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Ancient Wisdom in the Modern World
By Dan Kendall

The smell of coal smoke hangs lightly in the air, and my feet crunch in the cold snow. Wishing I had worn another layer, I roll up the collar of my light winter coat to cover my neck. The streets are deserted and although it is black with darkness, snowflakes can be seen falling in the light of the street lamps. It is new year's morning in Beijing, China. Chinese New Year falls on the first new moon of the lunar calendar, usually around the end of January or early February. I have been in China for about a month, living and traveling with Buddhist Master Dechan Jueren.

As we arrive at the back of the Yong He Gong Lamasery (Palace of Harmony or Beijing Lama Temple), the large green gates swing wide and we are graciously invited to enter by a tall young lama with bright red and yellow robes. His giant ridged yellow hat gives him the illusion of being eight feet tall, but maybe I am only sensing the stature of his spirit. We are welcomed with a smile, the master is well known here, and led into a beautiful courtyard surrounded by tall red buildings. Each building is built on giant red columns, has a sloping roof turned up at the corners, and is decorated with beautiful ornate colors. Yong He Gong used to be an imperial palace and was the birth place of the renowned Qing emperor Qian Long, also a living Buddha, who transformed it into a Lamasery around 1744. We stand for a moment in front of the Panchan Pavillion, which was built for the sixth Panchan lama. Above the door is a plaque in Mongolian, Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese surrounded by dragons. Inside is the Bampa, a solid gold urn used to identify Living Buddhas by drawing ivory ballots, its twin sits in a temple in Tibet. In the quiet pre-dawn darkness, I can now hear soft chanting. As we approach the hall of eternal happiness, bright candlelight can be seen through a haze of incense smoke.

Inside, some 60 lamas are chanting mantras in a dharma rite. I follow behind the master as offerings are given to all the lamas. Passing each one, I bow and tap my forehead, and get lightly brushed with a sutra. Every lama has a shaved head and wears a dark red cloak over his robes. I pull my hat down tighter and wonder how they keep their heads warm in the sub-zero cold. Their voices rise and fall in concert with the occasional beat of the drums, clash of the cymbals, and the deep resounding peal of the horns. We settle in to enjoy the dharma rite, and I reflect on the good fortune that brought me here.

Here I am, in a Tibetan Lamasery of the Gelugpa School, under the watchful guidance of a Chinese Living Buddha. My master is the Dharma King of the Hanmi lineage of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism. He is the heir to the complete teachings of the Mahavairocana Buddha handed down by Nagarjuna Bodhisattva. Around 720 A.D., three Buddhist masters, Subhakarasimha, Vajrabodhi, and Amoghavajra brought Buddhism from India to China. They combined the Buddhist teachings with the local Chinese language, culture, and religion, including Confucianism and Taoism. Buddhism was considered by the imperial court to be the national religion for nearly three generations and was widely practiced throughout China. Finally, a young emperor named Tang Wu Zong came to power who disliked Buddhism very much, and so extinguished the teaching by burning temples, sutras, and killing monks. As Buddhism was being destroyed in China, Master Padmasambhava was transmitting Buddhism in Tibet.

History had recorded that Huiguo, Amoghavajra's disciple, went with Kukai (or Kobo Daishi) to Japan establishing the Japanese Esoteric School(Shingon), and that the Chinese lineage was extinct. Unknown to history, Amoghavajra had another disciple, named Huisu, who received the complete transmission as well as all dharma instruments and became the next lineage bearer. Since then, it was passed on in secret from one master to one student, who then became the next master. Living Buddha Dechan Jueren is the 49th successor. His master told him it is his job to open the teaching to the public again.

The lamas rise and file out of the building as the dharma rite ends. After a short pause to bow to the Buddha, we follow. I shade my eyes from the bright sunrise and enjoy a brief stroll through the temple grounds before it is time to exit the rear gate of the lamasery and head back to the master's house for a new years meal of hot dumplings and a glass of fiery rice wine.

I have been very fortunate to be able to live and travel with Living Buddha Dechan Jueren for 2 years. My experience in China was not at all what I had been expecting from what I had seen in the western media. My travels have taken me throughout the length and breadth of China and Mongolia, and I visited many thriving Buddhist temples. We were met by high government officials and treated to banquets in several cities. The Chinese people are warm, friendly, and very hospitable.

