Ribur Rinpoche's Message

Taken at Amitabha Pure Land just after Rinpoche's retreat.

Rinpoche had to delay his arrival in Taiwan due to the urgent retreat Rinpoche needed to finish for the organiza tion, so Rinpoche sent the following message to those gathered to participate in the retreat on the long dharani of Chenresig:

"My dear devoted and dedicated students, sincere seekers of enlightenment, We are seekers of enlightenment, of course not just for ourselves, but sincere seekers of the ultimate goal, happiness for others - not only temporary happiness but ultimate liberation and enlightenment. This wish comes from the bottom of the heart.

I am so sorry that I couldn’t make it for the beginning of the retreat but I think you have incredible good fortune. I rejoice! First of all, you are the most fortunate ones by not being in the lower realms at this time, overwhelmed by the heaviest sufferings and continuously creating negative karma. Just simply having received a human body. It’s a miracle. It’s inexpressible that this has happened, to be free from all the suffering of the lower realms at this time.

And you are so fortunate to have a precious human body that can be used to learn dharma, to understand the words and meanings and to be able to practice and have realizations. Especially that you have a human body qualified with the 8 freedoms and 10 richnesses and that you are relying on the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and practicing morality by engaging in the 10 virtues by avoiding the 10 non-virtues. Practicing morality stops the lower realm sufferings and gives the opportunity to receive a higher rebirth and happiness. You are so fortunate!

Not only that but you have met the Dharma that reveals the Four Noble Truths. You can learn the 4 Noble Truths and actualize them, and through that you become free from samsara that’s only in the nature of suffering and is like being in the nest of a poisonous snake or in the center of a fire. This is much more amazing and unbelievable. How exciting this is, how fortunate you are!

The most exciting thing is the possibility to achieve enlightenment because you’ve met the Mahayana teachings so you are able to free all sentient beings from suffering and its cause and lead them to enlightenment. How exciting this is. How fortunate we are!

Even much more exciting is that we’ve met tantra so we can achieve enlightenment in one life. Or, if it doesn’t happen we can meet tantra in the next life. How exciting this is, how fortunate we are!

Even more exciting is that we met the highest tantra, we can learn and practice and achieve enlightenment in just one brief lifetime. How exciting this is, how fortunate we are! Even more exciting is that we’ve met Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings that unify sutra and tantra with the integration of the 3 deities so we can achieve enlightenment even quicker than with other Maha Anutara tantras that don’t include all this. How exciting this is, how fortunate we are! This is the most fortunate thing!

Another thing is that this Chenresig practice that includes recitation of the mantra and the meditation is the most precious wish-fulfilling thing to do for all sentient beings who wish for happiness. This mantra fulfills ones own and others’ wishes, it has limitless skies of benefits. Especially here in this retreat, the long dharani has unbelievable benefits. So how fortunate you are. This practice makes it so easy to become enlightened and enlighten other sentient beings! This mantra is cherished by all the buddhas and is like their heart jewel.

Just by hearing Chenresig’s name liberates us from the lower realms, purifies negative karma and is a cause to achieve enlightenment. Therefore even the name is so precious to recollect and recite in every day life. It liberates us from oceans of samsaric sufferings that have no beginning. How fortunate we are!

The most special thing about Chenresig meditation is that it’s for developing compassion and brings peace and happiness to sentient beings - not only beings in this world - and it fulfills their wishes. Then those beings inspire many other people to practice more compassion and this brings peace and happiness and fulfills the wishes of other sentient beings. Then those people are inspired to practice of compassion which brings peace and happiness and fulfills the wishes of sentient beings - not only people but also animals. Even worms won’t receive harm from people. So the people stop harming animals and hunting and using animals for their own pleasure and for food. So you can see this is one way to bring peace to the world and to stop violence and destructive thoughts such as anger, the dissatisfied mind, desire and other harmful negative thoughts. The more habit you develop in this life to have a compassionate motive, in future lives you will be more compassionate. This leads to bodhicitta, which leads to enlightenment.

Then you’re able to take more extensive responsibility for other sentient beings, to free them from suffering and bring them temporal and especially the ultimate happiness of enlightenment. As you develop compassion from life to life, the more you benefit others from life to life. You can see how in the long run, sentient beings are receiving limitless skies of benefits from you. We are so incredibly fortunate!

The prostrations you do every day, reciting the Chenresig mantra, taking precepts, meditating on bodhicitta and doing the 7-limb practice creates so much merit. How fortunate you are! There are so many opportunities where you can collect skies of merit. Even if you don’t attend many meetings for world peace, just doing this retreat makes a connection to stop undesirable things from happening in the world. So you are benefiting people in Iraq and places where there’s torture and suffering. Meditation and recitation of the mantra actually does benefit those people.

So you can dedicate these merits to all sentient beings - not only to those of this world - and they can achieve happiness and liberation. You can see how this is unbelievable. From these merits, even beings of the lower realms who have more suffering and human beings; non-believers whose attitudes are of a wicked nature and who have with anger, selfishness and the attitude seeking only the happiness of this life and those who have almost no compassion at all- all these kinds of beings receive these merits and can achieve happiness.

There’s so much you can offer to the world. You can benefit all those people who have died in wars, the people over 250,000 who were killed in the recent tsunami and the millions and millions of people who have died from AIDS, cancer, etc. Worldly people who have no knowledge of what is mind lack understanding about reincarnation and karma. They only know about the survivor’s pain and suffering, but they don’t know about the suffering of those who died. The people mourning the dead keep silence for a few minutes in church, etc. but what the dead people are actually experiencing isn’t clear in their minds. Their minds are totally dark - they have no knowledge about the heavy suffering those who died will experience in the lower realms.

Of course Buddhist people who have correct understanding of the mind, reincarnation and karma can understand the reality. Most of those people who died (in the tsunami) died with great fear and will be reborn in the lower realms. But since the tsunami is famous and known in the world, many holy beings have done prayers for them.

The conclusion is that you are extremely fortunate to be in retreat, including the cooks who provide the food and anyone doing service and organizing for the retreat. You are all so fortunate!

How fortunate you are in these weeks to be able to give time to yourself to do retreat during the 15 days of the Buddha performing miracles. In other words you’re liberating and bringing enlightenment to yourself. You should feel that this is the most exciting thing in your life, to be able to offer service for this retreat. Everyone who comes to do this retreat, even if they just come for one session, is doing the most exciting thing!

For example, when you do one prostration, recite one mantra, make one light offering, (even though they are very small Christmas lights), everything you do is increased by 100 million. Every merit collected in these special days of Buddha is increased by 100 million.

So how fortunate we are, it is mind blowing, unbelievable, amazing, incredible…maybe that’s enough, otherwise being so full of happy energy might burst out, explode out, then it might be difficult for every single part of the body to come back. I don’t want to see that happen because we need to take care of other sentient beings, to free them from all suffering and bring them to enlightenment.

Thank you so much!

With big love and prayer,

Lama Zopa"

This article is taken from the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT).