True Buddha Dharma-Character Treasury – Kalachakra

【Kalachakra Mudra :】

Positions both palms facing oneself and have the right palm on top of the left. Interlace all fingers of both hands so that the right thumb is on the right of the left little finger and the left thumb is on the left of the right little finger. Bend both thumbs towards each other so that their tips are touching.

【Kalachakra Seed Syllable :】

【Kalachakra Mantra :】

「Om。ha。ka-ma-la。wa-la-ya。so-ha。」

【Kalachakra Dharmalakṣaṇa Brief Introduction】

”Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Emptiness” manifest on top of the Wheel of Time and form Mount Sumeru in the center. On top of the mount, a large lotus appears with a sun-moon disc in the center. Above the disc, Kalachakra emerges embracing his Buddha Mother.
He has four faces, three necks, six shoulders, twelve arms, and twenty-four hands. Each hand holds a dharma implement. Both his feet step on Mahesvara and Mahesvara’s consort. His center face is blue in color; right face, red; back face, yellow; and left face, white. Kalachakra’s Buddha Mother is nude. Both the Buddha Father and Buddha Mother have three eyes. They embrace each other standing in unification.

The four sides of Kalachakra represent body, speech, mind, and the great bliss of emptiness, wisdom, and form. The left neck is white in color, the right neck is red, and the center neck is blue, all of which symbolize the three channels inside the body. The topknot of the Buddha Father is adorned with a vajra scepter. He wears a tiger skirt embellished with pearls and jewels, which dignifies Kalachakra.

【Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu Dharma Talk – Kalachakra Background and Key Cultivation Formula】

”Kalachakra” stands for The Wheel of Time. He is the principal deity of the Non-dual Highest Yoga Tantra of Vajrayana Buddhism. It is a deeply profound, extensive, and supremely extraordinary tantra of Vajrayana Tantras.

Root Lineage Guru Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu of the ”True Buddha School” debuted the transmission of the great supreme Kalachakra dharma at Hong Kong in 2000. It caused a great sensation. It marked the first time in Buddhist history that a Chinese Dharma King ever passed on the Kalachakra Vajradharma.

【All four Tibetan Buddhist schools mutually honor the Kalachakra Vajradharma. The Kalachakra lineages of Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu are :】

1st Lineage: The 17th Kanjurwa Khutughtu －－ Thubten Nyima －－ Thubten Dali －－ Thubten Dargye －－ Living Buddha Lian-sheng Dharma King Sheng-yen Lu
(Explanation: Kanjurwa was a great Mongolian Living Buddha. He and Changkya Khutukhtu were next in the rank to Jebtsundamba Khutughtu, who was the greatest Mongolian Living Buddha. Therefore, our Kalachakra lineage is bestowed by a great Living Buddha.)

2nd Lineage: The 9th Panchen Lama －－ Sakya Zheng-kong Lama －－ Living Buddha Lian-sheng Dharma King Sheng-yen Lu (Explanation: The 9th Panchen Lama transmitted the Kalachakra Vajradharma to Sakya Zheng-kong Lama at Qinghai. Sakya Zheng-kong Lama then passed it on to Living Buddha Lian-sheng Dharma King Sheng-yen Lu. Therefore, the 2nd Kalachakra lineage of the True Buddha School is from the 9th Panchen Lama, which is the lineage from the highest Living Buddha of Tibet.)

3rd Lineage: The Secret Tranquil Meditation Lineage: Living Buddha Lian-sheng Dharma King Sheng-yen Lu received the lineage by entering the deepest tranquil samadhi.

During meditation, the universal Kalachakra manifested, blessed, and empowered Living Buddha Lian-sheng. That was the direct, tranquil, and highly secretive lineage obtained while Living Buddha Lian-sheng was meditating.

【The meaning of Kalachakra :】

Kalachakra can be divided into ”Outer Kalachakra, Inner Kalachakra, and Alternative Kalachakra.”

Cultivation is a process to transform oneself from an ordinary person to a wise sage. The key formula is that oneself is the inner Kalachakra. The deities of the universe are the outer Kalachakra. Inducing the outer Kalachakra into the body and heart and reaching the state of unification is the alternative Kalachakra. Hence, the alternative Kalachakra is the attainment. Outer Kalachakra is emptiness, whereas inner Kalachakra is ”qi, channels, and light drops.”

Kalachakra is also the giant wheel of time. Time turns like the turning of a giant wheel. ”Birth, aging, illness, and death” are turns on the wheel and all get destroyed completely. This is the meaning of the wheel of time. When time does not exist, it becomes permanent, as forever existing, which is the ultimate purpose of Kalachakra. It means becoming a Buddha, a Bodhisattva, or attaining the fruition of a Sravaka, Pratyeka, or Arhat.