I have had many teachers over the years, some with very high levels of attainment, but they all had some form of human limitation. Not so with Living Buddha Dechan Jueren. He embodies all the qualities of a true enlightened being; completely selfless, continuously sacrificing himself for the benefit of others, and expecting nothing in return. No matter how many times a student makes a mistake, he is always ready to forgive. He displays his level of attainment by healing people of terminal illness. He is innocent as a child, ever ready to joke and laugh, but serious when it is time to teach dharma. When he teaches, he relays information that is impossible for anyone to know except for those who were actually at Shakyamuni Buddha's side. I spent two years as Master Dechan Jueren's personal attendant, and I never saw him spend any time preparing a speech. All of his knowledge comes from his photographic memory of past lives. By practicing his teachings, I have experienced a fundamental change deep within myself and have witnessed similar changes in others.

The goal of a practitioner of Hanmi Buddhism is to attain to Buddhahood with this body in this lifetime. Master advises his students to do this by becoming 'a great one of merit.' How does one achieve this? "By treating all beings as if they were your own father or mother, and by truly learning to be receptive and to forgive others often, one will slowly develop a heart of tolerance. This is only the foundation to become a great one of merit."

His basic teaching is to help and do service for others, but before one can help others one must be able to help oneself. "Only those who are able to free themselves from their own suffering have the ability to help others. For those who cannot even free themselves from suffering, wanting to help others is only a beautiful dream, it cannot be a reality."

"In order to learn the ways to help yourself, first you must know yourself well, and develop the habit of changing yourself." According to the master, the fastest way to do this is by practicing and attaining to the dharma.

Practitioners who attain to the dharma no longer fall ill or experience any physical problems. It takes a healthy body to realize wisdom. They also experience a dramatic improvement in good luck and in wealth. A practitioner needs money in order to have the time to practice, especially in this society. For a western person, poverty is one of the obstacles on the path to enlightenment. Those who attain dharma no longer experience disasters, and every thing in their life goes according to their will. This means they are able to quickly bring their ideas to fruition and the world manifests their intent.

All of this comes at a price: hard work, discipline, and effort. The master says, "Wisdom will only come through one's own effort, and it will only happen naturally. Wisdom cannot be given to you by anyone else. Only through your own effort and practice will you realize wisdom."

Some of the side effects of realizing wisdom are knowledge of your five previous past lives, and understanding the past life connections to all the family, friends, and people you are currently involved with. It also means attaining siddhi powers which enable you to do service for others in ways you never dreamed possible. For advanced practitioners, realizing wisdom brings knowledge of your own death and where you are going after you die, even to the point where you choose what you will do and where you will go in your next incarnation, or whether you even want to come back to this earth at all. Accomplished practitioners make that choice for themselves.

The Laughing Buddha
By: Leonard Kalina

When I was a teenager in 1950's Brooklyn I collected photos of famous
men; writers, artists, philosophers and visionaries. To fit in my
collection their faces had to show character, wisdom and nobility.
They had to transcend the ordinary.

I'd open my scrapbook and gaze at Dylan Thomas, his ruddy face
transported as he declaimed his verse; Albert Einstein, hair flying as
he attacked his blackboard; Picasso, his eyes ablaze as his brush flew
across the canvas.

The struggle of each of these men to live an authentic life had
left deep imprints on their faces. They did not shrink or disappear
before the eye of the camera as I did. I could hear them whisper. "Go
deeper. Seek an authentic life."

I did.

On the journey I met a few teachers whose faces would have fit
perfectly in my scrapbook Living Buddha Dechan Jueren is one of them
A few years ago, a friend from Sri Lanka told me about a
remarkable Chinese teacher who was going to give a weekend workshop in
LA. He said he was the 49th-generation Master of a recently
rediscovered Esoteric Buddhist School; one that had been lost for 12
centuries. Ranjit also said that he did amazing healings, which caught
my attention since I had been having debilitating back pain for 15 years.

The workshop was to be held at a Temple east of downtown. The
price was $108, the number of beads on a Buddhist rosary. Even the fee
seemed auspicious. I decided to go.
The Dari Rulai Temple was a former church on a main street in the
City of Alhambra, an hours drive from the Westside where I lived. It was a
community with more signs in Chinese than English.

I took off my shoes and walked into a large room. This was no
austere Zen space. Color swirled around me; Boddhisattvas surrounded
by rainbow halos danced on the walls, and long red and gold banners
covered with Sanskrit mantras floated down from the ceiling.
Five life-sized Bronze Buddhas draped with red, yellow and white
scarves stared down at me from a high platform in front, while every
shelf, altar and table was alive with smaller statues. Below the
Buddhas was an altar, and in front of it a throne-like chair with
dragon arms. A central aisle flanked by two low yellow tables ran up to the chair.

I was very happy to see chairs in the room as I had been
dreading the possibility that we would have to sit on the floor for two days.

