The five colors represent: this represents the five directions and five parts.
East is cyan;
South is red;
West is white;
North is black;
Center is yellow.
The gods of the five directions:
East, Aksobhya, also known as Vajrayana;
South, Baosheng;
West, Lotus;
North, Karmapa;
Center, Buddha.
There are fifteen kinds of good births:
One. Where one is born. The good king is always present.
First, "where one is born": where one is born, and "always meets a good king": always meets a king who also practices the five precepts and ten good deeds.
Two. Always born in a good country.
Second, "always born in a good country": the country you are born in, there will be no swords, no soldiers, no water, no fire, no war, no plague. The people of the country you were born in are generally very good, peaceful, and do not kill each other.
Three. The times are always good.
The third, "always good times": when you were born, it was also very peaceful, there was no chaos, war or anything like that.
Four. You were always in good company.
"Always meeting good friends": you often meet good friends who tell you to learn and practice the Dharma.
Fifth. The roots of the body are always fulfilled.
Fifth, "The roots of the body are always complete": if you recite the Great Compassion Mantra, your six roots of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind will all be very complete and beautiful.
Six. Purity of mind.
"Pure mind of the Way": Pure, that is, unadulterated. Your mind is pure and unadulterated; ripe is mature. A pure mind is a mind that is both strong and mature in its cultivation.
Seven. Don't break the forbidden precepts.
The seventh is "not to violate the forbidden precepts": to cultivate the Way, to take the precepts, not to violate the forbidden precepts, to tell you not to do this thing, and if you do it, you are violating the forbidden precepts.
Eight. All family members. The favor and obedience of all.
The eighth, "all dependents": all the dependents in your family, "kindness and obedience": being grateful to each other. You are kind to them, they are kind to you, and they are not selfish.
9. The wealth and food of the world. Always have plenty.
All your treasures and utensils will not be in short supply, and you will always have an abundance: you will always have an abundance.
Ten. Constantly receiving others. "I will always be supported with respect.
"Always receive respect from others": whoever sees you will respect you, and "help": come to your aid.
Eleven. All treasures. No one will rob you.
"All treasures: all your own treasures, and "no others to rob you": no others to rob you, to take away from you.
Twelve. The desire of the mind. All are fulfilled.
"Whatever you wish for, you will have it fulfilled.
Thirteen. The good gods of the dragons and the heavens. The Dragon and the Heaven.
The Dragons and the Eight Divisions of Heaven, all the gods of goodness, are always there to protect and defend you.
Fourteen. Where you are born. See the Buddha and hear the Dharma.
Wherever you are born, you will see the Buddha and hear the Dharma. For example, if a Buddha enters Nirvana and we can see the statue of the Buddha now, this is also seeing the Buddha. To hear the Dharma is also to hear the Dharma.
Fifteen. Hearing the Dharma. To realize the profound meaning of the Dharma.
The Dharma you have heard is the right Dharma, and you can understand very deep truths.
There are fifteen kinds of death:
One. Not to die of hunger and distress.
The first is "not to die of hunger and distress": if you recite the Great Compassion Mantra, you will not go hungry. Hunger means not having food to eat and starving to death. Suffering means that everything is very difficult; suffering means that there is no happiness. People die of starvation, freezing, or all kinds of difficulties, but you are not subject to this death.
Two. You will not die by being shackled and beaten with a rod.
The second, "not to die for the yoke and the staff": the yoke, that is, the yoke on the head. I don't know if there are any such instruments in the United States, but in China there used to be a yoke, which was put around the neck and paraded around the streets, so that everyone could see that it was a criminal. The ban is to put in prison, confinement. The rod is a stick. The criminal uses the staff to beat his legs, breaking almost all of them. "Chor" means to beat with the rod. It can also be called pain, because when you hit with the rod, your body hurts. Some are shackled for a long time, some are beaten to death with the staff. If you recite the Great Compassion Mantra, there will be no such deaths.
Third. Don't die as a colluder.
