The Living Journal – Vaishravana, The Chief Guardian Of The Four Heavenly Gates.

Vaishravana is the Sanskrit term and in Tibetan’s language, He is known as “Namthose” and widely being practiced by many Tibetan practitioners. Vaishravana occupies the highest position of the Four Guardian Kings and specifically protects Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings, protecting those who practice self-discipline. 

Because his breath is harmful He keeps His mouth tightly closed. He confers spiritual and material wealth on practitioners of the Dharma, symbolized by the jewel-producing mongoose in his left hand.

From their looks you might think they are evils and the demonic terrifying appearances. But Dharmapalas are wrathful bodhisattvas who protect Buddhists and the Dharma. Their terrifying appearance is meant to frighten forces of evil. The eight Dharmapalas listed blow are considered the principal Dharmapalas.

Vaisravana is an adaptation of Kubera (Black Jambhala) , the Deity of Wealth. In Vajrayana Buddhism, Vaisravana is thought to bestow prosperity, which gives people freedom to pursue spiritual goals. In art, He is usually corpulent and covered in jewels. 

Vaishravana or Namthose is often depicted on the outer walls of the monasteries and temples, as a safeguard harmful interference.
His symbols are a lemon and a mongoose, and He also is one of the Dharmapala in the Eight Dharmapala families.  Vaishravana is the Chief Guardian of the Four Great heavenly Kings and leader of the Yakshas. Vaishravana and the others guarded on the four directions of the heavenly Gates is to safeguard harmful interference and specifically protect Shakyamuni Buddha’s precious Dharma teachings. 

The Guardian of the Four Heavenly Gates:-

• Eastern Heavenly Gate  – Chief Dhritarashtra , leader of the Ganhabbas. (guitar)
• Southern Heavenly Gate – Chief Virudhaka , leader of the Kumbhandas. (sword)
• Western Heavenly Gate  – Chief Virupaksha , leader of the Dragons. (snake)
• Northern Heavenly Gate – Chief Vaishravana amongst of the Four Guardians. Leader of the Yakshas.
• One celestial day of the Four heavenly realms are = 50 years on earth.
• The lifespan of the Four Heavenly Chiefs are said to be about 500 celestial years. 

By making connection through various means like paying homage to Vaishravana or Namthose, by reciting His *mantra and offering the following to praise Him :-

• Flowers
• Lights (candle)
• Incenses
• Music
• Jewels
• Water-nectar
• Black tea
• Fruits
• Grains
• Medicine herbs

There are so many inner obstacles to the development of our minds and these inner obstacles create many outer obstacles. Therefore, for the success of our Dharma practices, of our actualizing the graduated path to enlightenment, we must rely upon a special Yidam or Buddha such as the Compassionate Goddess of Mother Tara, and Vaishravana etc.

The consequence of all these is to ultimately actualize everlasting bliss and enlightenment. Further, one will always gain great in Dharma wealth and material wealth, encounter true and helpful companions and assistants. 

All practices on the path to Buddha hood are methods for gathering the accumulations of merit and wisdom and for purifying our obscurations. These two processes of accumulation and purification go hand in hand; as we accumulate more merit and wisdom, our obscurations automatically diminish.

You will get support in both worldly and spiritual activities from your family and friends, gain protection and secure wealth and merits and all goodness and inspirations.   

Tibetan consider Vaishravana sentiment regarding wealth to be providing freedom by way of bestowing prosperity, so that one may focus on the path or spirituality rather than on the materiality and temporality of that wealth.  

*Footnote

In Vajrayana features countless skilful and powerful methods which, if they are practiced in the proper way, can make the process of accumulation and purification incredibly swift and direct. 

Recitation of mantras, which require empowerment, so always to be guided by your teacher or Lama and lineage master. Please consult your Guru or a qualified lineage master for Dharmapala practices! Should a devotee even want to start studying and contemplating the Tantric, then it is truly necessary to first have completed the preliminaries and to be certain and sure that Bodhicitta has arisen and developed in one’s mind. 