Some 25 people were there for the workshop, and a smaller number
dressed in burgundy robes sat in the front row. Several of them
fingered enormous black rosaries which hung down almost to their knees.
Most of them were conservative looking Chinese, while the majority of
the Workshop participants seemed to be New-age seekers from the
Westside of L.A.
On opposite sides of the front altar, two robed disciples sat in
front of a temple gong and a large drum covered with painted dragons.
One picked up a trumpet and sounded three blasts. Everyone settled down.

The musicians played a deep meditative rhythm; one strike of the
gong followed by two drumbeats. My mind was lost in the sound when
suddenly I felt some movement coming from behind us. I turned to see a
tall man in golden robes striding down the center aisle. He had long
flowing hair brushed out upon his shoulders and a long beard streaked
with grey. He appeared to be around 50. He fingered a crystal rosary in
both hands as he walked. I imagined he was repeating mantras.
When he got to his chair the music stopped, he sat down, and
nonchalantly tossed the beads around his neck.

The Master, whose dharma name is Dechan Jueren ("Attain
Zen/Awakened One") was the picture of an Ancient Chinese sage. His size
and robust physicality were not those of an effete Taoist scholar. I
later learned he was from Manchuria. That was the reason he was half a
foot taller than his Han Chinese disciples. He had a bit of the warrior
about him, and I could understand the ease with which his Manchu
ancestors had conquered China.

He stood up to talk, in Chinese, and a bespectacled monk started
translating in competent but somewhat stilted English. I was
disappointed that Dechan Jueren spoke only Chinese.

He began to teach us the first of the Four meditations he would
cover during the weekend. It was called "Calming and Relaxing" and was
to lead us into the first stage of Zen. With a tape of Chinese
music playing in the background, he asked us to put our awareness in
each part of our body. Slowly, repeating each direction three times,
he had us relax each muscle and nerve from the top of our head down to
the bottom of our feet . After 20 minutes of this my mind still wandered,
but my body was too relaxed to let it go very far.

Then he had us focus on a series of poetic images that seemed to
flow out of an ancient Chinese brush painting - a Bodhisattva
meditating on a rock next to a calm sea; a boat slowly disappearing
over a hazy horizon; an old monk with a long white beard sweeping a courtyard.
By the end of the meditation I felt as if the calm of the
bodhisattva had transformed my awareness, the boat had vanished with my
thoughts, and the old monk had somehow swept my mind clean.
This was a completely new experience of relaxation and emptiness.

After a break Living Buddha Dechan Jueren spoke about healing. Before teaching
us specific techniques he offered us a demonstration. He said he
wanted to show us how Esoteric Buddha Dharma can effect changes in our
everyday physical reality.

He had a pen in his hand and a smile on his face when he asked us
to hold our palms toward him and close our eyes. He was twenty feet away.

I distinctly felt a tingling sensation cross my left palm and then stop.

I peeked; he was slowly moving his pen across the space in front of him
When the path of the pen crossed my right palm the tingling returned
and then stopped when it passed my hand. The feeling was undeniable. How
was this possible? He said moving the pen was akin to him using the Copper
Staff, one of the 72 Dharma Instruments of esoteric Buddhism. He said
that this technique could be used for healing.

Immediately, I began to hope that the Master could help to
heal the spinal problems that had plagued me for years. I had limited
mobility in my back, and could not turn my neck at all. Doctors
diagnosed me with a form of Ankylosing Spondylitis; the connective
tissue between the vertebrae was slowly calcifying. I had good reason
to fear that I was well on my way to the final stage called "Bamboo Spine,"
in which the whole spine becomes one solid bone. Nothing I had tried
was able to reverse the condition.
At the end of the Workshop, I found out that every morning Living Buddha Dechan Jueren did healing at the temple.
I soon began making the long trek from the West Side.

The first time I joined a few other visitors who were sitting on
chairs in the middle of the temple. We were asked to close our eyes
and hold our hands palm up on our knees. The Master spent the whole 40
minutes in animated conversation with some Chinese visitors, and I was
vexed that he didn't seem to be paying any attention to us. During the
session I didn't feel much but after returning home I noticed a deep
relaxation spreading through my back.

The next time I returned I was obsessing over the pain in my
lower back. He had me lie across a chair on my stomach and I felt a series of
taps in the sacral area, and then he surprised me with a guttural shout.

When I stood up the pain was gone, and he was smiling at me.
That smile got me. It reminded me of something important that I
had forgotten. I remembered another picture I had; a picture of myself
as a 2-year-old boy. I once had a smile like that on my face,
innocent, pure, filled with the joy of the moment.
I wanted it back.

A short time later I took initiation and became a disciple of
this Laughing Buddha, Master Dechan Juren.

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