News

Speech given by Zhaxi Zhuoma Rinpoche at Hua Zang Si in San Francisco on June 9, 2011:

Well, I have wonderful, wonderful news and things to report and am very happy to be reporting them, because a fourth Vajra Throne has been revealed and it has been revealed in the west. This is the fourth Vajra Throne in the World so this is quite special.

People have heard of Buddhism in the West, but in the most recent 100 years, there has been little evidence of the power of the true Buddha-dharma brought to this world 2,500 years ago by the World-Honored One, Shakyamuni Buddha. People have been searching for the Buddha-dharma that can liberate them from the sufferings of the world, but they cannot even reach a semblance of the Truth that was expounded by the Buddha.

But something has happened that is the source of great rejoicing!

The great primordial Buddha, the teacher of Shakyamuni Buddha and all the Buddhas has incarnated into this world and is living in America. And This event has brought joy and happiness to beings in the six realms.

And there is now a holy place in the west where students can learn and practice the correct Buddha-dharma, find true happiness, and be free from suffering.

But Where can this be?

A vajra throne has appeared near Sanger, California that will bring blessings to all living beings, grant humankind wisdom and happiness, and enable ordinary people to become holy beings.

Now, you may ask, ‘Just what is a vajra throne?’

Vajra Thrones are sometimes referred to as bodhimandas or bodhimandalas and they literally can be translated as ‘places of enlightenment.’

Bodhimandas or vajra thrones are places where both great holy beings became enlightened and sites empowered by these holy beings so that others who practice there may also become enlightened.

Before Dorje Chang Buddha returned to this world, there were only three such places in the whole world and they were all in Asia.

All of the world’s bodhimandas or vajra thrones are very, very holy places.

The first vajra throne is under the Bodhi tree in India where Shakyamuni Buddha’s was enlightened.

The second vajra throne is at Wu-Tai Shan, a mountain in Shanxi, China. It is the bodhimanda of a great ancient Buddha—Manjushri Bodhisattva. Many holy beings including Manjushri Bodhisattva are said to still live there and can be seen by those with great realization.

The third vajra throne was in Tibet and it was established by Guru Padmasambhava. Guru Padmasambhava had his vajra throne in Tibet at Kathok Monastery where over 100,000 became enlightened and attained the rainbow body state. The rainbow body is a state whereby one transforms one body into light and at the time of death, ascends into the heavens or Buddha Lands, without leaving a body behind. Certain Christian scholars have been interested in this phenomena as they think it may explain the reserection of Christ and it is a practice that can be learned. My Buddha Master has and transmits this dharma.

Now, what about the newly discovered Fourth Vajra Throne?

The fourth vajra throne in this world is the site of the Xuanfa Retreat Center and Temple near Sanger, CA [The temple and retreat center has been renamed the Holy Vajrasana Temple and Retreat Center to reflect this fact as Vajrasana means Vajra Throne in Sanskrit).

And it will be accessible to Buddhist and non-Buddhist alike.

If someone wants to learn the Buddha-dharma or listen to the Dharma Voice of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III and believes it, accepts it, and follows it according to the discourses of the Buddha, then that person will definitely get unlimited good fortune and be able to ascend to the heavens or Buddha-lands.

Shakyamuni Buddha learned the dharma that He expounded in this world from Dorje Chang Buddha, but He did not teach all that He learned. The world was not ready for certain more advanced teachings.

Dorje Chang Buddha has come to this world at this time to transmit those higher teachings to those who are ready to receive them.

Now, how did the Xuanfa Retreat (Holy Vajrasana) Center and Temple in Sanger become recognized as the fourth Vajra Throne in this world?

How did we discover that this was such a holy site?

This story begins in 2003 when I traveled to see my Buddha Master, H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III.

Early in the morning as I left San Francisco, auspicious rainbow clouds appeared over the Oakland hills even though there was no sign of rain anywhere.

