Vesak Day, celebrated by Buddhists worldwide,
falls on the 15th day of the fourth Lunar Month. It is a very
special day that commemorates the birth, enlightenment and parinirvana of
Sakyamuni Buddha. It is also a gazetted public holiday in Singapore. It is also
called “One Thousand Buddhas Birthday” as it is believed that 1,000 Buddhas
were born on the very same day in the past.
The fourth Lunar Month is also being regarded as
the “Sakya Season”, during which any practice done will help a practitioner generate
the greatest merits. So, Acho Rinpoche advised all to make good use of this
golden opportunity – to practice vigorously. This is, in fact, a special
practice in the Vajrayana where a practitioner could practise more vigorously
on special days such as the day on which a Buddha was born, to accumulate the
greatest merits within the shortest time - for a swift spiritual attainment.
We held a “Bath-the-Buddha” ceremony and Green
Tara Empowerment today as a form of celebration. After our group prayer, Dharma
Brother Xin shared with us a special dream that he had recently, soon after
receiving the Red God of Wealth (also known as the Elephant-Trunk Vajra or
Ganesh) from Acho Rinpoche. In is dream, he saw the ground cracked opened by
the force of earth quake. Later, he saw lots of gems (ruby and blue sapphire)
emerging from the crack line and he took some of them. He also saw others around
him, including Dharma Brother Shao, taking the gems away too.
Acho Rinpoche said that Ganesh is indeed very
powerful and rich, and he could actually endow wealth to sentient beings.
Dharma Brother Lin reported that he received a handsome reward form his boss
after receiving the same empowerment. Acho Rinpoche said that Dharma Brother
Lin has a strong karmic connection with Ganesh. (Dharma Brother Shao had a
dream in which he saw a huge Ganesh statue being erected by Dharma Brother Lin
in his past life, which was worshipped in a big garden. That explains the
connection between the two.)
Acho Rinpoche revealed the true identity of
Ganesh, saying that he is, in fact, a manifestation of a Bodhisattva of the
highest state. Another word, he is an emanation of a Buddha that should not be
taken lightly.
The group prayer ended with a Green Tara
Empowerment which could help eradicate negative karma of a practitioner, as one
will not be able to generate merits until he has his negative karma eradicated.
Reported by
Sun-Moon KFS on 1 Jun 2015
(Pictures below: The day before Vesay Day, we did a life liberation ceremony at a fish farm, releasing about 1,000 fish back to the sea.)
