Lama D Classes 1-7

The Seven Classes of the Course will Cover:

Topic #1 is: Having a human life is better than living in heaven. I’ll tell you why.
Topic #2 is about the four major problems of human life. What are they? You are born, you get old, you get sick, and you die. And how can we resolve them?
Topic #3 is called Tharbi Sabin, which means Seeds for Paradise. What does it mean to plant seeds for paradise?
Topic #4 is how to get blessings very easily, and how to be lucky in your life?
Topic #5 is what action, prayer, and chant to do every day to have a happy life, get into paradise?
Topic #6 is how to analyze your own mind.
Topic #7 Powerful visualizations to train the mind to get into paradise.

Class #1

Outline

Introduction
Terms Define
What is the problem in Heaven?
Stress in Heaven – Five Signals that you may leave
See your next life body
Conclusion

Hello everyone. I am Lama “D” from Bhutan. I am so happy to join with NewEarth University which is serving many members interested in a life of virtue. Welcome to our first class in the Power Dharma course – What is the significance of life?

I would like to introduce myself. I am educated in the Mahayana tradition, which I believe is the fastest and highest path to enlightenment. We have seven topics in our course which are very important and really beneficial for everyone. Each of the seven topics is designed to teach you specific details to assist your path to enlightenment.

Today’s topic is: Having a human life is better than living in heaven. This is a surprise, and we will discuss it in detail. Because if you have a human body, you can do things and uplift your level of virtue. But if you live in heaven, you’re dead and you can’t do anything. Shall we begin?

We have an hour together to talk about this. If you have questions, please make a note, and at the end of my talk I will invite you to ask anything.

I would like to define a few terms.

What is a Perfect human Life?
Human life is alive, but actually we need a PERFECT human life to get enlightenment. What is a perfect human life? Perfect human life is a life which is harmonious. An example: look at yourselves. Via the physical, you all have received beautiful organs, eyes, nose, mouth, hands, everything. And also, just analyze yourselves. Is your mind working? Yes. Is your heart working? Yes. You have brilliant ideas. For example, if you are deformed or handicapped, or deaf, can you learn about visualizations? If your body is not functioning well, this is not a perfect human life. You can’t do things up to the level of others. However, with a perfect human life, you have arrived with everything organized beautifully. You can see, talk, think, whatever you like, you can do. That is called a perfect human life, or a perfect body. If you have a perfect human body, you have all the tools you need to earn great virtue.

What is Dharma?
With our perfect human life, what are we supposed to do? In Buddhism we believe our life is a huge opportunity for Dharma. What is Dharma? Dharma is the activities in which we can make benefit for all. Everybody wins and no one loses. Dharma means we can make effort, we can sacrifice for others, to fulfill their expectation, and bring them joy. Everybody needs joy, we want all beings to be relaxed, peaceful. Dharma means our actions help all people to live in harmony. That is Dharma. And how can we do Dharma? We serve others without any expectation. For example, every being deserves to be happy. But somehow, we often get stressed. If we try to help remove stress for all beings, and help create harmony, that is called Dharma.

What is a GURU?
A Guru is a master who teaches how to do Dharma activities, how to navigate your life. How to achieve blessings and virtue for followers. A guru is a physical human being who teaches others selflessly.

What is a dedicated student?
A Dedicated Student is a person who has a pure mind and respect for the guru, who follows the guru’s direction to receive blessings for the purpose of enlightenment.

What is God?
Most of you come from a Western culture with your concept of God. I would like to remind you that in Buddhism, we do not refer to any God. God is our pure mind. God is our Karma, and it is the law of Nature.

Where is God? God is in your mind. If your mind is pure, then you have no stress, no problems. Everything is born via the mind. If our mind is pure, then we can achieve enlightenment via your pure mind.

What is SAMSARA?
Samsara is a cycle of life, of death and rebirth over and over. Within the realms of Samsara, you will have stress and pain. There are six realms of Samsara that we will discuss in the next class.

What is HEAVEN?
Heaven is a beautiful realm of enjoyment for a very long time. But it is temporary. And at the end of your time there it is very stressful.

