CHAPTER IV: TRANSMISSION OF THE PRECIOUS DHARMA

C. DOCTRINE

4. The Suchness Truth Period: Salvation at The High Level (Mahayana)

One day, the Lord burned seven incenses and declared before the main Buddha Altar: “Reverend The World’s Most Venerable, from now on, I will no longer indulge the disciples.”

Beginning from the Low Level (Hinayana), the Lord was gradually guiding all the Four Followers to practice, observe and resolve thousands of Dharmas, based on their courage mind to enter the High Level (Mahayana). No longer indulging the disciples means directly showing them the karma-seed of attachment, which belongs to the challenge subject of the SUDDEN TEACHING.

When a Tao practitioner with a mind of courageous seeking for liberation through knowing, seeing, and solving, there immediately are many challenges for them to advance. From these advancements through challenges, they still patiently develop their virtue without damage it — that is the Dharma subject of Gradual Teaching.

The Sudden Teaching is a subject, giving rise to Buddhist Intelligence, which is why the Buddha often said: “If a Tao practitioner ceaselessly keeps the fixedness, creating themselves the basic virtue fixedly and attachably. They will naturally create ignorance, without being useful to the way of liberation through knowing, seeing, and solving; they will only receive the blessed reward of Divine Humans.” —T. V.

C. DOCTRINE

If a Tao practitioner eliminates their passionate attachment based on the Sudden Teaching continuously, they will, intentionally or unintentionally, still get their Buddhist Intelligence, but be lost in wrong views and have to receive the seeds of the three evil paths.[74] —T. V.

Devadatta, in the time of The Founding Master Shakyamuni Buddha, was a man of a great vigorous mind and intelligence. The damages he sowed could not be avoided at the Return Period when Reverend Long-Hoa Sangha Chief, incarnating Lord Supreme Maitreya Buddha, opened the Tao Dharma. The Devadatta's descendants were also getting into the True Dharma – Dharma Constitution to practice, together with the Patriarchs and the Sacred Followers of the time of The Founding Master. They are also people of great vigorous mind and intelligence, using violence, fabricating wicked plans where it’s not inferior to the past, and trying to create disorder in the Tao community. Their false steps will lead them to hell and live in wrong views ceaselessly.

That is why a Tao practitioner needs to possess the correspondence between Intelligence and Virtue, Contemplation and Result, Form and Nature in order to have True Reward of the truth. This is the extremely miraculous, advanced Dharma-subject of liberation at present.

As like as knowing the right way of taking medicine can cure the disease of erroneous passion. Otherwise, taking medicine carelessly without its knowledge, more practice will cause a practitioner to become even more ill. The more they act, the more they fall into immeasurable decadence.

For that reason, the Patriarchs restrain and strengthen the Tao Dharma Places in order to help Tao practitioners gradually progress through many lives to acquire the truth. —T. V.

[74] The paths of animal, hungry ghost, and hell.

Therefore, the Dharma subjects of reciting the Buddhas’ Appellations or the practices of tranquil mind are creating the field of blessed rewards carefully to wait for a Good-Intelligent-Awakened One, who will guide practitioners correspondingly to the spirit of a Dharma subject and to the spirit of each practitioner seeking for a True Reward. This One will classify the Four Followers according to each practitioner’s capacity so that they could earn a True Reward of a blessed rewards’ field , a True Reward of Divine Human, or a True Reward of the Sotapanna, Sakadagami, Anagami, or Arahant to attain the True Enlightenment. 

—T. V.                               

The Founding Master Shakyamuni Buddha only ordained the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, Manjusri, Avalokitesvara, Ksitigarbha and Maitreya for the attainment of the Supreme Rank True Enlightenment. As for the Patriarchs, their achievements were only attested from the enlightenment, great enlightenment to, at most, the full enlightenment, belonging to the class of Sravaka, Pratyeka and Arahant.

Though the Patriarchs preached the Buddhist Dharma, and wrote about the One Level (Ekayana) and the Supreme Level at the class of Supreme Rank True Enlightenment, regardless of their proclamation and bright preaching, they were not attested by The Founding Master Shakyamuni Buddha, and currently, they have to wait for the presence of the Supreme Maitreya Buddha in this Period of His Return and Dharma-Ending in order to be verified, checked and attested. However, during the Lord’s 37 years of executing the Tao Dharma, He still has not acknowledged any one to enter the One Level, not to mention the Supreme Level. Except Venerable Moggallana, whose later lifetime was Dharma Master Hsuan Tsang in his sutra questing journey, he was the only one attested to belong the Level Beyond Thought or Discussion.