It is absolutely necessary to have the pure motivation and to know that Dharmapala practice is not carried out to increase one’s own ego, power and profit. Negative intentions of any kind may not be.

Thank you for reading, may you find peace and great bliss. With your support it helps to spread the precious Buddha’s precious Dharma and turning the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease

But increase further and further.

Nagarjuna's Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migrators from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright of these pictures.

Pictures courtesy and credit to the rightful owners.

The Living Journal – The Original Portrait of The Lord Shakyamuni Buddha

The original portrait of the Lord Shakyamuni Buddha. 

The Four Immeasurable Thoughts

May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.

May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

May all sentient beings be inseparable from the happiness that is free from suffering.

May all sentient beings abide in calmness, free from desire for friends and hatred for enemies.

Before reciting mantra, let us please generate Bodhichitta motivation by reciting the refuge and generate Bodhichitta prayer and the Four Immeasurable Thoughts. Recite the mantra with a motivation to achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings. 

At the end of the recitation of mantra session, please dedicate our Bodhichitta minds to grow and increase further and further. To do this, our mantra becomes the cause to achieve enlightenment and a cause of happiness for other sentient beings and ourselves. 

Afterbirth, the Buddha began walk on the 7 lotus steps

He stopped with his noble voice shouted:

"I am the chief of the world, Eldest am I in the world,

 Foremost am I in the world, This is the last birth,           There is now no more coming to be."

A prayer to the Lord Shakyamuni Buddha

Tadyatha Om Muni Muni Maha Muniye Soha.

With your great compassion, Lord you was born this world of Samsara and degeneration in BC 563, and you had made five hundred vast aspirations. You are praised like the immaculate white lotus, for whoever hears your name can never fall back into Samasara.

Most compassionate teacher, to you I pay homage. Supreme teacher, Bhagavanb, Tathagata, Arhat, complete and perfect Buddha, glorious conqueror, Shakyamuni Buddha, to you I bow, to you I pay homage. In you I take refuge.

It is said that this is an authentic and indisputable looked like of our Lord Shakyamuni Buddha.  You can see that He is wearing baba style earrings and He has a Mongoloid face. This is the only true portrait of Lord Shakyamuni Buddha during His lifetime; this portrait was drawn secretly by one of the Buddha’s disciples named Purna while the Buddha was teaching. This portrait the Blessed one was 41 year-old when painting. 

This unique and original painting today is stored in the British Imperial Museum and is considered a British national treasure.

Thank you for reading, may you find peace and great bliss. With your support it helps to spread the precious Buddha’s precious Dharma and turning the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease

But increase further and further.

Nagarjuna's Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migrators from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright of these pictures.

Pictures courtesy and credit to the rightful owners.

A Beginner's Guide To Tibetan Buddhism.

This is a ground-level, practice-oriented presentation of Tibetan Buddhism—personal and very accessible. The book begins with the awakening of students' interest in spirituality and the initial encounter with Tibetan Buddhism, and then leads us through all the steps necessary for successful practice in the West.

Included is succinct counsel on finding an appropriate teacher, receiving empowerments, becoming active in a center, and launching and sustaining a Vajrayana practice. Special emphasis is placed on the potential pitfalls, and the marvelous benefits, of the guru-disciple relationship. 

As Tibetan Buddhism extends its reach in the West, many practitioners are making strong commitments to this path. The Vajrayana tradition still being new to our culture, however, there remain significant gaps in Western students' education and understanding.

These can lead to practical difficulties for new or intermediate students. This book begins with the very awakening of students' interest in spirituality and their initial encounter with Tibetan Buddhism and then leads them through the steps necessary for successful practice in the West. 

A Beginner's Guide to Tibetan Buddhism speaks powerfully and directly to the Western student who is working to integrate this incredibly vast tradition into the realities of daily life. Drawing on his many years of practice and teaching, the author skillfully addresses obstacles, doubts, and confusions that every reader will recognize.

