Buddha’s Descent from Tushita

Today we celebrate Buddha’s descent from Tushita Heaven. This is one of the four major Buddhist holy days (the day of miracles, the day the Buddha was enlightened, the day the Buddha first taught the four noble truths, and the day he descended from the god realm of Tushita to earth).

Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Losang Jampa suggests that we chant the Praises to Shakyamuni Buddha prayer and any other prayers related to Shakyamuni Buddha.

Buddha Shakyamuni ascended to The Heaven of Thirty-Three in order to give teachings to benefit the gods in the desire realms and to repay the kindness of his mother by liberating her from Samsara. This is considered to be one of the great deeds of the Buddha among eight great deeds. On Lha-Bab Duchen, the effects of positive or negative actions are multiplied ten million times. It is part of Tibetan Buddhist tradition to engage in virtuous activities and prayer on this day.

(source: http://www.gyutocenter.org/component/content/article/112-special-annoucment.html)

In memory of Ed Hyde: A Prayer for Beings in the Bardo Realm

A Prayer for Beings in the Bardo Realm

1. Having exhausted with their life-span and merit propelled by virtue,
The bardo beings are led to the otherworld by fierce demons and the lord of death.
As they are destitute and without a protector,
Please hold and guide them with your compassion oh Guru-Deity!

2. They are chased by currents of irreversible karmic winds
And their throats are bound by black noose of afflictive emotions.
As bardo beings are without any hope or direction,
Please be their protector oh Guru-Deity!

3. They roam alone in unfamiliar places.
Hallucinating fears agitate them like turbulent water.
As bardo beings have no confidence as to where to take rebirth,
Please be their protector oh Guru-Deity!

4. One’s own karmicallly produced host of hell staff
Laugh without compassion as they lead the bardo beings.
As their alert eyes seek protection,
Hold and guide them with your compassion oh Guru-Deity!

5. Seeing a little of their past and future with their minor clairvoyance,
They get inflicted with self-loathing.
They die a sudden death, killed by the weapon of their remorse.
Protect them from such fears oh compassionate one!

This prayer was found in the collected works Tsemonling Rinpoche, a great Geluppa master.

It is translated into English on November 1, 2009 by Tenzin Bhuchung in memory of Edward Hyde, a friend and a fellow dharma student. May the virtue accrued from this help him find a safe passage to higher rebirths and eventually gain the sublime state of enlightenment!

posted on behalf of Tenzin Bhuchung

Daily Practice Homework: Nov 21

• Continue reading the Required Readings.
• Focus deeply on the Seven Limb prayer. Spend a few days concentrating on each of the practices making sure you understand the meaning and that you can practice it spontaneously and with all your heart.

Discussion question:

What is the purpose of the six preparatory practices? Can you make these a meaningful part of your daily practice or are they just empty rituals? Why, or why not?

Topic of the Nov 21 class: Integrating Buddhism into daily life – every day dharma; tong len meditation.

DB students only: the recording of the 10/31 class is now available on the restricted web page.

Memorial Service: Edward Hyde

Please join us in remembering and saying prayers for our dear friend Edward Hyde, a devoted student of Gyume Khensur Rinpoche Losang Jampa.

Date: Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Time: 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Location: 7802 Appledore Court, Falls Church, VA

RSVP: anitendrol@guhyasamaja.org

Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche’s Center, Do Ngak Khun Phen Ling, will also be doing prayers for Edward Wednesday night.

Here is the official obituary from the local Delaware newspaper:

Obituaries
JR., EDWARD HYDE

Edward Robert Hyde, Jr.

Age 56 of Wilmington and formerly of San Francisco , CA died at Wednesday October 28, 2009 at the home of his sister.

Ed attended Saint Edmond’s Academy followed by Archmere Academy and graduated with the class of 1971. He then attended Purdue University where he earned a B.S. in Physics. Ed also earned an M.S.in Bioengineering/Bi-ology from the University of Illinois-ChampagneUrbana, and an M.D. from Northwestern University . He completed his Orthopedic Surgery Residency at the University of California at San Francisco . Ed was an accomplished orthopedic surgeon, with over 16 years experience in private practice. He was formerly on the medical staff of Stanford University Medical Center . Dr. Hyde was also a design engineer and an inventor with a portfolio of advanced technology orthopedic medical device patents. He was an avid outdoors man and particularly enjoyed fly fishing; Ed was also deeply interested in martial arts and poetry.

Ed was predeceased by his parents Edward R. Hyde Sr. in 2005 and Margaret O’Neal Hyde in 2008. He is survived by his sister, Karen Hyde Evans, her husband Merrill, their children Michael and Patrick; his sister Melinda Hyde Girardi and her children Tommy and Meggie.

A memorial service will be held at 7:00 pm on Wednesday November 4, 2009 at CHANDLER FUNERAL HOME, 2506 Concord Pike, Wilmington where friends may call beginning at 6:00 pm. Burial will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers the family has suggested donations to be made to Nemours DuPont Children’s Hospital, 1600 Rockland Road , Wilmington , DE 19803 or St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital 501 St. Jude Place , Memphis , TN 38105 .

www.chandlerfuneralhome.com

302-478-7100

[published 10/31/2009]

H1N1: what to do?

