Lu Sheng-yen

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This article is about the Chinese Buddhist master; for the Chinese Ch'an teacher, see Sheng-yen.

Master Lu Sheng-Yen

Lu Sheng-Yen (盧勝彥) (July 5, 1945-), commonly referred to as Master Lu is the spiritual leader of the True Buddha School, a new religious movement based on the ideals of Taoism, Sutrayana and Tantric Buddhism which he founded. Master Lu is revered by his disciples as a "Living Buddha", called Lian-sheng. (蓮生活佛).

His organization claims that over five million students have taken refuge as disciples under Master Lu. There are also more than three hundred local chapters of the True Buddha School, including 30 major temples, such as the Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple in Redmond, Washington.

1 Life
2 Lineage
3 Teachings
4 Controversies
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Life

Born in Chiayi County, Taiwan in 1945, Master Lu was raised a Christian, attending a Protestant Christian 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 and briefly visited heaven. He wrote his first book in 1975. By 1981 he had sought out a total of twenty-one human gurus in Taoism, Sutra, and Tantra.

In 1982, Master Lu moved to the United States of America. He claims to have reached enlightenment in 1984. To date, Master Lu has written books in Chinese on varied topics. He went into retreat for 6 years starting late 2000 and lived in Tai-Chung, Taiwan.^[1] Today he lives in the state of Washington.

[edit] Lineage

Master Lu's lineage is mixed, but derives primarily from the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. In the Kagyu school, he received transmission from the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, and the 12th Tai Situpa Péma Tönyö Nyinjé. In the Sakya school, he received empowerment from Lama Sakya Zheng-kong. In the Gelug school, he received empowerment from Geshe Thupten Dorje. He also claims to have received the empowerment of the Great Perfection (also known as Dzogchen or Atiyoga) of the Nyingma school directly from Guru Padmasambhava while in meditation. He also received the empowerment of the Chinese Buddhist deity Cundi from Guru Pufan of the Zhong Chi Temple.^[2]^[3]

[edit] Teachings

Master 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.^[4]

He describes the state of enlightenment using the allegory of Padmakumara, whom he identifies with Amitabha Buddha and his own enlightened self.^[5]

According to Noah Casey, Master Lu's teachings do not prohibit the consumption of meat and alcohol; however, "The consumption of alcohol is limited to quantities not resulting in intoxication, and the eating of meat is restricted to animals not butchered especially for the person consuming. Before consuming either of these, or any other nutritional substance, a special prayer is required. For meats, the spirit of the animal must be delivered."^[6] This is consistent with his practice of Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism (see Vegetarianism in Buddhism and Ganachakra).

[edit] Controversies

Lu made headlines during an investigation by the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission into his cash donations to Chinese American politician Gary Locke, who Lu had hoped would run for the White House. Locke was cleared of any wrongdoing by the commission in 1998.^[7]

He was also sued in civil court by a former disciple, a 41-year-old 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.^[7]