紙船 林鈺堂 簡繁轉換 - 繁體

欲答友誼化聖符,持往生咒助西歸;
夢登寶筏變紙舟,未蒙師傳難出航。

跋         

七月末梢在台北接舊金山閔居士電話,謂彼日前為兩位因車禍而新亡之年輕友人燒化〈彌陀聖號符〉等,並持誦〈往生咒〉多遍。當夜即夢見自身與眾人同在一船上,船之前、中及後側皆懸有對聯。剎那間全船變為紙質,並聞天語說:「此咒未經上師傳授,因此船開不出去」。彼曾持〈往生咒〉數十萬遍,經此方知還是要先經師授才有傳承加持之力足以渡亡。我即應允回美後面授之,並為其友人修頗瓦。此屬教授之夢。彼一念真誠欲渡亡友,因此感得佛恩指點,使彼之菩提心願得以真正達成。

約在同時我也接受台北蔡居士之皈依,並傳以〈蓮師咒〉。當時有弟子旁白,謂蔡已持此咒數十萬遍。幸而蔡依然虛心領受。數日後蔡來機場送行,自謂修密十餘年,一直感覺未能觸及真髓,觀想總不明顯,但一經皈依及傳咒,即豁然開朗,觀想清晰。足見真正傳承之加持非同凡響。

咒屬密法,皆應經上師傳授及依師之口音為準,方有效力。至於學術研究所考訂之咒語及發音,在實修之體驗上,則無顯著之立即效應。


                     二○○四年八月廿八日
                     養和齋    於加州


Paper Ship Yutang Lin

Burning holy mantra sheets in order to repay kindness of friendship,
Repeating Rebirth in Pureland Mantra to help returning to the west,
In dream aboard a large ship that suddenly turned into paper-made,
It could not set sail, the mantra not having been transmitted by Guru.

Comment:

Near end of July while in Taipei, Taiwan I received a phone call from Upasaka Min in San Francisco. He said that the day before he had burned the "Namo Amitabha Buddha" mantra sheets and other mantra sheets while repeating the Rebirth in Pureland Mantra so as to help two young friends who recently passed away in separate car accidents. That night in a dream he saw himself and many people aboard a large ship, and the front, middle and rear section of the ship had poles hanging Chinese couplets. All of a sudden the ship turned into paper-made, and a heavenly voice said, "This mantra had not been transmitted by the Guru, and hence the ship could not set sail." He had accumulated repetition of the mantra for several hundred thousand times; now through this experience he realized that in order to have enough blessing power to help deceased to gain rebirth in Pureland the mantra needs to be transmitted by the Guru to carry the blessing of the lineage. So I promised him that I would transmit the mantra in person to him when I return to US, and that I would include his friends in my Powa service. That was a teaching dream. His sincerity in wanting to help his friends gain rebirth in Pureland had inspired Buddha's blessing in giving him such teachings so that his Bodhi wish may truly realize.

At about the same period I gave refuge to Upasaka Cai in Taipei, and transmitted the mantra of Padmasambhava to him. A disciple besides us mentioned that Cai had already accumulated repetition of this mantra for over several hundred thousand times. Fortunately, Cai still humbly received this transmission. A few days later Cai came to the airport to see me off. Then he said that although he had practiced Tantric teachings for more than a decade he had always felt that he could not touch the real thing, and his visualization was never clear. Nevertheless, right after he took refuge and received the transmission of the mantra from me, all of a sudden everything became clear and his visualization became vivid. This demonstrated that the blessing from authentic lineage is not on a par with ordinary practices.

Mantras are Tantric teachings, and as such they should be transmitted by Gurus and their pronunciation should based on oral presentation of the Guru. Only then can mantras carry the spiritual powers. As to mantra texts and pronunciations that are formulated based on scholastic researches, in terms of experiences of practitioners they lack obvious and immediate effects.


Written in Chinese on August 28, 2004
Translated on August 31, 2004
El Cerrito, California


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