The holy Drawing of Lots from the Golden Urn must strictly implement the entire 21 stipulated procedures. If the process is not followed or even one step is missing, it is not the holy Drawing of Lots from the Golden Urn. Moreover,  no matter how many participants there are, be it hundreds or thousands of people, the Drawing of Lots from the Golden Urn requires everyone attending the Dharma assembly to be assigned a number, and paper balls to be made with the numbers, from which twelve people are drawn. These twelve people are the lot makers who will make lots in public. During the entire lot-making process, the presiding guru, who will draw the lots, cannot participate or watch. After the lots are made, the lots can be drawn in public by the person in charge. The presiding guru can only draw the lots in public after the lots are made. Making the lot is the sixteenth step of the stipulated process. All 21 procedures must be carried out publicly and completed under public scrutiny.

Why do we need to hold the holy Drawing of Lots from the Golden Urn?

In the Buddhist world, in this Dharma-ending age, there are many Dharma kings, rinpoches, Dharma masters or lay practitioners who pompously talk about lineages, theories, and a whole suite of things. However, it is very rare to see them be liberated and attain accomplishment when they die. Among tens of thousands of Buddhists, it is difficult for even one or two to achieve liberation from birth and death and can freely come and go. A famous saying is, “There are many monks and practitioners in the gate of hell.” Many people have heard of it. However, many Buddhists are still enamored by these so-called great Buddhist figures. They think they are learning from holy people but don’t know that they are blinded by names left from history and deceived by these ordinary people. In fact, many of the so-called great figures in Buddhism, and even the leaders of sects around the world, are some of the devil’s progeny who sneaked into the Sangha to serve as patriarchs. What is the reason for this sad situation? What led to this result?

The reason is this. According to Buddhist history records, when Buddha Shakyamuni was about to enter parinirvana, all gods and humans came to see him. The Demon King Mara was also present. He asked the World Honored One: After the Buddha’s parinirvana, what if my devil’s descendants enter your Sangha, be tonsured and ordained as monks, and learn your teachings? Will the Buddha refuse?”

The World Honored One said, “I will not refuse.”

The Demon King Mara was very happy to hear this and laughed loudly and said: “When the Buddha was alive, I couldn’t fight you, but when you enter Parinirvana, I can finally defeat you! In the Dharma-ending age, I will ask my disciples and descendants to sneak into your Jewel of the Sangha. They will wear your cassocks and destroy your Dharma. They will distort your scriptures and destroy your precepts to achieve the goals that I cannot achieve by force today…”

After hearing the words of the Demon King, the World Honored One remained speechless for a long time, and two lines of sad tears slowly flowed down. When the devil saw this, he led his descendants and left with joy and laughter. After the Buddha’s parinirvana, it was indeed difficult to control the mentality, words and deeds of the devil’s descendants. Therefore, after the Buddha’s parinirvana, many devil’s descendants appeared and became the reincarnation of some famous Buddhist figures. They interpreted the meaning of the scriptures indiscriminately and even went so far as to openly oppose Shakyamuni Buddha’s scriptures, precepts, and Buddha Dharma. They went against the grain, tampering with the Buddhist teachings and making up random mantras.

For example, many Buddhists know or have heard of the Surangama Sutra and Surangama Mantra. Many people recite it devoutly every day, but as a result, they commit sinful karma. When they die, they not only fail to attain accomplishment but also descend to the three lower realms because they have not learned the real Surangama Mantra spoken by Shakyamuni Buddha. They recited the fake Surangama Mantra that had been tampered with by the devil’s descendants. Lord Shakyamuni indeed spoke about fifty kinds of demons and the Surangama Mantra. However, the Buddha only spoke one kind of Surangama Mantra and not a second kind. However, in the world now, more than a hundred different versions of the Surangama Mantra have appeared in only Buddhist temples and organizations. They all say that the one they recite is the correct one. The east temple says theirs is the most correct, but the west temple says the one the east temple has is incorrect, and they have the correct one. Likewise, each of the north and south temples does not admit that others are right; they only believe their versions are correct. As a result, they can only boast empty words about how great they are and how they can subdue demons.

