Universal Door Chapter Lecture 11 — Fulfilling two wishes

Lectured by Rev. Heng Sure on June 20, 2021

(Dharma Master Heng Sure opens up playing and singing, Namo Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva)

Namo Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva

Guan Yin Bodhisattva

Na mo Guan Shi Yin Pu Sa

Morning everyone. Good afternoon, good evening to everybody. My name is Heng Sure. I’m coming to you from Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia to together with you look into Guan Yin Bodhisattva’s Universal Doorway, Universal Gateway, Universal Door Chapter of the Lotus Sutra.

So I apologize for getting a late start today because I upgraded my operating system and my computer and, oh my goodness, doing that during retrograde mercury gives you lots of chances to scramble and zoom was not happy until I went through all kinds of protocols, including restarting, allowing permissions, shutting down, restarting, ah! Here I am so don’t upgrade your system when it’s mission critical during retrograde mercury at the last minute. Do it in advance.

Alright. Today we have Paul Kang to help us request dharma and I’m going to ring my handbell and when I ring it, I’m going to do a half bow right here from my chair, so I invite you all to join me if you care to do so. Here we go. (Dharma Master Heng Sure rings the bell three times)

All right, here’s the first call. Paul, we’re ready anytime you want to start.

Paul Kang: Okay, Dharma Master.

恭請大德僧聽，

Gōng qǐng dà dé sēng tīng,

為此法會及一切眾生.

wèi cǐ fǎ huì jí yī qiè zhòng shēng.

請轉妙法輪教導我們，

qǐng zhuǎn miào fǎ lún jiào dǎo wǒ men,

如何了生脫死離苦得樂，

rú hé liǎo shēng tuō sǐ lí kǔ dé lè,

速證無生。

sù zhèng wú shēng.

Will the Sangha with great virtue,

Out of compassion,

For the sake of this assembly

And all living beings,

Please turn the wonderful Dharma-wheel,

To teach us how to leave suffering,

And attain bliss,

And end birth and death and

Quickly realize non-birth.

[Rev. Heng Sure]

Namo Tassa Bhagavato, Arahato, Samma Sambuddhassa

[Paul Kang]

Namo Tassa Bhagavato, Arahato, Samma Sambuddhassa

[Rev. Heng Sure]

Homage to the Blessed, Noble, and Perfectly Enlightened one

[Paul Kang]

Homage to the Blessed, Noble, and Perfectly Enlightened one

[Rev. Heng Sure]

南無薩怛他

Na mo Sa Dan Tuo

蘇伽多耶

Su Qie Duo Ye

阿羅訶帝

E La He Di

三藐三菩陀寫

San Miao San Pu Tuo Xie

[Paul Kang]

南無薩怛他

Na mo Sa Dan Tuo

蘇伽多耶

Su Qie Duo Ye

阿羅訶帝

E La He Di

三藐三菩陀寫

San Miao San Pu Tuo Xie

[Rev. Heng Sure]

開經偈

Kāi jīng jì

無上甚深微妙法

Wú shàng shèn shēn wéi miào fǎ

百千萬劫難遭遇

bǎi qiān wàn jié nàn zāo yù

我今見聞得受持

Wǒ jīn jiàn wén dé shòu chí

願解如來真實義

yuàn jiě rú lái zhēn shí yì

Verse for Opening a Sutra

Supreme and wondrous Dharma, subtle and profound,

Rarely is encountered throughout billions of eons.

But now we see it, hear it and accept it reverently;

May we truly understand the Buddha’s actual meaning.

All right, thank you, Paul for the Dharma Request. We are well and truly requested.

All right. Before we get started, look at how cold it is outside. This is a goofy lorikeet who came with his partner yesterday, and I was impressed at how fluffy he looked. As they say in Australia, he’s all rugged up for the winner. And he’s like, “Hi, it’s nippy, mate, yeah, we like it,” yep.

