Dear Clea,

It’s no problem to pray to Green Tara even if you practice the Theravadin path. You can still pray to her, there is no problem or contradiction. She will help you in your chosen path to liberation.

Yes, visualisation is involved in the Vajrayana path, so you if you are not comfortable with it, then there is no need to visualise. Just pray to Tara from your heart and she will hear you. As with any Buddhist practice whether Theravada or Vajrayana, the most important aspect is to improve yourself, be compassionate and transform your mind. When you do this, she will surely help you when you pray to her.

You have my prayers for success in your spiritual path. Thank you.

Dear Gerard,

Thank you for your lovely messsage. If you would like to create a guru-disciple relationship with Tsem Rinpoche, you can contact Kechara Front Desk. They can arrange to guide you how to take Refuge with Tsem Rinpoche remotely. Tsem Rinpoche trained our Pastors to help people take Refuge with him before he entered Parinirvana. You can contact us here: https://www.kechara.com/contact/ and let them know you are interested in take refuge, and they will guide you how to do so. They will ask you a little more of your background and then guide you through the Refuge Vows and commitments, to make sure you fully understand, then after a while, they will guide you through the ceremony. This will create the guru-disciple bond.

For the Chinese deities, as a Buddhist we do not prostrate to them as they are gods, we only to the Buddhas. If you have an altar, you can place them next to your Buddhist altar, at a slightly lower level. That is the correct way to place them according to Buddhist belief. Thank you.

Dear Lak,

The mantra that you are refering to is known as the ‘Multiplying Mantra’. It is recited at the beginning of all sadhanas and pujas here in Kechara. It is a very common mantra:

OM SAMBHARA SAMBHARA VIMANA SARA MAHA JAVA HUNG
OM MARA MARA VIMANA SARA MAHA JAVA HUNG (7x)

Unfortunately, we do not have a copy of the translation of this particular sutra in English. I’m not sure if the entire sutra has actually been translated or not. Sorry I could not be of more help. Thank you.

Dear Gigi,

Of course. You can engage in any of the purification practices, even if you are not “technically” a Buddhist as you have not taken Refuge. Actually, even for the formal ceremony of Refuge, it’s not the ceremony itself that makes you a Buddhist, but taking Refuge from your heart that matters.

You can engage in any purification practice, for example:

Vajrasattva: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/prayers-and-sadhanas/an-important-purification-practice.html
[please note since you don’t have initiation, you visualise Vajrasattva by himself, and not with his consort]

35 Confessional Buddhas: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/the-35-confessional-buddhas.html

Either of these practices are very good. You can choose whichever one that feel more of an affinity with. I hope this helps. Thank you.

Dear Sunny,

Yes, we are aware that His Eminence Panglung Tulku entered clear light last year. We have done prayers for his swift return.

In regards to Yumar Gyalchen/Kache Marpo, they are not Yidams but Dharma Protectors. They are emanations of the Yidam Hayagriva in the form of Protectors. Hence they are practiced as Dharma Protectors, although their natures are enlightened. Hayagriva himself is practiced as a Yidam. I hope that helps. Thank you.

Hello Franco Uccellini,

Thank you for your message. I am so sorry, but at the moment we do not offer teaching/tuition to individuals. If you are able to understand English well, you can join our Buddhism for Beginners Class, which you can join online. More information here: https://www.kechara.com/learn/buddhism-for-beginners/ Classes have already started, but you can still join if you are interested. I hope this helps.

—

Ciao Franco Uccellini,

Grazie per il vostro messaggio. Mi dispiace tanto, ma al momento non offriamo insegnamento/lezioni individuali. Se sei in grado di capire bene l’inglese, puoi unirti al nostro corso di buddismo per principianti, a cui puoi iscriverti online. Maggiori informazioni qui: https://www.kechara.com/learn/buddhism-for-beginners/ Le lezioni sono già iniziate, ma puoi ancora unirti se sei interessato. Spero che aiuti.

