1. Faith-Vows-Act-Achieve

2. Introduction Congratulations, this is the last lecture of the Dharma Meeting Congratulations, this is the last lecture of the Dharma Meeting It’s time to sum up and conclude: It’s time to sum up and conclude: – What have we learned? – What will we do with what we have learned? – What will we achieve with our efforts? – How will we sustain our efforts until our accomplishment?

3. Introduction The accomplishment of Tao generally goes through four stages: – Stage 1: Faith – Stage 2: Vows – Stage 3: Act – Stage 4: Achieve

4. Introduction – Stage 1: Faith –Knowing Faith Believe

5. Faith Faith is beyond believe--it is a confirmation that stems from a person’s inner core Faith is an intuitive understanding that comes from within, but it can still be validated or reawakened by an external event (hence the work of a true spiritual teacher or master) True faith cannot be taught; it must already be there within a person

6. Faith The teaching of the temple manifests three aspects of Faith: True Tao (Three Treasures), True Teaching (Buddha’s Teachings) and True Universal Mandate (The Heavenly Mission—manifested as the assistance from the spirits ) With Faith comes the impetus to realize and the accomplishment of the mission The process of bringing Faith into cognitive validation requires the vows

7. Vows Why Vows? Your new year resolution…(no Vow) Your Wedding Vow… (renew Wedding Vow) (what if you are honest about yourself and said “Maybe” instead of “I do”) Forced Vow = Breaking Vow

8. Vows Vow is the process of realizing the inner faith into the conscious understanding Vow serves as the guiding post for spiritual development Every Buddha has numerous vows by which they constantly sought to realize One of Maitreya Buddha’s vows: “bringing the Heaven of Lotus (purity) into this world”

9. Vows Each of us has already announced the Ten Great Vows from the Three Treasures The Ten Great Vows are internal vows, which deals with a person’s inner cultivations The next Six Great Vows deals with a person’s external cultivations—assisting other’s spiritual development (attaining merits through the assistance of Divine Mission)

10. The Six Great Vows First Great Vow: Value Heavenly over Earthly – Heavenly refers to the events involving heavenly missions (temple related matters) – Earthly refers to the everyday occurrences or non- temple related matters – This is a vow of service – This vow asks for the volunteering of services whenever there is a temple event – Great Merit is gathered thru service to others, especially if this is on behalf of the Universe

11. The Six Great Vows Second Great Vow: Contribution of Material and Dharma – Material contribution refers to donation of wealth or resources – Dharma contribution refers to giving spiritual lectures or initiating spiritual conversations – They are not limited to the activities of the temple community – Both generate great Merits by giving others physical and spiritual assistance

12. The Six Great Vows Third Vow: Keeping Buddhist Vegetarianism – This is a vow of vegetarianism (Buddhist Vegetarianism adds no garlic or onion) – This vow demands for the purity of intake as well as outlet (no verbal transgressions) – The Merits come from the sparing of the animals’ lives, which one might have eaten – Perpetual Merits are established here, because one is constantly sparing lives

13. Six Great Vows Fourth Vow: Self Sacrifice for Propagation of Tao – There are two aspects to this Vow: the Great Sacrifice or the Little Sacrifice – Great Sacrifices are rare and more difficult: it involves the relinquish of the worldly affairs and focus solely on the Mission of Tao – Little Sacrifice are more common and easier to achieve: it involves taking on specific responsibilities in the temple and yet remain functionality in the worldly affairs – Both aspects of the vow attains great Merits by self sacrifice and take on responsibility of Tao

14. The Six Great Vows Fifth Vow: Establishing a Buddhist Temple – This is a vow to start a Buddhist Temple – The pre-requisites for this vow are: Everyone in the household must have (or will have) received Tao by the time the temple opens One person in the household will be a Temple Master and he or she must have the Vegetarian vow The vow must be accomplished in one year – This is another vow of perpetual Merits – The Temple will invite Buddha and Spirits to visit thus bring constant blessings to this world

15. The Six Vows Sixth Vow: Pioneering of Tao – This is considered the highest and the most difficult vow – Pioneering is to come to a new place and initiate a new Temple community – There will be many challenges (both physically and spiritually) so only a person of great faith and determination should consider this vow – Once achieved, there will be a great abundance of Merits, because all subsequent Merits of the community are attributed to the pioneer

16. 1. Value Heavenly over Earthly 2. Contributions of Material and Dharma 3. Keeping Buddhist Vegetarianism 4. Self Sacrifice for Propagation of Tao 5. Establishing a Buddhist Temple 6. Pioneering of Tao

17. The Benefits of the Vows Vows are the realization of Faiths into the conscious level Vows serve as guiding post to spiritual growth, as well as the driving force to achieve Heavenly mission There are also spiritual guardians that protects and serves the bearers of specific vows

18. Ascension of Buddha Nature

19. So… The establishing of the vows, will safeguard the efforts of our Action With persistence, achievement will only be a matter of time The achievement of the Universal mission is of tremendous merits and will secure our Celestial ranking (Saint/Buddha-hood) and place us amongst the pantheon of immortals

20. Faith-Vows-Act-Achieve

21. Questions ?