OM RETREAT (24-26 Jun 2017)

5th Om Retreat 2017 at a new venue: Singapore Putian Association.

A cosy hall which was well decorated and surprisingly this year I was allocated at front rows, being first time so near the stage, the sangha and real cose to Chenrezig!!! 

Yes, on such a blessed seat, with His blessings, I was wide awake and able to focus relatively well during the chanting session. Though during breaks, I felt tired but somehow when I returned to my blessed seat, miraculously, I felt energised. :-)

Rabsang Rinpoche gave teachings with translation to Chinese by Lama Dawa and then to English by sister Michell (our Singapore pride ~ Schooling of Dharma translation ~ who had helped to translate teachings of Karmapa on Heart Sutra to English in New Delhi in 2016!)

On 24th Sat afternoon, I was glad to attend Rabsang Rinpoche's teachings on Seven Limb Prayers and used that frequently throughout the retreat to reflect and enhance my chanting motivation. 

(Summary of what I could recall below and sincere apology to visitors (if any)  for any incorrect and incomplete recording of the wonderful teaching...)

Seven Limb Prayer is a good way to purify negatives and accumulate merits 累积福报
福德merit
智德wisdom
7 Limb Prayer include both merit and wisdom accumulation.

1. Prostration 顶礼
Prostration is antidote to pride 去除敖慢心
We prostrate with body speech and mind 身语意
There are Full as well as short prostration.
Scholars write commentaries and view prostration as a way to express faith.
Prostration is a means to show respect as religion as well as an expression of respect by non religious people. 

There is
Body prostration with physical full prostration 
Speech with chant of prayers
Mind with faith in Triple Gems. 
We clasp palms to represent eliminating negativity before our forehead-body,  throat -speech, and chest- mind.

Remember the Buddha's infinite merit is boundless.
Head, hands and knee down on floor represent  elimination/ purification of 5 poison of afflictions/obscurations. 
Such accumulation of merits purify our pride.
Prostration is also the Best exercise to keep healthy and accumulation of merits.

2. Offering 供养
Offer could be what we possess or via visualision.
Many ways of offering. 上供下施 Offer to Triple Gems or the other realms.
Offering helps eliminate stringiness. 
We may Offer what we own and do not own.
E.g See a flower and visualise it as an offer to Triple Gems.
We should offer with arouse of Bodhicitta and such offering with vast heart has great merits verus making great offerings but with small goal which merits may not multiply as much.
One who likes to sing and dance can offer with joy the song or dance. The state of mind  is important that makes it different. 
Buddha is wise and for sake of sentient beings  allow different methods.

3. Confession 忏悔
As humans, we had done many negative deeds over countless lives. 做过记得不记得,懂与不懂的恶业.  If we do not purify negative deeds, they can become serious problems.
We need to confess them as we need to purify ourselves as Buddha and no other beings can help us purify except ourselves. 

When confess, we use 4 power
1) Reliance eg. Chenrezig, a deity to confess to whom we confess over here  依止力仠悔对象
2) Antidote to nullify negative deed 
Eg. Recitation and visualisation are antidote 对制力 咒语慈悲心
3) Regret:  recognise seriousness of such negative deeds 忏悔力 认识严重性
4) Resolve not to do it again.
Eg. Poison drank and will not drink it again after knowing 决力 过去无明现在不要再造恶业

Using the 4 powers we will be able to purify the deeds.
Against  对制憎恨心

4) Rejoicing 
We should rejoice in merits of others, such as flower offering by others.
It is antidote Against jealousy. The person is rich and beautiful because of their accumulation of merits in past. 

Jealousy won't affect the person in any way hence Rejoicing is what a smart person should do.
Reciting Mani mantra which is Essence of 84,000 Dharma  teachings and rejoicing in each other's merit accumulation here is important. 

5) Requesting for turning of wheel of Dharma ( Teachings )
For 49 days Buddha did not teach till the heavenly king and 4faced Buddha present couch and wheel before He teach at Varanasi.
Now we should also request teachings from current great teachers.
善知识~ 法身佛, 报身佛, 普通人
We can only now request for teachings from .报身佛. and ordinary beings.
This is Antidote to ignorance.

6) Praying for long life of great masters
Many great masters are Manifestation of Buddha and Bodhisattva, because of them we can be trained.
We may recite long life prayers and mantras and do life liberation for the masters .

