Tuesday, February 5, 2008

A New Year and A Renewed Hope (Part 2)

oh, in case you are wondering what is The Path of Seeing and what are the "levels" or bumis of Bodhisattva, here it is:-

1. Path of Accumulation : beings starting on the path, accumulating merit and begining to develop relative Bodhicitta
2. Path of Joining : beings a little further along, emphasis on meditating on emptiness and with the increasing of wisdom
3. Path of Seeing : The being becomes an Arya, a Noble One 1st bhumi level. this is because the being has realized emptiness directly and non-conceptually
4. Path of Meditation : 2-10 bhumis
5. Path of No More Learning : Buddhahood
This is a sutric system from Chandrakirti (Madyamikaavatara).

It is said that once you have reched the 1st bumi,achieving higher levels is easier. It is like a bird in the sky, you don't really see them flapping their wings vigorously once they are in the sky. Just a little turn of their wings, they can go higher and higher. Only when the bird is nearer the ground, and upon initial taking off, it needs to flap its wings more vigorously. Spiritual practice is the same. In the beginning it will be difficult. So, the next time any lama or rinpoche plans to visit Penang, you can request him to give a full Action Tantra empowerment. Of course, Highest Yoga Tantra will be even better. But are you ready to do HYT or not?

Last year, afaik, only HH Sakya Trizin gave a full2-day Action Tantra. He was kind to give it as both a blessing as well as practice if you want. The rest were just blessings/jenangs initiation. Was there anyone else who gave the full 2days initiation inPenang? O-yes, HH from Drukpa Kagyu gave a 2days chod transmission and practice. It's not the same kind of initiation I was referring to, but still it's good forPenang Vajrayanists. And of course, Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave oral transmission of Eight Verses of Mind Transformation, and the Wangchuk Rinpoche from Sakya tradition gave transmission of the Bodhisattvacaryavatara. So last year was not bad for Vajrayana. This year we should plan for more practice initiations and tranmsissions.

With that, let's usher in a New Year and a Renewed Hope!

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