In the teachings of Tao of Heaven, there are many books written by the Heavenly Beings including the Holy Beings from the Underworld, confessions of the suffering souls from Hell, ghosts, devils and even souls of animals. All these took place in the Temple of Tao of Heaven and there are two ways of teachings. One in the form of olden scriptures where divine messages were delivered in poems and very deep sayings and the other way is the modern layman way of teaching using simple words for easy understanding. The Three Vehicles of Dharma explained by Heaven is as follows:

The Greater Vehicle.

The Greater Vehicle of Dharma is the True Dharma, and has a line of heritage. The True Dharma stays inert when it should and manifests Itself when the time comes. Transmitting the True Dharma can bring sudden realization to a person. Sudden realization means that one can be enlightened when Tao of Heaven is transmitted to him by the Enlightened Teacher with The Heavenly Decree through the secret verbal message and the meeting of the hearts. Transmitting Tao of Heaven is transmitting the True Dharma. Upon the transmission of Tao of Heaven, one may even instantly become a Buddha, taking the gaint step of transcending the "Qi-tien" (Heaven of Spirit) and the returning to "Li-tien" (Heaven of Truth). Tao of Heaven is so precious that whoever receives It becomes a Buddha or a Saint, and It has never been transmitted lightly before. This is why Confucius said, "One who awakes to Tao in the morning will not have any regret even if he dies in the same night".

This is further confirmed by "Hui Neng," the Sixth Patriarch in The Sutra on Prajna (wisdom) as follows:

"In the future, if an initiate of my dharma should make a vow in company with his fellow disciples to devote his whole life without retrogression to the practice of the teaching of this "sudden" dharma, in the same spirit and dedication as that for serving Buddha, he would reach without failure the Path of Holiness. But this righteous person must be transmitted confidentially from heart to heart the instruction handed down from the past Patriarchs; and yet no attempt should be made to conceal this method of immediacy".

The Middle Vehicle.

Buddhism emphasizes Zen, seeking enlightenment through introspection and meditation. Through this practice, miseries can be demolished and salvation is brought to all. Taoism emphasizes the refinement of vitality into spirit, and then from spirit into soul. This practice circulates the spiritual energy inside the body through the meridians, and finally interacting the spirit of fire from the heart and the spirit of water from the kidneys to coagulate into the immortal embryo. This methodology applies abdominal breathing techniques to start the process, and utilizes soft breathing techniques to incubate, coagulating the spirit and the soul. Finally, a flash of the true "yang" (fire) or the true "yin" (water) will appear, allowing either the "Yin-shen" (the 'yin' spiritual image) or the "Yang-shen" (the 'yang' spiritual image) of himself to enter or leave the body at will. Even for those few fortunate ones who achieved such accomplishment, they are still bounded by the "Hou-tien" (space where all lives live after Heaven and Earth were created). Thus, if one extends his faith into his understanding of the Truth, then extends his understanding into his daily practice, and finally extends his practice into his confirmation of Tao, he can then become a Sage or a Deity in "Qi-tien" (Heaven of Spirit). This is the gradual realization and the Middle Vehicle of Dharma.

The Lesser Vehicle.

Those who attend sermons, pray, participate in charity works, or donate money to help the poor and the needy are following the law of karma. A Buddhist Sutra states, "If asking about the cause from prior lives, it is what you receive this life. If asked about the reward in next life, it is what you do this life". Those who perform good deeds in their current lives pave rewards for next lives. When they use up their rewards, they go back into the cycle of birth, death and rebirth, just like an arrow that was shot into the sky will come back to Earth when it exhausted itself. Since the practice of performing good deeds will only keep the practitioner as a good person, it is the Lesser Vehicle of Dharma. This practice cannot help one to return to "Li-tien" (Heaven of Truth or the Void).

My Heavenly Master JiGong said, "The heart of Stableness must be purified on earth. The path of Full Enlightenment must be accomplished in the world. Break away with the Form and Shape Affairs of the Door of Emptiness! Should one's mind be free from dust (external disturbances), why does one need to wear the kasaya?"

"Heart of Stableness" means a state of mind where one can stay calm and unperturbed in all external forms and conditions, known as "Dhyana" in Sanskrit and "Zen" in Japanese.

"Form and Shape Affair" explains that some religious staff who lived in temples or monasteries may not realize the true essence of Emptiness. On one hand, they are 'detached' with the forms and shapes of a worldly life such as family, career, etc; but on the other hand, they 'dwell on' the forms and shapes of a 'divine' life such as religious rituals, creed, spiritual honor, merit, etc.

"Door of Emptiness" means monasteries or nunneries. Buddhism holds that within the universe, all conditional things and affairs that bear shapes and forms are essentially Empty. They are just a gathering and dispersion of Causes, Conditions and Consequences and hence do not contain a real nature and constant value.

"Kasaya (Jia-Sha)" means the three regulation-garments of a buddhist monk. Here, Jia-Sha refers to the 'uniform' of all religious personnel.

Author: T.A Chew