A Dharma Teaching by His Holiness Rimay Gyalten Sogdzin Rinpoche

 

Section 17

 

The Teachings for the Dzambhala Empowerment

 

Of course, I will try my best to present this Teaching and Empowerment as clearly as possible.

And please accept this Teaching and Empowerment as openly as possible.

As usual, here we need to make our selves completely comfortable and relaxed, and just rest in our nature. Of course, if you can, recognize everything as it is. Also, appreciate this auspicious opportunity to connect with the Dharma and receive Dzambhala’s Empowerment.

And also, we will recite the Vajrasattva mantra together. Of course, reciting the Vajrasattva mantra helps us purify our body, speech, and mind. Thus, we will have the opportunity to receive the full benefit of the Dzambhala Empowerment and blessing.

Please repeat after me: OM BENZRA SATO HUNG. Now, please say the Vajrasattva mantra as sincerely, clearly, and gratefully as possible.

Here we are going to do a short meditation together. As we are meditating I will share with you the Dzambhala teachings. In this way, it is easy to remember and easy to receive the dharma teachings and instructions.

As you know, with purification, we are always moving closer to Enlightenment; and without purification, we are delaying our Enlightenment. So that is the reason we always do the purification practice before we start the Empowerment.

By now most of you know, or have heard, that the Vajrayana Path of Tibetan Buddhism is very special.  You see, the profound and deep teachings of the Vajrayana Path of Tibetan Buddhism, helps us in this lifetime, as well as in all our future lifetimes. The Vajrayana Path is very helpful as we are walking along the road that reaches toward achieving Enlightenment, and it will help bring others to the achievement of Enlightenment as well.

Vajrayana is very special is it is good for you, good for me and good for everyone. It is a beneficial teaching. In the end we all have the great chance to reach enlightenment together.

 

Who is Dzambhala?

Dzambhala is the Protector of all Lineages and of all sentient beings. He protects us from all sickness and difficulties.

 

What are his qualities?

Dzambhala is a Bodhisattva of material and spiritual wealth as well as many other things. Especially he is in charge of granting financial stability. By the way, “Dzam” means Deity or gathering, “Bhah” means gold or wealth, and “La” means to honor. So therefore, Dhzambhala means Precious golden deity, who gathers or brings the wealth of spirituality or Dharma and material security or accomplishments to our lives.

 

When should we practice Dzambhala?

Any time, any place, especially in the morning.

 

Where is Dzambhala?

He is in everywhere, and especially if you have great faith and devotion in him, then he is always with you. You see, the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and all of the Deities have said, “If you have faith in me, then I am never separate from you. The faith of total trust allows all blessings to enter you. When the mind is free from doubt, whatever you wish for can be achieved spontaneously.” So therefore, faith, devotion, and confidence are always the key to receiving spiritual blessing and material wealth. As you can see, you just have to believe in Dzambhala with trust.

 

Why do we need to practice Dzambhala?

Because in this world, there are all kinds of wrathful and negative emotions or bad spirits, and sometimes they will harm you and other sentient beings, Dzambhala must take on such a wrathful and powerful form to protect us from these harmful spirits and negative karma. Especially, Dzhambala helps us minimize or decrease all misfortunes and obstacles and helps us increase all good fortune and happiness.

 

How does Dzambhala help us?

With Dzambhala practice, he can help us overcome any kinds of obstacles and develop limitless compassion.  Dzambhala is very powerful and it is extremely important to use this power for the purpose of Bodhicitta.

He has made the commitment or vow to always protect you and all sentient beings. Also, he is the one who increases all the spiritual and material wealth; and he is the one who helps us accumulate merit and wisdom, which allows us to benefit our selves and all sentient beings.

 

What are the purposes of this Empowerment and practice?

 

1. The Empowerment will help us to liberate ourselves and all sentient beings.
2. To share the Holy Dharma so we and many others will receive the benefit of a happy life.
3. To have more realization and confidence to recite mantras and prayers, because this will purify our bad karma and remove negative emotions and shortcomings.
4. Through meditation and practice, we achieve awareness that helps us to reach enlightenment.
5. Any Dharma activities such as Prostrations, Offerings and Circumambulations of statues, stupas or monasteries help us accumulate Merit and Wisdom and achieve satisfaction.
6. By meditating on peace, happiness and tranquility, and by practicing bodhicitta, or the mind of loving kindness and compassion, and by keeping pure motivation, we will recognize the root of the Dharma as the Empowerment and practice itself.
7. Finally, in keeping a good heart and trying to bring benefit for others, we can achieve the ultimate realization, empowerment and all pure qualities will arise within us.

 

It is very important to remember that all the Practices, all Teachings and all Empowerments should contain these Seven Points.

