What are pujas about… do take a good read…
An expression of your Compassion: A teaching by H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche
Rinpoche gave a really lovely teaching to a few of us yesterday about the significance of doing pujas (literal translation: a set of rituals and prayers done to remove obstacles). Here is the full, unedited transcript of his teaching, straight from the Buddha’s mouth!
Why do we learn and do pujas?
When we see people have problems, when we see people suffering and having difficulties, we ourselves do not have a lot of ability to help and to assist. We ourselves do not have much wisdom, we don’t have any power, we don’t have any effect, we’re not doctors, we’re not psychologists, we’re not healers. Right now we’re not. So it’s very hard when we see other people suffer from sickness, suffer from obstacles, suffer from pain or suffer from losing something, or suffer from a loss, a death of a pet or a family. We suffer a lot and they suffer a lot. But you see, this suffering is an energy. This suffering is an energy that can be lust, that can be hate, that can be anger, that can be giving, that can be helping. It’s just an energy and how we direct it is up to us.
So when we see someone that we love and we care about, or other people – a centre member, our friend or anyone – and they need help, our heart goes out to them. Our heart going out to them and our energy put into sorry for them can be directed better. It can be directed in a form of a puja.
What is a puja? I’m not giving you the literal translation. A puja is an expression of your compassion for another person, another being. A puja is an expression, an action, a direct initiative to do something for someone who has an obstacle, who has a problem, who has a difficulty, who has some kind of pain or sickness or fear. And so, to watch these people have fear and pain and suffering and difficulties, and we don’t do something about it doesn’t make us a better person, doesn’t help our spiritual practice, doesn’t make our minds become enlightened or open up.
To do something for them is very, very correct way of opening our minds up – practising emotional generosity, expressing compassion, expressing care. Why? Because the pujas that you guys are practising are not made up. They’re not ineffective and they’re based on an enlightened Being; in today’s case, Medicine Buddha and last time, you practised Tara. These days, Tara and Medicine Buddha really have a lot of effect, they really have a lot of blessings, they really have a lot and a lot of power to help.
So what happens is that we who do the pujas become a gateway, become a connection to help that person. So instead of just looking at someone and saying, “Oh, poor thing, poor thing; Oh poor this, poor that”, if the child is suffering from whatever reasons and they can’t do well in their studies, they’re going to fail and they can’t move on in their studies, if we do a Manjushri puja for them, it is an expression of our concern and our care; and it has energy and it will bless that person. If that person is very sick – same thing, we do a Medicine Buddha puja and we can expedite or quicken their healing.
So a puja is an expression of our care, our initiative and our sincere concern for another being. So when people ask you what is a puja, you say not the literal translation (because the literal translation is “to clear obstacles”). But the human definition, the human meaning of puja from my point of view is an expression of your compassion; an expression of your care.
So when you do puja in that way, it is very effective. Why? Any action that is preceded by or motivated by compassion or Bodhicitta has much more effect. Any action we do that is motivated by any form, any level, any amount of Bodhicitta or compassion has more power. Why is that? Two reasons:
(1) When it is motivated by Bodhicitta or compassion, you are tapping into your real mind, your Buddha nature. When you tap into your Buddha nature, you push yourself to become a Buddha – very effective for yourselves.
(2) A second reason is when you’re motivated by compassion and care, that is the main ingredient for Dharma practice. So for Dharma practice to have effect, our mind must be free of selfishness. Selfishness and Dharma does not match; selfishness and Dharma protector practice doesn’t match; selfishness and Medicine Buddha doesn’t match; selfishness and Manjushri doesn’t match. Selfishness and Dharma practice doesn’t match.
Why selfishness and Dharma practice cannot mix
Hence if we do selfishness with Dharma practice, even after 10, 20 years, there’s not much result. Why not much result? Because our mind is still selfish. So selfishness here is not good or bad. It is a ingredient that must be removed from the soup, until the soup tastes good.