WHAT is PARADISE?
PARADISE is beyond impermanence. Beyond Samsara, beyond suffering. It is the realm for enlightened beings.

What is IMPERMANENCE?

In Buddhism, impermanence is the concept that NATURE is constantly changing. So what is here today might be gone tomorrow. Nothing is forever.

These are the terms we will use today.

What’s the Problem with HEAVEN?

The big problem in Heaven is that we never think about impermanence. We are never concerned about our next life.

Living in Heaven is so peaceful. There is no stress, and we feel no emotions. We stay for a long time, hundreds and hundreds of years longer than human life in a body. It is like an illusion, you will feel it is permanent, but it is not. We humans on earth can’t see heaven, but they can see us. In heaven we can have friends, but we do not feel much emotion. Heavenly beings do have bodies so that they can see each other. In Heaven, We Can’t Help Each Other.

Compared to human life, heaven would seem vastly better. But, why is human life better than Heavenly life? Because in human life we can help each other. Humans have rich emotions. Especially, we can do Dharma for our life, and we can get enlightenment via a perfect human life. But, in Heaven, we CANNOT help each other. And Heaven has no opportunities for getting enlightenment. They just enjoy all the time, but cannot do Dharma. On the Earth, we are human beings in a body, busy doing things. In Heaven, we are not in a human body, still alive, but more like a spirit.

What are the Five Signals a Demi-god will soon leave Heaven?
In heaven we have unconcerned enjoyment for many, many years, never feel stress. We never worry about impermanence or dream that we might have to leave the Heavenly universe. But one day when their virtue is used up, a person’s time in heaven is finished, or their Karma is finished, and they will have to leave this place. How do they know it is their time to go? In Heaven it is very clean. Everything is so beautiful and perfect until a certain point. One day they begin to notice changes.

#1 Their body, hair and appearance is shabby and no longer beautiful.

#2 Sweat pours out from their underarms, which never happens in heaven.

#3 They have dirt on their perfect cloth robes, like flowing heavenly robes.

#4 They feel a bad smell from the whole body.

#5 The beautiful flowers that adorn their bodies and robes dry out and wilt.

Seven days after the appearance of the five signals, they know they are going to die. Seven days in heaven is equal to seven hundred years on earth. Knowing that they are going to die, they are very sad to leave such a beautiful place. Even their friends will avoid them, and move away from them. If you know you are going to die, how do you feel. You feel sad. That is the stress, terrible pain and it lasts a very long time.

It is stressful to see your next life. What body will you have?

If you are in Heaven, and you know your time there is almost over, only seven days remain, you know two things:
#1 You have to leave this beautiful place, and that causes you stress and pain.
#2 You will see what is your next body, and that will be a shock. Because most demi-gods leaving heaven do not go back to a human body. Most of them go to Hell or into the Animal world. Very few will get a human body.

If you get an animal body, will you be happy? If you discover you will get the body of a pig, then the sad emotions begin. The pig is dirty, dull minded, and lives on garbage. Even if your body is a very nice cat, do you think you will have a chance to earn virtue? What if you are born as a dog? maybe you can be the dog for the King, will you have an opportunity to discuss Dharma? Can you do actions to benefit others to earn virtue?

Almost all heavenly beings when they go back to a body they go to Hell or into an animal body. Only a very few are born as human. That is why human life is better than living in heaven. That is why your future enlightenment and everything in your future depends on how you live your life as a human being. This is a great opportunity.

In Conclusion

I would like to say: Human life is better than living in Heaven. Because with a perfect human life we can do actions to build virtue for the present and future. In other religions, Heaven is permanent, however in Buddhism Heaven is temporary. When we finish our time in Heaven, we have to get a new body. If we get a perfect human body we can do Dharma, and we can create good Karma for the next life. If we try, we can even get enlightenment via this perfect human life.

These are the rules of the game.

We all have a great good fortune to be able to do everything which is good for the next life.
Please, don’t misuse this opportunity. Thank you.