In fact, the true Buddha Dharma and the true Surangama Mantra are by no means based on whoever says they are true. Instead, they must be judged by the actual display of power and whether the guru who transmits the Dharma has cultivated his body into a holy constitution with holy strength. For example, have you cultivated your body into a holy body with the mantras you chant and the Dharma you practice? The Holy Body is also not decided because some people say it is. A Holy Body is not composed of an ordinary person’s body component or body tissues but must be of holy substance. He must have a holy physique and must have holy physical strength. His physique and physical strength are beyond ordinary people; he must be able to lift a weight that ordinary people cannot lift. If you say you are a holy being, let me ask: “How many levels have you surpassed your base standard in Lifting the Pestle onto the Platform? Have you reached the level of a holy being?”

The physical composition of an elementary-level holy person differs from that of an intermediate or a high-level holy person. There are specific weightlifting standards for each of them to reach. Simply put, the standard for the world’s strongest men is to exceed their baseline weight by ten levels, but an elementary-level holy person must surpass the world’s strongest men and exceed their baseline by 12 to 19 levels. An intermediate-level holy man must surpass his baseline by 20 to 25 levels, and a high-level holy man must be capable of lifting beyond his baseline by 26 to 29 levels. A Mahasattva or a King of Vajra Powers must surpass his baseline weight by 30 levels. Otherwise, his physical composition does not match the holy physical composition of a Mahasattva.

Some say, “I am a reincarnated female mahasattva and have nothing to do with Lifting the Pestle to the Platform.” Yes, you are right. Women do not rely on Lifting the Pestle onto the Platform to determine their cultivation levels. But you can practice the Holy Determination by Drawing 6 or 8 Lots for the sutras and mantras with a Buddha or a Bodhisattva as the Yidam. Remember, first of all, you must be able to uncover the terma with instant verification!

Some may question: “Your World Buddhism Association Headquarters proclaims holy constitution and strength. What about yourselves?” We now tell those who have this question by a few examples from our headquarters. For example, Wangzha Shangzun, a disciple of Namo Dorje Chang Buddha III, cultivated a vajra body and physical strength. No Strongman or capable master in the entire world, from ancient times to the present, has broken his strongman record. Kaichu Jiaozun, a Namo Dorje Chang Buddha III’s disciple, is one year shy of 90 years old. Among his peers, no one surpasses his holy physique and holy strength. Even Asia’s strongest man, who weighs 350 pounds and is 36 years old, cannot lift the pestle Kaichu Jiaozun lifted. Many other Namo Dorje Chang Buddha III’s disciples have also cultivated their bodies to the holy physique and strength, but we will not mention them individually. Namo Dorje Chang Buddha III Himself has surpassed His baseline weight by 59 levels on the Lifting the Pestle onto the Platform. That is an unprecedented feat and one that no one can follow. No world-class strongman has been able to claim the award of 20 million US Dollars so far!

The Surangama Mantra Seal and Talisman you have practiced by reciting the Surangama Sutra and mantra is as light as a piece of paper. When you recite the mantra, it should automatically fly into the air and suppress the possessed person immediately, making it impossible for the demon to get out of the three-foot-wide circle. It can remove the person’s evil obstacle immediately. If you cannot do that, at least when you recite the Surangama Sutra and mantra, the mantra seal and talisman should at least crush the porcelain plates used by evil masters and demons into pieces. If the Surangama Sutra and mantra you have chanted cannot even reach this level of power, you are practicing a false Surangama sutra and mantra. In fact, although the power of the real Surangama Mantra Seal is inferior to the Vajra Seal of the Great Powerful God King Buddha, it can still subjugate heavenly demons. This Vajra Seal has been experienced on the spot by all the Buddhist disciples who have taken the test assessing their holy or mortal state. It is just a Vajra Seal used by Wangzha Shangzun. A small formation is set up with the Vajra Seal weighing only three pounds. It flies back and forth with great power, making it difficult for people possessed by evil spirits to move around. They can only beg for mercy in misery, repent of the past, and change their evil ways to do good and be good people. This is the true Buddha Dharma, manifested in reality, passed down by Shakyamuni Buddha. It is not an empty theory at all! All so-called Buddha Dharmas that do not show powers in reality are what have been tampered with by the devil’s descendants.

