Chapter 13 - The Boomerang Shield Mantra

The basis of Tantric teachings hinged on three factors of cultivation. These three factors are:
Mantra (True Word)
Mudra (Hand Mudra, Body Mudra)
Visualization (Power of Concentration)

This means chanting the mantra, forming the hand mudra and visualizing the Personal Deity in one's practice. Thus, our 'body, speech and mind' become purified, achieving the goal of transforming the 'Three karma into the Three Inner Tantras. This kind of cultivation method constitutes the practice of Tantrayana.

Padmasambhava, the founder of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism once faced the attack of five hundred heretics during his journey of cultivation. These five hundred heretics chanted spells to invoke the descent of various animal entities and attempted to take Padmasambhava's life with the use of magical power.

Padmasambhava landed himself in an extremely critical situation and was pushed to the verge of death. These five hundred heretics were by no means high priests of the evil sect who had practised their art for many years. They could summon the wind and rain at will and cast out beans that turned into soldiers. They were also adepts at summoning spiritual beings.

Padmasambhava collapsed upon reaching a huge tree and his life was hanging on a string! At that moment, Ekajati appeared. One braid, one eye, one tooth marks the characteristics of Ekajati, who is the mother of all Buddha Mothers. Her power is supreme. She is the Guru, the Personal Deity as well as the Dharma Protector of Padmasambhava, all rolled in one.

Ekajati imparted the Boomerang Shield Mantra to Padmasambhava. This mantra is of the highest secret among all secrets, and would not be transmitted unless one is qualified.

It would not be transmitted to the following:
A malevolent person.
A person not within the lineage.
A person who has a fickle heart.
A person who cannot keep secrets.

What constitutes a person whose heart is fickle? Most students who follow a master would display their loyalty and obedience. Yet, as days and months pass, they would reveal a change of heart. Examples of these disciples include the likes of Devadatta, Judas and countless others.

This Boomerang Shield Mantra is a supreme mantra, and holds great importance. Thus it should not be imparted indiscriminately.

What exactly is the Boomerang Shield Mantra?

The Boomerang Effect - Whatever spell is being cast by the perpetrator, it will be rebound upon the sender in the exact and equal strength.

The Shield Effect - Whatever spell is being cast by the perpetrator, it will be shielded, rendering the spell completely useless.
When Padmasambhava received the Boomerang Shield Mantra from Ekajati, he recited the mantra and retaliated. A clap of thunder was sounded and the fog dispersed, revealing the stiff bodies of the five hundred heretics who had been killed by the shock wave of the Boomerang Shield Mantra. This is the famous Boomerang Shield Mantra psychic battle.
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A female disciple of mine has a friend named Fong Fang. This Fong Fang is of such entrancing beauty that someone once described her through a love letter this way, "You carry yourself with the grace and elegance of a swan. Your every step ripples like the blossoming white lotus flower upon the shimmering green water. Your slim waistline firms up as though a silk scarf is wrapped around it. Your slander neckline, your arms, your ankles, your countenance of such fairest complexion it certainly needs no cosmetic makeup. Your beauty is unmatched by anyone. Your silky dark hair flows like the waterfall and your eyebrows curve like the silver moon. Your cherry-like sweet-scented red lips shield a row of white teeth that lines like the tiny seashells. Your pair of clear bright eyes are glistening with such charm ......"

Fong Fang's beauty is praised by all. Most importantly, Fong Fang carries herself with ease and confidence, and glows with a natural charismatic aura. She has many admirers.

One of them is an evil sorcerer who has a notorious fame. He too wrote love letters to Fong Fang.

Your beauty is unsurpassed through time.
As a gesture of my admiration,
I offer thee precious gem handed down from my ancestors.
I ask God to be my matchmaker.
Please do not reject me.
Do not be heartless.
Now that I have you,
My search is finally over.

This evil sorcerer could pen some good poetic verses! Unfortunately, Fong Fang disliked him, thus rejected his proposal. The evil sorcerer was furious and he told people, "What is so great about Fong Fang. Women like her are a dime a dozen. Since she had despised me, I will show her my power. I want her to suffer the rest of her life and come begging for my mercy. Even if she begs I wouldn't be bothered."

The evil sorcerer told not just one, but many others. Fong Fang was not afraid and did not take it seriously. However, the evil sorcerer did perform his ritual of sorcery. He used the blood of a white roaster to draw a talisman and a seal of jade mandate to empower the talisman. And he offered quality rice to the spirits....

The spiritual entity that the evil sorcerer enshrined was unusual. Its body was black and it had two heads. It had a ferocious feature and it held two snakes, a green one on the left and red one on the right. This deity was known as the Psycho Spell Ghost.

One night, Fong Fang saw the evil sorcerer in her dream and he was performing a ritual of sorcery. Her head was completely pierced with needles dripped in chicken blood.

When she woke up, she found herself in a delirium. Subsequently, she suffered from insomnia and could not sleep at night, despite all attempts to fall asleep. She went on pills and initially she could sleep, but eventually the medication could not help her. She had become despondent and miserable; her face drained of its bright countenance. In the end, she suffered a mental collapse and went mad.

The psychiatrist diagnosed her as suffering from Persecutory Delusion Disorder. Fong Fang felt that a large organization was out to harm her. Examples were such that when a plane was flying over the sky, she would imagine the plane was there to spy on her. When the postman delivered mails, she would think that he was a crook disguised as postman to assassinate her.

The cats and dogs kept by Fong Fang were given away because she felt their Souls had been seized by evil doers and replaced with the Souls of malevolent people all out to harm her.

Food cooked for her was considered poisoned, unless she had cooked it herself.

She bathed many times in a day as she felt that she had been stained and no amount of washing can clean away all the defilement. She had to wash her own clothes over and over again in a day. Everyone she saw had been polluted and stained, and she was afraid of contamination.

She also uttered nonsense, laughing away openly and giggling secretly by herself. Sometimes she was crying because she had felt that there was no benevolent person in the world and everyone was out to harm her! She would not sleep and eat. Yet occasionally she could sleep for two to three days consecutively, and at times she would not sleep at all, screaming and shouting loudly. Whatever idea came to mind she would execute it.

Her condition had deteriorated to the point where she would undress and run to the marketplace. She would pour away all edible food and meals in the middle of a road. She would break all light bulbs, claiming that all glowing things were of the devil.

This is similar to an ancient poem:
Self is clearly the object,
Which misfortune could attach and befall.
You must know that illness spares nobody.
Just as one thinks of stopping idle thoughts,
The very thought itself is but a delusion.
Even should you find what you hold as true reality,
The reality itself may hold little truth.
All illnesses are results of karma.
Clearing one's karma is the only key out of any misery.
Thus cultivating oneself one finds the way out of life and death,
And all disaster shall then turn to dust.

Fong Fang was once a real beauty, but as her illness lingered, her countenance was reduced to a spooky skeletal feature. Fong Fang was led to seek my help by my disciple. I wrote a 'Shang Yan' talisman (a talisman designed to shield or Yan, that is written with the syllable Shang on the top) to help shield her, but it did not work on her! I set up a spiritual boundary around her body, but it was ineffective!

I was at a loss. I decided to sit in meditation and observe the situation. With the incense burning half way, I suddenly had a vision of a forest with a path that led to an altar. I saw a man dressed in black praying to a rather bizarre looking deity. It was the same completely dark being that I recognized. I saw the man in black dress armed with a knife stained with blood butchering a lady. And this lady was non other than Fong Fang herself!

I was shocked to see this. I asked the family of Fong Fang about this matter and her family confirmed it. Her family told me that Fong Fang had rejected the sorcerer and thus offended the man. The sorcerer had indeed cast a spell on Fong Fang and this was being witnessed by some people. The sorcerer himself had told this to many, that he wanted Fong Fang to suffer for the rest of her life!

Normally, applying the 'Shang Yan' talisman and setting a spiritual boundary are very powerful and effective. Yet this sorcerer and the deity were even more powerful. This came as a shock to me.

Later, I searched the ancient books and found a reference to the spiritual deity. It was not any Psycho Spell Ghost but was an ancient being that had lived for thousands of years known as Qiang. As this being was ancient, the 'Shang Yen' talisman and spiritual boundary had lost their effectiveness.

I felt I should have a word with this sorcerer. I believed that a face-to-face meeting would at least set some ground for discussion. If the other party had any sense of reasoning, it should not be a problem to sort things out.