Lama D Class #2 October 31, 2021
The Four Major Problems of Human Life

Outline

Introduction
Why is there no happiness? The four major problems.
Three Stressful Points
Stress is inherent in everything
Problem on problem
Switch the problem
Four Major Problems: You are Born, You Get Old, You Get Sick, You Die
Why do we never talk about this?
Story of the Buddha. Need enormous good fortune to consider this.
Conclusion

Introduction

Hello everybody. I’m so glad to see you all again! Today we will discuss very special points which are really important to keep in mind and use for our life. We are living in the human realm, and we are in Samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth. Everybody is looking for happiness. But it’s so difficult to get even one happy moment and very easy to encounter big problems. We don’t need to go looking for trouble. Automatically, we face obstacles at every turn. Am I right?

Why is there no happiness?
As a living being, everyone is looking for comfortable life. Even insects. An ant also is looking for a good life. But it is very difficult to get a good life, the insect can forget this hope. Even for a powerful King it is unlikely he will have a happy and good life. From the outside appearance, the King is rich and powerful. But if you live in his situation, you will see there is no happiness, and his days are quite uncomfortable. Because a King is the leader of a country. A king needs to balance many issues for the whole country. Responsibility brings stress. That is not happiness.

We live under four major problems of life.
What are they? We are Born, We get Old, We get Sick, We Die.

3 Stressful Points

Before we discuss the four major problems, I would like to discuss the 3 stressful points. These are entwined with the four major problems.

Stress is inherent in everything
Problem on problem
Switch the problem

a. Stress is inherent in everything.
Why? Because everybody has a SOUL and MIND. While there is soul and mind, definitely we are under some pressure all the time. Because we feel and we think. Even if the stress is low, if we analyze deeply there is always some tension. It is inherent, natural, built into our experience, because we live in the Human realm, and we are not God. For example, take a wealthy person that has no obvious problems. Maybe he has a favorite pet dog he cares for. He thinks about dog and worries about it. Maybe he has to take the dog out to walk and worry about getting his dog the best food. This is a disease of thinking. Maybe some of you suffer from this disease. This is very tiny disease, and if we don’t analyze deeply, we might miss it completely, even though it is always there with us.

b. Problem on Problem.
You lost something important. And you feel disappointed, you don’t know what to do about it. On top of that, your house just caught on fire and burned to the ground. One problem is not finished, and a new problem has begun. This is called problem on problem. If you have never felt this yourself, you know someone who had that experience. Don’t be in a hurry, one day you will face this problem. Before you get enlightenment, you will definitely face this problem. I promise.

c. Switch the problem
Today Joe has no problem. One day Joe’s best friend was admitted to the hospital for something routine, but he’s there for the whole day. So, Joe goes to visit them in the hospital. Of course, they are best friends, so he has to visit. But unfortunately, on the way Joe got into a bad accident. His car is totaled, he is seriously wounded, and he may even die. Now Joe has a new and more serious problem. We call this switch the problem. A minor problem changes into something much worse. Has that ever happened to you?

The 3 stressful points are entwined with the Four Major Problems.

You are Born
Now you are born. Is this a surprise? Forget about other beings. We’re talking about human beings now. How are do we come to be born? First, we are conceived in our mother’s womb. Soon your mother feels sick and uncomfortable. After a few weeks doesn’t feel like eating regular food. She is weak and feels she will throw up. If the father is a good man, he also feels stress from the mother’s discomfort. Month by month, you are growing in the mother’s belly. Do you know how small it is inside the womb? When we are in the belly of the mother, there’s plenty of stress. Imagine her organs next to you. You notice everything in her stomach, you get fed everything she eats in the blood. You’re near her dirty urine, intestines, and poop. Everything ugly is there.

Soon your time is here, and you have to come out. Birth is so stressful for both mother and child that there’s a good chance one of you won’t make it alive. If we can’t deliver you normally, then we can do a Caesarian. Our technology is very high. But even with technology it is a dangerous hazard. In the birth canal you have to pass through a tiny space. If you don’t pop out right away, they’ll reach in for you and you’ll feel huge pain. Like an eagle lifts a rat out of a hole in the ground. Now you make it out and you are a tiny child out of the womb, lying on a clean cloth. But you just shit on it. You pee in it, and you feel wet and uncomfortable. You have a need, but you can’t say anything. You have no power. That is stress. Even if you feel thirsty and you need milk. But you can’t say anything. All you can do is cry.