The Surangama Sutra and Mantra are now facing the misfortune of being mixed up with true and false. They are constantly being tampered with by the devil’s descendants. Currently, more than a hundred versions in the world differ from those spoken by Shakyamuni Buddha Himself. This issue is really a trouble made by the devils. Fake Dharmas have blatantly appeared all over the place, deceiving a large number of people who learn Buddhism. The evil and absurdity of the devil’s progeny have caused too many unthinking and unintelligent people to be fooled and victimized. It is really tragic! Yesterday, a Jiaozun brought back thirty-eight different versions of the Surangama Mantra and three different versions of the Single Ferocious Vajra Ritual. The language, sentences, and structure are very different from each other. The various versions of the Surangama Mantra range from more than a hundred to five or six hundred sentences. Buddhists, do you dare to say which one is correct? You must agree that out of the thirty-eight versions, at least thirty-seven of them are fake Surangama Sutras and mantras tampered with by the devils who created a mixture of true and false, right? By reciting the false Surangama Mantra that the devil’s descendants created by mixing evil and good, shouldn’t you be cast into the three lower realms? Can you deny it? Maybe all thirty-eight versions of the Surangama Mantra are fake ones that mix good and evil!

Maybe your so-called sect lineage transmission master will be extremely angry after hearing our assessment. He will rebuke and slander us as monsters. We will not fight the ins and outs with him but just want him to answer one question: Do you, the sect patriarch, dare say that the World-Honored Lord Shakyamuni spoke all of those thirty-eight contradictory and different versions of the Surangama Mantra? There is no doubt that the devil’s descendants tampered with the Buddha’s sutras and mantras. I want to ask this angry, ordinary person who pretends to be a sect patriarch: You have taught your disciples the poisonous Dharma, the evil mantra, and fake Buddha Dharmas that were tampered with by the devils and mixed with good and evil. By doing that, will you and your disciples attain accomplishment and liberation? Or will you commit sins and fall into the three evil realms?

Everyone should know why it is so difficult for people who practice Buddhism to attain accomplishment nowadays, right? Because many treatises, dharma conventions, rituals, and mantras in the Buddhist world, such as the Surangama Sutra and mantra, contain both good and evil. They appear to be authentic Buddhism on the outside, but the true meaning has been tampered with and destroyed by devils. They are mixed with good and evil and not the holy Dharma (not the true Dharma).

Because ordinary Buddhists have no discernment at all, they learned false Dharma that had been fabricated by ordinary people and sinful Dharma that is a mixture of good and evil. There are even teachers and disciples who are so stupid as idiots and take the challenge of seclusion by eating Zen as food created by evil masters to deceive themselves and others! They only drink water for the first three days and start to eat a small amount of fruits and peanuts from the fourth day. They are so hungry that they cannot stand it; their desire for food is too strong to restrain, and they become flustered. Is that how one grows capabilities by practicing Zen as food? After a few days, ten days, or twenty days of leaving the seclusion room, their internal organs and the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind have been destroyed, and serious causes of disease have been planted. Their face becomes bloodless, their body turns feeble, and they collapse into extreme weakness with both their spirit and bodies ruined. Yet, they still think they are practicing and learning Buddha Dharma; they think they are practicing Zen and will attain enlightenment. They are so stupid and pitiful!

Relying on Zen as Food can only be accomplished by those with profound Zen concentration powers. The real Seven Days of Hunger means no water or rice for seven, fourteen, twenty-one or twenty-eight days, and during that period, you don’t even go to the bathroom. That requires real capabilities to do! It is not a brute force starving to exhaustion with no regard for health, which the heretics or ordinary people proclaim. Being a group of obviously evil and ordinary people, they enter the seclusion room and do the so-called Eating Zen as Food but still have to eat fruits and water. They are deceiving the world, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. They have practiced something that violates the Buddha’s teachings, harmed others, and insulted the Buddha’s righteous practice. In return, they have gained nothing but sinful karma and damaged physical health. That is primarily why there are many Buddhists and very few achievers. They seem to learn Buddhism but end up with evil karma; what they have learned appears to be the authentic scriptures and Dharma rituals, but in fact, they are no longer Buddha Dharma but sinful and erroneous dharmas that were tampered with by the devil’s progeny who sneaked into the Sangha.

Another example is that some independent sect leaders use Shakyamuni Buddha’s name to create their own sectarian styles that do not align with the teachings and pass them on from generation to generation. They are not authentic Buddhist teachings at all. What they spread were all wrong knowledge and views, and what they implemented were Demon King Mara’s distorted principles of Buddhism. They are far away from the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha and are worlds away from true Buddha Dharma’s liberation and attaining accomplishment. For example, in the recitation texts of some temples, evil has long been mixed into authentic Dharma. It is very terrifying. Just look at the text: “Pay homage to all the ancestral patriarchs and elderly monks since the founding of this temple” has already planted the cause of evil. Because some were good and some were evil among all the ancestral patriarchs and old monks, so when Buddhist disciples bow respectfully, they will also bow to those old monks who were the devil’s descendants. If you worship in this way without distinguishing between good and evil, and you worship the devil’s descendants, you will inevitably become connected with the devil. Not only will you not be able to be liberated with holy composition and holy strength, but you will also suffer from the afflictions of the three bad realms because not all of the founding patriarchs and old monks over the past generations were holy. From a historical perspective, that is an absolute fact.

There is another sentence: “Prostrate to the abbot monk.” Can you guarantee that the abbot monk you prostrate to has not violated Buddhist scriptures or betrayed the teachings? Can you guarantee that he is not fulfilling the evil wish of the Demon King Mara? Think about this: If there were no devil’s descendants among the founding ancestral patriarchs, and there were no evil demons among the old monks, then the morning and evening recitation texts would not have been tampered with and mixed with heretical theories of demons since the ancestral patriarch’s time! When you pay obeisance to those old monks who are reincarnated by evil demons, is the cause you plant the cause for attaining accomplishment? Or will you become one of the many monks and practitioners standing before the gate of hell? The current situation in the Buddhist world, which is filled with all kinds of apostasy and empty heresies, has resulted in a large number of ignorant practitioners who cannot achieve liberation and accomplishment at the end of their lives. Instead, they fall into the three lower realms together with those pretentious great Dharma Kings, great rinpoches, and great Dharma masters who are actually reincarnated evil masters and evildoers, the offsprings of the Demon King Mara! That is why the saying: “There are many monks and practitioners before the gate of Hell!”

So, how do we identify these evil people who have sneaked into the Sangha and society? It is too easy to identify them. As long as everyone pays attention, you can easily tell who is true and who is false. Their biggest characteristic is that they often have great reputations and high status but no actual capabilities. Just like you, they are ordinary people with weak physiques. They can only wave the lineage banner, quote scriptures and recitation texts, take excerpts from essays, and talk about empty and fake dharma to defraud the public for donations.

You must know this. How can the Buddhas allow evildoers to run rampant and harm all living beings, leaving all living beings unable to discern? However, after all, the World Honored Buddha agreed to allow the devil’s descendants to enter the Sangha and wear cassocks and patriarch clothes. That is why the Buddha shed two lines of compassion tears. In view of the fact that the devil’s descendants could not be stopped from destroying the righteous Dharma and harming all sentient beings, the Buddhas had no choice but to apply the seal on them. Although they have blended into the Sangha and communities, it is a pity that under the seal of Buddha’s power, demons cannot develop enlightenment and or the Five Vidyas. Although the cunning demons always show their power and claim to have the Five Vidyas, that is a bluff to deceive the uninitiated. You will know if you fact-check that they do not even have one vidya. Everything they say is false. They only have a very ordinary skill or not even a skill. They do not even touch the edge of the Five Vidyas and cannot even reach the level of world professional experts at all. If you cannot reach the height of professional experts, you are not in the state of Vidya.

The second item, checking their essence, is especially important! It is crucial! You can see the essence of the devil’s descendants. Due to cause and effect, their bodies and minds do not have the slightest element of the Holy Body. Although they talk emptily about the transmission of a great Dharma, in reality, it is all fake Buddha Dharma, an empty theory that does not generate any power. Therefore, you can see at a glance that the evil masters still have the bodies of ordinary people.

Although the devil’s descendants have long been mingled in the Sangha and presented as the so-called generational masters, great Dharma kings, great rinpoches, and founding patriarchs of the world, under the seals of the Buddhas, they only have empty false identities on the outside and can never generate any holy capabilities or wisdom after all. They cannot grow any power or holy physique but only evil mentality and constitution and can only talk about the empty and falsified lineages of Dharma transmission. They write evil books, establish heretical doctrines, and spread pretentious Buddhist books that are heretical. Their most obvious characteristic as ordinary people is that they have no holy capabilities to show!

You must be clear about an ironclad principle: all accomplished holy beings must have both spiritual and physical holy compositions. But looking around, some of the great figures who sit on the holy thrones have the physical body and strength of ordinary people. There is no component of the holy constitution and no holy physical strength except for depleted energy and exhausted spirit. Their body composition and strength are the same as yours! This point is important to look for when you Buddhists examine them. No matter whether they have a world-class status or are the founding patriarch of a sect, as long as you pay attention to the above characteristics, you can immediately see what their essence is, whether they are truly a holy man or a monster or whether they were mistakenly chosen before to be holy.

