should live in the East. If we
lack the fire element we should live in the south and so on. If we have too much wood element we
should live in the west. If we have too much fire element we should live in the north. Then that
also coordinates with where the front door of our house should be, what room we should sleep in,
what room our office should be in, what colors we should use, what object de' art we should hang
up etc… All of these calculations can help us harmonize our surroundings so that we live a life
with more peace, prosperity and happiness. However, even with a high level of fengshui we will not
escape the wheel of life and death unless we use our good fengshui for spiritual practice. When our
elements are balanced the fertile ground of meditation and contemplation is enriched and the
fruition of enlightenment can be achieved.
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The sixth highest form of Traditional Chinese Medicine is qigong exercise. All forms of Traditional
Chinese Medicine are actually qigong exercises meanings the interaction, manipulation and harmonization
with the divine energies that pervade heaven and earth for the sake of all sentient beings. However in
this case we are referring to doing specific exercises and meditation to cure certain illnesses of the
body and mind. Qigong exercises can be practiced in general or specific. General qigong exercise keeps
the body and mind in good general health preventing many diseases from arising, curing many of the
disease we already have and bringing our mind in harmony with the universe. Specific qigong exercises
are also used to treat specific organ systems, channel systems, spiritual systems or their astrological
and geomantic elements through tonification or sedation of their varying energies. When their
energies are in harmony meditation becomes easy and the fruit of enlightenment can be achieved.
The seventh highest form of Traditional Chinese Medicine is qigong therapy. Qigong therapy is
the integrated practice of energy transmission, tuina, chiropractics, massage, acupuncture,
moxabustion, cupping, guasha, bloodletting, and external and internal herbal medicine. They are
integrated and augmented for the diseases at hand so that harmony of the body and mind can be
achieved. For instance if someone has a slipped disc due to kidney deficiency they are suffering
from lower back pain, immobility, and fear. A qigong therapist can put their disc back into place and
then tonify the kidneys with direct qi transmission, acupuncture or herbal medicine so that it won't
slip back out. Many spinal fusions can be avoided with this simple therapy and through kidney tonification
their fear will be pacified. Throughout this treatment process a combination of diagnostic palpation
and qigong massage will make sure that all of the surrounding bones, muscles, tendons, tissues and
organs are also harmonized and energized at the same time so that the body and mind can enter the holistic
state of calm abiding. Qigong therapy enables patients to take control of their body so that patients can
develop their own qigong practice. Patients who develop their own qigong practice can rejuvenate their health
and strengthen their meditation. Patients who can meditate and enter the state of ultimate reality will
achieve enlightenment and all of their suffering will be pacified.
The central point of TCM be it Confucian, Daoist or Buddhist is to obtain the fruit of
enlightenment!!!
Can Traditional Chinese Medicine Survive
Traditional Chinese Medicine is a completely enlightened cradle to grave health care system
that can alleviate all forms of pain and suffering from its very root. However, what we call
Traditional Chinese Medicine in the West is not what we call Traditional Chinese Medicine in
China. In China there are two major terms for medicine. Xi yi is western medicine and zhong
yi is Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine is further divided into two categories called ke xue
zhong yi, which means scientific or Academic Chinese Medicine and quan tong zhong yi, which
means Traditional Chinese Medicine. In China people go to the universities to study the cutting
edge of modern Academic Chinese Medicine and to the monasteries to study the wisdom of Traditional
Chinese Medicine. Academic Chinese Medicine is the form of Chinese medicine that was developed
by the Chinese government based on a western science model. As Academic Chinese Medicine
came west someone confusingly called it Traditional Chinese Medicine. But what we call Traditional
Chinese Medicine in the west is really Academic Chinese Medicine and what we call Traditional
Chinese Medicine in China is the real thing.