The third kind of evil death, "not to die for the enemy": we all have enemies in the world. The so-called grievances, that is, we do not have a cause, there are grudges, there are grievances. An enemy is a person who has been wronged, as if he or she has a grievance in his or her heart that cannot be dispersed. In short, there's a bad feeling in their hearts. You hate me and I hate you, this is called collation. Collate is the same as "hate", it means to hate. We all have things to do, and people are not happy with each other, so we collate each other.
Four. Do not kill each other in battle.
The fourth, "not to be killed in battle": if you recite the Great Compassion Mantra, you will not be killed in battle in front of an army. So if you train a group of soldiers and teach them to recite the Great Compassion Mantra, they will not be killed in battle. That said, if you train a group of soldiers to fight with the Great Compassion Mantra, they won't die, but they won't win either! Because the Bodhisattva does not want people to fight.
Fifth. Not to be killed by tigers, wolves and beasts.
The fifth, you will not be bitten to death or mutilated by tigers, wolves, or other evil beasts.
Sixth. You will not be killed by poisonous snakes and tritons.
The sixth, "not to be poisonous snakes", "triton": triton, is a black snake. Scorpion is a scorpion. All these things are poisonous." "Death by poison": if you are poisoned by these poisons, you will die. But if you recite the Great Compassion Mantra, you will not be poisoned to death.
Seven. You will not be burned to death by water or fire.
The seventh is not to drown in water or burn in fire. How to not drown in water or burn in fire I've told this story before, but for those who haven't heard it, I'll tell it again today.
There is an old Buddhist monk who practiced the art of "Exit the mystery and enter the mare". What does it mean to go out and enter the mare? It means that there is a small person on the top of the head who can go out and come back. When it comes back, it's called a mare, and when it goes out, it's called a xuan.
He had been practicing everywhere, and one day he came to a temple. One day he came to a temple where an old master was practicing with a young monk. The old master, who had been practicing in the temple, came to the temple in the dark and stayed there for the night. He meditates at night and goes out. He went out to Japan, Germany, Australia, and so on. He didn't understand what the foreigners were saying, but he could see them clearly. He's always looking around, and it looks like he's been to America too. He looked at the United States. The Golden Gate Bridge is well built. It's a big project. He played on the bridge and forgot to go back.
After sunrise, Saya and the old bhikkhu wanted to eat, and the old bhikkhu said, "Call the old monk who stays at the hotel to come and eat!" The old bhikkhu said, "Tell the old monk to come and eat!" The young monk went there and looked, "Oh! The old monk is sitting dead!" He went back to the old bhikkhu and said, "Ah! Master, the man who stayed last night is dead!" The old bhikkhu went and saw that he was indeed dead. Because of Dogen, when he went out, there was no breath inside him, just like a dead person. The old bhikkhu said, "Oh! He's dead! That's good! Let's burn him with a fire." So they lit a fire and burned him!
After the fire, the old monk didn't need to take a plane, he traveled around, and when he had enough, he came back. When he came back, he couldn't find his house. When he couldn't find his house, he started to act strange at night and shouted, "Where did you put my house? Give me back my house!" The old bhikkhu and the young sanyasin heard this and said, "Who's talking?" Although they were monks, they did not have the five eyes and six senses. If they had five eyes and six faculties, they could have seen that it was the old monk who stayed here. So they can't see, and when they hear this, they say it's haunted, "Oh, it's haunted! It's haunted! The old monk who came the other night has come back to ask for the house." The first day it was at night, the next day it was haunted as soon as it got dark, and then every day, even during the day, they came back to ask for the house. For more than a month, the ghosts came to the temple day and night to ask for a house. The old bhikkhu and the young sanyasin became frightened and said, "Oh! The temple is haunted too, let's move out! Let's not live here!" And they moved too.
They will move tomorrow, and tonight another monk came to stay here. The old bhikkhu called to the young monk and said, "You go and tell him that we don't stay here now! This is too much trouble for us."
