I personally saw [the Intimate Relationship Between] Sheng-yen Lu and Xu Yaqi on a Train
-by a former follower of True Buddha School, August 2012
Translated by Cheng Yew Chung, edited by Jason Yu [ 蓮生活佛盧勝彥的密密密網 ]
In late June of 2010, sixty year old Yao Suzhen [from Sydney, Australia] and I decided to travel to Taiwan to celebrate Grandmaster Sheng-yen Lu’s 66th birthday scheduled on the 26th of June at Taiwan Leizang Temple. We had planned to stay at the Zhong Guan Temple in Taipei. However, we subsequently received a long-distance phone call from Reverend Lianzhong of Guashan Leizang Temple whom I am familiar with, and she insisted that we drop by at their temple first, and told us she could arrange a meeting with Grandmaster Lu. We decided to forgo the idea of staying at Zhong Guan Temple, but little did I know that this decision would be a major turning point in my life…
Yao Suzhen and I had planned to arrive a few days prior to the celebration. We took off [from Australia] at night, arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport the next morning. We took a bus to Taichung, and from there, Reverend Lianzhong drove us to Guashan Leizang Temple in Changhua County where we waited to meet Grandmaster Lu. The temple is situated next to a pig’s farm, and the air was permeated with the smell of pig’s manure. We waited until 4pm in the afternoon before receiving news of Grandmaster Lu’s schedule. Grandmaster wanted to visit a dentist at Bear Orthodontic Clinic to get a dental cleaning, and the dentist is non-other than the son of Master Lianji [the abbot of Guashan Temple]. Lu traveled in Master Lianji’s car, while we rode with Reverend Lianzhong. The journey there was about twenty minutes, and during the trip, Reverend Lianzhong said something rather bizarre to me. She said, “dharma sister, please put up some makeup, and apply lipstick.”
We waited at the clinic for two hours, the duration of the dental cleaning. When Grandmaster Lu appeared, we approached him for our consultation. Reverend Lianzhong introduced me as “the beautiful girl from Australia.” I wasn’t sure if she meant it as a joke or if it had other implications.
I mainly wanted to know about my house’s fengshui. Grandmaster Lu said that there was some leakage of wealth according to the plan I showed him, and Master Lianji immediately suggested how I could go about correcting the fengshui. Grandmaster Lu smacked his arm and chided him for spouting nonsense… Anyway, the day passed quickly, and we were all pleased (we naturally made monetary offerings of red envelopes). We also made an appointment to travel with Grandmaster Lu to visit another practice center on the following day. Then, a dharma sister drove us to a hotel in Taichung.
The following day, we rode with Reverend Lianzhong to the Taichung train station. When we arrived, we realized the tickets had already been purchased. There were eight of us: Myself and Yao, Grandmaster Lu and Xu Yaqi, Reverend Lily, Reverend Lianzhong, Master Lianji and a dharma brother, Xu Guosheng from Guashan Temple who sells prayer beads. The journey, lasting about an hour and six minutes, would take us to a mountain where a huge and magnificent statue of the earth deity would be located halfway up the mountain. The rather small practice center we were going to, whose name I have forgotten, is located within a building that is built at the foot of the mountain.
Grandmaster Lu and others were walking ahead of us, while I trailed behind along with dharma sister Yao and Master Lianji as we headed for the train door. I noticed Lu was glancing at me from the corner of his eyes as Master Lianji chatted with me about Mongolia, the people and the life there, as I had lived in Mongolia for many years during my childhood days. Suddenly, Grandmaster Lu stopped, turned around, and while facing me from a distance of about four meters, told me that in my last life, I was a Manchurian. Everyone was surprised at this revelation! I was speechless, and felt that whatever Grandmaster Lu said must be true, even though no one can really validate the authenticity of my past life. While I was unsure what to make out of it, my admiration for Grandmaster Lu remained.