The Patriarchs, from the rank of Dharma Protectors to the rank of Venerables, taught their faithful practitioners to practice the rooted goodness and “self-nature, awareness of nature” to acquire the Truth. They all must wait for the Good-Intelligent-Awakened One, who is the Bodhisattva, Mahasattva Bodhisattva or Maitreya Buddha, who can enlighten them to achieve the True Enlightenment, and who can completely use the existent Buddha power to attest their rank. Until then, the faithful practitioners can be integrated into the constitution according to their high or low rank of attestation to be effective and efficacious unthinkably.

The Good-Intelligent-Awakened One is a successful wise leader, who thoroughly and meticulously understands karma seeds of living being precepts, and who truly knows the specific demands of every sickness of untrustworthy practitioners to, in turn, arrange them becoming trustworthy practices with attestation into the immortal eternity. —T. V.

In this Dharma-Ending Age, the Dharma practice is exactly following the Buddhist sutras, studying and learning with a high degree, and writing of many books about the Buddhist Dharma. A Tao practitioner, if truly seeking for the enlightenment, needs to abandon their ego, be no-possession in order to rethink the above teaching of the Supreme Maitreya Buddha — It’s very practical and useful to them and they no longer need to use their intellect to think, write, or preach in their dream anymore.

The Lord guided all His true disciple seriously, from the High Level (Mahayana) upward, in the same practicing direction and none of them dared to self-generate. If they were, they would remain in the Low Level (Hinayana) and receive rewards in accordance with their wishes.

Once being lost in mistaken ignorance and indefinite dream, you should rely on the Bodhisattva’s footprints, and receive the TRUST–OBEDIENCE–RESPECT in the Buddhas’ precious words, which have been left to practice. Without trust, obedience and respect, you would be caught in the self-ego, and lost in birth and death. What I said here is not for My benefit, but for yours from now to posterity. —T. V.

For Tao practitioners in the Dharma-Ending Age, who have not perceived what the intuition is and have not been enlightened, regardless of how good their reasons are, they are all mistaken in the dream without hope of liberation and still create the birth and death. They should engage in the practice of the observation Dharma subject, ‘life is just a dream’, in order to avoid the mistaken self-ego of ignorance.

You should cultivate properly in accordance with the TRUST–OBEDIENCE–RESPECT spirit. —T. V.

For a Tao practitioner who has full trust-obedience, their Buddhist intelligence is readily developed, their consciousness is opened; the more they become brighter the more their respect is developed. Such quality is the right spirit of true Buddhist disciples seeking for the liberation through knowing, seeing, and solving in the Period of Return and Dharma-Ending, and is in the right practice path of the Dharma Constitution.

If a Tao practitioner believes in a Good-Intelligent-Awaken One being a Buddha, and shows admiration and respect toward Him, aiming to request foolish things in their mind, and besides, this practitioner does not consent to receive the teachings or study the lessons to correct their nature and improve themselves, they are, not coming to the real Trust, Obedience, and Respect, and therefore, it is difficult for them to get the true liberation through knowing, seeing, and solving.

I wish that those who have practiced Tao Dharma will carefully read this part of sutra, copy it for large distribution. It truly is an essential compass for Tao practitioners to give up their illusive thoughts to reach liberation through knowing, seeing, and solving. —T. V.

During the time the Lord was still incarnate, He often taught and widely distributed His teachings and sutras, but few Tao practitioners tried to understand its meaning. Due to their ignorance, Tao practitioners were prevented by devilish forces from recognizing the truth of His teachings and sutras. If they could recognize it, they would evidently know its immeasurable value. Those who could recognize would no longer regret secular matters and readily give up their wishful life with full of desires in exchange for meeting the Good-Intelligent-Awakened One to cultivate themselves for seeking liberation through knowing, seeing, and solving.

Scholars and learned people who have taught and written about the High Level (Mahayana) and the One Level (Ekayana), would you please consider whether Reverend Long-Hoa Sangha Chief Supreme Maitreya Buddha's teaching of the High Level (Mahayana) is the same as yours?

This is an important teaching that the Lord gave on the High Level (Mahayana). Here is what I heard and witnessed at the Central Association, at number 42, Hồng Bàng Street, Nha Trang: