The written test on Sutra, Vinaya, and Sastra continues to take place at present. So far, one-third of the masters have gone through the Holy Test. The remaining two-thirds will all finish their tests by the end of the year.

Considering that some people do not understand how the level system is structured, (we will explain it here.) You should know that the measurement and determination of a person’s level are based on their holy capabilities and are the summation of the various aspects, including the person’s knowledge of Buddha Dharma, their understanding and views, how they propagate Dharma, their good deeds and merits, the level of greatness of their accomplishment, and the depth of their Dharma powers. The full name of the holy capabilities is “the Dharma capabilities from keeping the practice” (行持道量). Ordinary people find it hard to understand the meaning of “Dharma capabilities.” Let us use an analogy that may not be entirely suited. It is like a person’s physical strength and can be measured. If you add the weight one pound at a time, you can see how many pounds this person can lift. It can also be analogized using what the worldly people think positive energy is. Through the Holy Test, we can quantify a person’s capabilities derived from their practice (or holy capabilities) with the number of points and set a standard. Ultimately, it is up to the Yidam to select the energy points. Every ten points of Dharma capability is one level. The level is not determined by humans but by Yidam. Therefore, the holy capability points of keeping one’s practice are precise, error-free, and definitive standards, which have been proven by the over one hundred people who have taken the test.

Anyone to take the Holy Test must first go through the written test on Sutra, Vinaya, and Sastra. Then, that person must be qualified in the initial selection through Famen Gongyu (法門宮羽) before starting the Holy Test at the beginning level—Blue Button Level 1. The test can be on an individual subject at the blue button levels, while the gold button levels must be tested on the holy capabilities derived from one’s practice. A black button can be given additionally to Blue Button Level 3.

The Gold Button test is done in precisely the same way as the Blue Button test. Suppose the test candidate can penetrate the boundary and enter the Safety and Happiness Domain (平安樂地) without being engulfed by the eight winds to the Black Zone (黑界). In that case, they are considered to have passed the Gold Button Level One. However, suppose that person has entered the Safety and Happiness Domain but is booted out of there at once to the Samsara Zone (輪迴界) and falls to the ground, unable to move. In that case, they are considered to have failed at the Gold Button level. In that case, the person can still obtain a black button because they did touch the holy soil in the Safety and Happiness Zone of the Gold Button.

It is extremely tough to pass Gold Button Level 1. One must have very high and practical dharma abilities. If one has the quality of Arahat or Bodhisattva, one can pass without any problem. A Great Bodhisattva must have the dharma abilities to pass Gold Button Level 3. Without the holy capabilities of Gold Button Level 3, no matter what kind of a noble status a person has, they must be an imposter feigning to be a great Bodhisattva unless they can perform the Dharmas of Establishing a Mandala Through a Stone Slab (隔石建壇), Knowing in Advance and Foretelling the Future (先知預言), and Selection From One Hundred Dharma Bright Gates in Total Darkness (百法明門黑關擇決).

In the world of Buddhism, we often hear the great dharma kings, great rinpoches, and great dharma masters of many of the major sects and schools of Buddhism coming down from a lineage called reincarnated great Bodhisattvas. These things have become so commonplace in the world. Could they all be fake? Especially regarding this, Wangzha Shangzun said: “Basically, they are all impostors. They may not even have realized the fruit of an Arahat. Don’t look at their apparent image as a great dharma king who controls the dharma of a sect. They may not even be able to pass Blue Button Level 2 or Level 3. They can come and try it if they disagree. Their status is artificial puffery and exaggeration.

“I have been focused on my practice in a reclusive room for many years, yet I am still just a humbled bhikkhu with meaningless réclame. Where would their achievement be in the Five Vidyas if they were Bodhisattvas? It is clearly stated in Buddhist sutras that “Bodhisattvas can only be found in Five Vidyas.” These people self-proclaimed to be great Bodhisattvas. They have already seriously violated the sutras and rebelled against the teachings, but they are still bragging shamelessly and swaggering falsely to deceive people. Since they pretend to be great Bodhisattvas, I shall ask if they can pass the written test of one hundred problems. Can they get Blue Button Level 3 with their dharma capabilities? They are shameless!”

