A Sermon Given To 8,000 People
■Book 104 - A Plethora Of Scenic Splendours
■Written by GrandMaster Sheng-yen Lu
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Date: December 29, 1992
Venue: Penang “De Jiao Hui”
Crowd: 8,000 people
Sermon: “The transformation of Greed, hatred, ignorance and grudge”
Speaker: Living Buddha Lian Shen
Buddhism thrives in Penang amongst the Malaysian States. Previously when “Xu Yun” the elderly monk presided over one of the biggest rituals in Penang, many buddhists heard the news and they came from countries as far as Thailand, Burma and Laos. Together with many Malaysian Buddhists, about 5,000 people attended the function.
An ordinary dharma master will be able to draw a crowd of 500 to 600 people to a dharma talk.
“Xing Yun” the dharma master from Taiwan did draw about 2,000 people.
But today, when Living Buddha Lian Shen came to Penang, there were as many as 8,000 people. Did you expect that to happen? What is the difference between Lu Sheng Yen and the rest?
An ordinary dharma master will have to take a long time to arrange for such ritual, among others it calls for aggressive publicity and detailed planning.
But Living Buddha Lian Shen came almost single-handedly, with little luggage to this small island, and yet he was able to draw 8,000 people to his sermon. Where did the crowds come from?
The Buddhism fraternity was shocked. Views are varied.
“Master Lu Sheng Yen is considered the modern version of Shakyamuni Buddha by his disciples.”
“One and only.”
“How many Master Lus are there in this world?”
“One only.”
“In this world, people like Master Lu are few and far apart. If you miss the chance to listen to his dharma talk, you will regret for life.”
The traditional Buddhism fraternity in Malaysia paid great attention to the movement of Master Lu Sheng Yen. Why?
Because he heralded in a great enterprise in Buddhism. He is more capable than XXX the dharma master when he was in his forties. If the trend continues, very soon the Buddhism world will be under his control. Clinching their fists, showing eagle like aggressive eyes, they preyed on Master Lu like an animal.
They made use of local newspaper - Brightness Daily - to run articles from “I love my teacher - Master Lu Sheng Yen”, to “How I withdraw myself from True Buddha School.”
Behaving like demons, they tried to use these two books that slandered me to trap me like their prey. But to no avail; these two books were useless.
“I love my teacher - Master Lu Sheng Yen”, was totally destroyed by another book “A Love Letter To A Monk.”
And, “How I withdraw myself from True Buddha School”, has been thoroughly refuted by Guru Lian Han. Like a wolf, the Buddhism fraternity tried to finish Master Lu off. Unfortunately, the wolf was killed immediately, its brain crushed, its blood splashed.
The Malaysian Buddhism Fraternity intended to stop Master Lu's propagation tour. They wanted to chop his head off in the first instance. They prepared all kinds of written materials and made the first move. From Kuala Lumpur, they posted the two books mentioned to Deputy Finance Minister Dato Lu Yin Yu and Malaysian Chinese Association Chairman of self-governed district Mr Chen Chai He, and warned them by phone not to attend the ritual.
They thought the blow would be fatal. But “The ritual at Kuala Lumpur was attended by 25,000 people.” “Penang-8,000 people.”
They witnessed the success of the rituals; and Master Lu got away scot-free. They could not do a thing. The information they gathered was inaccurate and useless.
And the counter publicity was effective and the function became even more successful.
Although Malaysia is a place full of murderous motives, Master Lu is cool , sharp and patient. He is a peculiar person He knows how to use “four teals to counter a thousand kati “. The Malaysian Buddhism fraternity became a faeces-eating dog, and was compelled to suffer in silence.
One dharma master (Guan XXX) said in remorse,
“By attacking Lu Sheng Yen, it turned out we are giving him opportunity to mount a counter publicity. The result is everybody knows about his presence. Out of curiosity, they went to his ritual to see him in person. The rituals conducted by us by far drew lesser people when compared with that done by Lu Sheng Yen. I think we are useless, may be we should take refuge in True Buddha School. The traditional form of Buddhism is too senile; like an ugly old lady, unwanted any more.” He sighed after saying this.
In Penang's sermon, I stressed:
“Greed” to be transformed into “Buddha.”
“Hatred” to be transformed into “Vajra.”
“Ignorance” to be transformed into “Bodhisattva.”
and “Grudge” to be transformed into “Treasure.”
“We must not be afraid of greed, hatred, ignorance and grudge, we must transform them. Tantra teaches us to transfer our human nature into Buddha nature and be enlightened as a Buddha within our life.”
The scene at the dharma talk was never so grand before. The participants clapped their hands, paid respects to Grandmaster, felt extremely happy and even shed the tears of joy.
They praised the well-conducted sermon and the ritual venue that is full of dharma bliss.
Since the sermon was so touching, the news travelled wide and far. Everybody knew about it. People in Penang had never seen anything like that before. The sight was so magnificent when many people took refuge during empowerment ceremony.
They lined up orderly. They walked and knelt. They waited for their turns to see Living Buddha Lian Shen personally.
Altogether 8,000 people sang the “guru heart Mantra” and recited “Namo Amitabha.”