Therefore, if you do Dharma work with selfishness, it’s harmful for yourself! It’s not effective for others. Why is it harmful for yourself? Because even though you’re practising something so good from great Lamas, after so many years, you have no results, very little result – it’s harmful because you waste your time. You receive something so great, but you cannot…
Like a hungry ghost who, even if you give them very good food, their mouth is the size of a pin. They cannot fit it in, even if you give them such nice food. It cannot fit. Even a little bit, they have to squeeze it in like that. That’s really a hungry ghost. And when the hungry ghost takes the food and it goes down their long, thin, grey neck, when it comes to their stomach, it burns like gastric. It burns and burns and burns – in fact, the food creates pain. Why? They have the karma to experience that.
So therefore, if you do Dharma work, Dharma practice, Dharma meditation, Dharma anything with selfish motivation or innate selfishness, the effect is very little. Why is it very little? Because Dharma and selfishness is the opposite.
If you have oil and you put a wick on top and you want to light it, but you keep putting water, it will burn out. Even if you have oil, it will burn out. Even if there is oil in the lamp, if you put water, the water mixes with the wick and the fire has to go out even if there is still oil. So oil is like Dharma – it can light up a room. You can open up the oil, you put a wick on top, floating (like in Chinese temples), and you light it; it lights up and you can see things in a dark room. But if you keep putting water, the light goes out, even if there is oil.
So water is like selfish motivation in this case; oil is like Dharma. Hence, if you have oil and you can light and you can see, why do you need to move around in the dark like this? Why you keep putting water? Similarly, if you do Dharma work, people think, “How come I do my sadhanas for so many years, I do my mantras for so many years and I do Tsok, and I don’t have any power and in fact, my mind becomes more lazy and worse?” Because you haven’t removed the main ingredient – selfishness.
If selfishness never gets removed, how many years do you have left to your life? How many years? Aren’t you afraid of your death? Aren’t you afraid to be alone and close your eyes and no one can help you? Aren’t you afraid of what you’re going to see after death? If you are selfish and you cover your actions, it means you’re afraid people know you’re selfish. But you know what? People knowing you’re selfish is quite scary but what’s even more scary is when you die and your selfishness comes back to you. That’s very scary.
So hence, if you’re selfish, your Dharma work cannot get results. So two options: (1) get rid of Dharma work and be selfish or (2) get rid of selfishness and do Dharma work. Of course, it has to be number 2. Very simple. The more selfish we are, the more ineffective our practice is. The more water we put into the oil, the less we can light.
So therefore, instead of thinking of how to get how to get rid of selfishness, instead of blaming, instead of hiding, instead of avoiding, we should just stop the selfishness. You see, if you just stop the selfishness, you win. Why? You don’t have to put energy to hiding, to avoiding, to defending, to protecting your ego. You don’t have to. Why? Put the energy towards cutting your selfishness out, not toward covering selfishness! Both ways is energy; both ways, you have to use your petrol.
So therefore, it’s time for us to wake up and do something now. Now! Why? What are we waiting for? What result are we waiting for? What time, what year are we waiting for? How many years do we need to wait? How many years? When we started Dharma 10 years ago, 20 years ago we said we’re going to do Dharma. And then we start and we go, “Oh, it’s difficult, I’ll do it next year. Oh, now I have work, I’ll do it 2 years from now. Oh, when I’m 30 or 40, I’ll do it.” And then we keep making time to delay the real, actual Dharma practice. And what happens? When we look back, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years are gone.
And a lot of these people who ran away from Dharma, they run away from themselves because they’ve been running and running and running, so when they face the real Dharma, they run again. Why do they have to run? Because they never create the causes to face themselves. Never. How do you know that? Where there’s smoke there’s fire. So you use an example like this: because they’re not successful in any part of their life. Because they’re not successful in any part of their life, you know when they’re running away from Dharma, they’re running away from themselves. If they’re very successful in other parts of their life and they run away, okay… maybe there is something else involved.
So let’s say that Beng Kooi just works a normal job, she cannot get married, she doesn’t have many friends, people don’t like her and then she joins Dharma. After 5 or 6 years, she runs away.She says, “Oh, Rinpoche’s bad, the Dharma students are bad, the Ladrang’s bad, KH is bad, Yoke Fui is bad, this is bad, that is bad.” They run and tell other people that. Fine. Stupid people listen and say, “Oh, maybe it’s true huh…” Smart people say, “Wait a minute… but you didn’t do much with your life. Your don’t have many things in your life.” So if you keep saying it’s bad maybe the problem is not Dharma; maybe the problem is you. Why is it you? Because why is it that you fail at everything? You can think that way. My point? This is not criticism for people who left. This is for us to examine by logic about ourselves – how we run away.
