The 1st Jamgon Kongtrul lived from 1813 until 1899 and is revered worldwide to this day as one of the most brilliant stars in the galaxy of scholars and saints from Tibet.(1) He became learned in the ten ordinary and extraordinary branches of knowledge, and it became his responsibility to explain and compose texts, which incorporated a great number of teachings from both the old and new traditions, including the lineages of oral teachings, hidden treasures (terma), and teachings of pure vision.(2)

❀ Buddha Shakyamuni’s Prophesy ❀

Jamgon Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye was prophesied by Buddha Shakyamuni in the Samadhirajasutra and foretold in many Treasure Teachings by Guru Padmasambhava. The following line from the Lankavatarasutra is taken as a prophecy referring to him: “In a later age there will come a great hero, called Lodrö the Guide, a teacher of the five sciences.”(3)

❀ Jamgon Kongtrul’s Family ❀

Jamgon Kongtrul was born into a Bönpo family on December 14th in the year of the water-horse in Rong-gyab. This little village is situated near Pema Lhatse, which is one of three sacred mountains in Do-Kham, East Tibet. His father, Yungdrung Tenzin (an illustrious Lama of the Kyunpo clan) was killed in a war that raged in his homeland. Jamgon Kongtrul’s mother, Tashitso, married Sönampäl after her husband’s death. He was a lay practitioner of Bön and transmitted the teachings and rituals of the indigenous tradition of Tibet to his stepson.(4)

❀ A Terton ❀

The 1^st Jamgon Kongtrul was supposed to be a Terma Revealer, a Terton (revealer), just like Chokgyur Lingpa, but after seeing how the very ancient, sacred Termas of the past had been lost from this world he decided to preserve the past Termas by compiling them into volumes. He formally requested Chokyur Lingpa to please see if Guru Rinpoche would allow him to begin, while he also realized that by doing this work it might well mean that he would have to give up his own Terma that he was suppose to reveal during this time.

A few days later Chokgyur Rinpoche replied to the 1^st Jamgon Kongtrul, “Guru Rinpoche is very happy with your proposal. Please proceed.” That is how we have the the Rinchin Terdzod today. Guru Rinpoche granted his permission for the 1^st Jamgon Kongtrul to give up his duty of being a Terton (revealer) in paving the way for the 1^st Jamgon Kongtrul to compile the Termas of the past.

❀ The Five Great Treasures ❀

Jamgon Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye the Great authored and compiled more than ninety volumes of scriptures. They are referred to as “The Five Great Treasures, mDzöd chen lnga.” In the chronological (and not hierarchical) order in which he composed them, they are:

“Shecha Dzö, Shes bya kung khyab mdzöd – The Encompassment of All Knowledge“ (an extensive compendium that succinctly elucidates the logical progression through the study and practices of the paths taught in Sutra and Tantra and the final fruition);

- “The Kagyü Ngagdzö, bKa’ brgyüd sngags mdzöd – The Treasury of Mantra of the Kagyü School” (a compendium of practices, ancient and new Tantras, accompanied by the completion stage of the Tantra, the rites of empowerment, and various authorizations);

- “Dam Ngagdzö, gDams ngag mdzöd – The Treasury of Precious Key Instructions” (the collected instructions of the Eight Great Lineages practiced in Tibet. These teachings reveal the essence of Jamgon Kongtrul’s open-mindedness since they are a collection of instructions gathered impartially from other sources rather than from his own summary of them);

- “Rinchen Terdzö, Rin chen gter mdzö – The Precious Treasure Teachings” (a collection of the Termas that Jamgon Kongtrul found, gathered, compiled, and arranged for initiations with the help of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Chogyur Lingpa);

- “Gyachen Kadzö, rGya chen bka’ mdzöd – The Treasury of Vast Teachings“ (a collection of writings, such as praises and advice, as well as compositions on medicine, science, and so on).(5)

❀ Like A Second Buddha ❀

The 1st Jamgon Kongtrul served all traditions of Dharma without any bias, through his teaching, practice, and activity. At the age of eighty-seven on January 19, 1899, he passed away.(6)

References:
[1][3-5] take from the Kagyu Golden Rosary, http://bit.ly/db1h5e
[2 & 6] http://www.jamgonkongtrul.org/namthar1.htm

Kyabje Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

❀ This Precious Human Body ❀

The body we have right now is called the precious human body.  In this world there are countless sentient beings and among all of them, the best one is this precious human body, which is very hard to obtain again and again. It is impossible to obtain a precious human body through demerit. It is only through the accumulation of merits in your past lives and the residual of incredible great positive karma that we can arrive in a body like this.