In the past several years, we heard many people say that certain great dharma king or great rinpoche has great dharma powers and can give the Holy Divination Initiation, a Dharma of the Dharma Guardian Division, as well as having the Five-thunder True Dharma Palm (五雷正法掌), the Great Compassionate Empowering Dharma of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva (觀音大悲加持法), and the Vajra Pestle Samadhi Fire Dharma for Hindrance Elimination (金剛杵三昧火除障法). Another person said that the rinpoche also has the divine power to eliminate hindrance, the great Dharma to elevate the dead and show the state, the divine ability to remove black karma, and the nine-lotus lamp dharma to look up enemies and foes to relieve hindrance. A rinpoche said they had engaged in a dharma fight where they defeated many other competent people in the dharma gate, which was also reported in the newspapers. There was also a dharma master who could fly in the air. That dharma master sure had extreme dharma power.

Wangzha Shangzun said: “You people are too ignorant! First, you don’t understand how the holy state manifests in the three stages of these dharmas. As such, you are for sure to be deceived. Of course, the Dharma of Fine Horse Stepping in Cloud, which allows one to rise in air and fly, has attained the Completion Stage, but do you know clearly at which stage the state of the other Dharmas manifests itself? Have you thought, why don’t these so-called mighty people apply their capabilities and get Gold Button Level 1 in the test?

I tell you precisely and clearly that if a Buddhist cultivator can obtain Blue Button Level 2 or Level 3, or if one is a genuinely pious Buddhist when that person meets a master who owns those Dharmas, then they are qualified to receive the transmission of those Dharmas you are talking about. I am not a neophyte to those Dharmas. They all have three stages. If you can perform the Dharma to empower people and let them show illusive image and movement, then the Dharma has reached the Generation Stage. You can bless people by showing the state the same day you learn the Dharma!

But at that stage, your dharma power level cannot be described as mature, let alone solid and sturdy. You still must realize the Completion Stage.

(To illustrate the stages,) Take the Holy Divination Initiation, for example. If (the Vajra Pill) can dance in the (disciple’s) palm, then it is the Generation Stage. For the Completion Stage, (the Vajra Pill) must fly in the air in public, which is the necessary manifestation of the state in which (the Vajra Pill is) returning from the Pure Land. If (the Vajra Pill) does not fly in the air, it is still in the initial foundation stage, and you have yet to realize the dharma power needed to give the disciple inner-tantric initiation. Even if the Vajra Pill flies in the air, it is done by the Dharma Guarding Deities for you, in which case the initiation is a substituted one, not a real inner-tantric Yidam initiation. In a real inner-tantric Yidam initiation, the Vajra Pill must be in the hands of the disciple 5 meters away from the presiding master, moving, dancing the Guozhuang dance, and undertaking a divine transformation. Additionally, there must be “Mother Dharma Water” (母法水). An inner-tantric initiation can only then be given.

Take the Great Compassionate Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva Empowerment Dharma as another example. To empower the public and let them enter the state on the spot is the Generation Stage. On the other hand, practicing the Great Compassionate Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva Empowerment Dharma to the Completion Stage entails the Bodhi Willow Branch Holy Water penetrating the wall of the bowl. If the Bodhi Holy Water flows in whatever direction following the command of the master presiding over the initiation, then that is the Perfection Stage. If one has attained the holy abilities of the Perfection Stage, then one can pass the Holy Test and get the Gold Button Level 3 holiness status.

The Bodhi Holy Water (Mother Dharma Water) is indispensable for the inner-tantric initiation or the holy inner-tantric initiation! It is because that holy water is the necessary dharma water for inner-tantric Initiations. On the other hand, the Amrit bestowed by the Buddha is the mother of the supreme and unsurpassed State-practice Initiation. Whoever can practice Dharma to get Bodhi Holy Water is an authentic Great Bodhisattva!

In the past, our beneficent Master, H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III, has always disapproved of our using the dharma power capabilities and dharma states as the means to elucidate and benefit living beings. He said people must start learning from the meanings of the Dharma and start their practice by cultivating themselves. Many of us have not truly understood our Buddha Master’s words. Recently, I heard the three Dharma discourses of Learning from Buddha that were expounded by the Buddha Master and received benefits that opened my universe. Indeed, no previous holy being had ever expounded the Dharma so incisively and thoroughly. It can be called the highest and unsurpassed Buddha Dharma. No wonder our beneficent Buddha Master said He disagrees with and will not take part in our using holy capabilities and dharma state as the means to measure a guru’s qualifications in the Holy Test at all. He said: “Abstain from all that is bad and do all that is good. If people want to attain accomplishment, then they should read Expounding the Absolute Truth Through Heart Sutra, practice the two major mind-essences in the Supreme and Unsurpassed Mahamudra of Liberation, understand and apply in practice the three Dharma discourses in Learning from Buddha. That is how one truly learns from Buddha to cultivate oneself.” That is H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III’s viewpoint and the viewpoint of the Buddhas in the ten directions.

