Fujisan's Kyareng

Friday, August 22, 2014

Introduction to Buddhism

ནང་ཆོས་ངོ་སྤྲོད་སྙིང་བསྡུས།    
Introduction to Buddhism
by Ngagrampa Lobsang Sherab
August 13th 2014, Gyumed Monastery

Ngagrampa Lobsang Sherab of Gyumed Monastery in Hunsur gave a brief introduction on Buddhism to a group of Buddhist devotees who visited the Monastery. He started with the need of religion in our life. We all want happiness and abhor suffering. And this concept of happiness also differs from the view point of people with small, middle and big perspective.

In Buddhism, you need to accept the three jewels: Buddha, Dharma and Sangha as the source of refuge. This is called kyabdro. In order to make kyabdro strong, you should have fear and faith. Fear that if you don't do good thing, you may get reborn in bad rebirth. Faith that the refuge in three jewels will deliver your from this bad rebirth.

Religion can be practiced from body speech and mind. One done though mind is the best and lasting. You may do prostration with your body, and recite prayers, but in your mind you have hatred and animosity. This religion performed by body and speech serves no purpose as religion. In Buddhism, mind is important. It is the motivation of the act that counts.
Debate session at the assembly hall

Buddha, Dharma and Sangha can be compared to a Doctor, medicine and the nurse. Just as doctor looks after our ailment, the Buddha looks after our problem.  Just as a doctor prescribes us medicine, the Buddha gives us teaching to show us our way.  Just as nurses looks after us, the Sangh community help us in our practice. These three jewels need to be understood and respected in terms of two pang-lang - what is to be respected and what is to be avoided. Any object representing the Buddha should be revered irrespective of the material texture or the quality of the statue. Taking refuge in earthly gods and deities should be avoided. In Dharma, all written words are sacred, therefore even a single written word should be given due respect. Any teaching encouraging hatred and animosity in the community should be avoided. In Sangha, all monks and practitioners should be respected, and bad company should be avoided.

Then one needs to study and follow the tripitikas of Buddhist teaching: Vinanya, the discipline; Sutra and the wisdom - བསླབ་པ་གསུམ་སྟེ།  ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས།  ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་དང་།  ཤེས་རབ།. Vinayana teaching is about how to conduct ourselves to follow the path of enlightenment. It talks about avoiding ten non-virtuous acts in our life: three of body, four of speech and three of mind. Three of body being: taking life, stealing and sexual misconduct. Four of speech being: telling lie, divisive talk, abusive word and gossip. Three of mind being: wrong view, envy and malicious thought. Therefore, the Vinaya teaching is the foundation which the practitioner needs to follow to practise the Buddhist teaching. It is the base on which the seeds of sutra and tantra could grow and flourish to lead the practioner to the path of Nirvana. Unfortunately, present day trend is that many try to grab the higher teaching without first trying to build the base on which the higher teaching could grow.

This is a brief teaching by Ngagrampa Lobsang Sherab, he invited questions from the participants and ansewered to their satisfaction. In Gyumed monastery, Ngagrampa is title is used for someone who has done equivalent of Lharampa in Sera, Drepung and Gaden Monasteries.

 Above is a note taken by the writer, error or omission cannot be ruled out. Serious students are requested to consult and confirm from authentic teachers      

 

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Dolma Tsitamani Empowerment

Khenrinpoche of Gyumed Monastery, Hunsur

Dolma Tsitamani Empowerment
by Gyurmed Khenrinpoche Tashi Tsering
14th August 2014, Thursday

Gyumed Khenrinpoche gave Dolma Tsitamani empowerment to a group of Buddhist devotees headed by Mr. Hiraoka of Seifu Gakkuen. He started with a brief introduction of Tibetan Buddhism, and how this empowerment is a part of Vajrajyana Buddhism of Tibet. We say Tibetan Buddhism, but it originated from India. Buddhism lost its vigour and followers in India, and Tibetan learnt and preserved it so perfectly that it came to be known as Tibetan Buddhism.

Buddhism is broadly categorized as: Hinayana and Mahayana. The former is based on the teaching of Sutra, whereas the later is based on the teaching of both Sutra and Tantra. The difference between the two vehicles is that Hinayana adopts wisdom aspect of the Buddhist practice, and attainment of Nirvana for oneself. The Mahayana adopts both Wisdom and Method aspect of Buddhist practice and attainment of enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. Wisdom aspect of Buddhist practice is to realize the true nature of every phenomenon as empty of objective existence - wisdom to understand emptiness. སྟོང་ཉིད་རྟོགས་པའི་ཤེས་རབ།

This understanding of the emptiness of all phenomena of independence existence is discussed under four schools of Buddhist philosophy: Vaibhashika, Suatanrika, Cintamani and Madhyamika. Of which Madhyamika is most popular. General understanding of the philosophy is that all the things that we see are composition of different things and that there is no objective or intrinsic existence. We name and designate the things; there is no independence existence of the things by itself. Therefore, all phenomena exist subjectively but are empty of objective existence.