Here’s another one of those winter birds. Ain’t he cute? This is Candace, the kookaburra who comes every day, and we’re missing her brother. We don’t know what happened to her brother. I haven’t seen him for a while. I hope he’s okay. One more just to get us going here, kind of ground us in the weather. This is a winter turkey. How do you like this? Awesome turkey. Because we keep shoveling the bird seed into the feeding dish, this has become the popular stop for every turkey in the neighborhood and we converse with them, and of the group of about eight, who now hang out here, there’s one, one only, who is completely unafraid and just stand right there and waits for me to refill the bowl and that’s him, this is him.

All right. Now, today we have something very special. We’re going to start right here and I’ll just read the text, okay. We’re going to read down to here, from here. So pretty much one page, all right. I’ll just go right through.

Somebody mentioned that, let’s see here, there is no full screen option, I’ll just make it bigger. There we go. Okay, here we go.

「若有女人，設欲求男，禮拜供養觀世音菩薩，便生福德智慧之男；設欲求女，便生端正有相之女，宿植德本，眾人愛敬。無盡意，觀世音菩薩有如是力。若有眾生，恭敬禮拜觀世音菩薩，福不唐捐，是故眾生皆應受持觀世音菩薩名號。」

“If women seeking sons bow to and make offerings to the Bodhisattva Guan Shi Yin, they will give birth to sons happy, virtuous and wise. If instead, they wish for daughters, they will bear gifted daughters with deep-rooted, wholesome characters, beloved and respected by all. Infinite resolve! Such is the power of the Bodhisattva Who Listens to the Sounds of All The World.”

There it is, that’s today’s section. If you listen in today, a mother of a child, if you will become the mother of a child, then I put my palms together to you and admit that I have never given birth to a child and won’t, in the near future. So I don’t have this experience but everyone of us listening on the call today — and we have people from five continents — everyone listening on the call today has, has a mother and came to life because of the experience of giving birth, and that is, I can make that statement categorically, right, without fear of contradiction unless maybe you are a Deva or a dragon or one of the eightfold Pantheon, here to protect if so, welcome, welcome. I don’t know what experience you went through to come to life but we all come because of the mothers and that experience of seeking a child, conceiving a child, giving birth to a child and then watching the child grow and sometimes, sadly, passed away before the parents or normally outlived the parents, going to serve the parents. That entire experience of our species’ reproduction is magical and deeply, deeply, what’s, we need to get a good word, a quality word here. Magical, in that it defies science.

Predicting gender is an inexact practice, you don’t know who’s coming and when we get clues from people like Master Hua, it becomes even more, non scientific, knowable but not predictable. Shrfu would talk about. We have to do. I apologize, as someone who has the blessing to explain sutras as part of my weekly practice, I should use my discipline, use my technique, use the 法, the dharma. Okay, what does the 法, the method said. Says after you recite the text, go through it first linguistically, go through it first and look at the language and I didn’t do that, I jumped right into the interpretation, so let me go back and look at the language.

We are in the 法华经, the Dharma Flower Sutra known as the Lotus and we’re in section where Guan Yin Bodhisattva. The Guan Yin’s incredible benefits to people who revere Guan Yin and keep her name in mind, says recall the strength of Guan Yin Bodhisattva. People who do that, who recite “Namo Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva” can have amazing things happen that are unavailable to people who don’t recite the name of Guan Yin.

So today we have two of those results, two of those benefits: one is if women and men, if mothers and fathers seek sons and maybe are unable to conceive, maybe or for various reasons are unable to conceive, if they bow to and make offerings to the Bodhisattva Guan Yin, Guan Yin’s promise, the Lotus Sutra’s promise is they will give birth to sons happy virtuous and wise; Further, if they wish for daughters, and I love that part because this is not a male-centric sutra or a male-centric religion, so suppose a couple wants a daughter if they bow to and make offerings the Bodhisattva Guan Yin, they will bear gifted daughters with deep-rooted wholesome character beloved and respected by all.

And just looking at the text here, what is cool is the sutra not only says, oh children come in two flavors: human children, boys and girls. If you want a boy, you want a boy who is happy, virtuous and wise. What could be better than to have a son who is happy, virtuous and wise? oh, Chinese mothers around the world say “and rich, kid gonna be a lawyer, gonna be a doctor”, yeah all right so we know that so, but even if they weren’t rich lawyers, doctors and they were happy virtuous and wise, every mother I know would go “okay, I’ll take that, I’ll settle for that”. Right, good enough.

