Sun, 03 Sep 2006
Meritorious Stupas
Here's my notes on the short talk that Drupon gave on the merit of buildin stupas.
Let me tell you of the importance of stupas. In Tibetan Buddhism, representations of the Buddha's mind are considered the most important. It is said wherever a stupa is built, it benefits all beings of the area. Not only humans, but other living beings are helped, particularly it is said problems arising from the imbalance of the five elements are rectified. Khenpo Sherab once met a great Drikung meditator. When they met in Katmandu, he asked Khenpo if there were any natural disasters in America. He replied there are disasters like hurricane Katrina every year. The meditator said it arises from the ripening of karma, but it also has to do with the mindset of the local deities. He said that if stupas are built and prayer flags of White Umbrella are hung, the natural disasters can be averted. Let me give you an example. A Tibetan settlement in India is built on mountainous ground. The Tibetans asked for more flat land. The Indians replied that the flat land was in a flood plain and always flooded during the monsoon season. This was a big problem for the people living in the settlement. They decided to build a stupa. After the stupa was built, the river changed its course, which would have cost millions of dollars to do. The virtue of building a stupa is infinite, like a drop of water put in the ocean is never lost. A person who comes to a stupa, makes offerings, says prayers and circumambulates gains great merit. A portion of the merit of these deeds accrues to the persons who built the stupa. It is said whatever wishes are made in front of a stupa will be fulfilled.
The Great Stupa of Boudhnath was built by four sons of a mother. They were ordinary men. One prayed that he would become so powerful that he would rule the three classes of beings. He was reborn as Guru Padmasambhava. One prayed to become a king and was reborn as Trisong Detsen, who was king of Tibet when Buddhism was introduced. One prayed to become a great scholar and was reborn as the Bodhisattva Abbot. The fourth son prayed to be able serve the other three when they worked to benefit beings. He was born as the minister of Trisong Detsen and invited Padmasambhava to Tibet. So we can understand how great the merit of building a stupa is. Even applying a single brush load of paint to the stupa has great benefit. Even the animals who draw near the stupa will gain great merit. At the time of the Buddha a man asked Shariputra and Maudgalyayana to become a monk. They reviewed his past lives and refused, saying he had no accumulation of merit. He then went and asked Buddha, who could discern some merit he had performed in a previous life. Shariputra and Maudgalyayana could only see his five hundred previous lifetimes but Buddha could see unlimited lifetimes. Buddha saw that in one life he was born as a pig who was chased around a stupa by a dog. The Buddha said his wish to become a monk was based on that merit and that as a result of it he would become an arhat.
I was back at TMC today, this time with the full crew: Pete Charlie, and Art. Today was Vajrayogini empowerment in the morning and in the afternoon, more work on the stupa. Today they started filling the bumpa (the vase shaped part of the stupa on top of the square base) with tsa-tsas (little plaster of paris images of the Buddha.) They were placed upright and the space between them filled with sand. Drupon and Lama Gyaltsen started working on that list evening after we left and finished up today. We really spent much of the time standing around, occaisionally lifting up a fifty pound bag of sand (got to do some more shoulder presses in the gym) or carrying a box of tsa-tsas from the house. We installed all the tsa tsas that have been made so far. So no more work for a while,
As a point of reference, here is the story of the building of the Crestone Stupa.
Sat, 02 Sep 2006
Raising the Pole
I was up at TMC today. They're building a stupa on the property and this afternoon they put the life pole in the stupa. The life pole represents the central channel in the body. I helped lift into place. The camera's were clicking away like mad. I wonder if anyone got a picture of my Iwo Jima moment. The ceremony was delayed because of the rain, the first real rain we've had since July. Before the ceremony Drupon gave a short talk on the benefits of building a stupa. Among the benefits is that stupas harmonize the five elements. Drupon told the story of a Tibetan refugee center that wanted to build on some flat land near the settlement. They were told they couldn't because the land was a flood plain and flooded every year during the monsoon. After building a stupa, the river in the flood plain changed its course, so the land was no longer in danger of flooding.
In the morning Drupon gave a Green Tara empowerment. Not much to say here, except that we did the entire text of the empowerment in both English and Tibetan, which is a little unusual. Some of us went to lunch with Drupon at the Indian buffet restaurant. While there he offered to complete the lung for Moonbeams of Mahamudra that he started two years ago. This is quite an act of generosity, since he's offering to spend several hours of effort solely for my benefit. The generosity of the lamas often surprises me.
Online Homeopathic Library
The University of Michigan has put its honeopathic collection online. It's scanned versions of 377 Nineteenth Century homeopathic books. A lot of classic stuff is there, but not all in English, some is in German. Students of homeopathic history know there was a big political fight over having homeopathy taught at the University of Michigan medical school. The homeopaths prevailed and the University still has one of the nation's best collections of homeopathic books. Andre Saine says he's spent vacations going through it. Hopefully one day soon all the collections of books and journals will be digitized and that will no longer be necessary.
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