It is very easy to identify whether a famous Buddhist figure with a high status is evil or righteous or whether he is ordinary or holy. Asking him to come forward to draw the Virtue-invoked Lots (i.e., the Holy Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn) can reveal his true colors. If his morality and virtues cannot suffice for the twelve-lot drawing, can he at least preside by the drawing of the six lots required for a great holy being? ***如果用六支籤來掣八地以下的本尊菩薩的法本，或方神地神的施供法等， If he draws six lots on the Dharma texts of a Yidam Bodhisattva below the eighth bhumi, or the Almsgiving Dharma for local deities, is he still a true lineage patriarch of the generation?*** lTranslator’s note: The meaning of this sentence needs to be further clarified.] The Dharma of the Virtue-invoked Lots, which draws twelve lots, involves invoking the Buddha and the Marvelous and Equal Enlightenment Bodhisattvas and can only be practiced successfully if a Tremendously Holy and Virtuous One with Their realization virtue presides over it. Suppose he does not have the physical and mental compositions of a Tremendously Holy and Virtuous One (i.e., a Mahasattva). In that case, he doesn’t have their virtue and will certainly not be able to inspire the Buddha and the great Bodhisattvas to come to the main hall and approve the drawing of lots. As a result, he will not be able to draw the twelve-lot Virtue-invoked Lots successfully. This means that a fake holy being is never real, and a real holy being is never fake!

When you examine if a male guru is a holy one or a holy monk, it is best to see if he has obtained the second of the five measurable qualifications, i.e., Possessing the Practical Realization of a Holy Body, and has attained a holy body and physical strength far exceeding that of ordinary people. For example, Kaichu Jiaozun has reached 20 levels above his base standard in Lifting the Pestle onto the Platform and consequently entered the gate to the middle-level holy and virtuous rank. If one reaches 30 levels above his baseline, he is a great holy Mahasattva. Ordinary people and the devil’s descendants will not have holy composition; they do not have any holy component in their bones. Even the world’s strongest men can only go up ten levels above their baseline weight in Lifting the Pestle to the Platform and do not have any extraordinary holy power. So, you can easily tell if someone is holy or ordinary by putting him to the test of Lifting the Pestle to the Platform.

However, a serious problem arises again. For regular eminent monks and great virtuous ones with the right knowledge and views, it isn’t easy to distinguish whether they are true or false because they have not yet entered the realm of holy virtue. Even if they are entry-level holy ones or Arahats, they have yet to realize the Great Holy and Virtuous or Tremendously Holy and Virtuous levels. Therefore, it is also impossible for them to successfully practice the twelve-lot drawing or even the ten-lot drawing to determine the Dharma scripts whose Yidam is a Buddha or Bodhisattva. However, you must distinguish the regular eminent monks and the great virtuous ones from devils and demons because they are often important and good teachers who spread the Dharma and benefit living beings and are teachers for all living beings to learn from. Therefore, when identifying them, we cannot use the holy Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn to evaluate them. We can only see whether the Dharma they transmit is holy or secular. We must see if his lineage is from a holy being, a great holy being, or a tremendously holy being. In particular, we must be clear whether this tremendously holy being is sitting on the holy throne in vain, or is he a real Tremendously Holy Being? So, we must see if he truly possesses the perfect enlightenment of esoteric and exoteric teachings, a high degree of perfection in the Five Vidyas, or whether he has the holy constitution, holy strength, or the Five Measurable Qualifications that is the peak holy realization. And it must be clear whether this Tremendously Holy and Virtuous One recognizes a certain guru who is an eminent monk or a virtuous one, and whether the words and deeds of this guru have the correct knowledge and views in daily life, whether he is a compassionate person and a virtuous person. That requires everyone to carefully and meticulously understand whether it is true or false.

Some people mistakenly think: “It turns out that my guru is just a regular eminent monk. I don’t want to learn from him anymore. I want to find a great holy being to be my guru. I want to find a master like Jigong, Hanshan, or Shide.” If you think like that, then you are wrong. Hanshan and Shide never accepted a disciple in their lives. Throughout the entire Song Dynasty, there was as rare as only one Arhat: Jigong. He only attained holiness at the age of 83. So, do you think you can easily find someone like that on a whim? In fact, as long as he is truly an eminent monk, a great virtuous person, and a good teacher who teaches the practice of cultivation and Dharma and sutra teachings in the holy sense, Buddhist disciples will be very lucky because they can attain accomplishment by practicing according to the Buddha’s teachings!