And the sutra describes for us likewise the qualities desirable in a daughter and look at what all of the things that your kids could be, the sutra gives us three things they could be that says are what you want in a daughter, what is it? Gifted, deep-rooted wholesome characters, beloved and respected by all.

Yeah they’re gifted, meaning what? Oh well you know, love to serve, what a gift if a child is shown by their parents, by her parents how to serve, how to be how to live in service and the joy that that brings that would be a gift, right, and filial, yeah! A daughter, who looks upwards in her relationship to her parents’ side words in a relationship to her siblings. That would be a gift, right, but deep-rooted wholesome character. Someone who is kind, someone who is resourceful, sensitive, thoughtful, right. It’s all wholesome character, and as a result of her gifts and character, she is beloved and respected.

Would you take a daughter like that? Oh yes, oh yeah. Notice it doesn’t say anything about physical appearance. It talks about inner qualities.

And then the sutra has a little refrain here. Notice above with the Three Poisons, there was a refrain at the end, and it said.

“Guan Yin Bodhisattva with magnificent spiritual power gives benefits like these so always keep her name in your heart and hold your name in mind.”

And when it was the Seven Dangers, it had a refrain:

“Infinite Resolve how imposing is the awesome spiritual power of this Great Bodhisattva Who Listens to the Sounds of All the World.”

So we’ve had Seven Dangers, Three Poisons and now Two Requests, and each one concludes each one of these little sections, the sutra concludes with the exhortation to keep Guan Yin in our hearts and hold her name in mind, okay, there we go.

So now this promise doesn’t define biology, it doesn’t say if you’re 50 years old and you’ve decided at age 50 there’s time to have a child, then everything’s going to go smoothly. No, biology still plays a part here, but the promise of being able, through spiritual means, through your devotion, through your cultivation, that you are able to bring about childbirth and have happy, virtuous, and wise boys and gifted, deep-rooted, wholesome daughters. That’s pretty amazing, pretty wonderful.

I know reading– excuse me, hit my cough button here, so I can blow my nose. I’ve got a nifty MIC with a cough button so I don’t cough in your ears.

I was reading in, what was it? I guess it was the Medicine Master Sutra, Medicine Buddha Sutra about what folk practices, folk beliefs that exist in the Chinese community, the wider Chinese community and the Medicine Sutra was saying, “Don’t do this. Don’t go to trees, and 求神明, don’t go to a tree and seek a tree spirit to give you a child if you’re unable to conceive.” And who knew, I’m an urban kid pretty much, I grew up in a city, I didn’t grow up on the farm, and so I wasn’t aware that there was a practice so common that made it into the sutra of certain trees being considered fertility trees and if you go tie a ribbon on to the tree and do whatever — and often those folk beliefs involve making a sacrifice, a blood sacrifice. You kill something and offer it to the tree in order to get pregnant. And huh, huh, it’s common enough that it made it into a sutra. So sutra says, “don’t do that, don’t do that. No, just, instead, you know, use your energy properly on Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva. Earth Store Bodhisattva talks about it, Medicine Buddha talks about it, Guan Yin Bodhisattva 普門品 Pǔ mén pǐn, here in the Lotus Sutra talks about devotion and faith are the ways to create the situation so that natural things can happen. Now Shrfu talk about it in so many different ways.

Okay here I am. Now I’m back in my interpretation part, all right. That’s the method, that’s our technique and the things that Shrfu would say about childbirth, Shrfu would say such things as we have affinities with each other that are sometimes very wholesome, that we come to repay kindness and then sometimes he would say, no, we come to repay debts. The child has been waiting for you so that you can continue your enmity relationship, sometimes he would say that to explain human relationships in this life. So, in other words, deeds from the past carryover and we continue, sometimes he would say that, even though you had an affinity with somebody from the past because somebody cultivated and recited properly, recited the Sutras, bowed to Guan Yin like the Sutra says, things changed and your virtue attracted another soul who came to your womb and was born and became your child. Now, I am way over my head, this is above my pay grade. I don’t see these things but Shifu did and described all the amazing, amazing, relationships that can result in a child coming to live with parents, right. So this is the biology, spiritual biology, that is what we are looking at and it is 不可思議 inconceivable, that is to say, beyond understanding but real…real…real.

