Tonight, Jigme
Khenpo from the Sakya Buddhist College and Serap Lama from the Nyingma in India
joined us for our group prayer. Acho Rinpoche invited Jigme Khenpo to give his
teachings after the prayer. Jigme Khenpo explained that there were many schools
of Buddhism, liken to a pharmacy filled with a great variety of medicines for
treating the different ailments. All sentient beings are different by nature,
due to their past karma, in terms of their mental state of being and physical
appearances etc. The Six Realms of Existence is just a manifestation of the
different karmas of the sentient beings. Hence, the different teachings are
necessary and are equally important, as they are part of the condition for attaining
Buddhahood. A practitioner should reflect inward daily, watching our inner
state of mind and be aware of our lust, hatred, ignorance, arrogance and
suspicion arising and fading away in our mind. We should change our negative
mental and physical behaviours, and learn the practice of compassion and
emptiness instead. Actually, both the cyclic existence and nirvana are but our
mental fabrications. We should learn to dissect the notion of “I” (or “me”) for
we will eventually realize that we are unable to really find the true existence
of the notion of “I”. By then, we will be able to break free of the hallucination
of “ego”, and reach the sate of enlightenment free of the sufferings of cyclic
existence. We should learn to reduce our strong attachment to our world
concerns, as attachment is the cause of suffering. Whether our life is smooth
or otherwise, we should always remember the Three Jewels and pray to them for
their blessing. When we face the adversity in life, we should understand that
it is just the fruit of our past negative actions and accept it with a peaceful
mind; we think and act positively, and pray to the Three Jewels for their
blessing. We should aspire to help all sentient beings progress on the path to
enlightenment by dedicating the merits of all our daily actions to such good
course, and repeat such aspiration daily.
Acho Rinpoche
shared a teaching from Dzongsar Rinpoche. Dzongsar Rinpoche is of the view that
it is indeed very difficult for a Buddhist to do his spiritual practice as a
lay person. Even Sakyamuni Buddha had to renounce his ordinary life as a prince
and worked hard on the attainment of Buddhahood. He only returned to his family
after becoming a Buddha in order to help the rest walk the same path to
enlightenment. A lay Buddhist has to devote his life between spiritual practice
and other daily activities on making a living and having to manage all kinds of
relationship with the people in his life. How could he focus well on his
spiritual practice then? Dzongsar Rinpoche advised that we should not take our
usual perceptions of life too seriously as they may not be truly what we think
they are. Sometimes, it would be good to blur the lines. He said, when a
practitioner has understood that there is no difference between a piece of gold
and a piece of stone, and that the space within his palm and that of the
universe is the same, then he has attained the state of enlightenment; because Sakyamuni
Buddha said so in the past.
There was a group
of Chinese students joining us for the group prayer through Internet webcast.
Two of them did the following sharing.
Dharma Sister Yue:
“Tonight, all eight of us sat together in a circle, unlike in the past. We
placed the photo of Buddha Master (Acho Rinpoche) on the table in the centre.
When I entered the state of Samadhi, I had a vision that every one of us in the
group emitted white light into space. As we sat in a circle, our light
collectively formed a pillar of light; Buddha Master appeared within the pillar
of light. I could clearly see a circle of purple light appearing on the crown
worn by Buddha Master. This circle changed from the shape of a sun into a moon
crescent and vice versa, repeatedly. Strong light was emitted from this circle
of purple light during its changing of shapes, blessing all of us. I could feel
the presence of the spiritual beings around us increased in number very
quickly, and they were circling us too. The strong light emitted by Buddha
Master increased in its intensity and the pillar of light continued to enlarge
in size to infinity. All eight of us could feel the powerful energy of blessing
that seems to be locked within our circle. The power of blessing was so great
that I began to feel a slight headache and my mom had a similar sensation too.
I am very thankful to Buddha Master for his blessing. My homage to
Sun-Moon-Lamp Buddha. ”
Dharma Sister Min:
“Buddha Master, Mayumla, Dharma Brothers and Sisters, good evening. When I entered
the state of Samadhi, it was like watching a movie that I saw many majestic looking
Buddhist buildings, some were westernised and some were oriental in design. I
was inside a building made of yellow clay. There were many Buddha images made
of yellow clay too within the building. We were all there inside the building,
doing prayer. After our prayer, we saw a reflection of light on the floor in
the shape of a sword. We were full of joy! I am thankful to Buddha Master. My
homage to Sun-Moon-Lamp Buddha.”
Lastly, Acho
Ripoche told the group that the power of blessing generated from the group
prayer tonight was exceptionally huge, as it was augmented by the effect of the
sun eclipse. Actually, not only the group in Hangzhou generated the great power
of blessing, our group in Singapore did that too. When we visualised our foes,
parents of past and present lives, our relatives and all sentient beings of the
Six Realms encircling us, practising together with us and receiving the
blessing from all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, it can generate the greatest power
of blessing benefiting all. When we practise our sadhana with the aspiration,
compassion and bodhicitta to help all sentient beings, it can create the
largest power of blessing, benefitting the numerous mother sentient beings.
Om Mani Padme Hom.
9-3-2016 Reported by Sun-Moon KFS