That is the purpose. At the same time, please always remember to keep the precious bodhicitta in your mind.

Now, especially when we follow a Guru or Buddha, we will learn the Holy Dharma, we will become knowledgeable in spirituality and in the Dharma, and this will take us on the right path to Buddhahood or Enlightenment. Of course, these two things, Buddhahood and Enlightenment, are the same.

It is necessary to think more and more about the Dharma and spirituality, because it is so valuable and precious to all sentient beings. The Dharma always makes our hearts and minds bigger. Then our view will be vast and we will be happier, and be able to realize how meaningful our lives can be. Now, with Buddha-Dharma, instead of seeing others as strangers, you will see others as another you, a brother, a sister, a friend and not a stranger. In Buddhist point of view, we believe that strangers can be our own father or mother, brother or sister, or our best friend and loved one, maybe from last lifetime or maybe a couple of lives ago. That is very possible. As you can see, Dharma and spirituality will always support us in our daily lives. In this way, we will be always appreciative and enjoy ourselves throughout a good, healthy life.

As I have said before, the purpose of this Empowerment is to liberate ourselves and all sentient beings, to remove all obstacles and to receive all goodness, happiness and prosperity - basically, that all our wishes will come true. With sincere effort and pure motivation, I have no doubt that we can achieve anything and everything. Even impossible things will become possible! Ultimately, what I am trying to say is, “With Buddha-Dharma, I promise that you will always receive special blessings, and I guarantee it will never harm you or any other sentient beings.”

So what else could we ask for?

It is extremely important to know and understand the Three Jewels and Three Roots. One way we can explain the Three Jewels is that:

1. The Buddha always helps us generate faith.
2. The Dharma always helps us generate devotion.
3. The Sangha always helps us build, or increase, our confidence.

 

In the same way, the Three Roots can be explained as:

1. The Guru helps us make our minds bigger, which creates a solid, or indestructible, mind.
2. The Yidam or Personal Deity helps us through all accomplishments.
3. The Dharma-Protector always shows us the right path and protects us all the time.

 

Now, there are four things to keep in our mind that will summarize everything I have shared with you:

1. Keep the ultimate faith in the Three Jewels and Three Roots.
2. Enjoy this moment and appreciate the auspicious opportunity to have and increase this connection with the sacred Dharma.
3. Believe that instructions, oral transmissions and empowerments are the most important blessings to generate Bodhicitta, or warmth of heart.
4. Try to share the blessings with other sentient beings through our good actions of body, speech and mind.

 

If we remember these four things, our Dharma practice will always be effective and useful and this opportunity will never be wasted.

Of course, in order to receive the ultimate blessing and accomplishment, we must put forth lots of diligence and effort toward our practice, as well as receive empowerments. You see, Empowerment is the most effective way to reach realization and understanding; it is the natural blessing of empowerment that cuts through obstacles and increases our spiritual awareness that makes our practice useful and balanced.

Later, there are some necessary and beneficial visualization that I will explain. I will show you some objects, so please imagine that you are receiving the ultimate blessing of Dzhambala through these objects, or symbols. At the same time, realize that you are receiving the ultimate blessing from all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Dakas, Dakinis, and Dharma-Protectors as well.

Now I will continue the Dzhambala empowerment.

Now we recite the mantra of Dzhambala. Please repeat after me:

OM DZAM BHA LA DZA LEN DRA YE SO HA.

That means:

“Protector Dzhambala, please help us all achieve the goals of Wisdom, Longevity, Realization, and all Spiritual and Material Accomplishments and the Path of Absolute Limitless Enlightenment or Buddhahood.  As well, help us to completely remove all bad karma and obstacles throughout the past, present, and future.”

First, this Statue represents Dzambhala’s body. Therefore, you will receive His Body Empowerment.

This Empowerment helps you to remove all physical obstacles and this will transform your body into the Pure Body, or the Miraculous Nirmanakaya Body.

Second, this Sacred Text represents Dzambhala’s speech. Therefore, you will receive His Speech Empowerment.

This Empowerment helps you to remove all speech obstacles and this will transform your speech into pure Wisdom Speech, or the Blissful Samboghakaya Speech or Energy.

Third, this Bumpa, or Vase, represents Dzambhala’s mind. Therefore, you will receive His Mind Empowerment.

This Empowerment helps you to remove all mental obstacles and this will transform your mind into Pure Mind, or the All-Inclusive Dharmakaya Mind.

Fourth, this Torma represents the absolute blessing of Mahāmudrā , or infinite space. Therefore, you will receive the indestructible empowerment of Mahāmudrā .

