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Lama Zopa Rinpoche preparing to go out on the water to bless Omak Lake, Washington, US, November 2016. Photo by Ven. Holly Ansett.
In the autumn of this year, Lama Zopa Rinpoche blessed several lakes located near Buddha Amitabha Pure Land (BAPL), in Washington State, USA. Omak Lake was one of them. Tremendously beautiful, it has stunning hills rising up behind its light blue water, and is a holy site for Native Americans.
Rinpoche asked for a raft in order to go out on the lakes, and blessed beings in a variety of ways, such as:
- Special flags that he designed for the raft. The flags have mantras written in Tibetan on one side, and on the other side, they have an explanation of their purpose. Several different mantras appear, including OM MANI PADME HUM and the mantra that blesses “just by seeing,” OM HANU PHASHA BHARA HE YE SVAHA. The mantras are blown out over the lake from the raft.
- On the top of the poles holding the flags Rinpoche put small wooden tops. Inside them are the long Namgyalma mantra and Ushnisha mantra. These turn and send mantras out into the world.
- Rinpoche had Namgyalma mantras printed on paper and laminated in plastic, so that the mantras float on the water, blessing all the beings below them. On one side of the paper is the Namgyalma mantra in Tibetan; this is placed face down in the water. The other side has a message explaining what the mantra is, so if people find the mantras floating or washed up, they don’t throw them away.
Back side of floating Namgyalma card
- Rinpoche has a mantra wheel that has millions of mantras on microfilm. Even just the shadow from this mantra wheel is said to bring benefits. Rinpoche held the mantra wheel over the lake as the boat moved along.
- Rinpoche has a Padmasambhava relic from Mount Kailash, in Tibet. This is inside a small stupa, which he held above the lake to bless the sentient beings in the water.
Ven. Holly Ansett holding relic of Padmasambhava from Mount Kailash, Washington, US, November 2016
- While out on the lake, Rinpoche did extensive prayers, reciting them into a loudspeaker. Recordings of mantras were also played. The raft also had underwater speakers, so the fish and other lake beings could hear the mantras and prayers.
- Rinpoche oversaw the making of special blessed food that included crushed mani pills, tsampa, and water blessed by many mantras and also by a crystal with Padmasambhava mantras etched on it, so that all the sentient beings who ate the food would be blessed and purified.
- Rinpoche also blessed beings by placing the glass etched with Padmasambhava mantras at the side of the lake, where the water touches the mantras, but the mantras can’t be walked on or swum over by animals, which might create negative karma. This way the water gets blessed and then blesses the beings in it.
Watch Lama Zopa Rinpoche on YouTube as he chants blessings to the lake-bound beings from the raft:
https://youtu.be/o5UQMcj1H6k
Rinpoche asked the Sangha, in his absence, to keep going out on the lakes near BAPL on monthly blessing trips in order to continue to benefit all of the fish and other living beings. Despite the cold weather in Washington State, the Sangha have already been out on the water!
Sangha blessing lake, Washington, US, November 2016
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.