In addition, pay special attention to the following principles! Any Dharma texts, rituals, mantras, etc. that have not been confirmed by the Holy Determination, such as the holy Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn, or have not been chosen by the Dharma Gate Palace Feather Holy Determination, or have not been definitively decided by one of the five most sacred Dharmas in the Buddhist system, cannot be certified to be a holy Dharma (that is, the true Dharma spoken by Shakyamuni Buddha and the Dharma approved by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions)!

Therefore, when a living being learns Buddha Dharma, they must learn the holy Buddha Dharma (the true Buddha Dharma that has not been tampered with) that is in line with the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha to completely avoid being confused with the fake Dharma taught by ordinary people and evil masters who appear to be a generational guru, a great Dharma king, or a founding patriarch. Learning their false Dharma can only induce sinful karma and miserable death, resulting in descending to the three evil realms.

The functions of the holy Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn are:

1. To definitively determine the holiness of Buddhist rituals,
2. To determine whether the sutra teachings and theories are true Dharmas in the holy sense or are evil or secular Dharmas and whether they have been tampered with by the devil’s descendants to become mixtures of good and evil,
3. To decide whether things and matters are good or evil,
4. To certify whether the status of a reincarnated great rinpoche is true or false and
5. To determine if someone is holy or ordinary, the true and false of certain words and deeds, etc.

The holy Drawing of Lots from the Golden Urn and its secular version are completely different. The holy Drawing Lots from a Golden Urn is the highest and most supreme holy Dharma among all oracles, fortune-seeking, divination, and other methods. It is on the same level as the Five Supreme Dharmas of the Buddhist system. The most important and special thing is that its magical powers can only be invoked by virtues, so it is more difficult to practice successfully than the Five Supreme Holy Dharmas. Therefore, the holy Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn can only be practiced successfully by the reincarnation of a real Mahasattva or above who can invoke holy powers with his virtues. Anyone lower than the Great Mahasattva level cannot invoke the power of the holy Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn; a low-level holy man or an ordinary person is even less so and can never hope to draw lots from the golden urn in the holy sense successfully.

The holy Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn is also called the Virtue-invoked Lots and relies on the virtues to inspire Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to reveal the true reality based on cause and effect! Any Dharma or preternatural power has no effect on the holy Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn! This drawing of lots is the result of two underlying principles. The first is that for the holy and virtuous guru who presides over the holy Drawing of Lots from the Golden Urn, no matter how great his preternatural powers and how deep his Dharma capabilities are, they have no effect at all. The presiding guru must rely on his paramount and pristine virtues to inspire and invoke the Yidam, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to manifest themselves and make the holy determination on the subject matter. The second is that the true reality of the matter itself is manifested based on the cause and effect of the chosen matter. The Yidam determines the result; it has nothing to do with supernormal powers at all. No matter how vast your supernatural powers or Dharma capabilities are, they will be useless in the Palace of the Great Hero, where the Holy Determination is conducted.

Regulations stipulate that lots must be made first and then drawn. The public attending the Dharma assembly must do the fifteen procedures for making lots. No matter what title or status the person who presides over the drawing of lots has, they cannot participate in making the lots or even look at them.

The following is an example to illustrate the whole process. The subject of the example is to determine definitively good or evil in two contrasting recitation texts, and we will use the highest level twelve lots of Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn for the demonstration. According to the iron-clad rules of the holy Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn, there are four levels: six lots, eight lots, ten lots, and twelve lots, which is the highest level. The highest level of lots drawing can only be presided by an Equal Enlightenment or a Marvelous Enlightenment Bodhisattva or above.

The holy Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn requires chanting sutras and practicing Dharmas for seven days. On the eighth day, the hall cleansing will start, and the Terma must be uncovered to retrieve two different terma treasures. Each temple, Buddhist association, etc., recommends holy and virtuous ones according to the rules, who will apply their holy capabilities to uncover the Terma and take out the Buddha relics and the Green Tara Mirror Altar’s Dharma-Treasure Mirror (also known as the Demon-reflecting Mirror) and use this treasure mirror to see whether there are demons mixed in among the people attending the Dharma assembly, and capture the evil people on the spot.

Why do we uncover the Terma on the eighth day? It is because on the ninth day, all preternatural powers and Dharma capabilities will be sealed off and blocked by the Buddhas in the lot-drawing hall, and all holy realization capabilities or boundless Dharma powers will have no use. At that time, no matter how mighty or strong someone’s power is, they will not retrieve the Terma treasure of the Buddha’s relics and the Mirror Altar’s treasure mirror. Why? The reason is that the Uncovering of the Terma and the holy Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn are completely opposite in nature; One requires the use of profound Dharma capabilities and boundless preternatural powers, and the other does not have anything to do with Dharma capabilities or preternatural powers at all and just rely on virtue. Why not rely on magical powers? The answer is that drawing lots is used to definitively determine whether everything is true or false, rather than using magical powers to see which lot is which and then manually drawing it out. If you use the celestial or Dharma eye to see the content and the nature of the lot and deliberately draw it, then it is not the essence of truth that is approved and ascertained by the Yidam!

