The 2025 Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha (The Medicine Buddha) Birthday Dharma Assembly at Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha Zen Temple, Guanxi, Taiwan
Zen Grandmaster Wu Chueh Miao-Tien preached on “Wisdom as the Supreme Life Energy”
Chinese Content prepared by: Xie Mingyuan, Xie Aizhu
Photographs Courtesy of Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha Zen Temple
On November 18 (the 29th day of the 9th Lunar Month), in celebration of Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha’s birthday, Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha Zen Temple in Guanxi held a special early birthday blessing Dharma assembly on Sunday the 16th. They respectfully invited the 85th-generation Zen Grandmaster, Wu Chueh Miao-Tien, to officiate the ceremony in person. Nearly 4,000 disciples and believers, spanning all ages from elders and children, from across Taiwan arrived early to participate in the grand birthday festivities and to receive Grandmaster Miao-Tien’s Dharma teachings. The Zen Grandmaster unveiled a profound secret of nature: “Wisdom constitutes a supreme form of life energy originating from the realm of ultimate reality.”
Although Winter Commences had already passed, Guanxi was bathed in warm sunlight and refreshing breezes reminiscent of spring. Upon his arriving at the temple at 10 a.m., the Zen Grandmaster immediately blessed the Seven-Star-Array lamps, longevity peaches, longevity noodles, money charm coins designated for the upcoming Year of the Horse, and other items intended for distribution. All were enthusiastic about the lamp offerings. Following the blessing ceremony, the Grandmaster briefly rested before the formal commencement of the Dharma assembly at 11 a.m.
The proceedings began with Head Instructor Chueh Miao Zong Ming of the Shakyamuni Buddha Salvation Foundation respectfully reciting a petitionary prayer, invoking prosperity and harmony for the nation and peace for the world. Subsequently, the Zen Grandmaster delivered his teaching. He elucidated the traditional association of Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha with disaster relief and longevity when thinking of Him. Why is Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha able to alleviate disasters and prolong the lives of sentient beings? “Because the remedy Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha offers is a great medicine—the Buddha’s golden light, the light of wisdom. If you have faith in Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha, you will receive this light of wisdom. With such light of wisdom, you can avoid errors and thereby ward off disasters.”
“Today, as everyone gathers to celebrate Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha’s birthday, we have to know that Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha brings the light of wisdom to all. This light of wisdom is crucial.”
The Zen Grandmaster further explained the three bodies of the Buddha: Nirmanakaya (the Manifestation Body or Transformation Body), Dharmakaya (the Dharma Body), and Sambhogakaya (the Reward Body). Shakyamuni Buddha (referred to as the World-Honored One or the Buddha) was born into the world as the Nirmanakaya. Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha represents the Dharmakaya, the light of wisdom. Through Buddhist cultivation, practitioners attain the Dharmakaya, the light of wisdom. Upon attaining the Dharmakaya, we will attain the Reward Body of the original being. “The original being I refer to is the original spirit; once enlightened, it becomes the Reward Body.”
“Everyone has the potential to cultivate and become a Buddha.” The Zen Grandmaster preached that Buddhist cultivation begins with enlightening the heart and then liberating one’s true self, and finally witnessing Buddha and becoming a Buddha (accomplishment of Buddhahood). This process is essential. Therefore, Buddhist cultivation should follow the stages prescribed by the World-Honored One: “Precepts, Dhyāna (Zen meditation), Wisdom, Liberation.” One begins with upholding precepts, cultivating purity; then practices Zen meditation; finally arises prajna wisdom in deep meditation (samadhi). When both mundane and supramundane realms are perfectly fulfilled, liberation and accomplishment ensue.
The Zen Grandmaster further elaborated the importance of understanding the eight states of consciousness in cultivating purity. Beyond the five senses and the sixth consciousness (the mind), there is the seventh consciousness (the subconsciousness), and the eighth consciousness (the Alaya consciousness, that is, the storehouse consciousness), regarded as the spiritual heart.
Sensory inputs and mental activities (sixth consciousness) feed into the inner subconsciousness (seventh consciousness, or Manas consciousness) and subsequently into the spiritual heart (the eighth consciousness). What our eyes see, ears hear, nose smells, mouth tastes, body feels, and brain thinks—all these complex inputs that cannot always be judged as right or wrong will directly enter the spiritual heart and inner consciousness.
The Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha Zen Temple in Guanxi held the Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha Birthday Dharma Assembly, respectfully inviting the 85th-generation Zen Grandmaster Wu Chueh Miao-Tien to personally preside and transmit the Dharma, attracting enthusiastic disciples and believers from all over Taiwan.
