CHAPTER I: BODHISATTVA MAITREYA'S PAST INCARNATIONS
The Shakyamuni Buddha, before His entering of Nirvana, ordained that
later in the Destructive Dharma Period, the Bodhisattva Maitreya would return to the human world to fulfill His great compassionate vow to completely save all living beings. The Bodhisattva Maitreya would acquire the supreme accomplishment that is the level of Buddha, and become the fifth Buddha succeeding the Shakyamuni Buddha. He would reform the Buddha’s Tao, and maintain the immortal Authentic Dharma of all Tathagata Buddhas for 5,000 years.
Shakyamuni Buddha.
Altar of Dharma
Constitution in The
Meditation Monastery
Las Vegas, Nevada USA.
According to the Buddhist calendar, in the past 2,500 years, Lord Maitreya had returned six times. He preached the Buddhist dharma three times in this saha world. These events were known by a great number of Buddhist followers. He had returned three more times, but in these he kept silent. Nobody knew about it. He was, in one incarnation, an adviser to the king and religious authority. In another incarnation, he was the king of China. He was also the teacher of dharma in Tibet in another incarnation. This will be discussed in more detail in later chapters.
1. PHO DAI SI
In one of His former lives, the Bodhisattva Maitreya returned to China with the name Phó Đại Sĩ. It was not until His passing that secular people would know that Phó Đại Sĩ was actually the incarnation of Lord Maitreya.
2. SUPERIOR HARMONIOUS MONK BUDAI
Also in China, at the time of Liang Dynasty, the Bodhisattva Maitreya had appeared again in this world with the title of Superior Harmonious
Monk
Budai. His body differed from that of secular people. His forehead was wrinkled. His abdomen was enlarged. The trunk of His body was portly. When departing from life, He sat in meditation without any illness and passed away in meditation. By that time, secular people knew that the Superior Harmonious Monk
Budai was the Bodhisattva Maitreya who came to this human world.
3. NAGARJUNA
In another past life, when the Bodhisattva Maitreya had returned to the world in India, He bore the name
Nagarjuna. At His passing, the secular people realized that the
Nagarjuna Himself was the incarnation of Lord Maitreya. Whenever He appeared in this human world, He always did numerous beneficial deeds for the living beings, according to His fundamental vows.
Statue of Superior
Harmonious Monk
Dubai.
After the Second World War, and until now, all monks and nuns, including superior harmonious monks and nuns, superior monks and nuns, and great virtuous monks and nuns believed that this is not yet the incarnation time of Lord Maitreya. They believe He is still in the Tusita Heaven, so there would be many more lifetimes before He would be reincarnated to continue the authentic Dharma of the Shakyamuni Buddha.
On the contrary, in Southern Vietnam, there were a lot of religions, such as Catholicism, Buddhism, Caodaism, Tây An Master Buddha, Hoà Hảo Buddhism, and even learned people and supreme human beings, along with the Book of Oracles, that predicted and prophesized that Lord Maitreya had returned to Vietnam but secluded Himself from the world.
They firmly believed that Lord Maitreya was born in Vietnam, but nothing happened. Time passed, and nobody could hear or see the apparition of strange phenomenon in order to see Him in person, according to the Book of Oracles. Gradually, many people became more and more anxious and that gave rise to doubt. According to the Sutras’ Great Collection, 2500 years after the Shakyamuni Buddha entered Nirvana signals the Destructive Dharma Period and Lord Maitreya’s reincarnation. But it is now the year 2538 of the Buddhist calendar and Lord Maitreya has not appeared in the world, which made scholars and faithful Buddhist disciples more doubtful.
4. LORD MAITREYA HIMSELF WAS KONG-MING
Close to the entering Eight Great Element of Nirvana’s day, He visited Đà Lạt city and bought a statue of Kong-Ming, which He brought back to Nha Trang (left). He then inscribed below the statue:
Statue of Kong-Ming.
It’s bought in Đà Lạt.
