The Chorten Tsa Tsa of the Universal Buddha of the Past, Present and Future.

༄ དུས་གསུམ་རྒྱལ་བ་ཀུན་གྱི་ཐུགས་ཀྱི་རྟེན་མཆོག་ཚྭ་ཚྭ།།

The Chorten Tsa Tsa of the Universal Buddha of the Past, Present and Future. 

 

I am truly blessed to obtain the most sacred Stupa Tsa Tsa of the Universal Buddha. This Tsa Tsa Stupa contains earth and other sacred precious substances collected from all Buddhist sacred sites all over the world. It also contains many precious Buddha and other Bodhisattvas’s relics, Rilbu, mendrups etc.

 

It is said that there is no other sacred object than this that contains all the relics of the past Bodhisattvas in one Stupa. 

The Stupa with Mantras in Lanza at the base will bring immense auspiciousness and liberate one who sees it. It pacify the natural calamities.

 

This Stupa Tsa Tsa was built by Yeshe De Project, USA under the care of HE Tarthang Tulku

and distributed in one of Molem Chenpo at Bodhgaya after consecration by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Tashi Delek

 

Guru Rinpoche's Day (10th day of the Fifth Lunar Month)

On the tenth day of the fifth month, the sheep month, when the tīrthikas of southern India are causing great harm to the teaching of Buddha, through a vast display of magical power, Guru Rinpoche smashes them to dust along with their gods and guardians, and raises the victory banner of the teaching of the buddhas. Then he is known as Guru Sengé Dradok.

 

In the fifth month, if you pray to Guru Rinpoche all harm from obstacles, enemies and döns is pacified, and the objects of your wishes are brought under your control.

 

༄༅། །གསོལ་འདེབས་རྒྱ་གར་པཎ་ཆེན་མ་བཞུགས།

Prayer to the Indian Mahāpaṇḍita Padmasambhava

attributed to Menlungpa Mikyö Dorje

རྒྱ་གར་པཎ་ཆེན་བོད་ལ་བཀའ་དྲིན་ཆེ། །

gyagar penchen bö la kadrin ché

Indian mahāpaṇḍita, so kind to the land of Tibet;

པདྨ་ལས་འཁྲུངས་སྐུ་ལ་འདས་གྲོངས་མེད། །

pema lé trung ku la dé drong mé

Born from a lotus, your enlightened form beyond death;

ད་ལྟ་ལྷོ་ནུབ་སྲིན་པོའི་ཁ་གནོན་མཛད། །

danta lhonub sinpö kha nön dzé

Now you tame the rakṣasa demons in the south-west—

ཨོ་རྒྱན་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །

orgyen rinpoche la solwa dep

Precious master of Oḍḍiyāna, to you I pray!¹

ཞེས་པ་འདི་ནི་རྒྱལ་སྲས་སྨན་ལུང་པས་མཛད་པར་གྲགས་སོ།།

This is said to have been composed by Gyalse Menlungpa.

 

༄༅། །ཚེས་བཅུའི་མཛད་པ་རྗེས་དྲན་བཞུགས།

Recollecting the Deeds of The Tenth Days

by Mipham Rinpoche

ཨེ་མ་ཧོཿ སངས་རྒྱས་ཀུན་འདུས་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་ཡི། །

emaho, sangye kündü guru pema yi

Emaho: O wonder! Guru Padma, in you all buddhas are embodied,

ཚེས་བཅུའི་མཛད་པ་རྗེས་དྲན་གུས་པས་འདུད། །

tsé chü dzepa jedren güpé dü

To you I bow in devotion, remembering your deeds on the tenth days:

Sixth month

དྷ་ན་ཀོ་ཤར་པདྨའི་སྙིང་པོར་འཁྲུངས། །

dhanakoshar pemé nyingpor trung

On the Dhanakośa lake, you were born in the heart of a lotus blossom,

Twelfth month

ཨོ་རྒྱན་རྒྱལ་པོའི་སྲས་སུ་རྒྱལ་སྲིད་བཟུང༌། །

orgyen gyalpö sé su gyalsi zung

As crown prince of Oḍḍiyāna, you ruled the kingdom,

First month

རྒྱལ་སྲིད་སྤངས་ནས་དུར་ཁྲོད་བརྟུལ་ཞུགས་མཛད། །

gyalsi pang né durtrö tulshyuk dzé

Relinquishing the kingdom, you practised yogic discipline in the charnel grounds,

Second month

བསྟན་ལ་རབ་བྱུང་མདོ་སྔགས་ཤེས་བྱ་མཁྱེན། །

ten la rabjung do ngak sheja khyen

Ordained into the teaching, you mastered all objects of knowledge of both sūtras and tantras,