Disaster Relief and Longevity ─ The Great Medicine of Light
“If the heart is impure, it brings external pollution into the spiritual heart, causing one easily to make mistakes in words and deeds. Once a significant mistake is made, disasters may occur.”
This explains why Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha can help relieve disasters, “Because Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha provides the light of wisdom, we have the wisdom not to make any mistake before disasters happen. Therefore, disasters naturally do not occur,” the Zen Grandmaster said.
Beyond the eighth consciousnesses, there are the ninth wisdom, “Purity Wisdom,” and the tenth wisdom, “Buddha Wisdom.” Generally, the ninth is called the Amala consciousness. “But Amala is not knowledge, it is pure wisdom. So it should be called the Amala Wisdom.” Buddhist cultivation begins with the Purity Wisdom and advances to Buddha Wisdom, which is the Prajna Wisdom.
For decades, the Zen Grandmaster has instructed the disciples to cultivate Buddhism starting from purity and progressing to wisdom. “Zen meditation (dhyana) is the means to obtain wisdom because ‘dhyana’ and ‘wisdom’ are two sides of the same coin. After entering dhyana, wisdom naturally arises. Wisdom is not in the mundane world but exists in another dimension.”
The Zen Grandmaster emphasized the importance of purity. Without purity, wisdom cannot be attained; without wisdom, Buddhist cultivation is ineffective. He shared the Buddha’s experience of accomplishing Buddhahood to illustrate how Buddhist cultivation should be practiced.
The Buddha could not bear to see people suffer the cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death. In order to disclose the method of liberation, He at first left home to practice asceticism for immortality in the forest, using harsh methods to get divorced from worldly status. After years of severe asceticism practice, He became emaciated yet still found no solution. He then left the forest. Being rather weak and faint, he collapsed by a river. The Buddha gradually restored to health after a shepherdess offered Him goat’s milk.
Abandoning asceticism, the Buddha meditated under a Bodhi tree. He vowed to find the method to liberate from birth, aging, sickness, and death; otherwise He would not rise and would rather collapse under the Bodhi tree. After making this vow, He became enlightened, with His mind fully expanded to another space-time realm. In the beginning, He was disturbed by a demoness due to lack of purity. Nevertheless, the Buddha remained unshaken and continued meditating.
Gradually reaching purity, He suddenly experienced the disclosure of his eternal self radiating light like the universe with shining stars. All cells inside His body transformed from physical entities to spiritual entities emitting light. At this moment, He realized that all sentient beings can disclose Buddha nature, just as the Buddha was once a sentient being. Through Zen meditation and determination to be liberated from birth, aging, sickness, and death, all sentient beings could transform physiological phenomena into cosmic entities, spiritual entities shining like the stars.
The Buddha then realized that sentient beings cannot attain Buddhahood because of heavy self-attachment, deep attachment to phenomena, and lack of compassion for others. Once Buddha nature is disclosed, everyone can become a Buddha just like Him. At this moment, all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas came to pay homage to the World-Honored One, a most auspicious and extraordinary event!
The Zen Grandmaster then recounted his own experience of accomplishing Buddhahood on the Lantern Festival night in 1980. During Zen meditation, the Grandmaster perceived a light entering his body with great power and weight. “It turns out the Buddha is not empty but has weight, brightness, and substance, existing as a spiritual entity.” The Zen Grandmaster said that a Buddha exists just like a human being but manifests as a “body of light.”
With the Dharma eye, the Zen Grandmaster observed “a vast light spinning rapidly. I realized I was also empty, like the universe. The light spun continuously with a ‘clang clang clang’ sound. Finally when it stopped spinning, I became a light orb, merging with the vast light. I could feel the light’s warmth, like feeling the other’s hand temperature when shaking hands. Our temperatures merged, bodies merged completely, and altogether continually transformed and varied.”
“All such transformations looked just like a ‘sudden spiritual awakening.’ I seemed to know many things, smelled the whole room filled with fragrance, very bright and pure, my heart full of Dharma joy, feeling my whole body transformed, no longer my physical body but a celestial body from the heavens.”
“Remarkably, the next day, I found the evergreens in my house and the flowers by my door all suddenly blooming. In the following days, I felt very comfortable and energized, full of strength, like being filled with the Holy Spirit, that is to say, being filled with Buddha light.”
Later, when instructing practitioners, the Zen Grandmaster would continuously manifests divine power. Therefore, more and more people attend Grandmaster’s Zen-meditation classes. The Grandmaster recounted, “That power is not mine but the power inside.”
