The Miracle Stories Of the Added Phrase Version Of The Usnisa Vijaya Dharani

The Usnisa Vijaya Dharani is the secret treasure of all the Tathagatas, a Dharani Dharma door which is alos the Wisdom Seal of the Tathagata Maha Vairocana. Auspicious, excellent and pure, it is a strong and powerful spiritual Dharani, which is capable of destroying all evil paths. During the years of Yi Feng (676-678AD) of the Tang Dynasty, the edition of this Dharani brought by Buddhapala had been circulated to all the temples in China. Cultivators who had upheld It were enormously numerous.

I, Wu Cheh, before the age of twenty,had started to uphold and recite this Dharani.In the first year of Yong Tai (765AD), after the death of my wife, I became even more sincere in my cultivation and practice, seeking the Way to transcend the world of samsara. Then there was an aide palace official called Jiang Shin, who was also frequently upholding and reciting this Dharani. One day, he suddenly came to visit me in my private quarters and told me, "I have found the ultimate Way (Supreme Way) that is extremely difficult to meet!"

I sincerely and respectfully asked him what it was, and it turned out that he had obtained a copy of the Usnisa Vijaya Dharani. There and then, I invited him to recite It, and found that the phrases of the Dharani he recite had more sentences and sounded rather different. Hence I respectfully asked him from where he got this Dharani. He told me that he learnt It from a man called Wang Kai Shi, who in turn had learned It from Tripitaka Master Vajraboddhi. The Great Master had told Wang Kia Shi, "It is very difficult to obtain such a complete version of the Dharani even in India. I had brought along only a Sanskrit copy, and hence can only transmit It secretly to you. "Jiang Shin sat down for while but only talked about some peculiar/strange efficacious and then left. Unfortunately, I did not ask him to get a copy of the said Dharani. Soon after that, he was punished and killed. I always felt that it was a great regret. Hence whenever I met any diligent and proficient cultivator, I would enquire them about this edition of the Dharani, hoping some of them might have the said version.

Then,at last, I met a monk name Ji Gong, who to my surprise, had a copy of the said Dharani.

In the years of Kia Yuan (713-741AD), at the foot hill of Wu Tai Mountain, lived a diligent cultivator name Upasaka Wang, who because of some responsibily, had to visit places far away from his home. His father fell ill unexpectedly and passed away after he left. When he came home, being unable to see his father, he was filled with deep sorrow (extremely sad). Hoping to know where his late father had been reincarnated and the karmic retribution he was suffering from, he sincerely and single mindedly recited the Usnisa Vijaya Dharani, and devotedly praying for Its efficacious. However after reciting the Dharani for Dharani for several hundred thousand times, he did not response and was very disappointed. He decided to stop his recitation and then leave the mountain.On his way out, he met an old man who said to him, "It cannot be denied that you have upheld and recite the Dharani most diligently, many of the sentences of the Dharani you recited were either ommited or missing, and hence its meritorious virtues were not notable. I shall now transmit the complete text to you. "Upasaka Wang was overjoyed. There and then he bowed to the old man and received the teaching. After the transmition, the old man further advised. "You should sincerely recite this Dharani a thousand times, and you will certainly see Its efficacious results."

True enough, after upholding and reciting the Dharani for several days, on the middle of one night he suddenly heard the sound of flutes (and rings?) coming down from the sky descending into the courtyard. Upasaka Wang got surprised from his sleep and woked up to investigate.

He saw couples of heavenly beings clustering around a heavenly being who walked up to him and said, "Can you recognise me?"

Upasaka Wang answered, "I don't think so."

The heavenly being said, "I'm your late father. Because of your years of upholding and reciting the Usnisa Vijaya Dharani, I had already received Its merits, and born as a heavenly being; but in the last few days, the merits I received suddenly multiplied far exceeding that accumulated over the past few years. I don't know what excellent copy of the Dharani you had obtained. Owing to the accumulated merits you transferred to me from upholding the Dharani, I have made the king of devas. I now know that the merits acrued from upholding and reciting this Dharani are certainly boundless."

Having said that. he rose into the sky and left. Felt highly delighted, Upasaka Wang knelt down to send him off. From then onwards, Upasaka Wang doubled his efforts in his cultivation. At a later time, he went to Dong Gin.

At that time, there was a scholar in Dong Gin name Wang Shao Fu, who was specially upholding and reciting the edition brought by Buddhapala. The sum he recited the Dharani had already accumulated to several myriad times. Suddenly, on the middle of one night, he dreamt of an Indian monk who came to tell him, "You have recited the Usnisa Vijaya Dharani with absolute sincerity; unfortunately the version of Dharani you were reciting was incomplete, many words had been left out, (hence the merits accrued from upholding It will not be much.)? "Wang bowed respectfully and begged to be told the complete text. The Indian monk then transmitted the wider version of the complete text to him orally. When the transmition complete, Wang escorted the Indian monk to the door of his house and saw what it was already daylight. After Indian monk had left, Wang returned to his room, where he saw his young servant was still fast asleep on the bed. Suddenly, he awoke from his dream and called out to reproach his servant, "Wake up! It's already daylight!"

