*

ALTAIR – “We were at a local temple when a man approached us and said “I have a message for you from Saraswati. She wants you to visit her temple” He drew us a map. So we followed the directions mysteriously to a hidden temple called Temple of the Seven on – would you believe – Blue Dragon Mountain – to an old monk and his wife ( they can marry in Japan). The temple is 1200 years old dedicated to you Saraswati, Guan Yin, and Guan Yin’s own teacher Amitabha Buddha. The Buddha of Light. It was built when the village, after years of drought, met a wandering monk who told them the Secret of Water was devotion to the Dragon God. They prayed and it rained for 3 days and nights. When it stopped three serpents appeared which are the Sign of Saraswati ( Ida Pingala Sushumma) There are ancient tablets speaking of the alchemy of water in the temple. Guan Yin is holding the Priceless Blue Pearl and Saraswati hold the 8 Protectors of the Buddha since She is His Guardian. It was an absolutely exquisite place and to say we were overcome with devotion and beauty does not do it justice in words”.

♥

Guan Yin and the Blue Pearl from a Chinese Master

The Blue Pearl ~ the Jewel of Enlightenment [The following is one of three short talks delivered by Lao Gan Ma at The Phoenix Rising Experience on September 11, 2010 in Marin County. Each talk served as an introduction to the performances that followed.]

The Jewel of Enlightenment

A long time ago, the Divine Mother proph­e­sied that a time will come when two dragons battle each other for supremacy in the world: the Black Dragon whose nega­tive energy emanates anger, fear, doubt and greed, and the White Dragon whose posi­tive energy emanates faith, courage, wisdom, compas­sion and Pure Love.

It will be a time when deliv­ering real dharma is extremely difficult.

It will be a time when many things are on fire.

It will be a time when the Divine Mother appears in the form of the Phoenix – the Garuda – and flies through the world holding the auspi­cious Blue Pearl – the jewel of Enlightenment – in its beak — bringing peace, hope and joy to a reborn and healed world.

That time is now – the 21st Century.

So, what is this Blue Pearl, this Lan zhenzhu?

Wher­ever there is the union of purity and depth we find the color blue. The oceans are blue. The sky is blue. The largest animal, the blue whale — a messenger of ancient wisdom, is blue. The Medi­cine Buddha is blue. Krishna, Vishnu and Rama are blue.

The Blue Pearl is the power of infi­nite Love and infi­nite Compassion.

Love that is Pure and unconditional.

Compas­sion whose foun­da­tion is wisdom. Compas­sion without wisdom is simply kindness.

Awak­ening the Blue Pearl releases nega­tive emotions and opens our heart to the energy of Enlightenment.

In Chinese the words “busy” and “angry” are each made up of two char­ac­ters. “Busy” trans­lates as “heart-dying” and “angry” trans­lates as “heart-enslaved.” Think about that.

Though the Blue Pearl’s Love and Compas­sion are infi­nite, it is wise to remember that time is finite. There­fore, we should always keep the lesson of imper­ma­nence close to our heart – there is no time to waste.

The Blue Pearl is the Most Precious Jewel.

To the Divine Mother — Guan Yin – who holds the Blue Pearl – the Soul of all sentient beings — We are the Most Precious Jewel. How pure, how magical, how beau­tiful. This is a Divine Blessing.

The Blue Pearl is the vehicle of Guan Yin’s teach­ings. To Guan Yin, all crea­tures, even those we perceive as the most nega­tive, have Buddha nature within. The Blue Pearl is a reflec­tion of our Inner God Nature – our Enlightenment. When our forms pass away, the Soul becomes a blue light – a Blue Pearl.

Always remember who you are.

The Blue Pearl has Magical Power.

The Magical Power of the Blue Pearl is not super­sti­tious. It is the Magical Power to see through illusion.

Once our Blue Pearl conscious­ness is aroused, so too is our own magical poten­tial. We can mani­fest what we need into our lives — health, wealth, happiness.

All Divine Masters have Magical Power. We don’t recog­nize ourselves. But the Divine Masters recog­nize our magical Inner Nature – our Enlightenment.

Be open to the Magic; it reminds us of who we really are.

The Blue Pearl comes from Emptiness.

