Practising on the Day of Full Sun Eclipse

At around 9am today, the world was experiencing a rare astrological phenomenon of a full sun eclipse. In the past, the ancient people used to regard a sun eclipse as an inauspicious affair, thinking that the sun was eaten by a celestial dog; the people would beat the drums hard and make lots of noise in an attempt to scare the celestial dog away, protecting the sun. However, from the view point of Tibetan Buddhism, a sun eclipse is a very auspicious affair. Reason being, the pure wisdom energy within our body will automatically enter our central channel during this period, helping a practitioner attain a swift advancement in his spiritual practice. So, there is a great emphasis for a practitioner to practise with vigour on such occasions, for the merits accumulated from a positive act will increase by a billion folds. Likewise, a bad deed would also increase in its negativity by a billion folds. Acho Rinpoche saw a huge sun halo appearing after finishing his morning prayer, and he shared that it was indeed a very auspicious sign.

Tonight, Jigme Khenpo from the Sakya Buddhist College and Serap Lama from the Nyingma in India joined us for our group prayer. Acho Rinpoche invited Jigme Khenpo to give his teachings after the prayer. Jigme Khenpo explained that there were many schools of Buddhism, liken to a pharmacy filled with a great variety of medicines for treating the different ailments. All sentient beings are different by nature, due to their past karma, in terms of their mental state of being and physical appearances etc. The Six Realms of Existence is just a manifestation of the different karmas of the sentient beings. Hence, the different teachings are necessary and are equally important, as they are part of the condition for attaining Buddhahood. A practitioner should reflect inward daily, watching our inner state of mind and be aware of our lust, hatred, ignorance, arrogance and suspicion arising and fading away in our mind. We should change our negative mental and physical behaviours, and learn the practice of compassion and emptiness instead. Actually, both the cyclic existence and nirvana are but our mental fabrications. We should learn to dissect the notion of “I” (or “me”) for we will eventually realize that we are unable to really find the true existence of the notion of “I”. By then, we will be able to break free of the hallucination of “ego”, and reach the sate of enlightenment free of the sufferings of cyclic existence. We should learn to reduce our strong attachment to our world concerns, as attachment is the cause of suffering. Whether our life is smooth or otherwise, we should always remember the Three Jewels and pray to them for their blessing. When we face the adversity in life, we should understand that it is just the fruit of our past negative actions and accept it with a peaceful mind; we think and act positively, and pray to the Three Jewels for their blessing. We should aspire to help all sentient beings progress on the path to enlightenment by dedicating the merits of all our daily actions to such good course, and repeat such aspiration daily.

Acho Rinpoche shared a teaching from Dzongsar Rinpoche. Dzongsar Rinpoche is of the view that it is indeed very difficult for a Buddhist to do his spiritual practice as a lay person. Even Sakyamuni Buddha had to renounce his ordinary life as a prince and worked hard on the attainment of Buddhahood. He only returned to his family after becoming a Buddha in order to help the rest walk the same path to enlightenment. A lay Buddhist has to devote his life between spiritual practice and other daily activities on making a living and having to manage all kinds of relationship with the people in his life. How could he focus well on his spiritual practice then? Dzongsar Rinpoche advised that we should not take our usual perceptions of life too seriously as they may not be truly what we think they are. Sometimes, it would be good to blur the lines. He said, when a practitioner has understood that there is no difference between a piece of gold and a piece of stone, and that the space within his palm and that of the universe is the same, then he has attained the state of enlightenment; because Sakyamuni Buddha said so in the past.

There was a group of Chinese students joining us for the group prayer through Internet webcast. Two of them did the following sharing.

