December 28, 2019, Avalokitesvara Group Cultivation
[TBS News]

The Avalokitesvara Group Cultivation took place on December 28, 2019. The session ended auspiciously, as everyone received lineage blessings from our Root Guru and immersed in the radiance emanated by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

Grandmaster began his discourse after the cultivation session.

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is known to be very responsive to the requests of sentient beings as the Bodhisattva has the closest affinity with them. Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva endeavors to create happiness on sentient beings with its loving-kindness, while it strives to eradicate suffering from sentient beings with its great compassion. This is what Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is all about, and hence the Bodhisattva is known to succor the greatest number of sentient beings. The whole of Tibet can be regarded as the prayer-ground of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva; many of the Living Buddhas such as the Dalai Lama and the Karmapa are the transformations of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. Even Padmakumara is a transformation of the Bodhisattva.

In Shambhala, the first and the second kings were Manjushri and White Lotus King respectively. The latter was the transformation of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. According to Grandmaster’s teacher, Acharya Pufang, if one wants to eradicate disasters, one must invoke [one of] the white Personal Deities -- Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is one of the prominent ones.

Grandmaster said, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is known to have a very soft heart, hence a Buddhist must emulate the Bodhisattva by being soft-hearted as well. One cannot be too headstrong. As Lao Tze once said, "The headstrong will display a facade of bravado; only the quiet ones who do not spar with others, will eventually achieve success beyond imagination". When a person is too willful, he or she is likely to break down easily, which is not good. If a person is soft-hearted, he or she tends to be more pliable. This is better because it is more in tune with the spirit of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva.

According to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, one must be responsible for one’s countenance. The reason is, if one’s heart is as soft as Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva’s, then one will be beautiful when young and gracious upon old age. People will want to be near such a person. Hence, one does not even need to put on make-up.

If one does not have the spirit of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, even if one is beautiful when young, one will sport an evil countenance when one becomes old. This is because of one’s deviousness or constant strategizing against one’s enemies. Hence, the countenance reflects the mind [heart]; a person possessing the qualities of loving-kindness and compassion of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva will not have an evil countenance.

According to the sutras, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is the sambhogakaya body of Amitabha, and the fruition-position is "Tathāgata of Brightness of Correct Dharma", among many others. So why is Avalokitesvara a Bodhisattva? This is because Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva has the loving-kindness and compassion (that is, soft heart) to succor sentient beings in the samsara world.

Grandmaster specially mentioned that during the cultivation session earlier on, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva had descended from the Space and sprinkled dew droplets on everyone.

Next Grandmaster expounded on the essence of the Lamdre.

Grandmaster said, a cultivator should not encounter [bad] incidents or ghosts in dreams or in meditation. If one does so, one’s body is likely to have committed transgression. At night, during sleep, if one were to be punched by a non-human being (rakshasa), this means that one’s bodily channels are blocked, Qi is unsmooth, or Lightdrops are obstructed. These scenarios depict hindrances [in cultivation]. However, if a cultivator sees the body of the Tathagata, this is one of the signs of attainment.

All losses and gains are due to the congregation of affinities of bodily channels, Lightdrops and Qi, leading of the arising of experiences. Karmic causes and effects are involved.

The manifestations [of encounters] in dreams, or experiences in meditation, must be rooted in the foundation of supreme belief and understanding. A cultivator must have pure faith and respect for the Root Guru, Yidam and Protector. Only then can he or she have supreme belief and understanding. Once he or she generates the respect, he or she will have the excellent manifestations and experiences arising from that respect. In dreams, when a cultivator has the heart [mind] of pure faith, he or she will naturally chant the Root Guru mantra, and the ghost will be dispelled by the Root Guru. This is because the Root Guru is the Buddha.

After the ceremony, Grandmaster bestowed the refuge-taking initiation on the new disciples. He also blessed the compassionate water and performed the consecration ritual on the Buddha statues and images. Before leaving the temple, Grandmaster touched the crown of every disciple to help them in the fulfillment of their wishes.

We thanked Grandmaster once again for his discourse. We, as disciples, know that for spiritual cultivation to reach attainment, we must all view the Root Guru as the Buddha, and only then can we get blessings from the Buddha. In our daily activities, we must always keep the Guru in mind, for only then can we be unshakable in faith. We bow in great gratitude to the Root Guru.

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