Zen Grandmaster Wu Chueh Miao-Tien blesses the Seven-Star Array Lamps.
Bodhisattva Heart — Take Action to Guide Sentient Beings
Therefore, the Zen Grandmaster encouraged disciples to go forth to propagate the Dharma with a Bodhisattva heart and Buddha heart, filled with great compassion. Naturally, the disciples will have the energy to attract those with karmic affinity. Conversely, relying solely on one’s “human” self to attract practitioners is simply impossible because it works out the way of guiding ignorance by ignorance.
The Zen Grandmaster said cultivation is not only for one’s own enlightenment but also to let sentient beings all attain enlightenment because the purpose of Buddhist cultivation and accomplishment is to have everyone become a Buddha. Thus, the Zen Grandmaster promotes “Buddhaland on Earth, everyone becomes a Buddha,” and “Heaven on Earth, Earthly Paradise,” encouraging disciples to hold such great vows. He also cited the words of Zhang Zai, a Neo-Confucian scholar in the Northern Song Dynasty, as a motto: “To ordain conscience for Heaven and Earth, to secure life and fortune for the people, to continue lost teachings for past sages, to establish world peace for all generations.”
The Zen Grandmaster explained, “To ordain conscience for Heaven and Earth” means keeping the Buddha’s great love in heaven and on earth so all beings can be saved and free from disasters, just like Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha giving wisdom to sentient beings to keep them away from disasters.
“To secure life and fortune for the people” means improving the lives of sentient beings and people. Therefore, the Zen Grandmaster advocates that politicians should have the heart and mind of “ordaining conscience for Heaven and Earth, and securing life and fortune for the people.” All politicians need to care for the people.
“To continue lost teachings for past sages,” the Heart-Imprint Buddhist Dharma transmitted by the World-Honored One is the lost teaching, and Zen Grandmaster Wu Chueh Miao-Tien inherits this transmission, passing on the secret transmission of the Buddha’s incarnation. The Zen Grandmaster encourages disciples to “continue lost teachings for past sages,” understand its importance, and pass on the Buddha’s lost teachings.
Heavenly Mandate of Ziwei Emperor Star
The Zen Grandmaster then revealed a heavenly secret: From 2025 for the next 20 years, the Earth will be governed by the Ziwei Emperor Star. The Zen Grandmaster Himself has come under the heavenly mandate of the Ziwei Emperor Star, now passing it on to disciples. “So everyone is a Ziwei sage.”
The Zen Grandmaster shared a story about a disciple who ran a travel agency. Her father had been confined to a wheelchair for two years, breathing with an oxygen tank, and could only eat through a feeding tube. This disciple hoped the Zen Grandmaster could help her father. The Grandmaster agreed with compassion. Upon arriving, the Grandmaster kindly spoke with the father. While seeing the ancestral tablets at home, the Grandmaster performed a salvation ritual for her ancestors. About half an hour later, the Grandmaster suggested that the father removed the oxygen tank. His family members hesitated, but the father surprisingly took it off himself, astonishing everyone. The Grandmaster talked with the father for another ten minutes. At lunchtime, the father stood up and walked to the table to eat, finishing two bowls in one sitting!
The Zen Grandmaster said, “This is the great power and majesty of the Buddha. One day, when you attain it, you will discover many incredible things. What I say today is to tell everyone that Buddha truly exists; Buddha has Buddha’s energy, and there indeed exists Buddha’s realization power in the universe.”
Imprinting Buddha’s heart means “transmitting the Buddha’s heart imprint (light),” that is, Buddha’s light is transmitted to disciples’ heart (Buddha nature). I transmit the Buddha light to everyone, using my Buddha heart imprint to pass it to you (Buddha nature). You completely resonate with this Buddha light and thus receive the Buddha heart imprint.”
“What is this imprinting? It is the Buddha nature I transmit to everyone. Without Buddhist-Zen cultivation, there is no Buddha nature; with Buddhist-Zen cultivation, there is Buddha nature. Everyone has been practicing under Shifu’s guidance for many years. I give you Buddha nature to enrich you. A few years ago, I established the Buddhaland on Earth to make it easier for more people to practice Buddhist-Zen and obtain Buddha nature.”