Even as the Prime Minister, Kong-Ming Zhuge Liang, had to bend his head to a pile of books, and endure unhappiness to find out a way to help life to be free from suffering.
The Universe never helps us. It is only our Mind that can save us.
The heartless are the cruelest.” –T.V.
[1]
[1] T.V. is the abbreviation of Tịnh Vương, meaning Pure King: one of original Vietnamese titles of Lord Supreme Maitreya Buddha.
Lord Maitreya clearly took the definite Tao path: The practitioner cannot always rely on others, or simply supplicate and pray to the supper beings. One has to be diligent to correct one’s nature to be better. One must undergo the proceeding of thousands of Dharmas and self-dissolve to clear up one’s karma. After achieving the authentic enlightenment, he or she will suddenly self-originate the great compassion heart toward living beings, love them as himself or herself, and will not sit quietly and watch living beings sink in the fire ocean of suffering.
One day Lord Maitreya taught and I
[1] heard these words: You and I have been found throughout many lives side by side. Once I was national chief advisor in China and I could not keep my eyes closed before the people who were groaning in suffering. I had to make use of my (Buddhist) intelligence as a means to salvation for life. The practice and fulfillment of Tao Dharma today—though deprived of a strong army, a guard, or physical weapons beside me— yet with a determined will, I used the Buddha power, which is thousands of times stronger than before, to effectively find a salvation for life.
He then ordered His people to draw a picture of Guan Gong (Guan Yu) and hang it in His private study. Upon entering His room and seeing the picture of Guan Gong in the position of escort, I suddenly remembered my former life and His intuitively. I was astonished to discover that He had been the Kong-Ming of the Han Dynasty, national chief advisor at the time of Liu Bei, also named Liu Xuande, in China.
What a strange thing! I was very astonished to see as far back as the year 191 with Liu Bei, Guan Gong, and Zhang Fei. After a discussion, they had arranged the initiation for their friendship the next day at the peach garden behind Zhang Fei’s house, laying out offerings and celebrating before heaven and earth.
Kong-Ming, at that time, was the Bodhisattva Maitreya Himself. In the eyes of the Meditation Master, recognizing deep friendship became a very good cause for incarnation of this ever changing existence of human beings. We are now side by side in this modern and scientific era of this 20th century! The following two verses of Lord Pure King, who is an incarnation of Lord Maitreya and who also was Kong-Ming in the past, remind us of the non-stop rotation of transmigration of human lifetime and that we could meet each other in bodily form again if we have sentiment and gratitude for each other!
Original Vietnamese version.
“We were acquaintances in ancient times, now we meet each other again,
That means we have had a very deep attachment with each other in the former life.” –TV
From ancient history, until the present—the 20th century, humankind has advanced greatly in its intelligence, civilization and modernization. Lord Kong-Ming, now with the title Supreme Pure King, has also changed Himself accordingly. He was successful and was far superior to the domain of science and even to this world’s politicians. How wonderful it was!
Lord Maitreya appeared in this human world with only a third grade education; He had not yet completed elementary education. Compared to scientists with doctorate degrees, and impressive scholars, who have created many ultramodern inventions, they could not stand against His secret guidance from far and away. Sutra books which were written when He enters into
Samadhi[1] Authentic Contemplation were admired by highly educated people who could not thoroughly understand them. Thus we clearly see that no level of education can surpass true enlightenment.
During the Time of Pure King’s complete salvation for living beings, Guan Gong was in a rank of Deity—an Invisible Dharma Protector, vowed to guard the Authentic Dharma all the time. Guan Gong diligently used the Deity’s power to come into the communist countries where he was greatly needed. He caused the blockade of temples to be lifted, reopening them for the faithful followers who came there to worship, admire the Buddha, and practice and fulfill according to their will.
Thanks to the vow of salvation for living beings on the part of Devas, Deities, Dragon Deities-Dharma Protectors, etc. and especially to Guan Gong, monks and nuns in communist countries were still allowed to live in the temples and continue practic
Guan Gong.
