Unlike many Vajrayana sutras – such as The Sutra on Entering the Womb, which are kept only for certain qualified people – the True Buddha Sutra is made freely available to all during a time Buddha prophesied would be “the degenerate age of Dharma”.
The “degenerate age of Dharma” is a concept in Buddhism that refers to a period marked by the decline and deterioration of the teachings and practices of the Dharma, the Buddha’s teachings. It is believed to be a time when the understanding and application of the Dharma weaken, leading to a decrease in spiritual realization and ethical conduct. During this degenerate age, negative forces, ignorance, and delusion become more prevalent, making it challenging for individuals to cultivate wisdom and attain enlightenment. It is considered a time of spiritual confusion and moral decline, where the principles of the Dharma face significant challenges.
Due to the accumulation of negative karma arising from the five poisons of greed, aversion, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt, all kinds of calamities can manifest, ranging from karmic retributions, mental afflictions, personal illnesses and sufferings, to even conflicts amongst nations.
The True Buddha Sutra is a timely Dharma teaching released out of compassion for the deluded ones to free them from suffering. Amitabha Buddha emanated a great bodhisattva called the White Padmakumara to take on this mission. From the great compassion of all buddhas, White Padmakumara took on a human emanation, His Holiness Living Buddha Lian-sheng, so that these teachings could be transmitted and propagated widely.
Within the sutra is the key pith formula for gaining enlightenment (with reference to the Three Jewels of Buddhism):
“In [spiritual] cultivation, no-thought is the Buddha Jewel of enlightenment; purity of body, purity of speech, and purity of mind is the Dharma Jewel; refuge in a True Buddha Guru is the Sangha Jewel.”
The Bodhisattvas recognise that this lofty goal may seem out of reach for most. Thus they employ various expedient means to answer the prayers of sentient beings and alleviate problems such as infertility, longevity, prosperity, luck, litigation, calamity, confusion and nightmares, ancestral healing, illness and even war.
The blessings contained within the True Buddha Sutra address all of these, thus resolving cultivators’ worldly woes and at the same time enabling them to progress towards enlightenment by generating the circumstances necessary for it. As it states, this is indeed a great fortune-bestowing sutra for obtaining blessings.
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