32  All Manifestations Lack Reality

We have come to the final chapter of the Vajra Sutra, chapter thirty-two—All Manifestations Lack Reality. Let me say that everybody can easily understand this chapter, so I don’t need to explain it further. Two rainbows appeared in the sky just now, and coincidentally, a video by Tbboyeh Foundation was also about my book, Life is But a Dream. Aren’t they all related to this chapter?

All Manifestations Lack Reality means that all physical manifestations are not real. The Sakyamuni Buddha in the saha world was a buddha in a physical body (nirmanakaya). He was a physical manifestation and lacked true reality. Therefore, we cannot say that he spoke dharma. For this reason, Sakyamuni Buddha states that he has not spoken any dharma, even though he did.

Today you may say that Grandmaster Lu speaks dharma; it seems so, but in reality, he does not. This is because I am in a physical body, and all of you are also in physical bodies. All physical bodies are not real [as they are merely aggregates]. Therefore, there is no such thing as speaking dharma. The dharma itself is also not real; it is fundamentally false.

Tantric dharma is created by humans; they are mere tools. Humans define dharma practices—the beginning, main, and ending parts—including the four preliminary practices, the yidam practice, the inner practices, kriyatantra, upatantra, yogatantra, and the highest yogatantra, and all the stages in the Tantric Buddhist tradition. How did they come into existence? People created them for spiritual cultivation. They are all false—thus, dharma is false. The Vajra Sutra mentions that the so-called dharma is not real, let alone the non-dharma—it is, of course, false.

The Buddha states that all physical manifestations are not real. The Earth, the solar system, and the three-thousand-great-thousand-world are all false, as nothing is real. All manifestations lack reality. You think they are real, like the two rainbows today. They seem real, but of course, they are not! The same applies to human beings. We may appear real, but we are not. The whole Earth may seem real, but it is only an aggregate of the four elements—earth, water, fire, and wind. One day, when the Earth explodes or cracks, would it still exist? No. If the solar system explodes, will it remain? No. Not to mention human beings…

When you study geography or history, you will know that China has five thousand years of history. What about six thousand, ten thousand, or twenty thousand years ago; was there China? Of course not. Take the example of dinosaurs. The dinosaurs were also physical manifestations that existed long ago, as there are fossils. Now that they are extinct, where can you find them? We had a dinosaur at our Seattle temple—a costume worn by a dharma brother for performances. We knew the dinosaur in the show was fake as it was acted out by humans. Dinosaurs existed long ago but not anymore.

As of now, human beings exist. What about in the future? One day, they will no longer exist, especially if nuclear bombs were to be set off! In a nuclear war, the Earth will shatter, and humans and all else will be obliterated. Then in some distant future, some beings would say, “Long, long ago, there was a planet called Earth. It had human beings who looked like this. Now they’re all extinct.”

Aren’t all these false? These are examples that all manifestations are unreal, and everything is a manifestation. All Manifestations Lack Reality means that anything manifested is unreal. Everything lacks reality, not just the rainbows.

Let me finish reciting the sutra.

“Subhuti, in comparison to an act of giving that fills the infinite asamkya worlds with seven treasures, a good man or a good woman who generates bodhicitta and accepts, upholds, reads, recites, and expounds this sutra—even if it is only the four-line verse—will generate superior blessings.

“When one does not grasp onto any phenomena, one remains unperturbed. Why?

“Everything conditioned is
a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow.
It is like a dewdrop or a flash of lightning.
Always keep this in mind!”

Upon completion of the Buddha’s teaching, the Venerable Elder Subhuti, bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas, upasikas, and all beings in the human, heaven, and asura realms experienced great joy, and thereafter, faithfully practiced according to what they had heard.

That concludes the text of the sutra. Let me explain.

“Subhuti, in comparison to an act of giving that fills the infinite asamkya worlds with seven treasures, a good man or a good woman who generates bodhicitta and accepts, upholds, reads, recites, and expounds this sutra—even if it is only the four-line verse—will generate superior blessings.”

