Acho Rinpoche: Today is the first day of the first Lunar
Month, which is also the Supernatural Day of the Buddhist Calendar; the Tibetan
Calendar is one day later. The power of blessing of the Supernatural Day is
inconceivable. You should practise with vigor within this month in order to
cleanse your negative karma; develop your brilliance and wisdom. Strive to
maintain a happy mind at every moment, immersing in a spiritual joy. This is how
we should cherish this life and our encounter with the precious Tantra. Do practice
well. Is there anything else that anyone would like to share?
Xin: I had a
dream one night, after chanting the heart mantra of Acho Rinpoche and later retiring
to bed. In my dream, I saw a man following me closely. I did not recognise this
man who seemed to be in his forty. Suddenly, he became smaller and smaller in
size and he finally transformed into a silver dragon! It was beautiful! It was
illuminating with rainbow light. It asked me to ride on its back. I hesitated
slightly but eventually decided to take the ride. At that juncture, I woke up
from my dream.
Acho Rinpoche: Xin achieved a spiritual response after
chanting my heart mantra. I have a very profound affinity with the Dragon
Buddha who was the first dragon attaining Buddhahood in the dragon world. I
told the audience at the Dragon Vase Practice held in Penang, Malaysia that if
Dragon Buddha graced the occasion, it would mean that the highest merit was
attained. As Dragon Buddha has a very profound connection with me, those who
chant my heart mantra and practice well will be protected by the dragon kings!
This is the promise of Dragon Buddha. They will help you and even give you a
ride, bringing you to the various inconceivable places. Dragon Buddha is the
biggest Buddha in the dragon world who looks after the rest of the dragons.
Those who chant my heart mantra will receive very powerful blessing and achieve
superior spiritual responses.
Mayumla had a vision of light during our last prayer session?
Let’s invite her to do the sharing.
Mayumla: It was a
special sensation that occurred during our chanting of Karmapa’s mantra. When I
visualised the image of the 17th Karmapa, I felt more closely connected
with the 16th Karmapa instead. I could feel his aura showering my
body and my heart chakra emitted light outward, returning into the body of the
16th Karmapa. It seemed to be in a circular motion. When I seemed to
nearly enter a state of quietude, I hesitated because I was worried that I
might end up losing my way. I remained in that strange sensation for quite
awhile.
Acho Rinpoche: The special occasion (Acho Rinpoche came across
the picture of the 17th Karmapa in Chinese monk robe hung in a shop)
was the cause of doing a special prayer on that day of chanting the mantra of
Karmapa. Karmapa descended during our prayer, including all the lineage
patriarchs ranging from Vajradhara, Tilopa, Naropa… to the 17th
Karmapa, giving us blessing. Mayumla saw light emitted from her heart chakra
because she has a special connection with the 16th Karmapa. She saw
light being exchanged between her heart chakra and that of the 16th
Karmapa. That was a very good spiritual response and attainment. I hope you
would cherish such inconceivable power of blessing and seize the opportunity to
practise well, and strive for the state of enlightenment in this lifetime.
Cyclic Existence is an inconceivable phenomenon. If you fail
to practise well, you will continue to be stranded in the Six Realms of Cyclic
Existence perpetually. We are not certain if we could still come across the
precious Buddha Dharma in future. It will be extremely difficult for one to
gain a human birth. However, it will be extremely easy for one to lose a human birth
and fall into the Three Lower Realms (animal, hell being and hungry ghost);
there is no way to make a comparison numerically. Therefore, I repeated many
times that as long as a man does not practise or fail in his practice of the
Buddha Dharma, he will not be able to keep his human birth. It is indeed very
hard to gain a human birth but the opportunity of falling into the Three Lower
Realms is much greater, let alone the difficulty of rising to the highest Path
of Buddhahood. It is very hard to go beyond the Six Realms of Existence and
return to the Path of Buddhahood. It is also very hard to return to the Human
Realm from the Three Lower Realms. One will be stranded within the Three Lower
Realms for a long time once fallen.
Do not assume that the Three Lower Realms are no big deal
and ignore the likelihood of falling. Once fallen into the Three Lower Realms,
one will continue to be born as a snake, cat, dog, worm, hell being, hungry
ghost etc. Do not assume that the Hungry Ghost Realm is not big deal because it
is in a state of great suffering, likewise the Hell Realm. Hungry ghosts are
perpetually in starvation but they will never be able to eat anything at all,
for millions of year. It will be very difficult for one to rise from a lower
realm to the Human Realm. Since we are fortunate enough to be reborn in the
Human Realm based on good karma, we ought to cherish this precious human birth
and put it to practice. With the superior power of blessing, we should strive
towards enlightenment. We should return to this world to help the rest of the
sentient beings after attaining Buddhahood, and remain in this world to
perpetually turn the Wheel of Dharma to help the sentient beings.
This life will pass in no time. I repeated many times that
your wife, children, career etc. will vanish in a blink of eye; what is most
important is to do your spiritual practice.
A Dharma Discourse
given by Acho Rinpoche on 10 Feb 2013.