How pujas connect us to the blessings of the Buddha
Pujas is a beautiful expression of compassion, which is a key to open the Buddha’s heart to bring blessings for the person we’re praying for. So why do we do pujas? In order to show our concern, love and care for someone else. That’s why we do pujas. And pujas are effective because they’re based on an enlightened Being, rituals that collect merit and purify negative karma and aspirational prayers that are dedicated toward that person for their future.
And on top of that, that person might also sponsor the puja: maybe they cannot do the puja, maybe they don’t know how, or they’re too far away, or maybe they’re too sick or they have too many obstacles, so they cannot do the puja. So when they give you the money to buy the items, and you offer the Buddha, you make a connection for them. You represent them to the Buddha.
So therefore, the reason for sponsoring puja, or sponsoring Sangha to do pujas or sponsoring food is that you cannot do it or you cannot be there. So in spirit, you’re there by making offerings. So the monks represent you; or you, the Dharma Sangha, represent them towards the Buddha. And therefore, the pujas have that kind of effect.
So even people cooking in the kitchen…that’s why in the monastery, there are monks who don’t do the pujas; they cook and supply for the monks. They collect merit also and it is an expression of their compassion to help the person through the puja. So therefore, all work in the kitchen – serving, puja, whatever – is all Dharma work, it is an expression of compassion.
And also, when we do the pujas, we alone don’t have power. We alone don’t have attainments, we alone didn’t do our Dharma practice so we have power. So we need to invoke the Buddhas. So to say, “Oh, I don’t have power, I cannot do anything, I’m normal and I don’t do anything” – it’s just another expression of laziness, selfishness. Laziness is from selfishness. The mother to the laziness is selfishness. Laziness is the son to the mother. The mother is selfishness; the son is laziness.
So therefore, to sit around and say, “I cannot, I cannot, I cannot, I cannot,” is pure, 100% laziness. And to accept laziness and accept selfishness and to say, “That’s how I am” and to accept to do that is a very bad sign. Why is that a bad sign? Expect more problems, expect more obstacles, expect more suffering, expect more. Why? Buddha punishes you? No. Your own selfishess punishes you.
So therefore, when we do pujas, we should do it knowing we cannot do much but pujas is the way for us to care and love and help, even though we don’t have power. And to learn the pujas well and to learn the rituals well.
Learning the rituals wellWhy do we need to learn the rituals well? Why? Because if we’re highly attained, we don’t need rituals, we can heal someone just by blowing on them. We can help someone by speaking Dharma. We can purify someone even if we beat them. We can purify their karma if we’re highly attained. If we’re highly attained, we can scare them. When we walk by, we shout, “rah!” and they jump, they’re very scared – their karma is purified… If we’re highly attained, we can do that to people. We can scare them. If we’re highly attained, we can scream and shout at them, and make them very sad, and make them angry and make them run away. We can even save their life if we’re highly attained. We can scream and shout at them, we can scare them, we can do many things to them if we’re highly attained. Why? Because we can do it directly, we don’t need puja, we don’t need the Buddha. We are the Buddha.
If you’re highly attained, you are the Yidam. You think or visualise, “I am Yamantaka”, so if I slap you, it is not me; it is Yamantaka slapping you. And the person will have effects: their life will be saved, karma purified, obstacles pushed away. So highly attained people don’t need to contact the Buddha to contact you. They are the Buddha, they are the Yidam. They themselves are the Yidam already. Remember a Yidam is not a God; a Yidam is something you can attain.
So a highly attained person can be a Dharma protector’s emanation, can be a Yidam or have become one with the Yidam or have gained some attainments close to the Yidam. So when they do it to you directly, they don’t need a puja. When Kensur Jampa Yeshe scolds us, or screams at us – he has screamed at me! – it is Yamantaka screaming at me. I don’t have any anger, I don’t have any negative thinking, I don’t run away. I listen and I say I’m sorry because I know he’s purifying my karma. Much better than a puja; quicker, faster and direct. Much faster.
