Bilingual Class at Hua Zang Si Study the Matter of Cause and Effect

Saturday, January 11, 2020, nuns and laypersons listened to a reading from a preliminary translation in English and Spanish of part of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III’s discourse given at the end of His sutra Imparting the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra where He offers instructions of how to realize prajna and explains why ordinary people cannot realize prajna. He also explains how ordinary people differ from holy beings in regard to causality: “People who are great cultivators (Bodhisattvas) do not ignore the law of cause and effect. To say that they fall under the law of cause and effect is wrong. To say that they do not fall under the law of cause and effect is also wrong. It is called not ignoring the law of cause and effect.” Ordinary beings on the other hand are “bound by the law of cause and effect” and thus cannot become liberated from samsara.

This part of the discourse also explains why the Buddha with all of His powers and compassion cannot just convey us to the Pure Land. It is…”because learning from Buddha is a matter of the relationship between cause and effect. Only through your own efforts can you attain realization, attain awakening, and reach that destination. The dharma taught by the Buddha is like a discourse. It opens the gates of dharma and presents the absolute truth. After you see its principles, you yourself penetrate into the truth, awaken, and change the order in which effects would otherwise mature due to causes.”

The Buddha Master gave many examples of these principles and warned us about false dharma masters and rinpoches who do not themselves have realization and may try to convince you they can enable you to instantly penetrate your original nature. It is true that there are historical practitioners like the Sixth patriarch of Chan (Zen) Hui Neng and Shitou Xiqian, who have exhibited what appears to be instant enlightenment, but they were already holy beings when they came to this world. He told us that “….Only through cultivation, learning dharma, and changing the order in which effects would otherwise mature due to causes can you realize prajna, your intrinsic nature, liberation, and accomplishment …..Cultivation is adopting specific methods to correct yourself and then conforming with the principles taught by the Buddha.”

Future classes at Hua Zang Si in San Francisco will cover more on these methods. Be sure and mark April 18, July 25, and October 17 from 10-12 am and 1-2 pm for more classes on this rare holy text. Hua Zang Si is a Buddhist temple located at 3134 22^nd Street, San Francisco, California. These classes will be translated into Spanish from the English for the Hispanic students. The principles themselves are explained in the preliminary draft  text of the sutra Imparting the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra which can be read at the Holy Vajrasana Temple and Retreat Center and at the various retreats sponsored there on the sutra. CLICK for information on the next retreat and HERE for the schedule of other events planned for 2020.

CLICK for apology from me on mistake I made at class.

Please note that the other classes listed above were never held as we were all put under quarantine and continued to “shelter in place” for most of the next two years. We did form the Lemonade Sangha and were able to continue to hold other classes via ZOOM. Those courses morphed into the Learning from Buddha College and Seminary (LFBCS) and we are now holding courses related to this text. CLICK for schedule of events at the temple and on-line via LFBCS.