Black Sect Esoteric Buddhism
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Eulogy for His Holiness Grandmaster Lin Yun
By Crystal Chu
The passing of His Holiness Grandmaster Professor Lin Yun is a heartbreaking loss for all of us, and it brings up such sorrow. We had lost an extraordinary great teacher, a kind and generous mentor, and the most compassionate and powerful spiritual father.
We all learned from Buddhism that birth, aging, illness, and death are the inevitable life cycle for all living beings, and impermanence could creep into our lives at any moment. Somehow it is still so hard to accept the fact of His Holiness’s departure, and I believe most of us had never prepared for his absence in our lives.
However, His Holiness Lin Yun had completed his mission in this life time. His divine ch’i had abandoned his useless skin shell, ascended up and moved onto the Buddha Realm, the Pure Land where he came from. He is now even more powerful with all the limitless freedom and embracing great joy and bliss as a Buddha. He appears everywhere, and many people have felt his visit, heard his voice, or dreamed about him. I can feel that his powerful energy is still around, guiding us, and watching over us. Even so, I am still saddened. I don’t know when or if I will ever get over this deep grief for the loss of such a great spiritual teacher whom I was so close to. I am deeply indebted to His Holiness Lin Yun for allowing me to work for him and learn from him so closely and for so long.
His Holiness Lin Yun’s funeral was held on August 21 in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the public viewing was one day before. Both days were chilly, foggy, overcast, windy and drizzling. Chongtul Rinpoche, the Bonpo lama who attended the funeral as the representative of the supreme leader of Tibetan Bon tradition, told us that when a high enlightened being is leaving the world, all the spirits of Mother Nature are mourning for the loss. It happened again on the days of the memorial services held in Taipei and Hong Kong, August 30 and September 3 respectively, as both days were weeping with pouring rains.
Over the years, His Holiness’s wisdom and compassion to help people transcended beyond the language barrier. He travelled around the world for numerous lectures, workshops, blessings, consultations, and meetings with lot of people. He was highly regarded as a holy man and a scholar. He was also the one who introduced and made Feng Shui known to westerners, and was respectfully regarded as the father of the western feng shui world.
He had shared his perfect wisdom, profound knowledge and precious teachings generously with the world. His wisdom had inspired and enlightened us, his feng shui teachings and Ch’i adjustment methods had enhanced and reshaped our lives, his meditation methods had transformed our spiritual levels, his healing methods and transcendental cures had saved many people’s lives, his powerful blessings had comforted us and relieved us from pains, and his guidance and advice had shined the way for us to take the right path. His love and genuine care, compassion and tolerance, generosity, humor, wit, and even childlike innocence had deeply touched so many people’s lives, and made him such a remarkable special religious leader and a spiritual father. He had manifested the true Bodhisattva nature, caring for the benefits of all others but his own. He left an example for us to follow and will forever be remembered with many grateful hearts.
As the chosen successor by His Holiness Grandmaster Lin Yun, I am very much honored and humbled. Even in sadness, I feel pride in the teachings and legacy left by His Holiness, and I know his spirit will continue shining to guide the way for me. I would like to ask the Black Sect Esoteric Buddhist community, which was brought together by His Holiness Lin Yun to share such a good karma, to be united as we have always been, and to carry on with the transmission of His Holiness’s teachings and legacy to the world and to the future generations.
May His Holiness Grandmaster Lin Yun rest in peace and bliss in the Pure Land.
Crystal Chu
H.H. Khadro Crystal Chu Rinpoche
Spiritual Leader of Black Sect Esoteric Buddhism at Fifth Stage
Chief Executive Officer of Yun Lin Temple
Chairman of Taipei Lin Yun Foundation
Eulogy for His Holiness Grandmaster Lin Yun
By Winston Chen
We are gathering here today in memory of His Holiness Grandmaster Lin Yun. Indeed, no words can express our deep sorrow and sadness for the loss of our beloved teacher, a very dear friend and a great spiritual leader. My family and I feel so indebted to him forever for his tremendously generous help, his continuous guidance and his endless love for us. I'm sure many of you feel the same way.
According to the Buddhist teachings, this is not the time for mourning and grieving. Instead this is the time for celebration. We should celebrate His Holiness’ life legacy and his great transition. Master Lin has finished his journey as human being successfully and is in transition to become a Buddha in the Pure Land of eternal peace and enlightenment. His Holiness has demonstrated that a human being can be transformed into Buddha as described in the Buddhism Scriptures.
His Holiness has taught us that nothing in this world is permanent. Everything in life is ever changing. This impermanency says that we become better or worse by what we did according to the law of cause and effect.
The sufferings in this world are caused by our ego that results in greed, cravings, anger, delusion and ignorance. To liberate ourselves from these problems, we have to become ego-less and self-less. We have to devote ourselves with compassion to help others, to care for others, to love others, to be tolerant and thoughtful of others. This is the passage way to become a Buddha.
Isn't this all what Master Lin has done for his whole life? By practicing endless compassionate love in helping others, he has become a Buddha. And he is now free from the suffering of rebirth and all human miseries. Thus we celebrate his transition and enlightenment.