After we boarded the train, Grandmaster was seated on the left window seat, while Xu Yaqi sat beside him. Reverend Lianzhong sat on the aisle seat beside Xu. I was seated directly behind Grandmaster Lu, while dharma sister Yao sat on my right, and further right sat Reverend Lily at the aisle seat. Master Lianji and the other dharma brother from Guashan Temple were seated on the right side of the train on the same row as us. This is a three-seat configuration, and each seat is separated by a gap of about four fingers wide. Before we sat down, I paid my respect to Grandmaster Lu, saying, “Grandmaster, I will be sitting behind you.” Grandmaster simply replied, “Ok.”
When Grandmaster Lu sat down, he immediately closed the window curtain, blocking all outside view. I found it strange, as it was an overcast sky and the sun was hidden behind the clouds. So why would Grandmaster want to close the window curtain? When the train started moving, I decided to close my eyes and rest for a while, as I felt a little dizzy perhaps from the weather. When I reopened my eyes moments later, I noticed a strange expression from Yao’s face. Behind her glasses was a look of surprise, shock, complete disappointment and sadness. As I instinctively traced the direction of her stare, I caught sight of Xu Yaqi’s hair, whose head was leaning on Sheng-yen Lu’s shoulder. In fact, her whole body was leaning on Lu’s right side… I could feel a chill shooting down from my head to my toes. I was frozen at the sight, and felt my blood rush towards my face, my heart rapidly beating, my scalp twitched and my face reddened. I reacted by hitting Yao with my elbow. Speaking in Chinese, I said, “You lied to me!” (Yao was always praising Lu) Then almost immediately I switched to English, saying, “What’s happening? Can you explain this to me?” Yao remained silent for a long pause, and avoided any direct eye contact with me. Her eyes remained fixated at Lu and Xu while I kept pressing for an answer, “Why?” After a long interval, Yao cunningly uttered these words in English, “Don’t ask me. What do you see? Nothing happen.”
I kept asking her. We spoke in English to avoid drawing attention from Lu and Xu. [Translator’s note: I believe Lu and Xu can understand simple conversational English.] Later, I realized Reverend Lily is well-versed in English. She is a Shanghainese who once lived in Hong Kong, and prior to becoming a nun she had worked as a manager in a bank. She was a good dancer and was Lu’s dance partner in Seattle. She was close to Lu. She is very proficient in English, so I believe she heard my conversation with Yao, even though she was sitting with her eyes shut, and kept a poker face from the start till the end of the journey.
I found myself agitated to a state of hysteria. A sudden gush of heat burst forth within me, and then there was this release, a state of relaxation that I had never experienced. An emotional restraint that had been with me for years was gone. It was a peculiar concoction of mixed feelings… in an instant, all my reverence towards Sheng-yen Lu came to an abrupt halt, completely removed from my system.
The train journey took one hour and six minutes, and throughout the journey Xu Yaqi was learning on Sheng-yen Lu. They chatted like lovers, whispering and giggling at times. Reverend Lianzhong attempted to shield them with a newspaper, as across their row on the right side, a middle age woman kept staring at them with a frown, her facial expression was full of astonishment, puzzlement, disgust, and rage. She didn't take her eyes off Lu and Xu the whole trip. (Later, I realized Taiwan had many reports of living buddhas and rinpoches involved in various sex scandals and money scams. Sheng-yen Lu was shaved, outfitted in a lama garment, and was dressed as a living buddha.)
This one hour and six minute journey forever ended the respect and admiration I had towards True Buddha School and Sheng-yen Lu. I felt betrayed and deceived. The Grandmaster whom I had adored was flirting with a married woman! Xu Yaji was a well known personality within True Buddha School, and was married to Tai Zhiyuan, a well known TV celebrity in Taiwan. Yet, Lu and Xu were flirting and teasing each other throughout the journey, with Xu’s head lying on Lu’s shoulder, and her body leaning against his…
After leaving the train, Lu turned to chat with me, but I had lost all reverence towards him, and simply dealt with him as I would have behaved in any social setting.
