—A Note Written Afterwards to Describe the Most Magnificent Scene at the Site
At 3 o’clock in the afternoon on September 1, 2016, the crowd gathered at the Sakyamuni Buddha Hall at Hua Zang Si in San Francisco, USA, finally welcomed the beginning of the Dharma Assembly of Empowerment by Kuan Shi Yin Bodhisattvas Mind of Great Compassion, which they have eagerly waited for more than 10 years. The dharma assembly was led by the current abbess Great Dharma Master Ruo Hui to practice the dharma.
The dharma assembly was attended by monastics of the temple and laypersons of good faith. Some of them also served as dharma protectors during the dharma assembly. At that time, the wide, brightly illuminated, and clean great hall was in an atmosphere of plain and pure peace. All attendees were standing inside a wide and spacious area defined by blue-colored labels. After following the leading dharma master to prostrate three times to pay homage to the Buddha and practice the mantras, a brief introduction was given by Dharma Master Ruo Hui that stated the requirements for practicing the dharma to the attending crowd. Next, all followed her verbal signal to close eyes, stand with shoulders relaxed, and raise arms to the horizontal position to enter into the state of the dharma.
We are boundlessly grateful to the empowerment from H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III (H.H. 第三世多杰羌佛) and the greatly loving and compassionate Kuan Shi Yin Bodhisattva! We are grateful to Dharma Master Ruo Hui for leading the dharma practice to let all monastics and laypersons who came to the empowerment dharma assembly to receive the magnificent empowerment from the Buddha power and generate responses at various degrees!
In less than one minute after the empowerment dharma assembly had started, Monastic Shi Zhengding was the first to begin swinging the upper body spontaneously to enter the state of getting empowerment. Immediately after, elder Monastic Shi Zhengjian standing in the first row also entered the state. Then, the sound of open and unconstrained laughing filled with dharma joy loudly reached every corner of the grand hall. A few minutes after the start, two elder laypersons standing in the last row began to bend their waists forward and either shake their body or knock their knees at the tune of a rhyming frequency. Did they do so by their own intention? We learned from the experience-sharing session held after the dharma assembly that they all individually received the magnificent empowerment from Kuan Yin Bodhisattva and the Buddha force. One can now lift both arms that could not be lifted by force for a long time. Also, the two kneels that were heavy, stiff, and painful due to fatigue and wearing have now been cured by the empowerment from Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Also, another layperson described that she received nectar dropped down from Kuan Yin Bodhisattva’s willow branch and the pain in her shoulder and arm immediately disappeared.
My dharma name is Shi Zhengxin. I am also one of the attendees of this empowerment dharma assembly. I was standing at a position in the third row between two round pillars. The space around me was very wide and open, but I just stood there without any movement from beginning to end. The description from a monastic who is more senior than me is “Kept staying there like a wooden pole!” As seen from the recorded video, it truly appears that I did not move away from the position I stood at, did not change my body posture, did not open my eyes, and was not interfered by the external state. I now share some of the sensation and correspondence that occurred within me and my experience from the magnificent empowerment by the Buddha force:
With the instruction of “Begin!” from the master in charge, I immediately felt a cleansing and cool flow spread all over my body and percolating inside me.
During the first several minutes I still knew that I was standing inside the Sakyamuni Buddha Hall. The laughter from the senior monastics before me entered my ears and was echoing continuously. Then a monastic next to me fell to the ground and cried loudly, while stepping her feet on the floor. None of these incidents interfered with my clean and pure inner mind. A caption in motion with the writing of “Realizing there is no state outside the mind, no idea will be generated.” began to appear repeatedly inside my brain. Without knowing how long had passed thereafter, the caption disappeared without a trace. My body only felt cleanness, purity, and becoming empty. Next, the left hand vanished; the left arm vanished; the right hand vanished; and the right arm vanished. After that, my left foot, left leg, right foot, right leg, eyes, nose, and ears all successively disappeared, in this order. All of a sudden, my body transformed into a lump of white light and leaped upward into the space.
While ascending, I felt that the back-lower piece of my monastic robe flew up. Next, I was in the sky and passing through white clouds. I first saw the Sun. Then, while I continued to fly forward horizontally, the Moon came to me. At the moment of passing the Moon from below, a total and full illumination was before my eyes. Right after that, a huge round of rotating purple light that was expanding through the space pushed toward me from far away. My eyes were covered by white color. I raised my head to look upward and saw that the wavy white color was an extremely huge skirt. Looking further up, I saw the waist-long black long hair. Then I saw the left hand and the face. The skin was lustrously white like cream…… Ah, Kuan Yin Bodhisattva came! Yes, He is Kuan Yin Bodhisattva. His body brought breezy and refreshing wind. He passed from right to left lightly and swiftly before my eyes. He lightly and gently touched my raising hands with His tremendously big warm and soft but power-carrying hand. My face opened up a beautiful smile. At this time, without knowing why, I saw below that the crowd attending the dharma assembly were no longer in the Sakyamuni Buddha Hall and, rather, were in a magnificently majestic palace, where beautifully pleasing heavenly music was playing and echoing. I tried to identify and recognize everyone, but they were not whom I knew in the crowd. Then they and the sound from them went further and further away from me.
Next, my both hands slowly descended down to my waist. Then, I put my palms together in front of my chest and formed a mudra that I had never made before. When the dharma assembly ended, the time was exactly 52 minutes and 53 seconds after 3 o’clock. My body and mind felt a kind of lightness, pleasure, and fulfilment that I had never experienced before.
I most sincerely prostrate to the greatly loving, greatly compassionate, and calamity-relieving Namo Kuan Shi Yin Bodhisattva,
For Their empowerment that bestowed corresponding benefits to all attendees of the dharma assembly. I am also grateful to Dharma Master Ruo Hui for benefiting the messes with a compassionate heart.