Rinpoche Through My Eyes – No Offering Too Small
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As members of the Ladrang team, we frequently assisted with gifts and offerings made to Rinpoche. Making offerings to our spiritual teacher, or guru, is a long-standing tradition and practice in Buddhism, particularly in Tibetan Buddhism. This is because all spiritual attainments are said to be the result of our guru’s blessings. Thus one of the Ladrang team’s daily tasks was to ensure that all offerings were delivered, laid out and presented to Rinpoche.
Recently, I was asked by a senior student who was physically close to Rinpoche if the small offerings she made were seen by Rinpoche. She recalled the time when Rinpoche was with us and wondered about her offerings. Her question prompted me to write this post. I told her not be to in doubt. Rinpoche would have been made aware of her offerings, seen them and prayed for her because Rinpoche never took any offerings made to him lightly.
So for anyone who feels the same way, do not worry. Every single offering made and every single card written was seen and read by Rinpoche himself. If Rinpoche was not physically present, he was notified via the daily updates sent to him by the Gift Team. And believe me, Rinpoche read through the daily list meticulously and even asked the Gift Team for clarification if the description or details were unclear. Rinpoche cared deeply. He did not take any gift, no matter how small, for granted.
In fact, sometimes it was the smallest, simplest gifts that Rinpoche personally requested to see or have placed near him for a short period of time in order to offer additional prayers for the person who made the offering. It all came down to the sincerity of the giver and their motivation. Yes, Rinpoche could sense the motivation just by looking at or touching the gift. Of course, Rinpoche read all notes, letters, and cards. Sometimes, after reading them, Rinpoche even offered the giver a special gift in return.
From our side, we should not be concerned about whether or not our guru saw, ate, or liked our offerings. Of course, we may be curious. But we should not stray too far from abandoning the Eight Worldly Concerns. These are:
- hope for pleasure and fear of pain,
- hope for gain and fear of loss,
- hope for praise and fear of blame,
- hope for good reputation and fear of bad reputation
If any of these come into our minds before, during or after making our offering, then our offerings become insincere and although we receive some spiritual benefits from actually having made the offerings, we will not reap the full amount of merit possible.
Making offerings is not about stroking our own ego or increasing our self-cherishing mind, but the exact opposite. It is supposed to cut our attachments and nurture the perfection of giving, increasing our generosity and allowing us to practise kindness and, eventually, compassion. Giving is the most fundamental step we can take to focus on others rather than the “me, myself, and I”, otherwise known as the self-cherishing mind. So once we have made offerings, we should not think about them again. Instead, we should rejoice that we have done something virtuous and make a strong dedication to seal the merits that we have made.
Wesak Day on May 6, 2012. Rinpoche came downstairs to the main altar in the Ladrang, and personally recited prayers and dedicated the merits to all those who made offerings to him on that sacred day. Rinpoche never took anyone’s gifts for granted, and always dedicated merits to those who made offerings to him.
Thus just because Rinpoche did not send us a personal message to acknowledge our offerings, does not mean that he did not know, see them and make prayers for us. He definitely did, as I often witnessed. So if we feel saddened that we did not get a reply from Rinpoche, we need to ask ourselves why we really made the offerings. Why are we so concerned if Rinpoche saw our offering? Did we make the offering expecting something in return? What happens if we come to know if Rinpoche like or disliked our offerings? How does that benefit us? Does it not just boost our ego?
If we did not receive an acknowledgement from Rinpoche regarding our offerings, perhaps that is precisely the type of teaching we needed. Something to help us cut our attachments and expectations because they do not benefit us. But rest assured, for every single offering received, Rinpoche offered prayers for the giver. One of the many things that I and other members in the Ladrang did on a daily basis while serving Rinpoche was to show him everyone’s offerings, flowers and cards.
Rinpoche patiently read through every single card, letter and note he received
No matter how late it was, Rinpoche always asked us to bring in the offerings people made the day. He would go through each one and then give us instructions on what to do with the previous offerings from the day before. The gifts were always offered to Vajra Yogini first. Rinpoche was extremely humble and used to tell us that even though the offerings were made to him, he was a ‘nobody’ and it was better for him to offer them to the Buddhas, especially Vajra Yogini, on his altar to generate merit for the giver. Rinpoche would often tell us that he could not give us any blessings, but if he offered them up to Vajra Yogini, she would grant tremendous blessings.
Rinpoche asked me to take this picture of him posing with the lovely bunch of flowers which was offered by someone. He asked me to send him the picture so he could forward it to the giver. It was to show the person that Rinpoche cared for and appreciated the person. It was spontaneous and like most things Rinpoche did, was meant to benefit the other person by opening them up.
I am sure the next question on your mind is, “What did Rinpoche do with my offerings?” Actually, that thought should not occur in the first place. When you make an offering or give a gift to someone, it no longer belongs to you and whatever the guru does with the gift thereafter is entirely up to him. At times, your gift may have been given to someone who desperately needed it and perhaps receiving such a gift could have opened their spiritual imprints, and brought them closer to the Dharma. Would you not be overjoyed if your gifts and offerings were put to such good use by the guru to benefit someone? So why not rejoice to be a part of the process? This is why people occasionally offered Rinpoche items that he could give away to help others. In such cases the merits generated would be two-fold: merits were made by making offerings to the guru, and merits were made when your offerings were given away to someone, to bring them happiness and blessings.
Whatever the offering may be, once we offer it to the guru, who we should think and visualise as being one with the Buddha, we should let go and give without conditions. This then becomes a true practice of giving, which assists us to cut our self-cherishing mind and our attachments. We should think that whatever the guru decides to do with the offering is up to him, and be happy that we made the offerings and make dedication prayers.
For more interesting information:
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – Social Media to Enlightenment?
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – Eating Out with Rinpoche
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – Tsem Rinpoche, My Protector
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – Looking for That Switch!
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – Taboo Words
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – Cooking For Rinpoche
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – Vajra Yogini or Anger?
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – The Assignment
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – Change Karma
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – Creating The Causes
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – Buddha Images and Imprints
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – Food and Dharma
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – Spreading Dharma in Jonker Street
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – What’s the New News?
- Rinpoche Through My Eyes – Mission Impossible
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Rinpoche read all notes, letters, and cards that was sent to his labrang. It never comes to my mind at all whether or not our guru Tsem Rinpoche saw, ate, or liked our offerings. All I know that Rinpoche knew for sure what we are doing. I am one of the many that Rinpoche had gave me gifts through all these years. Feeling happy and blessed with what I received. Thank you Rinpoche with folded hands. May Rinpoche have a swift return.
Thank you Anila for this wonderful sharing for many of us to have a better insight understanding of a great Lama.