Through the one hundred and fifty years of invasion and occupation of China by the west much of
China's traditional Chinese culture has been destroyed. Very much like the transition of
American Indian culture to modern western European culture the globalization of China has transformed
much of Traditional Chinese Medicine into what we now call Academic Chinese Medicine. In the development
of Academic Chinese Medicine the esoteric essence of TCM was left out to fit into a new western scientific
model. Though it became a great tool for disease management it lost its ability to liberate disease
from its root. When Mao Zedong liberated China from western occupation in 1949 he exclaimed, “yang wei
zhong yong” which meant they planed to use western technology for Chinese development. Western nations have
killed over a billion people in the Far East and have taken control over much of their land so Chairman Mao's
philosophy was to out west the west through western modernization with Chinese characteristics. Some aspects
have worked better than others. Chairman Mao himself is famous for destroying lots of traditional
Chinese culture himself through the chaos of the Cultural Revolution but he was actually a very cultured
man and Daoist mystic himself. In fact he used Daoist astrology and fengshui caculation to defeat America,
the world's number one super power, in three different wars, China's Great Liberation, North Korea and
Vietnam. With regards to TCM Chairman Mao especially loved Chinese medicine and built many Chinese medical
universities, research institutes and hospitals to modernize Chinese medicine.
Since ancient times the monasteries had been the universities or major institution that passed down the
wisdom knowledge of TCM for thousands of years. After the westernization of China the monasteries took a
back seat to the universities and western ideology be it capitalism or communism took over all of China's
modern development. Chinese medicine students following their western counterparts had to deny the
existence of God or the Buddha because it wasn't "scientific" so they removed all of the truly liberating
aspects and as a result Traditional Chinese Medicine became an even greater tool for disease management
but it lost its power to liberate disease from its root. Through TCM's secularization it lost its flavor
and the only place that genuine TCM with its esoteric roots still intact remained was in the
monasteries or amongst the people.
Now that Academic Chinese Medicine has become purely secularized it has gained worldwide popularity
with great commercial and political support. Today many Academic Chinese medicines are available in
raw and patent formulas and Academic Chinese Medical schools and practitioners can be found everywhere.
Chinese medicine is extremely effective in treating a multitude of diseases. It is inexpensive,
and widely accessible. It is also extremely effective in treating a host of diseases that can't
even be explained by western medicine. During the SARS scare for instance, of all the types of
medicine the Chinese government used to try and control the epidemic only Chinese herbal medicine
was able to stop it. They quickly mass-produced a liquid form and glass bottles of the herbal elixir
were shipped all around the country ending the epidemic. That is the power of Academic Chinese Medicine,
its scientific development and its industrial base. Especially in the west where the government doesn't
provide national health care it is all too common to hear of people spending tens of thousands of dollars
on medications and operation where all it took was a few acupuncture sessions or a simple bottle of herbal
medicine to cure what ills them. In acupuncture universities and clinics all over America there are daily
complaints by patients that their western medicines are ineffective, harmful and extremely expensive and
how it is managed more like a business than a heal care institution. In fact they often complain about be
harmed and ripped off by western medicine. Of course western medicine has many good qualities about it too
but just like Academic Chinese Medicine which may be a fantastic tool for disease management it still
lacks the power of disease liberation.
In the west Academic Chinese Medicine colleges are under tremendous pressure to further westernize
and water down Chinese medicine. Fifty percent of the curriculum is already western medicine
and it is a major distraction to the study of TCM especially since they often contradict each other.
The ACM schools in west are controlled by western medical political institutions, insurance companies,
medical practitioners and a society that is still often more interested in the business of ACM than
the extinction of disease. Most of them only participate to maintain control over the medical industry.
In China ACM education is free and ACM employment is guaranteed by the government but in the west ACM
education is extremely expensive and stressful and employment is rare. New graduates have to support
themselves, open their own clinics and pay off all their student loans, mortgages or clinic rentals while
living in a very expensive and stressful society. In the west practitioners drown in a sea paper work so
that they barely have enough time to treat their patients. So, how can a doctor of Chinese medicine in
the west rest in the nature of their mind to derive a proper diagnosis and treatment plan that can even
manage a disease much less liberate it? Even in the west we say that stress is the mother of all diseases
but yet we continually create an environment of Stress! Stress in the number one contraindication of
Chinese medicine. In the west ACM Schools are popping up all over the place but most of them have strayed
very far from their TCM and even Chinese ACM roots. Schools are making up their own "styles". Chiropractic
schools are now in the TCM business and western MD's can simply watch a three hundred hour video on TV
and become a TCM doctor. Meanwhile many famous Academic Chinese Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine
practitioners from China can't get a license to practice their craft here in the west even though they're
the most qualified practitioners in the world. Unfortunately the more TCM becomes diluted the more it
looses its potency to liberate disease and its true potential becomes lost.