Now you are growing up. You feel desire. You learn about things you like, and what you don’t like. You are with your father and mother. Of course, they love you. But some days they give you things you don’t like. You have to take them, because you have no power to say no. Even if you can say no, you have no power to change the situation, because you can’t get things yourself. So, you must accept unwanted things.

As a child sometimes you really want some things. But you can’t get those things you really want because you have no choice, and no money. You have nothing. You can’t ask your parents, because they’re so busy with many things on their minds. You might ask your parents. But often your parents can’t buy it for you. Or maybe they don’t want to buy it. Maybe they don’t want you to have it. You are powerless, and your problems have begun. This is complicated for everyone.

During our young and middle life, we never think about getting old. But suddenly one day we discover we are old. You notice your spine is bent crooked and you can’t stand up straight like before. You notice your hair is white, and you can’t walk eaeily anymore. Your teeth feel sore chewing is difficult. Your joints are painful.

We can’t stand up immediately like before. We have to move slowly and carefully. We want to sit down smoothly, but the body just sits down suddenly. At some point your relatives don’t respect you anymore. Your children begin to speak to you carelessly. Even the cat and dog just step right over you because they know you are old and feeble. No one listens when you speak. Your mind is perfectly active, and you have many thoughts. But your body does not respond. When old age comes, naturally we feel sad.W

hen we are old it’s easy to get sick because we can’t eat properly. We can’t do exercise, which the body needs. We feel out-of-sorts and unbalanced. When our body is uncomfortable, we don’t want to eat things we used to like, because illness has changed our mood. A few old people will be lucky and can receive good care. But many old people will not get any help. Maybe you’ll have a helper for a short while. But if you’re a patient for more than one month, your attendant will get bored. When you feel sick, a friend may bring some wonderful healthy food they made for you. Even if it is made with love, we feel moody, we won’t want it. We may refuse their kindness, and they could get upset and not do that again. The attendant says, even son or daughter says to themselves: “Just let them die.” When you see this happen in your life definitely you will cry. This is the problem of getting old.

Before you die your moods go up and down, you can’t eat properly. You can’t sit up. You feel so thirsty, but you can’t even speak to ask for water. And it is difficult to hold the cup in your hand to drink. Soon we have to leave this body that has been our home for our whole life. We always knew the moment of death would arrive, but we never practiced for it. Before death, we can’t do anything, and we will feel sad. Then at the moment we leave this body, we will get very frightened. Because we never prepared for this.

Before your time comes, you can just practice every night before you go to bed. That is what we are studying here in this course. You can just ask quietly: Tomorrow morning, will I get up? Or not? These are the four problems of human life. We do this over and over lifetime after lifetime.

I would like to ask: why do we never think about this? When you consider this is the most important issue in our life, you have to ask: Why do we never prepare for this? We never discuss it with our family. Why do we not ponder this in our daily life? Now we must begin to contemplate this question every day. Like any important activity, we prepare beforehand, so we are ready to leave.

Story of the Buddha.

Our great teacher Gautama Buddha or Shakyamuni Buddha had a great desire to know about the nature of life. He was born a prince and enjoyed a sheltered life of beauty. One day he went out of the palace, and he happened to see all four major problems of physical life. He saw one lady giving birth, an old man bent over walking very slowly. He saw a sick woman with grey hair and no teeth. He saw a dead body carried by four men.

He inquired deeply in himself: “Will this happen to me?” The response came: “Who are you?” He answered: “I am a prince.” Again, came a question: “Do you have a soul and body”? He answered: “Yes”. The answer came: “You will have to face all these problems, because you live in the world of problems.”

Then outside his palace, he met a very old holy old man. The Prince said: “Now I know all the problems, but how can I avoid them?” The holy man said: “You have to learn from a guru, a high practitioner, and you can get enlightenment. After that you won’t have to face these problems. That is the only way. You are a lucky person, but even if you are a Prince, you have to face these four major problems.”