Think of all that goes into raising a child and all begins with having that 8th consciousness, that’s the language we use, the soul, the spirit of a child show up in your womb and nine months later, arrive in a body, embodiment of your wishes and all the mischievous starts there…(chuckles). So how wonderful. Infinite Resolves, such is the power of the Bodhisattva who listens to sounds of all the world.

Ok, furthermore, “Any living being who worships and makes offerings to Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva 功不唐捐？福不唐捐, will never take a loss. Therefore, every single living being should hold Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva’s name in mind.” 是故眾生皆應受持觀世音菩薩名號 Indeed, indeed.

Ok, now, I am going to park that down below and tell a story. Now, to tell a story, I am going to stop sharing my screen briefly because in telling the story of, I have permission from the person who the story occurred to retell it but I want to be sensitive to the fact that this is an international call. I’m going to use my Dharma friend’s dharma name to tell this story and just to keep it, those who know her will know who it is if you don’t know or you won’t. You’ll know her from her spiritual identity, her relationship with Master Hua. So, this person’s name is 果通 and her husband’s name is 果同; first tone, second tone, two tones. And she was a nurse in San Francisco busiest maternity board, the busiest hospital maternity board in San Francisco and RN. So, professional person involved in giving/bringing people into the world. She saw her own OB GYN doctor every single day at work and she knew everything about pregnancy and birthing babies that there was to know and was indeed involved in bringing so many people into the world. And, she was a disciple, she had met Master Hua, she and her husband had connections with Shrfu before, Buddhist lecture hall in waverly place back in the house in Fillmore, she knew Master Hua.

And they got married at Gold Mountain, I believed or was it a Buddhist lecture. Anyway, they had a Buddhist wedding they were married and wanted to start a family and couldn’t. There’s a pinch, couldn’t get pregnant and her 果通’s doctor who was professionally involved in bringing and making sure that women who wanted to start a family could do so safely. And, he said: “Sorry, friend”, so that was the kind of story.

And at this time, at this point it was Gold Mountain, in the Gold Mountain community people had begun reciting to Universal Door Chapter, Universal Gateway Chapter, 普門品 of the Lotus sutra and they knew the story of Guan Yin Bodhisattva and they heard Shrfu explain it. And so, Shrfu instructed Guo Tong to recite. He said just recite the name of Guan Yin Bodhisattva and don’t worry. And so, I remember hearing about the conversation: Guo Tong went and said: “Shrfu, we want a family, but I can’t get pregnant.” “Hum! You don’t have enough faith! Just recite Guan Yin’s name. Hum! Really cultivate! Be really sincere!” And so, she did, both she and her husband. A year or two went by, and what happened? Well, Guo Tong was a vegetarian, before she actually met Shrfu and had been eating a strict vegetarian diet, which is pretty uncommon among ordinary American young people back in the sixties.

But she was vegetarian and she had a strong desire to eat meat. Just as a vegetarian, suddenly, craving to eat meat, came up in her mind. And so what? She was feeling still not pregnant, reciting the Buddha’s name, and had this craving for meat. And she went home one day after work, and the phone rang, and on the phone was Shrfu, Master Hua, calling her personal phone at home. And he said, he heard that she’s having problems and “怎么样啊, what’s going on?” So Guo Tong said, Shrfu, I’m having this strange craving to eat meat but I haven’t eaten any. There was this long silence on the phone. And he started laughing. And, he said while laughing, “ah, now you have baby! Everything is okay, no meat” he said. And, sure enough, she was able to conceive the child.