“Invisible Protector”.
Altar of Dharma
Constitution.
ing and fulfilling the Tao Dharma until the reform of the nation. Guan Gong often went to China and Taiwan to help the people of these two countries live in peace. There are many times where the situation was so grave that Guan Gong received orders directly from Lord Pure King—an incarnation of Lord Maitreya—to resolve indescribable difficulties. It also was Guan Gong who had personally gone to the Soviet Union many times during the period of tension on the border between the Soviet Union and China to prevent the communist Soviet Union from pushing their troops into the Communist China.
The Kings and mandarins of the Vietnamese dynasties of Đinh-Lê-Lý-Trần, were also reborn and followed Him to practice the Tao Dharma in new bodies and under new names in this lifetime. This is not strange because the groundwork had been laid beforehand. We can see from history that these dynasties were devoted to Buddhism. It makes sense that in their search for liberation through knowing, seeing, and solving today, they could therefore meet again in this lifetime.
In this time, Liu Bei and his assistants in the past, were reborn as humans, and followed Him to practice and fulfill the path of enlightenment.
Guan Gong, also called Quan Vân Trường in Vietnamese, was not reborn to be a man, but still remained in the invisible Deity rank to guard the authentic Dharma. He often went to the USA and other places in the free world. The former Zhang Fei was President Chiang Kai-Shek of Taiwan. Near the day of entering into the Eight Great Elements of Nirvana, Lord Pure King attested that Guan Gong was a Dharma protector and advised me, “Later, you should inform those in the temples to worship Guan Gong because he has helped the temples open for living beings practicing and fulfilling the Tao Dharma!”
It’s really a miracle how the Dharma nature was proceeding in the time of Lord Kong-Ming, it is now happening exactly as it was in the past. Today, The Five Tigers Team is also in the central ministry operating throughout the course of His Tao fulfilling path to enable living beings to practice and fulfill the Tao Dharma. Besides His crowded true disciples, there are numerous descendants of Devadatta who also practiced the Tao Dharma. These tended to be nuisances however; their hearts are full of jealousy and suspicion.
Lord Pure King also had the three verses inscribed, expressing the filial piety of Guan Gong:
“To be ungrateful to one’s parents will bring about serious disasters.
Such as severe corporal punishment, incurable diseases
Excessive penalty and continuous accidents” –Guan Gong
Scientists did not accept explanations about the mystical spirit, seen in the eyes of a Meditation Master; they needed concrete experiments on tangible things to be demonstrated. Even if these explanations were concretely demonstrated, they could not bring themselves to accept it as they lacked the eyes of contemplative meditation and the conscious level of a Meditation Master.
When Lord Pure King was authentically enlightened, He remembered His former lives in the past. Many lives that spanned hundreds of thousands of years could be seen. The future of humanity on this planet and the Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds was visible to Him. Explaining this to some would only give rise to arguments and would not help them open their eyes.
Picture of The Five Tigers
Team. Hang on at Central
Superior Congregation,
Nha Trang Vietnam.
A few years ago, the news reported on seven planets appearing at the same time in the sky. The vast majority of world did not know that this phenomenon was performed by the Lord Maitreya. Even if they knew the Lord Maitreya Himself did it, they could not be satisfied. Only when they would go to Vietnam to do research, learn from the oriental, and discover right in their own body-mind, would that hopefully be enough to satisfy them and help them become mutually sympathetic with and assimilated into the Universe and God. Just as He did in the
Proclamation for Attestation, He affirmed the presence of the invisible worlds, and there are innumerable of them existing in the Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds. Meanwhile, scientists have discovered that there are numberless planets, but they cannot find out lives of living beings in these planets, which can be seen only by the eye of the Meditation Master.
Why? Because the Meditation Master is always ascending, basing his or her consciousness on actions in life to manage and control his or her nature and characteristic. As a result, he or she becomes like a super-human, a sacred philosopher who can truly realize and see everything. As long as individuality still exists, it is difficult to see truth using education for research.