The Buddha went to the palace to get permission from his father the King to leave home to do spiritual practice to resolve the four problems. His Father said: “No, you are the eldest son. You have to stay here and rule the country. I am your father. Whatever you like, you may have anything you want.” The Prince said: “I am so grateful to you, Father. I would like to request, I do not want to face the four major problems. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to get sick, I don’t want to get old, and I don’t want to be reborn. Can you give this to me? You are my Father.” The King said: “I am sorry. I can’t solve this problem.” Then the Prince said: “Then I must go to find a guru to solve this problem and get enlightenment.” His Father had no words and could not stop him.

Now it is your job to think about how to solve these problems for yourself.

Even Gautama Buddha left his wonderful palace life. He suffered great hardship and discomfort on his quest. He is our great teacher. He shows us the way. If we are interested in resolving these issues, you can contemplate the four major problems and the three stressful points to try to avoid them. Already you must know we are lucky, because even to hear these concepts, we need enormous good fortune to think about what it means to end Samsara. Many people hear this but never put it into action.

Conclusion

Now that you understand the four major problems of human life, what will you do about them? First, we have to know what they are. Who will face this? We are facing it now. Some people hear this but never do anything about it. But we are different. We are not just “anyone”. We have value for life. This means we MUST think it over and implement the practice to avoid the four major problems. To overcome the four major problems, we MUST achieve enlightenment and get into Paradise. Otherwise, in Samsara, there is no choice; we will face all four problems and repeated death and rebirth. In our next class we will discuss how to plant Seeds for Paradise. By planting seeds, they will definitely grow and grow over time, and we change our destiny. If we put our effort into it, we can do it.

Lama D Class #3 November 7, 2021
Tharpi Sabin, Seeds for Paradise

Outline

Introduction: Tharpi Sabin, Seeds for Paradise.
Origin of my Tharpi Sabin classes in Bhutan, 3,600 students.
What is Paradise? Above the Six Realms of Samsara. How to get there?
The Six Realms of Samsara (Hell, Hungry ghosts, Animal, Asura, Human, and Heaven)
How to Avoid Samsara.
Plant Good Seeds Now to Have Good Fruits.
Conclusion

1. Introduction:
Hello everyone. Today I would like to tell you about planting Seeds for Paradise. The name for that is Tharbi Sabin.

What is Tharpa? (Paradise) We cross through the problems into Paradise.
What is Sabin? (Seeds) To find mega-peace, we need to plant good seeds.
What is a good seed? Positive actions are good seeds for Paradise.

2. The Origin of my Classes: Tharpi Sabin

I have seven Social Networking Study Groups in Bhutan, with 500 students each. That is almost 3,500 students. They are busy learning how to cultivate Seeds for Paradise. We meet every day to study a new lesson. Every day they ask me so many questions, and you can do that too. They practice the lessons through their daily activities. Why are they making effort to learn this? Because they see the benefit and they want to refine their souls.

3. What is Paradise? Paradise is beyond and far above the Six Realms of Samsara.

Paradise is the world for enlightened beings. In Paradise, there are no obstacles and no stress. They just say Om Shantih all the time, which means “peaceful blessings”.
What is the path to get into Paradise? We can’t get into Paradise from the physical life. Enlightenment is beyond the physical realm. We have to purify our soul and our mind. Then we can enjoy Paradise forever.

4. The Six Realms of Samsara are Hell, Hungry Ghosts, Animal, Asura, Human, and Heaven)

If I talk about Samsara, in Buddhism it has six realms. Why do we avoid these six realms of Samsara?

a. Hell
Hell is very hot and full of fire. It is also very cold and icy. There is burning molten rock, flames, and streams of lava. Yet you feel icy cold and uncomfortable. Hell is for people who were cruel and heartless in their lives. If you kill your father or mother or your teacher, you will go to Hell. If you kill a monk, you will go to Hell. If you kill animals or people heartlessly and cruelly, Hell is where you belong. This is the lowest realm.

