Letter Ninety

Respectful prostrations to the Venerable Master:

I prostrate to the Buddha, prostrate to the Dharma, and prostrate to the Saṅgha.

Part of the proposed construction plans for Jingju Temple on Weiquan Mountain is attached on the following page for the Venerable Master’s review. We are only awaiting funds before beginning construction. Attached: planning drawings (omitted). This layman Shi has practiced qigong and has experience in seated meditation. He has now resolved to seek the Heart-of-Heart Dharma and respectfully requests that the Venerable Master confer remote empowerment upon him. May the Venerable Master compassionately accept him.

[Since Layman Shi does not fear hardship and sincerely seeks the Dharma, remote empowerment may be conferred upon him at 8:00 a.m. on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, the Buddha’s Birthday. All the rituals shall remain as before. Hereafter, when others seek the Dharma, you may transmit it to them; there will be no need for me to confer remote empowerment again. The plans for the expansion of Jingju Temple are very good, but the project is immense and beyond our present financial means. It must be considered over the long term.

] The outer rear door of the Vairocana Hall can be opened, but the inner one cannot. When the master enters the hall, he makes a counterclockwise circumambulation; when the abbot enters the hall, he circumambulates clockwise. The master occupies two levels: the upper level is the master’s private esoteric altar, accessible only through the master’s bedroom. The lower level contains the master’s bedroom and an outer room.

Disciples Zhiming and others respectfully prostrate

A day in March 1994

[Yongshou Tongzi] So long as they cultivate the practice sincerely, many practitioners of middling or lesser capacities can accord with the Heart-of-Heart Dharma.

[LVM] In fact, one’s innate capacity is not fixed. When a single thought accords, one is of the highest capacity.