7) Dedication of merits
Merits may disappear if we regret or anger arises so we should dedicate to deposit it to Merit bank.
Drop single drop of water to ocean so if ocean is there, water is there.
Milarepa and masters had done dedication of merits to sponsors below the hill and similarly in this retreat , we dedicate merits to retreat sponsors and they will benefit and plant good seeds.
Hence dedication is important and here we had done meritorious deeds today to dedicate to all sentient beings for well being of all...

Rejoice in the offering and participation of All in the Mani retreat!!!

Next, he taught on common preliminaries practice ~ 
The 4 Thoughts Foundation for Main practice. 

1) Precious human life
Rare and precious die and rebirth due to merit accumulated over various past life.
It is extremely precious & rare that we have the 
8 opportunities and 10 perfections so we should Cherish and make good use of it.

Humans are smartest and via virtuous deeds can attain Enlightenment compared to other beings, likewise humans can easily harm lots of beings so we must be careful with our deeds and make good use of our human life.Comparatively, 

Hell beings or hungry ghosts or animals have no chance to practice;
Animals may be smart but not able to train its mind on Renunciation and Bodhicitta.
We are not born in place with no Dharma or with disabilities. 
We are not in Heavenly or Asuras realm  so we have 8 opportunities to practice. 

Hence, Human realm has good chance to practice.

10 perfections ~ 
5 self perfections
1. Precious Human life 
2. Born in Dharma available place
3. Contact with Dharma
4. Not born with disabilities 
5. Not with wrong views 

5 other perfections
1. Buddha has come to human realm 
2. Buddha turns the Dharma wheel for teachings (useless if come and not teach)
3. Dharma had not disappeared  yet
4. We have contact with Dharma 
5. We have Loving kindness and compassion to others 

We hold this treasure human life in our hand.

25/6 morning
We should make good use of our human life.
We already possess, we need to rejoice and think I have this precious human life with this mindset recite the mantra.

25/6 evening 
Since we started to learn Dharma, all the causes of becoming Buddha is present.
Faith in Triple Gems gives one blessings.
Analogy of planting seed to grow on land ~  Seed is like faith. 

Without which cannot grow any grains.

3 Faiths

Wishing kind of faith 欲求信心
~ infinite compassion and wisdom which you wish to attain too

Great faith 信心信心

~ You see great capabilities hence great faith in Buddha

Belief in strengths of Buddha 相信的信心
~ Blessing from Buddha is everywhere like suns rays boundless and with equanimity as long as one has faith. You can say Buddha is within you but without faith you cannot see.

Buddha's blessing everywhere because of His great compassion .

We have pure faith in Chenrezig.
We must believe in ourselves with 100% faith  as Chenrezig with confidence~Vajra or Deity pride.

26/6 morning
Impermanence 人生无常
We strive for material gains thinking there is permanence. 
With understanding that things change, when we encounter difficulties of life, we will know all phenomenon change moment by moment and will be able to handle difficulties and challenges better.With above understanding, we will Cherish time to practise. 

All external things change and inner of human beings change too.
Time of death is indeterminable and how one dies is also uncertain.
Birth and death, Hugh buildings,  gatherings dispersed are examples of impermanence. 
It is Important to contemplate on impermanence to remind us not to be lazy and develop renunciation.  When someone understand impermanence, one will handle daily life better with understanding that there are ups and downs in life .
Precious human life is also impermanent and so we should resolve to practise and learn well from today so that we do not regret wasting this precious human life.

Cause and Effect / Result 因果不虚 

With or without belief whether one believes in karma or not are, we are subject to Karma because it is a natural law.

Do good get good results and vice versa.
Some results materialise which can be seen immediately or in future lives. 
Positive conditions in current time life arise because of what we did in past.
For future lives, we need to do good deeds for happiness and joy and we are reminded bad deeds will result in suffering.

Some karma may ripen 
a) Immediate see immediate result e.g smile back or frown at each other.
Story of a person caught a rat and want to set it to fire and the rat ran to his home,  destroying the home. 

b) Indeterminable result e.g. a bad deed but with repentence 
Puified the result via doing good deed.

c) Do deed now but result ripen future lives.

Everyone wants happiness but does actions with opposite results. E.g. Plant grain for bead plant.

We must do more good deeds to get happiness results. Stop bad acts to eradicate and stop suffering and affliction. 
Sometimes we feel once in touch with Dharma, more bad things happen.

This is because of bad deeds conditions ripen but it is sometimes better to ripen in this life as human so we can handle it in better capacity. 
...

We have obtained this precious human life and this opportunity to practice together this precious teaching of Chenrezig.
We should rejoice each other that we have this opportunity to do it now .

------

On June 26, 2017 afternoon, we also celebrated the 800th Anniversary of Lord Jigten Sumgon's Maha Parinirvana. 

