| Monday 20 August, 7:15pm
TRADITIONAL PRACTICES Lama Chöpa Puja This is an offering to the Guru that is performed twice a month, on the 10th and 25th days of the lunar calendar. Although it is a practice of Highest Yoga Tantra, Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche encourages all students to attend if they have faith in Tantra. You may think that this is too advanced or not necessary because of not having made connection with a teacher yet. But as the ceremony is about the importance of the Guru, seeing the Guru’s qualities and kindness, it is a powerful way to create the cause to meet the perfect teacher. The puja involves making offerings and requests to have all the attainments of the path to enlightenment. The whole path is outlined in the form of a requesting prayer. Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche says that this practice helps purify all the obstacles to these attainments, especially the heavy negative karmas created in relationship to the Guru in this and past lives. Rinpoche says: “If you are able to do Lama Chöpa well, you can achieve enlightenment in this very brief lifetime”. Lama Chöpa Pujas are in English with some verses in Tibetan. So, considering the benefits to yourself and others, why wouldn’t you come? PRACTISING TOGETHER… Pujas are all about making offerings to the Guru… such as food, flowers or lights but the most important and meritorious offering to the guru is the offering of our practice. By joining the Buddha House community with pujas and practices we are accumulating “skies of merit”. It also means we are putting compassion into action by dedicating the merits to the long life of our Gurus, dedicating for those who have died, to have a good rebirth in a place where the dharma is accessible and dedicating for those who are ill to be able to have the courage to face the challenges ahead. Practising together also brings the community together, generating more powerful energy and inspires students to practice at home. Lama Yeshe likened a puja to a straw broom… Lama Yeshe also says… EVERYONE IS WELCOME |
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The six syllables: om ma ni pad me hum, mean that you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha. The first known description of the mantra appears in the Karandavyuha Sutra (Buddha speaks Mahayana Sublime Treasure King Sutra), which is part of certain Mahayana canons. In this sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha states: This is the most beneficial mantra. Even I made this aspiration to all the million Buddhas and subsequently received this teaching from Buddha Amitabha.
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