Third month

ཟ་ཧོར་རྒྱལ་ཁམས་ཆོས་བཀོད་ལྷ་ལྕམ་བསྟེན། །

zahor gyalkham chö kö lhacham ten

You established the Dharma in the kingdom of Zahor, taking the princess Mandāravā as your consort,

Fourth month

ཨོ་རྒྱན་ཡུལ་ཁམས་བྱང་ཆུབ་ལམ་ལ་བཀོད། །

orgyen yul kham changchub lam la kö

You set the land of Oḍḍiyāna on the path to enlightenment,

Fifth month

མུ་སྟེགས་ཚར་བཅད་བསྟན་པའི་རྒྱལ་མཚན་བསྒྲེངས། །

mutek tsarché tenpé gyaltsen dreng

Destroying the tīrthikas, you raised the victory banner of the teachings,

Seventh month

ཕྱི་རོལ་འཚེ་བ་རྫུ་འཕྲུལ་ཆེ་བས་བཏུལ། །

chirol tsewa dzutrul chewé tul

When non-Buddhists harmed you, you subdued them with the greatness of your miracles,

Eighth month

དུག་ཆེན་སྨན་བསྒྱུར་མུ་སྟེགས་ཆོས་ལ་བཙུད། །

duk chen men gyur mutek chö la tsü

Transforming deadly poison into medicine, you brought the tīrthikas into the Dharma,

Ninth month

བལ་ཡུལ་བགེགས་བཏུལ་ཡང་ཕུར་དངོས་གྲུབ་བརྙེས། །

balyul gek tul yang pur ngödrub nyé

Overcoming obstructive spirits in Nepal, you attained the siddhis of Yangdak and Vajrakīla,

Tenth month

བོད་ཡུལ་ས་བཏུལ་དམ་ཆོས་སྒྲོན་མེད་སྤར། །

böyul sa tul damchö drönmé par

Subjugating the earth of Tibet, you lit the lamp of the sacred Dharma,

Eleventh month

གངས་ཅན་མཐའ་དབུས་གཏེར་ཁ་གྲངས་མེད་སྦས། །

gangchen ta ü terkha drangmé bé

In the centre and on the borders of Tibet you concealed countless termas.

 

ལོ་གཅིག་བཅུ་གཉིས་ཟླ་བའི་ཚེས་བཅུ་ལ། །

lo chik chunyi dawé tsé chu la

“On the tenth day of each of the twelve months of the year

མཛད་ཆེན་བཅུ་གཉིས་བསྟན་ལ་དད་བྱས་ན། །

dzé chen chunyi ten la déjé na

I have displayed one of my twelve great deeds; have faith in them,

དངོས་གྲུབ་བཅུ་གཉིས་སྩོལ་ཞེས་ཞལ་བཞེས་ལྟར། །

ngödrub chunyi tsol shyé shyalshyé tar

And I will grant you the twelve siddhis.” As this was your promise,

གུ་རུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ལ་གསོལ་བ་འདེབས། །

guru rinpoche la solwa deb

Guru Rinpoche, to you I pray:

བར་ཆད་ཀུན་ཞི་ཅི་བསམ་ཡིད་བཞིན་འགྲུབ། །

barché kün shyi chi sam yishyin drub

Pacify all obstacles, accomplish whatever we wish, just as our minds desire,

ཆོས་དང་སྲིད་ཀྱི་ལེགས་ཚོགས་གོང་དུ་འཕེལ། །

chö dang si kyi lektsok gong du pel

Make all good things, both spiritual and worldly, increase more and more,

མཆོག་ཐུན་དངོས་གྲུབ་མ་ལུས་ཐོབ་པ་དང༌། །

choktün ngödrub malü tobpa dang

Let us attain all the siddhis, ordinary and supreme,

གུ་རུ་ཉིད་དང་དབྱེར་མེད་སངས་རྒྱས་ཤོག །

guru nyi dang yermé sangye shok

And awaken into buddhahood, inseparable, O Guru, from you!

ཅེས་པའང་རུ་དམ་ཡང་དབེན་བསམ་གཏན་བདེ་ལྡན་གླིང་དུ་རབ་ཚེས་ཆུ་སྟག་གྲོ་བཞིན་ཟླ་བ་ཕྱི་མའི་ཚེས་ཉེར་བརྒྱད་དགོང་མོར་མི་ཕམ་འཇམ་དཔལ་དགྱེས་པས་སྤྱར་བ་དགེ་ལེགས་འཕེལ།། །།

In the hermitage of Rudam valley, Samten Déden Ling, in the evening of the twenty-eighth day of the doubled seventh month of the Water Tiger year (1902), this was composed by Mipham Jampal Gyépa. May virtue and goodness prevail!