For these 49 days of transition period, we should refrain from feeling sorrow and not to weep so that he does not have any emotional attachment or regret on his way to the Pure Land of enlightenment. We should focus on chanting, praying and meditating for His Holiness. We should perceive His Holiness being received by other Buddha with full joy and blessing in our hearts.
At this moment, we have much to do.
For so many years, we have asked what Master Lin can do for us. Isn't this the time we should ask ourselves what we can do for Master Lin?
His Holiness has established the fourth stage of the Black Sect Esoteric Buddhism. This is the critical turning point whether the Black Sect Esoteric Buddhism will remain the status quo or grow into an everlasting organization that may last for thousands of years.
His Holiness has wisely selected Crystal Chu Rinpoche as his successor. He declared this year the Black Sect Esoteric Buddhism has entered the fifth stage under the leadership of Crystal Chu Rinpoche.
We should think hard and work hard to support Crystal Chu Rinpoche and carry on or even magnify His Holiness’ compassion to make this world a better place to live.
Even His Holiness’ physical body has left this world, his spirit will be with us forever. We shall march on to accomplish what our beloved Grandmaster wants us to do to practice the true teachings of Buddhism- to love, to give, to care and have great compassion for our fellow human beings. His Holiness’ spirit will last forever.
Wish Buddha be with you. Peace and love for you and your family forever.
Winston Chen
Chairman, Paramitas Foundation
Eulogy for His Holiness Grandmaster Lin Yun
By Sarah Rossbach
Why is it that we never truly value a friend, teacher or parent until they are gone? We take for granted their love, support, friendship and presence, and rarely cherish each meeting and moment with them as if it were our last.
It seemed as though Master Lin Yun would live forever: That there would always be that phone call at 3 am in the morning to advise me on a concern or to let me know that he would be in New York the next night and could I meet him and his friends at a certain restaurant at 10 pm; or that his loyal friendship, guidance, perspective and humor were a constant. He was there on the cell phone when I delivered my daughter 11 weeks early—19 years later, she’s thriving in college. He gave my husband a visualization before 6 hour surgery for a brain aneurysm—15 years later, he’s wondering what’s the next step after he retires, whenever that is…. And my active son, who I fretted would never apply himself in school, Master Lin would say, “Don’t worry. Let him be a child, someday he will do something great.” We shall see.
And now Master Lin is gone, I feel as if I didn’t appreciate enough what an amazing man he was. “Amazing” seems a flat word to describe an enormously gifted, wise and compassionate human, who possessed many more dimensions and senses than most of us. When he lived, we were in the presence a wise man who had achieved great spiritual depth and fathomless understanding into human nature and destiny. He possesses deep insight into human nature, our hearts and our souls. He helped many with humility and humor. While in the course of a 33 year friendship, he and I had many conversations, lessons, and discussions. Still, there is so much more I want to know, would love to learn and comprehend.
He tried to warn us of his impending passing during a birthday party, when he said enigmatically, in Chinese, “I don’t want to say ‘good-bye’”. That warning could not prepare me for the void he left. So many have been deeply bereft by his passing.
Lin Yun was a father figure to me. I met him a year after my own father passed away, and he took me on as his one non-university Chinese language student. Needless to say, he taught me much more than I bargained for: feng shui, meditation, Chinese philosophy. He was a tough taskmaster and at time critical of me. For instance, one day, in Hong Kong, we were with a former student of his, a Japanese diplomat. It seemed I couldn’t do anything right. He criticized me about everything. I felt pretty miserable, until the diplomat came up to me and said, “You must be special.” Special? I couldn’t have felt less so. I replied bitterly, “Haven’t you heard how Master Lin complains about me?” He responded that Master Lin was kind with all, but if he had high expectations of an individual, he treated them differently. I felt a bit comforted. He added that we might have known each other in another life. That night, Master Lin and I were guests at a disco. In those early days, he LOVED to dance. I think it enhanced his ch’i. I mentioned that the kind diplomat said we were related in another life, and Master Lin smiled, but when I teased that I was his reincarnated grandmother and that he should respect me, we both really laughed hard.
Master Lin was an adept at reading peoples’ ch’i, or energy. It seemed that he was able to project his energy and influence my dreams sending me messages—really, he could have picked up the phone. Anyway, I once asked him whether he foresaw that we would be writing books together, he nodded.
Now that Master Lin has passed, there are others who have continued his legacy. Crystal Chu, his designated successor, particularly carries on Master Lin’s devotion to Buddhism, as well as loyally and selflessly continuing to guide in his teachings. Master Lin was a blessing in all of our lives. That blessing lives on in our hearts and minds.
Sarah Rossabach
Author of
Feng Shui Design: The Art of Creating Harmony for Interiors, Landscape and Architecture (1998, co-author with His Holiness Grandmaster Lin Yun)
Living Color: Master Lin Yun's Guide to Feng Shui and the Art of Color (1994, co-author with His Holiness Grandmaster Lin Yun)
Interior Design with Feng Shui (1987)
Feng Shui: The Chinese Art of Placement (1983)