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I am being recognized as Dorje Chang Buddha III. I am neither feigning to be nor naming myself Buddha. I do indeed know very well the Sūtrapiṭaka, the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha as well as what was documented into the Sūtrapiṭaka by patriarchs after the Buddha entered parinirvāṇa. I clearly know that there are errors in the Sutras. The mistakes are there not because Shakyamuni Buddha misspoke. Instead, the errors were made when 500 Bhikṣus convened for four times at the Saptparni Cave, also known as the Seven-Leaf Cave, to compile the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha into the Sutras. How could they not make mistakes doing that just from memory? Suppose I impart the Dharma today, and more than 10 years later, you transcribe what I said into text from memory, won’t you make mistakes?
(Members of the congregation put their palms together and respectfully reply: Yes.)
If 500 of you discuss among yourselves, wouldn’t it be completely chaotic?
(Members of the congregation put their palms together and respectfully reply: Yes.)
Therefore, there are many errors in the Sutras, but not because the Buddha misspoke. I have told you before, Shakyamuni Buddha predicted that certain people would become an Arhat, a Bodhisattva, a person of great wealth and noble status, a powerful statesperson, or even an emperor by a certain time in the future based on their particular merit. The Buddha often made such predictions.
However, people don’t understand this clearly. Even Buddhists don’t understand this clearly. The predictions made by the Buddha were correct. But all Buddhist disciples have misunderstood what the predictions meant. The Buddha said that if those Buddhists continued their current cultivation or followed their current path, then by the predicted time, they would become a Bodhisattva of a certain stage or an Arhat of a certain fruition level. The Buddha made many such predictions. What the Buddha said in the predictions was not wrong. Why wasn’t it wrong? Because the Buddha had already said that the predictions were contingent on those people continuing to “practice the same way,” “cultivate themselves the same way,” and “do what they were doing.” But how could Buddhists continue to do what they were doing at that moment? By the time they woke up the next day, they had already changed their ways. Once they changed, they would not accomplish what they were predicted to achieve. Do you understand?
(Members of the congregation put their palms together and respectfully reply: Yes.)
However, patriarchs of later generations completely misinterpreted the meaning. They all said that the Buddha had already predicted how things would happen, and that they would become great Bodhisattvas after how many lifetimes. Many accounts like this were documented in the Sutras. But those accounts are in violation with the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. Why? Do you know why? It is called fatalism. Fatalism is a view that belongs to non-Buddhist sects and evil cults. Shakyamuni Buddha didn’t expound views of evil cults. But such views do exist in the Sutras. What do you make of that? When the content of the Sutras was compiled by the monks and translated into Chinese or other languages by translators of later generations, mistakes were made. I can totally prove this point based on facts. Some Dharma that I imparted was given to some disciples to translate into English. Up till now each of those disciples has a different interpretation of what I said. Ten disciples would come up with ten contradictory translations. They couldn’t translate the meaning accurately. To adopt any one of their versions would be problematic. Isn’t that true?