 June 2, 2007 Participants at the Water Repentance Ceremony Besides wishing Shi Zun a healthy body, the Water Ceremony was also dedicated to contributors of the Enlightenment Magazine, registrants for Tai Sui (the Planet God) and the Blessing Light, the meal donors, the longevity plaque, to place offerings to ancestors, rendering of sweet-smelling oil and to all the ceremony registrants and participants.
After the ceremony, Shi Master Liang Man gave his dharma talk: the main point of the ceremony is to truly repent from your heart. Besides repenting for yourself, you also have to repent for others. Repenting sincerely can eliminate all your sins.
After the presiding master’s dharma talk, he represented all students in asking for Shi Zun’s teachings. In Shi Zun’s dharma talk, he mentioned that some people had asked Shi Zun if his book, Manifestation of the Nether World was true and if the book was purposely written to threaten people. Shi Zun replied by giving examples such as pointing out that the two cats at the temple were examples of rebirth in the animal path (the destiny of rebirth as animal). The homeless at Seattle’s First Ave, poverty conditions for people in Africa, and people without clean water are also part of the evil spirit path (the destiny of rebirth as evil demons). This world has people who have died of heat and of cold, people who have undergone surgeries which removed their hearts, brains, kidneys, and tongues – this is all part of the hell path (destiny of reincarnation in hell).
There are two teachings about hell: 1) the district teaching; 2) experience teaching. The wars in our world are examples of a living hell of regional nature; pain, and afflictions (worries) causing insomnia are in the hell of experience nature. In Shi Zun's dharma talk, he said, "we need to treasure the merit of what Buddha said, 'it is difficult to have a human body, it is difficult to be born on earth, it is hard to meet a Sangha.' By knowing how to cultivate, bad habits will be removed gradually. Karma will disappear. Once the karma has disappeared, paths for transmigration will be gone. Buddha said, 'all the sentient beings are like soil on the earth. To have a human body is like grabbing soil in your palm. For those who cultivate, it is like the soil sticking to the palm.' The most important thing in a human's life is knowing the Buddha – the law, cultivating, verifying dharma, understanding dharma, realizing dharma and then to obtain absolute enlightenment."
After the Water Ceremony, the compassionate Shi Zun blessed each student by empowering them. Shi Zun also went in front of the camera and happily greeted all the broadcast viewers. After leaving the temple, Shi Zun chatted with students and left by saying good night. |