The little monk then said, "Go and find lodging somewhere else! We don't stay here now."
The old monk said, "Oh! You don't stay now. You must have stayed before. Why don't you stay now? Can you tell me"
The little monk said: "Oh! Because there was an old monk who stayed here and died. When he died, we burned his body. Now he comes back every day to ask for a room. That's why we don't keep people here anymore, and we're moving."
The old monk said, "Oh! It doesn't matter! I can cure ghosts, I can do you a favor and subdue them."
As soon as he heard that he could cure the ghosts, the young monk said, "Then I will go back and tell my master, and see what he says." He went back and told the old bhikkhu, "This old monk here says he can cure ghosts. He wants to stay overnight, is it possible"
The old bhikkhu said: "Hey! He says he can cure ghosts, but he's lying! We monks can't cure ghosts, and he's just like us, so how can he cure ghosts? Whether he cures them or not, let's keep him for a night and then we'll talk about it!" That means we'll give it a try. If he can cure it, so much the better. If not, we'll just stay for a night. So they left the old monk behind.
The old monk said: "In which house did the old monk die, and now he wants a house, and where did he come out to ask for a house"
The old bhikkhu said: "He stayed in the west room, and died the next day after he stayed there. After that, he was always haunted by ghosts and came back to ask for a house. When the sun goes down, he will come, what can you do?"
He said, "That's easy! You prepare a tank of water for me, a big tank. And you light me a fire in the house where I live. You do this!"
And when it was dark, the old monk who had been in the world before came and said, "Ah! My house, where did you get it? Find my house!" By his house, I mean his body.
The old practitioner who would cure the ghosts said, "Your house! Your house is in the water! Go to the water and look for it." So the old monk ran to the water tank, drilled around and looked everywhere, and said, "There is nothing!"" Your house is in the fire! Look in the fire." The old monk ran into the fire again, and ran in and out of the fire, and did not find his house in the fire, and said, "Neither is it there! Neither is my house in the fire."
Another old monk said, "Ah! O Theravada! You're not drowning in the water, you're not burning in the fire, so why are you looking for a house?" Saying these two words, this person became enlightened: "Oh!" It's like a gonin, "Oh!" Ha! Enlightened.
After that, there were no more ghosts, and the old bhikkhu and the young sanyasin didn't move. This is the danger of practicing "out of the mystery into the mare", although you can go everywhere, if you don't meet a master - a master, that is, one who understands the truth - and think that you're dead, and burn your body, then you won't be able to find a house.
Eight. Do not die from poison.
The eighth, "not to die from poison": you must know that Bodhidharma took poison and spat it out as a snake. It was poisoned with snake venom. Because he recited the Great Compassion Mantra, it didn't kill him. But after six poisonings, he thought, "Why go to all this trouble, it makes you sick of yourself!" So he pretended to be poisoned. In reality, Bodhidharma didn't die from the poison. Why? Because he recited the Great Compassion Mantra.
Nine. He was not killed by parasites.
"Compassion": As I have said before, this kind of compulsion can be found in the South Seas, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and even in Guangdong, China. If you are poisoned with this kind of parasites, you will only eat a very small thing, but when it gets into your stomach, it can grow up to be very big, and it will make you die. This kind of poison is very, very powerful! There are many kinds of parasites.
Ten. Do not die of madness.
The tenth is not to die of madness or confusion of mind.
Eleventh. Not to die by falling from a mountain or tree.
The eleventh, not to be killed by a tree, not to be killed by a stone rolling down a hill, not to be killed by a wall.
The twelfth. He will not be killed by the dislike of evil men.
What kind of evil spells do people put on you to make you die? Aversion is a nightmare. An evil man's nightmare is when he has an evil spell. Like the spell used by the yellow-haired layman who was the mother of the Madonna, it makes you unconscious, makes you unconscious. You can't be in charge, you just follow him around and run after him.
Thirteen. You will not be killed by evil spirits.
