Dear Pema Samkye,
Legs so (Wylie) is Tibetan for very good. This phrase is found in the Sutras where the Buddha utters this when he is particularly pleased by a particular auspicious answer or situation.

Dear T,

The Mahayana teacher was probably expressing his own opinion. Vajrayana is one of the stages within the Mahayana Path. It is also known as tantrayana. Its main doctrine is that everyone is a potential Buddha and that enlightenment could be attained in one lifetime. In Mahayana, there are ten levels or bhumis through which the bodhisattva progresses on the path to Buddhahood. In Zen Buddhism, it is also taught that Buddha nature is inherent in every sentient being, and that the essential method for realising this original nature is to behold the mind. Even in Zen Buddhism, there are different methods and practices according to the lineage. Do read up on the different Zen schools to find out more. Bodhisattvas are beings, who, out of compassion, take a vow to delay Buddhahood in order to work for the liberation of all sentient beings. There are two types of bodhisattvas. Ordinary bodhisattvas who have not attained the ten levels still need to continue their spiritual journey while the Arya bodhisattvas are those who are fully enlightened.

Dear L,

Unwholesome sexual desire can only be dealt with through spiritual practice. The Buddha has taught us the Middle Path, that is, to avoid the extremes of sensual pleasures (which include sexual pleasures) and self-mortification. The Middle Path is a righteous way of life and a guide for moral conduct. As a Buddhist, we must first develop our morality, that is, our actions must bring good to other living beings. We develop morality by following the precepts and avoiding non-virtuous actions like killing, stealing, lying, being lustful and becoming intoxicated. As we develop our morality, the mind will be more controlled. I hope you will practise conscientiously to control your mind. There is no mantra that can overcome lust unless you engage in spiritual practice.

Dear K,

Your question is similar to L’s. Please read the answer to L above.

Dear Kev,

Have a safe journey home. All the best for your dharma practice! Thank you.

Dear Tan,

Since we do not know whether a person is enlightened or not, it is always better to refrain from having negative thoughts about him/her regardless of whether he/she is Buddhist or not. How heavy the karma is depends on the thought itself. But we must not forget that any karma created, however small, will multiply with time. Thus it is important to purify the negative karma by applying the four opponent powers: regret, refuge, remedy and resolve. Yes, it is advisable to immediately regret the action, promise not to do it again, take refuge in the Three Jewels and apply the antidote (remedy) which is to think of the qualities of others, their kindness,etc and not their faults.

Dear Kev,

1. Since you’ve said that you’re in Thailand, so I’ve provided info for you to get a copy of those books from there. If you’re in Malaysia, you might like to borrow from the library. Keeping these useful books are important as we will need to refer back to them continuously on our path. Reading once or twice might not be enough for us to grasp the meaning. Those books were available in the outlet, but they’re all sold out.

2. Request has to be done sincerely and with effort, as it shows where your mind is and how much you really want to practice. It would be good to give a background of who you are, why you request for these teachings. It is not necessary to include your birth date or time and there is no divination involve.

3. Submission of updates normally presented with offerings. It is important to continue to make offerings to the Guru because you have dharma because of him. You are not required to submit your numbers daily, but every quarter or so, depending on you. The last time we did prostration retreat, we update Rinpoche every quarter with offerings that we make daily. Yes, everyday we make offerings to the Guru to continue to generate merits for us to learn and practice the dharma as we purify our negative karmas.

4. Yes, that would be the best way to do it.

Thank you and all the best!

Dear Rt,

By “pure mind of ours” I think you mean the “Buddha nature”. Buddha nature is the pure nature of the mind of sentient beings which symbolizes one’s potential to realize Buddhahood. The problem is, there are factors that obscure our Buddha nature. These are the two obscurations: obscuration to liberation and obscuration to omniscience. The former are obscurations of defilements (afflictive emotions arising from the three poisons – desire, anger and ignorance). The latter are obscurations of knowledge (wrong view such as seeing the world through the veil of duality), that prevent us from achieving omniscient knowledge (the understanding of emptiness) and therefore, full enlightenment.

Ignorance and ego are different but related. Ignorance is one of the three poisons (or root delusions). The ego or ego-mind is the wrong conception that one is self-existent (or inherently existent). This is due to the ignorance of the nature of the mind and self.

I guess you can say that knowing oneself, one knows others and vice versa, but you must know the profound meaning of this statement. The Buddha said that “Through one all are known, through one all are also seen.” According to H.E. Tsem Rinpoche, “By knowing the mind through practice, everything is liberated”.

I hope this explanation has been helpful.

