Acho Rinpoche said that human
life is pre-determined by one’s karma. However, there are special practices that can truly help one prolong
his life e.g. livestock liberations, Amitayu Prayer, or doing a special Taoist
practice on the day of Cosmic Union of Heaven and Earth (on the 16th
day of every 5th lunar month) and drinking the nectar of rain water
collected on the same day which is blessed by the Buddha. Prolonging the
longevity of one’s life is the most difficult task. As the Chinese saying goes,
“When the Yama King wants to claim your life at midnight, how would you be able
to live till dawn!”
Acho Rinpoche also shared
the following teachings from H.H Dilgo Kyentse Rinpoche:
Only a Buddha can tell how many
times you have repeated your cyclic existence of births and deaths. And only a
Buddha can tell the beginning of cyclic existence (samsara). It was mentioned
in one of the sutras that if you could pile up all carcases of your past lives
when you were born as an insect, they will reach the height taller than that of
Mt Sumeru. If you could collect all the tears that you shed in your past lives
out of sorrow, they will form an ocean larger than any oceans in the world.
All that you had done in your
numerous past lives would only bring you sufferings but not any step closer to
the state of liberation. Why? For everything that you have done so far, is
either a harmful action or otherwise meaningless action.
All sentient beings continue to
be preoccupied by the various activities at all times. Mankind is always busy
competing with one another, shopping, trading, creating or destroying. Birds
are always busy building nests, laying eggs and feeding their baby birds. Bees
are always busy collecting nectars from flowers and making honey out of them.
The rest of the animals are always busy eating, hunting, staying vigilant of
their enemies and feeding their young ones. The more you do, the greater your
responsibility becomes, and the harder it gets. At the end, the fruits of your
labour will not even last longer than the drawing you did on the surface of
water. When you finally recognise the falsity of all those meaningless
activities, you will realise that –the practice of the Buddha Dharma is the
only activity that is worth doing.
Reported by Sun Moon KFS on 3-7-2015
