As many of you already know from the village yak, countless lay people from our village went on an expedition to the nearby caves a few months ago. It has recently been brought to my attention that these lay people discovered something vital to the understanding and workings of our village; cave records. Specifically, they uncovered a text that records the local history of our village and makes note of a location near the edge of our village where there used to be a cairn to our local protector deity. Moreover, they unearthed texts that describe mandala creation and wind horse rituals, among many other central rituals.
Many of you are probably wondering why an amchi such as myself is concerned with the cave expedition and the texts found thereafter. Well, a few villagers have found that the village cairn I previously spoke about in this letter is in ruins and must be rebuilt. In addition to this, our village’s protector deity of this cairn needs to be pacified. If this does not occur immediately, our village will continue to suffer disasters like the recent storm and the haunting of our newly built medicine factory. However, since I am an amchi and not a ritualist, I am unable to aid in this current situation. It is for this reason that I am writing this letter to my villagers and like-minded buddhist practitioners. Considering that my life is surrounded by academics and the world of the scholar, I have done a plethora amount of research about the procedures for building the cairn and rituals involved in activating the site, such as fire rituals, mandala creation, wind horse rituals, and smoke purification. If required, I will yet again make a mandala offering to be used in the ritual, like I have done in the past for our visiting Lama.
More specifically, the fire forms the focus of devotions. It is maintained on wood, dung or other combustibles and is invariably build in a square shape. The fire altar (homa) is usually made of stone or copper vessel and it is usually built for the particular occasion and then dismantled afterwards. Moreover, the square fire altar is centered in the middle of a space, which can either be indoors or outdoors. The main people who are performing the ceremony along with the lamas and ritualists who instruct them through the ritual seat themselves around the altar, while the rest form a larger outside ring around them. The length and procedure of the fire ritual offering depends on the particular purpose of the offering. For our purpose, the veneration and propitiation of our wrathful protector deity, our procedure will not be as extensive as a fire offering at a funeral.
The next ritual that will be of use to our purpose is the wind horse ritual. In Tibetan Buddhism, the wind horse (rlung rta) is the symbol of the idea of well being or good fortune. On prayer flags and paper prints (where wind horses are mostly found) they usually appear in the company of the four animals of the cardinal directions. The wind horse is depicted without wings but carries the Three jewels. Its specific appearance is meant to bring peace, wealth and harmony to all. The ritual aspect of the wind horse usually occurs in the morning and during the growing moon. It is habitually conducted in conjunction with the lhasang, smoke offering ritual, in which juniper branches are burned to create thick and fragrant smoke. This smoke is thought to increase the strength in the supplicator of the four animals. Most importantly, the ritual is traditionally a secular ritual above all. It requires no presence of any singular officiate. Hence, anyone in our village can form a group or complete the ritual on their own. Please keep this fact in mind when deciding how to help our village solve the problem I discussed above.
Regrettably, I know that this is a lot of information for our villagers to receive, contemplate and understand. But, considering what is at stake with the village cairn in ruins and the protector deity agitated as a result, we must all take this into consideration and be open to contributing to the overall benefit of the village. If not, our ability to practice the noble eightfold path and follow the four noble truths will become increasingly difficult. And, as the time passes by, so will our chances to reach enlightenment.