I finally met up with the sorcerer. His family name is Gu and his sorcery skills were taught to him by a master from Mainland China. His disciples feared him, as his mastery of spell casting was extremely powerful. Anyone who had been a victim of his spell would have suffered insanity.

I said, "I am here for Fong Fang!"
Sorcerer Gu replied, "She was some spoilsport. Serve her right!"
"Can you let her off? She has suffered enough, and she should learn her lessons by now." I asked Sorcerer Gu to consider lifting this spell.
Sorcerer Gu said, "Everyone knows I have cast a spell on Fong Fang. My business has prospered because of her insanity. Who are you to demand that I release her?"
"I am Sheng-yen Lu!"
"So I see. You do enjoy a small reputation and wouldn't it be interesting to see you suffer from my spell?"
"Look! Between us we have no scores to settle. I am here to appeal for her release!"
"You're appealing to me? It sounds more like you're picking a fight! So what if I don't let Fong Fang off? You want to challenge me to a psychic battle?"
"No!"
"Go home Sheng-yen Lu. Let's see who's better!"
"No!" I said.

Sorcerer Gu simply ignored me and attended to his own business. I felt I had just bumped into a wall, sticking my warm and friendly face into someone's hard cold ass. So much for an appeal.

But the matter did not end here. This sorcerer Gu had invoked the presence of Qiang to cast a spell on me. My fence of protection had been completely removed. This meant that my Dharma Protectors had abandoned me when they realized they were no match to Qiang. Even my umbrella shield that I set up during my sleeping hours was neutralized.

I felt dizzy and my temper was extremely hot. Physically, I felt cold and warm interchangeably and my mind drew a blank screen. I had no appetite for food and everything was tasteless. As I slept, I felt I was just as awake, and during sleep, my dreams appeared chaotic and messy. I felt as though my body was burning in flame.
Life had lost its meaning to me and I found no reason to live. The thought of wanting to die grew ever stronger. Indeed, once a person dies everything dies with him. No matter how hard one tries, either to be a hero or a saintly practitioner or to acquire fame and fortune, eventually we all end up dead. Maybe I should die! This life is one of pain and sorrow, filled with only emptiness and impermanence. There is no more reason and meaning in living. Then, it dawned upon me that I had been victimized by the sorcerer's spell!

I felt an aching pain between the joints of my whole body and it seemed that all kinds of illnesses were about to break out. I could not enter into meditation and even if I managed, I had visions of green and red snakes crawling all over and within me. This Qiang was indeed some ancient being. I could not think of any method to counter it. I began to hallucinate, seeing and hearing things. I felt I was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

At that time it was simply:
Of mountains of clouds of water so cold.
Everything seems empty as insanity shows.
I see a tiger growling beneath the cliff.
Then see a clay figurine running among the trees.
As the wind blows and the solar heat dissipates,
The illusionary flowers weather the rain and fall away.
There is no place on earth I can truly stay.
Should any immortal being suffer from this,
He would have snapped and gone mad anyway.

I saw a green snake and a red snake sliding into my urinary system, resulting in an unusual illness which forced me to dash for the washroom every five minutes. Yet, each time it was nothing more than just a few droplets of urine, but the urgency caused by the need to urinate was overpowering and this described excessive urination(polyuria).
There were times when I felt the bladder was full and needed to use the washroom. Yet upon reaching the toilet I could not urinate anything. I had considered seeking help from doctors who could ease my urination.
Yet by the time I could pass urine, I would feel the immediate need to urinate again. Besides urination, excretion was equally tormenting. I felt nauseating and dizzy, losing my sense of balance. No medication and prescription from doctors could cure me of my illness and I felt that this period of eating and sleeping disorders had been a living hell.

Fierce deities and demons appeared before me, trying to host in my body so that they could disrupt the normal function of my internal organs, causing inflammation and malfunction, and eventually ceasing their functions. I thought of death. I felt that suffering from illness itself is the mother of all sufferings in this world. I felt that once our body and mind was suffering from a chronic disease or a terminal illness, it was better to die than live. Seriously speaking, I would be very willing to embrace euthanasia (mercy death) if given the opportunity.

