Crown Opening Dharma

        I once asked if I might receive the Vajra Substitute Body Meditation Dharma, but was told no, because the Buddha was afraid I would not return once I could leave this body, and I needed to be here to help propagate the Dharma for living beings. Actually, I suspect the Buddha was just being kind. I doubt if I am any way close to being able to receive such a high Dharma. In recent years I have been told I would receive that Dharma. However, I somehow manage to do something wrong and lose my merit and it does not happen.

        Over the past twenty years I have been indeed fortunate to receive so many empowerments and initiations from H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III. I have practiced the Dharma of self-cultivation taught me by my Buddha Master so that I do have a modest degree of realization. My life has been dedicated to helping others learn and practice as well. I have seen many miraculous states including seeing my Buddha Master and other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the heavens and watching a vajra pill fly out of my hand in a dazzling red light. I was also able to awaken another vajra pill and hear and see other vajra pills sing and dance that I reported on earlier. But were these signs that I was progressing? The Buddha had said that I was, but would ordinary people be able to see the transformation? My real concern was, would I be able to help liberate other living beings? Would they believe me and follow the teachings that I had learned from my Buddha Master?

        I learned of another magnificent Buddha Dharma from The Supreme and Unsurpassable Mahamudra of Liberation that can enable one to actually demonstrate that they have the body of a saint or holy being. It is known as the Tien Jie Mandala Ni-Wan Dao-guo Fa or Heavenly Realm Mandala Mud Pill Lamdre Dharma. Ni-wan translates literally as mud pill. Lamdre is a Tibetan term for the path and its fruit. Through this Dharma, the gate to heaven on the crown of the head can truly be opened. The mud pill is also found in the meditative techniques of inner alchemy in Daoism. The mud pill crown opening was what was sought to become an immortal. Ancient emperors of China would have given their kingdoms and fortunes to be able to receive this Dharma. Ni-wan is also a Daoist term for the place where the consciousness or spirit enters and leaves the body of an immortal. It literally means a point on the top of the head that when open feels like soft mud. A newborn’s skull is like this, which is the reason one has to protect the head of a baby until these openings or fontanelles can grow shut. This point is also known in acupuncture as the Bai Hui or the hundredth meeting point and is connected to the hypothalamus, pineal and pituitary glands—all parts of our anatomy that modern science does not yet fully understand or appreciate. I think this is also the Hindu Yogic equivalent of the Crown Chakra. The ni-wan also refers to the upper Cinnabar Field in Daoism or the center for intellect and spirituality. In Daoism, one refines one’s essence (jing) into vital energy (qi), refines one’s vital energy into spirit (shen), and refines one’s spirit into emptiness. One unites one’s primordial spirit to become form (an immortal) and dissipates that spirit to become formless vital energy. One is then neither empty nor substantial. That is what is called non-doing. Daoism also says one is able to receive cosmic energy through this point. 

        Lest there be confusion, I want to make something perfectly clear. The mud pill of Daoism is the place on the crown of the head through which one leaves the body to ascend to heaven. Buddhism also recognizes that the mud pill is the place through which one leaves the body to become a celestial being or immortal, which is one type of living being among all of the living beings in the six realms. However, what I am writing about is the Buddha Dharma and not Daoism or any other form of religion. When Buddhism came to China, the Daoists adopted many aspects of Buddhism. Still, Buddhism leads one to become a Buddha or Bodhisattva, and Daoism leads one to become an immortal. People who misunderstand what I am saying might question why I talk of a Daoist practice. This is a result of simply not understanding the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha clearly stated in the sutras that there are six realms into which living beings can reincarnate and that the highest realm is the realm of the immortals. The ten types of immortals are described in general terms in the Shurangama Sutra and elsewhere, but they can generally be grouped into three classes: earth-bound immortals who continue to live amongst us, heavenly immortals who will go to the heavenly realms only after they leave this earth, and the divine immortals who can go to the heavenly realms now with their earthly bodies as well as after they leave this world. What the Shurangama Sutra does not say, but the Buddha explains in other texts, is the fact that those who cultivate themselves according to the teachings of the Buddha can continue their practice in these heavenly realms and go on to become Bodhisattvas. The translation that I have of the Shurangama Sutra is not clear on this point and appears to be discussing primarily the earth-bound immortals and not their higher forms. 

