Mar - Apr Issue - Amitabha Buddhist Centre

is the antidote to heresy and anger.Anger destroys merits. Anger andheresy destroys merits.For example, you don’t havebodhicitta but you get angry at abodhisattva. In one second if you getangry at a bodhisattva, you destroyone thousand eons’ good karma,merit, whatever you collected bymaking offerings to Guru, Buddha,Dharma, Sangha for one eon andmaking charity to extensive sentientbeings. Any merit you collect withsentient beings, for one eon, all themerit gets destroyed in one secondif you get angry at a bodhisattva. Soit is much, much, much, much, muchmore if you get angry at Buddha. Justone second, how much merit, howmany eons of merit get destroyed, noquestion. Many, many, many eons ofgood karma get destroyed completely.On top of that, towards the guru, ifyou get angry one second, if you getheresy, anger for one second, canyou imagine? How many eons, howmany eons? Wow, wow, wow, wowcan’t imagine. Even though in theoutline of lam-rim it is mentioned,if you get angry one second, oneexistence, not existing from its ownside, existing by its own nature, ifyou don’t do that, if you don’t lookat it as empty, then even if you collectmerits like Mount Meru, the meritsthat you collect does not becomeunceasing. It is extremely importantto seal without the hallucination, toseal with the right view.If you don’t rejoice, then the merit youcollected, the happiness beyond, forfuture lives, you collect like treasure—unbelievable, unbelievable—but ifyou don’t rejoice, the merit won’tincrease. Therefore, to rejoice in yourmerit is very, very, important.The Long Life PujaThe long life puja, long life tothe Guru, to the Buddha, to thenirmanakaya aspect of the buddhas,by the way, as a result of that actionit becomes long life for yourself.Requesting the long life of the guru,the nirmanakaya buddhas, makesyour life longer. It becomes a long lifepuja for yourself, for the disciple.Normally, parents praying for theirchildren, children praying for theirparents, a blood connection. Thenthose living in the same house, usingthe materials in the same house, ifthey pray for each other, there is muchpower. The other thing is the gurupraying for the disciple, the disciplepraying for the guru, there is Dharmaconnection. The guru praying for thedisciple, the disciple praying for theguru, definitely due to that, there issome power.10 eon I think, not thousand eons, onereceive $80 worth of food donations including rice, Look out for more news about JINPA for Our Community 11eon of merit gets destroyed. But in“Lam-rim Chen-mo”, and there aremany places where it is mentioned,if a non-bodhisattva gets angryat a bodhisattva for one second,then one thousand eons’ merit getdestroyed. Therefore if you get angryat Buddha for one second, then howmuch, wow, wow, many, many eons,much, much, more. Then at theguru—unbelievable, unbelievable,unbelievable, the number of eons ofmerit get destroyed.Therefore I would like to say, in oureveryday life if you don’t practisepatience. In our everyday lives,we think collecting merit is veryimportant, yes, that is right. Butpractise patience. Even if you don’tpay attention at all, ah, can yousee? How much extensive merit youcollected, so much, so much, so muchget destroyed in one second. If wedon’t practise patience, have heresy,anger towards the guru. So, how wecan have realisations? It is very, verydifficult, extremely difficult. How canwe develop our minds on the path toenlightenment? Yes, collect merits,even small merits, so importantto collect, even to abandon smallnegative karma, yes, for the next life.But practise patience, oh, that wehave to pay a lot of attention. It isvery, very, very, very important.Sealing with EmptinessIf you don’t dedicate the merits, thenthe merits get destroyed like this so fast[snaps fingers], so easy, in a second,like this [snaps fingers]. Therefore, weneed to dedicate the merits to achieveenlightenment for sentient beings. Inthis way whatever merit you collect,it becomes unceasing. Not only that,we need to seal with emptiness.Kyabje Pabongka Dechen Nyingpohas mentioned in “Liberation in thePalm”, that if you don’t seal withemptiness, you have a mountain, amountain where many trucks cameto get the rocks, took them away,you still have the mountain but itbecomes weaker, smaller, weakens themerits. If you seal with emptiness, theone who collects merit, and the actionof dedicating merit, enlightenmentfor sentient beings, the whole thingif you seal with emptiness, even ifheresy, anger arises later, it doesn’tdestroy, doesn’t harm at all.The root of samsara is ignorance.What destroys that, what eliminatesthat directly, is the wisdom directlyperceiving emptiness. That wisdomrealising emptiness is the one thateliminates ignorance. Therefore, notonly dedicating for enlightenment,but you seal with emptiness, in thisway then later when heresy, angerarises, it cannot destroy the merits. Itis protected.[Rinpoche reads from a text] If youcollect merits like Mount Meru orlike the highest merit, but if you didn’tseal with emptiness of phenomena,if you didn’t seal with emptiness, ifyou don’t look at all phenomena asnot truly existent, with no existencefrom its own side. If you don’t lookat phenomena as having no trueThis long life puja is notjust a Tibetan pastime. Tohave some understandinghow this is practised, avery important practice,some idea for those whohave no idea.Recorded, transcribed and edited for AmitabhaBuddhist Centre’s free distribution media byVen. Tenzin Tsultrim. All mistakes are entirelythe editor’s. (January 2013)JINPA for Our Community– Let’s reach out to those in needJoy in Practising Altruism for Our Community[Jinpa: Tibetan for ‘generosity’]Join us at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in our FIRSTever food distribution drive to families in need all overSingapore.Saturday, 13 April 2013 (Revised date)All-day programme starts at 9.30 am with amotivational talk by Khen Rinpoche Geshe ChonyiIn conjunction with the Chinese Development AssistanceCouncil (CDAC), ABC will be distributing basic foodnecessities to over two hundred low-income households inthe heartlands, island-wide.• Contribute to the food fund: Each household willcooking oil, biscuits and beverages. ABC is donating$15,000 to the food fund towards the purchase of theseDelightful Gift Ideas fromABC’s Specialty Storev Tibetan-style metal incense holders engravedwith the Mani mantra and the Eight AuspiciousSymbols – available in gold and bronze coloursv Gold-coloured round metal incense holders –intricately carved, compact and uniquev Tea light holders with ornate filigree designs – ingold and bronze coloursv Miniature butter lamps in decorative reusableholdersessential groceries. Any additional cash contributionsare welcome.• Drive and deliver: Join us if you and your familieswould like to help with the food delivery to variouslocations around Singapore. What we need: at leasttwenty drivers with vehicles PLUS more volunteers tohelp despatch and deliver.• Sign up: Be a part of JINPA for Our Community,our gift of generosity to the less fortunate. Contact ouroffice or visit our website www.fpmtabc.org to make adonation or register as a volunteer.via our website and electronic updates.These and other inspiring creations to offer onyour altar or as gifts to your loved ones!Come visit us at Level 4.