Later on, I suddenly saw a colorful and large rainbow light appear in the sky. The rainbow completely surrounded the sun. There were also Sanskrit symbols in the sky. Just as the rainbow was fading from sight, I was able to take a picture of the bottom half of this light by focusing the camera below the sun. A dignified Buddha–Dorje Chang Buddha–appeared in the middle of the rainbow. This Buddha became my Buddha master, who was wearing a red robe and was sitting in the middle of the rainbow. The scene was awesome and extremely wonderful. The rainbow light appeared in the sky for several hours.

This and what happened after I arrived has been reported in the treasure book H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III.

{This was my first introduction to the Holy Red Vajra Pill which we will hear more about later}

The Buddha Master bestowed me with two true red holy vajra pills. Unexpectedly the Vajra Pills that were in my hand started to jump. At that time the Vajra Pills jumped in my hand just as if they were alive. They not only jumped but one of them started to circle around and left my hand. It transformed into a dazzling bright red light and soared into the sky. I understood that my merit was not sufficient at that time for me to keep that pill and that it had gone to a Buddha Land or holy place for safe keeping, but that when conditions were right, it would reappear. It was also at that time, that I saw my Buddha Master, who sat far away on the dais, as the dignified bright blue Buddha Vajradhara. This was before we knew the true identity of our Buddha Master.

A thought came to me that the coming into this world, and particularly to America, of Dorje Chang Buddha was one of the most important events in the history of Buddhism. We needed a stupa to mark this event and the Sanger retreat center would be perfect. However, I did not yet know why this was such a great idea.

About the time I made this intention known, strange and wonderful sights began to appear at the Xuanfa (Holy Vajrasana) Retreat Center and Temple we were establishing near Sanger.

Students came to the future temple site to meditate and work on various projects. [Many of you were there at that time.] While erecting a small yurt, circular light beings were recorded on many photos taken of students working there.

We had seen many of these lights in photos taken while on the tour to introduce the treasure book H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha IIII to the American people.

They seem to be beings from another dimension and are often reported in all sorts of photos as “orbs.” Some claim they are the souls of departed beings, others claim they are aliens from another world, but we recognize them as being auspicious and illusory phenomena that seem to be most visible when the dharma is being or about to be propagated.

The Buddha Master has told us that some of them, at least, are Vajra [Dharma] Wheel Mandalas.

 

And here we see many of these Vajra Wheels (orbs) in the sky as disciples unloaded sandbags to stop the flooding from a nearby irrigation ditch. This one was taken in the attic of the temple here very recently.

 

A rainbow even appeared together with many of these mandalas inside the yurt that we erected. Here we could see them in broad daylight. [See Holy Vajra Poles for more photos]

Other mysterious rainbow light beings manifested from time to time. Sometime they were visible to the naked eye and sometimes they could only be seen via our digital cameras.

Columns of bright neon pink and sometimes vivid green light could be seen in the viewfinders of our digital cameras and students from China were able to record this.

This phenomenon appeared several other times at the retreat center and several students actually saw these lights. I had also seen two of these beams of light once before at a very powerful empowerment ceremony.

Ghosts or spirit beings appeared and made their presence known.

Lights flickered, cabinet doors opened and closed—all quite mysteriously. It seemed they meant no harm, but they only wanted to be noticed and to hear the dharma. If their actions were a problem, I asked them to stop and they always did. I invited them to come and listen to Dharma Discourses. The ghost beings came to the Xuanfa (Holy Vajrasana) Retreat Center and Temple to seek empowerment and learn the Dharma just as many from other realms would do.

This also included those from the animal realm. There was a very tenacious goose that came to the Temple and insisted on being allowed in. He would fly at the windows or peck at the door if dharma was being discussed. [Click for photos and more.]

On November 4, 2010, a magnificent Buddha Light filled the sky. It lasted all day and was very beautiful. Many people saw it in the Fresno area. It was even reported on the local news. Once a disciple looked up and saw a rainbow in the sky overhead outside the range of the Buddha Light. Other rainbows appeared in the sky as well and some disciples saw the Buddha Light repeatedly during the following week.

These Buddha Lights appeared at other times as well.

{At another time when students were visiting, another beautiful Buddha Light appeared in the sky and this time there was a bright green being or light form that appeared with it Click for photos.}

However, it was on November 8 that the most amazing event occurred.

We were discussing removing a pole remaining from the former chain link fence that had been part of the old dilapidated shed. Suddenly the pole started shaking violently—like a giant tuning fork. Could it be an earthquake? When we looked around nothing else was shaking. This was very strange and scary. That plus all the unusual lights and visits from other dimensions were telling us something, but what?

I did not think it wise to remove that pole and suspected it was something quite extraordinary. So the next day I went to see my Buddha Master, H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III. Even though the Buddha Master was very, very busy, I was able to explain what had happened. The Buddha Master just laughed and said that I absolutely should not cut down the pole; the Dharma Protectors had come and they were making their presence known. This was a sort of Vajra Pole that the dharma protectors were using to tell us how pleased they were with what was happening here. This was all most auspicious and I should record the holy event for others.

However, I found out later that this was a sign of something even more significant and wonderful that was beginning to manifest at the site. The true nature of this place as a holy place for enlightenment was being revealed. I learned that this was a sort of portal to another dimension whereby deities could communicate with living beings in this realm.

When I returned, I felt very badly that we had not filmed the mysterious shaking pole event. I was wandering around the now quiet vajra poles. They were not shaking at all. I muttered about how sorry I felt for not having a video which I could show to my Buddha Master and it seemed the Dharma Protectors understood as the vajra pole suddenly started to shake again! I was so happy to have a chance to record this unbelievable shaking vajra pole. This time we got the video camera and we recorded the visit. We also arranged the second building so that the second pole that had also started to shake would not need to be removed either.

On the way to see my Buddha Master, the thought had occurred to me that the new yurt we had just constructed should be used as a chapel for the Dharma Protectors. Now, this was before I knew that we had been blessed by their presence or had any understanding of what a holy place this was. For some reason, somehow, I just knew the yurt we had built was not to be used for housing disciples as was originally planned. We would build a shrine at the pole where the Dharma Protectors had communicated with us and dedicate the beautiful new yurt to them.

Why were my good students and others who visited this site experiencing such beneficial effects and life affirming experiences?

Why were all these supernatural events happening here?

What I found out was that the red holy vajra pill that flew out of my hand during the empowerment ceremony in 2003 had flown to Sanger. All I knew then was that it had flown to a holy place for safe keeping until I was ready to receive it.

This was truly a holy site and it was my destiny to develop this site into a holy retreat center where many would come and learn and practice the Buddha-dharma to transform their lives and become enlightened.

So this would be a perfect site to establish the retreat and build a stupa marking the Buddha’s coming to this world.

I was told that Sanger was even more powerful than Kathok and those who come here to practice and who receive the empowerment of the Dharma Protectors here WOULD become enlightened.

I was also told that this holy site was not just for Buddhists, but to provide benefit to other religions as well. All sincere cultivators of any faith who adhere to the three pure precepts of doing no harm, doing only good, and helping other living beings could practice and meditate here and become accomplished in their religion.

Anyone who comes here to sincerely practice will gain wisdom and good fortune.

And, since this is a holy place, if they come here to cultivate themselves they will gain blessings, and, if they have sufficient merit, deities may communicate with them through the Vajra Poles.

Although this is a Buddhist holy site, the deities of other religions may come here as well. Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Protestants, Mormons, and others can come together and be blessed.

Those who have visited the site have expressed a strong feeling of joy and the presence of great energetic beings. They are energized by just being here. One knows that this is a holy place.

Not only has H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III come to America, but also the Buddha-dharma has come and can be seen, learned, and practiced here.

So we must build a retreat center and have a stupa marking H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III’s coming to America and the teachings that the Buddha will give to those who practice at this location. May we quickly complete the retreat center, the cabins, the temples, and the stupa and may many come and obtain liberation.

Amitabha!