恭制「霽」印感應錄
王浩
頂禮上師 林鈺堂博士！
二○○四年一月六日，我夢見一方「霽」印。此印朱文，風格古拙蒼潤，左、右及上面全無邊框。我於夢中將其拓出，並知其為
林上師的法印。
蒙 上師開示：「霽」表示以甘露法雨普濟群生，而後普天同享無雲晴空之意。並命我於暇時刻石，以誌此夢示。（見 林上師之詩作〈「霽」印〉。）
我有幸領此重任，不敢有誤。依夢所示，求諸字典，未見雷同；畫稿多次，力有弗逮。自知學淺，退而參諸名譜，增益己所不能。更於修法後，懇請佛佑。
四月十日夢見：同學春雨為我畫了一隻白鶴，家父得到一支以「霽」命名的毛筆。 上師開示：毛筆應與「霽」印有關。白鶴代表 陳上師。「春雨」即「春風化雨」，乃通過教法獲得加持之意。
六月廿八日，偶然注意到一方供於佛堂的迴龍戲珠鈕青田石，默忖可否以之充印。是夜夢到：佛堂有一枚白色龍鈕印石，高約三寸，印面縱寬均約一寸，明澈細膩，似壽山石。得此夢示，可謂喜憂參半。喜的是，蒙 師恩佛恩加被，夢示我與此法印相配的印石。憂的是，當時並無餘錢購此佳石。但為圓滿製成法印，懇請 上師加持早日購得夢示之印，而未言及其他。不意兩天後， 上師叮囑我不要再等下去了，用已有的青田石即可。
七月四日，恭繪印稿。下午，略感睏倦，順此小睡，觀想 上師住頂加持。一刻鐘即醒來，感到心澄體靜。印稿一氣呵成。成稿不久，忽然風雨大作，雷電交加。驟雨初歇，內子回家後說她看到了一道彩虹。佛友來電也提及看到了同心的兩道彩虹。
次日呈印稿，請 上師斧正。我想，此印三面沒有邊框，當是表示「無限」的意思。從視覺感上考慮此印應該有底邊，借此代表「大地」。
上師於回信中指出修改要點並開示密義：「霽」印應留有底邊以代表「大地」，象徵眾生接受法雨加持;「齊」字的豎劃應同此底邊「相連」，看起來如同植物從土地裡長出，象徵法苗茁生;「雨」字頭裡的三滴水代表密乘加持，即「三灌」。因為密乘是貪道，一切事情皆是基於秘密灌頂的觀念和踐履。佛陀的教法加持於一切有情，法苗因之茁長，至此密義已圓攝於「霽」印無遺矣。雷雨和彩虹乃印作開始的吉兆。 上師命我即刻運刀。
七月七日十五時許，晴空白雲，雷聲隱隱，聞如法鼓，漸近漸密漸重，一刻鐘後，沛然雨下。有此特別徵象，我即默禱 上師加持，運刀制印。在刻「雨」字時，打了降雨過程中僅有的三聲響雷。 上師說雷和雨皆為吉兆。
七月十日，乘雨修整印文。我正猶豫「雨」字的兩邊是否應與「齊」字斷開時，空中突然直劈下一個驚雷，震得心裡一片空白。我想，這是 上師的加持令我將其斷開的指示。後蒙 上師開示：斷開以後的圖像象徵著，雖然佛法如雨一樣持續不斷的加持著所有眾生，但對於眾生來講，要達到覺悟的境界，尚有距離，須要通過刻苦實修以超越自我而成為聖者。
七月十一日，大雨傾盆，印文完成。 上師說，「雨」字的兩邊看起來像是雨已普被整個大地。「齊」字的三個垂直部分看起來像人們正在雙手合十舉過頭頂，行大禮拜。
七月十二日，無雲晴空。真書敬錄〈「霽」印〉詩於印石四側。法印告竣，恰逢辰日、空行日， 上師於當天啟程開始亞洲弘法之行。
以上記述恭制「霽」印之過程。祈禱 傳承之甘露普潤大千，願有緣生淨信者，皆能蒙 師恩佛恩加被，菩提茁長、早日成證！
二○○四年 九月十三日
佛歡喜日
Record of Inspirations
Related to Reverent Carving of the Seal of Ji
Written
in Chinese by Upasaka Wang
Translated into English by Dr. Yutang Lin
Prostration to Guru Yutang Lin!
On January 6, 2004 I saw a seal of the Chinese character Ji in a dream. The character on the seal was in red color; its style was ancient and plain, forceful and broad; and its left, right and top sides were rimless. In the dream I copied the character by rubbing lead on a piece of paper over the seal, and I also knew that it is a Dharma seal of Guru Lin.
Guru graciously taught that the word Ji signifies showering Dharma nectar equally on all sentient beings so as to benefit them, and that later all in the world will share the cloudless sunny sky (signifying the attainment of Dharmakaya), and ordered me to carve it into a stone seal at my leisure to commemorate this revelation through a dream. (See Guru Lin's poem,("Seal of Ji".)
I was fortunate to have received this important assignment, so I dared not incur any mistakes. According to the dream revelation I searched through dictionaries but could not find the same expression. I sketched it many times but was incapable of presenting it satisfactorily. I realized that my learning had been shallow, so I regressed to study various famous collections of seals so as to expand beyond my incapacity. Furthermore, after my Dharma practice sessions I would earnestly pray to Buddhas for their blessings on this endeavor.