When Kyabje Zong Rinpoche beat the monks severely, the monks live, their diseases are gone. Why? Because Kyabje Zong Rinpoche is already Heruka. When they scold us, and they tell us off and they shout at us and scream at us, we feel pain, we feel anger, we wonder, “Why like that?”, but if we feel like that and we let go and say, “No, it’s a blessing,” and don’t think anymore and let go, it becomes a puja. Even in a non-Dharma work, when people shout at you, it means they love you. When people tell you off, it means they love you. If you reject the love, you’re quite stupid. Even in a normal world.
So therefore, people like us – we don’t have that power so therefore, we need to invoke Yamantaka; we need to invoke Setrap, we need to invoke Tara and Medicine Buddha because we don’t have the power. But if we do Yamantaka well and we do Manjushri very well, we become Manjushri, we become Heruka, we become Yamantaka: “I am Yamantaka” Why? Then the power is directly from the power from the person. Why is the power directly in the person? Everyone can become Yamantaka. Everyone.
So therefore, ordinary people like us, we cannot directly affect people; we cannot do it directly. Hence since we cannot do it directly, since we cannot affect them directly, we have to do it indirectly. Indirectly can be pujas, indirectly can be doing Dharma work, indirectly can be studying Dharma, indirectly can be doing retreats, indirectly can be holding our samaya. Why? If we hold samaya, we gain attainments. If we do Dharma work, we gain merits to become better people. If we do pujas, we bless that other person.
You see, so indirectly we can do – through Dharma work, through charity, through pujas, through retreats, through holding our samaya. Those are indirect ways to help other beings. We help other sentient beings – that’s why we hold samaya. We wish to benefit other sentient beings – that’s why we have Guru devotion. We wish to have help others and benefit a certain person – that’s why we do pujas. We wish to be of tremendous benefit to others, therefore I become a monk and I hold my vows well so that I can study the Dharma with no distractions. That’s why we do Dharma action.
Every Dharma action should be motivated by Bodhicitta or an artificial Bodhicitta – then it becomes real. So therefore, if you have the power, you do directly. If you don’t, I don’t, we don’t, we do it indirectly. That’s the purpose of pujas.
The fabulous team I had the honour of working with, who learnt and trained up for Drolchok (Tara) pujas recently, and did 10 days of pujas in dedication of Kechara’s activities and the manifestation of Kechara World Peace Centre.
The above was extracted from Jamie Khoo’s blog: http://jamiekhoo.typepad.com/jamiekhoo/2010/05/an-expression-of-your-compassion-a-teaching-by-he-tsem-tulku-rinpoche.html#tp
Of course that is Paris’ blog. Paris is just one of the best writers in the whole world I personally believe. Any way, do read what she transcribed from one of my recent talks please. I am sure it can benefit you very much.
Much care, and prayers, Tsem Tulku
I love this writeup. very informative. Jamie used to share that she was never really fond of puja. And now, she really is a puja queen! I think understanding the benefits will propel people to be engaged in the deed.
I do agree with what rinpoche said in his blog. When there is nothing you can do about the situation, a good way to send your compassion is through puja; If you can help directly then just help.
However, one shall always keep in mind that puja is a skillful mean and it is not the dharma if not driven by bodhicitta or without knowing the meaning behind the rituals. This is principle can be applied to all rituals and even sadhana, remember the rituals and sadhana are tools that help you to reach liberation, they are not the actual path. So do not be attached to rituals until the point that you totally give up on practicing and studying the dharma from the sutra and great work like the lam rim.
To properly learn puja also include the understanding of the meaning of each steps of the puja ritual, integrating them with the actual dharma. Only then, the puja or sadhana become meaningful and will have the power to transform your mind, and through transforming your mind, your behavior and eventually your situation.
Mr. Wu,you write with depth and understanding.
Rinpoche’s talk on pujas is absolutely incredible in that it is so clear,relational and heartfelt. For the casual Buddhists, it will definitely clear a lot of questions and doubts in their minds by its simple directness and clear examples.