Ignorance is the root of all disease. At one of Americans top rated colleges, the Pacific College of Oriental
Medicine, their dean Dr. Miller asked Linhai's group to prove the existence of qi, channels or the
effectiveness of acupuncture in a presentation, which was a very noble task indeed. For three months Dr. Miller
gave extensive lectures on quantum physics, string theory, the five equations, the anticipated finding of the
graviton and the future predictions of science. One student mention that it sounded like Chinese fortune
telling which the professor debunked as being unscientific. So, Linhai began their final presentation with a
lecture on the character for qi energy, which can be divided into the top radical which means emptiness
and the bottom radical, which means form. In the Chinese book of prophesy called the Yijing or Book of
Changes these two radicles are represented by the qian gua and the kun gua and their binary code is 0 and 1
which is the base codes for not just physics and computers but biology, astrology, geomancy and the Yijing.
Linhai explained how the codons of the Yijing are the same as in quantum physics but that the Yijing can be
applied to all life sciences including fortune telling. Other researchers contributed greatly with detailed
pictures of skin diseases and moles that followed channel pathways. For a finale Linhai transmitted
electricity from his finger tip to different points on participants channels systems so that they can feel
with intensity the conductivity of qi energy and their channel pathways. However when Dr. Miller was asked
to come and participate he refused saying he was just an observer. Linhai told Dr. Miller that if he wanted
to really know the conductivity of qi energy and the channels pathways that he would have to experience it for
himself to be truly understood but he still refused. For the ultimate finale Linhai bestowed the Qianneng
Empowerment upon all of the participants so that everyone could see and feel the reality of what qi energy
really is. Just as the empowerment began Dr. Miller left the room and when the empowerment ended he came
back in for a few minutes and then left again before any debate could arise. For the participants who stayed
behind they all recieved the ability to see and feel qi energy and use it to diagnose and treat disease.
They had entered the sambogakaya realm where so many more possibilities for the human potential can be realized.
But, unfortunately for the College Dean and his future offspring of students ignorance was his choice
and unfortunately the choice for most of Academia. Even in China many qigong masters are asked to come to the
universities for research but rarely do any of the PhD's realize their wisdom. On one of our Sacred Journeys
to the Beijing TCM Hospital a student told the chief doctor that they were studying with Linhai and the Daoist
Breatharian Chen Zong Long and asked him if they had any masters like that at the university. His reply was
that they come to the research center every now and again but that they don't stay long. Amituofo!!!
Where Academic Chinese Medicine is a product of globalization Traditional Chinese Medicine has
pretty much remained the same as it was practiced during the golden age because you can't make perfection
any more perfect. In Traditional Chinese Medicine it is most important to study all seven facets of
TCM and aspire all practitioners and patients alike onto the supreme path of enlightenment. Only
by enabling their students and patients to escape the wheel of birth and death can an everlasting cure for
anything ever be achieved. That's why a session with a TCM practitioner is really a blessing and not just a
treatment. It has the power to potentate liberation. In ACM enlightenment is a superstition. In TCM
enlightenment is their function. In ACM qi is just a concept. In TCM qi is reality. In ACM acupuncture is
practiced by the numbers. In TCM acupuncture is a realization. In ACM the Neijing is a medical texts. In
TCM the Neijing is a holy bible. In ACM Huangdi, Qibo, Sun Simiao, Zhang Zhong Jing are just famous
doctors. In TCM they are the dieties of their faith. In ACM they spend hours in paperwork, filing, and
analyzing, which only serves to reinforce their diseases. In TCM they spend hours in meditation,
contemplation, qigong practice and chanting the sacred texts of liberation so that all diseases and
calamities are liberated into the vast expanse. ACM has evolved as an excellent tool for managing
disease. TCM is neither arising nor ceasing and is the only tool for liberating disease. ACM can not cure
death. The purpose of TCM is to reveal one's true nature beyond both birth and death.
Weather being taught in the monasteries or in private apprenticeships the lamp of the traditional
lineages are still shining bright. More recently in the modern renaissance of traditional Chinese
culture that is taking place all over China from Beijing to Lhasa the power of the monasteries are
beginning to resurface and with them their ancient lineages of Traditional Chinese Medicine are
flourishing once again. So, there is hope that TCM will survive globalization and its wisdom light
will shine throughout the ten directions bringing benifit to all sentient being physically, mentally
and spiritually. May it be so!!!
TCM doesn't just manage disease, it liberate disease!!!
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