On Tuesday, November 24th the Gadimai animal sacrifice festival will take place in southern Nepal. It is said that 500,000 animals including buffaloes, chickens, goats, pigs, rats, and birds will be tortured and slaughtered during this Hindu festival.
This horrible event is being protested by numerous animal rights groups in Nepal and around the world. Buddhists are also practicing for the benefit of these animals, and their auspicious rebirth. Please pray for these animals. As the Buddha instructs, these beings once were our own kind mothers
How to Offer Prayers for the benefit of beings:
Set your intention – Begin your prayers or mantra recitation with the sincere intention to benefit these beings.
Recite prayers and mantras with focus and concentration. Try not to let your mind wander. If it does, bring it back. You can recite the Mani mantra: Om Mani Pedme Hung. You can also recite the Du Sum Sangye prayer.
Dedicate the merit – Finish your efforts by dedicating the merit of having said prayers and mantra to the benefit of these beings.
Here is a dedication prayer by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:
By this effort, may all sentient beings be free of suffering. May their minds be filled with the nectar of virtue. In this way may all causes resulting in suffering be extinguished. And only the light of compassion shine throughout all realms.
Jetsunma provided the following advice for today in her tweets:
Good morning and happy Lha Bab Duchen! May your day be filled with prayers, virtue, and good fellowship. May all beings benefit!
Recite Om Mani Padme Hung for animals. Om Ah Hung Benzar Guru Pema Siddhi Hung is good to recite too. Om Vajrasattva Hung to purify.
This is an excellant day to set free creatures meant to be eaten or killed, like bait fish and worms. And for animal rescue.
Today is good for virtous and kindly activities. But do not bring any harm to others, esp today. Everything counts 10 million times.
And dedicate your efforts to the end of suffering for all sentient beings! And pray for those you know are suffering now.
Today is also perfect to remember HH Penor Rinpoche‘ many gifts to us! How amazing His life and accomplishments. We long to see Him again.
We also must pray to HH Karma Kuchen, and be mindful of his kindness. This young Throneholder has accepted a huge burden gladly. E MA HO!
He and the Heart Sons will kindly guide us and we are grateful. HHPR will surely return, and we are grateful and at peace. Dharma prevails!
For those who are in the office or otherwise unable to liberate creatures personally today, you can still generate the merit of saving lives by supporting one of these Rescue Programs:
For all those who can’t make it to a real Stupa today, we wanted to offer you the opportunity for a “virtual circumambulation.”
How to use a stupa
Aspirations with a stupa
“When you circumambulate a stupa , say fervent prayers in your heart and mind that you will be able to benefit beings and end their suffering and that in all future lifetimes you will be reborn in a form in which you can benefit beings so that they might achieve enlightenment and be free of suffering. “ Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
Benefits of Visiting Stupas
Since stupas represent the Buddha, they are objects of refuge and pilgrimage.Traditionally, pilgrims prostrate, circumambulate and make offerings at Stupas for short-term goals such as longevity, prosperity, health and the success of an undertaking as well as for the ultimate goal of enlightenment.They are also used to make potent prayers for the sake of others in the world so that they may be free of suffering.
Walk clockwise around a stupa
Circumambulation is a very powerful practice, and the very root of practice is to circumambulate with strong devotion with an undistracted mind.”There are extensive teachings on the benefits of walking clockwise around a stupa , for example:“Circumambulating a stupa will have this result:you will be as pure as snow; you will be good, radiant, and wise; and you will lead a happy life.” Buddha Shakyamuni
How to use a stupa
Aspirations with a stupa
“When you circumambulate a stupa , say fervent prayers in your heart and mind that you will be able to benefit beings and end their suffering and that in all future lifetimes you will be reborn in a form in which you can benefit beings so that they might achieve enlightenment and be free of suffering. “ Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
Benefits of Visiting Stupas
Since stupas represent the Buddha, they are objects of refuge and pilgrimage. Traditionally, pilgrims prostrate, circumambulate and make offerings at Stupas for short-term goals such as longevity, prosperity, health and the success of an undertaking as well as for the ultimate goal of enlightenment. They are also used to make potent prayers for the sake of others in the world so that they may be free of suffering.