For serious practitioners,it will improve their knowledge and understanding by its profoundness and depth that can only come from the mouth of one who is realized.
I have never figured out why Buddhists always engage in pujas because I have never read such clear explanations before .All we ever learn if we check on the word puja is its literal definition which says very little of what it really is and how it actually benefits.
Very often when someone we know falls sick or meets with an accident, we feel so helpless and anxious. We would very much like to help but we are unable to do anything.
Rinpoche teaches us to direct the energy of wanting to help out of love and care for that person into doing a puja for him or her.
I have heard of many “miracles” that at very crucial moment, the family request all their friends to pray together and then the patient recovered miraculously.
For dharma students that have studied so much on how to generate bodhichitta through logical reasoning, put into practice what you learnt intellectually by taking part in pujas. If you can’t even leave the comfort of your home to do puja at KH
( http://www.kechara.com/kechara-house/pujas/) how else can you be of benefit to others?
Yes you are absolutely right when you mention ‘I have heard of many “miracles” that at very crucial moment, the family request all their friends to pray together and then the patient recovered miraculously’. I myself have so many personal testimonials on the positive effect of pujas.
Whenever someone is sick or in trouble, not only do we give moral support, lend them a shoulder to cry on or be the punching bag or bring them gifts. All that will heal them temporary. But encouraging them to do a puja or sponsor a puja, that will help them to heal spiritually. Both must be done.
We are so fortunate that our Lama has set up the infrastructure for Kechara to help others in all ways.
This teaching demystifies what prayers in Buddhist context is all about. Different religions have different connotation affixed to the word “prayers”. In Buddhism, we do not pray to some God as in the Christian faith. If you noticed, not ones is it written in this blog post that Buddhist pray to some God and definately not to some man-made brass statue. How I wish non-Buddhist will be open and seek to understand what statues and prayers in Buddhism is all about.
What I also like very much about this post is how Rinpoche always emphasize on our motivation in everything that we do. Yes, samsaric deluded beings like us can be screwing up in the midst of ringing our bells and chanting away some mantras while sitting in the lotus posture! Rinpoche is very kind to point out to us that what’s very important is our motivation else, in short…it’s just another look good, waste of time activity which Rinpoche does not wish for us to be engaged in.
This article answers all my questions about why dharma practice sometimes does not bring result. It is not the fault of the Dharma, as in our case the Dharma is pure and received from pure Lamas and pure Lineage. So what then could possibly go wrong if we have been reading or listening to all the dharma teachings we can get our hands on, do our Dharma work, do all the possible pujas available and recite all the mantras we can possibly recite. Still we have very little or no results. Why is that? The crux of the matter is that the basis for any positive result to arise from any Dharma action is selflessness. Therefore, there is really no secret formula for a successful Dharma practice except to practice with the motivation of selflessness and compassion to benefit others. As such, Dharma practice and selfishness resembles water and oil. They cannot mix.
I agree that a puja is a means to an end and not the end in itself. At the end of the day, if we’re still nasty horrible people who aren’t putting any effort into transforming our minds, or becoming kinder people than the pujas just become another means for us exert our selfish egos and become attached. (Instead of the puja becoming a means for us to expression our compassion, we become puffed up with pride and think, “I’m so special, everyone should respect me for my mastery over puja”.
As with everything we do in Dharma, our motivation is most important. A puja can be the holiest act in the world if done with the purest and most sincere intention of helping to relieve someone’s suffering and bring them happiness; then again, if the same motivation is generated, the very same benefit could be created by a simple “mundane” action like having a cup of tea to a distressed friend for a cup or paying off someone’s loan.
As Rinpoche frequently reminds us: that one hour per day on the meditation cushion is well and good, but what is more important is what we are doing & how we are acting the other 23 hours in the day.
Hi Paris,
I love your comment on “puffed up pride”! I think we should come up with a Badge of (Dis)Honour with a picture of a strutting peacock that we can give to ourselves as a “gentle” reminder every time we submit to our ego!
I also liked Rinpoche’s “1-23 hours” reminder. So simple yet so powerful!