Dharma Sister Yue: “Tonight, all eight of us sat together in a circle, unlike in the past. We placed the photo of Buddha Master (Acho Rinpoche) on the table in the centre. When I entered the state of Samadhi, I had a vision that every one of us in the group emitted white light into space. As we sat in a circle, our light collectively formed a pillar of light; Buddha Master appeared within the pillar of light. I could clearly see a circle of purple light appearing on the crown worn by Buddha Master. This circle changed from the shape of a sun into a moon crescent and vice versa, repeatedly. Strong light was emitted from this circle of purple light during its changing of shapes, blessing all of us. I could feel the presence of the spiritual beings around us increased in number very quickly, and they were circling us too. The strong light emitted by Buddha Master increased in its intensity and the pillar of light continued to enlarge in size to infinity. All eight of us could feel the powerful energy of blessing that seems to be locked within our circle. The power of blessing was so great that I began to feel a slight headache and my mom had a similar sensation too. I am very thankful to Buddha Master for his blessing. My homage to Sun-Moon-Lamp Buddha. ”

Dharma Sister Min: “Buddha Master, Mayumla, Dharma Brothers and Sisters, good evening. When I entered the state of Samadhi, it was like watching a movie that I saw many majestic looking Buddhist buildings, some were westernised and some were oriental in design. I was inside a building made of yellow clay. There were many Buddha images made of yellow clay too within the building. We were all there inside the building, doing prayer. After our prayer, we saw a reflection of light on the floor in the shape of a sword. We were full of joy! I am thankful to Buddha Master. My homage to Sun-Moon-Lamp Buddha.”

Lastly, Acho Ripoche told the group that the power of blessing generated from the group prayer tonight was exceptionally huge, as it was augmented by the effect of the sun eclipse. Actually, not only the group in Hangzhou generated the great power of blessing, our group in Singapore did that too. When we visualised our foes, parents of past and present lives, our relatives and all sentient beings of the Six Realms encircling us, practising together with us and receiving the blessing from all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, it can generate the greatest power of blessing benefiting all. When we practise our sadhana with the aspiration, compassion and bodhicitta to help all sentient beings, it can create the largest power of blessing, benefitting the numerous mother sentient beings.

Om Mani Padme Hom.

9-3-2016 Reported by Sun-Moon KFS

How Should We Face Our Final Moment?

Tonight we performed the practice of Cintamani Wealth Enrichment Practice. This is an annual practice that will increase the merits of a practitioner, helping him to achieve a smoother progress in his spiritual practice. A group of Chinese students in China took part in the group prayer too via Internet webcast. One of them, Dharma Sister Hui, had a vision of Yellow Jembhala during the recitation of Cintamani’s mantra. She “saw” Jembhala emitting rainbow light, blessing everyone participating in the prayer. Acho Rinpoche explained that Jembhala is the wealthiest in the universe, with him gracing the occasion would mean that everyone had truly gained a huge share of wealth. Such spiritual wealth does not necessarily translate into a monetary form, as it could also encompass other aspects of our lives including having a good family relationship, good health, good career, good inter-personal relations etc. Such spiritual wealth will provide adequate financial support to a practitioner, affording him some spare time in doing his spiritual practice while taking care of his other basic needs in life. Nowadays, there are many rich men in China but they are too pre-occupied with their businesses that they have no time for spiritual practice; such lifestyle is just meaningless.

Acho Riponche reminded us again that the purpose of our spiritual practice is to prepare us to face our final moment with confidence. When we face our final moment in life, the physical elements of our body (earth-flesh, water-fluid, fire-warmth, wind-breath) will disintegrate naturally. At that juncture, we actually stand a chance to attain Buddhahood during the bardo stage (the intermediate state of existence between death and the next re-birth) when a strong light appears. This light is extremely bright and it is a manifestation of our innate Buddha Nature; we just have to recognise it and merge into it – thus attaining Buddhahood instantaneously. However, if we fail to recognise this light, we stand a second (and the last) chance of attaining Buddahood during this bardo stage, when the second light appears in the form of One Hundred Deities. However, while some of the deities appear in peaceful forms, others appear in wrathful forms; they are actually the manifestation of our innate Buddha Nature too. If we could recognise them and merge into them, we will attain Buddhahood instantaneously during the bardo stage. However, if we fail to recognise and pass the opportunities of enlightenment (these lights disappear very swiftly), we will miss the chance of enlightenment and will now face a rebirth in the cyclic existence of the Six Realms (god, demi-god, human, animal, hell being, hungry ghost). For those who have not done spiritual practice during their life, they will not be able to recognise such critical moments during the bardo stage and will easily miss both opportunities of ultimate liberation; as they will feel terrified seeing the strong light and the wrathful deities, and will try to run away from them, thus falling back swiftly into the cyclic existence.