His young srevant replied, "It's still midnight."

Suddenly, the brightness disappeared and it was still in the middle of the night. Wang was very surprised with what he had seen; closing his eyes to recited the Dharani trasmitted by the Indian monk, the whole incident was still very fresh in his mind. From then onwards, he was even more sincere and diligent in his cultivation. In the first year of Tien Bao (742 AD), Upsaka Wang of Wu Tai Moutain and Wang Shao Fu were both staying in Dong Du (Luo Yang), but did not know each other. Then,one day, Wang Shao Fu suddenly died. He became alive again after 7 days. All the busybodies in the city, including Upsaka Wang and one Wang Kai Shi also came to ask him for the causes of his revival. Wang Shao Fu then told them, "That night, soon after I went to bed, two guards of the underworld suddenly appeared and asked me to follow them. We walked for several tens ?of miles until we came to the foot of a big tree. The two guards stopped to rest, so did I. Then,suddenly I remembered the Usnisa Vijaya Dharani, and immediately I closed my eyes and recited the Dharani 21 times. When I opened my eyes and looked around, there was no sign of the two guards and I did not know where they had gone. A short while later, four persons came and knelt in front of me saying, "Compassionate one, how do you cultivate and obtain such great merits and power? The guards who came to arrest you had already been reborn in the heaven. " Wang Shao Fu replied, "I only recite the Usnisa Vijaya Dharani. " The four of them begged to me, saying, "It must be the power of the Dharani! Please recite it on our behalf to deliver us from our sufferings and miseries."

I again closed my eyes and recited the Dharani twenty one times, when I opened my eyes, again,the four persons had dissapeared. After a short while, I heard the sound produced by the movement of the armours and weapons in the sky. A deity wearing full armour covered with a purple robe, looking very dignified and stern, with many followers, appeared. He came forward and knelt down in front of me saying, "I'm the Senior Officer of the underworld who controls the reincarnation of the five realms. Though my position can be considered as high, I'm still confined to the god realm, and I hope to be reborn in heaven. The previous six persons were all reborn to the heaven due to the dharma power of you, Master. Now please come to my residence and recite the Dharani for us, so that we can all obtain Its great benefits."

"Hence I followed him to a large residence. The size of which was several tens of square miles. Within it were seen all offenders, shackled and chained, ready to be executed; this, actually was the place for interrogation and torture of the underworld. The Senior Officer then invited me to occupy a high seat while he knelt at the foot of the seat to listen to the recitation of the Dharani. I closed my eyes and very sincerely recited the Dharani for forty nine times. When I opened my eyes and looked around; no one was in sight. Only broken locks and chains, damaged shackles were seen; the place was in total disorder. I was very frighten, and didn't know what to do; when suddenly another four or five people came in and said, "The King (Yama) had ordered that you should leave here quickly. You have created choros among our system, sealed off the punishment document and records, disrupted the laws and order of the underworld!"

"I was then driven into an empty valley, and became alive again. This was truly the inconceivable power of the merits of Usnisa Vijaya Dharani." Since Upsaka Wang of the Wu Tai Mountain, Wang Kai Shi and Wang Shao Fu were all some practioners of the Usnisa Vijaya Dharani, each of them took out their own treasured copy to compare the text. All the three texts were exactly the same as though they were one book. They congratulated each other for their own rare luck.

Upsaka Wang of the Wu Tai Mountain said, "My copy was given by the old saint from Wu Tai Mountain."

Wang Shao Fu said, "Mine was given by the saintly monk."

Wang Kai Shi told them, "I received mine from Tripitaka Master Vajrabodhi, the Sanskrit text is still with me. "The three were all astonished when they heard each other's saying. They readily agreed to read and check their copies, and found that the order of sounds and numbers of the words were exactly the same. Hence, sentient beings hear the Dharma, sometimes spread the Dharma, and also sometimes that the Dharani is truly rare in this world.

This particular copy is translated from the Sanskrit edition of Tripita Master Vajrabodhi, when It was checked against the copy brought by Buddhapala, it was found that the sentences of the two versions were essentially similar, only that this particular copy contain 9 more sentences, and 69 more words than the version brought by Buddhapala. In the 14th year of Yuan He (819 AD), a monk, name Hui Lin, while revising the contents of the Tripitaka, which consisted of more than 600 rolls of Sutras that this article was being left out. He hence included a brief account of the efficacy of the Dharani written by Wu Che into the Tripitaka; and personally checked and wrote a preface at the end of the article.

