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Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

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her felt tired <strong>and</strong> dropped the fan, letting it fall on her<br />

face. She became very angry <strong>and</strong> died in this state,<br />

cursing her servant's carelessness. Because of this, her<br />

next birth was as a snake. However, during her life as<br />

the queen, she <strong>and</strong> her husb<strong>and</strong> the King had done much<br />

good for Buddhism, so although she was in the form of<br />

a snake, the former queen remembered her royal life. By<br />

the power she possessed, she was able to appear before<br />

the king in a dream, telling him what had happened <strong>and</strong><br />

asking him to gain the services of some good monk to<br />

release her from the evil birth into which she had fallen.<br />

The National Teacher of that time then made this ritual<br />

of confession, <strong>and</strong> employed it, securing the queen's<br />

rebirth in heaven. This particular ritual has been very<br />

influential since that time. It is in any case good to<br />

confess to Guan Yin, as she is so merciful.<br />

b. Inwardly. This is the Ritual of Water composed by a<br />

master of the Chan School. It is quite different from the<br />

first ritual. Here the names of all the misdeeds are<br />

gathered together <strong>and</strong> the whole composition must be<br />

repeated before the Buddhas. It is not often used<br />

because of its great length.<br />

Separately, one may use the rites of the thirty-five<br />

Buddhas themselves as was the practice of the<br />

Venerable Tsong Khapa. He only repeated their names<br />

<strong>and</strong> did not concentrate on their special qualities. In<br />

meditation he saw them all, but headless, <strong>and</strong> was much<br />

distressed by this. However, he soon found the cure to<br />

751

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