Asamkya represents time, and infinite asamkya means a very, very long time. Three great asamkya¹The term “three great asamkya” is often mentioned in the sutra. is already an awfully long time, let alone an infinite asamkya. By adding the word “worlds,” it refers to the spatial dimension. This phrase refers to infinite time and space.

Suppose one performs an act of giving the seven treasures—which include the most precious things in the world, like diamonds, gold, coral, and all kinds of precious gems and precious metals—over a vast amount of space and time. They will obtain tremendous blessings from such an act of giving. However, a good man or a good woman who generates bodhicitta and accepts, upholds, reads, recites, and expounds this sutra—even if it is only the four-line verse—will generate superior blessings.

The four-line verse is the non-phenomena of self, others, sentient beings, and lifespan. And a good man or good woman refers to anyone who generates bodhicitta. This means that giving dharma is far superior to giving wealth.

Let me rephrase: if you can uphold the non-phenomena of self, others, sentient beings, and lifespan, and if you can believe, accept, uphold, practice, read, and recite the sutra for yourself and expound it to others, then your blessings will surpass those of giving seven treasures over an infinite amount of time and spatial dimensions.

Why is it so? By not grasping onto anything or any phenomena, one can remain completely unmoved. Everything in this world is movable except for one thing. And what is that? The sky. It is immovable.

[Real estate property in Chinese is referred to as immovable property.] You may buy some real estate properties and think they are immovable, but they will move during an earthquake. So the immovable properties move, and the movable one is unmoved. [a pun] Mountains can be moved, and seas turned over by casting a spell. Even a mountain can move during an earthquake. Once, a mountain our office surveyed moved to another jurisdiction, so I lost a mountain—the whole mountain. [laughs] So they are not immovable.

The only thing that is truly immovable is the sky—cosmic space. Clouds, wind, fire, water, and earth—all of these are movable. Only cosmic space is immovable. Space is emptiness, so we use empty-nature to symbolize buddhanature. Buddhist sutras often state that empty-nature is buddhanature and buddhanature is empty-nature.

“…unperturbed. Why?”

What is the reason? How come one can remain unperturbed—unmoved?

“Everything conditioned is
a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow.
It is like a dewdrop or a flash of lightning.
Always keep this in mind!”

This passage is also the title of my book—Dreamlike and Illusory. Conditioned dharma—referring to everything conditioned—is like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, or a shadow. What is conditioned dharma? It is everything with conditions, including actions done with the expectation of getting something in return, say, for wealth, name, sensual pleasures, and the like. Everything conditioned has no intrinsic reality. There is a distinction between conditioned dharma and unconditioned dharma.

Billionaires like Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft near here; Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla; Jeff Bezos of Amazon; and many others have a net worth in the billions. But I know that none of their wealth truly belongs to them. One day as they age, they’ll know their wealth doesn’t truly belong to them. Billions of dollars don’t spare you from being sick; you still suffer from illnesses and eventually die. What remains for us is a square box in the Twin Lotus Realm Columbarium, but the box is not ours either. You stay inside an urn and might come out at night to scare people. [Grandmaster jokes] Then again, you won’t do that since Grandmaster won’t allow that to happen. In any case, if you’re ever frightened by ghosts bothering you, just go find Grandmaster Lu [to resolve it for you].

My son’s father-in-law—Sunny’s dad—died, and [his spirit] followed Sunny and Fo-Chi to America. They brought his ashes with them from Indonesia, and afterward he frequently came out at night to scare people, flying everywhere inside the house. Fo-Chi saw him sleeping in between Sunny and him; they were terrified, so they came for my help. Otherwise, they normally never come to me. [laughs] So I went to help them, and it was easy. First, I sealed all the windows and doors so he could not escape. Then, I chanted a mantra and called on him, and he appeared. I told him not to wander around scaring people and captured him inside a bottle. He has never come out again since. I told Sunny and Fo-Chi to just join their palms to him from then on. All is good. Now, where was I?

