Our Office received a letter from a Buddhist disciple, which stated that some rinpoche removed the visage of a Buddha that his or her disciples were worshipping and placed his or her photo there.
Our Office must point out this fact here: the Buddha is utmost supreme. No one, regardless of what a rinpoche, a patriarch master, or a top-level great venerable one he or she is, even assuming he or she is Master Padmasambhava, can possibly be compared with or treated the same as the Buddha. Therefore, no one is in a position of replacing the visage of a Buddha such as Sakyamuni Buddha, Amitabha Buddha, or Kuan Yin Bodhisattva with his or her own photo. Then, how could these ordinary Buddhists be entitled to do so? This kind of conduct belongs to the acts of devils and demons without a doubt.
Additionally, the letter mentioned that Buddhist disciples were required to buy “beverages of Maldives”[See Note below] before being able to listen to the dharma. Our Office must point out that, if any person requires cultivators to purchase merchandise in exchange for listening to the recorded dharma lessons expounded by H. H. Dorje Chang Buddha III, this person is certainly acting out of evil knowledge and views.
From the Office of H. H. Dorje Chang Buddha III,
January 2, 2014
NOTE: A google search indicates that bottled water goes for an outrageous price in Maldives–so much so that travel agents recommend bringing your own with you to the country and the local airlines have no prohibition. This is probably what the expression “beverages of Maldives” refers to–“having to buy bottled water at inflated prices”. ZZ