Question asked by Anonymous
Greetings!
• Who Avalokiteshvara Hari Hari Hari? It's likr the deities stacked on top of eachother, who are they?
• Why are Buddhas invoked, even when they can't help us and it's up to us to save ourselves
• What happens if our mala falls off our hand and we lost pur spot, what do we do?
• Why did Trijang Rinpoche say that mixing other schools with Gelugpa will cause the Gelug school to become impure and collapse
• What is a pandaka, I hward a lot about them and like how it effects the vinaya, sexual misconduct, etc. There's so many definitions, but I don't know which one is right.
Dear anonymous,
Avalokiteshvara Hari Hari Hari is a form of Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezig) who sits on the shoulders of Vishnu, who in turn sits on a Garuda, who in turn sits on a lion. It is a specific form of Chenrezig.
Buddhas are invoked to grant blessings and as a way for us to overcome certain situations in life, through purification of karma and accumulation of merit. Ultimately, they do not solve all our issues, but they grant certain conditions and help us develop certain qualities that help us to progress spiritually, so that we can attain enlightenment ourself.
If your mala falls out of your hand, simply pick it up and continue where you left off, but some beads back. This is easier if you have counter beads on your mala. Or to be safe, start that particular mala all over again.
It was not only Trijang Rinpoche who said this about mixing traditions, this is said by all Lamas who are practising a particular lineage. Each lineage has their own way of explaining the teachings, certain practices and techniques that they focus on. If you mix the lineages together, then these will not work the way they should, and hence there will be no progress by spiritual practitioners, so the lineage will collapse. However, each lineage is valid and lead to the same goal, complete enlightenment. But if you don’t put effort into one method, you will never reach that goal. Tsem Rinpoche used to say that if Lineage A practises Green Tara, they practice in a specific way. Lineage B may practice Red Tara, and the way in which the practice is done is different. In the end, practitioners of each Lineage will achieve the state of enlightenment, but the methods used are different. If you mix the practices of Green Tara from one lineage and Red Tara from other lineage, people will get confused and won’t reach enlightenment either way. So it’s better to practice one lineage and go all the way with it. If the methods are mixed together, the path of practice becomes unclear, so no one will progress spiritually. Both lineages and practices collapse, they become ineffective. Hope this answers your questions.
There is no common consensus amongst all Buddhist traditions about the meaning of pandaka. Some say it refers to those who are overly sexual and act on their physical desire overtly and a lot, some say it is people who become overly sexual during certain phases of the lunar cycle and cannot help but to engage in physical relations. In our tradition, we don’t really use the term, but describe the actions/behaviour of such people when dealing with sexual misconduct.