So okay, well, things are going along, and Guo Tong goes in for a check-up and her doctor says…”Oh, troubles, troubles, there is going to be difficulties just looking at your make-up, here your physical condition… this is really a question whether this child will be born safely or not, so you have some decisions to make. So Guo Tong went back to Shifu. Shifu! Shifu! What do I do? Shifu said, “Hmph! You just don’t have enough faith”, he said. “You should be really sincere. No worries, no problems”.

So…Guo Tong…the story now is known to the community, now remember, people say “yeah, we’ve decided to pitch in and we made images of Guan Yin and we recited with Guo Tong, on her behalf, to make sure that things went smoothly”. So now the community was involved — people were aware that this was…this was a big deal. Nobody knows anything about reciting Guan Yin Bodhisattva and having cravings for meat and, you know, you could seek a child and have a child like this.

So the time came and Guo Tong was in the hospital and nine months, time to give birth and her friends, her Dharma friends from Gold Mountain, I heard this from several people, were gathered outside in the hallway. And they saw Guo Tong wheeled in on a gurney. They were all outside, reciting and reciting…what’s going to happen, what’s going to happen… is it going to be a safe birth, is it all going to be well and they were reciting… and someone described the scene, the doors to the maternity ward opened, and she was wheeled out and they said, on her face was this beatific look, this blissful look on her face. What happened, what happened…She said, “sweet dew”. And there was the sound of cries. She gave birth to a whopping child with red hair, a boy, and people who know him, yeah, “larger than the average baby”.

And she, everybody gathered in her room, when she came to…what was going on? What happened? And she said, “ I was worried at the start but I kept reciting and I opened my eyes and at the foot of my bed was Guan Yin Bodhisattva and I felt this cool liquid touch the crown of my head and it felt so good. And I knew there was no need to worry”. She said, That’s my story.

And yes, that entire experience happened the second time and Guo Tong and Guo Tung have two very healthy boys in their family, two sons. Starting from you can’t conceive. How about that? And of course Shrfu was like, “you all really don’t believe you have to be more sincere, really cultivate the way.”

So Infinite Resolve, such is the power of the Bodhisattva who listens to the sounds of all the world. Any living being who worships and makes offerings to Guan Yin Bodhisattva will never take a loss. Therefore every single living being should hold Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva’s name in mind, says the sutra.

How about that? So that’s my own experience and I appreciate Guo Tong giving me permission to tell the story. I hope I got the details right. And maybe I, maybe I didn’t but she’ll correct me. And I wanted those details to be accurate because that’s a moving powerful story (banjo music).

I was on three steps, one bow, bowing to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas and times were tough. We were going through, I believe, Half Moon Bay at this point. They’re on the peninsula and we were not greeted as pilgrims or heroes, we were greeted as, with beer and tomatoes and shouts and lots of nastiness at that point. That’s our karmic response.

And in order to keep myself bowing when times were tough, I was thinking of Guan Yin Bodhisattva. And all the things that I knew, I put it together in a song Homage to the Bodhisattva Guan Shi Yin.

Which I recited to get me through, honestly, is strength. So:

Homage to the Bodhisattva Guanshiyin

Who’s made a vow to save us from the troubles that we’re in,

Although she travels far and wide to save all as she roams,

10,000 Buddhas’ City is the Bodhisattva’s home.

Shrfu said that Guan Yin Bodhisattva left Pu Tuo Shan and lives at 万佛城.

Homage to the Bodhisattva Guanshiyin

Bringing joy and ending sorrow, say her name again,

Homage to the Great Dharani (the大悲咒, Great Compassion Mantra), holy magic spell,

Healing sickness, stopping evil, lucky, as you will.

And the chorus goes:

Namo Guanshiyin Pusa, Namo Guanshiyin

I would say Bodhisattva but it doesn’t fit the meter.

Namo Guanshiyin Pusa, Namo Guanshiyin

Namo Bodhisattva Who Observes the World’s Sounds

Everywhere your name is heard, happiness abounds

Contemplating freedom 觀自在, compassionate and kind

Saving all from suffering and bringing peace of mind,

Namo Great Compassion Mantra, holy magic spell

Power inconceivable for those who hold it well,

Miracles more wonderful than words can ever tell,

Chant the mantra’s ancient sounds, and troubles you dispel.