We need to know that during death, when the four elements of our physical body disintegrate, we will be overwhelmed by the feelings of great sufferings – the entire world appears to be collapsing, with flood and fire breaking out everywhere. The deceased will feel terrified and absolutely helpless. At this juncture, if he has a vision of a man and woman doing their sexual intercourse which arouses his sense of desire, he will swiftly enter the womb of the woman and be reborn into the Six Realms of Existence. Or he could be feeling afraid of a sudden rain and run for shelter, and entering a house or a cave – he will be reborn into the Six Realms of Existence. A myriad of illusions will appear during death, which are very powerful forces that will push the deceased back into the Six Realms of Existence without any strength of resistance.

There was a Tibetan Master who said that nowadays, 99 out of 100 people will certainly fall into the Three Lower Realms (animal, hell being, hungry ghost) after death because he saw (with his celestial eye) almost all the people walking on a street manifesting the appearance of sentient beings of the Three Lower Realms. They were, however, just ordinary people but not big villains. Why so? Actually, our current society is progressing on the wrong path, with the general community sharing and teaching the wrong values including our educational system - promoting individualism, materialism, competition etc. Our ancient society was different as it propagated the good value system based upon the teachings of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism -  promoting oneness, spirituality, collaborative spirit etc. Also, when a society becomes affluent, the rich will tend to kill the lives of animal for their eating enjoyment too. The world is currently in a state of chaos, with US, Russia, Middle East, North Korea etc., constantly fighting one another in wars. If the people in this world do not realize the importance of spiritual cultivation and continue to misbehave in the current way, they will have nowhere else to go but fall into the Three Lower Realms; especially those who instigated the wars and who killed others, who will only fall into the lower and more miserable hells.

Grand Master stressed that every practitioner must do his sadhana (meditative practice) at least once a day. If a practitioner aspires to attain a spiritual response with his principal deity, he must first attain the mental state of this principal deity. For instance, if his principal deity is Avalokitesvara known for being the most compassionate one, he must fully develop his sense of compassion to be of an equal state as that of Avalokitesvara. And he must choose only one principal deity for his life-long practice. Grand Master also said that if a student puts in 100% of his efforts in doing the practice, he will be able to attain Buddhahood on his own. If a student only puts in 80% of his efforts in doing the practice, Grand Master will come to bring him to the Buddhaland when the latter draws his last breath in this life. If a student only puts in 60% of his efforts in doing the practice, Grand Master will, very reluctantly, come to bring him to the Buddhaland when the latter dies. If a student puts in less than 60% of his efforts in doing his practice, Grand Master will not come to help him during his death – he needs to take care of himself then. 

Acho Rincpohe stressed that a practitioner must first attain the state of emptiness of self (egoless) before he could achieve a spiritual response with the Buddha and Bodhisattva. A practitioner cannot feel attached to anything in life, including his family, wealth etc.; otherwise such things will manifest during his death and pull him back into the Six Realms of Existence. Our daily sadhana is in fact very important, as it is designed to prepare us to face death in the correct way – recognising the path to enlightenment. Every step in the sadhana must be done with proper visualisation. Although the visualisation need not be too detailed, the key features of every deity being invoked must be visualised. For instance, when we invoke Majushri Bodhisattva, we should visualise his sword of wisdom; when we invoke Avalokitesvara, we should visualise his thousand arms; when we invoke Acala, we should visualise his burning flames etc. One day, we will finally be able to touch the hearts of these deities during the invocation with our mental strengths, and they will actually appear before us. We should also visualise the numerous sentient beings surrounding us, doing the practice together and showered by the blessing of lights from the deities. These sentient beings include our foes, parents of our present and past lives, friends and relatives, and all sentient beings in the Six Realms of Existence. This act of kindness can really help all sentient beings in relieving their sufferings and setting them on the path to enlightenment eventually. How well we can do at our final moment will depend solely on our daily preparations; it is not something that should be taken lightly. We need to practise letting go of our attachments to our worldly concerns, and constantly remind ourselves that this human world is just an illusion, and the Six Realms of Existence is just an illusion too. We should only be thinking of the Buddha and Bodhisattva at all times, as this is the only way to liberate ourselves from the Six Realms of existence at our final moment.