After we left the train station, Yao and I followed the group to the respective practice center. When Master Lianji spoke and joked with me, I simply ignored him. After leaving the center, we were simply left alone. We had no idea where we wanted to proceed, and when we saw the same van that had picked us up earlier at the train station, we just boarded it. Then, Xu Guosheng, the dharma brother from Guashan Temple shouted at us, saying, “Why do you board the van? Get out! “I simply said, “I understand what you are saying. You don’t need to shout.” To think we were on the same ride just hours earlier. Later, a kind-hearted person told us how we could catch a ride back to Taichung.
For the next few days, Yao and I were completely disheartened. In the past, our travels were always injected with much joy as we shopped and ate, but we had since lost all motivation. The celebration of Lu’s birthday on Saturday came and went without any excitement for us. On the day we left Taiwan, we ordered two bowls of noodles at the airport. Despite eating very little for the past few days, I still had no appetite for food, so much so that I simply broke down crying at the dining table, feeling absolutely dejected and in despair. I have embraced True Buddha School for seven years, hoping to find some spiritual liberation, hoping that it would give me a new start in life. I really thought I had found my spiritual guru. Yet, this guru turned out to be a complete fraud! My heart ached with a mix of anger and loss that arose from being lied to. After some crying, I felt better, and lifted my head to look at Yao, who was sobbing in silence. I have known her for seven years, and never once did I see her cry.
Yao’s reaction was much more complicated compared to mine, for she had spent a good twenty plus years in True Buddha School, and naturally suffered a much greater shock. She had specifically asked me to swear to never to reveal what had happened to anyone, including my husband. I didn’t promise her anything, and remained silent.
After returning to Australia, I spoke little to my husband for three months, as I was consumed by depression. Imagine seeing all seven years of the whole family’s time and energy invested in this school all gone down the drain, and my spiritual life ruined. The whole thing weighed upon me, and at one point I simply lost faith in everything, including Buddhism. My husband kept asking me, “What's the matter with you?” I couldn’t bring myself to answer him.
I quarreled with Yao almost everyday over the phone. I asked Yao, “Don’t you have anything to say about this whole situation?” Yao replied in a rather self-contradictory way, saying, “I would be lying if I tell you I have no issues with it. As a matter of fact I have long heard about the matter between Sheng-yen Lu and Xu Yaqi when I was in Seattle. But I still think Grandmaster wouldn’t lie to us.” That’s how screwed up she is! I wasn’t sure whether Yao was defending Sheng-yen Lu or herself. She has heard about the rumors, and then witnessed it, and still claimed Lu wouldn’t lie to her. Was she finding an excuse why she hasn’t quit True Buddha School? She witnessed the whole episode. Isn’t it sufficient? Must she see things happen on Lu’s bed to be convinced? Why did she try to make me promise to never tell of what had transpired? Why did she shed so many tears then? She just can’t be reasoned with!
Yao is fairly well-known in True Buddha School. She once worked in the library [at the Seattle Temple], and had done volunteer work for the Taiwanese publisher Daden Culture. She has made great contributions in promoting Lu’s books. Lu’s books initially lacked international exposure until she pushed for the registration of International Standard Book Number (ISBN) on all of his books. Lu once praised Yao’s contributions to his cause, saying that what she has done has been essential, and that she is definitely someone who can eat at the same table as Lu. Yao has spent the last twenty plus years making contributions to True Buddha School and had deep faith in Lu, and her life has been ruined because of this faith. Yao and I eventually parted ways.
As Sheng-yen Lu publicly promotes his shameless and obscene approach to buddhahood through sex, it will only bring greater harm to society. I must reveal what I know about Lu and tell the world what a fraud he is, and that True Buddha School is nothing but a cult.
What I have written above is totally true, and I swear that if there is a single fabrication in this article, I shall go to hell.