Dear Anonymous,

It is a very beautiful prayer! Unfortunately, I do not know the prayer. It seems like a prayer from either the Kagyu or Nyingma traditions, so am not familiar with it. However, it is a general and beautiful prayer to Chenrezig, so it is perfectly fine to listen to. In fact, it will plant the seeds of Chenrezig in your mind every time you do listen to it. Sorry I couldn’t help you more. Thank you.

Dear Anonymous,

Buddhas are not “all-powerful” as in the context of Abrahamic religions. In the Buddhist context such “all-powerful” beings do not exist.

Protector Rice cannot be made by any other means apart from a Protector taking trance to bless the rice. However, you can bless normal rice by reciting mantra and blowing the energy of the mantra on the rice. However, this is not the same as protector rice, and the use of such rice is different than protector rice. Blessing rice by blowing mantras is usually done in a retreat setting. The rice is then sprinkled on land, to help bless the land.

Chandraprabha and Suryaprabha are two of the attendants of Medicine Buddha. They are said to be brothers and are both Bodhisattvas. As far as practice within the Tibetan Tradition is concerned, they do not have their own mantras. When you pray to Medicine Buddha, as his attendants, they come to help you as you have already called upon Medicine Buddha for his help.

Thank you.

Dear Anaaya,

Thanks for your question. Daoism is not the same as Buddhism, they are two distinct religious systems. Just like, for example, Chritianity and Buddhism are two distinct religions. Some terminology in English may be the same due to ease of translation, however they are two very different religious systems with different beliefs, practices, etc. So yes, that belief does contradict Buddhist belief, as in Buddhist belief nirvana is the highest state that is permanent. I hope this helps. Thank you.

Hello Gale,

Yes, what you have quoted is indeed correct. As you have said, you have gotten angry at the Bodhisattva Guan Yin, known as Chenrezig in Tibetan Buddhism. According to the teachings, yes, you would have destroyed merits due to this. However, Buddhism is not a fatalistic religion. You can build up those merits again through your practice, whether formal practices such as pujas and prayers, or by engaging in the actually teachings, transforming your mind and becoming a better person. Is Chenrezig going to be angry with you? Of course not. Chenrezig has not anger whatsoever and is only full of love and compassion towards you. So even in the past if you have been angry at Chenrezig, for whatever reason, Chenrezig will forgive you and still bless you and help to increase your merits. As long as you feel remorse for your actions and also fix what you have done, by transforming your mind for the better. A formal way of doing this is using the Four Opponent Powers in relation to a purification practice. But even just going in front of your Chenrezig statue, feeling remorse and apologising is still very good because it is from your heart.

I hope this helps. Thank you.

Dear Clea,

Green Tara is not a spirit, she is a fully enlightened being. As such, there is no way that she can be angry with you because she has absolutely no anger. All she has is compassion and love for you and all other sentient beings. When you call Green Tara she will only bless you and those around you.

There is a big difference between a fully enlightened being and a spirit. You can read more about Tara here: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/homage-to-the-supreme-mother-tara.html

Hope that helps!

Hi Ony,

It’s our pleasure to help. Hope all is going well. Let us know if you have any other questions.

Dear Ony,

Yes Shize practice would be good to dedicate to him. However, it would of course be better for the person himself to do the practice. But I understand that this may not be possible at this point. Green Tara is also another very effective practice for solving disharmony within the family, and disharmony with others in general. His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche often advised Green Tara practice and pujas for familial disharmony.

However, doing the practices/pujas by themselves will not provide a miracle solution to the problem. Both the son and family members must remember that they are a family and love each other. That way, they energies of the practices/pujas will work quicker to resolve the issues. If you are close to this person, then it would be very good if you can help him to figure out why he is acting like this and help him move past it, so there is harmony again. Pujas/practices create the conditions for things to happen, but we also need to put in effort to solve the issues ourselves. The practices/pujas help us to achieve our goals quicker. So after doing such practices, if even only a little amount of effort is put in to restoring harmony, our efforts will be very effectice. I hope this explanation helps.

Dear Anonymous,

This explanation accords to the Tibet Buddhist understanding of the terms:

A Buddha is a completely Enlightened being, meaning they are no longer bound by samsara. They have completely overcome what are known as the two obsuractions – emotional obscurations and cognitive obscurations.