In fact, only the holy Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn manifests the highest accomplishment and capability that surpasses powerful Dharma power and vast supernatural powers. Because at the origin of nature, only the highest virtue is the divine power of true enlightenment and the supreme state of enlightenment of the Buddha. One should forsake the Dharmas at the end, not to mention the child’s play with supernatural powers! Shakyamuni Buddha said: “THE true Dharma is when there is no Dharma. Now, in the state where there is no Dharma, how can those Dharmas ever be THE Dharma?” That is the state of Tathagata’s true enlightenment.

Only a great holy and virtuous one can uncover the Terma with instant verification. Arhats and Bodhisattvas who have ascended to the bhumis have clairvoyance and can uncover and retrieve the Terma of Buddha’s relics. However, identifying and retrieving the Terma of the Green Tara Mirror Altar’s treasure mirror would be harder than ascending to heaven! Not to mention that the Terma is sealed repeatedly and hidden; even if it were laid in front of everyone, it would be impossible to identify which of the twelve mirrors with the same appearance is the demon-reflecting mirror. The appearance of the demon-reflecting mirror is the same as that of all regular mirrors, so one must rely on boundless Dharma power, profound capabilities, and vast supernatural powers to see the essence of the demon-reflecting mirror and to retrieve the Green Tara Mirror Altar’s treasure mirror (i.e., the demon-reflecting mirror). Therefore, the Terma treasure must be uncovered on the eighth day when the Buddhas have not sealed it. Otherwise, no supernormal power can be applied.

After the treasured mirror is retrieved, it is inspected on the spot according to the rules to see if it is true. All Buddhists present will see it clearly. The nature of the mirror is revealed, and one can see the difference in the mirror. Some ordinary people have already said: “I don’t believe in any magical powers.” Well, you come and take out the hidden treasure, and we will believe what you say and learn from you. Let me tell you clearly: You cannot retrieve the hidden treasure, and you do not seek to practice true knowledge!

The holy Drawing of Lots from the Golden Urn must implement 21 stipulated procedures, and not one can be omitted. It is critical to chant the 21 Tara’s holy names and ask each Tara to control a procedure. The 21-step stipulated process for making and drawing lots is now provided for everyone to understand clearly. This drawing of lots requires no magic power; everyone can draw it. The only difference is whether it will be successful and whether it can inspire the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

A Shangzun of our headquarters and the Yuzun who can uncover Terma with Instant Verification have tried two rounds of the holy Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn, for ten and eight lots, respectively. However, they still lacked the necessary virtue and capability and did not succeed so far. They will next try to draw six lots and see if they can succeed. Nonetheless, now we have to announce some great news. Our Holy Gurus Group has repeatedly asked the Tremendously Holy One to come forward and draw lots for all sentient beings to learn true Dharma. The Tremendously Holy One has always refused, saying He is an ordinary practitioner with a false reputation. He says it is not that He does not have compassion for living beings, but he doesn’t have such noble virtues that could invoke the approval of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas.

The holy gurus prayed and prayed with boundless piety. Being naturally compassionate and merciful, the Tremendously Holy One finally said He would give it a try. He said: “The great holy guru who can uncover the Terma even failed at drawing the lots. How can I do it? Even if the result of my drawing of lots is accurate, yet with my cultivation, it can only be by chance. Let me say this first today. If there is a one in ten thousand chance of hitting it, it will be a chance encounter. I must state it again: I agree with Samantabhadra Bodhisattva’s practice of Broadly Making Offerings, but that means making offerings to monastic people and great virtuous ones with the right knowledge and views and to true Dharma temples and institutions. As for me, I will not accept a penny of offerings from anyone because I have already made the vow that I will not accept any offerings for the rest of my life but will only voluntarily teach people to practice cultivation and learn Dharma. Anyway, in this holy Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn, there is no superiority or inferiority, and everyone is equal. Everyone can draw lots. Therefore, I can only say yes and give it a try. How can I have the virtue and capabilities to do it, being such a mediocre practitioner?”

