In the wake of the events of September
11, a number of Buddhist teachers and practitioners have
offered thoughts and prayers for guidance during this time.
Teacher Responses
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Lama Zopa Rinpoche: Prayers
Lama Zopa Rinpoche's advice for those
who want to help is to take the eight Mahayana precepts
and to recite as many Chenrezig mantras - om mani padme
hum - as they can with strong prayers to Chenrezig, praying
to have loving kindness generated in the minds of everyone,
especially those who have caused this harm. To change their
mind/to stop the thought of giving harm to others, especially
those in the USA. To pray to have much peace and happiness
here and the rest of the world, as much happiness as possible.
To visualize nectar beams emitted from Chenrezig entering
everyone in the USA, especially those who have died or have
been hurt and also to everyone in the world. Purifying all
the suffering, the pain, the sicknesses and negative thoughts
of harm. To purify all the suffering including one of the
shortcomings of samsara - war. War is just one of the oceans
of suffering of samsara.
Then of course
meditating on bodhichitta, that of course, without question
is very important. However these practices are also good
for oneself. Without war and cancer etc. death will still
come at any time. There is the war within our own mind,
the disaster with the elements in us and of course there
is karma. Delusions and karma are the cause of death: as
long as delusion and karma exist we can't overcome death,
we always have to go through the cycle of death and rebirth,
nobody has ever lived without dying.
Of course
it is impossible to overcome death and rebirth without Dharma,
which means the ceasing of delusion and karma. This means
oneself correctly practicing the Dharma, the path that ceases
delusion and karma. This way you become free of death and
suffering forever and achieve everlasting happiness. In
order to prevent war and to never experience it again comes
down to Dharma, the realization of emptiness and developing
that wisdom that eradicates the root of samsara - ignorance.
This ignorance causes all the rest of the oceans of suffering.
Besides these
practices there are pujas that can be done, but they are
very big pujas and need to be done for many days. They are
practices to protect against the dangers of earthquakes,
floods etc. including war. These methods definitely work
against these obstacles but they need to be done for a long
time. These big pujas need to be done by pure practitioners,
who have been living a pure life with attainment, this gives
more weight to pacify such obstacles. Of course when karma
has already ripened it is much more difficult to prevent.
There is more opportunity to change the karma that has not
yet ripened.
Bluntly speaking
at this present time best for us is to do strong refuge
practice purifying the negative karma of doing harm to others.
Generally it is good for us to practice strong refuge, to
practice and pray for peace to prevent war in this situation.
With refuge it is good to do the prayer for preventing war
composed by the great yogi and mahasiddhi Tangtong Gyalpo,
which I am translating this afternoon and will send out
for those who sincerely want to prevent war in the future.
This yogi went to a part of Tibet where there was a lot
killing and war and composed this prayer and did this prayer
with great compassion, and due to that great compassion
and the power of truth he prevented a lot of killing. In
my observation it comes out very good to recite this prayer.
When there is war there can also be famine, so also it is
good to do the prayer preventing famine and disease. (reprinted
below)
So these are
the main practices that I suggest for those who want to
help this very serious situation:
Lama Zopa
Rinpoche
TANGTONG GYALPO'S PRAYER
All sentient
beings, equal to space, go for refuge to the precious Guru-Buddha.
We go for refuge to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.
We go for refuge to the assembly of gurus, meditational
deities, and dakinis. We go for refuge to the empty clarity
of our own minds, the dharmakaya. [Recite these refuge verses
as many times as you are able.]
OM MANI PADME
HUM
[Recite this mantra hundreds of times, and at the end recite
the following dedication prayers:]
May all the
diseases that sadden the minds of sentient beings and that
result from karma and temporary conditions, such as the
harms of spirits, illnesses, and the elements, not occur
in the realms of the world.
May whatever
sufferings there are from life-threatening diseases that,
like a butcher leading a being to be slaughtered, separate
the body from the mind in a mere instant, not occur in the
realms of the world.
May all embodied
beings be unharmed by acute, chronic, and other infectious
diseases, the mere sound of whose names terrifies beings
as though they were placed inside the mouth of Yama, the
Lord of Death.
May all embodied
beings be unharmed by the 80,000 classes of harmful interferers,
the 360 evil spirits that harm suddenly, the 424 diseases,
and so forth.
May whatever
sufferings there are due to disturbances of the four elements,
depriving the body and mind of every pleasure, be totally
pacified, and may the body and mind have radiance and power
and be endowed with long life, good health, and well-being.
By the compassion
of the gurus and the Triple Gem, the power of the dakinis,
Dharma protectors, and guardians, and by the strength of
the infallibility of karma and its results, may these many
dedications and prayers be fulfilled as soon as they are
made.