Dear Kev,

Looking forward to your return to Malaysia! Meantime, you can order a copy of the Lamrim we use in Kechara – Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand by Pabongkha Rinpoche here http://vajrasecrets.com/books/english-books/lamrim-liberation-in-the-palm-of-your-hand.html.

As for the rest, please try Boarders, MPH or Kinokuniya bookstores. Alternatively, you can order them online through Amazon or any other online bookstores like http://www.shambhala.com/.

For Lojong, the root text is Eight Verses of Training the Mind by Geshe Langri Tangpa and you might want to get a commentary like Transforming the Mind (Thorsons, 2000) or Kindness, Clarity and Insight (Snow Lion, 2006) by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama for more detailed learning.

Same goes to Bodhisattvacharyāvatāra and 50 verses of Guru Devotion. Please read together with commentaries to ease your understanding. The former can pair with A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night: A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life (Shambhala, 1994) by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the later one can pair with Dangerous Friend: The Teacher-Student Relationship in Vajrayana Buddhism (Shambhala, 2001) by Rig ‘dzin Dorje.

Each preliminary practice is 100,000 times plus 10 % 10,000 that is used to make up the numbers we might have miscounted along the way. So total for each preliminary practice is 110,000. The preliminaries practice are:
1. Prostrations:
http://www.kechara.com/support/resources/recommended-reads/purifying-the-karma-of-body-speech-and-mind/
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/vajrasattva-and-prostrations-transcript.html

2. Guru Yoga:
http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/tsongkhapa/tsongkhapa-retreat-instructions-and-prayer-text.html
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/category/tsongkhapa

3. Water Offerings:
http://tsemtulku.com/resources/articles/water-offerings/
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/making-water-offerings-to-the-buddhas.html

4. Mandala Offerings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFp3AvHXYxg
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/mandala-offering-%E2%80%93-a-powerful-method-to-accumulate-merits.html

5. Vajrasattva:
http://tsemtulku.com/resources/prayers/prayers-deity-prayer/vajrasattvas-purification-practice/
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/vajrasattva-and-prostrations-transcript.html

I suggest you to submit a formal requested with offerings to His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche to request for his blessings before you embark on your preliminaries practices. Reason being, when we start our preliminary practice, we are opening our negative karmas for purification, it can be very intense (imagine eons of negativities) and difficult especially when you are doing it on your own. With proper guidance and the blessings of the Guru is the only way to support your practice all the way. You can submit your formal request to His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche c/o Kechara House Buddhist Association Malaysia here:
7, Jalan PJU 1/3G,
Sunwaymas Commercial Centre,
47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, MALAYSIA.
[t] +603 7803 3908
[f] +603 7803 3108
[e] care@kechara.com

You will need to record your numbers and submit official update to His Eminence from time to time so that he knows you are ok. The pastors and Kecharians will help you along the way on the technical side of things. Please add us on Facebook, if you have an account there. If you don’t, please start one :).

Here are some additional reading you might need as well:
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/butterlamps.html
https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/cosmic-tantra.html

All the best.

Dear Kev,

Please find below as per your request:
1. We need to read up and learn Lam Rim, Wheel of Sharp Weapons, Bodhisattvacharyāvatāra by Shantideva, Lojong, 50 Verses of Guru Devotion by Ashvagoshabefore we receive Vajrayogini’s practices and complete all the preliminaries practise before we can be considered for any teachings, not only higher training like Vajrayogini. Those texts that I’ve mentioned are also applicable generally to anyone who would like to learn the dharma.
2. This is only relevant if point 1 is fulfilled.
3. Preliminary practices are not advised to be done in the Gompa, as you require a fixed altar set up and fixed seat for some of the practices to be done, such as water offering, Ganden Lhagyama, Vajrasattva practices. If you are serious about the practices, please set up a proper altar at home. If you need ideas and assistance, please go to http://www.kechara.com/shopping/ or http://www.vajrasecrets.com. You can also visit any of the Kechara Paradise if you reside in Malaysia.
4. The time require for preliminaries practices to be completed vary by individual. Some takes 1 months for 1 practice to be done, some 10 years. So it is all depending on you.
5. Are you involve in Kechara in anyway? If not, please consider to start attending the weekly pujas and dharma class as well as offering your voluntary services and then go from there.

Hope this helps.

Dear Fenni,

Thank you for your good wishes. Please find below links for your reference in regards to the Om Ah Ra Pa Tsa Na Dhi by His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche. Hope this helps. http://v7.tsemtulku.com/teachings/contemplations/my-favourite-mantra/

Dear Marco,

Please refer to your original question below.

Thank you.

Dear David E,

Thank you for the good news! I can feel your excitement reading your question. You will have a very merry altar seeing how many Buddhas you’ve mentioned in your question! You might even want to consider a small altar for the protector(s).