As the death count due to H1N1 continues to rise, you might wonder which prayers should we read? So, just as a reminder, Lama Zopa Rinpoche suggests that reading the Golden Light sutra is a powerful practice for purifying all negativities including sickness, disease, epidemics, wars, famine and so forth.

In the D.C. area, Ven Tenzin Lhamo has organized a monthly group reading .  The next reading is scheduled for this Sunday, November 1st, 2009. You can read the sutra at home.

If you are interested in meeting together in person for a group reading, please let me know, the Guhyasamaja Center could organize a reading if enough people respond.

…and don’t forget to wash your hands and cover your cough! More on the flu at http://flu.gov.    : )

Prayer Requests: New Blog Feature

The Guhyasamaja Center is a circle of spiritual friends. Most of the time we don’t have the opportunity to be together. In fact, many of you live far away from the Washington D.C. area. Nonetheless, we are all interdependent which means if one person in our community is ill or has fallen on hard times (lost a job, lost a home), we all feel their suffering.

So I’m creating a new blog feature for you to request prayers for yourself or others. Please feel free to give us a brief description so we can honor your request for spiritual support.

May all beings be forever free from suffering and
May I help them attain that goal

Intro to Lam Rim Resources

Module 3, Presenting the Path in the Discovering Buddhism series offers a great introduction to the Lam Rim.

Presenting the Path recordings by Don Handrick taught at Thubten Norbu Ling on http://www.archive.org

Discovering Buddhism at Home: Presenting the Path

Here’s the course description: “After this course, students will have a clear idea of the path to enlightenment, especially its three main components: renunciation, bodhicitta and the right view of emptiness. They will understand the progressive, step-like structure of the lam-rim, its origin in the teachings of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, the three scopes, where they fit at their present stage of spiritual development, what they need to do next, and how they get from there to enlightenment.”

Of course, there are tons of terrific books on the Lam Rim. For a good overview, I’d recommend Yangsi Rinpoche’s Practicing the Path.

The Center taught Presenting the Path, so if you search this blog, you’ll see the discussions.

Please feel free to share your favorite intro to Lam Rim resources. Thanks!

LYWA on Twitter

Like all of you Dharma geeks, I spend a lot of time on the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archives website enjoying the audio recordings and reading.

I just recently learned from Nick Ribush that LYWA is on twitter. It’s a great way to learn about new publications as they roll off the press and to receive Dharma quotes straight from the source.

Follow LYWA on twitter.

Daily Practice Homework Oct 24 2009

Dear Establishing a Daily Practice students,

If you don’t have a meditation space and altar in your home, please set one up. It doesn’t have to be complicated.  If you already have an altar, you might want to re-examine it in light of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s guidance in the required readings hand-out. I’ll expand the discussion on how to prepare an altar in the next class.

Readings:

Please come to class next week having read: Required Readings handout — pages 1 – 17; 57 – 64.  Wish fulling golden light of the sun — pages 1 – 68. These readings will be very helpful for understanding why a daily practice is so important and for setting your motivation. If you are coming primarily from a Zen / Theravadan background, you’ll also find these readings to be interesting.

Also, order a copy of  the practice manual “Shakyamuni Buddha – A Daily Meditation on Shakyamuni Buddha” from the FPMT online shop. Written by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for use by beginning students, it is a clearly outlined practice complete with guided meditations for developing one’s motivation, the mind of refuge, and the thought of bodhichitta. In addition the practice contains mantra recitation and visualization based on Shakyamuni Buddha and a Lam-rim prayer in the form of a request for blessings to develop all the realizations on the path to full awakening. We will use this prayer book during class and you should try to do this practice daily. It takes 3 – 5 days for your order to arrive from FPMT. This practice is not available as a PDF download from FPMT, unfortunately, I checked. The practice is included in Essential Prayers Volume 1 in case you already have that book.

Please print the following prayer booklet. We will be doing some of these prayers together in class: 8 prayers to benefit the dead.

You might want to use a meditation journal to record your thoughts and observations. This can be helpful for tracking changes over time.

Sugggested Activity:

• On a piece of paper, write down your short-term goal for your daily practice just until the end of this course in early December. For example, your goal might be to do the Shakyamuni Daily Practice three times a week, and maybe calm abiding or vipassana meditation the other four days a week. Be realistic!  This is for your personal use only, you will not be asked to share your goals in class.
• Do at least three prostrations a day using whichever version you feel comfortable with.
• Recite at least ten malas of the Chenrezig mantra, OM MANE PADME HUM
• Recite as many Medicine Buddha mantras as possible, TAYATA OM BEKANZAY BEKANZAY MAHA BEKANZAY RADZA SAMUDGATAY SOHA

Discussion Question:

Do you find it difficult to establish a daily practice, and if so, why? What kind of experience in your life would it take to change your mind? Why do you think people tend to turn to the Dharma in times of stress and then abandon their practice when things are going well?

Please share your thoughts with the group using the Comment feature below.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via email: anitendrol@guhyasamaja.org.

Best wishes,

Tendrol

Four Tibetans Executed in Lhasa

“Dharamsala, Oct 22: According to latest information received by Dharamsala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), as many as four Tibetans were executed on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in the 2008 anti-China unrest in the Tibetan capital Lhasa.” Full story on phayul.com:
China executes four Tibetans.

Please light candles and say prayers.