Cheers, Sean
I’d also like to offer some advice that Rinpoche gave us for when we are doing pujas, especially when we are doing pujas in dedication of a particular person or situation:
1) Take refuge sincerely and deeply in the Three Jewels, with the trust that they can take us all the way to enlightenment
2) Visualise the yidam/deity (e.g. Tsongkhapa, Medicine Buddha, Setrap) as one with our Lama, as it is from and by our Lama’s kindness that all our attainments will arise
3) focus strongly on the person/ situation that this puja is being dedicated for. This also trains our mind to focus outwards on others, instead of just on ourselves, as we have always been used to doing.
Hope this helps and here’s wishing everyone many meaningful, beautiful, effective, beneficial pujas!
For many years many people especially of the Thervarda tradition, as well as atheists disprove of pujas and rituals as nothing but belief and blind faith due to lack of explanations on how they work and their importance. This is a very important article in Buddhism as not many people can provide such a clear and logical explanation of what pujas are especially in english that appeals to the intellectuals.
Now that i understand the main purpose of Pujas, i find myself more willing to go through them. I used to be not able to go through long pujas as it will aggravate my back problem and cause me to get dizzy due to the chanting and sitting. Now i still get them but its no longer a reason for me to not do any or particpate in them.
Tonite Setrap Puja end with Mr Ngeow’s brief explanation on Puja. I’ve never look at Puja at a compassionate and caring level. I attend puja with some motives eg: to learn and practice Dharma and also to transform my mind. I guess i havent got the right mindset to dedicate the puja practice and benefit all other sentient beings..all along it is just me, me and me when it comes to puja maybe sometimes i get to do some dedication to fellow devotees family member or etc, but still the main focus is gaining something for myself. The Dharma practice should be motivated by Bodhicitta and i shouldnt expect any spiritual gain for myself only. I have bookmarked this page and will review it whenever I feel I have deviate from the practice from time to time so I can be on the right track together with the Setrap Puja team.
I would like to thank Mr.Ngeow for reminding that of Rinpoche’s teaching are available on line for our daily reflection. I do appreciate the Q&A session whereby we need to look up for the answer from Rinpoche’s blog!
Great way to learn since we might not be able to see Rinpoche personally but thru the blog we can learn so much from him.
Really a great read. Thank you Wan for showing this to me.
Dear Joyce,
Rinpoche’s blog has a wealth of information and knowledge and is a source of the teachings Lam Rim. Take your time to go through it has all kinds of topics some serious, some fun and all interesting.
This is a beautiful writeup of what pujs is. The phrase ‘puja is an expression of one’s compassion’ was drummed me into me by ngeow who highlighted to some of us how when a realized being speaks the dharma from realisation it differs from someone teaching/speaking just based on pure intellectual understanding. The more dharma we know the better will be the effects of the puja that we participate in.
Pujas are linked with compassion and generosity. Without the motivation for these two qualities, you won’t be able to help people by doing pujas alone. You must also know the meaning why and how to do the pujas. Generosity does not mean you can only give in monetary. Giving your services by doing and participating in pujas is another way of showing you are not selfish when you pray for other people. I believe Pujas done with compassion and selflessness will definitely invoke the Buddhas or Deity to help the person we are praying for. Combined energies in doing pujas are very effectve. I understand a lot of people in the weekly Setrap Puja had been helped and their problems solved.
Dear Rinpoche,
I practice Riwo Sangue Tcheu sometimes at home. I share the practice by inviting all those dead or alive that could fit into my imagination, “we” are offering together. This week it was particularly beautiful, with every mantra prayed by us, someone in Avici was freed in a rainbow body (well, we lacked of equanimity, priority was for those suffering there for the longest period).
A feeling of energy was moving, especially on the left side of my body, but it was concentrated on my chest. It was intense and beautiful so I felt as sharing it. Following the feeling, I made a pause with the text in order to visualize a friend. I opened my arms to him and offered what I had on my chest. Immediately, the energy sensation completely disappeared. I was surprised but I continued giving that present (…whatever left) to other friends.