Lama Dawa gave a good history of the founder : Lord Jigten Sumgon and also about the 1st reincarnation of Garchen Rinpoche ~ Gar Dampa, who was already one of his main disciples then!
A replicate of the story can be found below:
...At one time a naga-king named Meltro Zichen went to Drikung for teachings. Jigten Sumgön sent a message to his disciples to remain in seclusion in order that those with miracle powers would not harm the naga and those without such power would not be harmed themselves. 
The message was received by everyone except the Mahasiddhi Gar Dampa, who was meditating in the depths of a long cave. When the naga arrived, he made a thundering noise which was heard by all including Gar Dampa.
Gar Dampa came out of the cave to see what was happening and saw a frightful, dark-blue snake whose length encircled the monastery three times and whose head was peering in the window of the palace. 
Without examining the situation, he thought the naga was there to harm his guru and thus manifested himself as a giant garuda and chased the naga away. 
At Rolpa Trang, there is a smooth, clear print left by the garuda when it landed on a rock. Near the river of Kyung-Ngar Gel, there are marks left by both the garuda and the naga. ...
(source: http://www.drikung.org/drikung-kagyu-lineage/lord-jigten-sumgon)

Thanks to his story, we are reminded of Garchen Rinpoche and the teachers and motivated to chant well to dedicate merits to all teachers...:-)

26/6 evening

Fivefold graduated path of Mahamudra 大手印五支道
1) Bodhicitta 
2) Deity practice 
3) Guru Devotion
4) View of Mahamudra
5) Dedication 

When practising Mani mantra, we should arouse with Bodhicitta for sake of all beings. 
Visualise self as Chenrezig and that is our Deity practice 
Above head of Chenrezig is Amitabha Buddha.
We can visualise our root Guru above our head or if not then Drubwang Rinpoche, a great teacher and source of the Mani retreat.
When we do the practice, we had our mind rest naturally, not grasping to have direct view of Mahamudra.
We have and at end of session Dedication .
If we do correctly, we had practiced Mahamudra!!!

And Rabsang Rinpoche sang us the Dharma Song on Drikung Kagyu's Mahamudra.

(How I wish to find the English translation soon)

Rejoice in the Completion of 5th Mani Retreat!!!

Gratitude to All for able to attend another Rejoiceful retreat!!! _/|\_

OM RETREAT (2-4 SEP 2016)

Feeling am wasting precious human life, 
Seeking for more meaningful life and job...
Many of us may be making/chanting Aspiration Bodhicitta but not knowing how to convert to Action Bodhicitta.
Am glad attended this retreat that Rabsang Rinpoche explained Action Bodhicitta is actioning via practising the six paramitas. 
And by participating in the retreat, we are practising Action Bodhicitta! ;-)

1) Generosity- our aspirations, visualization of making offerings and dedication of merits
物与法布施~发心，观想上供下济众生，回向

2) Discipline - adherance to rules in retreat, stop negative acts
持戒- 行善断恶

3) Endurance - enduring hardship such as overcoming discomfort such as bodily pain from long sitting or coldness
忍辱- 克服种种困难

4) Diligence - here at retreat from 9am-9pm we are chanting hard
精进- 在法会中努力地念诵

5）Meditation - samadhi can be achieved via focusing our mind via visualization
禅定- 观想-心安住在一处

6）Wisdom - understand what we do
智慧 - 了解什么是善恶，为何要归依,发菩提心等正解

Hence, in a retreat, the 6 paramitas are practised.
That's great comfort...

Anytime, Anywhere, Rejoice in opportunity to practice...
OM MANI PADME HUNG _/|\_

OM RETREAT 2015

Finally, able to attend Om Retreat where Lama Dawa is again one of the chant masters and this is also the first time I hear Rabsang Rinpoche's chanting! Serene Beginning Melody chant of "Om Mani Padme Hung" by Rabsang Rinpoche motivated the hall of participants to follow his chant harmoniously. It's like the KMSPKS Mani retreat days are back... 

Nubpa Rinpoche came down the stage to give empowerment to participants.

Light offerings on 2nd evening.

Auspicious prayers at end of retreat generally involved throwing flowers but to be environmental friendly and save efforts of cleaning later, Salute to Lama Dawa's suggestion for us to hold high the flower offerings at command and to bring home after that. Very Environmental Friendly! :-)

-------

Below is summary of  teachings provided by Nubpa Rinpoche during the retreat and may be incomplete (more for own reference). For those with affinity to read them, pardon is sought for any misunderstanding or incorrect records.


