A Buddhist inquired at the headquarters and asked:
Auspiciousness to the Holy Gurus of the World Buddhism Association Headquarters! I want to confirm the following ritual instructions on reading Expounding the Absolute Truth Through the Heart Sutra that I received on WeChat in China:
“How to respectfully read Expounding the Absolute Truth Through the Heart Sutra for the first time: Take a bath; change clothes; offer flowers and fruits; wash your hands clean; burn incense and worship; wipe the desk clean and cover it with a khata; recite the name of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III 21 times; recite the Heart Sutra once; put the book on the khata respectfully with both hands; and start reading it. Never read more than 30 pages a day. You must understand every sentence and read it repeatedly if you don’t understand it. You can only read the next sentence if you still don’t understand it after repeated readings. If possible, do this ritual for three consecutive days; otherwise, do it on the first day. If there is no Buddha altar, you can put a picture of the Buddha and follow the above procedures. However, you must wash your hands and recite the name of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III 21 times and the Heart Sutra once. You can have about 40% of the blessing power if you have such a pious mind. You will not have that blessing power if you read it casually.”
I look forward to your reply. Thank you for your teaching!
The disciple who posted this article about the ritual of reading Expounding the Absolute Truth Through the Heart Sutra has good intentions and wants to do Buddhist deeds, but his knowledge and views are wrong. He tells everyone to respect H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III and the Expounding the Absolute Truth Through the Heart Sutra. That is of immeasurable merit. However, the method he uses to read it is his personal idea, and this idea is isolated from living beings’ dependent origination. Because everyone’s good root has a different depth, their obstacles and karma vary, their abilities to comprehend things, forms of enlightenment, and their environments are all different, a cookie-cutter approach is not suitable for all living beings.
When reading Expounding the Absolute Truth Through Heart Sutra, you must first get rid of doubts, have faith, and absolutely respect the true meaning of the sutras taught by Namo H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III. The key point is to study the truth sincerely and seriously, learn it deeply, and gain a thorough understanding. It does not matter what form you use, how many pages you read, how many days you spend reading it, or how much of the blessing power there is. Saying things like that really misses the point too much. Some people may read it ten times and receive over 90% of the blessing power. Some people may read it 20 times and receive only a small amount of blessing power because they do not understand it and have not experienced the true meaning. Reading it a thousand times is useless if you only act superficially without realizing the true meaning. Expounding the Absolute Truth Through the Heart Sutra allows all living beings to realize the true meaning of all things in the universe rather than a mere form of feudal superstition. What Expounding the Absolute Truth Through Heart Sutra says is the supreme truth of Buddhism, which is the science of the universe and life. Namo H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III used simple and easy-to-understand language in various ways and from different angles to not only tell people what the true meaning of Buddha Dharma is but also tell people how to obtain this truth. It can be said that no ancient holy one could reach it, and no one in the future can follow it. For those who study it seriously, no matter what method is used, if they can understand, be enlightened by, and realize the true meaning of the Buddha’s teachings, their merits will be immeasurable and can have enormous blessings until they have perfect good fortune and wisdom and be freed from birth and death.
The Inquiry Center, the World Buddhism Association Headquarters
June 14, 2020
(Eric Huang translated this announcement from Chinese to English. Justin Teaw, Swee Kit Siew, Annie Wong, and Frankie Kok reviewed the English version.)