We are extremely grateful to the Tremendously Holy One for agreeing. With His promise, everyone feels at ease. In fact, it is beyond doubt that the holy virtue of the Tremendously Holy One is supreme and pure. We will only give one example. When the COVID-19 pandemic started becoming rampant at the beginning of the year, the Tremendously Holy One practiced a Dharma at the Holy Miracles Temple to pray for people’s health and made a vow in public: Starting from 2020, the epidemic pneumonia will not harm anyone who comes to the Holy Miracles Temple to pay homage to H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III. Since the Tremendously Holy One’s vow came into being, from the beginning of 2020 to today, many people have come to the Holy Miracles Temple to pay homage to H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III. Sure enough, among all the Buddhist disciples and their family members who came to pay homage to H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III, no one contracted the pandemic disease except one. That person came to pay homage to H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III for the first time and asked the Buddha to let her take refuge. After the refuge, she begged the Buddha for help, saying that she had contracted the serious pandemic, had a high fever that could not go down and a severe cough, could not spit out thick phlegm, and could not eat. She said it was very difficult to breathe, and as such, she could not keep up with the recitation just now when taking refuge. She was going to quarantine soon. Namo Dorje Chang Buddha III told her not to be nervous and said: “Your life will not be in danger. Just follow my method, and you will be fine in three to five days.” Sure enough, her high fever subsided on the second day; the thick phlegm became clear and could be spat out. On the third day, her breathing became normal, and she could spit out the phlegm easily. On the fifth day, she recovered fully into a normal person. So, you can imagine that if the virtue of His Holiness Dorje Chang Buddha III isn’t enough to inspire the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to come to the drawing of the lots, would any Buddha Dharma still be left in this world?

At that time, His Holiness Dorje Chang Buddha III also mentioned the COVID-19 pandemic. He said: “The main reason is that people don’t know about this disease and are frightened by the rumors. In fact, it is not terrible. Judging from the number of infections and mortality, it is not the worst compared to many other common diseases. The issue is not whether it will reoccur next spring; It should be said that it is a long-term epidemic illness. It is not a seasonal illness but just a popular virus-infected disease. As people gradually develop antibodies, it will not be harmful. Vaccines are also being developed now.

“In fact, what is really scary is not the pandemic itself but the fact that it scares everyone so much that to prevent the pandemic, all walks of life have come to a standstill, paralyzed, and even closed down. For example, factories are not running and cannot produce; even if they are running, they cannot sell. There are also big problems in transportation, etc., which have stopped production, consumption, entertainment, and tourism, causing life’s order to be interrupted. It has naturally resulted in a great freeze for humanity in the world. That is the truly terrifying consequence of COVID-19. But wait and see, by next year at most, the rampant COVID-19 will no longer dominate human activities. What everyone should do will naturally be done. COVID-19 does not have the power to freeze humanity! However, I must tell you that by issuing orders, the governments are doing their best to care for everyone. Therefore, everyone must abide by the government’s rules and regulations regarding pandemic prevention.”

The dependent origination of the holy Drawing of Lots from the Golden Urn is the dependent origination of its rules and regulations. The purpose is to allow the public to better understand the rules and regulations of the holy Drawing of Lots from the Golden Urn and its essence and importance. After you have established the noble virtue of being selfless and benefiting others and achieved the powers and capabilities of a Great Holy One, you can also draw the six or eight lots according to the Dharma rules.

Especially in this Dharma-ending age, the holy Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn can inspire the Yidam to accurately determine which ones are the real Dharma and which are the fake Dharma tampered with by the devil’s descendants. Our headquarters will announce the stipulated rules and regulations of the holy Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn as soon as possible. Buddhist disciples must combine this announcement with the previous headquarters announcement: It will be difficult for you to attain accomplishment if you learn the scriptures and Dharma texts that are not approved by the Yidam as well as the announcement: The stipulated rules and regulations of the holy Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn to be published by the headquarters soon. Earnestly learning and understanding the meaning of the three announcements combined is crucial to whether you can learn the true Dharma in the future. That is because before holding the holy determination for you and transmitting a Dharma to you, we must evaluate you based on the contents of the three announcements. If you are asked questions but don’t know anything, you will have no chance of learning the profound Dharma, let alone the great holy Dharma!

World Buddhism Association Headquarters

July 12, 2020

(Eric Huang translated this public announcement from Chinese to English on 2024-12-17. Justin Teaw, Annie Wong, Swee Kit, and Frankie Kok reviewed the translation. Last edited on 2024-12-22.)