An Arhat is a liberated being, meaning they are no longer bound by samsara. However they have not compeltely overcome all of their obscurations yet. There are said to be two levels of Arhats – Pratyekaya Buddha and Shravaka.

A Bodhisattva is a practitioner on the Mahayana path who has ignited Bodhicitta in their minds. There are 10 main levels of a Bodhisattva, at the end of which they attain Buddhahood. Bodhisattvas ‘bypass’ the level of the Arhat on their journey to complete enlightenment.

Both Arhats and Bodhisattvas still need to practice in some way, as they are not full enlightened yet.

So Buddhahood is the ultimate. Arhats and Bodhisattvas are practitioners on the way there but are far, far, far more advanced then normal people. In fact, the state of an Arhat is outside of the bounds of samsara itself.

The difference between the path of the Arhats and the path of the Bodhisattvas can generally be said to be different in terms of time and practice. The Bodhisattva path is said to be quicker towards enlightenment. Also in terms of practice, the path of the Arhats stressed abandoning or causing afflictive emotions to cease, whereas the Bodhisattva path is about the purification of afflictive emotions.

There are many other differences and ways of explaining it as well, but too much to do here in this short space. You can read the Lamrim teachings, which talk about this in detail. I hope this helps. Thank you.

Dear Wanru Yan,

Let me see how I can help:

1. In regards to Chapter 6 of the Lamrim Chenmo. This chapter is to clarifies misconceptions about what meditation is and it’s purpose and uses. It’s too much to go into here as it is very philosophical and goes into a lot of detail. Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo presupposes that the person who is reading it has a foundational level of knowledge in monastic education, which would already have covered some of what he is talking about. Hence, the text, and the English translation of the text can get very confusing for more people these days who do not have that foundation. That why, for modern lay people, is advisable to study a shorter Lamrim text first, so you can familiarise yourself with the concepts first, before moving on to Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo. Here at Kechara we use Pabongka Rinpoche’s Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand to study the Lamrim (https://www.vajrasecrets.com/lamrim-liberation-in-the-palm-of-your-hand). We do not public study the Lamrim Chenmo in Kechara, as it is simply to long and philisophical with very detailed points for most people.

2. Stabilisation meditation is Single-Pointed Concentration meditation, where you build up your focus/concentration sole on one thing without distraction. Analytical meditation is when you contemplate on a topic from many different angles. They are two distinct forms of meditation but must be used together. This is explained in the Lamrim teachings. Again, using a short/simpler text will be better to understand this.

3. Karma is not “stronger” than the Buddhas. The Buddhas cannot take us to enlightenment directly, we need to apply our own effort, but they can and do help us on the way there. Please scroll down on this page to see my reply to the question asked by Jerry.

4. There are differences in opinion that some practitioners of all schools have of other schools. From our Gelug tradition, as long as the teachings you are practising can be traced all the way to the Buddha, without a single break, then that teaching is authentic. For example, this is one of the reasons that Lama Tsongkhapa quotes so much from the legitimate Sutras in his Lamrim Chenmo. He is showing that what he is writing about comes from the Buddha. All Lamrim teachings start with the teachings that we share in common with the Theravada tradition. Then they move on to how the Buddha also taught the Mahayana and Vajrayana. Even within the Mahayana and Vajrayana, if they cannot be traced back to the Buddha, they are not considered legitimate. Within Tibetan Buddhism, all the teachings from the Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana align with each other. For example, all Vajrayana teachings are based on the Mahayana, and Mahayana is actually based on the Theravada. However, due to how the path of practise is presented in Vajrayana, and the prevalence of mistaken information out there about the path of practise and the terminology used, some people do not think it is Buddhist practice. However, that is simply because they do not understand what it really is and that it is 100% Buddhist in nature. Just for your information, there is such a thing as Divine Pride in Vajrayana, but there is no such thing as divine lust. In fact, this is the first time I have ever heard of something like that.