b. Hungry Ghosts Realm
This realm is a curse for the miserly and selfish in their previous lifetime. Maybe they were thieves, robbers, small-minded, selfish people, not generous. So, in their next life they go to the Hungry Ghosts realm. Here they are very uncomfortable. They can’t get anything they need, even a drop of water. Even if they do get something, they can’t take it in or absorb it. Their throat is so tiny, neck so thin, the stomach and intestines so malnourished. For countless years they can’t even get a drop of water. Eating is impossible, for nothing passes through the throat. When they try to drink cold water, it burns their throat inside. If we live selfishly like this, after death we will go into the Hungry Ghost Realm. Please be careful.

c. Animal Realm
Some animals are born with good honor. Some animals are very comfortable, especially if they have a rich master. Why are some born in a comfortable situation? Because in a previous human life they showed kindness to someone. But if they showed kindness with an expectation for a reward, they may be reborn in the animal realm, although they may be comfortable. Some animals are born at high mountain altitudes. Some are born in low altitudes and hot areas. Some animals must work very hard without food or water. That is also a kind of bad Karma from a previous life. Animals can often be born over and over as a dull type of animal. This also comes from a previous human life in which they never considered doing actions to benefit the general good for all beings. Do you know anyone like that?

d. Asura Realm
the Asura realm is a spirit realm that is for tricky, selfish, egotistical, cunning, and jealous people. These spirit beings are small-minded, not kind. These beings are sometimes called titans, mermaids, half god, demigods. They have no power and can’t do anything. The Tree of Life is a spiritual tree with roots down in the Asura realm. The jealous demigods see fruits above them on the Tree of Life. The fruits are in the Heaven realm above. But the Asura beings are stuck in the lower parts along the trunk of the Tree of Life, and they can’t reach the fruit above in Heaven. We humans cannot see the tree with our limited vision. In Heaven they can see and enjoy everything, because they have the good fortune and power to enjoy the Tree of Life. The Asura beings are naughty, tricky, and they even try to cut down the tree.

e. Heaven
Heaven is a better place in Buddhism; however, it is temporary. We have already described this in our previous class. Heaven is a place for spirit beings, demigods, half gods, not human beings. Time in Heaven is very different, so you live a long, long life in Heaven, and then you have to leave to be reborn in a body. Heaven is not the best world in Buddhism. People go to heaven after a life of greed and selfishness, always wanting more. They may be generous, giving whatever they have, but they still want to hoard and keep more and more for themselves. They have unlimited urges, cravings, desire, and greed to own everything. Do you know anyone like that?

f. Human Realm
We live in the human realm. There are so many categories and types of humans. Some are wealthy and others are poor. Some are beautiful and perfect. Some are disabled, autistic or deformed. Some are born into a happy family, and some are miserable. This all depends on our Karma, and the virtue of our previous life activities. In human life we have to deal with the four major problems and three stressful points we discussed before. Once we are born into this human life, we can’t control our problems. Sometimes the same problems happen over and over. We can’t hide, and we cannot run away from them. We have to work through them by planting seeds for Paradise.

How to Avoid Samsara.

Humans can’t avoid Samsara. We can’t get into Paradise directly from this realm. You can imagine Samsara as a house we need to live in. Can we avoid it? Can we throw it away? Never. But if we know the nature of Samsara and try to do activities to rise above Samsara, then it’s very easy. Activities to rise above Samsara means we have to follow the Buddha’s teaching. If we make special effort to observe these teachinsg, then we can avoid Samsara within this life. Best of the best, we can try to avoid Samsara and enjoy freedom in our current life now. Then you will be living in this physical Human realm, but you will exist above the problems in total freedom and happiness.

There is one other way to end Samsara, and that is via the Bardo realm. The Bardo realm is a kind of Purgatory for souls in transition after death. Sometimes we can learn from experiences in this life to refine the soul and mind. These activities we can continue in the Bardo in order to carry on using our soul and mind. We can see our teachers and celestial beings. They can be our guides. We remember and repeat our good activities and experiences of our most recent life. Planting seeds for paradise right now will prepare you for this activity in the Bardo.

I Suggest You Plant Good Seeds Now in This Life to Have Good Fruits.

