The Venerable Teacher is Near!
དགོང་དྲོ་བདེ་ལེགས། (Good Evening) fellow villagers!
I have extraordinary news to share about the unraveling’s that happened in the village this week. With the extreme suffering we have all endured these past few weeks, hopefully this will be able to put our minds at rest. We all know the importance of guiding our lives according to dependent origination and the wheel of life. It is best that we get back to focusing on that and not only on the betterment of ourselves.
Anyway, not too long ago, I returned from a merited expedition to cure the naga illness in the neighboring village. Chogyam Dorje and I, along with other doctors in our village, hiked across our newly restored bridge and provided them with incense, meditation, mantra recitation, proper nutrition and medication. I am glad to see that the village acknowledges the importance of karmic events. According to Buddhist teachings, helping others is one of the ten positive actions of body, speech and mind that can result eventually in rebirth in one of the three higher realms. I am guessing that the villagers have begun to realize that they may be at fault for these grave occurrences.
Unfortunately, the naga spirit was relentless and many villagers died in our presence. It saddens me to see individuals lose the opportunity to build up positive karmic effects at such a young age but hopefully, since karma causality is flexible, they will reap benefits of positive karma from previous lives. Experiencing the impermeability of life in front of my very eyes has made me want to focus all energy on karma, dependent origination and the wheel of life. Life is always changing but the one constant is knowledge that the Buddha gave us.
Also, I have heard from the Sangha at the Pemakochung monastery that a very famous lama is traveling through the region. At the moment, he is staying in a nearby monastery. The Sangha and scholars of the lay community believe it is a great idea to have the lama give teachings and religious empowerment rituals for our community, especially after all the tragedy. Also, our VillageYak informs us that if we were to have such a righteous lama visit our village, it would certainly increase the merit of the entire village. From my understanding and learning from the Sangha here, Tibbetan Buddhist tradition places great emphasis on the importance of the Lama. He is the Tibetan equivalent to the Sanskrit term guru. The lama is a venerable teacher who completes a long course of study that prepares them for the future roles as the bestowers of initiations and esoteric teachings. The lama is acknowledged to embody the Three Jewels of Buddhism (the Buddha, his teachings and the sangha). Furthermore, I have heard that Tibetan Buddhism innovated the idea of incarnated lamas. This is the belief that the mind of a deceased lama can reappear in the new body of a child.
Musings around the monastery are telling me that the scholarly community is writing a beautiful letter asking him to come to our village as well. I have had the honor to read this exquisite letter and I think that it will be able to convince this revered man to grace us with his presence. It encompassed the needed knowledge of poetry, metaphors and stylistic conventions. Even though I am ill equipped to help with this particular aspect of the visit, I am donating 10 gold and 10 pieces of art. More specifically, I have hand crafted a mandala to give to the lama upon his arrival. I am hoping he will find this pleasing during his deep meditative practices.
I want to do all that I can to fix our village and bring it on the right path to nirvana. It appears as if many others in the village have similar sentiments. Donations of food, gold, scarves, text and art keep appearing in the monastery every day when I leave for my morning meditation. Given that Dana is typically important for the Sangha community, it is wonderful to see our village coming together for such a great cause.
I do remain hopeful that the Lama will come to our little town. With any luck, it will give us the needed opportunity to atone for our ten negative actions of body, mind and speech, and for clearly upsetting the surrounding spirits. I know that many in the lay community will sport a motorcycle, horse or bike and ride a long the Lama while he approaches our monastery but I on the other hand, will be patiently waiting for this high caliber teacher by the roadside.
I feel prosperity in our near future!
Dainin Daeshim