I thought of committing suicide. Many with long-term illnesses can not take the pain of the suffering and after struggling to leave their beds, they commit suicide. I used to think that these patients who took their own lives were foolish but I had since gained a new perspective. Only those who have experienced the tormenting agony of illness would understand why these patients have chosen to kill themselves. The ordeal of suffering from illness definitely tops all sufferings in the world.

I saw no value in being alive, as I had saved many lives and was persecuted just as many times. Having come to this pathetic stage, I felt no reason to go on. I was wrestling with myself at the edge of life and death!

As the sun is bound to set in the west,
Soul awaiting judgement lingers in the spirit world.
Enlightenment is certainly within oneself.
One must decide if he would be filial.

Come to think about it. Living Buddha Lian-sheng, Sheng-yen Lu had committed suicide! The Lotus Light Self Mastery Buddha had killed himself! Padmakumara had taken his own life!

This was against my earlier stand that killing oneself meant killing the Buddha. The physical self is the means to attaining Buddhahood, and thus killing this self is as good as killing the Buddha.

Those who have committed suicide cannot enter heaven, and will reincarnate in the Three Lower Realms. They suffer from a lack of wisdom and even if reborn as human beings, they shall be born handicapped.

I am a guru, and if I were to kill myself, it would certainly be one big joke of divine and human proportion! But all the eight kinds of suffering that Buddha Shakyamuni had mentioned converged on me. It was tormenting! Unbearable! I just wanted to end my life!

If I had died, it would be one hell of a joke. The founder of True Buddha School, Living Buddha Lian-sheng, Sheng-yen Lu had committed suicide! Would True Buddha School exist then?

It would be agonizing to those who embraced me and exhilarating to those who hated me. What diversity of emotion it would be!

When sorcerer Gu beheaded me with his magical power, the green and red snakes slipped into my head. My head then split into eight petals! In the middle appeared a shrine and my Personal Deity Amitabha Buddha was seated in stillness. You might say that I was dead and only this Personal Deity remained. This is the very essence of my years of cultivation.

Sorcerer Gu wanted to destroy my Personal Deity. The green and red snakes wanted to devour my Personal Deity. Unperturbed by these, my Personal Deity recited the Boomerang Shield Mantra once, "..............."

A stroke of lightning flashed:
When one's arms and limps are separated,
What is left of this bodily form?
Besides losing one's feature and image,
One's name and identity is void and gone.

Just as the autumn grass paints the tide of life,
The twilight wind speaks the truth of one's changing figure.
I ask that you discern from a higher perspective,
And contemplate more on this matter.

Never push someone to a corner!
Never push me to a corner!

My Personal Deity Amitabha Buddha recited the Boomerang Shield Mantra once and there appeared a flash of lightning. I found myself lying on the bed motionless; my body completely exhausted like a living dead. Yet I was aware that the green and red snakes had vanished, and so was sorcerer Gu.
In the space above, I saw the green and red snakes biting sorcerer Gu in a locked grip, and his struggle to break free only led to the snakes tightening around him even more.
Sorcerer Gu's shrill and depressing cry streaked across the night sky!

All symptoms of my illness had suddenly disappeared, and my health improved, and recovered completely after a week. In Fong Fang's case, her symptoms also vanished suddenly, and she regained her clarity of mind. After a period of rest and rehabilitation, her health returned to normal.

To me, it seemed like a nightmare, and to Fong Fang, the nightmare had stretched even longer! In sorcerer Gu's case, he was attacked by the very ancient deity, Qiang whom he had prayed to. And eventually, he became mad!
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I just want to let you know how important is this Boomerang Shield Mantra. It is supreme, all important and must be shielded in secrecy. Thus, I can only impart this Mantra in secret, and cannot expose it.

This incident taught me a great lesson. I must focus on the importance of reciting mantra, keep a pure and detached state of mind and take my cultivation seriously.

This is:
The Primal State of Tantrayana,
Is anchored in mantra.
You should keep your mind pure
And maintain a good body.

Untouched by all
And focus on helping others.
Remove your karma
And increase your wisdom.

Align with your Personal Deity
And attain the highest purity.
Devote actively to liberating sentient beings,
Yet maintain a simple lifestyle.

Cultivating yourself truthfully,
While holding righteous thoughts and be sincere.
Month after month and year after year,
Without beginning, without ending.

Om Ah Hum.