We must generate the Right motivation for empowerment.
It should be for sake of all sentient beings , with motivation pure and sincere: Bodhicitta 
为救度众生得佛果.
This Empowerment of body, speech, mind of Chenrezig
empowers us the Right to visualise oneself as Chenrezig and go into meditative stage, with strong connection and blessing of Chenrizig.
This is the empowerment of Four armed Chenrezig. One of 50 deities of Drikung lineage.
With view of being in Pureland, view all as Chenrezig, 
Follow master instructions to receive empowerment,  understand what you are doing.
First, purification of body, speech and mind via
Chant of Vajrasattva 100syllabus mantra and drink nectar, with some to spread on hair. Torma offering to eliminate obscurations, Chanting for protection and Mandala offering .

Use this precious human body for practice of Dharma and this is wonderful opportunity here.
Recognise in desire, form, formless sphere, there is no permanent happiness hence Renuniciation of worldly concerns is important to be diligent for practice. Recognise meaning of suffering .
In this society of advancement, convenience of material things, lots of people still feel afflictive emotions. Because of lots of attachment not let go.
By thinking of own self , suffering increase, so should think of others, generate loving kindness towards them.
If we understand and generate loving kindness and compassion and with increase will overcome anger and hatred which calm ourselves.
Then our Buddha nature will surface easily from deep inside our mind.
Anyone hear name of Chenrezig, heavy karma will be purified.
Likewise, mindful of Chenrezig, we will be born in Western pureland. hearing mantra will implant seeds of Bodhisattva.
Chant mantra to dying beings' ears can help them born in Pureland.



Wisdom and compassion are inseparable. Develop own Pure Wisdom. 
Practice Chenrezig increase loving kindness and compassion of Chenrezig.
Rinpoche chanted Tibetan of history of Chenrezig ~ Heart son of Amitabha Buddha, to help sentient being.
Nubpa Rinpoche said he will use traditional way of tantric empowerment.
In the past, Druwang Rinpoche did not give the traditional way of empowerment because of his Enlightenment. Via his speech, body, mind, by seeing and by listening to his teachings and chant,  Druwang Rinpoche had given empowerment.
Druwang Rinpoche has special connection with Singapore.
Chenrezig practice is now practised worldwide because of his encouragement.

Don't be stressed with visualisation or figures.
Try your best, do it naturally , not too harsh on oneself, relax your mind when chanting in joyful relax mood. Visualisation comes naturally. 
If too diligent, burden on oneself, one may be reluctant to go another retreat in future. 
Hence, right attitude of joyful is necessary.
Right understanding of why you are doing retreat. Right attitude towards Dharma , why here and what one is practising.
Look for advice from accomplished masters on advice of practice.
Fivefold Path of Mahamudra can be used.


Preliminary practice : 
Precious human life, karma, impermanence, suffering.
Precious human life: practice to use this body to touch this life for better future rebirth, arhatship, Buddhahood.
Impermanence: fragile human life won't know when would one die so recognise to use the body to recite the mantra while in retreat.


Law of Karma: cause & result.
all want happiness so should plant good seeds and avoid causes of suffering by avoiding evil wrong things.
Reciting mantra has enormous merits, contemplate law of karma in the retreat.
Suffering with no real happiness in samsara: birth, old age , sickness, death.

Chant and contemplate these 4 truths will benefit one in this retreat. This aid generate loving kindness n compassion and will benefit one.
Chant mantra is a form of meditation as part of Ngondro.

In evening, Nubpa Rinpoche gave Oral transmission of Dedication of merits.

Day 2
不共四加行 uncommon preliminaries
归依大礼拜 Refuge prostration:
visualise which master if one has many teachers?
Guilty that all masters are good.
Had too many empowerment to do so many yidams and mantra .
If no actual understanding of Dharma but of normal relationship of humans, that is incorrect.
Essence is to avoid evil, To do good , to tame our mind.
all the Buddha have compassion of Chenrezig.
Any Buddha in liberating sentient beings appear in different form but they all have great loving kindness and compassion.
If visualise Chenrezig clearly, we visualised All the Yidams. 
The appearance of Chenrezig is in many forms through great compassion to help sentient beings. 
Although many mantras, like six syllabus and great compassion mantra, essence is calm the mind and chant mantra of all yidams.
Three verse is in practise of Vajra, generation and completion stage , essence is practice of Bodhicitta. 
HH. of Drikung Kagyu : any beings with Bodhiciita is my disciple. I will be his Guru or teacher.
Hence our Ultimate aim is to generate Bodhicitta successfully .
To generate at once is difficult because we are selfish in one way or another, hence Buddha taught many kinds of teachings and great masters who practised wrote commentaries of successful practice.
Relative Bodhicitta: perfection of six paramitas  and  Wisdom of emptiness.
Ngondro for good foundation.
4 uncommon preliminary practice
1) Refuge w meditation practice of Chenrezig.
 ~ reliance
Believe in deities, mind of Chenrezig- Buddha, speech- Dharma , Body - Sangha.
Taking refuge in Chenrezig - reliance on Triple Gem.
Chanting mantra Om is like a refuge prayer.
Om- Buddha
Ma- Dharma
Ni - Sangha
Pad. _- Guru
Me - yidams
Hung- dakinis