Having being born as a human is like arriving on an island of jewels. But if we don’t take any of them and just keep our hands crossed and go home empty handed, then what really is the point? So how do we make this precious human birth meaningful? It is only through practicing the spiritual path that one can make this precious human body significant. Without which you are just an ordinary human trapped in an ordinary human body.

And why is this human body called precious? It is because of this body, that we can listen to precious teachings when they are explained and subsequently put them into practice. But if we waste such a precious thing like this, there is truly no greater loss than that. If we don’t practice the dharma then we are no different than an animal. So truly and honestly we should really persevere to practice the dharma.

❀ Practicing the Dharma ❀

To practice the dharma means having trust, diligence and being wise/intelligent. Trust means having complete trust and confidence in the Dharma, the teachings and in the one who taught the teachings, the Buddha.  Therefore having complete trust in the Buddha and the Dharma. Complete trust in the Sangha, the ones who upholds the teachings and therefore a feeling of gratitude towards the Sangha.  We need to trust in these three (Buddha/Dharma/Sangha).

Diligence means, in any kind of job you do, if you begin and do not finish then it is never completed. Therefore what carries you to complete that job is called diligence.

And being wise/intelligent is first of all what we gain from listening to teachings, from thinking about them and than later applying them. So when you hear something and you gain some trust and confidence then you have some insight that is called the knowledge through learning. And then when you think it over, the knowledge through reflection and finally the knowledge through meditation practice and having full confidence and trust in it. It is for that reason invincible to have trust. If one mistrusts then that is a great defect.

If one has no compassion and trust it is very hard to penetrate the very heart of the dharma. It is like someone who when seeing Buddhas and bodhisattvas flying in the sky think they are just showing off and when seeing a creature lying on the floor with it’s intestines flowing out and saying oh it’s his karma, everyone dies.

❀ Devotion and Compassion ❀

Compassion and devotion shouldn’t just be a show. And shouldn’t only be of lip service. It should be from the depths of our heart. Trust towards the teachings of the Buddha should be with pure appreciation. We need to have the kind of trust which is penetrating so that tears comes out of our eyes and the hairs on our body naturally stand, a kind of feeling difficult to remain in. Simply by uttering some empty words wont’ suffice.  When thinking of other beings you should have the kind of compassion thinking that they are all my parents and yet they don’t know what to do, they create immense pain and suffering for themselves, yet they are not aware of it. They have no idea about the ultimate truth, the true state of Samadhi. So they wonder from one life to the next in the endless chain of samsara. Therefore, the ones who are filled with overwhelming compassion for sentient beings and with unwavering devotion for the enlighten ones; they will without any doubt receive the blessings of all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Just to pay lip service and superficially act as if one pities sentient beings and respects the enlighten ones is not enough to receive the blessings. It has to be with hundred percent sincerity. So here are some signs of receiving the blessings, and they are when you no longer have to try to feel kind and compassionate, as it will come spontaneously and you no longer have to try to be deliberately respectful, as it will come spontaneously as well. Those are the signs. With a natural trust in the teaching and the consequences of karma, that is the real accomplishment of dharma practice. That is the real siddhi.

❀ Receiving the Blessings ❀

You may not be having a lot of knowledge and information of the dharma but if you have real trust in the three jewels and you have kindness towards other beings and acutely understand that in this life, nothing last forever, then you have already received the blessings of the three jewels. Otherwise just to know a lot of teachings can sometimes really resolve in nothing but conceit. Or thinking I have practiced so much and so many years of Shamatha and Samadhi. People who have a lot of practice behind them usually become more miserly and stingy. This is proof that the teachings have not taken affect. So what is the main mission at stake? It is after all about buddha-nature, which is the very identity within which the bodies, speech, mind, qualities and enlighten activities of all the Buddhas are complete. Actually the body, speech, and mind of any sentient being have its source or origin only in the body, speech, and mind of all the awakened ones. This unchanging quality is called the vajra body, the unceasing quality the vajra speech and the unmistaken quality, the vajra mind. The indivisible unity of these three is exactly what buddha-nature means.

❀ Buddha-nature ❀

If we don’t recognize or acknowledge in our own experience what is the unchanging quality of this buddha-nature, then it is more or less like entering into the entrapment of the physical body of flesh and blood, our speech being entrapped within the movement of breath to become voice and voice that appears and disappears. Our consciousness becomes fixated upon a perceiver or the perceived. In other words, fixation on duality that arises and ceases for each moment, in other words, thoughts that come and go, one after the other in an endless string of thoughts continued from beginning less time and just goes on and on. That is how our normal state of mind is. If we don’t recognize our own nature in this very lifetime, we are then incapable of capturing our natural seat of unchanging self-existent wakefulness. Instead, we chase after one perishable thought after the other so that samsara becomes endless. Being overpowered by this involvement in thought day and night, life after life. Unless you become free of conceptual thinking, there is absolutely no way to truly awaken to enlightenment.

