No-one Is Born Knowing Everything...
Buddha taught us that nothing arises independently. The entire universe is involved in the creation of causes and conditions. From these, phenomena arise.
This site is no different. It arose due to many causes coming together to compel the expression of an important message that the universe needed to be heard.
Buddha was not born knowing that all phenomena are interdependent. That wisdom only came to him after he succeeded in his quest for enlightenment to help all beings be free from suffering.
We are all like this; no-one is born knowing everything. Only after we put in the effort to know how things truly are do we understand.
His Holiness Living Buddha Lian Sheng was born in Taiwan at the end of World War Two and has often joked that the one subject he should have paid more attention to as a kid was learning English!
It never struck him at the time that his future might include immigrating to an English speaking nation and becoming a remarkable dharma king with many English speaking students! He was not born into temple life like some reincarnated masters and although there was international travel back then, it was uncommon, so why would he have anticipated such a need as a young boy?
To this day, he speaks English in the typically reserved way of one with a strong Taiwanese accent. English actually sounds very beautiful in his soft, gentle tones, but those used to the big talk of American English or the downward inflections of British English will need to open their ears and listen carefully.
Shall We Play Chinese Whispers?
As a result, His Holiness’ vast treasury of dharma teaching has been given in Chinese as the language of the majority of the sangha that formed around him.
Due to the lack of information in English, this has caused many to misunderstand him or to misrepresent what limited information there is, as if one small thing tells the complete story. This is perhaps understandable. His Holiness Living Buddha Lian Sheng is no ordinary lama, nor even a high achieving master, but rather one of the most important figures in Buddhism that has ever lived.
If one just hears sound bites of his teachings or endeavours, one could easily jump to the false conclusion that he was crazy, possessed by Mara, a heretic or a liar. In fact many of his earlier books spoke about people having this reaction. It isn’t easy to convey what he knows in a short space without creating a “You what?!” reaction in the the listener. So it is with the great beings. They are inconceivable so it will take a while from hearing of their activities before our comprehension and understanding catches up.
Spitting At The Sky
This situation is further complicated by the fact that the majority of the masters who have trained under Grandmaster speak little or no English. Many are afraid to try to communicate in English because they lack sufficient vocabulary to properly articulate their responses.
For True Buddha Foundation to give official responses requires lots of committee meetings. In the native language, they can swiftly provide answers but because few of them can tell if a translation is accurate, it is not a quick process to provide guidance in English.
There are already hundreds of temples set up worldwide with more being build every year – all by the love of locals who own and operate them because they want to follow these teachings. In True Buddha School, it is more like a club of people sharing the same passion for spiritual practice as the temples are not by a central organisation trying to spread their worldview. Major ceremonies have been known to fill out major stadiums and arenas worldwide, from Madison Square Gardens to the Hong Kong Stadium with 40,000+ people attending. There is a queue of people trying to get the chance for a minute or two with His Holiness every day of the year for decades.
His Holiness Living Buddha Lian Sheng has made it clear on many public occasions that he isn’t interested having the biggest temples or following. It is more important to him to help students reach a high level in their practices so they can transcend Samsaric suffering. Let others be “pop” Gurus with temples made for tourism and teachings that look so good on telly if that is what they want to do. For him, he just wants to keep it real.
Open To Be As You Please
With so many happy students, the fact that a few English speakers misunderstand and misrepresent the Guru isn’t an issue anyone is losing sleep over! It is their karma!
If a group of people with wrong facts want to create bad karma for themselves by parading their misinformation, that’s up to them.
True Buddha School’s policy is not to engage in any sort of manipulation whatsoever. People can speak as they will, even those who speak out of ill will.
Anyone can join True Buddha School so long as they do so out of their own freewill and anyone can leave anytime, and there’s no attempts made to try to keep people from doing so. If they later decide they want to return, that is also fine. This is the “open door” policy of going with the flow that pervades through the culture and ethos of True Buddha School.
Sharing The Facts
As a volunteer running the True Buddha Dharma Discussion Facebook Group, and having previously been the webmaster for TBSN English and Padmakumara.org, I have found that newcomers often had the same misconceptions. Having explained these over and over again for years to each person who asked, I figured it was about time I saved myself hours of labour, and just put all the answers in one easy to read place. Then, when newcomers ask the same thing, I’ll just direct them here and save myself from RSI!
This resource is not an official response.
It does not necessarily reflect the views of either His Holiness Living Buddha Lian Sheng, Grandmaster Lu, nor of True Buddha Foundation.
All the mistakes contained herein are my own, yet from a heart of bodhicitta, I aim to help students, would-be students, and our esteemed friends in the wider Buddhist world have a better understanding of His Holiness Living Buddha Lian Sheng and his magnificent efforts to preserve and propagate the True Buddha Dharma during the degenerate age Buddha Shakyamuni prophesized would appear at the end of his teaching period.
I aspire to give a better understanding of why this transmission is so special at this time, as well as give all the resources needed for you to determine for yourselves whether True Buddha School is new religion, or an ongoing part of a centuries old process to finely tune the dharma to the needs of sentient beings according to the times. I hope you will find it in your heart to forgive me for any mistakes or errors, and I’m grateful for all positive feedback.
Om guru lian sheng siddhi hum,
Lotus Charlotte.