H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III warns us of three evil views concerning how we regard the teachings and application of those teachings of the Buddhas to our lives in the Supreme and Unsurpassable Mahamudra of Liberation. His Holiness also gives us the precise meaning of what the Buddha-dharma that can enable you to become liberated from samsara or free from the bondage of life and death is in the book Learning From Buddha that is explained elsewhere. These three evil views can be found HERE.
His Holiness also cautions us not to be attached to illusory phenomena of any sort in Erroneous View number 50. The following discourse by His Holiness lists examples of of ordinary and holy phenomena that sometimes do appear in response to certain karmic conditions, but warns us that we should not regard any of them as amazing. Click the highlighted phenomena for more information on some of the examples.
Erroneous View No. 50: Acknowledging an unreal and illusory images, sound, or forms as a holy miracle: Some people often come up with such stories. They say things like, “Yesterday I saw a beam of red light appear in my room,” or “Yesterday the incense stick I offered lasted a very long time without burning out, while several other sticks burnt out completely,” or “Yesterday the color of the water I offered changed into the color of a lotus flower,” or “Yesterday when I left home a crow was crowing above my head,” or “A colorful cloud transformed into the image of a Buddha or Bodhisattva,” or “There is a rainbow over that temple, so there must be holy dharma there,” or “A flock of crows came to the roof of my house while I was practicing a dharma, which indicates I successfully practiced the Great Dark Sky Dharma,” or “In my dream the Buddha came and blessed me by touching my head,” and so on. All of these things are nonsense and illusory phenomena. Remember, these are all illusory phenomena. Some people call a ring of light around the moon a Buddha light. Actually, it is just an illusory phenomenon. Perhaps it was caused by rain or mist.
Of course, sometimes holy phenomena appear in response to certain karmic conditions, but we should not regard them as anything amazing. What manifestations are holy phenomena? The following are some examples. During the Dharma Assembly at Hua Zang Si to honor the humble book about me, true Buddha light appeared in the sky. In addition, thunder roared in the clear, cloudless sky, and nectar continuously fell from that magnolia tree. Those were not illusory phenomena. They were real. At the Highest Form of Bathing the Buddha Dharma Assembly, celestial dragons laughed joyfully. Thunder exploded in the clear sky as the blazing sun shined down from high above. A tub containing several thousand pounds of water was lifted by two persons. Those were not illusory phenomena. They were actual occurrences. Today we saw Dharma King Gar Tongstan, who is one of the three holy virtuous ones, take a dharma object with his out-of-body consciousness. That was a real occurrence. A vajra pill danced in the palms of Kaichu Rinpoche and Akou Lamo Rinpoche and then flew away without a trace. They demonstrated their powers in the tummo concentration dharma and/or Vajra Substitute Body Meditation. Those were not illusory phenomena. Therefore, do not believe the nonsense and deceptive tales of lotuses, images of Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, or kazhanggas (Buddhist tridents) appearing during a cremation. Those are all illusory phenomena. However, true sarira relics or firm relics found in bone ashes after a cremation are not illusory phenomena.
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