Killing And Committing Arson
■Book 104 - A Plethora Of Scenic Splendours
■Written by GrandMaster Sheng-yen Lu
Time: 2 p.m.
Date: December 19, 1992
Place: Singapore IMM building
Crowds: Around 20,000 attending the Tantric ritual organised by Yuan Xue Chapter, and assisted by Yuan Zhen and Yuan Xi chapters.
A huge picture of Padmakumara served as the backdrop. While the ritual was in progress....
A suspicious looking man slipped into the backstage when no one was watching him. Taking out a few pieces of papers, he dipped them into petrol. He tried to start a fire with the lighter, by burning the picture of Padmakumara. I was sitting in front of the picture.
Although the papers dipped with petrol were ablaze, nothing happened. To prevent this sort of sabotage from happening, more than 50 policemen and plain-clothed security personnel were posted outside the building long before the commencement of the ritual. Moreover more than 50 of our own security personnel were also deployed inside the building. An additional 20 people were patrolling the ritual site. That is why when the fire flashed, it was immediately spotted by the patrol team.
The culprit, on seeing three of the guards rushing to him, shouted: “We are the righteous Buddhism!”. Then he sped away, merging with the crowd and disappeared immediately. At first the patrol leader wanted to make an announcement on the fire, then he decided otherwise since the fire was already put out by his team. Stepping up the patrol inside the building, he awaited the end of the ritual.
As the ritual was carried out smoothly, I heard the incidence and footsteps, even the spraying sound of extinguisher. The whole commotion was over in a short while.
If the fire really broke out and we announced the bad news, the death toll would be very high, as the whole building was full of people, even the corridors and car parks were fully occupied. The lifts and exists of IMM building would not be adequate in this instance. Imagine 20,000 people all rushing out at once, stepping on one another. I am sure a lot of people will be hurt. (In Hong Kong the mishaps at Lan Kwai Fong, 22 people died and many more injured because of the rushing crowds.)
The incidence can be considered an attempted murder and attempted arson.
What is the motive of doing this?
They consider themselves the righteous, and we are the opposite.
Like a typhoon passing through the world, True Buddha School affects those who claimed to be the righteous schools of Buddhism quite a lot.
They tore our publicity posters.
They blackened out the time and venue of our notices of rituals to be held.
They cut the banners put up by us.
They placed negative news and advertisement in the newspapers.
They even distributed booklets attacking me personally.
And the latest is attempted murder and arson. I wondered those who claimed to be from the righteous school of Buddhism could tell me of all the karma created, which is the most serious offence? I can't think of one that is even more critical than killing and committing arson.
Sometimes I joked about being evil. Tell me my wickedness and the vices of True Buddha Tantra.
Facing an avalanche of slanders and charged with instantaneous explosive, I encountered a great set-back, but I still persisted in propagating the True Buddha Tantra. I have done nothing wrong.
To think it objectively, those who claimed to be from the righteous schools of Buddhism can be very cruel, sometimes really heartless.
But we still welcome them with a smile.
Most people have the misconception that the religious world must be very peaceful, they are very wrong about this. Wars had been waged, blood shed and arms used. The True Buddha School as founded by Master Lu Sheng Yen does not seek to destroy other schools, nor other religions. We believe in harmony and perfection and never to use force.
It is a pity that the so called righteous schools of Buddhism had to resort to using violence to deal with our school.
What shall we do now?
I , Lu Sheng Yen still insist that:
We must condone them.
We must be patient with them.
We must be accommodating.
We must move them with our attainments in cultivation.
