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Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering body, speech and mind to the decorated throne of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Losar, Root Institute, Bodhgaya, India, March 2014. Photo by Ven. Sarah Thresher.
By Ven. Sarah Thresher
Lama Zopa Rinpoche has been staying at Root Institute in Bodhgaya, India. Rinpoche has been engaged in many practices during the Days of Miracles, which comprise the two weeks after Losar. Ven. Sarah Thresher has been participating in these virtuous activities and shared this report.
After several weeks’ intensive retreat and the busy Losar celebration, today was an opportunity for Rinpoche to rest. The plan is to give transmission of the Sutra of Golden Light at the Mahabodhi Stupa and an excellent teaching site has been set up under a tree on the right side.
Rinpoche left for the stupa around 7:30 p.m. today, stopping first for chai at the Mahayana Guest House where he gave a short teaching on the powerful merit of making offerings to the pores of the guru. Rinpoche said that many Westerners think they have to send money to monasteries in order to create merit, but at the center when we make an offering of just a glass of water or cup of tea to students who share the same guru, it is more powerful than offering to all the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, statues, stupas, scriptures and holy objects of the three times and ten directions.
Light offerings at Mahabodhi Stupa, part of Root Institute’s Festival of Light and Merit, Bodhgaya, India, March 2014. Photo by Andy Melnic.
Ven. Dekyong, who requested transmission of the Sutra of Golden Light, came with incense to lead Rinpoche to the stupa. Rinpoche commented that all the staff should take turns to invite him to the transmission with incense because the benefits of doing so explained in the Sutra of Golden Light (chapter 7) are so great. However Rinpoche did not begin the transmission tonight even though people had been waiting seven hours at the stupa for it to begin. Instead he circumambulated and blessed the lights.
There are thousands of colored lights decorating the stupa right now as part of Root Institute’s Festival of Light and Merit (FLAM), in which light offerings are made in celebration of the four major buddha days. Rinpoche has commented several times how beautiful they are and has been personally reciting the offering prayer as he circumambulates. Tonight after the circumambulation was finished, Rinpoche talked for over an hour on the benefits of making offerings to holy objects, giving various examples of the extraordinary merit gained by offering even one light to the Buddha compared to offering universes filled with wish-granting jewels to numberless monks, arhats or bodhisattvas for many eons. Rinpoche also talked about the power of doing the prayers at the stupa together, since making prayers with others is far more powerful than reciting prayers alone in our own room. This is why in the monasteries they gather to do the pujas together. It is like trying to sweep a room with one straw or a bunch of straws.
Rinpoche concluded that we are so fortunate to be offering all these many thousands of lights every night to all the gurus, buddhas, bodhisattvas, statues, stupas, scriptures and holy objects. Rinpoche commented that this year the lights are the most beautiful he has seen. This is the happiest day, the happiest Losar, the happiest life to be offering all these lights!
After the dedication prayers, Rinpoche went to do puja for one sick Tibetan lady until midnight.
Learn more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), and Rinpoche’s vision for a better world. Sign up to receive news and updates.