❀ The Supreme Method ❀

Great peace is when the conceptual thinking subsides or calms down. And there is such a way for that to happen. The thoughts which are an expression, while thinking if you truly recognize that you are in natural phase, which is buddha-nature, at that same moment, any thought vanishes by itself leaving no trace. That brings an end to samsara. So the basic way for that is the supreme method, once you know that one method is there anything superior to that you need to know? And this way is something, which is already attained in your self, it is not something that we need to get from someone else, by bribe, search for and finally find. It is not necessary at all. Just recognize your own natural phase and you have already transcended the six realms of samsara. That way is what one asks for when asking a master to please give instruction on mind essence. This is the most precious which one doesn’t need to search for outside, it is in your self. This is called the Buddha being placed in the palm of your own hand. That is an analogy which means, at that moment, you don’t need to seek for the awakened state somewhere else. If you line up all the money and wealth of the whole world in a big heap on one side and on the other side the recognition of buddha-nature, the nature of our own mind then what is more valuable if you were to choose between the two? Obviously, you should without a doubt choose recognizing mind essence as being much more valuable. This is called the amazing Buddha within.

If you have a wish-fulfilling jewel and yet don’t use it, then the endless samsara lies before you. Isn’t there more trouble? This is something we really need to think about. This is the real crucial point. If we didn’t have this innate buddha-nature, who can actually blame you. This buddha-nature, it is the identity of the three kayas of all Buddhas.

And in closing:

Although my mind is the Buddha, I failed to acknowledge it
Though the essence of thought is Dharmakaya, I failed to recognize it
Though the innate natural state is uncontrived, I failed to sustain it
Though this naturalness is the true state, I failed to trust it
So Guru, please look upon me with compassion and grant your blessings
That I may quickly turn my mind towards the dharma
And have no obstacles on the path and quickly have diligence to practice

* The above teaching was given at Nagi Gonpa by Kyabje Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche with Erik Pema Kunsang as his translator.

❀ ORGYEN DORJE DEN (ODD) IN ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA ❀

Invites you to join them for a historic Dharma event.

ODD Shrine Room

❀ VENERABLE GYATRUL RINPOCHE ❀

Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche

At the request of Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, Yangthang Rinpoche will bestow the transmissions of the Rinchen Terzod.

❀ THE RINCHEN TERZOD ❀

The Rinchen Terzod, the Treasury of Precious Termas, was compiled by Jamgon Kongtrul the Great with the blessings of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Chogyur Lingpa. The precious collection includes many of the major termas that had been discovered before 1889 and is extensive. It will take over three months to confer the entire cycle of hundreds of empowerments.

❀ VENERABLE YANGTHANG RINPOCHE ❀

Venerable Yangthang Tulku Rinpoche

Yangthang Tulku Rinpoche is an emanation of the great Vimalamitra and the immediate reincarnation of the Terton Dorje Dechen Lingpa. Rinpoche is a main lineage holder in the Nyingma Tradition and one of the most highly respected Buddhist teachers in the world today. Gyatrul Rinpoche says that …“Yangthang Rinpoche is truly a precious jewel.”

❀ SUPPORT ❀

Please consider becoming a sponsor for this rare and auspicious event. Your generosity and support for this program is greatly appreciated! For more information and to register please contact: orgyendorjeden@gmail.com

❀ GREEN TARA ❀

One of my main mantras for my morning practice is the one devoted to Green Tara, The Swift Liberator, The Lotus of Wisdom, the principal female manifestation of virtue and enlightenment in Tibetan Buddhism. She is the ACTIVE principle of compassion and in paintings she is represented in the process of stepping from her lotus throne in order to help sentient beings. To westerners, having a female form representing compassion may seem natural but in traditional Tibetan Buddhist iconography the male form tends to represent compassion while the female form more often represents wisdom. Tara bucks that trend.[i]

Green Tara is capable of bringing all activities that benefit others to fruition. In Tibet she is the most important deity, the Bodhisattva who’s name means ‘she who ferries across’, ‘she who saves’, or ‘star’.[ii] Green Tara lengthens the lives of her followers, protects us during our earthly travels, and guards us on our spiritual journey to enlightenment. It is said that her compassion for living beings is stronger than a mother’s love for her children.[iii]

❀ I Bow Before You, Green Tara ❀

I do three full prostrations in front of Green Tara before praying to her as this helps me to observe and contemplate the nature of my heart/mind so it becomes still, one-pointed, and able to gain insight into the changing flow of my experiences. By bowing I am also raising up Green Tara higher than my own personal ego-self. Before I recite the Green Tara mantra I ask for certain wishes, one of them being that she take care of the feral cats I help to feed, that “they all find safe, dry, and warm places to sleep, and that they never know hunger and experience love.” I care about those three cats, the “59th Street Cats,” as we call them, as if they were my own children.