5. EMPEROR LI SHIMIN (TAIZONG)
Under the Tang dynasty in China, Emperor Tang Li Shimin was actually the Bodhisattva Maitreya. In the meantime, the incarnation of the Venerable Moggallana was actually Chen Hsaun Tsang, who went on a pilgrimage from China to India to inquire for Sutras. Lord Pure King incarnating Lord Maitreya preached and I heard these words:
“The Bodhisattva acquired the highest point of unalterable determination. He was spontaneously tranquil, without polluted-lov
Emperor Li Shimin
Once returning to the human world, He would be a brilliant king, a leader capable of saving His country and His people, delivering them from the suffering yoke of slavery. Wherever He was reborn in the six Tao, He became a salvation leader, never being an ordinary human. Why does He have to be a king or leader? Being a king or leader, He could later possess a solemn salved-nation and become the Buddha, first to be a master to save His people and later to be a master of the Universe. That is, of course, an obvious matter.” –T.V.
He has also taught: Being a king aims to cultivate talent, which brings about intelligence. Virtue had been accumulated through many lifetimes of practice. Now, having the intelligence, the corresponding virtue and intelligence is possessed. The practitioner has to acquire supreme goodness to get virtue as large as the sea. Supreme intelligence is a matchless one. It is by possessing a transcendent virtue and intelligence, that one is the Buddha. One is thus neither gentle nor cruel, neither honest nor evil. It is by correctly fulfilling the no-birth Dharma one can become immortal, which is a matter of course.
The Gentle Saint goes only on the right side of life since he has insufficient talent to face the left side. He or she is subject to die without complaint. He or she nevertheless shows his or her compassion for them. This Dharma path has neither authentic enlightenment nor supreme intelligence. The only intelligence a Gentle Saint could attain, at most, is awakening. The fully and ultimately awakened one is the authentically enlightened one, who must wait to personally meet the great power—Lord Maitreya is becoming the Buddha, and undergo many challenging tests and verifications through Him, and then be attested by Him in order to enter into the constitution.
In the past, the Shakyamuni Buddha had attested to the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, and Maitreya Bodhisattva, etc. It is the same process as in this inferior life period: Lord Maitreya had opened Long-Hoa for thirty-seven years, but those who proclaimed themselves the “Authentically Enlightened Ones” did not come personally to see Him in order to be attested. They proclaimed themselves to be the Buddha, they were not true Buddhas. Proclaiming with insufficient merits of deeds and virtues, they will be caught in the Precepts’ Buddha—it’s really disastrous through incalculable lifetimes. Therefore, the faithful believer knew that every time when Lord Maitreya returned to the human world, all of the patriarchs, from the time of the Shakyamuni Buddha, drew close to Him to practice the Tao Dharma.
Emperor Li Shimin
and the Master Hsuan
Tsang.
During China’s Tang Dynasty, Emperor Li Shimin, coming into the world, was actually the Bodhisattva Maitreya. He lived at the same time as the Venerable Moggallana incarnating Chen Hsuan Tsang, who went on a pilgrimage for sutra. A noteworthy point: The faithful believer needs to pay attention that before Master Hsuan Tsang’s passing, one of his true disciples named Yen-Ts’ung, and others asked him:
“Are you sure that you will be reborn in the Tusita Heaven?”
“Sure”, replied the Master. And the Master said:
“This toxic body of Hsuan Tsang is truly boring. Now that my work has finished, I really should not remain here. I would like to transfer all of my virtuous merits and knowledge to all living beings, wishing that all of us would be reborn in the Tusita Heaven to follow the Maitreya Bodhisattva, to practice Tao Dharma and to serve Him.
When the Buddha returns to the world we wish to be able to return there with Him, progressing Buddhist works until we have attained the supreme purpose.”
