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Dearest Friends @ CAS, One of Tibet's greatest monastic leaders and one of the seniormost lineage holders of the Gelugpa Tradition, the Drepung Loseling Khensur Lobsang Gyamtso will be bestowing the Empowerment of the Six Arm White and Six Arm Balck Mahakalas. Khensur Rinpoche is a trusted friend and colleague of our late Root Teacher, the 100th Ganden Trisur Rinpoche and is a close student of the late Ling Rinpoche and the present Dalai Lama. In Drepung Loseling, Rinpoche is enthroned in the middle, with the Sharpa Choje and the Jangtse Choje, seated to respectively His right and left ( both the Chojes occupying the second and third highest religious hierarch in the Gelugpa Tradition ). Khensur Rinpoche was a professor of the Higher Tibetan Institute of Buddhist Studies in Varanasi and is a truly accomplished, authentic master of the sutras and the tantras. Rinpoche is well-known for his extensive Dharma activities in the west and Asia and has hitched important milestones for the Dharma in some places and definitely for His students. Knowing Khensur Rinpoche for years, we believe that the empowerments are open to all with sincerity and faith. Students who wish to subsequently engage in offerings or practice to Mahakala will, however, need (1) to have learnt the Three Principle Aspects of the Path ( Renunciation / Bodhicitta and Right Understanding of Emptiness ), (2) seriously engaged in the practice of a Highest Yoga Tantra Yidam and (3) to keep to one's best, the three sets of vows of the Pratimoksha, the Bodhisattva and the Tantric. The empowerments of the Six Arm Mahakala ( Especially the Six Arm Black form of Mahakala ) is extremely rarely, if ever, bestowed outside the major Tibetan Buddhist monastic circles. This is one of the rarest of opportunities to receive this very precious empowerments from one of Tibet's greatest Masters. Logistical details are pending still. The full practice texts will be made available to the sincere students. Students relying on shugden, the evil spirit, should not receive teaching/s or empowerment/ We will need financial sponsorship, volunteers for transport, food, printing. Do pray for the Dharma programme to be of highest good to all !! "Amituofo !!" bb & all frens @ CAS, watched over by holy Chenrezig p/s: The PROGRAMME 10 Dec - Rinpoche and monks arrive in Singapore
11 Dec - Teaching on Ganden Lhagyama ( Day of Anniversary of Je Tsongkhapa - 7 to 9 pm )
12 Dec - Dharma Talk on "How to Achieve True Happiness and Overcome Your Difficulties?
13 Dec - Dharma Talk on "What the Buddha Taught?" ( 6 to 8 pm )
14 / 15 Dec - Teaching on Lama Chopa ( 12 pm to 3 pm daily )
16 / 17 / 18 Dec - Teaching on Je Tzongkhapa's "A Letter of Practical Advice on Sutra and Tantra" -
Lam Gyi Rim Pa Mdo Tzam Du Bstan Pa ( 12 pm to 3 pm daily )
19 Dec - Empowerment of 6 Arm White Mahakala ( 7 to 9 pm )
20 Dec - Empowerment of Buddha Amitabha ( 7 to 9 pm )
21 Dec - Teaching on "Buddha Amitabha's Pure Land" ( 12 pm to 3 pm )
21 Dec - Empowerment of 6 Arm Black Mahakala ( 7 to 9 pm )
22 / 23 Dec - Rest and touring Singapore
24 Dec - Rinpoche leaves Singapore
____________ Excerpting from the sacred Empowerment Text of the SIX ARM WHITE AND SIX ARM BLACK MAHAKALAS, bb @ CAS attempts to paint a story ......
"...... Holy Chenrezig, overwhelmed with unspeakable sorrow and compassion at the limitless, boundless numbers of beings, incessantly tormented by the myriad sufferings and pain in th six realms of existence, swooned unconscious, unable to bear His own overpowering love for all .....
His Teacher, Buddha Amitabha, through His clarivoyance, saw Chenrezig so utterly discouraged and sad, sent forth a powerful, brilliant beam of light and spoke to Him, "Son, despair not and never forget Bodhicitta and the Bodhisattva Vows you have taken to strive in every way for liberation of all beings into eternity. Arise once more from your unconscious state !! Forget not the vows you have taken and rest not until all beings have attained ultimate peace and the permanent bliss of Enlightenment !! "
Chenrezig, thus exhorted by His Teacher, with unbridled courage once more, arose, donning One Thousand Arms and Eyes in His thousand palms, manifesting the thousand Buddhas of our Fortunate Aeon, the Buddhas being rightly called "Eyes of the World" and an accompanying one thousand Universal Emperors, who shall safeguard and uphold the Buddhas' Teachings streamed from His thousand arms.
Resplendent beyond anything the world has ever seen, Thousand Arm Chenrezig stood strong, majestic, unshakeable, brimming with renewed divine, supreme, pure love for our world. His thousand eyes attendant and witnessing the ephemeral joy, the underlying pain of each and every being in samsara, beings so confused in their futile craving for happiness, yet, slipping away, never permanent.
There are beings mired in poverty, poverty of every kind conceivable.
Chenrezig silently looked at all these beings, daily, slaving hard, slaving endlessly for food, food they both ate and food they saved to bring home to feed hungry mouths of their beloved children and aged parents. With His omniscience, Chenrezig witnessed, too, so many beings scrimping up pittance for repayment to obese masters living in gold-plated mansions. These masters, like the humble workers, with the best of intentions, propped and pocked their kids, force-feeding them to swallow this and that piece of studies, for "your future !!"; "for your good !!".
Curiously, so many of the rich are joyless, some are even blackly depressed. Life carries no meaning for them. They see life as a bitch, then they die !!
Then, Chenrezig quietly saw, also, the noble sangha, following in the footsteps of the Buddhas. Some resided in abject mountains, exerting every ounce for Enlightenment, for the well-being and happiness of all. There are, again, the great Masters, teaching to their thousands of disciples, engaged in the building of great monasteries and medical halls, the oasis of light and blessings in the chaotic world.
No Dharma is ever unchallenged by the Maras. In fact, the greater the Dharma, the greater the Maras !!
Chenrezig saw holy monks succumbing to temptations. He saw the yogi harrased with false visions and insights. The cosmic battle wages on relentlessly, the Maras wanting beings to stay within His domain. They want to stay as the King of Kings of samsara and every being shall worship them. There shall be no way, no way at all , except the way through them !!
As Guru Rinpoche, yet another manifestation of Chenrezig speaketh, "I shall never be far away from those with faith; or even far from those without it.", the noble Chenrezig perfectly and seamlessly watcheth....
Then, Chenrezig manifested again. This time, the heroic SIX ARM WHITE MAHAKALA manifested from Chenrezig's noble heart. White Mahakala shall comfort with wisdom, joy, guidance, protection and wealth - both spiritual and material.
Simultaneously, the SIX ARM BLACK MAHAKALA manifested, especially for protection of all sincere practitioners and extreme flourishing of the Dharma.
Throughout the aeons, Mahakala has came and to the first Dalai Lama, He roared, "A Master and Practitioner like you need a Protector like me !!"
The White and Black forms of Six Arm Mahakalas has since skilfully enacted inconceivable deeds for the Dharma and all beings, living true to Chenrezig's knowing as the noble Lord of Compassion..
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A story of the SIX ARM BLACK MAHAKALA
The Dhe-Tsang monastery, built in 1414 by a close disciple of Je Tsongkhapa is situated in the Gyalrong district of eastern Tibet......
During the actual construction of the monastery, the revered monk, Ngwang Drakpa, faced many obstructions from the local Bonpo masters who practiced a primitive form of shamanism and thus felt threatened by the unfolding of the Buddhist faith in Tibet. Whatever was constructed of the building during the day would collapse during the night. These mishaps were attributed to the black magic performed by the Bonpos..... the venerable monk wrote a letter to his guru Tsongkhapa in Lhasa, asking for help. The master in response to his pupil's plea then composed a practice brimming with spiritual potency and gave it the name: 'The Solitary Hero Vajra Bhairava Sadhana.' He gave it to the crow to deliver it to Ngawang Drakpa. When the latter received the manual he performed the practice immediately, which led to the subduing of all the leading Bonpo priests. This text later became one of the most significant one used in all Gelukpa monasteries and retains its popularity to the present day. When the major part of construction was completed, the lama began to look for master sculptors who could create spiritually charged images for the retreat. One day, three black men came to the monastery and stayed there for some time. They later revealed that they were sculptors from India. Delighted on hearing this, Ngawang Drakpa eagerly sought their services in building the required deity statues. Of the three men from India, only one agreed to stay on and help. As per his promise, the sculptor created all the statues requested except that of Mahakala, which alas, was only half-finished when the day of inauguration arrived. The celebrations for the occasion consisted of various ritual dance performances. At the end of the program, the Indian sculptor declared that he too wished to perform a dance for the contemplation of the audience and proceeded to enthrall them with an exceptionally energetic performance wearing a swirling costume and a large wrathful mask, leaving the viewers in raptures. Towards the conclusion of the dance, his physical form suddenly started to shrink until finally only the giant mask remained on the ground and there was no trace of the body of the dancer. Taken aback by the bizarre turn of events, the monks rushed to the chamber where the half finished statue of Mahakala lay. To their utter surprise, the statue was complete. The sculptor had merged with his creation, granting it an unparalleled spiritual potency. The story does not end here however. Later they were informed that the two companions of the Indian sculptor, who had declined to stay on, had each made a Mahakala statue at two different monasteries and had likewise mysteriously disappeared into their respective creations. It was not long before the perceptive adepts realized that these sculptors were none other than the great god Mahakala in his various manifestations, incarnating himself as the savior and protector of monasteries. Thus at Ngawang's hermitage he was the Six-Armed Mahakala and had created a sculpture of himself with half-a-dozen hands. In a similar manner the other two had created icons of the Four-Armed and the White Mahakala respectively. Collectively, they were named the three Mahakala brothers and became vastly popular all over Tibet. Though Mahakala's image is honored in all Tibetan monasteries, it is only at Dhe-Tsang that he is regarded as a living member of the sangha. Thus for example during offering ceremonies it is still customary for the chant leader to announce: "Do not forget the black man's share," and the same of what each monk receives is also set aside for Mahakala and presented to his sacred image. This tradition originated in the fact that when the so called 'black man from India' was sculpting the icons and was asked what he desired in return for his services replied "Only that much that is offered to the monks." When counting the number of residents at this exceptional monastery, this generous protector is also taken as a member...... This article is excerpted from: http://www.exoticin ____________ | |||
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