Ahh, I was talking about conditioned dharma and billionaires. Those who are after money will end up with nothing in the end; all is empty. Those who cling to looks will never succeed as they age. Didn’t I say that what is supposed to be hard doesn’t get hard when you’re old? Looks and wealth are empty, and name and fame even more so. What name? What reputation? Let me give you a simple example. Go to any African country and ask anybody there, “Do you know Confucius?” Confucius is very well known, right? He’s a Chinese sage. But in a remote place somewhere in the depths of Africa, nobody knows him.

Grandmaster Lu has many disciples all over the world; he’s quite famous. But if you stand under the Tokyo Tower and ask any Japanese if they know Sheng-Yen Lu, they’ll tell you “Watakushi wa wakaranai.” I don’t know. You can ask ten or even a hundred of them, and none will know. Perhaps you think you’re famous, but are you?! You all think that Grandmaster Lu is famous, but what fame is there? How about you? It’s much less so, right?

“Everything conditioned is a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow.”

Everything only manifests and appears momentarily and will disappear eventually. My father’s name was Lu Ershun, my grandfather’s was Lu Chang, and my great-grandfather’s was Lu Dejie. What about Lu Dejie’s father? Do I know? No, because my dad never told me. I don’t know any ancestors before him. In the future, your grandchildren will be the same; they won’t know the names of their ancestors. So, what name are we talking about? Names are nothing.

It’s the same for country leaders. Let me ask you, how many African presidents do you know? Who is the president of Ivory Coast? Who is the president of Sierra Leone? Does anybody know? If you can answer correctly right this moment without checking on the internet, I’ll give all of these to you. So, nobody knows! See? So why do you still care for your recognition and reputation? Of course, everybody knows the President of Ukraine because he’s on the news every day. Before the war, if I asked you who the President of Ukraine was, you might not have known. A president is the most famous person in their nation, yet many people still don’t know their names. Only the people of their country or surrounding countries know. What use is a name? Think about it; what use is it?

Everything is just a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow, referring to the spatial dimension which has no reality to it. It is like a dewdrop or a flash of lightning, symbolizing the fleeting nature of time. Morning dew dissipates once the sun shines. Lightning disappears soon after it strikes. Dreams vanish once we are awake. Water bubbles burst easily, and once they do, they are gone.

“Always keep this in mind!”

You should think this way about everything in this world. With this mindfulness, your heart-mind will stabilize and become unperturbed. If you think everything is like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow, a dewdrop, or a flash of lightning, you will be unperturbed and unmoved. This is what the Vajra Sutra is teaching you.

Upon completion of the Buddha’s teaching, the Venerable Elder Subhuti, bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas, upasikas,…

Everyone knows the Venerable Elder Subhuti. We also know what bhiksus and bhiksunis mean: Bhiksus are ordained male monastics (monks), and bhiksunis are ordained female monastics (nuns). Upasakas are male lay practitioners, while upasikas are female lay practitioners. They are the four groups of Buddhists—members of the sangha.

…and all beings in the human, heaven, and asura realms…

The heavenly realms consist of the realm of desire, the realm of form, and the realm of formlessness. The asura realm is part of the realm of gods and ghosts. People with strong jealousy and envy will go to the asura realm. Although they have some supernatural power, their strong tendency for envy, jealousy, and aggression causes them to be reborn in the asura realm.

…experienced great joy, and thereafter, faithfully practiced according to what they had heard.

End of the Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra

This is the end of the Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra!

[Grandmaster sings a song composed by a Malaysian disciple, and the lyrics is Grandmaster’s poem.]

Buddhanature is the ocean,
and human lives are the waves.
We wander and wander,
but eventually, we will return to the ocean.

Om mani padme hum.