After saying these words of farewell, the Master continued to enter into contemplative meditation. Then, He recited a verse of eulogy to the Maitreya Buddha and established His vow of being reborn in the Tusita Heaven. After the recital, His breath gradually became weaker, and he passed away tranquilly. His skin was still with good color and His countenance was joyful. After seven days, His countenance did not change and His body did not emit any unpleasant odors. It was the year 664 of the 7th century.
This oath of vow, until now in the 20th century, has been responded to in the most vigorous manner and with the highest sincerity, and has been attested to by Lord Supreme Pure King incarnating Lord Maitreya. This can affirm that the birth-death transmigration cycle is true.
Lord Maitreya returned this time at the end of the second half of the 20th century. He appeared as a layman; Chen Hsuan Tsang also appeared as a layman. All of the patriarchs from the time of the Shakyamuni Buddha also fully appeared now with the conduct of laypersons at home. All of them were married, had children, and worked in all careers in southern Vietnamese society.
They were now gathering in sufficient numbers following Lord Maitreya, to practice and learn the Tao Dharma. Among them, Chen Hsuan Tsang, in his new incarnation and new name of this lifetime, was selected by Lord Pure King incarnating Lord Maitreya to be head of the central ministry, to progress the Buddhist works throughout the course of His Tao fulfilling path in this world. Hsuan Tsang (in this lifetime) also underwent uncountable difficulties and hardships of the destructive life Period, which were a much more than when he went on a pilgrimage of sutra. Many true disciples of Lord Pure King, practicing side by side with Hsuan Tsang, had tried through conspiracy to thrust, subvert, and thrash ... by many different ways but they did not have enough of the Prajñā intelligence, so they were unsuccessful after numerous attempts.
Really, it is a rare thing: the ancient vow, made in the seventh century, holding completely true in the twentieth century, the scientific century in which Lord Maitreya appeared. Today, this vow is solved with an accurate outcome.
Once again: “When Lord Maitreya returns to the human world, we wish to be able to return there with Him to progress Buddhist works until we attain the Supreme Purpose.” This vow had been fulfilled and attained the Supreme Authentic Enlightenment. This had been attested to by Lord Maitreya on the Great Ceremony day—the 30th day of the 9th month of the lunar year 1989.
We can discern that the Tao practitioner with a faithful, fervent mind is always supported and attested by the Buddhas of Ten Directions without omission. If the Master Hsuan Tsang had not been reborn in the Tusita Heaven according to his fulfilling vow, how could we see that in this Returning Life, Lord Maitreya appeared as a layman, and so did Hsuan Tsang, and they met each other in the final lifetime when Lord Maitreya became Buddha. Hsuan Tsang had also successfully served in conformity with his vow. In all previous lifetimes, the Patriarchs always had left their family, but when Lord Maitreya lived as a layman, they all also appeared as laymen. For this reason we should know that there was an arrangement of the Lord before His returning to the world: All had been arranged to be gathered beforehand—it’s a matter of course.
At the end of the second half of the eleventh century, the Venerable Moggallana, reborn in Tibet, was the Lama Milarepa. History had written this event in the book “Milarepa, the Transcendent Man”. At that time, Lord Maitreya was then the Master who taught the Tao Dharma to Milarepa. So many lifetimes of actively fulfilling the vow was at the level of inconceivability, which was waiting to be attested to in this Returing Period. Long continuous chains of effort were accomplished in many lifetimes of diligent, tireless practice; the hard endurance through the evolution of thousands of Dharmas, on some occasions, was worn out. Many Tao practitioners ran away in this Destructive Dharma Period, unable to endure and returned to the temples or hermitages, while avoiding the evolution of thousands of Dharmas in the human world!
One day Lord Pure King incarnating Lord Maitreya preached: Among His many true disciples today, those of lowest rank were also the officers; the others were the high officers in the time of Kong-Ming and that of the Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty. They all presently initiated their mind to practice the Tao Dharma. These things affirm that the foundation of cause was deeply set and thus today they are able to stand unified.