Acho Rinpoche also reminded us that when we turn the Mani Wheel in our hand, we should recite the Six Syllable Mantra softly to focus our attention inward. When we do the recitation of mantra, we should visualise the appearance of Avalokitesvara who shower his blessing on all sentient beings in the form of light. We should not be distracted by others during the recitation and should not be engaged in a conversation with others while turning the wheel in our hand. We practise for the purpose of actually changing and improving ourselves, but not showing off a false appearance to others.

Om Mani Padme Hom.

This is a teaching given by Acho Rinpoche on 4-3-201, extracted and reported by Sun-Moon KFS

X-Tour: Hangzhou & Putuoshan in China

 （Putuoshan)

 (West Lake)

 (Lingyin Temple)

(Xixi Wetland)

We just returned from Shangrila in August recently, with our next trip being planned sometime next year, in 2016. However, when I read about the up-coming Buddhist ceremony which would be held on 13 December 2015 in Hong Kong, presided over by Grand Master, I decided to make another trip soon to Hangzhou and Putuoshan, as part of our trip to HK, in view of a very special spiritual connection between us and the teaching that would be transmitted in this ceremony.

There were quite a few students who took refuge in me through our Internet webcast; it is time for us to meet one another now. So, once again, we boarded an “iron bird” on 6 December 2016, and headed towards Hangzhou, transiting via Hong Kong. 

As per every X-Tour, rainbows of circular shape and vertical shape appeared around our flights throughout the whole period of both flights, escorting us from Singapore to Hong Kong, and then from Hong Kong to Hangzhou. The dharma protectors always keep us company. I felt so touched! The day before our arrival in Hangzhou, it snowed heavily – a rare occurrence indeed and an obvious  sign of auspiciousness.

We only stayed in Hangzhou for one night. On the following morning, we departed for the Pure Land of Avalokitesvara in this secular world – Putuoshan. My last visit to Putushan was some twenty years ago. This time, we planned to visit the Purple Bamboo Groove, Refuse-to-leave Avalokitesvara Temple, Sound of Wave Cave, Huiji Temple, Avalokitesvara of the Southern Sea, Dharma Rain Temple and Sanskrit Voice Cave.

There were five halls in the Dharma Rain Temple. After visiting the first three, we went straight to the fifth one. After finishing our prayer at the fifth hall, I finally noticed that the fourth hall was just beside the fifth one. It enshrined a statue of the Thousand Armed Avalokitesvara. We could not enter this hall because the door was locked. We just remained outside the hall while reciting the Great Compassion Mantra and paying our homage to the Thousand Armed Avalokitesvara. When we were about to leave, someone suddenly yelled: “A monk is inviting us to go inside the hall to do our prayer!” At this stage, the door to this hall was already opened. So, we went in to do our prayer. On our way out of the temple, our local tour guide, Lee, told me that the monk who was in-charged of this hall saw me and told her that he recognized me. He told her that I am a Buddhist master and I visited this temple in the past. I was utterly surprised by his remarks! Because I dressed like a layman on that day and I had never been to this temple in the past. “This monk is indeed very unusual，“ I was thinking to myself. Lee said, “One’s appearance is a reflection of one’s inner state of being. Although you dressed like a layman, any wise man can tell who you really are based on your unusual demeanor…….”

There was another special experience at the Sanskrit Voice Cave where we recited the heart mantra of Avalokitesvara. Suddenly, one of the members passed me a white khatta as offering to Avalokitesvara. After I threw it out into the space before us, a sudden gust of wind appeared and blew the khatta back towards me. I tried throwing it out again, and this time another gust of wind appeared and blew the khatta upward gracefully, and finally hanged it on the rock about 10 meters in height. What an amazing phenomenon! Later, Dharma Brother Shao told me that he had a vision of Avalokitesvara accepting my offering of khatta and returning it to me. He also had a vision of many resident practitioners who came forward to pay their respect……

When we returned to Hangzhou from Putuoshan, we visited Lingyin Temple (made famous by the Crazy Monk – Jigong). We paid our homage at all the main halls. Dharma Sister Ju told me that there should be one more Medicine Buddha Hall, according to the pamphlet she picked up at the temple. However, I had a feeling that there should be one more Jigong Hall somewhere. When we made a right turn, we saw a Medicine Buddha Hall indeed. However, a small Jigong Hall was just standing beside it! We entered the Jigong Hall to pay our respect to Jigong. The moment I stepped into this hall, Jigong immediately descended and gave his blessing to our group. Dharma Brother Hong suddenly sprang into action, forming the mudra of Jigong and knelt down before Acho…… Subsequently, Jigong followed us throughout the rest of our trip. What an inconceivable spiritual connection between us and Jigong! 

We toured the scenic Xixi Wetland. According to legend, Song Emperor, Song Gao Zong, saw this place and was very impressed by its beautiful landscape. As he could not take it away, he said, “Xixi may stay.” This was the place where a Chinese movie “If You Are The One” was made, starring Geyou and Shuqi. They said the exact line in the movie.  Xixi was indeed a place that makes one longing to stay…..

Our group prayers on the last two nights in Hangzhou were even more unbelievable! Dharma Sister Li, after taking refuge in me in Hangzhou, had a vision of Avalokitesvara and Acho Rinpoche descending during the group prayer and conferring blessing in the form of light to her brother who had fallen sick but was somewhere else. When she was going through the refuge rite, she knelt before me and stared into my eyes – she saw bright golden light emitted from my eyes; she was so touched that she cried three times later and hugged me tightly. Dharma Sister Yue’s father had some leg injury and so he had to sit on a chair during the group prayer. When he entered the state of Samadhi, he suddenly felt that he had ascended to the sky above, and he could even see a snow capped mountain beneath him. After the group prayer, he realised that he could now sit on the floor despite the earlier leg injury. Dharma Sister Yue’s mother had even more fascinating stories to share…… Earlier on, Dharma Sister Yue’s mother had to visit her father (grand father of Yue) regularly at a hospital while he was being hospitalised. She recited the heart mantra of Acho Rinpoche while visiting the hospital each time, blessing the many sentient beings and patients there. After which, her left middle finger became swollen badly and she asked me for blessing. On the following day, she found her finger back to normal again!

Our final stop was Hong Kong. We attended a Shambala Empowerment Ceremony with about thirty thousand attendees. It was presided over by our Grand Master. During his sharing, Grand Master said that the Japanese and Koreans are all descendants of the Chinese – we are a family! Why are we still fighting over the ownership of Senkaku Island (Diayu Dao) then? Grand Master also revealed the exact location of Shambala – it is somewhere around the ancient country of Xi Xia, beneath a mountain called Dang Xiang. However, this ancient country that existed more than eight hundred years ago had a very large territorial boundary – with Yellow River on its east, Jade Gate on its west, Xiao Gate on its south, a huge dessert on its north, and a total land area of more than ten thousands “li” (old unit of measurement for distance), with Mt. He Lan within its region. Where on earth is this Mt. Dang Xiang then? In our new book titled “In search of the Real Shangrila”, we mentioned the mysterious Shambala. Now, Grand Master said that the real Shambala exists underneath Mt. Dang Xiang. Where is Mt. Dang Xiang? So what if we know the exact location of Shamala? It is actually inaccessible to an ordinary person because it is a world made of rainbow light! So, it will be more important for us to practise the Vajrayana sadhana with vigor. I firmly believe that when we have truly accomplished our practice, Shambala Pure Land will naturally appear before us……

  When I just stepped out of the event hall where the ceremony was held, two Dharma Sisters asked me, consecutively, unplanned, “How come Grand Master and you said the same things? 'We are a family, the whereabout of Shangrila, Vajrayogini, Avalokitesvara, and Shuqi…..'”

Acho Rinpoche

16-12-2015