Empti­ness is beyond the 3 dimen­sions. Empti­ness is the essence of every­thing we can see, hear, smell, taste and touch. Empti­ness is form and form is emptiness.

This is the highest wisdom. When you really know this, there are no longer walls or obsta­cles. This is Freedom. This is Enlightenment.

Most of us have a purpose – always searching, always wanting some­thing. We don’t like the term empti­ness. We prefer abun­dance — but this is illusion.

There should be no wanting. Between each inhale and each exhale is Empti­ness. And in that moment a drop of the “nectar of being” can enter our conscious­ness, revealing that Empti­ness is Abundance.

*

Today, the Black Dragon and White Dragon of the prophecy are strug­gling, and like the posi­tive dragon, the nega­tive dragon has a Divine Nature as well. The essence of both is the Blue Pearl. We too, have both dragon ener­gies inside us, and the Blue Pearl deep in our heart.

Now is our time to surrender to the awak­ened Blue Pearl – the jewel of Enlightenment – balance the ener­gies, raise our aware­ness, become One with the Divine Mother and help heal the world.

Guan Yin holds the Blue Pearl in her hands.

The Phoenix holds the Blue Pearl in its beak.

We hold the Blue Pearl in our hearts.

Om Mani Padme Hum

A long time ago, the Divine Mother, Guan Shi Yin Pu Sa, the Bodhisattva of Compas­sion, observed and heard the “cries of the world.” Assuming her male form — Aval­okite­shava in Sanskrit, Chen­rezig in Tibetan – she paid a visit to the Himalayan Moun­tains. There, in the Land Of Snows, she gave the people of the world a precious gift – her sacred magical sounds, her heart sutra – “Om Mani Padme Hum.”

She promised her “chil­dren”, “If you hold my heart mantra in your heart, you will always be in my vibra­tion, you will always be connected to me and you will always have my blessings.”

In the mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum” – which means “the precious jewel atop the lotus” – “Mani” is the precious jewel and “Pedme” is the lotus.

The Blue Pearl is this precious jewel – the “Mani.” Within it is the compas­sion and wisdom of Guan Yin. It is also a metaphor for all the esoteric teachings.

Here in the West, it is a different kind of “money” that is the most precious. We often hear the mantra, “Oh money buy me a home.” Would we not be better served counting our bless­ings rather than our money?

The lotus is a metaphor for the exoteric teachings of Enlightenment.

Why is the lotus consid­ered a holy flower? The reason is because it grows out of the mud. Mud is a metaphor for our world. Just as the peacock — the progeny of the Phoenix — has the ability to trans­form the poison seed that it eats into the beauty of its magnif­i­cent plumage, so too, the Blue Pearl can trans­form the “mud” of the world into the beauty of the lotus for all sentient beings.

“Om Mani Padme Hum” beseeches us to fall in love with the mud, to fall in love with the Blue Pearl. The way of the Blue Pearl is not the human way.

By reciting the mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum” every day, we are reminded that during these diffi­cult times, we must shed our fear, our anger, our doubt and our judg­ment. We must remain calm in the face of disaster, and mani­fest the quality of the lotus, emerging from the mud pure and without stain.

The 21st Century is the century of the Divine Mother. It is the time when the femi­nine energy of Enlightenment will assert itself throughout the world.

A tran­scen­dent Master of the Dakini lineage once imparted the following wisdom to her beloved granddaughter:

“Life throws rough circum­stances towards us, and only wisdom can resolve their meaning. When we are tested by Heaven, there is a reason. Whether we can view each obstacle as a blessing, whether every “bad” person we encounter is a messenger, depends on whether our hearts are with the Dao, and whether our love truly reaches high and deep. We can retrieve some­thing worth­while out of karma, but only if we make offer­ings in spirit, even to forces we perceive as nega­tive. We should give thanks for the wonderful oppor­tu­nity to be tested, which enables us to develop patience and compassion.”

It is a common misun­der­standing to think that when we recite her mantra, we glorify Guan Yin. Rather, it is Guan Yin who glori­fies us – the precious Blue Pearl inside each one of us – our true Inner Nature, our Enlightenment.

“Om Mani Padme Hum.”

With special thanks to Lakshmi for art and editing