When I finished the puja text -and starting thinking more- I worried a little bit since the sensation that the energy vanished was physical and so real. Additionally, I remembered that in some ceremonies we ask spirits and creditors to “gave us back” the vitality / energy that they took from us. Is it really “my energy”? Is that why we ask them to give it back? and ask goddesses to find it when it has been lost? Is it important to recover that particular energy? in such case, should I ask my friends to give my present back?
In what cases we better ask the raw natural elements for brand new energy?
Even thought in this practice I did not visualized myself as Péma Theuthreng Tsel , I felt as something happened, if that is the case, I hope all my friends are safe and my negative energy stayed with me. I thought that I should have offered the positive fruits that my energy could produce instead of my energy itself. No karmic links or debts?
As history, months ago, before I met this particular friend for the first time, I felt something behind me, when I looked behind I realized I was feeling his heart chakra (never before or after I felt someone else’s energy).
The two days after the puja I was a little bit weak so I practiced another one, this time no presents. Today, after 4 days, I feel as recovering but my chakras are calm. Before, it happened to me to feel vibrations, waves and occasionally the hip moving softly in 8’s like an Arabic dancer. Is that some kind of purification in progress?
Would you please help me to clarify these thoughts? THANK YOU
May this New Year bring spiritual prosperity.
PS – It seems that I am attached to samsara
apparently to touch the front with Chang bou removes merit and of course I did it + as soon as I recover some energy I offered it.
Dear Rinpoche,
I continued ruminating what I explained in the comment posted above.
I will use this experience as a reminder that the Dharma is more than beautiful words. I took refuge and I pray the guru due to the same reason. This should strength my faith and devotion in the Three Jewels and the Three Roots. If I sincerely trust, I will feel their protection and their compassion in all circumstances.
I will not worry anymore even though I still feeling different. Maybe, somehow, it is a blessing; I was developing a thin attachment and an untold pride because I had some sensations. I understand it is an error, also to speak about it with other than the Guru. I try to keep this in mind but I was concerned this time. I would love to understand more about what happened and the consequences but this should not be a distraction. I will focus on my practice, to grasp and follow the teachings in order to practice properly.
Thank you for being open to questions and sorry for wasting your precious time with small questions.
I pray for a humble and pure motivation, in action.
Thanks, Paris, for sharing this precious teaching. It is quintessential Tsem Rinpoche and I can even hear how he would be delivering this. Thank you, Rinpoche, always for your generosity and courage.
Thank you Rinpoche for your ever active love and compassion! I learned a lot in few months what I haven’t for decades through Your
Eminence’s blogs, video teachings…etc. I feel my veil of ignorance being peeled off layer by layer. May Rinpoche’s teachings and activities touch the lives of many sentient beings far and wide… With Great Reverence,Deki Yangzom.
Thank you Rinpoche for this powerful teaching.
Just want to say : Thank you Rinpoche _/\__/\__/\_
My! The photos here are so old! Everyone looks so young and slim. Haha. Like Paris i was also not really fond of pujas. But, here I am two years later doing pujas and torma everyday; sometimes up to 5 pujas a day and making torma till 4am. It is all well worth it when people see you and tell you ‘thank you so much for praying for me, the puja really helped me overcome this and that’. Deep down when you ‘feel’ the pain and suffering of the people you do pujas for I guess that itself is the essence of the right ‘motivation’. Am not perfect neither extremely compassionate because initially I did have selfish reasons for doing pujas all the time; I figured out that at least some good will ‘spill out’ and benefit me and my loved ones if I keep doing pujas. After a while all these does not really matter as I realized the pain and problems some people have when they request for pujas to be done for them. My problems became small at times when compared with these poor people. I will continue to do pujas with what miserable abilities I have and hopefully when the time comes I will die while doing puja. Haha.
Hey bro David, I also want to die while doing puja… wow… if that happens, the last thing I do before I die is doing something beneficial for others, rather than doing any other selfish things for myself.
Yes when doing dharma works, especially performing pujas for others, it is very important that we reflect on their pains and sufferings, like that we can set our motivation right to request Buddha to help them
Great explanation of Pujas and other indirect activities we can do to help others as well as our self. Very detail, informative, meaningful and easy to understand. Rinpoche, thank you very much for the teaching and now I have clearer mind and motivation to do dharma practice particularly on pujas.