When you recite the Great Compassion Mantra, evil spirits will not have the opportunity to cause your death, and you will not be killed by evil spirits.
Fourteen. You will not die of evil diseases.
The fourteenth, not to be afflicted with evil diseases. This is a serious illness, such as paralysis, immobility, or an incurable disease, such as cancer.
Like a very famous monk in Hong Kong, he was born with cancer and died after a year or so, which is a bad disease. I believe he didn't believe in the Great Compassion Mantra! He taught others to practice, but he did not pay much attention to practice, so he had cancer. I tell you, this person in Hong Kong, specializing in good reputation. He publicizes everywhere in Hong Kong, saying that Venerable Dulan is his disciple. There is no such thing! It's not true. We're not even related, we're thousands of miles apart! When I was in the northeast, he didn't even know me. When I came to Hong Kong, many people believed in me, so he told everyone I was his disciple. Many people believed in me, and if he was my master, of course everyone would respect him even more. It's just like the Venerable Master who said that Master Xuyun was his disciple.
I've told you before that there was a man named Zhang who had cancer, and six doctors, all of them top-notch doctors, concluded that he would die within a hundred days and would never live again. On May 18th, this man converted to me. After he was converted, I told him to do some merit. I said, "If you follow my instructions, I guarantee that you will not die, not only within a hundred days, but also beyond this hundred days. But you have to do it my way!" There were 3,000 to 4,000 monks from mainland China who came to Hong Kong." Each one of you gives twenty dollars and a piece of cheongsam cloth (a piece of cloth can be used to make a lot of clothes). If you do this with all the monks, I promise you won't die." He agreed to do it. He also said that if he didn't die within 100 days, he would give me 200,000 dollars. He had a lot of money, tens of millions of dollars in Hong Kong, and he wanted to give out 200,000 dollars.
At the end of the 100 days, I did not die. What kind of penance? The "Medicine Master's Penance", every week, the "Medicine Master's Penance". After a hundred days, he didn't die, so the monk told Zhang that it was his merit to do the penance. If he had no money, the monk wouldn't have given him the confession. He didn't even pay a dollar at my place. At the monk's place, he gave him 5,000 dollars for his confession. The monk said to him, "This 5,000 dollars for confession is for your merit, so you didn't die." This man is called Zhang. His name is Zhang Yuji.
He lived another eight years. In the first month of this year, during the New Year, I told everyone: "This year, if Zhang Yuji comes to me again, he will kneel in front of my door for three years, and I won't even care about him! Because I have waited for him for eight years, and he has not done what he wished for." But I couldn't take this as a bill: "If you don't die, you have to pay 200,000 dollars!" So I said, "I waited for him for eight years, but he didn't have the will. From today on, I don't care what happens to him!"
Not long after I said that, Zhang Yuji became seriously ill and died; his family was asked to find me, but I didn't see them many times, and I didn't even let them in, not opening the door. You come to see me, but I don't see you! In Hong Kong, no monk can do that - not to see such a rich man, this is simply! That's why I've been criticized by many people: "You really don't know the Dharma! Ah! People go to see him, but he doesn't even show up!" Once, he gave me 200 dollars and I dropped it outside the door. So, the monks in that monk's area try to sabotage me, criticize me, saying, "He's not a monk! He's not a monk! He doesn't even take the money people offer him, he just throws it away. There is no such thing as too ...... unkind!" In about three months, Zhang Yuji died of cancer. Then the monk also had cancer, and no one was able to help him with his confession. He was able to help others with their confessions, but now all the monks in Hong Kong who prayed for him were unable to do so, and it didn't work. After a year or so, my false master died. This is called the death of the evil disease.
Fifteen. Don't kill yourself by doing something you don't want to do.
The fifteenth type, "not to be killed by non-discriminatory self-inflicted harm," means not to commit suicide. Unconscionable self-inflicted death is suicide. You can kill yourself by taking poison, hanging yourself from a beam, jumping into a well, jumping into the sea, or all kinds of things that you don't want to live, and you kill yourself.