Dari rulai fa yin temple

Dharma Transcript

Relationship of Taoism and Confucianism to Hanmi Chinese Esoteric Buddhism
Living Buddha Dechan Jueren, June 7, 2003
Lohan School of Shaolin, Las Vegas, Nevada
Translated by: Kuo
Transcribed by: Chang Zhi De Jian

Q: I have a question. I'm curious about the Taoist lineage that Master holds.

A: Hanmi school is actually a school, mainly it's a Buddhist lineage, however it incorporates Confucius and Taoist teachings, I do know a lot of the essence of Taoist teachings and practice. Buddhism and Buddha-Dharma, they are real siddhi power, they are magical practice, magical accomplishment, so goes for Taoism. For the accomplished practitioners of Taoism, their also you can call the Dharma, they are Taoist ways of magical siddhi powers, but however, very little of the Taoist real practice has been witnessed by the public, more people have witnessed Buddhist things but very few people have witnessed Taoist stuff.

What you know about the practice of Taoism for most people, having to do with the Feng Shui, or reading the stars, or doing some minor things, do a few chants and read a piece of paper with a sword, little stuff like that. Most Taoist practitioners do the Feng Shui and how to do life readings, and do fortune telling for people, this stuff is superficial practice, it's not the real essence of the teaching,

Around the year 720, those few years is during the Tang dynasty, Emperor Tang Xuanzong's time. The three Buddhist masters, Subhakarasimha, Vajrabodhi, and Amoghavajra came to China, current day's Xian city. If you don't know where Xian is, I will tell you Xian is where in that region they have the first emperor of China's burial ground, Terra Cotta Armies, and they have over 100 pyramids, the largest one 300 meters, or over 1000 feet high, bigger than the one in Egypt. When the three Buddhist masters came to Xian in the Tang dynasty, first it's a big cultural religious teachings clash, between Buddhism, against Taoism and the Confucius group, because during that time, the emperors afford the Taoist masters and the Confucius scholars the main teachings for the whole country as the national teachers, so in the Taoist practice, such thing as rain making, storm busting, and create winds, all about the art of war, how to lay out the troops and strategize. And all those kind of things.

They have to understand all about the I Ching Book of Change, understand about changing doorways, the doorways in the term of the Bagua, the Eight Tri Grams, there are 8 doorways, but there are inner 8 doorways and outer 8 doorways, and some of those doorways are not stationary, they move all the time. Certainly have a very profound knowledge, understanding about yin and yang, 5 elements and so on.

And they also understand the stars very well, I do not mean astrology, they physically have to look up at the sky at night, to be able to read the stars and understand the relationship with the earth change, how they correspond with the mountain and the river, certain topography of the earth and so on. These practitioners of Taoism are so good at reading the stars in such way, looking at the night sky and reading the stars, they understand about the ruler of that region, leader of a certain areas, certain geographic regions affected by the stars, how that people will live and so on, what's their life expectancy and everything. They understand about the changing of the stars in relationship to the fate of the people, and the fate of the nation.

Of course it's a common Taoist practice, commonly known, not necessarily mean everybody know how to do it, it called borrowing something to be.......

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