❀ Princess Is Missing ❀

One of these cats, “Princess,” the only female and the most tame, the one I can pet and is very affectionate back to me, went missing for nearly a week. (I would often sit and pet Princess while reciting the Green Tara mantra quietly under my breath. She liked it and always purred loudly.) I sent out an email to the four other feral feeders and none of the other women had seen Princess at feeding time either.

❀ Fooled By My Feelings ❀

My Precious Princess

I began to worry about Princess, “Who had her? Was she all right? Was she safe and dry inside someone’s home and being fed?” I didn’t want my mind to go to terrible places so I had to block out images of her being hit by a car or being taken in and then being treated cruelly. I couldn’t help but wonder why Princess had gone missing on me when I had been reciting the Green Tara mantra for her protection and dedicating the merit of saying it to her and the other two cats each day. How could Green Tara let me down? I started thinking about what it means to have faith and started to realize I had very little faith in Green Tara as far as Princess and the other feral cats were concerned. I began to question myself, “Why am I reciting the Green Tara mantra? I can read all I want to of Green Tara but is she me? Am I her? Is it an energy outside of me? Is it both? After all of my praying for the protection of Princess and her buddies something worse shouldn’t have happened to her, right?”

❀ Please Show Me A Sign ❀

I told Michele, one of the other women who feeds the 59th Street Cats, that I planned to drive around the neighborhood where Princess lived. I planned to walk around calling out her name to see if she would come running to me like she used to do. Michele said she’d meet me with “missing” fliers for Princess and we could go hang them in the area to see if someone might have spotted her. All during this time I thought very strongly, “What does it mean to have faith?” I started to realize I need to believe in Green Tara as something bigger than me, the deity she is and and not just an energy inside of me. Michele and I agreed to meet in an hour and I went to take a shower, still in deep contemplation about Green Tara and my missing Princess. After showering I went to my altar and did my prostrations before Green Tara, I asked, “Please Green Tara, give me a sign, something about Princess, let me know she is all right. If she is not happy where she is at now, please let her come back to me.”

❀ My Story Has A Happy Ending ❀

Green Tara Brought Princess Back

I met Michele at the building where we feed Princess and she had already posted one flier at a nearby grocery store. We walked to the back of the building together and I expected that Princess wouldn’t be there. We each called out for Princess a few times and then suddenly she came running to us from the corner of the large empty parking lot. That afternoon she had been hiding behind many stuffed, green garbage bags around the dumpster. The sun was shining but the air was chilly and we thought that the bags probably provided a good windbreak for her while she sunned herself. I was so happy to see her I cried a little inside as I reached down to pet her as if nothing had changed. She was healthy and she purred. I said out loud to her, “Princess where have you been? We’ve been worried. Next time you leave like that you need to tell us where you’re going.” Inside I questioned myself, “Is this an answer to my prayer Green Tara? Is this about having faith? You’ve definitely show me a sign, now I should believe?”

❀ What Does It Mean To Have Faith? ❀

In Buddhism, faith is built through years of perseverance and proper understanding of Dharma. Green Tara’s Buddha nature is indifferent from our own, which is within. Green Tara’s activities are vast, something we haven’t achieved, and are without. So, we pray to her and sometimes our wishes are not seemingly answered, at least not in the way we thought they might be. This is mainly due to the essential element of karma, or it could even be an inappropriate wish.

❀ Karma And Control ❀

What I had forgotten but need to always remember as a Buddhist is that all sentient beings have their own karma. Karma is not the same thing as ‘fate.’ Karma is the results of previous actions in this life and in the past. I had forgotten that Princess has her own karmic fruition to face. I know I can’t control any situation but I still want the best for Princess and I’ll do whatever I can to make her life easier. At the time I didn’t know how far to go, how much to believe, when one says have faith in Green Tara, the active principle of compassion, how will she answer my prayers?

❀ Mind Nature Of Buddhas And Sentient Beings Are Indifferent ❀

From a western point of view, being ‘indifferent’ usually means that someone doesn’t care, that they have no feelings one way or the other, and having no feelings is generally seen as a bad thing in the West. It doesn’t have the same meaning in Buddhism. At the same time, if we had no feelings, wouldn’t we be heartless? If our actions were based on doing what’s right without consideration of another’s feelings wouldn’t that seem cruel? In Buddhism the practice of praying to Green Tara or another deity isn’t teaching us to not have feelings, it is teaching us to not be fooled by our feelings.