In Buddhism we need to plant good seeds to receive good fruits. I have been teaching you the nature of the seeds and the six realms of Samsara. Soon, I will show you the seeds to plant. Then you will get the fruits, the rewards you need to leave Samsara behind.

Within these six realms of Samsara everything is stressful, with many obstacles and problems. How do you like these realms? If you like these six worlds, you can stay here forever. That means you love problems and stress. You love to suffer pain, birth and death over and over. However, if you don’t want stress and problems of Samsara, you can do actions to circumvent the problems, to rise above Samsara, to get where you want to go. When you are sick and tired of all these problems, living again and again, and you want to do something about it, you can make changes in yourself, changes in your mind and your actions. I invite you to consider this very carefully. When you are good and ready to do that, I am here to help you.

It is far better to resolve Karma, stress, and problems during this human life. Because you have the power to do good actions, to cultivate good habits and build virtue. In the Bardo you are dead, and your options are limited. So, what are seeds, and what are fruits? Planting seeds means you do best activities for the Dharma all the time for all beings. Doing this you will receive the fruit, which is great virtue. This the greatest value and brings huge peace to your life.

Conclusion

When you understand all six Samsara realms, you can clearly see it is best to avoid Samsara and try to get enlightenment within your life right now. This is a very beneficial path. But this is a challenge for everyone and difficult to understand. We have to learn the basic structure of the Buddha’s teaching, and then learn the mental purification activities. These are the most important activities for the mind, and by doing them you are planting seeds for a happy life without problems. I can help you and we will discuss them in our next class. See you then!

Lama D Class #4 November 14, 2021
How to Get Blessings and Have a Lucky Life

Outline

Introduction
Define Terms (Mantra, Thoenba, Choe, Sangha, Sangye, Tharpa)
Practice
How to get blessings
Which being should we ask for blessings?
Chant and visualization exercise.
What makes you lucky?
Conclusion

Introduction

Hello everyone. It’s good to see you. Today we are going to begin the serious work. We have defined our terms and outlined the basic concepts in the path to enlightenment in Buddhism. To get there we will need a huge influx of good fortune. We need vast luck to achieve enlightenment. Therefore, we need big blessings from the higher beings. This class is to introduce a very special higher celestial being, Chenrezig, also called Alwalokishoria.

I will show you how to get blessings very easily, and how to bring good fortune in your life? And I will show you how to bring Alwalokishoria into your awareness.

2. I’d like to define a few important words for you.

Mantra is a power word or phrase which carries blessings of a celestial being.
Thoenba is a teacher who gives us direction. Alive, in history, or in spirit world.
Choe is the Dharma activities to cultivate virtue. Actions, thoughts, or chants.
Gedun / Sangha is followers of the practice, a person or a group of people.
Sangye means awakened, enlightened one, a Buddha that exists in Paradise forever. Enlightenment is not so easy to explain. So don’t expect to understand right away. When you are enlightened, you are a kind of god. You can help the physical realm. You can go back and forth without needing a body. You are happy all the time.
Tharpi Shingkom means This is the higher realm of enlightened beings who are awakened. All beings in this realm are Buddhas. In this realm, there is no Samsara and no stress. It is beyond the cycle of death and rebirth.

3. Practice

How to get blessings In Buddhism there are many celestial beings, each with different physical structures and individual mantras. Some of the celestial beings are very hard to imagine and visualize their physical structure. Some of their mantras are very long and difficult to learn by heart, which is the traditional way.

It is absolutely necessary to have blessings and guidance from a celestial being. First, we need to visualize their physical structure. And secondly, we have to chant their mantra correctly. Then we need to visualize ourselves receiving blessings from that being.
Many people do not know how to receive blessings, and so they can never have the benefit. However, if we know how to receive their blessings energy, it is very easy to get.

Just ask: Where do the blessings fall? Where do they come in? Can you tell me? It’s not physical, but we can feel it. I’ll tell you the secret. The mind has a huge receiver. The mind is even bigger than the body. The blessings come in through our enormous respect and dedication. That is the secret portal.