        However, in general, Buddhists do not seek rebirth in the heavenly realms. We know that once the good karma that enabled you to go to heaven is used up, you still have to return to the lower realms, including the hell realms, to repay your negative karma from past lives. For most people it is difficult to accumulate more good karma while in the heavens because the pleasures there are just too great. The only way to escape your karma is to become liberated. That way your negative karma cannot harm you. You are able to escape into emptiness and Yama and the hordes of Mara³⁴ cannot find you. However, if you have the extremely good fortune to have your crown opened, so as to be received by the highest celestial beings, and guaranteed the life of an immortal in these realms, it is most wonderful, because in that case you will be able to continue to meet and study with the highest Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and eventually be able to join them in the Buddha realms.

        Although this Buddha Dharma can be transmitted to non-Buddhists as well as Buddhists and help sincere practitioners of other religions to achieve their goals of heavenly rebirth, its purpose for a Buddhist is quite different. Buddhists are also able to take rebirth in the Heavenly Realm and enjoy this paradise, but they do so in order to continue their cultivation and practice of the Dharma and eventually to be able to become Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. In the Sutra on Loving-Kindness (Metta Sutta), Shakyamuni Buddha tells us that although a non-Buddhist may enjoy a lifespan in these heavens, when that lifespan ends, he must return to the lower realms to repay his karmic debts due to the law of cause and effect. However, one who follows the way of the Buddha can enjoy the pleasures of these realms and also gain liberation through the practice of Buddha Dharma while in these realms, eventually attaining the… “complete extinction of lust, hate and delusion in that same kind of heavenly existence.” But there is another aspect of this Dharma that also makes it important. When one becomes accomplished in or achieves the fruit of this Dharma, one’s structural body actually changes. One’s bones become different than those of an ordinary being to enable one’s consciousness to ascend to the heavenly realms. In this way one becomes a true holy being or saint.

        Why is this important? Only holy beings or saints can liberate other living beings, and our work here as Buddhists is to help others seek liberation from the unhappiness, pain, and suffering of samsara or worldly existence. So, how do we know that someone is a holy being? There are many who claim such status and their disciples support them by calling their master a holy being, but are those who make such a claim really able to demonstrate their holiness? 

        There are two aspects of holy beings that distinguish them from ordinary beings. The first is that they manifest the Great Compassionate Bodhisattva State. This is a type of mind or level of accomplishment whereby everything they do is done for living beings. No matter what they do, say, or think, it is to help living beings become accomplished in the Dharma or liberated. This is the aspect of virtuous conduct. However, this alone is not enough to be designated a holy being, because, generally speaking, it cannot be seen or understood by ordinary people.

        The second aspect of a holy being is that their physical body type is different from that of ordinary people and there are ways that this can be demonstrated. This is shown through miraculous events that actually change the structure of the body. The Mud Pill Holy Dharma is a Highest Form of Inner-Tantric State-Practice Initiation contained in The Supreme and Unsurpassable Mahamudra of Liberation. The Mud Pill Holy Dharma can accomplish this change in the structure of the body, as can accomplishment in the practice of Tummo Dharma that goes beyond the second stage. It is one way to prove that someone actually has the true Buddha Dharma and can help liberate other living beings. The process for becoming a saint in Catholicism is quite similar. A person has to have exhibited a pure, moral, and kind life and demonstrate some sort of miracle. The opening of the crown in the skull without any visible means on the surface of the skull is such a miracle! But scientific tests show that there indeed is such an opening!

        As I mentioned earlier, the Mud Pill Dharma from The Supreme and Unsurpassable Mahamudra of Liberation is unique in that such Dharma can be practiced by the practitioner of any religion. Although one needs to be a good person with deep roots of kindness, one does not need become a Buddhist to practice it. However, one must be careful in applying this Dharma. It can be used to have the consciousness leave and return to the body, and it can be useful at the time of leaving this earth. But if your crown has been so opened, you must strictly abide by the Mud Pill Path Fruit Precepts. If you violate any of those precepts, you must repent that same day. If you repent a day later, your crown will close, and you will not attain liberation. But if you abide by the precepts, you will be able to go immediately to the heaven or paradise of your choice after death. You do not need to pass through the bardo. A Christian’s soul would go the Christian Heaven to be with Jesus, while a Hindu would have his consciousness merge with Universal Consciousness (Supreme Cosmic Spirit) in the formless realms or go to the Brahman Heavens of the Form Realm, and so on. 