If we study the nature of our mind further we’ll find it’s like a mirror. If we placed a flower before it the image of the flower will vividly appear on the mirror, but when we take away the flower, the mirror is still a mirror. The quality of the mirror is not tainted at all by witnessing the flower. Mind is simply fooled by our senses, fooled by our concepts.

We are often fooled by our feelings. We need to look at things the way they are, the way it is. It’s all right to feel the things we feel but we need the realization that if we are together with our loved ones one day we will be apart from them. When we are born into this world one day we will surely die. Having clarity of the reality of painful situations we then understand, and we have a choice in how we’ll respond and react in the world. In Buddhism the point of our praying is to gain MINDFULNESS, praying becomes a form of meditation for us rather than merely petitioning a higher external force for what we desire.

❀ Praying For Princess ❀

I missed Princess while she was gone yet I continued to pray for her well being. I thought if someone had taken her into their home and they loved her, well, then I am happy. I naturally share some qualities with Green Tara, but not seeing it is one thing that makes me a sentient being and not a God.

Reciting the Green Tara mantra helped me to calm my mind and in fact probably helped Princess return to me that day as I became mindful of our situation- Princess is a feral (homeless) cat, who fends for herself and finds shelter in the wild of the city. She also has her own karma from her past and present to live out. I no longer pray that Princess return to me each week but I still pray for her protection. No matter what happens next my faith is restored. The devotee of Green Tara may recite even the short mantra of ten syllables whenever needs are being denied and she will hear it and respond.

Being mindful will help one calm their mind…Mantras will only manifest their powers when one’s mind is calm. Remember this.

**NOTE- It’s been another week and Princess has disappeared again. She came back to me for a few minutes one day, two weeks ago, after I prayed to Green Tara for a sign. The most I can do now is to continue loving her while I pray, to take care of her when and if she does come back to her feeding area, and remain mindful of our situation together.

***Many thanks to my faithful friend Hermit who helps me to understand Dharma and myself better, and thank you to Michele Nelson, a volunteer at the fixourferals.org serving Alameda and Contra Costa counties in California, for providing me with the great pictures of Princess and for helping me get the images to show up in my blog again.

[i] Green Tara Mantra – Wildmind.org
[ii] Tara – Khandro.net
[iii] Images of Enlightenment, Tibetan Art in Practice

At Wat Ambavana, there are deities protecting and assisting in welcoming meditation trainees. Those who have been relatives or the blessed ones can be in contact with them.

It was an astonishing story when The National Office of Primary Education, Ministry of Education organized a class for school principals at Wat Ambavana. A group of 4 – 5 old headmasters wanted to drink hot tea. But the temple boys always served iced tea, which the principals did not like at all.

Soon after, it happened that Mr. Tongyoi, the business manager appeared to welcome them with cups of hot tea. He wore a white suit like what he had worn during the propitiation ceremony for construction of the Uposatha Hall. Three of them appeared together. They retreated after greeting the principals with hot tea.

That group of headmasters followed after them and ask a monk at the cremation hall if he had seen three people going out that way. The monk replied that there had been no one there. So, they walked further along until arriving at the merit-making hall and saw the photograph of Tongyoi there. They were able to identify the person who had greeted them with hot cups of tea.

When a person dies he has to be born immediately, whether he is born as a hungry ghost, demon or deity. Some people do not understand and so think of them as ghosts. Tongyoi has become a sacred deity.

While he was alive, Proprietor Tongyoi Chalotorn participated in the construction of the new Uposatha Hall and the large Presiding Buddha image in the Uposatha called “Luang Poh Chalotorn”. The small Presiding Buddha image, called “Luang Poh Samret Phol”, is ancient and has existed since the old Uposatha Hall.

I knew that Mr. Dum Wanich of Pak Bang had joint karma with Proprietor Tongyoi. They would assist each other in the time to come. I told Proprietor Tongyoi to ride in a car driven by Dum and said, “Within the next seven days from now, do not drive at all.” Mindfulness told me that Proprietor Tongyoi would be dead from a car accident.

Mr. Dum Wanich was a son of parents of Laotian descent in Po Ka village. They incurred debts and had mortgaged all their farmland.

It just happened that Army Staff Officer Wasant Panich, disciple of this temple, was given the duty to conscript soldiers for Vietnam War. I previously asked him to call Goh, the son of my great aunt, who lived north of my house, for service in Vietnam also.

Dum Wanich was a poor man, driving for people in Pak Bang. He came to drive for me some times. He told me, “Luang Poh! I am so poor. I have farmland but my parents have mortgaged it. I have no money to repay the creditor.” I suddenly thought of something, saying, “Tomorrow, be prepared to go to be trained in Kanchanaburi before going to the Vietnam War.”

