On 4 May 2018, a group of thirty plus of us followed
Acho Rinpoche on a tour to Penang of Malaysia, as he was to co-host a public
prayer with H.E Konde Rinpoche on a Hundred Deity Soul Deliverance and Naga
Vase Puja which was to be held at the State Chinese (Penang Association) at 13
Jalan Perak 10150 Pulau Pinang. It was coincidental that the 14th
General Election of Malaysia was underway during this period that we witnessed
the many posters and flags decorating almost every corner of the streets in
Penang.
On 5 May 2018, the prayer started at
10am with One Hundred Deity Soul Deliverance Prayer, followed by the ceremony
of bathing a statue of Dragon King with milk mixed with medical herbs. After
lunch, we left the prayer venue and headed for the beach. We would offer all
the naga vases filled with precious medical herbs by dumping them into the sea,
as the blessing power of the Buddha and the herbs within the vases could help
eradicate the negative karma and sickness of the sea beings. During the process
of bathing the statue of Dragon King, Dharma Sister Bing suddenly did three long
prostrations before Acho Rinpoche; she explained to the rest that she had a
vision of Acho Rinpoche transforming into the Dragon King Buddha at that
juncture and the rest of the dragon family also came forward and prostrated to
him. So, she felt that she was actually representing the dragon family in doing
the prostrations, as a gesture of appreciation to Acho Rinpoche for his
compassion and blessing. After that, Acho Rinpoche blessed all the registration
forms submitted by the participants before burning. Dharma Brother Shao contributed
a “dragon boat” this time, as he got a hint from a Dragon King while in
Singapore, suggesting that he should make a “dragon boat” from joss papers (origami)
and offered it to the dragon family. The “dragon boat”, after being blessed by
Acho Rinpoche, could help deliver the numerous dragons to a higher realm of
existence, either being reborn into a Buddha Land or as human practitioners, or
even attain the state of Buddhahood! However, we witnessed that the “dragon boat”
took a long time to burn. Acho Rinpoche later explained the reason why it took
so long for it to be totally burnt as it signifies the heavy negative karma associated
with these dragon beings, that it would take lots of blessing power to help
them eradicate their negative karma and leave the realm of dragon, for a higher
rebirth.
When we left the State Chinese premises after the
completion of the One Hundred Deity Soul Deliverance Prayer, we saw a sun halo
appearing in the sky, which signified the perfect closure of the prayer which
was hailed by the numerous holy beings in the spiritual realm. We took a bus to
the beach which had all its windows shut and no air-conditioning – we felt
suffocated and sick during the bus journey. Later, Acho Rinpoche explained that
it signified the hardship endured by the numerous sentient beings stranded in
their current state of suffering; they would not be able to break free of their
current state of suffering due to their negative karma, unless they are blessed
by the Buddha. When we reached the beach, we saw some clouds in the sky appearing
in the form of “dragon boat”, dragon king, dragon pearl etc. It was indeed
truly amazing and unbelievable! Acho Rinpoche
was drenched twice by sea waves splashing into the boat while sailing – he knew
that they signified both the welcoming gesture and appreciation expressed by the
Dragon King; he felt extremely energized after being drenched by the sea water!
The whole event came to a perfect closure by late noon.
Afternote:
Malaysia had a change of government on the 9th of May 2018, after
the 14th General Election, with Pakatan Harapan replacing the
Barison National after the latter ruled Malaysia for a long 61 years. The Malaysian
citizens had their wish fulfilled – a new Malaysia was born and her people
could bid farewell to the former corrupted government. We prayed to the Sun
Moon Light Buddha for the prosperity of Malaysia and the happiness of her
people; may the Buddha’s teachings spread far and wide and may kindness blossoms
in the hearts of her people.
Reported
by Sun Moon KFS on 5-May-2018 in Penang, Malaysia.
