The Source of the Smelled Fragrance (2025-07-07)

Ven. Shi Ruyuan: These are my records of responses to the blessings you have bestowed upon me each time, my benevolent master, over these past years! I began my practice with the contemplation of the four foundations of mindfulness. Before, I could neither understand nor comprehend any Dharma gate. At the end of 2019, the moment Master went to a monastery in Zhejiang to confer the Bodhisattva Precepts upon us, my body and mind instantly felt empty and still. At that time, Master taught us to contemplate the breath while prostrating to the Buddha and to practice recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti). Back then, apart from reciting the Buddha's name, I understood nothing, let alone Chan investigation or contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) and the eighteen realms; I did not even know how to sit in meditation. In April 2021, after a Dharma brother pulled me into the Four Foundations of Mindfulness group, I began to learn the method Master taught of contemplating the breath while prostrating to the Buddha to cultivate meditative concentration (samādhi). From then on, I could often feel Master's blessing, with responses and benefits, and only then did I gradually become diligent.

Ever since I came to Master's side and received His blessing, my meditative concentration has clearly deepened and expanded. Many times I had sublime experiences of the power of meditative absorption (samādhi) deepening and expanding to varying degrees, which truly filled this disciple's heart with immense excitement and gratitude. Every time I see Master, I feel a distinct blessing and response. Whenever my deep concentration was about to emerge, I would invariably see Master. Several times I tested in my mind whether this was truly reliable, because each time, whether I was eating or doing anything else, when my concentration was about to deepen, I would say, "Our Master is about to come here," and sure enough, Master, you would actually arrive at the door. It was accurate every single time.

Whenever my deep concentration is about to emerge, I can sense that Master is about to arrive, and truly, before long, Master really does come! There was also one greatest response: in April or May of 2025—I forget which—once while eating, I felt my deep concentration was about to arise, and I could not even finish my meal. I said, "Our Master is surely coming here," and in my heart I felt that Master was coming again to care for us. After a while, Master really did come. It was truly efficacious.

Once, while walking on the road together with you, Master, I felt my concentration growing deeper and deeper, to the point I could hardly bear it. My body and mind seemed to have no strength to sustain themselves, and the road seemed to stretch longer and longer. I just wanted to quickly find a quiet place to calm my mind, to sit still without moving or speaking. Someone beside me told me to go back and rest, but I said it was fine to walk slowly. It happened that you, Master, heard this and also told me to go back. In truth, I wanted to stay with you, so I said it was fine, I would walk slowly. To be honest, Master, your magnetic field and responsive presence are truly inconceivably great. Without deep meditative skill, it is not easy to perceive this, and even harder to believe—that Master possesses such great power and blessing.

There are many more of Master's blessings and responses that I have not written down. Now I am speaking out the responses I remember, because keeping them buried in my heart without speaking of them would make me feel a bit selfish. In speaking out, I also hope that fellow practitioners, like me, may sooner receive Master's blessing and diligently practice and study the contemplation of the four foundations of mindfulness—it is truly beneficial. Over these years I have had many responsive experiences; without your blessing, Master, I would not have advanced so diligently.

These days I keep smelling a fragrance, a kind of fragrance I have never smelled before. In my mind there constantly appear images of you, Master, together with the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and deva protectors. What state of realization is this?

Assessment: Fragrance has several sources. The first source is from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas: when they come to bless or to encourage and inspire, they emit fragrance. Sometimes only one can smell it oneself, and sometimes people nearby can smell it too. The second is when Dharma-protecting deities come to one's side: they carry fragrance on their bodies because they have the physical bodies of devas, but this fragrance cannot be smelled by people nearby. The third is when devas, out of curiosity, come to one's side to praise, or come to hear the Dharma and learn; they carry fragrance naturally on their bodies, and people nearby may or may not be able to smell it. Whether people nearby can smell it depends on their own level of cultivation, and also on whether the other party wishes them to smell it.

The fourth is that when meditative concentration opens up the Qi meridians and the body has no blockages, fragrance will be emitted from all parts of the body. Twenty years ago, my meditative concentration was very good. First, fragrance came out from my nose; then from my throat; then from my teeth and tongue, my entire oral cavity emitting fragrance; later my skin emitted fragrance, and eventually fragrance came from everywhere in my whole body. My whole being felt extremely joyful, as happy as an immortal. While sitting in meditation, sitting quite well, when the fragrance first appeared I did not mind and was unaffected; but in the end, when the fragrance assailed my nostrils and the scent grew too strong, the joy in my heart made me unable to keep sitting. At that time I did not know what was happening, so I left my seat and went to ask my ordination master. My master was even more bewildered than I was; he looked at me, pondered, could not figure it out, and said nothing. Later I gradually looked up related materials and came to understand a little; over time, I understood more and more.

Around 2013, when I was practicing together with lay Buddhists at a monastery in Shenyang, most of the lay practitioners had possessing spirits attached to them, carrying sentient beings—some carried a few, others carried tens of thousands. The categories of beings also differed: there were ghosts and spirits, and immortal-type beings, with varying degrees of merit. Every time we met and gathered, I could sense it. When a lay practitioner was on good terms with me, the possessing spirits on their body would run onto my body, at the back of my neck, making my head swim and my eyes unable to open. Later, whenever I felt discomfort at the back of my neck and my eyes felt unwell, I would know roughly who was about to come over. Perhaps these possessing spirits arrived at my side before the person themselves, or perhaps the spirits' magnetic field was too strong, causing strong reactions in my body. However uncomfortable, I had to endure it. These possessing spirits are also pitiable sentient beings, governed by karma in the shadowy realm, unable to control themselves anywhere. Sometimes I treated them like children, and they could all feel the compassion in my heart.

Every sentient being carries a magnetic field of varying strength—either positive energy or negative energy—all resulting from one's own cultivation. These magnetic fields are emitted partly from the four great elements of the physical body, and partly from the mind and mental factors of the seven consciousnesses. The combined forces of body and mind form a person's magnetic field, from which arises their influence on the outside world and on others.

When animals are threatened, they will run to the Buddha's side, or into His shadow, and their fear is dispelled; they will not run to the side of the Buddha's disciples, because although the Buddha's disciples have eliminated their afflictions, the habitual tendencies of affliction still remain, and the negative influence is still there, so animals will not approach them with complete ease of mind.

Therefore, there are far too many ways to examine a person's cultivation, their level and stage of practice—any aspect can reveal it: every gesture and movement, every word and deed, facial expressions, micro-expressions, bodily posture, outward appearance, visible form and invisible form, and even one's breath, demeanor, and bearing—all can display a person's cultivation. This cannot be faked. Without speaking a word, all of a person's information is fully revealed. How ignorant and laughable it is that someone with deep and heavy afflictions still comes to ask me to verify whether they have seen the Path!

When someone takes the stage to expound the Dharma, no matter how profound their teaching, even if everything they say is Buddha-talk, I do not care what comes out of their mouth. I only need to observe their posture and demeanor, the expressions and micro-expressions on their face, look into their eyes, and listen to their tone of voice, their inflection, and the quality of their voice—and I can fairly well judge that person's cultivation and the stage of their practice. However much a bandit or a gang boss disguises himself, however much he spouts Buddha-talk, nothing of his outward appearance can conceal that bandit aura about him.