Colonel Wasant happened to come to the temple. I asked him if it was possible to replace Goh with Dum because Dum Wanich used to be a soldier before. On the next day, a group of recruited men went to Kanchanaburi for training. After that, they went on to Vietnam. He spent two years in Vietnam, earning enough money to redeem the farmland for his parents.

It was time when Dum Wanich had to serve Proprietor Tongyoi and look after him while he was ill. Dum Wanich returned from Vietnam with plenty of money. He did not drink or smoke. He was a good mechanic. Having redeemed the farmland, he intended to stay with his brother in Bangkok to sell “pa-tong-go” (Chinese doughnuts). If I had not done him a favour, I could not have possibly held him back.

I asked Proprietor Tongyoi to see me and told him not to drive. Then I asked Dum Wanich to drive for Proprietor Tongyoi, which he did. The Proprietor was very glad that he could ride comfortably. He was the branch manager of Krung Thai Bank and owned 2 rice mills and one ice factory.

However, that day was the time for him to die. Mrs Sumal forgot that I had requested Dum to drive Mr. Tongyoi and instead sent Dum Wanich to Bangkok, driving her van, to buy some trees to be planted. Mr. Tongyoi was home alone. There was an urgent phone call inviting him to be the judge of a boat race. He accepted. Having forgotten that I had asked him not to drive, he got dress in jacket and tie, then drove his Mercedes-Benz to the race.

At 8 o’clock in the evening, his time was up. A truck belonging to the Department of Irrigation, with a full load of earth, was park on the shoulder of the highway. The Proprietor did not see it. He ran into it at a speed of 120 kms/hour, without putting the brake on. Bang! Into the rear of the truck! His neck was dislocated. His gun was also lost. But he was not dead. In fact, he had to die then. But he did not die instantly because he received the fruit of his previous merit in building the Uposatha Hall and the Presiding Buddha image. That extended his life for three more years, enabling him to transfer the rice mills and ice factory to his son. While in the hospital, he thought of his business and said, “Luang Poh, I’m thinking of selling the present ice making machine and replacing it with a new German machine. Then I will change the milling machine for better production.” He died just after he had finished doing so.

When he was in a bad condition from the car accident, I went to see him. He was a bit cheered up. Then I said, “Why are you in this bad shape? You have made a lot of merit. You helped build the Uposatha Hall, the image hall and the Presiding Buddha image. Now you must have your head shaven and your neck weighed. It is like being paralyzed. Why?” I used meditation, noting ‘thinking’…’ thinking.’ Then I knew that his bad karma had come to its results.

When he was young he drove a tugboat called ‘Rung Rueng Chalotorn’, pulling cargo barges from Pak Nampo to Bangkok. He stopped the boat when he arrived at Ban Paeng because he had a Laotian girl friend there. The Vietnamese villager on the opposite side of the river (south of Wat Ambavana) brought turtles to sell to him. He used turtle as food to go with liquor. The Proprietor was the one who killed the turtles himself. He put a piece of wood into the turtle’s mouth, pulling the head out from the shell and hitting it in the head to kill it.

After I finished the story, the Proprietor cried until he fainted. When he was conscious he said,  “That was true, Luang Poh. I’ve forgotten that I killed hundreds of turtles. On the tugboat’s return trip, I stopped for the night in Ban Paeng. There was a theatre for Li-ke (Thai musical folk drama) and an old fashioned movie theatre. The Vietnamese village was on the opposite side of the river from the Laotian village. When the Vietnamese villagers saw my boat, they brought live turtles to sell. I pulled out the head and hit it to kill it. My wife and children did not know about it.”

Having said that, Proprietor Tongyoi was sobbing, “Luang Poh! How do you know this? When I was young I didn’t even know where you were.” When he was young I had not been ordained yet. Mindfulness informed me. If you keep practicing for a long time, the result will come in this way.

Mrs. Galong is another deity. She used to be a hungry ghost who came here with one of the reconstructed temple buildings. She came to practice meditation and had become a deity. There is a story about Mrs. Galong going to rescue her relative in the North from committing suicide.

The story is like this. One wealthy family had lived together for a long time until the children grew up, graduating with Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees. Later, the husband took another woman. There was a row. The husband left the house. The wife was so depressed that she was about to drink insecticide in an attempt to commit suicide. As she was lifting up the glass, a hand knocked the glass out of her
hand.

Just before that, she had felt the house shake slightly. Then the glass was knocked out of her hand. The wife was startled because she did not know the beautiful lady who had come to strike the glass. The lady said,  “You should not have thought of committing suicide because of a trivial matter like your husband having an affair. Why should you? If I hadn’t been your relative, I would not have come to help you at all. If I hadn’t saved you in time, you would have been dead already.”

