22,408,590 members doing good!
about our ads
share your passions, stories, inspirations, and more
Lama Zopa on Correct Devotion
Feb 23, 2010
"The Heart of the Path" by Lama ZopaExerpt from Lama Zopa Rinpoche's book The Heart of the Path, found in the chapter titled The Benefits of Correct Devotion to a Guru. In these paragraphs Lama Zopa describes his own experiences. 
   Some years ago when I was staying at Tushita Retreat Centre in Dharamsala, I offered some beautiful begonias to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Offering the flowers was a little tricky as, although they were incredibly beautiful, they flowered only briefly and would lose all their petals within a day or so. I offered the flowers in painted butter tins, along with a money offering of thirty rupees in an envelope, on which I'd written a short request for the development of my mind. At that time His Holiness was in retreat, so I left the offering at the Private Office.
(Note from Jenny: photographs show The Heart of the Path bookcover, Lama Zopa, and begonia flowers) 
Lama Zopa  I think that His Holiness must have been pleased with the offering of the flowers, because that night I dreamt that His Holiness, seated on a throne in the temple, gave me a little inner offering from the skullcaup on his table, and I drank it.
  The next morning when I woke up, my mind was somehow different. Normally, I'm extremely lazy, but during that time, I think because of the influence of the many lamas there in Dharamsala, who energized me, I had a tiny bit of energy to meditate a little in the mornings. I tried to do a little lam-rim meditation as a motivation for the day and as a result, that next morning my meditation was much more effective than usual. I had a strong wish to be reborn in hell for the sake of others. I wanted to be in the hot hells right that minute. The feeling was unbearable. I couldn't suppress it. This wish was so strong that I cried out loud for half an hour, sobbing like a small child.
  I think His Holiness had prayed for me the previous night; he definitely did something that blessed my mind. My mind was different. The dream and the meditation experience were definite signs of His Holiness's blessing. There might also have been some purification from having offered the flowers. From the three types of kindness of the guru, such an experience is an example of the guru's kindness in blessing the disciple's mind. Of course, the effect completely disappeared after a few hours.
Lama Zopa offered begonias to His Holiness  After that I became very interested in buying flower seeds and planting them. When they grew well, I then offered the flowers to the lamas there in Dharamsala. I discovered that the best offering was a flower offering.
  Also, when we do a Vajrasattva retreat or any other retreat that our guru has advised us to do, we sometimes have strong experiences of impermanence, feeling that our death could happen at any moment, so that we have no other thought except to practice Dharma. Or strong thoughts of loving kindness and compassion arise. All these are signs of the kindness of the guru in having blessed our mind. Even those small, transient experiences prove that if we continue our practice of guru yoga, we will definitely develop realizations. It is proof that realizations can definitely happen and can be increased.
(1) | () | | send green star | flag as inappropriate
Visibility: Everyone
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted: Feb 23, 2010 9:29am

 
 
 
Content and comments expressed here are the opinions of Care2 users and not necessarily that of Care2.com or its affiliates.

Author

Thubten Chokyi
female , committed relationship, 2 children
Sydney, Australia
Shares by Type:
All (348) | Blog (298) | Alert (14) | Top 10 List (1) | Recipe (8) | Photo (1) | Tribute (1) | Message (25)

Showing shares tagged with: dalai_lama [show all]
ads keep care2 free
SHARES FROM THUBTEN'S NETWORK
May
21
(0 comments  |  discussions )
A new study suggests that retirement can lead to a “drastic decline” in health over the medium and long term. Is this research sound, and what conclusions can we draw? The “Work Longer, Live Healthier” study, conducted by the ...
May
20
(0 comments  |  discussions )
For much of the past 10 years, beekeepers, primarily in the United States and Europe, have been reporting annual hive losses of 30 percent or higher, substantially more than is considered normal or sustainable. But this winter, many U.S. beekeepers e...
(0 comments  |  discussions )
Experts warn that the Indian tiger, despite figures showing the population has stabilized, faces an increasing threat of extinction due to a lack of genetic diversity. Researchers from the UK’s Cardiff University, in collaboration with the Nati...
May
19
(0 comments  |  discussions )
A top judicial panel in Brazil has ruled that same-sex marriages must be allowed nationwide. An analysis and resolution issued Tuesday by Brazil’s 15-member National Council of Justice, the council that oversees the country’s judiciary, s...
May
18
(0 comments  |  discussions )
Marriage equality has enjoyed a number of breakthrough victories this past year, but looming is a brick wall that, if not tackled carefully, could stop progress dead. So, we need to talk about it. How Do You Solve a Problem Like Arizona, Virginia or ...
May
17
(0 comments  |  discussions )
Regular users of marijuana may be less likely to develop diabetes due to marijuana& rsquo;s abili ty to regulate insulin levels, a new study has found. A multi-center research team, headed by a team at the Cardiovascular Epidemi...
May
16
(0 comments  |  discussions )
Lithuanian religious leaders have formally opposed a Council of Europe Convention on domestic violence action because the convention includes lesbian, bisexual and trans women. In a formal statement released on May 9, the Lithuanian Bishop’s Co...
May
15
(0 comments  |  discussions )
ml PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC -html4
(0 comments  |  discussions )
ml PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC -html4
(0 comments  |  0 discussions )
Do openly gay actors make TV viewers switch off? Are they less believable in straight roles? According to a new study, the answer is no. Led by Paul Merrit, researchers from Clemson University try to answer the idea raised by several commentators in ...

Copyright © 2013 Care2.com, inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved