Dorje Sempa Empowerment

If you are currently practicing Ngondro, it is important for you to receive Dorje Sempa Empowerment.  It will help you relate to the deity Dorje Sempa and strengthen your practice.  If you do not practice Ngondro, this empowerment will remove obscurations in you and purify you to receive blessing easier.

 Wang is Tibetan name for empowerment.  Receiving the wang ONLY means one is introduced to that deity so that you may look at the images of that deity and if the mantra is given during the wang, then it gives you the right to recite it.   It actually doesn’t give you permission to do the sadhana practice.  The Lung, meaning transmission gives you the right to do the chanting and the visualization but one should in near future make up by taking the wang. 

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What is Sojong?

Sojong is the ceremony of taking the Mahayana Precepts for a day.  The Tibetan words ‘SO’ means to repair broken vows and ‘JONG’ means to abandon or to purify tainted or unwholesome acts. The precepts are the same as monastic precepts, except instead of taking them for life; the practitioner takes them one day at a time.  

Why do we take THE MAHAYANA PRECEPTS?

Taking the precepts is a way of protecting or guiding the mind away from creating negativities of body, speech, and mind and from the problems or suffering which arise from the negative mind.  If the precepts are kept correctly, ignorance diminishes and knowledge increases.  The General Benefits of observing the precepts are:

1. The Mahayana Precepts are the basis of the mediations of dharma practice.
2. Observing these precepts stops rebirth in the three lower realms.
3. Observing the precepts can cause one to meet the dharma teacher again in future life times so that one can receive the teachings and realizations.
4. By observing these precepts, many sentient beings have been reborn in the human realm or in the realms of the gods.
5. Many sentient beings have been released from samsara and have achieved ultimate peace.  Many of them obtained enlightenment by following the path.  Keeping these precepts causes one to receive the perfect knowledge of Buddha's body, speech, and mind and the perfections of Buddha's body.
6. A great Indian pandit said, "Keeping the Eight Precepts for one day has greater benefits than one hundred years of charity."
7. The benefits are greater than offerings to the Buddha, who said in a sutra teaching, :Keeping the precepts is of much greater benefit than making many offerings to as many buddhas existing in the number of eons equal to the number of grains of sand in the Ganges."
8. Observing these precepts causes one to become a disciple of Maitreya in the future, for he prophesied, "Any being following the Eight Precepts, listening to the Dharma of Guru Shakyamuni, will be reborn as one of those surrounding me."  Such a being gets the greatest chance to hear the teachings, to obtain a much better human rebirth, and to reach enlightenment.

Taking and observing the precepts is the most skillful method to bring world peace.  Keeping these precepts creates, peacefully and without harm to anyone, enough power to stop wars, famines, earthquakes, hail, epidemics and disease.

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This is a two-day retreat to perform 1000 Arm Chenrezig practice. It is a powerful and effective practice to purify one’s body, speech and mind, devised by Gelongma Palmo who was inspired by her great devotion to Chenrezig, the Lord of Compassion.

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Jambala is the practice to accumulate wealth of happiness.  This encompasses good fortune, good health, good dharma activities, richness of peace of mind, elements in harmony, and all the wealth physically, mentally, emotionally and especially spiritually.

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The practice of Medicine Buddha is an extremely effective way in the removal of sickness.  Medicine Buddha, The Great King of Medicine is active in pacifying the suffering of beings.  The Bhagavat, who is compassionate equally to all beings,  the very hearing of whose name pacifies the three lower states, and eliminates the illnesses of the three poisons. In the practice, because of its vastness, offering, the entire universe helps one accumulate great merit.

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In general, to enter a buddha-realm, one must have removed even the most subtle of obscurations, kept very pure samaya, and have attained the first bodhisattva level. So, for ordinary beings, it is very difficult to enter a buddha-realm. However, due to Amitabha's strong wishing-prayers, anyone who makes a sincere wishing-prayer to go to Dewachen can be reborn there, even though one has not purified unvirtuous karma nor liberated oneself from the disturbing emotions. But one must make the necessary connection with Buddha Amitabha.  This retreat will teach a particular easy method to be born in the pure land and  will be extremely useful at time of death.

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The source of these teachings is the Bodhisattva Vajrapani, the holder of the vajrayana or secret teachings.  During the time of Guru Padmasambhava, he foresaw a time of degeneration when the teachings of buddha dharma in Tibet would become threatened. Because of his premonition, Padmasambhava instructed Mutri Tsenpo (an emination of Vajrapani) to hide some of these precious teachings in places where they would be preserved.  When in times that the radiance of the dharma would once again manifest, these teachings would be most beneficial, he would reincarnate or emanate as the Tulku Rigdzin Minjur Dorje who became responsible to recover and reserve these precious teachings and make them available.  These teachings are a special sort of terma, called mind treasure.  This particular Karma Pakshi sadhana which we will practice in retreat is a method Minjur Dorje developed to help others into the same realization that he obtained through a direct vision.in the form of a mandala of Vidyadhara lamas and the three roots, embodying the essence of an ocean of deities of the five types.

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In order to liberate oneself and others (including the living and the deceased) from Samsara, this Sadhana of the Tathagata Avalokiteshvara Khorwa Dongtruk, the essence of the compassionate enlightened activity of all the buddhas of the 3 times, has been collected from many tantras and oral teachings.  The treasure was taken from its hiding place among a crowd of people from beneath the top of the Precious Mountain, on the right side of the supreme place of Great Secret Sky Rock by the emanation of the great treasure revealer Chogyur Dechen Lingpa.  Khorwa Dongtruk means even one is in the very bottom of hell realm, one can be liberated by doing this practice.

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This practice is the foundation of all Vajrayanna practices.   It helps accumulate merit and purify our five poisons especially our pride.  If we fully understand the Four Preliminary practice in  Ngondro, the rest of the dharma practice will become easy and effective.

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Sometimes, our wealth, wisdom, health, energy, mind, 6 elements are lost and we have down times.  Practice of the Yangdrup Puja will help recover what we have lost.

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