Suppose you genuinely want to know what level of accomplishment a master has. In that case, you must ascertain the answer from the level that the master has achieved in the test and the robe the master wears bearing the buttons that correspond to the master’s level. That is the touchstone for examining the level of someone’s dharma powers and is 100% accurate without the slightest error. It is because it’s so precise, the couplets at the entrance of the Eight-wind Array could say: “Your level revealed is what your exact level is, so do not think your level would be any higher;” and “Your weight shown will be whatever you weigh, so there is no way you can add weight.” The precision of these couplets has now been verified thoroughly. It has been proven that there is no slightest error in the Holy Test!

Because up to now, one-third of the one hundred and some masters, dharma masters, acaryas, rinpoches, dharma kings, and venerables who passed the written test have taken the Eight-wind Array Holy Test. They are the prominent elite selected from several hundred thousand Buddhist cultivators. They all want to get the Gold Button. But in the end, only 2% of these over one hundred elite, selected from several hundred thousand people, passed the test for Gold Button Level 1. We estimate that the remaining group of people who will soon come to take the test will show even worse results because the important ones have pretty much finished the test already. Everyone has taken the test in front of the public in the same test site and under the same test conditions, where people monitor one another. Who would want to lose face? Who wants to avoid getting the Gold Button level? Who wants to be seen as a level lower than others in front of their fellow public? They all have used all their might and applied all their dharma powers and capabilities but to no avail. Ultimately, they couldn’t be at a higher level, just like what the couplets say. Basically, they all got engulfed by the eight winds into the Samsara Region (輪迴界) when they were advancing to the test for Blue Button Level 2 and became unable to move.

It is already not easy for someone to pass the test for Blue Button Levels 2 and 3. Even for Blue Button Level 1, only one can do it out of two to three thousand Buddhist cultivators. What is more worth mentioning is that every master who takes the Holy Test gets the same level as the result from the one-hundred-problem written test on Sutra, Vinaya, and Sastra. Not only that, but the level they got from the Holy Test must also be 100% the same as the Manjushri Bodhisattva Divination, which they had made in private before entering the test without any discrepancy. Therefore, these parts of the test—the written test, the divination they made themselves, and the Holy Test of the Eight-wind Array—all give one standard and unified result. What does that tell us? That tells us that one can only be what one is.  Whatever one’s level is, it is that level, no higher or lower. Whatever one’s weight is, it is that weight. The result cannot be faked. It is exact.

Only those who do not read the public announcements deserve to be cheated. Our headquarters should not say this, but it is a fact whether we say it or not. Therefore, it is better to say it to remind everyone.”

If one has six to ten points from keeping one’s practice, one can pass the Blue Button Level 1 test. In other words, every level requires at least six points and at most ten points to pass. Therefore, Blue Button Level 2 must have 16 to 20 points for keeping one’s practice, and Blue Button Level 3 must have 26 to 30 points for keeping one’s practice. Why is it a range of points, not a precise number, from keeping one’s practice? Because one can pass for Blue Button Level 1 as long as one has six points from keeping one’s practice. If one only has five points, then one will fail.

Then, why does Blue Button Level 2 require 16 to 20 points to keep one’s practice? It is because Blue Button Level 1 needs ten points from keeping one’s practice, so when one enters the test for Blue Button Level 2, the ten points required as the most amount for Level 1 must be deducted. This is because, for each level, the entire number of points from keeping one’s practice is ten points, not six. It can only be said that six points are needed to pass the level. If a person passes Level 1 with six, seven, eight, or nine points, it says they have less than ten points. When that person takes the test for Level 2, there is no appropriate point left. Therefore, one must have 16 points to pass the test for Level 2. By the same token, one tested for Level 3 must have 20 points deducted to satisfy what Level 1 and Level 2 require. If there are still six points remaining, then one passes the test for Level 3.

