The Office received the following letter from Buddhist disciple Sufang Zhang, which is listed below:
Respected Great Virtuous ones at the Office of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III
(An e-mail with the date of Tue, Dec 15, 2015 at 10:36 PM)
From: Sufang Zhang <sufang221@gmail.com>
To: hhdcb3office@gmail.com, info@hhdcb3office.org
Respected Great Virtuous Ones at the Office of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III,
I, this disciple, have three questions that I beseech the Office to take time to provide answers.
The first question is that I saw a video clip about a “Fellow Sister Daluo” being spread through webchat. It says that she invited recorded dharma lessons expounded by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III to the Buddha hall of a Buddhist disciple. A Vajra pill flew to the offering table and emitted light several times. Furthermore, this Fellow Sister Daluo intended to present this Vajra pill to H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III as an offering. Then, how should we pay respect and present offering to this Vajra pill, to be in accord with the dharma? Can we attend the ceremony of presenting this Vajra pill to His Holiness the Buddha?
The second question is that some fellow brothers and sisters around me are trading virtual currencies. Some people said that H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III support doing so, but some others said that H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III does not support doing so. We do not know which of these figures of speech is correct.
The third question is that a rinpoche told everyone that H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III recognized his status in person. He also stated that H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III recognized a so-and-so person as a Bodhisattva. Then, how should we pay respect to and present offering to a rinpoche recognized by His Holiness the Buddha?
I look forward to getting reply with answers soon!
I prostrate to pay homage to H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III!
Buddhist Disciple, a layperson: Sufang Zhang
December 12, 2015
Validations from the Office of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III
Our Office often receives many letters with inquiries. This one is one of the letters that are representative in nature and should be replied in time. We can only say that, since false masters and rinpoches can be seen anywhere in today’s world, Buddhist disciples who do not read the public announcements (from this Office) are destined to be defrauded and cheated. The Office has made statements of this nature a number of times already. Whether it is this Fellow Sister Daluo or any person, whoever intends to present whatever Vajra pill to H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III is doing a naive and piteous act!
H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III said, “This Vajra pill should have been thrown into a trash can long ago. This is an action of evil view that obviously deviated from the standard and principle of Buddhist cultivation and seriously falls into the 128 views. It is without doubt an act of strange paranormal phenomena that goes in the opposite direction to Buddhism.”
H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III also gave this teaching to Buddhist disciples, “Cultivation and learning Buddhism are to learn how to be benevolent, loving, kind, and pure to benefit others selflessly. You should break away and have nothing to do with feudal superstition, break away and have nothing to do with paranormal, strange, and confusing phenomena, and break away and have nothing to do with deliberately playing mysteries.” Whatever senseless and confusing attempts with supernatural powers and miracles have already left Buddhism and fallen into the conduct of cults.
About virtual currencies, some people once beseeched to ask H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III, “Can we do business in virtual currencies?” H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III made a public statement on this matter, saying, “Doing business in proper and legitimate ways is one of the lifestyles of human beings. There is no such saying that Buddhists cannot do business. Regarding virtual currencies, I do not know what they are. I will not take part in that. However, I must seriously tell you: since I do not know about that, I will not support you to do this business. You should remember, whatever business you do, it must be established on the premise of complying with the law and belonging to proper and right operation. Furthermore, you cannot violate the precepts and disciplines of Buddhism. For example, things like killing lives to sustain one’s life cannot be done. One can only abstain from everything that is evil and do all things that are good.”
As to the letter says that a so-and-so person is a rinpoche recognized by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III and another so-and-so person is a Bodhisattva, also recognized by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III, H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III said, “Regarding the issue of someone self-claiming to say that I recognized him as a rinpoche, public announcements and validations of facts in response to letters of inquiry from the Office have stated the matter very clearly long ago. You should remember and I will now say it one more time. I have never recognized any rinpoche. Nor have I recognized anyone as a Bodhisattva. Do you know why? Is that because I am very great? No! This is because I am a very ordinary person to start with, except having humble cultivation and conduct. What qualification do I have to point out and recognize what incarnations other people are? If this person insists on saying that I recognized him, please show the document of recognition I wrote and let people determine the authenticity of the fingerprint seal. I will say this clearly today. Let’s not mention the fact that I do not make recognitions, I do not even approve and agree with those who have the qualifications to do recognitions! Based on what is he a rinpoche? Based on what is he a Bodhisattva? What is the evidence? What examination did he take? What are his qualifications? I approve and agree with the type of cultivators, who cultivate and practice in accord with Sakyamuni Buddha’s teaching, abstain from everything that is evil and do all things that are good, break away from strange and paranormal arguments, eliminate selfishness and attachment to self, and apply great loving compassion to benefit living beings. You absolutely must not believe that those who hang lineages, names of incarnations, and titles are holy ones. They are deceiving you. There are too many swindlers now.”
Also, some people reported to our Office that there are people who read aloud in mandarin Chinese “What Is Cultivation” and other dharmas expounded by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III and made the audio recordings into CDs for sale. They asked the Office whether doing so is permitted. Since our Office does not know what kind of people are producing the audio CDs and what audio CDs have been produced, there is no way to determine whether the contents of such CDs are correct or not. The opinion of our Office is that reading aloud the dharmas expounded by His Holiness the Buddha that have been published on the internet in mandarin Chinese to produce audio recordings can help people who are illiterate or are unable to read due to health or other causes and is a good thing. However, such audio recording must truthfully reflect the dharma expounded by His Holiness the Buddha one-hundred-percent and cannot make partial excerpts or take contents out of context. Not even one word is allowed to change. Moreover, when publishing and distributing the audio CDs, it is rightful to charge a reasonable fee to cover the cost. However, one cannot take making a profit as the goal and even more so cannot use this as an excuse to scam people’s money. The reason is very simple because everyone declares what he or she does is Buddhist work, is for benefiting others, and is not using the dharma expounded by His Holiness the Buddha to collect offerings and snatch other people’s wealth to benefit oneself. Therefore, we tell you all not to deceive others.
From the Office of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III,
December 16, 2015