On April 10 in a dream I saw: a classmate by the name of Chun Yu, Spring Rain, drew a white crane for me, and my father obtained a Chinese brush named Ji. Guru taught, The Chinese brush should be related to the seal of Ji. The white crane signified Guru Chen. Chun Yu is short for Chun Feng Hua Yu, a Chinese coinage with the meaning of being extensive as spring wind and transformational as timely rain, to indicate receiving blessings through learning Dharma teachings.
On June 28 I noticed by chance a rectangular piece of Qing Tian (Green Field) stone offered on my altar, and the top of the stone is carved into a winding dragon playing its precious ball. I pondered over whether it could serve as the stone for the Ji seal. That night I saw in a dream the following scene: on my altar there was a white seal stone with dragon top; its height was about three inches and the face of the seal was about one square inch; its texture was clean, bright and refined, seemed like Shou Shan (Longevity Mountain) stone. Upon receipt of this dream revelation I felt joy mixed with worry. I rejoiced in having learned in the dream, through Guru's grace and Buddhas' blessings, the seal stone that would match the Dharma seal. I worried over the fact that then I did not have spare money to purchase such a nice seal stone. Nevertheless, in order to perfectly accomplish the construction of the Dharma seal I simply pleaded for Guru's blessing so that I would soon find and buy the seal stone as seen in the dream, without mentioning anything else. Unexpectedly, two days later Guru told me not to wait any longer but just use the Qing Tian stone that was already in my possession.
On July 4 I reverently drew sketches for the seal. In the afternoon I felt a bit sleepy, so I took a nap while visualizing Guru as presiding above my head to grant blessings. In only fifteen minutes I woke up and felt my body tranquil and mind clear. The sketch for the seal was completed in one smooth sequence. Soon afterwards suddenly it became windy with heavy rainfall, intermixed with lightning and thunders. As the shower just paused my wife came home and said that she saw a rainbow. A Buddhist friend phoned and mentioned that there were two concentric rainbows.
The next day I presented the sketch for the seal to Guru for guidance. I thought that the seal had no border on three sides should signify limitlessness. Considering the matter from visual sensation this seal should have the bottom border to represent the Earth.
Guru pointed out key things to revise in his reply, and revealed the secret significance as follows: the seal of Ji should have the bottom border to represent the Earth and symbolize sentient beings on Earth are receiving the blessing of Dharma raining. The vertical strokes in the Qi-character part should be connected with this bottom border so as to look like plants growing up from the ground, and thus to symbolize Dharma sprouts are shooting up. The three drips in the Yu-character part (Yu means rain) signify Tantric blessing in the sense of the third initiations. This is because Tantra is the Path of Greed, and all matters therein are based on the concepts and practices of the secret initiations. Buddha's teachings grant blessings to all sentient beings, and thereby Dharma sprouts shoot up and grow up. Thus the secret significance is completely absorbed in the Seal of Ji. The thunderous shower and rainbows were omens serving as auspicious prelude to the carving of this seal. Guru ordered me to start carving the seal at once.
On July 7 a little while after the 15th hour it was sunny sky with white clouds, and thunders were indistinctly audible; they sounded like Dharma drums that were approaching ever nearer, with ever closer intervals and ever heavier pounding. Fifteen minutes later, rain came down pouring. With such special signs present I silently prayed to Guru for blessing and applied carving knife to construct the seal. While carving the Yu-character there were three loud thunders and those were the only thunders during the rainfall. Guru said that both the thunders and the rain were auspicious omens.
On July 10 while it was raining I took the opportunity to refine the carved character on the seal. Right when I was hesitating about whether the two sides of the Yu-character should be broken off from the Qi-character, suddenly in the air above there fell straight down a shocking thunder, and it shook my mind blank. I figured that it was a blessing from Guru to indicate to me that they should be broken off. Later Guru graced me with the instruction: after the broken-off the resulting figure signifies that, even though Dharma is blessing all beings continuously like rain, nevertheless, for sentient beings there are still distances from the realm of enlightenment, and hence they need to go through solid and painstaking practices to transcend their own egos and then realize saintly purity.
On July 11, while big rain fell heavily like pouring basin, carving of the seal character completed. Guru said that the two sides of the Yu-character seemed like rain had completely covered the whole earth, and that the three vertical parts of the Qi-character resembled people folding their hands above their heads during great prostration.
On July 12, cloudless sunny sky, I reverently carved in Zhen Shu, Authentic Strokes (meaning standard font), Guru's Chinese poem, "Seal of Ji," and its commentary on the four walls of the seal. Thus the construction of the Dharma seal was completed and it happened to fall on a Chen Ri (Dragon day), a Dakini day, and the day when Guru started on his trip to propagate Dharma in Asia.
Above is my recording of the process of my reverent construction of the seal of Ji. I pray that nectar of the lineage would nurture beings in the universe, and may all those that have the opportunity to develop pure faith be blessed by Gurus and Buddhas to sprout their Bodhi seed, grow up, and attain realization soon!
Written in Chinese on September 13, 2004
A day when Buddhas are pleased
Translated on October 9, 2004
El Cerrito, California
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