After passing Blue Button Level 3, one can advance to take the Gold Button Level 1 test. Suppose one can penetrate the Hard Zone and enter the Safety Happiness Region but is consequently pushed out by the eight winds, having touched a bit of the soil in the Happiness Region. In that case, one can obtain a black button that is five points from keeping one’s practice. Each black button is worth five points for keeping one’s practice. This is the level of Blue Button Level 3 with 1 Black.

Anyone who has passed the Gold Button Level 1 test must wear the robe bearing three blue buttons, two black buttons, and one gold button. One must have a total of 56 points from keeping one’s practice to pass the test for Gold Button Level 1. A person of Gold Button Level 1 has entered the dharma capabilities of Arahats and Bodhisattvas.

On top of the 56 points for keeping one’s practice, if one can have five additional points from keeping one’s practice and become 61 points, then one has the dharma capabilities of Gold Button Level 2. The distance from Gold Button Level 1 to Gold Button Level 2 is small, which entails only five additional points. Although only five more points are required, it is challenging to get. It is just like weightlifting. When one lifts weight to one’s physical limitations, it becomes impossible to add one more ounce. Therefore, the Holy Test based on one’s dharma capability is exact.

The points for keeping one’s practice between Gold Button Level 2 and Gold Button Level 3 are entirely different. The distance between them is considerable. One must have 183 points from keeping one’s practice before passing the Gold Button Level 3 test. One of Gold Button Level 3 has realized the dharma capabilities of a Great Bodhisattva and become non-retrograde. Gold Button Level 4 and Gold Button Level 5 have dharma capabilities so high that they are unfathomable. An Equal Enlightenment Bodhisattva or a Marvelous Enlightenment Bodhisattva does not require to be tested with the Eight-wind Array. You need to look at their dharma capabilities in performing the Dharmas of Establishing a Mandala Through a Stone Slab or Knowing in Advance and Foretelling the Future, or you can make a holy determination on them using the Dharma of Vajra Faman (金剛法幔). The result will be accurate.

What a pity it is that none of these true Equal Enlightenment Bodhisattvas or Marvelous Enlightenment Bodhisattvas is out propagating Dharma at present. It is probably due to the karma affinity of living beings! Even among the Shangzuns of Gold Button Level 3 and the Jiaozuns of Gold Button Level 2 in the entire world, only Wangzha Shangzun and Mozhi Jiaozun are manifesting holy states to benefit living beings. Among the Ruzuns who are of Gold Button Level 1, even Kaichu Ruzun, who has a robust and powerful capability in Tummo Heat, and another Ruzun who is capable of performing the Dharma of Fine Horse Stepping in Space are not out to propagate Dharma either.

Among all the test candidates, other than Mozhi Jiaozun, no one has passed the array Holy Test for Gold Button Level 2. For those great dharma kings, great rinpoches, great dharma masters in this Dharma-ending era, it is tough to find one out of ten thousand that can pass the test for Gold Button Level 2, not to mention Gold Button Level 3! Therefore, any real great Bodhisattva must and certainly will have 183 points for keeping their practice to be a Gold Button Level 3 and any real holy Arahat, Bodhisattva, who has attained the stage must have 56 points for keeping their practice. Otherwise, they are impostors feigning to be an Arahat or a Bodhisattva. Any impostor is a cheater, without a doubt!

For those who plan to register for the Vajra Array Holy Test, we will only accept your registration if you report your dharma power and holy capability as a reincarnated Arahat or Bodhisattva or if you have already passed the test for Blue Button Level 3 as a Runde. Other than these, we do not accept registration for the test on any other single subject because the Vajra Array is only set up for testing real holy beings based on the depth of their sacred capability and the level of their dharma powers.

For Buddhist disciples to tell and distinguish the robes, which indicate the different levels, so they know which level their master is, we use the following graphs for illustration. We only use 10 points to indicate what is needed for each level. For example, if the level requires 6 to 10 points, we will only use 10 points from keeping one’s practice to mark in this announcement. We will only show the Blue Button or Gold Button levels on the robe, not indicating the total number of points from keeping one’s practice. People must verify the levels indicated by the robe a master wears from the graphs in this public announcement. Then you will know how many points of keeping one’s practice one has:

United International World Buddhism Association Headquarters

August 25, 2016

(Eric Huang translated this announcement. It was last revised on 2024-08-30.)