Namo Guanshiyin Pusa, Namo Guanshiyin

Known by many different names in many different lands,

Bodhisattva Guanshiyin, with a thousand hands,

A thousand eyes, a thousand ears respond to those in need,

Recite the name Guan Shi Yin, from troubles you’ll be freed;

In transformations thirty-two she reveals her light

Manifesting different bodies when time is right

Now appearing as a beggar solving someone’s plight,

Now appearing as a king with awesome royal might.

Now a monk, now a maiden, now a nobleman,

Teaching in a way each different being can understand;

Compassionately bringing joy and ending suffering,

That’s the greatness of the Bodhisattva Guanshiyin.

Ok, that’s the song. (Banjo music, D.M. Heng Sure recites chorus and song):

Namo Guanshiyin Pusa, Namo Guanshiyin (2x)

Homage to the Bodhisattva Guanshiyin

Who’s made a vow to save us from the troubles that we’re in,

Although she travels far and wide to save all as she roams,

10,000 Buddhas’ City is the Bodhisattva’s home.

Homage to the Bodhisattva Guanshiyin

Bringing joy and ending sorrow, say her name again,

Homage to the Great Dharani, holy magic spell,

Healing sickness, stopping evil, lucky, as you will.

Chorus: Namo Guanshiyin Pusa, Namo Guanshiyin (2x)

Namo Bodhisattva Who Observes the World’s Sounds

Everywhere your name is heard, happiness abounds

Contemplating freedom, compassionate and kind

Saving all from suffering and bringing peace of mind,

Namo Great Compassion Mantra, holy magic spell

Power inconceivable for those who hold it well,

Miracles more wonderful than words can ever tell,

Chant the mantra’s ancient sounds, and troubles you dispel.

Chorus: Namo Guanshiyin Pusa, Namo Guanshiyin (2x)

Known by many different names in many different lands,

Bodhisattva Guanshiyin, with a thousand hands,

A thousand eyes, a thousand ears respond to those in need,

Recite the name Guan Shi Yin, from troubles you’ll be freed;

In transformations thirty-two she reveals her light

Manifesting different bodies when time is right

Now appearing as a beggar solving someone’s plight,

Now appearing as a king with awesome royal might,

Now a monk, now a maiden, now a nobleman,

Teaching in a way each different being can understand;

Compassionately bringing joy and ending suffering,

That’s the greatness of the Bodhisattva Guanshiyin,

Want to join me, last time here we go.

Namo Guanshiyin Pusa, Namo Guanshiyin(4x)

Homage to the Bodhisattva song. Now, this morning I’m going to go talk online about the 三歸五戒, The three refuges and the five precepts for people here, who at Gold Coast Dharma Realm, who are going to take the refuge before too long. And just to let you know that we’re hoping, we haven’t yet been able to do that online, lots of questions, opening it up, we hoping that as COVID restrictions change more people get vaccinated, we’ll be able to offer refuges and precepts to folks.

Meanwhile folks who are still suffering from COVID 19 and its effects, Medicine Buddha’s Mantra should lead the way. See you next week.

(music and chanting begins)

Medicine Buddha’s Mantra for Anointing the Crown of the Head

Om namo bhagavate bhaisajyaguru

Vaidurayaprabharajaya tathagataya

Arhate samyaksambuddhaya tadyatha: om

Bhaisajye bhaisajye bhaisajya samudgate svaha om

(3x)

“Homage to the Blessed One, The teacher of healing. The king of jewel-like radiance, the One Come Thus, the Worthy One, the Fully and Perfectly Awakened One, thus: To the healer awakened! Svaha! May it be so!”

(music and chant ends)

Stay healthy. Stay peaceful. Keep reciting Guan Yin Bodhisattva’s name. See you all next week everyone. Amituofo. Bye for now.

Contributors of this transcribing this lecture:

Vera Cristofani, Ng Swee Tuo, Lucky Lee, Yan Ming, Susan Jiang, Bach_Nguyen, Jasky, Aurora Yu, Susan Jiang, Susan Chai, Hong Anh Nguyen, Annie Tran