        In an oral discourse on the Dharma, the Buddha expounded that our crowns must be opened for us to go to any of the higher realms. What we call consciousness and others refer to as the soul or “spirit” exits the body at the time of death. The means by which it exits determines the next life. The Buddhist sutras also state that if the exit is through the soles of the feet or Yong-Quan gate, one goes to the hell realms; through the lower orifices, one becomes an animal; through the navel, one becomes a hungry ghost. The part of the body that determines where the consciousness/soul/spirit of the person goes will remain warm after the rest of the body becomes cold. If one’s heart is warm and the rest of the body is cold, one is reborn to the human realm to be a human. If the throat or the throat gate is hot and the rest of the body is cold, one becomes an Asura. If one’s body is cold and the Mud Pill gate, or fontanel, is hot, one becomes a deva or a heavenly being. When one is liberated and/or is reborn into a Buddha Land, the exit place will be at the Da-Le gate, i.e. the top gate right in the middle of the skull.

        I remember Dr. Mitchell Levy at Zion, Illinois reporting that after the Sixteenth Karmapa departed this world, to his and the rest of the hospital staff’s amazement, the area around his heart remained warm for a very long time, which would imply that he would be reborn as a human.

        The Mud Pill Dharma does not enable you to become a Bodhisattva. It only enables you to become an immortal and go to the heavenly realms. It can also demonstrate that your physical body has the qualities of a holy being. However, there are many kinds of holy beings. It does not mean that as long as your crown is opened it can be said that you are a great holy being. This is true no matter what type of crown opening is received—either from the Ni-wan Dharma or the Vajra Substitute Body Meditation Dharma. These crown openings belong to the initial stage of a holy being. They are not necessarily those of great holy beings who truly attain the level of perfect liberation. His Holiness has made it very clear that even for the Dharma of Vajra Substitute Body Meditation, the opening of the crown should reveal a hole as big as an egg. Moreover, there should be a deep hole in the brain. It does not count if one just has an opening of the scalp or skull bone. His Holiness taught us that using scientific exams alone is not enough to determine the success of a crown opening. In front of the watchful eyes of many people, testing and verification of the crown opening must take place based on Buddha Dharma rules. There is 100% proof that your crown opening was successful when three peacock feathers hanging over your crown move about as a result of your consciousness leaving your body or your energy leaving your crown.

        MRI scans of those who have received the Mud Pill empowerment show a small opening at the crown. However, the concentration powers of a small portion of those practitioners are not strong. For the sake of their safety, it is best that their openings are closed. At the time of their death, their crowns will naturally open again. There is no need to close the openings of those whose concentration powers are strong. Still, such people must strictly abide by the Mud Pill Path Fruit Precepts. I know of a devout Tibetan whose skull had many such openings from empowerments he had received from various rinpoches. His skull was retrieved from the sky burial field³⁵ and kept for veneration at a local temple because the lamas knew that he was a true holy being.

        So, although I was encouraged to continue my Dharma practice and seek higher states of realization, my Master wanted me to have this empowerment. At the time of my Mud Pill Path Fruit Crown Opening, I wrote a vow of truth that stated the following:

        “FACING WHAT IS TRUE—Becoming accomplished through the Mud Pill Path-Fruit of the Supreme and Unsurpassable Mahamudra of Liberation does not require the Buddha Master to touch the crown of the head or pour water onto the crown from a precious vase. The Buddha Master was on one side of the garden, and I was on the other side. The Buddha Master never came close to the crown of my head. His Holiness used His mind to accomplish this transmission. Right then and there His Holiness caused the Emperor of Heaven to descend and open the crown of my head. I clearly saw a wondrous state appear before me. It was extremely clear. Nobody would believe me. How could this be? I was worried it might have been an illusion, so I had it evaluated by a scientific instrument. That evaluation proved that what had happened was real. This fact proves that I have the qualifications of an immortal. If what I have just stated is false, I will surely descend into hell. Sincerely spoken by Zhaxi Zhuoma (See FIGURES 49, 50, and 51).”

        I hope that many virtuous non-Buddhists and Buddhists alike with deep roots of kindness will also receive this empowerment.

        My own experience in receiving and practicing the Mud Pill Dharma of The Supreme and Unsurpassable Mahamudra of Liberation was incredible. I find it difficult to describe in any way that can explain what happened in a believable way. Fortunately, I have the MRI photos that can show the success or fruit of my efforts. I truly believe that these pictures are “worth a thousand words” as far as demonstrating the results but let me try and tell as much as I can about how they came about. As I have mentioned elsewhere, one does not usually talk about the empowerments and holy inner-tantric initiations one has received. In fact, we are prohibited from doing so according to the Dharma. This is an inviolable rule especially with respect to State Practice Initiations. However, I will describe what I am permitted to describe in order to provide non-Chinese speaking people with more specific information about the magnificence of the true Buddha Dharma.