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

Ven. Shi Ruyuan: This is my record of responses to the blessings You have bestowed on me each time, beloved Master, over these past years! I began my practice with the contemplation of the four foundations of mindfulness. In the past, 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 on us, my body and mind instantly felt emptied and stilled. 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 the contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) on the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) and the eighteen realms—and I did not even know how to sit in meditation. In April 2021, after a Dharma sister 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. From then on, I could often feel Master's blessing, with responses and benefits, and I gradually grew diligent step by step.

Ever since I came to Master's side and received His blessing, my meditative concentration has visibly 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 indescribable 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 reliable, because each time—whether I was eating or doing something else—when my concentration was about to deepen, I would say, "Our Master is about to come here," and sure enough, Master, You really did arrive at the door. It was accurate every single time.

Each time my deep concentration was about to emerge, I could sense that Master was about to arrive, and truly, before long, Master really did come! There was also one greatest response: in April or May of 2025—I forget which—once while eating, I felt my deep concentration 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, when walking along the road with You, Master, I felt my meditative concentration growing deeper and deeper, almost beyond what I could bear; my body and mind seemed to have no strength to sustain themselves, and the road seemed to stretch longer and longer. I wanted to quickly find a quiet place to still my mind, to sit motionless without speaking. Someone beside me told me to go back and rest, but I said, "Walking slowly is fine." It happened that You, Master, heard this and also told me to go back. In truth, I wanted to stay with Master, 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 very deep meditative attainment, it is not easy to perceive this, still less to believe it—not easy to perceive that Master possesses such great power and blessing.

There are many more instances of Master's blessings and responses that I have not written down. Now I will speak out the responses I remember; keeping them buried in my heart without speaking them would make me feel a bit selfish. In speaking them 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 never have advanced with such diligence.

These past 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 kind of state is this?

Assessment: Fragrances have several sources. The first source is 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; 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 inherently, 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.

Fourth, when meditative concentration opens up the channels of vital energy and the body has no blockages, the body will emit fragrance from everywhere. Twenty years ago, my meditative concentration was very good: first fragrance issued from my nose, then from my throat, then from my teeth and tongue—my entire mouth emitted fragrance—and later my skin emitted fragrance, until eventually fragrance issued from every part of my body. My whole being was extremely joyful, as happy as an immortal. While sitting in meditation, going along quite well, once the fragrance appeared, at first it did not matter and I was unaffected; but in the end, when the fragrance assailed my nostrils and the scent grew too strong, my heart was so joyful that I could no longer remain seated. At that time I did not know what was happening, so I left my seat and went to ask my tonsure master. My master was even more baffled 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 came to understand 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 on them, carrying sentient beings—some carried a few, some carried as many as ten or eighteen thousand. 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: if a lay practitioner was on good terms with me, the possessing spirit on their body would run onto mine, 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 knew roughly who was about to come over. Perhaps these possessing spirits arrived at my side before the persons themselves, or perhaps the spirits' magnetic fields were so strong that they caused strong reactions in my body. However uncomfortable, I had to endure it, for the possessing spirits are also pitiable sentient beings, governed by karma in the dark realm, unable to act of their own accord 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 seven consciousnesses and their associated mental factors. The combined forces of body and mind form a person's magnetic field, from which one's influence on the external world and on others arises.

When animals are threatened, they will run to the Buddha's side or beneath 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, their afflictive habitual tendencies remain, and their negative influence persists, so animals will not approach them with complete ease of mind.

Therefore, there are far too many methods for examining a person's cultivation, level, and stage of practice; it can be discerned from any aspect whatsoever—every gesture and movement, every word and deed, facial expressions, micro-expressions, bodily posture, outward appearance, expressed and unexpressed form, and even one's breath, demeanor, and bearing—all can reveal a person's cultivation. This cannot be faked; without a word being spoken, all of a person's information is fully revealed. For a person deeply mired in afflictions to still come asking me to verify whether they have seen the Path—how ignorant and laughable!

When someone takes the stage to teach 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 need only look at their posture and demeanor, the expressions and micro-expressions on their face, look at the look in their eyes, listen to their tone and cadence, the quality of their voice—and I can more or less judge that person's cultivation and the stage of practice they occupy. However much a bandit or a crime boss may disguise himself, however much Buddha-talk he may spout, nothing of his outward appearance can conceal that bandit aura about him.