The main focal point of your altar should be an image of a Buddha statue (tsa-tsa, photograph or painting). You can choose any Buddha statue that you like, and you can place more than one statue. The more the merrier of course :). If you are following the Gelug lineage, Lama Tsongkhapa will be in the center. If you have both Shakyamuni Buddha and Maitreya Buddha’s statues as well, Buddha Shakyamuni should be placed at the back with Maitreya Buddha and Lama Tsongkhapa right in front of Maitreya Buddha.

All Buddhas are the same, there is no superiority among them, Chenrezig, Green and White Tara are all the same. In Kechara House, we have Lama Tsongkhapa in the middle, Protector Setrap on his left and Vajrayogini on his right. So it is obvious where the Protector and Yidam should be located on the altar. The center Buddha will be higher than the Yidam and the Protector.

As you may already knew, on the left of the altar should also have a Dharma text to represent the Buddha’s speech, a stupa on the right to represent the Buddha’s mind. The Guru’s framed photo should be placed in front of the Buddha. I am not sure if His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche is your Guru or His Holiness the Dalai Lama, so you’ve to decide who to place there. Also make sure the picture will not block Lama Tsongkhapa in the center. The Guru represents both the Guru and also the Sangha. Your Guru is your closest link to the Buddhas.

As I’m unsure of the sizes of your Mahacundi Bodhisattvas pictures, as long as it doesn’t block the Guru, Yidam and Protector you can place them on right of Lama Tsongkhapa, in front of the Yidam.

Also not to forget to get at least seven water bowls in front of the Buddha in the center for water offerings. If can, another row behind them for sensory offerings. These nice clean new bowls can be made of any material – stainless steel, glass, porcelain, copper or even silver and gold. Please buy the best you can offer to practice generousity by making such good offerings to the Buddhas.

Get some incense, if possible with an incense holder to be safe, and nice scented candles. Please do not leave any candles unattended. His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche has advise electric candles as an option for indoor light offerings due to safety reasons. Here’s the blog post where His Eminence shared this information https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/me/electric-candles-as-offerings-ok.html. I recommend you to read The Living Buddha Within by His Eminence for more detailed understanding of altar setup. The book is available on http://www.vajrasecrets.com and Google books if you do not reside in Malaysia.

Hope you find these information helpful.

Dear T,

I find your theories and suppositions quite disturbing.

I will not address all your queries but there are some misconceptions that I’d like to point out. First, Buddhas do not have karma. They are fully enlightened and have dispelled all obscurations.

The “denizens” who torture hell beings are experiencing the results of their own karma.

Hell can exist as a state of mind. This is the result of one’s negative karma ripening. But great Buddhist masters have mentioned that the six realms of samsara actually exist. Pabongka Rinpoche in “Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, gave a description of the exact locations of the hells and what is found in each hell.
Attained beings, Bodhisattvas, for example, are able to travel to this realm to benefit the beings there.

Do read Pabongka Rinpoche’s book “Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand”. It will help you to find a lot of answers to your queries.

Dear jason,

I have a question for you please. If you have gotten an initiation from your lama, how come you didn’t ask your lama or the organizing center to help you with the mantras? How come you’re not given necessary information and taught how to prepare yourself before the initiation? I’m asking to understand, not to find fault.

In Kechara, His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche always make sure we understand what teachings he is giving and where he got it from and all the necessary information that we need to know, so that we are well informed and know what we are learning. I have not gotten any initiation from His Eminence, but by looking at how His Eminence will do even for a teaching, I’m very sure when His Eminence gives initiation, he will make sure we are well prepared and know exactly what we are doing. In fact, this blog is all about preparation before we get any higher teachings.

Therefore, to answer your question, I would ask you to please go back to your lama or your center to seek for help on the mantras recitation. It is illogical that you have received an initiation from a lama and you ask someone else for a repetition.

Before you are able to do so, I would suggest you to learn up the mantras with your own efforts especially if it is written in English alphabets without miss. If it is in other language, please ask your dharma centre for it.

This is what I can advise from the limited knowledge I have.

Dear mimi,

The purpose of an initiation is for the tantric master to give a transmission of a particular practice, so that the student is allowed to engage in the practice. With initiation, the practice will be effective. Whether the students receive the initiation or not, the practice remains powerful for what it is specifically catered for.

As Dorje Namjom’s practice requires initiation, it would be better if you receive the initiation and then recite the mantra afterwards. You can do Vajrasattva purification practice for the time being as it does not require initiation. You can read more about this practice here by His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/vajrasattva-and-prostrations-transcript.html.