That was quite long ago so I don't remember the details. She din
say whether male or female but i believe it was male. And yes,
devas do wear costumes, but are called 'celestial clothings'. I
don't think people asked her that much about how the deva looked
like. But she was quite surprised by the tallness and I think she
even had to looked up to see the whole figure.
But Guan Yin and Amitabha is even taller, especially in Sukhavati
(Western Pure Land). Of course they can appear short to people but
in Sukhavati especially, they appear extremely tall. My master saw
Amitabha before and my Taiwanese teacher saw Guan Yin before.
My Taiwanese teacher was able to enter deeply into samadhi even
before he knew about the teachings of Buddhism or attained
enlightenment, and attained lots of supernatural powers. At his
earlier days, he was saved by Guan Yin, when he foolishly used his
powers to fight a few vengeful spirits but in return was attacked
by a whole bunch of them. He fought the spirits to protect someone
he knew and was reprimanded by my master for using spiritual powers
in this way. My Taiwanese teacher later set a rule for his students
not to seek any spiritual powers before gaining wisdom.
Anyway so my Taiwanese teacher died in the battle, and his
consciousness left his body. He was very lost and didn't know what
to do. Then when Guan Yin appeared to him, Guan Yin commented that
he was pitiful and 'resurrected' him. When he looked around, all he
could see is enormous toes... the toes itself is like the height of
a human. Guan Yin was so tall that he didn't see the whole figure,
and therefore couldn't recognise who was the one who saved him. It
was only later that he confirmed with my master that it was indeed
Guan Yin who appeared and saved him.
This reminds me that in Chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra, the sutra
states that Guan Yin will save those people who are in danger. It
further states many many dangerous situations where through
contemplating Guan Yin's power alone, one will be saved. That is
why Guan Yin is known as 'Jiu4 Ku3 Jiu4 Nan4 Guan Shi Yin'. One of
the things it stated is that when evil spirits of the entire
universe is aiming at attacking you, you will be saved from them
and they will not harm you if you would just contemplate the powers
of Guan Yin, chant Guan yin.
Another 'big toes' story is about my master. He visited
Sukhavati/Western Pure Land while he was alive. I'm going to post
on that.
Disciple: Master, how do we witness Sukhavathi?
Master Shen Kai: That's easy. But Sukhavathi is very far away. How
far? It's passing through hundreds of thousands of millions of
Buddhalands. In between this hundreds of thousands of millions of
Buddhalands are not Buddhalands but Hui Tu. Buddhalands are pure
where Buddhas dwell. Sukhavathi is hence very very far away. Far
does not mean we don't believe.
In the sutras, Buddha used to explain that it's very very near. So
near that nobody believe it's true. There's no choice as sentient
beings are too greedy, hence say it's very very far away and not
easy to go or reach. So He expound the Amitabha Sutra, where Buddha
spoke without people asking. If a person is not greedy, then
Dharmakaya is very near as it encompass everything.
Since it's entire existence, it's so near to reach like space
everywhere exist Dharmakaya. Without Dharmakaya, Earth cannot be in
the space. Cars cannot works. Every thing is benefited by
Dharmakaya.
When people do business, they need an initial funding, now Buddha
say you don't need that initial funding, you believe in Amitabha
and recite His name.
When one see people wearing a gold necklace, but it's just a piece
of metal chain like the one you see in jail to chain prisioners.
Then Buddha told sentient beings not to be obsess with gold, you
just need to recite Amitabha and don't need any initial funding and
you can reborn in a place where gold is use for building
constructions.
So does Sukhavathi really exist? Yes. Don't think Buddha is lying.
You can GO NOW and witness yourself and come back to tell people.
Master tell you I been there before, you all might disbelieve. So I
will describe it to you.
Sentient beings on Earth are very small, Bodhisattvas of Sukhavathi
are really Big and tall. A person standing next to Amitabha only
reach the height of Amitabha's toe! When I reached Sukhavathi, only
wish to pay homage to Amitabha, and adore Amitabha.
Amitabha Buddha reply: What do you seek here in Sukhavathi?
Shen Kai: Honored One, i came to seek Dharma.
Amitabha Buddha ask: What kind of Dharma?
Shen Kai: i'm not sure. Seeing Amitabha's forehead is adorned with
a curled hair. i wisk to seek that Dharma, Honorable One.
(Back to reality.) That's how I cultivate and got my curled hair,
but this Dharma method cannot anyhow expound to people. It's is
because you people have doubt in Sukhavathi. Thinking it doesn't
exist. Hence I tell you my experience. Due to the busy schedule,
the white hair is curled. When it grew longer to 3 inch, it will
extend when i'm washing the face. That's the proof.
How did Ocean of suffering (ku hai wu bian) come about? Because
beings of samsara cannot sever emotion, love and greed. Sentinet
beings cry a lot. Separation from friend, family, love ones, people
cry. Son is leaving, mother crys, so does the son. Mother is dying,
sons also crys. When people want's to eat, the mouth starts to
water. This is greed. People need to work, they swear. In a life
them, people generate so many water. One person, say one bucket of
water, 100 pax, 100 bucket form a pool of water. If millions of
millions of people cannot sever emotion, love and greed, form an
Ocean of water.
In our world there's male and female. Those who goes to jail, 99%
are involve with female. But in Sukhavathi, there's not male nor
female form.
(translated by Sinweiy)
Regarding this white curled hair, later I found this from the
Amitabha Sutra or another sutra on Amitabha, that Amitabha's white
curled hair between his eyebrow emits light that illuminates
countless the worlds in the ten directions.
Also, I later found out that another Buddhist master from Vietnam
by the name Khoan Tinh had a similar encounter, but his experience
was even more spectacular. His account was much more detailed, he
visited many places in Sukhavati and stayed there for quite some
time before returning. He went missing for 6 and a half years and
returned later to tell the story. He too reported that his height
was on par with Amitabha's toes.
As for devas, they are also tall but are not as tall as Amitabha or
Guan Yin. I don't think they are completely different from humans,
but are probably much better looking. Just a guess. In fact Human
race is according to Buddhism, descendents of the 2nd Jhana
Light-Sound Heaven brahmas. Their looks should have some
resemblance with us although of course due to degeneration of
humanity we are probably much more uglier.
