View One’s Teacher as a Buddha

          Tonight, Xi Le Lama and Woesl Lama of the Karma Kagyud lineage joined us for our group prayer. They are participating in a local  Kagyu Monlam during this period and took this opportunity to pay a visit to Acho Rinpoche too. They recited “The Eight Auspicious Stanzas”, Guru Rinpoche’s and Medicine Buddha’s heart mantras etc., and dedicated their merits to all sentient beings. Xi Le Lama told us that Guru Rinpoche’s heart mantra has the greatest power of blessing, as it could mitigate the natural disasters caused by the elements of earth, water, fire and wind, whereas Medicine Buddha’s heart mantra could cure sicknesses. He also explained that we should always dedicate our merits of cultivation to our relatives and friends, as well as all sentient beings in the Six Realms of Existence. If we fail to dedicate our merits in this way, they could be destroyed by the hatred arose in us at a later stage.

          Later, Acho Rinpoche shared with us his future travelling plans including a trip to Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia in August this year for him to co-host an Amitabha Buddha Smoke Puja with H.E Konde Rinpoche, a trip to Nepal in December to celebrate the enthronement ceremony of Princess Roshana’s son who has recently been recognized by H. H. Dodrupchen as a reincarnated master, a visit to India next year to inaugurate the opening ceremony of Acho Rinpoche Retreat Center, a visit to Jambi of Indonesia where Atisha met his teacher etc. Next, Acho Rinpoche invited Dharma Sister Yue from France to share her recent amazing experience related to her practice, over the Internet.

          Yue said, “I consulted Acho Rinpoche on last Thursday on how I could manage my negative emotions quickly. Soon affter receiving the teachings from him, in less than 20 minutes later, I suddenly saw rainbows appearing above my legs – more than ten rainbows in total, which were very clear and beautiful! But they disappeared within the next 20 seconds. My husband saw it and told me that “Buddha Master is with you and giving you his blessing now!” From that night onwards, I started having dreams of Buddha Master and the numerous deities who appeared to be giving their teachings in an assembly, to a large audience of students. Initially, I saw Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, Amitabha Buddha, Medicine Buddha and many other Mahabodhisattvas whom I had no idea what their Buddha titles were. They were draped in different attires. I tried looking for Buddha Master and finally found him sitting right in the center of all the deities. As I was sitting in the right most of the front row, I was unable to spot him quickly. When I finally found where he was sitting, I felt really excited and kept chanting his title. I saw a very huge rainbow appearing right behind his back - broad, clear and beautiful! I noticed that the rest of the deities had similar rainbows behind their backs too – vertical rainbow pillars rising high into the sky! I could not quite hear their teachings because I was too excited chanting his title. I had never had an experience like this – repeating the same dream for four consecutive nights. The dream finally ceased after I shared it with the rest through WeChat. I am most grateful to Buddha Master and the deities for their wonderful blessing. My homage to the Sun Moon Lamp Buddha!”

          Acho Rinpoche praised Yue for truly viewing her teacher as a Buddha, which is, in fact, the highest teaching of the Vajrayana. When a student views his teacher as a Buddha, he will receive the blessing of a Buddha. When a student views his teacher as a pile of shit, he will get himself into a pile of shit too. This is true. In fact, the highest teaching transmitted by Guru Rinpoche, a patriarch of Vajrayana, is “Revere the Guru, Cherish the Teachings, Internalize the Practice”. “Revere the Guru” is of the first priority! However, it is easier said than done. It is, in fact, extremely difficult to internalize this teaching. Hence, there is hardly anyone who could accomplish the practice through revering his teacher as a Buddha.

          He also mentioned a lady whom we met at the Vajra Yogini Cave in Dali of Yunan, China in the past. She revered the 17^th Karmapa Urgeyn Trinley very much. She finally went to India to be ordained personally by the 17^th Karmapa. Later, she dreamt of Acho Rinpoche advising her to go into a retreat, telling her that he would transmit the teaching of Dzogchen to her after she has completed her retreat. This Ani (nun in Tibetan language) could not understand why Acho Rinpoche would be the one transmitting Dzogchen teachings to her when the 17^th Karmapa is the one whom she took refuge in and the one who ordained her. It is indeed a very strange and amazing dream!

          Lastly, Acho Rinpoche ended tonight’s prayer with an overall dedication of merits by reciting the various Buddha titles and dedicated the merits to this world which is experiencing endless pains. Yesterday, a serious land slide happened in Mao County of Sichuan Province, with a complete destruction of a village resulting in very high number of casualties. We wished that the enlightened ones would bless and save the victims of this land slide, and reduce the occurrence of natural and man-made disasters plaguing this world. 

Reported by Sun-Moon KFS on 25-6-2017