2) Vajrasattva practice
消除障碍，业障
Good deeds to eliminate negative karma, obscuration, purify our body speech mind,
Accumulate increase our merits
Vajrasattva practice for purification of our negative karma
Some of us practising Vajrasattva may have doubt if can practise Chenrezig as well.
4 aspects , strength of our mind to purify:
1) Reliance on Vajrasattva to eliminate our obscuration
2) visualise deity on top of our head and process, etc.
3) Repentence on past bad actions done with ignorance with sincere mind
4) tell ourselves not to do these actions again

Likewise, practising Chenrezig 6 syllabus mantra, , we can confess and regret, thru this practice, eliminate obscurations.


We can visualise similarly with Chenrezig on top of our head...Nectar...
Tantric text if once chant 6Syllabus mantra can eliminate the five heronic acts so it can eliminate obscurations.
Likewise we will not go into three lower realms with chant.
Drubwang Rinpoche cautioned all our illness are because of past life negative karma, if we can eliminate these karma, we can be healthy again. Hence, advised to chant the 6 Syllabus Mantra.
Story told of an old man became blind who with strong faith, chant 6 Syllabus Mantra, recovered his sight.
We can use Chenrezig to repent wrong done in past while chanting 6 Syllabus Mantra (6SM). Effect same as Vajrasattva practice.

3) Mandala Offerings
By chanting 6SM, we can accumulate merits .
In praise prayers she wrote, if we use precious things to offer Triple Gems is enormous but by just being mindful and devotion to Chenrezig, chanting 6SM towards Chenrezig, we will accumulate enormous merits as well.
Visualize Offerings from light emitted while chanting 6SM,  merits enormous too.
Attain Buddhahood and realise true nature of our mind.




4) Guru blessings
Lineage and Guru blessings with one all the time.
To get our blessings,  we need develop 100% devotion to our Guru.
100% confidence in Guru and towards his teachings to achieve liberation.
Treat master as ordinary bring will not have good effects so skilful effect by visualize your Guru as Buddha, Enlightened beings.
By visualize Chenrezig as your Guru, you can get the blessings. Chenrezig as no difference as our Guru with Guru sitting in front of us,  request for blessings while chanting.
Supplicate to Chenrezig,  white light from head middle eyebrow , red light from throat, blue light to heart position. We received blessings of body, speech and mind of Chenrezig.
From blessings received,  visualize Chenrezig resolved into lights into us and we are inseparable.
Maintain as long as we can while we chant the mantra.

Hence, this is Combining 4 Practices with current practice.



Evening
Oral transmission of short
LengYanZhou Shuragana mantra



Om retreat 2015 , Day 3
Am teaching
大手印
Combine fivefold path of Mahamudra with Chenrezig practice

 Loving kindness and Compassion and Bodhicitta
Special Ngondro practice.
Essence of Mahayana practice are these "Xin".
慈心，悲心，菩提心
Need time to practice and develop "True" loving kindness and compassion.
Drubwang Rinpoche (DR) showed practice on three kayas, 三身， 报身 Amitabha Buddha , 法身 Chenrezig, 化身 Guru Rinpoche.
Three mantras of each above 。
When DR in Nepal, Dharma friends ask for blessings of their beloved.
DR advised as Mahayana practice ,the merits should be dedicated to all sentient beings who are your past parents. It should be extended to all beings like we had chanted the Four Immeasurables.
Hence, Nubpa Rinpoche searched inside and honest with himself if when chanting Bodhicitta, do we really see ourselves genuinely generated Bodhicitta?
He trains himself to see each being as his past parent in his practice. He advised we should train ourselves, attitude in life will change and lead better life.
He used to be shy and fear ,especially in new unfamiliar foreign place . He fear if thieves or robbers appear but now, with change of attitude, he feels close and the surrounding people are friendly close to him.
That applies to animals like dogs, when we see it, we will fear dogs may bite us but when generate all beings as past parents, he realise he does not fear the dogs who follow him closely.

