Stories of Sheng Zhen Men
Why Sheng Zhen Men rather than a temple, palace or hall?
English translation draft · Based on the Chinese article. This is not a word-for-word translation approved by Master Shengyuan.
The word ‘Men,’ or gate, in Sheng Zhen Men refers to a path of education. When people come here, I hope they can learn, understand the principles of faith and spiritual practice, and recognise the work they themselves need to do. That is why I did not use only a term such as temple, palace or hall to name it.
To be able to explain different beliefs to everyone, I have also encountered Western esotericism, Japanese esoteric Buddhism and Tibetan esoteric Buddhism. I even went to Thailand with friends to learn about sorcery. My purpose in encountering these things was to understand more of the principles, find out what religions mean when they speak of positive and negative energy, and then explain this to others.
Things such as black magic and sorcery are still inseparable from human greed, anger and delusion. That is why we place so much importance on the work a person needs to do on themselves. In my understanding of faith, it is by moving our own condition in a positive direction that we can keep those harmful energies at a distance. We cannot simply keep chasing mysterious things outside ourselves.
Training Fu Mo practitioners also begins with learning to help ourselves move away from the negative and toward the positive. Once we are doing reasonably well, have spare capacity and are willing to give to others, we can learn to help them too. Some people are skilled at Chinese chess divination, while others undertake different religious work. I hope everyone can develop a strength through learning and put it to use, so that Master does not have to do everything alone.
I also describe our work as transmitting principles, teaching skills and resolving confusion. Teaching Chinese chess divination, spirit movement and spiritual cultivation passes on what we have learned. Helping people understand a problem and find a direction for addressing it resolves confusion. More importantly, we need to clearly explain sound ideas about faith and the principles of spiritual practice. When someone asks for help and time and ability allow, we do our best. There are also situations in which we truly cannot help.