Practice of Dolma Tsitamani is Tantra, where Method aspect of Buddhist practice is engaged. The Method aspect of the practice is generation and realization of Boddhicitta mind. This means to practice with a sincere motivation to attain enlightenment for the sake of all other sentient beings. Empowerment of Dolma Tsitamani is done to receive the blessing of Boddhisattva Dolma and enhance the effect of the practice. In order to meditate on deities, it is important to know the emptiness. In this Tantra practice one need to meditate and visualize oneself as Dolma. In order to do so, one needs to receive proper empowerment to ahead with the practice. And the empowerment is to be received with sincere motivation to benefit all the sentient beings.

Soldeb, a request is made to the Lama with Mandala offering to grant the empowerment. This is followed by taking the vow of Boddhicitta to help and benefit others through this empowerment. While receiving empowerment, you have to think the deity and the lama as same. You are receiving the blessing of the deity through the Lama. Just like a mirror is needed in between the wood and sun to generate fire, a Lama is needed to feel the presence of the deity within you. Five types of Dolma in white, red, blue, yellow and green is visualized at crown, throat, heart, navel and the sacred chakra. Repetition of Tara mantra "Om tare tutare ture saha" is done after the Lama's recitation, while doing so one need to visualize a Green Dolma in the bosom of the Lama and the mantra coming out from his mouth getting straight into your mouth and dissolving into the Green Tara within your heart. Recitation of mantra in our daily life is important to feel the presence of the deity with us.  
Novice monks practicing debate in the Chora

This is how the empowerment of Dolma Tsitamani was done by Khenrinpoche of Gyumed Monastery at Hunsur in South India.

Above is a note taken by the writer, error or omission cannot be ruled out. Serious students are requested to consult and confirm from authentic teachers       

Friday, August 8, 2014

Nying-jemo la, Beautiful you! 美しいあなたよ!

སྙིང་རྗེ་མོ་ལགས།  Beautiful you!  
美しい あなたよ!
 
The modern Tibetan song "Nyingjemo la" is a very nice and beautiful song. It sings about the Tibetan Zomo, a very special breed of Tibetan cow - source of milk, butter and cheese. The song has the Tibetan nomadic environment and air. Comparison of Venus with a beautiful girl is interesting; it shows the Tibetan nomad have also understood the beauty of Venus. The song is also said to be inspired from Sherpa or Yolmo of Tibetan origin in Nepal. In that way it is a tribute to all the Tibetan ancestral tongue, irrespective of nationality. The song talks about the Peacock of India and its beauty. It is a great song by Tsering Gyumae la to let us bask and sink our mind in Tibetan song and its beauty. To further the message of this beautiful song, I took liberty to rejoice and have it in this blog to share with the people around the world.
 
སྙིང་རྗེ་མོ་ལགས།  
མཛོ་མོ་ལ་སྤང་གི་སྟེང་ལ།  སྙིང་རྗེ་མོ་ལ།  མཛོ་མོ་སྤུ་ཁ་ཡག་ག
དེ་འདྲའི་མཛོ་མོ་ཡག་ག  སྙིང་རྗེ་མོ་ལ།  དཀར་ཆུ་ཐོན་སྐྱེད་ཡག་ག
དཀར་ཡོལ་ལ་དཀར་བཟང་ནང་ལ།  སྙིང་རྗེ་མོ་ལ།  སེང་གེ་འོ་མ་བླུག་ཡོད།
ཡིད་ཕྲོག་ལྷ་མོ་ཁྱེད་ཀྱིས། སྙིང་རྗེ་མོ་ལ།  འོ་ཕུད་བཞེས་རོག་གནང་དང
ཧེ་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་ཧེ་ཧེ་་་་ཧེ་ཧེ་ཧེ་་་་­་་།  ཧོ་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་ཧོ་ཧོ་་་་ཧོ་ཧོ་ཧོ་་་་­་་།
ལྷ་རི་ལ་གྱང་ཐོའི་རི་ལ། སྙིང་རྗེ་མོ་ལ།  དར་ལྕོག་བཙུག་རྒྱུ་བྱུང་ན།
དར་ཤིང་ལ་ཀོང་པོའི་རོང་ནས། སྙིང་རྗེ་མོ་ལ།  འདྲེན་དགོས་བྱུང་ནས་འདྲེན་བགྱི།
རྒྱ་གར་ལ་ཤར་གྱི་རི་ལ།  སྙིང་རྗེ་མོ་ལ།  རྨ་བྱ་མང་པོ་འདུག་སྟེ།
རྒྱལ་པོའི་དབུ་གདུགམཉེས་པའི།  སྙིང་རྗེ་མོ་ལ།  རྨ་བྱ་གཅིག་ལས་མིན་འདུག
སྐར་མ་ལ་བརྒྱ་ཡི་དཀྱིལ་ནས།  སྙིང་རྗེ་མོ་ལ།  པ་སངས་འདྲ་བ་མི་འདུག
བུ་མོ་བརྒྱ་ཡི་དཀྱིལ་ནས།  སྙིང་རྗེ་མོ་ལ།   ཁྱེད་རང་འདྲ་བ་མི་འདུག
ཧེ་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་ཧེ་ཧེ་་་་ཧེ་ཧེ་ཧེ་་་་­་་།  ཧོ་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་ཧོ་ཧོ་་་་ཧོ་ཧོ་ཧོ་་་་­་་།
དྨའི་ལ་ལྡུམ་རའི་ནང་ལ།   སྙིང་རྗེ་མོ་ལ།   མཛེས་མས་གླུ་དབྱངས་ལེན་གྱིས།
གླུ་དབྱངས་ལ་སྙན་རང་དྲག་ནས།   སྙིང་རྗེ་མོ་ལ།   མ་ཉན་རང་ཉན་ཐུག་སོང།།
ཧེ་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་ཧེ་ཧེ་་་་ཧེ་ཧེ་ཧེ་་་་­་་།   ཧོ་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་ཧོ་ཧོ་་་་ཧོ་ཧོ་ཧོ་་་་­་་།
མཛོ་མོ་ལ་སྤང་གི་སྟེང་ལ།   སྙིང་རྗེ་མོ་ལ།   མཛོ་མོ་སྤུ་ཁ་ཡག་ག
དེ་འདྲའི་མཛོ་མོ་ཡག་  སྙིང་རྗེ་མོ་ལ།  དཀར་ཆུ་ཐོན་སྐྱེད་ཡག་ག
 