Zen Grandmaster Miao-Tien encouraged disciples to be awakened and accomplish Buddhahood. “Many disciples are still unenlightened, not to mention accomplishment, because you don’t believe you yourselves can attain Buddhahood.” The Grandmaster further illuminated, “If I had not accomplished, the Buddha would not have bestowed me with Buddha Heart Imprint. Without His bestowment, His Dharma Body would not be here to transmit the teachings. Actually, I am the Buddha’s Nirmanakaya (Manifestation Body), transmitting the Buddha’s true Dharma on behalf of the Buddha’s Dharma Body. However, many people do not understand or believe it.”
“Everyone practicing with Shifu must believe they can accomplish like Shifu, believe that everyone can become Buddha, and believe that the Earth can become a Buddhaland, a Paradise.”
The Zen Grandmaster encouraged disciples to make a firm decision starting today and believe they can accomplish. Then you need to first perfect meritorious deeds and heavenly mandate so that you may return to the Buddhaland. “If you do not receive the Buddha heart (Buddha nature is Buddha heart), without the guidance of the Buddha heart, how can you be qualified to return to the heavenly Buddhaland?” So, be aware of this critical issue, be awakened and determined, and be full of confidence, then with a Buddha heart and Buddha’s power, you can make it.
Zen Grandmaster Wu Chueh Miao-Tien blesses the fruit offerings (top photo) and Year of the Horse money charm coins and other items for distribution (bottom photo).
At today’s Dharma assembly, everyone received Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha’s wisdom energy. “Wisdom is a kind of energy. This wisdom energy is not learned. The light emitted by Bhaiṣajyaguru Buddha is wisdom energy including the life energy that fill up the entire universe and must be received from your heart.”
The Zen Grandmaster taught that life energy must be received from the spiritual heart (eternal self), and wisdom energy must be received from the Zen Chakra. The spiritual heart is the master that governs the whole body. You receive wisdom energy from Zen Chakra into the spiritual heart inside the Heart Chakra that governs the whole body. This wisdom energy naturally reaches the prefrontal cortex, filling the brain with wisdom, then connecting to the heart, accordingly resulting in transformation and manifestation.
Zen is the law of nature. Daoism says, “The unification of Yin and Yang is called the Dao, and the Dao gives birth to all things.” Nevertheless, the Zen Grandmaster believes this phrase lacks a driving force. Although yin and yang unify, life does not continue. Therefore, the Zen Grandmaster changes “unification” to “fusion,” making it “The fusion of Yin and Yang is called the Dao, and the Dao gives birth to all things.”
The Zen Grandmaster used the example of a flower: the pollen is transferred by bees, butterflies, or wind to the pistil; after the fusion of yin (pistil) and yang (stamen), fruit can form to continue life.
Make Great Vows and Resonate with Buddha
Many Dharma teachings perceived by Shifu are very delicate and precise, and seamlessly connected. Regarding Zen, Zen Grandmaster Miao-Tien enlightened, “Zen is the activity phenomenon after the fusion of all physical life energy and spiritual life energy. The activity phenomenon of physical life form is birth and death, whereas the activity phenomenon of spiritual life goes on endlessly, that is, eternal life.”
Consequently, it is clear that “Zen” determines our obtaining and cultivating this wisdom energy. However, wisdom is invisible, and Buddha is invisible. How to cultivate and obtain it?
Zen Grandmaster Wu Chueh Miao-Tien addressed, “The Buddha gives you wisdom; your mind and heart resonate with the Buddha. With such a spiritual heart, you are getting closer and will resonate.” In other words, “The Buddha is ‘Immeasurable Life, Immeasurable Light, Immeasurable Buddha,’ and your spiritual heart also becomes ‘Immeasurable Life, Immeasurable Light, Immeasurable Buddha.’ When your heart is the same as the Buddha’s, you will then attain accomplishment.”
Zen Grandmaster Wu Chueh Miao-Tien earnestly instructed the disciples and believers present, pointing out and explaining the key points of practice of Buddhism. The Grandmaster encouraged everyone to adjust their cultivation perspectives and measures, to be awakened, to progress from form to formlessness to ultimate reality, and to use your spiritual entities to perceive. Additionally, you must have a Bodhi heart, great love, and diligent aspiration to become a Buddha. You must save sentient beings as the Buddha did, so all beings can be enlightened and return to heaven. “Practice of Buddhism requires such great determination.”
The Dharma assembly concluded around noon. The temple presented each participant with a copy of the “The Sutra On The Original Vows And Merits Of Bhaiṣajyaguru Master Lapis Lazuli Light Tathagata” along with Longevity peach buns and vegetarian meal boxes. Everyone departed with a fulfilled heart, having bathed in the Buddha light and joyfully received the Buddha’s teaching.
English Translators: Chueh Miao Dao-Lian and Chueh Miao Gong-Ming