When we change our attitudes, others will feel and change too.
To practice and recognise all beings had been our past parents who had been kind to us and grateful for what they had done to raise us up.
Hence we should appreciate and be in gratitude to all sentient beings, we should wish them well to have happiness, generate loving kindness.
Having generated loving kindness, when we see them suffer, we try ways to help them, thus compassion to beings.
Generally, there is limit in us to generate love and compassion to our dislikes, or enemies whom we are reluctant to do so.

Unique in Drikung, before start of practice, we put care for enemies and rivals, wishing them well in priority will turn our mind to broader love and compassion and Bodhicitta.
Greater love and compassion to practice to unlimited, extend to total happiness, we wish them to attain total ultimate happiness ~ Buddhahood.
Three spheres still have suffering, help them to attain Buddhahood, not temporary relief, help them away from suffering , this way practice turn to Bodhicitta practice.
We should use this retreat to wish all beings liberated from sufferings like Chenrezig who tries to help one way or another.
To make all beings Buddha,  hence we here with this attitude and vow to help all beings with the chanting .
Hence above combine generation of love and compassion and Bodhicitta with Chenrezig practice.


Yidam practice
main practice: arisen from indefinable state of pure emptiness beyond all mental proliferation
~ profound and deep about emptiness
First generate Bodhicitta, with right views on emptiness.
When visual self as deity and chant mantra, it is different from traditional Indian practice as Practitioner must generate Bodhicitta and right understanding view on emptiness to lead us to Buddhahood. These are important ingredients to Buddhahood.
Beginners of Buddhism should learn to understand emptiness. 心经: 空不亦色，色不亦空。form is emptiness, emptiness is form .
Brief understanding of emptiness.
E.g.
this "Chenrezig meditation retreat"  is interdependent combination of factors of assembly  to be named a retreat, when you analyse it, there is no inherent nature of a retreat by itself. To elaborate, we are sitting here equal puja? It is just a place, we sitting here Each one is puja? the flower is puja?
Assemble of all phenonmenon in our mind equal puja but individually they are no inherent independent existence, essence is emptiness.
APPEARANCE and  EMPTINESS IS INSEPARABLE 显空不二.
 Pure mind is empty, away of projections, attachment to 5 senses/phenonmenon,
 Away from projection, cannot see from eye. 离戏无见。
Now in chanting, abide mind in nature stage.

自身俱生任运观音尊

How to visualise Yidam from Milarepa's answer ?
Rainbow form of Deity, with no impurity and emptiness, no attachment to body when he does visualisation.
We visualise ourselves as Yidam as we are ordinary people with flesh and blood but absolute truth to analyse our body, it cannot independently exist. Essence is emptiness. Yet we feel body exist. Appearance and emptiness.
No duality in sound and emptiness too
Various thoughts arise from our mind.
Moon n Sun shine outright. No duality .
Luminosity
To understand visualisation by Milarepa, essence is important.
If appearance, sound, Luminosity of clear lights is emptiness, ~ body, speech and mind of Yidam.

Essence of all Yidam practice is first 2 lines.
Next Yidam features.
誓智无别圆满相好身
Rotate and light shine to outer place of universe turned to Pureland. (Even hell to Pureland).
Light shine on all realm beings will eliminate negative karma and  purify them to Chenrezig as well.
In our process of Chenrezig practice, understand everything as reflection of our mind.
e.g. hell realm with shine of our pure mind, will turn into Pureland . Bring our ordinary mind to purify stage .
All beings inside place shone increase our pure mind and true nature of mind.
Hence, Yidam to present practice.


Guru visualisation of Amitabha Buddha on top of our head.
Faith of seeing root guru and Buddha is same  and great blessings.
Tantric text - we possess Buddha nature, to realise our wisdom, we need eliminate all negative karma and purify, accumulate merits, receive blessings from root guru to receive wisdom and we see nature of own mind.
Method to visualise Guru in form of Amitabha, confidence in our root guru, requesting for blessing to realise true nature of our mind.
Thru this supplication of blessing from Root Guru, we visualise ourselves as Chenrezig, and difference in us as Chenrezig, Guru as Amitabha Buddha, and ourselves, inseparable, we will realise what is true nature of our mind.
Each of us has Buddha Nature within us. We have luminosity and inseparable pure wisdom.
Our ignorance created bad karma, habitual tendency hence unable to realise true nature of our mind.