Vajrayana branches into many dharmas, such as the Four Preliminary Practices, the Root Guru Yoga, the Personal Deity Yoga, Treasure Vase Breathing, Inner Fire, Light Drops, Non-leakage, Vajradharma, Highest Yoga Tantra, and Great Perfection. It is divided into multiple layers and levels. The Highest Yoga Tantra of Kalachakra is the integration of them all.

The Kalachakra Vajradharma is very important because he is the giant wheel of time capable of not only producing everything, but also extinguishing everything. Kalachakra Buddha is the time transition from past, present, to future. He is the representation of the time. He symbolizes ”establishment, maintenance, deterioration, and emptiness.” He also symbolizes the giant wheel of time. One will be able to arrive at Buddha’s Pure Land or even become a Buddha if one is able to run over everything and completely eradicate all afflictions and karma. In other words, the underlying principle of Kalachakra is to enlighten one to emptiness, eventually reaching buddhahood by pulverizing one’s entire afflictions and karma with the turning of the giant wheel of time.

【There are ten syllables in the mantra of Kalachakra:】

”om。ha。ka-ma-la。wa-la-ya。so-ha。” The ten syllables underlying the true meaning of Kalachakra symbolize ”lifespan, mind, material, undertaking, producing, spiritual transformation, verification, vows, wisdom, and liberation.”

Everything in the universe is called ”outer Kalachakra.” Everything in our human bodies is called ”inner Kalachakra.” The combination of the two is called ”alternative Kalachakra.” One will reach the state of Kalachakra if one can unify one’s bodily Kalachakra with the universal Kalachakra.

【There are seven types of Kalachakra empowerments:】

”Birth Empowerment” represents a new start of the Wisdom-life; ”Vase Empowerment” represents body purification; ”Crown Empowerment” represents your becoming a Buddha; ”Ribbon Empowerment” represents dignity; ”Vajra Bell” of ”Vajra Bell and Scepter Empowerment” represents speech purification; ”Vajra Scepter” of ”Vajra Bell and Scepter Empowerment” represents forever unchangeable, meaning one’s determination to the buddhahood is extremely firm; ”Name Empowerment” represents the bestowment of a vajra name and a prophet of you becoming a Buddha in the future; ”Wish-granting Empowerment” represents calamity eradication; and ”Permission Empowerment” represents permission to cultivate the practice the Kalachakra dharma.

【The benefits of practicing Kalachakra are as follows :】

 

1. One who has received the empowerment of Kalachakra is able to achieve buddhahood if one continues to properly cultivating the practice without breaking any precepts.
2. One who has received the empowerment will avoid all calamities if the person continues to chant the mantra and perform cultivation.
3. One will not descend to the Three Lower Realms if one practices the dharma and chants the mantra.

 

One who has received the empowerment will achieve buddhahood in seven lifetimes. One who practices the dharma is capable of subsiding wars and disasters, enhancing peace, harmonizing the climate, producing the bumper harvest of five crops, and blessing the country to be prosperous and the people to be secure. At one’s passing away, one will ascend to the kingdom of Shambhala, the pureland of the personal deity.

How does the Pureland of Kalachakra look like? The Underground Perfect Penetration Country, once mentioned by Living Buddha Lian-sheng, is in fact the Pureland of Shambhala. It was described as such; ”The world is different than the Ultimate Blissful World, the heavenly realm, and even more different than the human world. It is the one and only realm that has no afflictions. The beings there are not aware of death, and barely have birth. Virtues and evil don’t exist. The land will exist until the day that the earth and heavens are destroyed. In other words, it has the same lifespan as the earth and heavens. Here, I want to clarify one thing. That is: One will be naturally reborn in the the Underground Perfect Penetration Country as long as one constantly chants Namo Da-zi-zai-di-di-huo-yan-fo (Great Liberated Underground Flame Buddha) and is willing to be reborn in that country. The attainments of the beings in that world are also inconceivable. The beings of that land are taller than ten feet. Everyone has a halo above the head, can fly, is forever pure, and they all reside there permanently. The ground is paved with lotus flowers. Nature cottages are beautiful. The four seasons of spring, summer, fall, and winter don’t exist. Illumination is endless, day and night. It is without birth, aging, illness, and death, and hunger. Everyone is a saint. They can only travel to the human realm of the ten dharma realms and assist the cultivation of existing humans without leaving their names. No one will know they are from the Underground Perfect Penetration Country.”

Vajrapani transformed into King Yuexian of Shambhala. White Lotus King was the second king and wrote the Immaculate Light Sastra. The White Lotus King is Padmakumara, who is also Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu.

【The Kalachakra related dharmas transmitted by Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu of True Buddha School in the past years are as follows:】

Kalachakra 7 Practices, True Vajrakila Practice, Nine Stage Meditation Practice, True Meaning of Kalachakra Practice, Shield Protection Practice, Sun and Moon Disc Practice, Vajra Chain Practice, and the Precepts of Kalachakra.

!!Please be aware that before engaging in any True Buddha Vajrayana practices, one must first take refuge and receive the respective empowerment.!!