Konde Rinpoche gave his teachings to the group.
Madam Lin with Konde Rinpoche and Acho Rinpoche.
Ugyen and Tshwang from Bhutan
Ｏｕｒ ｇｕｅｓｔｓ ａｎｄ Ｓｉｎｇａｐｏｒｅ ｓｔｕｄｅｎｔｓ．
Tonight, we did a Green
Tara Prayer. H.E Konde Rinpoche of Nyingma Dzogchen lineage, Urgyen Yangdon and
Tshwang Zangmo from Bhutan, and Madam Lin of Golden Travel Services joined us
for our group prayer too. After the prayer, Konde Rinpoche gave us a discourse
on the teachings. He told us that it takes a great deal of merits for one to be
able to earn an opportunity to practise with Acho Rinpoche, so he hoped that we
would cherish the presence of a precious master in Acho Rinpoche. He also told
us that a human body is precious as it provides the key condition for one to
practise the Buddhadharma. Compare with other schools of Buddhism, it takes a
greater merit for one to earn an opportunity to practise the Vajrayana Buddhism
as it provides the opportunity for a practitioner to attain Buddhahood in a
single lifetime, including the attainment of a rainbow body.
Konde Rinpoche shared
with us that there was a Bigar Rinpoche from his village, a layman buddhist who
did not seem to do much of his practice but spent most of his time on playing
and riding his horse; he had many wives and kids too. In Mar 2017, he told his
villagers that he would be passing away in three days. On the following day, he
did a Guru Rinpoche Puja and transmitted the key teachings on securing a
rebirth in Guru Rinpoche’s Pureland; there were about thirty thousand
participants attending his teaching within a short notice. On the second day,
he returned to the monastery in his hometown and did some prayers. On the third
day, he gave instructions on what should be done after his passing. After that,
he put on a monk robe, entered the state of samadhi and passed away. He told
others not to touch his body in the next one week after he died. His body
shrunk to a very small size and his skin turned fairer within a week after his
passing (this is a sign of spiritual attainment of Dzogchen practice). Konde
Rinpoche said that there were many accomplished Dzogchen masters who appeared
to be very ordinary in their outer appearance, who practised differently from
others. For instance, Master Tilopa, a patriarch of the Kagyud lineage, was a
fisherman who appeared to be doing his fishing activities daily. However,
students who had the greatest faith in him would just follow his advice without
the slightest doubt and attained enlightenment. Konde Rinpoche said, there is
Buddha Nature within all sentient beings, so everyone can become a Buddha
through practising the Buddha’s teachings. Sentient beings are just perplexed
by their mental afflictions which hinder us from realizing our full potential
as a Buddha. Nevertheless, the wisdom of a Buddha is the same as that of the
sentient beings. We can eradicate our negative karma through practising the
Vajrasattva Practice and reciting the Hundred-syllable Mantra, which is a very
powerful practice for eradicating negative karma. When our negative karma is
purified, our pristine wisdom will be naturally revealed.
Konde Rinpoche mentioned
about his root guru, Lama Ajun Toden Lodoe Gyatso, who also foretold his own
passing one week in advance. He instructed others not to touch his body after
his passing and must await the arrival of Padma Gelsang Rinpoche to open the
door of his room. However, only three days after his passing, his body shrank very
quickly to a very small size. The lamas were very worried that his body might
completely disappear and decided to cremate his remains immediately. After
the cremation, they found many multi-colored sacred relics in his remains.
Konde Rinpoche said that Bigar Rinpoche also left behind a small number of
multi-colored sacred relics after his cremation. Acho Rinpoche opined that one’s
spiritual attainment has nothing to do with whether one is married or single
because a single may not attain enlightenment either. In fact, enlightenment is
only possible when one transcends an ordinary mindset. If one has a wife but transcends
an ordinary mindset and behavior, he could attain the state of enlightenment
too. Anyway, there is indeed a difference in terms of the level of spiritual
attainment achieved by the different individuals. Lama Ajun Toden had obviously
attained a higher level of spiritual attainment than Bigar Rinpoche who was a
layman practitioner, as the former left behind much more sacred relics than the
latter. An enlightened master might behave in a way not understood by the
ordinary people. However, there are also practitioners who are not truly
enlightened masters who claimed themselves to be one. How could one
differentiate between a truly enlightened master and an impersonator? One will
need to choose with his wisdom then.
Acho Rinpoche shared
with us a recent news circulated in the Internet - a renowned Tibetan Buddhist
Master who has tens of thousands of followers, who has been teaching in the
west for many years, is being accused by his closed westerner students for wrong doings. The
students accused him for misconducts, being an alcoholic, living a luxurious
lifestyle, hurting his students physically and emotionally, sexually assaulting
his female students etc. Those accusing him said that he is obviously easily
agitated and would simply hurl any objects within reach at his students and
hurting them physically, with some of them being sent to hospitals for
treatment. This Tibetan master claimed that he was using skillful means to help his students eradicate their sense of ego. In fact, way
back in 1993, some of his westerner students had already informed H.H Dalai
Lama about the strange behavior of this Tibetan master, and Dalai Lama advised
them to publicly expose the insensible behaviors of their master. Acho Rinpoche opined
that since none of the students who were hurt by this master seemed to have
attained enlightenment, and the students are indeed hurt physically and
emotionally, one would rather assume that this master has indeed gone astray
and the students should not blindly assume that this is a “crazy adept”. True enlightenment
is not like that! Some of his closed students also observed that he often gives
public teachings but he hardly did his sadhanas (prayer). Acho Rinpoche opined
that a practitioner must do his daily sadhanas or he will not be able to attain
enlightenment. In the past, Guru Rinpoche had warned his students that “One’s view
must be high, but his observation of precepts must be as fine as flour.” Hence,
if a practitioner holds a high view but does not truly practise the teachings and
observe the precepts, he will fall very swiftly and bring others along the downfall.
Next, Dharma Sister
Ugyen bade farewell to all as she would be ending her trip to Singapore by
tomorrow and return to Bhutan. She was very grateful to Acho Rinpoche and other
fellow students who showed her great hospitality during her trip here. Actually,
she had never thought that she would one day set her foot in this wonderful
land. She prayed to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for the longevity of Acho
Rinpoche and blessing for the rest of the fellow students, and she resolved to continue
her practice with vigor.
Finally, Acho Rinpoche hoped to see that Madam
Lin would let go of her busy schedules and start her spiritual practice soon.
He commented that Madam Lin has accomplished all the goals in life in terms of
material success. However, the worldly merits will not be able to bring her
back to her real home (the pure land of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara); only the
merits accumulated from a spiritual practice can do so. There is no need for a
practitioner to finish studying the Three Tipitakas and Twelve Canons, or the
Five Major Commentaries in this life. There are many people who became very
arrogant after acquiring too much knowledge from the Buddhist texts and wasted
their time debating with others about their views of the teachings, and
neglected their daily practice. So, we should keep our life and practice
simple. We will certainly receive the blessing of the Buddhas through our daily
practice of the sadhana, and such blessing power will naturally eradicate the
adversities in our life. When we have finally accomplished our spiritual
practice, we will be ready to help others. Acho Rinpoche advised Madam Lin that
she only needed to take the first step, and the rest will be taken care by the Buddhas
and Bodhisattvas.
Reported by Sun-Moon KFS on 22-7-2017