Which being should we ask for blessings? The chant and visualization exercises are different for each celestial being. How do you know which celestial being to call? One reason to choose Chenrezig is because he is the most powerful God of compassion. He is the top celestial power and first (heart) son of Amitabha, the highest Buddha that we consider the Supreme God. Also, we love Chenrezig because his physical structure is very beautiful and easy to visualize. And when we utter his mantra, it is very smooth and harmonious. Om Ma Ni Ped Me Hung
Chant and visualization exercise. How can we get virtue and blessings from the celestial being Chenrezig? I will tell you the sequence of what to do. First, we need to appreciate how powerful he is. We invite him in by chanting his mantra slowly while visualizing his image. We call him via this mantra. There are six syllables. Om Ma Ni Ped Me Hung. These six syllables represent blessings for the six realms. In your awareness, you can feel Om Ma Ni is at the head. Ped Me is at the throat. Hung is at the heart. I will demonstrate.

Each syllable of the chant has a meaning:

Om – Bow with deference to all Buddhas, enlightened awakened ones.
Ma – Bow with deference to Dharma, practice of cultivating virtue.
Ni – Respect and deference to Sanghas, the followers of the path.
Ped – Bow with deference to all great gurus and lamas in all dimensions.
Me – Bow with deference to the Siddhi (high practitioners) and Dakinis (female gods).
Hung – Bow with deference to Virtue, the highest blessing and value in the world.

I will demonstrate the chant.

In your visualization, Chenrezig has a beautiful physical structure of white because he has no negatives. There is nothing, not a single dot or mark of dirt on his body, mind or spirit.

Chenrezig has four arms that symbolize sympathy, empathy, no partiality, and compassion, which he is ready to give to all. His whole body is full of virtue. He sits in the sky on a lotus throne in front of his spiritual father, Amitabha.

When we visualize him, he should be just in front of your body, 2.5 feet away from your face, from the level of your forehead, up 2.5 feet above that. Chant this a minimum of 108 times. You can use a traditional mala that has 108 beads or use a mechanical counter.

At the end of your chant, finish with the syllable HRI. The meaning of HRI is that we are now in Paradise. In the center of this flower image of the chant letters, is the final value of virtue. It is a one syllable word HRI meaning Amitabha. HRI is the final syllable of your chant. Like this: Om Ma Ni Ped Me Hung HRI.

Here is the visualization: We turn ourselves into the word HRI, as it floats up on rainbow rays of five colors: white, yellow, red, green, and blue. This HRI goes into Chenrezig’s heart area, and Chenrezig turns into the letters HRI. Now the HRI floats up with the colors to Amitabha with the sound of Damaru drums, bells, sweet voices of dakinis singing the chant Om Ma Ni Ped Me Hung HRI. The HRI in the center of the mandala means you become the HRI. Then you become the Amitabha, which is the highest Supreme Buddha.

4. What makes you lucky?
In the world there are so many people. Some are very rich, some are very intelligent. But they have no opportunity to learn about earning virtue or how to reach enlightenment. For example, scientists can make spaceships to travel to other planets. And that is a very big accomplishment. Although the scientists are brilliant, they still live in the physical world of life, death, rebirth, and stress. They are limited to life in Samasara, because they have no luck. They have no idea about enlightenment and no opportunity to live in peaceful joy forever. You are lucky because you have an opportunity to achieve enlightenment. You can end Samsara, get into Paradise, and leave the 3D physical world of stress forever.

5. Conclusion: You can be lucky and have great happiness even in this lifetime, but you must have the support of a high celestial being, and you must understand the nature of physical life. It is nothing. Everything in the physical world is impermanent. This life is a huge opportunity for you to do Dharma and to support good activities. Life is too short. While we have energy to support others, we should take the opportunity to earn virtue via positive actions that benefit everyone.

Now we know how to chant a mantra. And we choose the higher celestial being Chenrezig as a guide. That is very good. But actually, if we go deeply the true Buddha should be born from our own pure mind. Now you are responsible for yourself. When you achieve enlightenment, you become a Buddha. Buddha means enlightened one. Keep this in mind. In our next class we will talk about actions, prayers, and chants to help you get to your goal. Thank you. If you have any doubts or questions, I am here to help you.