With folded hands, thank you and appreciate your selfless and compassion in guiding us.
With love,
VP
This teaching is so beneficial to the puja team members, people that join our weekly pujas and all those who seek spiritual help.
Sometimes we feel so helpless watching others suffer and we don’t know how to help them.With the correct understanding on why we pray and the right motivation, isn’t it wonderful we can help others by activating our inner energy?
Thank you Rinpoche for the teaching & clear explanation.
Problems arise from the karma we created long ago. When they ripen and manifest, what else can we do but to brave the storm? If we have to go through it one way or another, the least we can do is to try to lessen the effect. Pujas open up a direct line of communication with all the Buddhas from whom we can receive their blessings. The resultant merit from performing these pujas can help to reduce or in some cases resolve the problem. All depends on the inevitability of karma and accumulation of merits. Whatever the outcome, it would only be for the better though we may not see it like that immediately. We usually want a quick fix and doubts may arise when we don’t get the miracle we expected. But would it have been good for us in the long run? Having said that, it would even be better if we stop doing negative deeds that come back to bite us later, and do lots of these pujas before a problem occurs because if successfully purified, it may not even manifest. The problem is, we normally wait till problem ripens, then seek a miracle cure. If we don’t know how to do these pujas, Shabten Kang of Kechara House can come to our rescue.
Hi Rinpcohe and Paris,
Thanks for the sharing on the good article on Puja. Not in all situations, we will have the wisdom of speech and mind and physical ability to help to ease the suffering of our loves one. Thus, Puja will serves as a great outlet to direct our compassion/love/healing/protection and healing power from the Buddha/Protector invoked in a intangible energy to help the individual in suffering. Furthermore, by entrusting the individual to the 3 Jewels, we are rest assure that they are in good hands.
Puja is a great way to accumulate greater stream of merits better in group than individual.
Thanks again for the sharing. The article is timely in strengthening my effort to attend Puja and work harder for benefits of more sentients beings.
Wow, this teaching took my breath away! So humanly to the point, making something as ‘foreign” as puja easy to relate to and understand.
It is true, whenever we know of someone’s suffering, we have the natural desire to offer a helping help. As said, that is the instinct of the Buddha within each and everyone of us. However, in many situations, we struggle with finding an effective method to alleviate the suffering experienced. Perhaps this is why we buy flowers and fruit basket for the sick and dying.
Thank you Rinpoche for showing us another offering we can make to express our care for others in their time of need: offering of Puja.
Thank you Rinpoche for this teaching and explanations. Thank you Paris for transcribed it. This teaching is especially important for Shabten Khang staff and volunteers as we do pujas everyday for people who need helps. We must set right motivation and do the pujas correctly, then our pujas will be effective. This is the great way for us to practice and to develop compassion.
GREAT teaching! A true “Dummies’ Guide” that boils down the “What and Why” of doing Pujas to a few simple, easy-to-understand points:
- doing a puja is an expression of your compassion for another person or being;
- when you do something that supports a puja, even if you’re not doing the puja itself, you’re already doing Dharma work and is an expression of your compassion;
- BUT, do it with the right motivation and do it without selfishness, i.e., when doing a puja for someone, think of and for that person/being wholeheartedly;
- when we are motivated by Bodhicitta or compassion, we tap into our real mind or Buddha nature, thus pushing ourselves to become a Buddha, and so when we help others selflessly, we help ourselves. A win-win situation!
If I missed out any key points, that makes me the King of Dummies but so what? I’m still learning!
Thank you, Rinpoche, for yet another effective teaching!
Paris, thanks for transcribing. Loved your comments from July 8, 2010!
Likheng, thanks for sharing this blog.
Sean
生活的一切都是法，法也是生活。
更意料不到的是，你以为法会这样一个议题将会是沉闷的，内容肯定围绕在法会而已。但是，仁波切就是如此善巧，可以把惰性与修行成果，无私与修行成果结合在一起。它不仅告诉了你关于法会的一切，还告诉了你法会以外，但是又跟生活密切相关的佛法教诲。
感谢仁波切的教诲。