Why supplicate to Guru if it is within us.
It is thru kindness and only with Guru blessing , then we are able to realise.
By eating a sweet, then we understand how a sweet taste.
With blessings then you are able to recognise it.
To maintain true nature of mind for long, must practise and meditate to experience for longer period.
Ho- try to understand it
Rong- thru understand ,practise and glimpse of experience
Dao- able to realise and never go back again.

Luminosity and emptiness inseparable in meditative and post-meditative stage
Always in stage of realised .
To reach this stage is not easy. practise thru Samatha and Vipassana meditation.
Visualisation as Chenrezig and syllabus Hrih, these practices embody Samatha and Vipassana  meditation stage.

Answer to Q&A: How to overcome sleepiness and thoughts.
Scattering mind, as a beginner adjust not too tight n loose.
Too lax, drowsy
Too tight , scattering mind, wild thoughts .
Milarepa advised beginner meditaters to have shorter period time and more regularly sittings. That will Cut down sleepiness or scattering minds.
Use Chenrezig with Phowa.
We as Chenrezig, with heart position white Hrih, Amitabha Buddha on head with red Hrih and light radiate to our heart.
And hook up to synchronise with  Amitabha Buddha heart



Dedication
Whatever good deeds for others and ourselves, should dedicate to avoid diminishing.
E.g. afflictive emotions may affect good karma created by you.
Should immediately dedicate after good deed.
Best dedication to beings to reach Buddhahood. With this Big Wish, even small deeds for beings has incredible merits. Analogy: Small drop of water to ocean become part of ocean.  A little virtue become hugh merits.
Three days of Chenrezig practice, do it with Bodhicitta mind, hope they liberated from suffering and attain Buddhahood is very auspicious.
Above is Relative Bodhicitta, for dedication.
Another from Ultimate Absolute Bodhicitta, like no subject, all these absolute emptiness.
=======
Day 2 Q&A 

1) What should we do at time of death.

If deceased is non Buddhist , chant 6 SM to deceased eg  near ears of animals.

2) After death, what happens?

4 Bardo stages

A) birth n death bardo (now),

 b) at time of death (4 elements in body resolution, phenomenon), fainted ~ see clear lights if know to get liberation 

 c) becoming stage 法界中阴 met with 100 wrathful and peaceful deities 

d) Rebirth bardo stage- urge to find another body.

3) prayer wheels 

Think of Guanyin and while turning, chanting mantra . Hold it upright, not tilt here and there.

Visualise Chenrezig infront of you , chant in pure place .

4) How to guide loved ones to Triple Gems for interested parties.

Affinity to Religion by past karma to be in touch with Buddhism. Loving kindness n Compassion to them,  treat them with equanimity as all beings are with  Buddha nature. Be Kind to them.

5) How can we increase Faith in Triple Gem for those who think they are intelligent to handle samsara issues themselves.

闻思修

Listen and contemplate to put into practice.

As we go deeper, understand more the deeper one reads. 

Buddha point out the truth, not blind faith, the truth still valid in 2000 years later.

realise the truth of impermanence.

Merge into your daily life, practice, realise and faith in Buddhism.

6) how to ignore surrounding and focus on practice.

心清，自在

good meditation ~ know how to relax and know chance of meditation , if set high objective of a good environment.

Train and tame your mind to face noises, etc.

Peace and harmony and anger always there so you have to learn how to let go, should not attach to idea you hate the sound.


7) Guru yoga.
Visualise Chenrezig as Guru many times while chanting 

Or only once is also okay .

Day 3 Refuge precepts
Understand why take refuge
Refuge to Buddha~
All sentient beings dislike suffering, want happiness , common wish of all.
We must find proper way away from suffering, get real happiness.
Search right path to happiness. We need guidance from teacher who elimiated emotions, afflictions, with wisdom and compassion to help all equally away from suffering.
Similar to searching for good doctor for curing sickness, likewise Buddha is good teacher to guide us.


Refuge to Dharma~
Buddha gave us teachings to eradicate our afflictions, suffering.
He taught necessary Dharma to eliminate afflictive emotions and realise true nature of our mind.


Refuge to Sangha~
Disciples of Buddha practise and realise nature of own mind, like nurses assistant to help doctor.


Buddha our teacher;
Dharma are Teachings of Buddha to help;
Sangha are Seniors who passed exam and can help us.



Precepts
Vows develop belief, right idea we are taking refuge under Triple Gem.
I want to be disciple of Buddha deep in mind.