Click here to own a copy from Apple Itune on line:-

https://geo.itunes.apple.com/gb/book/beginners-guide-to-tibetan/id576886317?mt=11&at=1010ld9m

The Living Journal - Prayers On The Buddha Day

April 07, 2016 is the new moon day and it’s the Shakyamurni Buddha auspicious prayer day according to the Tibetan calendar. On this day, the effects of positive or negative actions are said to be multiplied by Hundred times according to the Tibetan tradition.

If one have committed a good and bad actions, and it will be multiplied by hundred times of such action. For that reason, prayers and practices are encouraged and emphasized according to the Tibetan calendar of the Fire Monkey year 2143 as follows:-

1. Shakyamurni Buddha mantra. 
2. Sojong practice

Tadyata Om Muni Muni Maha Muniye Soha

Tadyata Om Muni Muni Maha Muniye Soha

Tadyata Om Muni Muni Maha Muniye Soha

The power of prayer is well known over centuries and in all different religious beliefs. According to Buddhism, the world in which we live and all that happens to us is a result of our past actions. Past harmful actions create unhappy results and skillful actions create happy results.

Sojong Practices The Eight Mahayana Precepts 八關齋戒

1. To refrain from killing.
2. To refrain from  stealing.
3. To refrain from sexual misconduct.
4. To refrain from lying and intoxication.
5. To refrain from taking a high or luxurious seat.
6. To refrain from singing and dancing.
7. To refrain from wearing ornaments.
8. To refrain from eating after midday.

It is a day that the Vajrayana and Mahayana will observe and practice the Sojong for spiritual growth and purification. What is " Sojong" meaning ? And how it's working and does it relevant to my practices?

Sojong is the Tibetan language,"So" means to replenish virtue and purify. "Jong" means harmful deeds as the Buddha has taught the practice of Sojong on how to fully restore all positively, to clear away and to replenish negativity. 

Sojong practice it is also known as the 八關齋戒 or the Eight precepts by the Mahayana practitioners. Sojong to be known as the practice of confession by the "second Buddha' of Oddiyana - Guru Rinpochi, Padmasambhava.

In Vajrayana Buddhism features countless skillful and powerful methods which, if they are practiced in the proper way, can make the process of accumulation and purification incredibly swift and direct. It is absolutely necessary to have the pure motivation and to know that Vajrayana practice is not carried out to increase one’s own power, ego and benefit.

Thank you for reading, may you find peace and great bliss. With your support it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turning the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease

But increase further and further.

Nagarjuna's Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migrators from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright of these pictures. Pictures courtesy and credit to the rightful owners.

The Living Journal – What Live Among Us ?

You can choose to walk passed,

You can choose to ignore,

But you are always having a choice,

Choose your compassion and kindness wisely,

Gratitude is simple yet so mighty.

Have you ever looked for things to be grateful for? Have you always looked for the bad things that happened to you or perhaps you have rather than looking at all the good things that were happening in your life every single day.

Many of us want to be happier, live better, and experience inner peace. Personal development and transformation involve self-discovery your life from within your heart. Thinking that life just isn’t happening to us the way it corresponds to and naturally we start making judgments and blaming others. “Why do these things keep emerging from my life?

If you think the causes of your unhappiness are the people and events surrounding you, you will conclude searching for the explanations. How the external world affects your daily living isn’t the issue, but what you believe and feel about yourself in the relationship to what is going on around you.

The power of gratitude is a feeling of gratitude makes you conscious of what you hold dear and are committed to in your heart. Appreciating the blessings in your life helps you cope with stress and unease by re-structuring life’s problems, putting them within a perception of your destiny. What is more, when you live your life with gratitude, you experience more joyfulness, self-worth and feel more connected to others.

Gratitude doesn’t mean being contented with everything around you. Authenticity requires you recognizing and coming to a place of peace with yourself. Acknowledging the ridged parts of your nature and the shadows of your character and accepting flaws, and letting go of impractical expectations will free you to experience more gratification.