Then there were three persons in the previous Dynasty-Jiang Da Fu, Zhang Cheng Fu and monk Bai Ji Seng, who had all happened to have been pursued by the guards of the Underworld; but were all spared of their evil karmic retibutions because of the inconceivable merits and power accrued by upholding the Dharani. And in addition, they had also deliver many suffering beings. This was recorded in their individual biographies. Master Hui Lin found them recorded in the right section of the Tripitaka, which was kept in the government office of Chendu. The article was named, "The miracle stories of the efficacies of Usnisa Vijaya Dharani. "That was on the 26th year of Kai Yuan (738 AD) in the Shan Du (Luo Yang), there was a major official named Zhang Yi, who had been very filial to his parents since very young. After his parents had passed away, he was very much afraid that they might have fallen into the evil paths. He sincerely wanted to repay their kindness in bringing him up and always thought of delivering them. Hence he went into the mountain to recite the Usnisa Vijaya Dharani and wished that his late parents would be reborn in the a peaceful and happy place. Diligently he recited the Dharani day and night, continuously and earnestly prayed for 6 years. During which time, he never see his late parents, so he suspected that the Dharani was not effective and began to have doubts over its efficacy. As these thought arose from his mind, he suddenly saw an old man, with a very distinctive appearance stood before him. The old man then told him, "It is not the Mantra being not efficacious, nor is it that you have not been wholehearted in your recitation, but because (time has leap too long ) after Buddha attained nirvana, the translated text that you now possesed is full of errors, and words of the Mantra have been left out, causing It to lose Its efficacy!"

The old man immediately transmitted the Dharani verbally to Zhang Yi and asked him to make a copy of It. "Recite the Dharani accordingly for seven days, and you will definitely see your late parents." The old man told him. Zhang Yi accepted the old man instruction, very respectfully he bowed to the old man, when he lifted up his head, the old man was nowhere to found.

"Was he a Saint or a Sage?" he thought to himself and was very surprised. He then became even more sincere, and concentrated all his attention towards upholding and reciting the new version of the Dharani taught to him by the old man. On the beginning of the 6th day, his late parents appeared before him; they were still as loving as they had been when they were alive. Hugging and crying, they were both happy and sad at once-completely overcome with emotion. It was really a gathering between the beings of the spiritual and living of this world.

Zhang's father told him, "After we had passed away, we fell into the big hell, and suffered all types of pain and miseries for a long time. Due to the merits and power of your sincere and whole-hearted cultivation (reciting the Usnisa Vijaya Dharani), and the merits transfered to us, recently, we have been reborned in the heaven. Now we have come from the Higher Realm to see you." They diminished the powerful light radiated from their bodies, showing their original human forms and talked about the reasons for their present existence. The feelings were like those old-days when they were alive as human. When any filial son sees this article of miracle, how can he not place his heart in this saintly teaching? What good will there be to indulge in the 6 desires and seeking only pleasure and enjoyment, what benefits will he obtain?

Moreover, the story of how the Buddha's chief disciple Maha Maudgalyayana delivering his mother were all recorded in the sutras. Official Zhang's sincerity had also produced such efficacious results.

Later, it was being said that a monk who recited this Dharani obtained many Sariras in addition to experience many spiritual realms. He came to Dong Du, and all his efficacious incidents that were known to by many people, had also been recorded down. Later on, some Buddhist devotees who knew about these incidents, spread and circulated the informations.

In the mid-April in the 3rd year of Chang Qing, a former retired junior officer of the Feng Tian district, name Yang Qiu Man, moved back to Pu Ban and stayed in his old house at Stone Lane in the eastern side of the city. He had upheld and recited Buddhapala's version of the Usnisa Vijaya Dharani for 15 years, and had never fallen behind in his practice. After arriving back several months, one night he dreamt of a divine being with very special appearence, clad in a full suit of armour, saying "Since you are so sincere in upholding this Dharani, why don't you pay a visit to the Jing Fu temple at the Eastern lane to seek out a monk who upholds this practice. He has the efficacious version of the Dharani, and the merit acrued from upholding this version is nine times more superior."

Having heard that, Yang Qiu Man was suddenly awoke and found himself drenched in sweet.The next day he went specially to visit the temple to seek out the monk. Only after several days of visits, he finally met the monk, whose Dharma name was Yi Zui, a monk who was really earnest and proficent in upholding the Usnisa Vijaya Dharani. He had many followers, who came from far and near. When he enquired Yang about the reason of his visit, Yang told him about the dream. The monk was surprised and said, "This is truly amazing! The Sankrit text of the Dharani I kept was known to nobody! Since you, young man, had been directed here by a divine, how can I remain so selfish?"

Immediately Master Yi Zui asked his disciple to take It out from his bamboo case, and sincerely taught Yang the Dharani. Yang then asked permission to take the text home compare with that of Buddhapala's. Only then did he realised that some words and phrases were missing out in Buddhapala's version. From then onwards, Yang upheld and recited the rectified Dharani accordingly, and found that Its efficacy was so much different from before. Later on, Master Yi Zui also passed over to Yang two rolls of Sutra of the Usnisa Vijaya Dharani Yoga. Since then,only did he realize that saintly teaching has a clear fixed method upholding and recitng the Dharani, and that cannot do so according to one's whims and fancies. Hence this particular cause and effinity recorded for the reference of fellow cultivators.

 

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