Benefits
Merits alot.
1) we are disciples of Buddha Shakyamuni
2) we lay down foundation for all Buddhist practices, foundation for future vows
3) Devotion to triple gems and blessings eradicate past karma and purify obstacles of body, speech and mind
4) prosperity increase day by day
5) accumulation of merits our wish will materialise
6) because of blessings, we have protection from Triple Gems hence protection from non human disturbance
7) will not take rebirth in 3 lower realms
8) will have better rebirth in better family and where Dharma can be heard again practice and better life till Buddhahood
9) past lives accumulated merits to want to take refuge in Triple Gems.

If take refuge in Triple Gem, do not take refuge in other local deities who are still in samsara suffering and cannot liberate themselves,  subject to karma, cannot help you if they cannot help themselves.


We should not harm sentient beings e.g. no killing.
Essence of Buddhism is loving kindness and compassion to all sentient beings.
Try not to mix with those in bad company adn influenced by them.
If we see any defective statutes, to still be respectful.
Respect Sangha, offer food bf meals.
Respect eradicate bad karma.
The tradition of Hair cutting during Refuge symbolise to offer body, speech and mind to Triple gem, cut off samsara afflictions.
Again, pardon is sought for any misunderstanding or incorrect records.

Mani Recitation Retreat 2014

14th Annual Dec Mani retreat ~ 22-25th December 2014 at Orchid Country Club.

Like many, I was originally put off by the venue which required shuttle bus transfer and kept delaying decision to participate till the week before the event.
Somehow, things just flow and there seemed to be a calling to continue my annual participation (either as Full-timer/part-timer/volunteer)  since 2004!
Fortunately, the logistics is smoother than expected with every 15 minutes interval of shuttle bus by OCC and additional bus arrangement to & fro Khatib MRT.
And there is definitely Blessings for the morning weather to be Sunny instead of storms in this rainy season to discourage participation. (I could still recall braving storms to attend the event in 2004 and years later...)

Decided to be Full Time Participant again!!!

In comparison, the venue this year is much compact and cosy. That added points to overall ambience...

Feeling Blessed to be able to attend the retreat as Full-time participant again.

124,637,565 counts of mantra achieved this year!

Gratitude to all...
May All Be Well & Happy!!!
Om Mani Padme Hung _/|\_

Mani Recitation Retreat 2013

Similar settings as prior year at Toa Payoh Sport Hall.
I think it is 1st trial in Singapore (23rd Dec 2013) by Rinpoche to give his Dharma Talk directly in English (last few minutes on the "37 Practices of Bodhisattvas") in morning and he recited the "Dedication Prayer for the Mani Mantra that brings swift realisation of Perfect Bliss" (pg11 of text)  and "The Extraordinary Aspiration of the Practice of Samantabhadra" in the evening.
Rejoice in his good effort in English. A good attempt and certainly recommended to be continued _/|\_

As per past practice, part-time participants are welcome to join the retreat:

One-day ticket: $35

Morning session (8.30am-12.30pm): $15

Afternoon session (1.30pm-6pm): $15

Evening session (7pm-9.30pm): $10

 

There will be Refuge taking on 24th Dec 2013 4pm & Blessings to public on 25th Dec 2013 from 7pm.
Rejoice!

  For more info on OM MANI PADME HUNG and the retreat, pls click below link:

http://maniretreat.sg/

(It's amazing that one can observe some participants report to the retreat originally with loads of  stress or aversion from daily life (from their stern or stressful facial expression or behaviour) but after a few days of immersing in the chanting, they have relaxed and with smiley face once there is eye contact. There's definitely some positive energy from the chanting :-)
May All continue to be in smiley mood beyond the retreat:-) )

Om Retreat 2013 by Om Centre

Directly back from China Chengdu in early morning, I am glad that I decided to go ahead to attend the Om retreat held at Tai Pei Buddhist Centre led by H.E. Nubpa Rinpoche, Ven. Rabsang Rinpoche, Lama Dawa and Lamas from Drikung Kagyu Rinchen Ling in the afternoon after a short rest in the morning to replenish my energy despite the haze.
However, I was told I had missed a good initiation teaching in the morning :-(
Nevertheless, I was contented with the subsequent sessions and oh. how long we had not enjoyed Lama Dawa's rhythm of chant.  Really missed it! and it's like back to good old days...:-)
Oh, the starting long chant before the actual chant is really nice too that prepares our mind for the chanting...

Personally, I like the ambience, with the backing of Buddha's shining image radiating blessing to all of us in the hall. I would like to think that our chanting had helped to reduce the haze problem in Singapore and hopefully it will be cleared in neighbouring countries too. 

And it is Good news that Om Centre had announced they will be holding their Jun Om retreat annually!

For Ref: http://www.dkomcentre.org.sg/om-retreat