I hope all of this does help. Please do read Pabongka Rinpoche’s Lamrim text, it will provide you with a greater foundation to read and understand Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo if that is something you would still like to do. Thank you.

Dear Ama,

Listening to Buddhist chants will never lead to any form of harm or punishment. The Buddhas by definition are all-compassionate and loving, they will never harm you for listening to the mantras (as long as there are no restrictions to the mantras). As long as you are listening to mantras that are common available, then there is no problem at all. Some mantras do however need initiation to recite/listen to. But in your case this shouldn’t be a problem.

In fact, every time you listen to the mantras, it is planting seeds of enlightenment in your mind. So if you are planting the seeds of enlightenment in your mind, how can the Buddhas ever punish you. First, they will neven punish you and second, it’s actually a good thing to listen to mantras when we can. It makes our ordinary actions, daily chores, into something beneficial for our spirituality.

I hope this helps.

Dear SK,

Drupthob means “Siddha” referring to someone has reached the point of spiritual attainments or having ‘Siddhis’. There is another word ‘Drupchen’ which is the sanskrit word Mahasiddha, or Great Siddha. You may be familiar with the second word. Thank you.

Dear Wangmo,

Generally, dreams are simply the subconscious working things out when you are sleeping. Psychologically, there are many aspects to dreams about leaches, depending on what they look like, where they are on the body, etc. Accordingly there are two points that stand out among the others: 1. It’s indicative that others around you are taking too much from you emotionally, if it continues, you may not be able to handle your own emotions. So it’s good to take time for yourself. Engage in prayers and meditation to strengthen your own mind. 2. It could also relate to your own individual emotions, suggesting that there are certain emotions that you have, which are too strong and consuming too much of your energy. For example, if you are overthinking about a particular situation that has a lot of emotion attached to it, if you have too much of one particular emotion. The way to reduce this is to apply the teachings to counter that particular emotion so it doesn’t become too strong.

I hope this helps. Thank you.

Dear Jerry,

Yes, you are correct, the Buddhas are beyond karma.

But can the Buddha “intervene”? That depends on how you define intervene.

Due our karma, the Buddhas are not able to take us to the state of enlightenment from their side alone. It requires us to work on it as well.

But they are definitely able to help us on the way there. For example, when the results of our karma has ripened and we are facing situations in life, we can do pujas which invoke upon the Buddhas to help purify that karma that is causing the situation and at the same time generate merit, which can over power the the negative effects of that negative karma so that we do not suffer. Generally, Dharma protectors can help to hold back the negative effects of karma until we have time to purify said karma through our own practices. Some Dharma protectors practices such as Dorje Shugden has the Kawang practice, which itself also helps to purifies karma causing us suffering. If these were not able to help with these things, in terms of assisting with karma, then pujas and prayers would be ineffective. But the opposite is true, they can definitely help. However, they cannot help to take us out of samsara.

In fact, the more we purify our negative karma, the more that they can help us. That is why there is such an emphasis on purification of negative karma within practice.

I hope that helps a little.

Dear Bhavisha,

Karma will always follow us, it’s just if we are experiencing the results now or not. Situations in life, whether positive or negative are always caused by karma because we are in samsara. When we are going through negative experiences, we can engage in certain pujas or practices to help solve the issues created by that karma.

One very powerful way to overcome negative situations is by doing Dharma Protector pujas or practices. If I remember correctly, you are already doing Dharma protector practice. So make more offerings on your altar and recite more mantra. Ask the particular Dharma protector to help you solve the issue. Don’t have expectations on how this issue will be solved, simply ask the protector to help with the issue. Alternatively, you can sponsor pujas to get rid of obstacles created because of our negative karma: https://www.vajrasecrets.com/four-faced-mahakala-puja

You can also engage in purification practices, these are specific practices to purify negative karma. You can read about two practices in the links below:

35 Confessional Budhas:
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/the-35-confessional-buddhas.html

Vajrasattva:
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/prayers-and-sadhanas/an-important-purification-practice.html
(If you want to practice this one, you visualise Vajrasattva without his consort. Only those with initiation should visualise him with his consort)

Thank you and I hope this helps!