The path of personal growth always involves change. Your journey to life is a dynamic process which includes releasing the tight grip on the past, letting go and moving on from everything that is no longer serving you.

The Power of self-gratitude is when accepting yourself as whom you are, and then you can make a change. Before you can change the events surrounding you, you have to act wisely to embark on changing yourself first. The example will be the life and the teachings of the Buddha.

A simple way you can do is writing a list of gratitude that you are grateful and ungrateful for everyday and stick it into two separate boxes or jars daily for a week. This able to cultivate a profound sense of gratitude and well-being through the act of list making and to observe and scrutinize what are the grateful and ungrateful lists that you have collected and contemplate and reflect upon it. 

This contemplation and reflection are very functional methods that alight your thoughts and positive energy with love and compassion to overcoming your negative emotions and fears of insecurity in your life.   

This helped you to realize that when you are grateful, fear to disappear and abundance appears. When you focus on the things that you are grateful for, it opens you to the source of all those things that came into your life. Gratitude allows you to come into full harmony with the Universe.

The better ways to predict life are to create it and if you are not thankful for what you have, why should you get anything more? Remember these sayings are being authentic included sense of worth and sense of responsibility that helps to nurturing the life that you have chosen. Your authenticity evolves from your obligation, determination and diligence in creating the best individual you are capable of becoming from the impossible to the “I m possible”

Thank you for reading, may you find peace and great bliss. With your support it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turning the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease

But increase further and further.

Nagarjuna's Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migrators from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright of these pictures.

Pictures courtesy and credit to the rightful owners.

The Living Journal – Fear, do you?

If you ask me do I live in fear? In some ways, yes, I do and what about you? Because we are human beings and our reactions and emotions are naturally responding through our body, speech and mind. We all have them. Some of us know without a doubt our fears, others, may have to dig deep inside to find them. If you are going to win any battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tells the mind what to do.

In Buddhism, there are negative fears and positive fears and the cycle works like this: we react to depression by fearing, fleeing or fighting it. These reactions cause too much adrenaline to flow, and it is this adrenalin that causes many negative reactions and emotions symptoms. We are so desperate to get away from these symptoms that we fear, flee and fight even more, which in turn produces even more adrenaline, which prolongs symptoms and produces new, even more alarming ones, which we fear, flee, and fight, and the cycle continues.

What are the common fears for us?

Financial problems? 

Sickness? 

Old age? 

Death? 

Depression? 

Family problems?

Love and relationship problems? 

Loneliness?

We have always been struck down with the constant fears that make us unhappy and paralyze our will and as well, torturing us in every minute when we think about all these. We attempt to run away from these and we don’t even want to talk or face it. Who doesn’t right? 

Similarly, when someone gives up a bad habit, namely smoking because they are afraid of developing a deadly disease in their life, this is a positive fear because the danger is real and there are constructive steps they can take to avoid it.

We have many fears of terrorism , fear of death, fear of being separated from people we love, fear of losing control, fear of commitment, fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of losing our job, the list is never-ending!

Many of our present fears are rooted in what Buddha identified as “delusions” distorted ways of looking at our self and the world around us. If we learn to control our mind, and reduce and eventually eradicate these delusions, the source of all our fear, positive and negative, is eradicated.

Positive Fear

However, right now we need the positive fear that arises from taking stock of our present situation so that we can resolve to do something about it. For instance, there is no point in an alcoholic being scared of dying of related diseases unless there is something that he or she can or will stop drinking.

It is true that we are exposed to danger and harm, we are vulnerable to aging, sickness, and eventually death, all due to our being trapped in samsara – the state of uncontrolled existence that is a reflection of our own uncontrolled minds. We are vulnerable to all the mental and physical pain that arises from an uncontrolled mind-such as the pains that come from the delusions of attachment, anger, and ignorance.