This Empowerment gives you the Complete Precious Empowerment of the Mahāmudrā , or emptiness. Of course, this helps you to remove all of our obstacles, obscurations and negativities of body, speech and mind throughout the past, the present, and the future. Therefore, this will help us obtain Pure Body, Pure Speech and Pure Mind. We call this the Empowerment of Purification, or Svabhavikakaya. By the way, the essence of the Svabhavikakaya is the union of the three purified forms of Body, Speech, and mind, or the Union of the Three Kayas: the Nirmanakaya, the Sambhogakaya, and the Dharmakaya.

1. When I touch you with this statue on your crown, you are receiving the empowerment of Body, Speech and Mind directly from Dzambhala.
2. In this bumpa is Dutsi, or Wisdom Nectar. I will put some into your hand, please drink it.
3. This blessing Vajra-knot provides Dzambhala’s protection and should be kept around your neck.
4. Finally, this candy is Dharma medicine. It will help us speak kind, thoughtful and meaningful words. You can eat it.

 

Now, as we recite the Dzambhala mantra together, please come to the front, one by one, to receive Dzambhala’s Empowerment or blessing.

So that is the entire Empowerment of Dzambhala, I hope this will give you some encouragement and blessing. Of course, as long as you have pure faith, devotion, and confidence in Dzambhala, or your own personal Deity, then you will always achieve your goals, your wishes and your dreams. That is my promise - all wishes can come true.

By the way, when I say the personal Deity, you should know that in order to be a good Dharma practitioner it is extremely important to know your own personal Deity. In the Tibetan tradition, to find out your personal Deity is a great personal achievement in this life.

Now there are two ways to find your Personal Deity.

1. Just practice and practice, and then one day you might feel a great connection with a certain Deity, and that could be your Personal Deity.
2. If you have a Root-Guru, you can ask your Root-Guru to identify your personal Deity. At the same time, perhaps your Guru will ask you to do certain purification practices, so you make sure be ready for that.

 

Regardless of how you find your personal Deity, it is really important to practice Dharma every day and have devotion, faith, and confidence in your personal Deity. Then, of course, the Blessings, the Accomplishments, the Realization, the Bodhicitta and the Enlightenment are always in our hands.

Something that we must always remember is that, our body is a shrine of the Buddha. You see, when we think this way we have more respect for ourselves and respect for others, because we know how to show respect for the holy shrine. Buddha exists in each and every one of us.

My Supreme and Precious-Guru, His Holiness, always told me, which I always remember very clearly, I always keep this in my mind and be mindful of it all the time. He said, “When you teach the Buddha-Dharma to other people make sure you let them know that you, yourself are a shrine of the Buddha. Buddha always exists within us. That is very important to remember because although we see the Buddha outside, it is actually the faith, the devotion and the confidence that is inside of us. These are the essence of the Buddha.”

Finally, I want to say that Dzambhala is a very, very profound and special practice in Tibet. In fact, it is one of everybody’s favorite practices. Please enjoy the Dharma Practice as much as you can, and always try to recite the Dzambhala mantra as many times as you can.

You know, the more I practice Dharma, the more I enjoy the Dharma practice. I promise if you can be down-to-earth, then you will have feelings of gratefulness, joyfulness, happiness, gratitude, appreciativeness, generosity and so on. With this point of view, we will recognize the precious opportunity and meaningfulness of this life. That is the bodhicitta, that is the realization and actually, that is the Buddhahood as well!

So please, hurry up and practice Dharma every day.

You see, it makes me very happy that all of you have a wonderful practice. But I must say that even if only one of you had a good practice, still, that would make me very, very, happy. You know, whenever I see the Holy Dharma being practiced, I am filled with joy and happiness. Thank you very kindly!

Now let do the dedication prayer together.

If you don’t know the prayer then please just remain relaxed and meditate on tranquility.

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I take precious refuge in the Three Jewels and Three Roots.

The Three Jewels are the Buddha, Dharma and Noble Sangha.

The Three Roots are the Root-Guru, Personal Deity and the Dharma-Protectors.

Protector Dzambhala, please help us to remove all sickness, bad karma, and shortcomings.

Protector Dzambhala, please help us to think that whatever virtues I and others create, are for the benefit of all sentient beings, and may we accomplish these virtues happily.

Protector Dzambhala, please grant us the power, wisdom and vitality to accomplish all of our wishes for the benefit of ourselves, our family, our friends, and all sentient beings, including the tiniest, little insect.

Protector Dzambhala, please grant me true happiness, may I be useful and of benefit to all sentient beings.

Protector Dzambhala, please grant me the power and wisdom to follow faithfully whatever the Buddhas and my precious Root-Guru requires.

I promise to be a gentle, humble, kind, and a virtuous disciple of the Buddha-Dharma.