 

 

 

Chorten Goempa (Do-Drul Chorten) in Gangtok

This huge pearl white stupa of Dro Dul Chorten sits snugly atop a hillock in Gangtok.  It is located near Research Institute of Tibetology. On reaching this institute one is required to climb the steep uphill greenly pathway from the stupas base in order to reach the main shrine. The deity enshrined on top of the chorten stupa is Dorjee Phurpa or Vajra Kilaya.

This chorten is regarded as one of the most important chorten in Sikkim.

It is believed that evil spirits once haunted this entire place and many people who wandered around this place became victims and died. 

Later His Eminence Trulshik Rinpoche 

(Trulshik Rinpoche Kunzang Pawo Dorje/ལས་རེ་འཁྲུལ་ཞིག་དཔའ་བོ་རྡོ་རྗེ (1897-1962) the emanation of Melong Dorje and Lhodrak Drupchen)

who followed Nyingma Order of Buddhism came to this place for hermitage built the Stupa in the year 1945. Do Drul Stupa was built in compliance with the desire discovered by His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche in 1944.

(His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche)

It is also believed that this Chorten has the ability to drive away evil if one is possessed with.

Do Drul Chorten Stupa holds a complete set of Dorjee Phurba, several ancient relics, holy books, religious objects and therefore remains one of the most prominent places to visit in Sikkim.

Around the stupa there are 108 hand prayer wheels.

The stupa is surrounded by Chorten Lakahang and Guru Lakhang, where two statues of Guru Rinpoche are present. 

In one corner Jhang Chup Chorten, which was built in memory of His Holiness Trulshik Rinpoche after his death is seen.

Following  the demise of  His Holiness Trulshik Rinpoche, His Holiness the 4^thDodhrubchen Rinpoche

established his dharma-preaching center in the same premises.The big building which was constructed by His Holiness Dodhrubchen Rinpoche can accommodate more than 700 monks. His Holiness conducts all his rituals in this hall where one can find His Holiness throne.

I have visited the Chorten lhakhang and Guru lhakhang, made prayer and received blessing.

Pilgrims from all over the state and neighboring countries come to pray at the this stupa. Many Bhutanese also visit this sacred stupa. If lucky one can receive blessing from His Holiness Dodhrubchen Rinpoche.

On 21st June, 2018 on the day of His Holiness Dodrupchen Rinpoche's Birthday, water miraculously dropped from Chorten which was witnessed by hundreds of devotees that were present for the celebrations and offering prayers at monastery. 

Please visit for blessing.

Sarnath, the blissful place that Buddha propagated his First Sermon, The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta.

The story of the Buddha's first sermon begins with the story  of the Buddha's enlightenment.This happened at Bodh Gaya under the Bodhi tree. 

Before his realization the future Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, had been traveling with five companions, all ascetics. Together they had sought enlightenment through extreme deprivation and self-mortification, fasting, sleeping on stones, living outdoors with little clothing in the belief that making themselves suffer would cause a spiritual.

Siddhartha Gautama eventually realized that enlightenment would be found through mental cultivation, not through punishing his body, When he gave up ascetic practices to prepare himself for meditation, his five companions left him in disgust.

After his awakening, the Buddha remained at Bodh Gaya for a time and considered what to do next. What he had realized was so far outside ordinary human experience or understanding that he wondered how he could explain it. According to one legend, the Buddha did describe his realization to a wandering holy man, but the man laughed at him and walked away.

Yet as great as the challenge was, the Buddha was too compassionate to keep what he had realized to himself. He decided that there was a way he could teach people to realize for themselves what he had realized. 

The Buddha's first sermon after his enlightenment is preserved in the Pali Sutta-pitaka (Samyutta Nikaya 56.11) as the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, which means "The Setting in Motion of the Wheel of Dharma." In Sanskrit the title is Dharmacakra Pravartana Sutra.

Lord Buddha after attaining enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, went to Sarnath, Veranasi and it was here that he preached his first discourse in the deer park to set in motion the 'Wheel of the Dharma'. 

It is one of the most holy sites for Buddhist as in this place the stream of the Buddha's teaching first flowed.

At this place, the Buddha encountered the five men who had been his companions of earlier austerities. They deserted Buddha as he took rice meal offered by Sujita. When they reminded him of his former vows, the Buddha replied, 

"Austerities only confuse the mind. In the exhaustion and mental stupor to which they lead, one can no longer understand the ordinary things of life, still less the truth that lies beyond the senses. I have given up extremes of either luxury or asceticism. I have discovered the Middle Way". 

Hearing this the five ascetics became the Buddha's first disciples. This was said to be on a full moon day of the eighth lunar month.

This sets the scene for one of the most auspicious events in Buddhist history, the first turning of the dharma wheel.

He explained the middle way which avoids extremes, the Four Noble Truths, and prescribed the Eight-fold path. 

The Four Noble Truths are: 

So as to remove the causes the Buddha prescribed an Eight-fold Path.

On the day before his death Buddha included Sarnath along with Lumbini, Bodh Gaya and Kushinagar as the four places he thought to be sacred to his followers. 

The Emperor Ashoka, who spread the Buddha’s message of love and compassion throughout his vast empire, visited Sarnath around 234BC,and erected a stupa here. Several Buddhist structures were raised at Sarnath between the 3rd century BC and the 11th century AD, and today it presents the most expansive ruins amongst places on the Buddhist trail. 

Thereafter, Buddhism than flourished far and wide and Lord Buddha's teaching in total was recorded over 84,000 pages.

Sarnath is 10 km from the holy city of Varanasi, and is an exceedingly tranqiuil place. The ruins, the museum and temple are all within walking distance.

I went all around these holy places yexploring each and every site with great reverence. 

May Buddha Dharma flourishes in the world and bring peace that ultimately benefits all sentient beings.

Some old images before restoration of Sarnath complex.

Thank You.

Gridhakuta Hill, the Buddha's Hill, the Vulture Peak

One of the most important of all associations with a "place" in the life and teachings of the Buddha, other than the Bodhi Tree at Bodhgaya and Deer Park at Sarnath, is with Vulture Peak, a small mountain just outside the city of the ancient city of Rajgir, India. 

Here, sixteen years after his Enlightenment, he set forth the second turning of the wheel of Dharma to an assembly of 5,000 monks, nuns and laity, as well as innumerable bodhisattvas. This collection of teachings, which extended over twelve years, includes the Saddharmapundarika Sutra and the Surangama Samadhi Sutra, as well as many Prajna-paramita Sutras, which, as the Buddha himself told Ananda, contain the very essence of all his teachings. 

Buddha also converted the powerful Magadhan King, Bimbisara, into the Buddhist order.

The final journey of Buddha's life, which ended with the mahaparinirvana at Kushinagar  also began from this place. 

Shortly after this, the First Council an assembly of 500 monks presided over by Buddha's great disciple and spiritual heir Mahakashyapa met under the patronage of King Ajatasatru 

in the Shrataparna Cave, near Veluvana Grove, and compiled all the Buddha's teachings from memory. This is why all the sutras (the Buddha's sermons) begin with the phrase ‟Thus I have heard, in such a place, at such a time”.

The devoted people do breakdown here. One such was a Chinese scholar Fahein

who on reaching this sacred site 900 years later wept bitterly saying that he had not been fortunate enough to listen to the sermons of Lord Buddha delivered here. 

Devadatta, the notorious cousin of Buddha attempted many methods to killed Lord Buddha within these vicinity. He hurled rock at Buddha to kill. Jeevak, Buddha physician cured Buddha by ayurvedic medicines and later Buddha dipped in Rajgir Hot spring. 

Again in another attempt Devadatta tried to kill Buddha by making Nalagiri elephant drink liquor thinking that an intoxicated elephant will kill Lord Buddha on immediate encounter but failed as furious elephant calmed down and bow its head to Lord Buddha.

All this incidents happened near Vulture peak. 

There are four caves at Gridhakuta. Buddha disciples, Ananda, Sariputra, Maudgalyayana and Mahakasyapa meditated within these caves.

Ananda cave is the nearest to the location where Buddha meditate and deliver sermons. Here Buddha once reached through the mountain with his hand to calm Ananda, whose meditation was being disturbed by Mara, in Buddhism, the lord of misfortune, who appeared in the form of a Vulture of which, because of the many inhabitants thereof, the peak is named. Before the cave were the walking and sitting places of the previous buddhas, and a stupa where the Saddharmapundarika Sutra was taught.

The path towards Lord Buddha meditation location was made first by Buddhist devoted King Bimbisara. During those days one has to pass via two huge rocks to visit the top of Gridhakuta. 

The current path was made after the visit of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India.

It is a historical fact that Buddha preached his disciples here. It is one of the most important place for Buddhist faith to visit. 

Such is the significance of this place that daily more than 5,000 people visit and pray at the place.

I have visited the vulture peak twice and, on both the occasion, I have recited Heart Sutra, Buddha Shakyamuni Praises/Mantra, Guru Rinpoche's prayers. I also offered Menday for all sentient beings. 

Nevertheless, my small travelling Guru Rinpoche have connected with the place and the Buddha statue.

Always a great day to visit the sacred place of Buddha.

Thank you.