Then the lady apparition instructed, “Your husband and you have come from different places. Do not scold your husband. If you do so, I will not come to help you again. You will have to drink insecticide or hang yourself. You should come to meditate instead. If it hadn’t been because we were relatives, I wouldn’t have come to save you. I’m in a hurry. So, I’ll leave you now. Wishing you happiness.” As she was about to leave, the wife asked, “Wait a moment, please. Where do you live?”

That lady said, “My name is Galong. I live in Wat Ambavana, Singhburi.”

Written By: Phra Debsinghapur-acariya , also known as Jarun Thitadhammo

In Buddhism, a type of incense known as ‘Sang’ is traditionally offered to the Four Guests while praying, whenever commencing an important task. Sang is special herbs mixed with certain foods and when burned creates a fragrant, perfumed smoke. There are different types of Sang offered to different deities and to be burned at different times of the day. The main reason to perform the Sang offering is so that one will enjoy the benefit of having no hindrances to success and also for the task to be successfully accomplished.

The basic principle of Sang is to increase one’s wakefulness. Tibetans like symbolism a lot and speak in such terms. Wakefulness means wisdom or the power to know the truth. Sang’s strength is that it can dissolve emotions just as the flame  consumes firewood. Sang can be burned for three reasons: 1. To simply fragrance the air; 2. Used for ridding a space of negative energy; and 3. As an offering to the Four Guests.

The Four Guest who are invited to be the recipients of a Sang offering are: First- the Three Jewels, i.e. Buddha, Dharma and Sangha; Second- the Yidam, Dakini and Dharmapala; Third- the Six-Realm Beings; and Fourth- the Karmic Creditors & Debtor which includes various classes of spirits and obstructing forces, etc.

By offering the pleasant smelling smoke to the Four Guests we receive their blessings. It is important to hold in one’s mind and heart that the Sang is an offering otherwise we are simply burning incense for the smell of it.

Breaches of samaya will be mended by offering Sang to Yidam, Dakini and Dharmapala; and, by satisfying the needs of all sentient beings, in particular one’s Karmic Creditors, we purify whatever grudges they may hold against us.

What do we mean by one’s Karmic Creditors? This refers to those that you owe, that you hurt in your past life.

In this life the Karmic Creditor (he or she) will hold a grudge towards you without an apparent reason. It’s to these Karmic Creditors that you offer Sang to pacify their hatred towards you. That feeling they have for you is hidden deep into that person’s mind so much that they may not even be aware of it.

In this instance, your Karma is something like an ‘energy’ hidden right in your soul and it radiates a signal. When you meet someone who has a negative karmic connection with you in your former lives they’ll make your life difficult. In some cases where there is a strong karmic link it becomes like a ‘big bang’ effect for you, but image how many weaker negative karmic links you have with others and what the affects of their feelings & actions have upon you. They’re out there…

The final reason for making a Sang offering to the Four Guests is to increase our opportunities for success which is called ‘Lungta’ (in Tibetan) or literally ‘Wind-Horse’ in English.

The history of Lungta is that Tibetans hung small colored flags, with one’s name written at the corners of the flags, at high places of holy sites. Being higher and at a holy site, the wind would carry one’s desires higher and higher, closer to heaven.

The same theory applies to Sang. The smoke floats up into the air with one’s prayers and the Wind Horse literally carries the person’s energy higher and higher.

When our Lungta is increased we enjoy a lot of benefits. However, when our Lungta is low and decreased, even despite our own tremendous efforts to do good, all things seem incredibly difficult for us to achieve. Even something as simple as a meritorious wish, like acquiring the right circumstances to accumulate merits, just won’t come together for us. Accomplishing the tiniest task will be encountered with an abundance of obstacles. Increasing the Lungta (Wind-horse) is essential because of it’s ability to transform negative circumstances into a positive direction.

In closing, the Sang offering to the Four Guests is incredibly powerful and useful in that it will increase our Lungta strength as well as our own inner wisdom.

My boss has me working on a chapter for his book about an orangutan that looks exactly like a woman. I had to ask my Buddhist friend Hermit for help in understanding the nature of animal love vs. human love. Here’s the start of the chapter, based on the information my dear friend shared with me.

Originated in India or China. The lion is featured in Buddhist lore, being the mount of Manjusri

Once upon a time in Batu Pahat, Malaysia, there sat facing each other a Chinese Society building and a Hindu temple. For many years they had peacefully co-existed.

For those of you who don’t know, the country of Malaysia sustains a diverse culture, with a mixture of religious heritages. The most influential ones there being Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus.

