Even Small Kindnesses Matter

February 16, 2017 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo given at Palyul Ling Retreat 2012:

One way that I teach people is online. I have a Twitter account and many times we just tweet. Do you know what Twitter is? Some of you do? Maybe? Ok. So what we do is we teach them Om Mani Pedme Hung, and then show them how the letters look in Tibetan and have them see blessing mantras so that they will, you know, experience liberation through seeing. They will receive the blessing of that because these people will never ever practice Dharma. So should we throw them out? No, of course not. People like urban people. People in countries that probably have never even heard of Dharma. Inner city people. Outer city people. People down the bible belt in the middle of the country. All of them. All of them hear a little bit of the Dharma and the kindness that it shows and they want to learn. They want to learn. So I do the best that I can to teach them online. We make films, and sort of document some small teachings. Nothing very deep because that would require another kind of opportunity, but we are able to teach them just so that there is a blessing in being human. So that as human beings there will be some use, that they have the capacity to think and to understand.

Of course I love animals. We all know that, but animals cannot learn the Dharma. As much as I would love to see my animals achieve liberation, that will never happen through practicing Dharma. If I practice and I dedicate, maybe that’s something. If you practice and you dedicate, maybe that’s something. But still they cannot practice. They don’t have that part of the brain that can make them practice, but they can hear mantra and receive the blessing. We even tell people, “Say this blessing to your animals as they die. Om Ami Dewa Hri.” Of course you all know that , but that’s a revelation to someone who has never heard Dharma before, or to someone who didn’t know there was some way that they could help their little dogs and their cats as they die. And their little birds and so forth. They didn’t know that there was any real way to do that. So we’ve told them that if they are coming close to death, if death is coming, at this time you should say in their ears, “Om Ami Dewa Hri.” And we even put up recordings of how it sounds so that they can recite it correctly. They will get the closest thing possible to a lung. It’s not the same, but it’s the best we can do.

I’m not proud. If anything I’m shy and I’m not proud. One thing that I feel is if what you can do is a small thing, you should do it. If all you can do is give a little bit, you should give it. If all you can do is say, “Well, my dog can’t have any blessing,” and you give nothing, that’s not so good. But instead, why not do for them what you can do for them? They can hear the sound of mantra. They can see the letters. They don’t cognize them. They can’t understand what it means, but they can see it. They can see images.

I have made an Amitabha recording of singing the mantra so that it can be played for people who are dying or who have just died.,so the Amitabha mantra will be in their ears as they are dying. These are all the things that I know how to do. They are very simple, but these are not people who will ever come here. And their pets—they will never come here. How can they receive a blessing if we don’t reach out and make it possible?

I’m very interested in R&B music and hip hop. Sorry. If that disappoints you, I’m really sorry. But I’m interested in that kind of music. I’ll be honest with you and say that. And what I’ve noticed is that when I reach out—I have 65,000 followers, no 68,000 followers—and when they contact me and ask me, “What is the answer to this question?” You know. “You said this. Does that mean that or does that mean this?” And these are people that have never heard of Dharma before, just know nothing about it. And then they want to know. And I recommend books for themand that sort of thing. We send out pictures of stupas, all the stupas that I’ve built so that they’ll have that contact of being able to see. So I’m proud of that. I’m happy about that. And I think that even as we get to the higher levels of teachings, we should never ever think that it’s inappropriate to lower oneself to do simple goodness for all beings.

Prayer to Take Rebirth in Dewachen (Realm of Great Bliss)

February 2, 2012 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following prayer is from the Great Perfection Buddha in the Palm of the Hand: The Lama’s Oral Instructions Upon the Recitation and Visualization of the Preliminary Practices of Ngondro revealed by Terton Migyur Dorje

If the following prayer is recited daily with faith, it will assure an auspicious rebirth:

EH MA HO The wondrous Buddha Amitabha and

The Lord Avalokiteshvara to your right and

The Bodhisattva of power, Vajrapani, to your left,

Surrounded by a boundless retinue of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas,

Into the wondrous, immeasurably blissful

Pure Realm of Great Bliss (Dewachen),

May I, at the moment that I must transfer from this life,

Without any other births intervening,

Be reborn, to behold the face of Amitabha,

And through the force of this prayer I am making,

May the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions

Grant blessings to accomplish this prayer without interruption.

TA DYA THA PENTSA DRI YA AH WA BHO DHA NI SWAHA

Thus through this generation and completion stage meditation and mantra recitation, and

Whatever virtue I have and will accumulate in the three times,

May I enjoy a long life, without illness, and an increase of understanding and realization.

When the time comes to transfer from this life, by taking rebirth in the Realm of Great Bliss,

And seeing the precious face of Dharmakaya Buddha, Amitabha,

I shall obtain the ten stages, and from all the pure realms of the ten directions,

May I send forth manifestations to guide beings without exception!

Prayer to Be Reborn in Dewachen

November 19, 2011 by anisonam

Download the Prayer to Be Reborn in Dewachen

Prayer to Be Reborn in Dewachen

With a longing to benefit beings who are sick and dying, Jetsunma created a song called “Prayer to Be Reborn in Dewachen.” This is a traditional prayer to Amitabha, the Buddha of Limitless Light, from the P’howa practice of the Longchen Nyigthig tradition. P’howa is the meditation practice for the time of death, and Amitabha is the deity to be visualized in that meditation. “Dewachen” refers to the state of consciousness in which one experiences a pure land and the opportunity to accomplish liberation.

Jetsunma said, “When I listened to this tune, I realized that it was like a mother singing her child to sleep, which really was my motivation when I sang that song. I know that everyone that I love, I will be parted from someday. Everyone that I meet will die some day. I wish there was some way that they could be guided through the bardo individually. And the best response that I know of is this prayer.”

Any being who listens to this prayer receives a blessing, whether Buddhist or non Buddhist, human or animal. It is especially soothing for those who are chronically or acutely ill, or who are on the precipice of dying. You can help beings by making this prayer heard by as many people and as many animals close to their death as possible. It is available here: Prayer to Be Reborn in Dewachen

Prayer to Be Reborn in Dewachen

December 4, 2010 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is a musical offering by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Click on the link below to download the prayer

Prayer to Be Reborn in Dewachen

OM AH MI DHE WA HRI

CHOM DEN DE DE ZHIN SHEG PA DRA CHOM PA YANG DAG PAR

DZOG PA’I SANGYE GÖN PO ÖD PAG TU MED PA

LA CHAG TSHAL LO CHÖD DO KYAB SU CHI-O (Repeated)

To the Bhagavan, Tathagata, Arhat, Perfectly Completed Buddha, Protector of Infinite Light, I prostrate, offer, and go for refuge.

OM AH MI DHE WA HRI (Repeated)