We can choose to live in denial of this and in that way give up what control we have, or we can choose to distinguish this susceptibility, distinguish that we are in danger, and then find a way to avert the danger by removing the actual causes of all fear.

The delusions and negative, unskillful actions motivated by those delusions. In this way we gain control, and if we are in control we have no cause for fear. All Buddha’s teachings are methods to overcome the delusions, the source of all fears.

A positive fear it serves to motivate constructive action to avoid a real helplessness situation. We only need fear as an impulsion until we have removed the causes of our vulnerability through finding spiritual, inner refuge and gradually training the mind.

There are fears of being deluded and harmful and non-deluded and positive. These can also be divided into fear to be anticipated and fear of the inevitable. The key to dealing with fear is to check which types of fear we have, and to transform our negative fears of what we can do nothing about into healthy, appropriate fears of what we can do something about.

We can then use these as the motivation to develop refuge and to overcome what is really dangerous, and even eventually to overcome what at present seems inevitable, such as sickness, old age, and death. Perhaps we are afraid of death. Again, though, as we are definitely going to die, that fear is not constructive and will lead to inappropriate responses such as denial or a sense of uselessness or meaninglessness in our life. 

However, although we have to die, we don’t have to die with an uncontrolled mind. It is therefore wise to transform our fear of dying into a fear of dying with an uncontrolled mind, the motivation that will ensure we prepare for a peaceful and controlled death.

Liberation from Fear

In other words, we cannot control whether things will go our way or not, but we can learn to control our own minds, our responses, and our own conduct, and in this way gradually find a genuine liberation from all fear. It is crucial that we recognize that it is this cycle that causes fears disturbing physical, mental, emotional and spiritual sensations, and that by breaking that cycle, we can eventually be free of them.

As with all emotion, the practice of meditation can stabilize us enough in the midst of fear to help us see more clearly, and to distinguish a false threat from a genuine threat that needs to be acted upon. The type of fear meditation can have the most effect on is the fears that we continually generate in our own minds, the product of our rich imagination and our desire to control everything, rather than be tossed around in the risky and stormy world.

Thank you for reading, may you find peace and great bliss. With your support it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turning the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease

But increase further and further.

Nagarjuna's Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migrators from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright of these pictures.

Pictures courtesy and credit to the rightful owners.

Tsok offerings practice on the Guru Rinpoche and Dakini day.

Tsok offering practice

It is said that Guru Rinpoche, Padmasembhava birth took place on the tenth day of the waxing moon in the monkey month. As Guru Rinpoche was born within the lotus flower upon the waters of the lake in the land of Oddiyana.

Tibetan word of Tsok is tsok kyi khorlo which is literally means an accumulation or gathering. Tsok offering can be performed on the 10^th day of Guru Rinpoche day and 25^th day of Dakini day respectively of the Tibetan calendar. 

For example, it is said that Guru Rinpoche Himself will come and bless the Tsok practitioners, or that the place where tsok is performed will become exactly the same as the Oddiyana, the paradise of Guru Rinpoche.

All practices on the path to Buddha hood are methods for gathering the accumulations of merit and wisdom and for purifying our obscurations. These two processes of accumulation and purification go hand in hand; as we accumulate more merit and wisdom, our obscurations automatically diminish.

In Vajrayana features countless skilful and powerful methods which, if they are practiced in the proper way, can make the process of accumulation and purification incredibly swift and direct. One such method is the practice of Tsok, which is primarily a practice of offering. It is not just a practice of offering however; it is also a powerful method for purifying our Samaya.

Thank you for reading, may you find peace and great bliss. With your support it helps to spread the Buddha’s precious teachings and turning the Dharma wheels in the world.

Aspiration For Bodhichitta

For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen

May it arise and not decrease

But increase further and further.

Nagarjuna's Dedication of Merit

By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.

Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.

May we liberate migrators from the ocean of existence.

With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.

*Note

I do not own or infringe any copyright of these pictures.

Pictures courtesy and credit to the rightful owners.