Now, one day the Hindu committee in charge of taking care of the temple there decided it was time to rebuild the temple’s old dome. Only, when they made their plans, they decided they would make their Hindu temple’s dome larger, and taller, than it had previously been.

Whether it was intended to show force or not, when this monumental structure was completed, it was higher than the Chinese Society building. In fact, the new Hindu temple dome towered over it, and put a tremendous pressure on the Chinese Society building.

Not long after it was built, one by one, the Chinese Society committee members began to fall sick. They had no choice. Something had to be done. They called a Tibetan Buddhist who was also a Feng Shui master for help.

The Feng Shui master surveyed the site and took note. He examined the landscape and other buildings surrounding the Chinese Society building.

He had a solution. He asked the Chinese Society committee to close all the windows and doors of their building that faced the Hindu temple. They were also instructed, they should hang a black Lion’s Head used in the Chinese Lion Dance on the second floor balcony, facing the Hindu temple. The Feng Shui master also wrote a Buddhist mantra on a yellow piece of paper, asked them to frame it, and hang it above the Lion’s Head.

When the heavy wooden doors of the Chinese Society building were permanently sealed shut, the Luan Tou effect of the high Hindu temple dome, (with hundreds of statues on it), was reduced. The people in the Chinese Society building are now not exposed directly to the pressure of the dome.

In addition, the fierce looking black Lion Head creates a LT (Luan Tou) effect towards the Hindu temple. The Black Lion Head is seldom used in the Lion Dance. Furthermore, the mantra used is of the ‘White Umbrella’ – Dugkar (Tibetan). This wrathful mantra, placed above the Lion’s Head, creates a spiritual uneasiness. This particular mantra is seldom used because it is only for attacking or defending.

Not long after the Chinese Society committee members made the corrections, one-by-one the committee members of the Hindu temple fell sick. One of them even went crazy.

With the power of Feng Shui, and the power of the mantra, the negative Qi sent towards the Chinese Society building had been reversed.

Moral of the story: “Love thy neighbor.”

(This is key advice to all who practice real Feng Shui)

If you’re feeling sick, emotionally down, or tired, you might try a life giving ‘flower bath.’ Just a quick reminder though, in the world of feng shui, this is not a feng shui cure. Feng shui is about working with the electro-magnetic energies that surround us. by manipulating our position in our environment. But this flower bath is a sweet relief from illness or when you’re feeling sad. I’ve tried it myself several times and it always picks me up.

Your aura will absorb life giving energy from fresh cut flowers

The flowers you use for a flower bath cannot be dried because dried flowers are dead flowers. When you are not feeling well your body needs life giving energy.

Having said that, some may ask me whether putting a few drops of a Bach Flower essence formula called, “Rescue Remedy,” into your bath might work the same way. Well, yes and no. Using that in your bath in a pinch is better than nothing but it does not have near the potency of the vital, life giving energy your aura will absorb from fresh cut flowers. (I have used the Rescue Remedy in my bath when I had a particularly bad experience one night that I was not expecting. I used this after decontaminating myself with sea salt.) You can use flowers from your own garden or you can buy them from a florist or wherever you can get some fresh cut flowers.

I also want to make it clear to those interested in feng shui that a flower bath is not a feng shui ‘cure.’

Here is how it is done:

Select one flower for every color of the rainbow. It doesn’t matter what type of flower it is and it does not need to have a fragrance. The reason that different colored flowers are used is because in Tibetan Buddhism it is believed that each color carries a specific energy or vibration. Healing using colors is ‘supplementary’ to other types of healing.

Run your bath water. You can add whatever other ingredients you desire into your bath. Now, you can place the flowers in your bath water with their stems on; or, you can pull off the petals and place only the petals in the water. I like to place the flower petals in my bath while the bath water is running but I don’t place them direction under the water. Instead I just sprinkle them around the entire tub. It’s really beautiful when you do this.

To be effective, you must leave the flowers in the water for no less than 15 minutes BEFORE you get into the bath. After the 15 minutes, you need to completely soak yourself and stay in the water for no less than 15 minutes. (You can even try soaking your head in the water.) After the 15 minutes are up you can remain in your flower bath for longer if you like or you can get out.

But the next step is to take a cool shower. It doesn’t matter if you use soap or any other products in your shower. What you’re doing by taking the shower is creating a small amount of negative ions that will also help to elevate your mood.

This flower bath is more than just your conscious or unconscious intention of wanting it to make yourself feel better. It actually will help to heal you. Perhaps the next time you’re sick and cannot muster the strength to get out of bed, you might order a colorful, bouquet of flowers for yourself from online, and have them sent to your doorstep! Why not? You deserve it. Take care of yourself.