On 2nd & 3rd March

On the 2nd of March, as scheduled, I went to the Nepalese temple Sukhavati to give Green Tara Initiation. It was requested by their committee. About 300 people came to receive this initiation. Most of them are from the Gurung community and there were also other Nepalese there.

Going to the main hall to give initiation of Green Tara

At 1 pm, initiation started and I gave some teachings before the actual initiation. I had to talk to them in Nepalese Language which is not so hard for me. I explained to them about the legend of Tara. Many kalpas before, she was a princess called Yeshe Dhawa (Gyana Changdra) who was naturally very compassionate to the sentient beings who are suffering and does not have much craving towards samsaric pleasures. She then met a Buddha called Ngadra and developed her enlightened attitude in front of the Buddha and vowed to liberate all sentient beings. She then used all of her ability to liberate sentient beings. In this way, every morning, millions of beings were liberated and in the afternoon and evening, she liberated similar amounts of beings. Due to this, all the Buddhas praised her and given the name "Tara", which means savior. She is the savior of all sentient beings.

Giving Initiation

Arahants asked her if she wished to be in the form of a male so as to develop her enlightened attitude, since such a wish can be accomplished if she makes the aspiration in front of Buddha. But she refused to do that and mentioned, "There is no male or female in reality, it is merely the labels of a confused mind. Since there are so many who have become enlightened in the form of a male, I have decided to be in the female form and benefit sentient beings until Samsara becomes empty.” Since then, Tara is always in the female form. According to the Tantra tradition, female symbolizes wisdom because females, like wisdom, have the capability to give birth to a Buddha. Wisdom is the ultimate cause of enlightenment and is just like mother of enlightenment. The practice of Tara can ultimately cause one to attain enlightenment and in the meantime, one can be free from the 8 major and 16 minor fears that can cause suffering and untimely death. I encourage everyone to practice after receiving this initiation of Tara. It is good to remember to recite the Mantra in the morning after one has woken up. With that, for the whole day, one can confidently do whatever important works that one has to do, with a great chance of success.

People receiving initiation.

I mentioned that we as Buddhists should always be compassionate towards every sentient beings because based on Buddha's teaching, we know that every sentient being has been our mother and just like our present mother, how important our mother is, is similar to how all sentient beings are equally important to us. So we have every reason to develop compassion towards them. Compassion leads us to the action of liberation and therefore we need to develop Bodhicitta. By development of Bodhicitta, we will eventually attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. For that, we need to practice Dharma diligently while we have such an opportunity. Dharma practice means developing our ordinary thoughts and action to become positive thoughts and action and eventually we realize the nature of phenomena and self and break away from all conceptions and become liberated. In Pokhara, there are many Nepalese people who are good followers of Buddhism and have strong faith and devotion to the Dharma. Most of the Gurung people and also the other people of the Himalayan region are followers of Tibetan Buddhism.

My mother's shrine for Konchog Chidu Puja

On the 3rd March, I did a long life puja for my mother at her house. She is 81 years old and physically healthy but life is impermanent and I wish that she may live longer. Every moment of her time is fully made good use of in practicing Dharma so she will be able to develop in her spiritual practice for as long she can live. I notice she is always so busy with her daily practice, from early morning till evening. Anytime I visit her, I always find that she is reciting some prayers and spinning her prayer wheel.

We are doing puja at mother's house

I, Tseyang Rinpoche, Lama Lhundup, Lama Rabten and another 3 Lamas performed the Konchog Chidu Longevity puja together and also gave her initiation. She was extremely happy with this puja and initiation and we completed at 2 pm.

At 3pm as scheduled, I and some Lamas went to Kande Mountain which is about 40 minute’s drive from the monastery and we visited an old man who is the father of one of the Lamas and who has a small temple there. He is turning 84 this year and according to Nepalese tradition, it is considered very fortunate for a person to reach 84 years and there is celebration with lots of Pujas, so I went there to give blessings and greet the old man. There are about 100 people gathered there and they requested me to give Dharma Teaching, so I gave talks in Nepalese for an hour and it seems they are satisfied as they are all hungry for Dharma. Even though my knowledge is shallow, they seem to feel that they have benefited and feel happy.