Walk clockwise around a stupa
Circumambulation is a very powerful practice, and the very root of practice is to circumambulate with strong devotion with an undistracted mind.” There are extensive teachings on the benefits of walking clockwise around a stupa , for example: “Circumambulating a stupa will have this result: you will be as pure as sow:; you will be good, radiant, and wise; and you will lead a happy life” Buddha ShakyamuniHow to use a stupa
Aspirations with a stupa
“When you circumambulate a stupa , say fervent prayers in your heart and mind that you will be able to benefit beings and end their suffering and that in all future lifetimes you will be reborn in a form in which you can benefit beings so that they might achieve enlightenment and be free of suffering. “ Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
Benefits of Visiting Stupas
Since stupas represent the Buddha, they are objects of refuge and pilgrimage. Traditionally, pilgrims prostrate, circumambulate and make offerings at Stupas for short-term goals such as longevity, prosperity, health and the success of an undertaking as well as for the ultimate goal of enlightenment. They are also used to make potent prayers for the sake of others in the world so that they may be free of suffering.
Walk clockwise around a stupa
Circumambulation is a very powerful practice, and the very root of practice is to circumambulate with strong devotion with an undistracted mind.” There are extensive teachings on the benefits of walking clockwise around a stupa , for example: “Circumambulating a stupa will have this result: you will be as pure as sow:; you will be good, radiant, and wise; and you will lead a happy life” Buddha Shakyamuni
I demand the poetic! And decry the
profane-
And I never never ever want to see
The day
When the artist is forbidden to dance
and sway
And the Goddess is prevented from
having her say.
Yeah, I’m really gonna hate that day.
Really don’t wanna see the day.
This may be a song or maybe a poem-
But I just can’t leave this thought alone.
See I don’t wanna see my people sick
and fearful
Only makes our suffering so tearful. Hard
to heal
Hard to be the Hero. Being here with you
Is all I have.
See, I don’t wanna leave, don’t wanna let
you down.
Here’s the church and here’s the steeple
Inside and all around stand my people
This is no lie and it’s not just ego-
They’re mine to love, and mine to live
for!
So here I’ll stay.
Maybe there will come a day when
All the people learn to pray and
We will turn our minds to Truth and Light
No one will ever doubt what’s right. No
never again.
And we can trust both enemies and.
friends.
Hallelujah and Amen.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche is coming to the Washington D.C. area tomorrow, October 12th. His Holiness is the 5th Karma Kuchen Rinpoche, recognized by His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche and Penor Rinpoche and enthroned as the 12th Throneholder of the Palyul Lineage. You can read more about this Precious Master here.
To see the schedule for his visit to Washington D.C. please click here.
To see the schedule for his world tour you can visit Palyul.org here.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama is coming to Washington, D.C.—our very own neighborhood! Of particular interest to Buddhists, whether aspiring or practicing, is the teaching he will give at American University on October 10, “The Heart of Change: Finding Wisdom in the Modern World.” His Holiness is renowned for his clear, direct teaching style, his humor, and his excellent command of English.
Winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, compassionate diplomat and peace maker, and leader of the Tibetan Government in Exile, he is the face of Tibet for many around the world.
And the Dalai Lama is much more than a temporal leader. Tibetan Buddhists revere him as an incarnation of the Buddha of Compassion. Spiritual Head of the largest sect of Tibetan Buddhism, the Gelupa, he is honored as a spiritual authority by the other three sects as well (the Nyingma, or Ancient, School, the Kagyu, and the Sakya).
Born in 1935 and discovered two years later as the rebirth of the previous Dalai Lama, His Holiness assumed full political responsibility in 1950, after the Chinese invasion of Tibet. Under increasing pressure from the Chinese, he escaped into exile in 1959, and established the Tibetan Government in Exile from his base in Dharamsala, India.
A prolific writer, the Dalai Lama is particularly notable for his interfaith dialogues. His book The Good Heart: A Buddhist Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus (by H.H. the Dalai Lama, Wisdom Publications, Boston, 1996) is studied by Buddhists and Christians alike. Others among his widely read works is The Art of Happiness (by H.H. the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, Riverhead Books, New York, 1998) and An Open Heart (by H.H. the Dalai Lama, edited by Nicholas Vreeland, Little Brown and Company, New York, 2001).
Avidly interested in modern science since childhood, His Holiness has also engaged in dialogue with neuroscientists. This interest is reflected in Consciousness at the Crossroads: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism (Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca, 1999) and, more recently, The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality (Morgan Road Books, New York, 2005). Other books by His Holiness—too numerous to mention—are listed here.
We are honored to have his lotus feet touch the earth in our part of the world, and hope that you will engage with this mind of compassion in some form!
