Lu Sheng-yen

Not to be confused with Dharma Drum Mountain's Sheng-yen.

Lu Sheng-yen 盧勝彥 (蓮生活佛)
Lu in 2004
Religion	True Buddha lineage Pure Land Buddhism Vajrayana Taoism
Other name(s)	Living Buddha Lian Sheng Master Lu Huaguang Zizai Fo (Bright Flower Sovereign Buddha)
Personal
Nationality	Taiwanese
Born	(27 June 1945; 5th month, 18th day Lunar Calendar} Chiayi County, Taiwan
Senior posting
Title	Grand Master Rinpoche
Religious career
Website	tbsn.org

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Lu.

Lu Sheng-Yen (盧勝彥, Lú Shèngyàn) (born 27 June 1945; 5th month, 18th day Lunar Calendar), commonly referred to by followers as 師尊 (Grand Master Lu) is the founder and spiritual leader of the True Buddha School, a new Buddhist sect with teachings taken from Sutrayana and Vajrayana (Tantric Buddhism), as well as Taoism. Master Lu has declared himself to be Living Buddha Lian Sheng (蓮生活佛, Liansheng Huófó) and is revered by his disciples as a Living Buddha.

Over five million students have taken refuge under Grand Master Lu. There are also more than four hundred local chapters of the True Buddha School, including thirty major temples, such as the Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple in Redmond, Washington. The majority of his disciples hail from Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. He has dual American and Taiwanese citizenship, and often travels between the two countries.

Grand Master Lu is married to Lian Hsiang, who is also a vajra master, and is referred as Grand Madam Lu, or 師母 in Chinese. Grand Master Lu and Grand Madam Lu have two children.

Life

Born in Chiayi County, Taiwan in 1945, Lu was raised a Christian, attending a Protestant school. His post-secondary education was at Chung Cheng Institute of Technology, and he graduated with a degree in Survey Engineering. In his early twenties he was both a survey engineer and a Sunday school Bible teacher.

He has written that his epiphany came in 1969 when he had a mystical experience, leading him to seek out a total of twenty-one human gurus in Taoism, Sutra, and Tantra. In 1982, Lu and a small following of his disciples moved to the United States, and lived in the state of Washington.

To date, Lu has written 225 books in Chinese on various topics, including Feng Shui, spirituality, and profound dharma teachings. Approximately 10-15 these books have been completely translated to both English and Spanish. For selected english translations, they are available at: http://www.tbsn.org/english2/booklist.php.

He went into retreat for six years starting late 2000, spending most of his time in Taihiti, as well as some in Taiwan. Today he predominantly lives in Taiwan, while spending a few months in Redmond, WA.

Teachings

Lu teaches the Mahamudra method of attaining Buddhahood. His teachings follow the traditional stages of the practice of the Four Preliminaries, followed by Guru Yoga, Deity Yoga, the Vajra Practices, and finally Highest Yoga Tantra. Lu has written that his spiritual gurus included the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje and Tai Situ Rinpoche.

He describes the state of enlightenment using the allegory of Padmakumara, which is a transformation body of Amitabha Buddha and his own enlightened self. In other words, Grand Master Lu is the incarnation of Amitabha Buddha.

Lu's teachings do not prohibit the consumption of meat and alcohol for the disciple. For the monks, alcohol consumption is prohibited, while meat requires bardo deliverance of the soul prior to consumption.

Controversies

The True Buddha School has, in recent times, been criticized by seven major Buddhist organizations in Malaysia and many other Buddhist organizations in Taiwan and Hong Kong as a cult and as a breakaway from orthodox Buddhist teachings.

As other great achievers in the past, Grand Master Lu has had his shares of false accusations. Grand Master Lu made headlines during an investigation by the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission into his cash donations to then-Governor Gary Locke, who Lu had hoped would run for the White House. Locke was cleared of any wrongdoing by the commission in 1998. Further, this did not affect Locke in his pursuit for confirmation as U.S. Secretary of Commerce.. Locke is currently the U.S. Ambassador to China.

He was also sued, albeit unsuccessfully, in civil court by a former disciple, Malaysian immigrant over allegations of sexual misconduct, after the King County, Washington prosecutor declined to file charges for lack of evidence. The case was dismissed by King County Superior Court Judge Kathleen Learned citing constitutional issues. In the case S.H.C. v. Sheng-Yen Lu, the Superior Court of King County granted the Temple's motion for summary judgment, and the Court of Appeals later "affirm[ed] the trial court's grant of summary judgment dismissing all claims against the Temple." The School has recently re-addressed this matter in the hopes of closing the case.

After a meeting in November 1996 with the Dalai Lama and a meeting with the 100th Ganden Tri Rinpoche, Lu asserted that both the Dalai Lama and Ganden Tripa Rinpoche had endorsed him as an authority in Tibetan Buddhism. It is unclear whether there was retraction of such endorsement, as has been widely rumored. His claims that he has millions of disciples have also been heavily questioned by Tibetan sources, as well as his claim to have attained lineage from various Tibetan lineages, albeit most of his critics do not know him personally.

Dharma Teachings

A current schedule of Grand Master Lu's special dharma teachings can be found at: http://tbsec.org/event.html. His dharma teachings can be viewed live at http://www.tbsseattle.org/english/content/view/71/76/lang,en/, in addition some of his past recorded teachings can be found at http://vimeo.com/user3777033/videos/sort:date.

References

• Lu, Sheng-yen (1995). A Complete and Detailed Exposition on the True Buddha Tantric Dharma. San Bruno, CA: Purple Lotus Society. ISBN 1-881493-04-0

External links

• True Buddha School Net (Official site)
• Unofficial True Buddha School Blog