ཐུགས་སྣང་།  གཞས་ཚིག་ངོ་མ་དེ་གཞས་ཀྱི་མགོ་བརྗོད་བཞིན་སྙིང་རྗེ་མོ་རེད་འདུག  གཞས་འདི་ཧ་ཅང་གི་སྙན་པོ་འདུག་ན། གུས་པས་དྲ་རྒྱའི་ནང་ཡོད་པའི་གཞས་ཚིག་དེའི་གཞས་འཕྲིན་ཡག་པོ་འཕྲོད་ཐབས་སུ་གཅོས་སྒྲིག་ཞུ་རྒྱུའི་རང་དབང་ལོངས་སུ་སྤྱོད་པ་ཡིན།  དེ་ཡང་གཞས་པ་དང་གཞས་ཚིག་བྲིས་མཁན་གཉིས་ལ་སྙིང་ཐག་པ་ནས་གུས་བཀུར་དང་གཞས་འཕྲིན་ཀུན་ལ་འཕྲོད་ཐབས་ཀྱི་ཀུན་སློང་ཡིན་པ་དགོངས་བཞེས་ཞུ།  ཚེ་རིང་འགྱུར་མེད་ལགས་ནི་བོད་པའི་གཞས་པ་གྲགས་ཅན་ཞིག་ཡིན།  ཁོང་ནི་བོད་གཞས་ལ་དགའ་མོས་གནང་མཁན་ཚང་མས་ནམ་ཡང་བརྗེད་ཀྱི་མ་རེད།
 
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▼ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0e9cXVg1no
 
Hi Beautiful!
 
Zomos [1]on the pasture - beautiful! Zomos with good colorful skins
Such a good breed of zomos - beautiful! The dairy products [Karchu] [2] too are good
In a good white beautiful cup - beautiful! I have Lion's milk in it
You, the enchanting fairy - beautiful! Please take the initial sip of the milk
He………he he……he he Ho. …………….ho ho ………….ho ho.ho

On the hill of Lhari-gyang-tho [3]- beautiful! If I could hoist a flag
Wooden flagpole from Kongpo - beautiful! I will bring it if need be
In the hills of East India - beautiful! So many peacocks are there though
One suitable for the King's parasol - beautiful! There is only one peacock
From the hundreds of star - beautiful! There is nothing like Venus
From the hundreds of girl - beautiful! There is no one like you
He………he he……he he Ho. …………….ho ho ………….ho ho.ho
In the lotus garden - beautiful! A beauty is singing
So melodious is the song - beautiful! I can't help being captivated
He………he he……he he Ho. …………….ho ho ………….ho ho.ho
Zomos on the pasture - beautiful! Zomo with good colorful skins
Such a good breed of zomos - beautiful! The dairy products [Karchu] too are good
1.  Zomo: A special breed of Tibetan cow, offspring of ox and dir [a female yak] or the opposite
2. Karchu: Dairy products meaning curd, milk, butter and cheese
3. Lhari-gyang-tho is the hill the first Tibetan King Nyatri-Tsenpo descended from the sky around 600 BC
 
Note: The original lyric which I found in the internet, I don't know if I got the right one or not. As the song is too good, I took liberty to edit the lyric as found in the internet to enhance the message the song has intended. It is done with sincere motivation to appreciate the singer and lyricist and to get the message across. Tsering Gyurmae is a great Tibetan singer; he will be remembered by all those who love Tibetan songs.