100 Deities Practice and Puja
Register now for Kadri Bodhi Monastery next event — 100 Deities Practice and Puja on the 1st & 2nd of September 2018.
For those of you that are unfamiliar with this sacred practice, here is a short excerpt www.kagyu-asia.com/kl :
The Origin
It is stated in the Tantric legend that a king once executed his spiritual master. Due to this heavy sin, he passed away immediately and was born in the hell. He experienced the sufferings of all the six realms at the same time. Lord Buddha saw the great suffering of this being and He instructed him on the teaching and practice of the hundred deities. By just listening to this teaching and mantras of the hundred deities, this suffering being was liberated and reborn in heaven.
At one time, there was an evil minister called Shata in Tibet. He had killed many innocent people and also caused a lot of obstacles to prevent the consort of Padmasambhawa, Yeshe Tsogyal, from practicing the Dharma. After his death, he was born in hell. Guru Padmasambhawa, and his consort saw with their wisdom eyes that the former evil minister was experiencing unbearable suffering. His consort tried to save him by using various methods but she did not succeed. Guru Padmasambhawa then used the hundred deities Mandala with Jang Chog to help the evil minister and many beings in the hells. All of them were liberated. Later Guru Padmasambhawa transmitted the teaching of the hundred deities to his twenty-five renowned disciples.
The hundred deities are the attributes and activities of the five Buddhas and their female counterparts. They are the manifestations from the pure nature of our minds, and remain within us in the form of five faculties, five elements and twelve sources of perception and so on. By relying on the practice of the hundred deities or even by just hearing the mantra and seeing the mandala and picture of the hundred deities, one may either instantly or gradually realizes that the nature of one’s mind is inseparable from the perfect wisdom of the hundred deities.
The Puja and Its Benefits
During the performance of Jang Chog puja, the hundred deities are invoked and the various types of offerings are made to them. The merits accumulated from these offerings are dedicated to the deceased to help them in their purification and liberation. The prayer itself is also an offering of assistance to those in the intermediate or Bardo state to show them the path to liberation.
At the end of puja, the paper tablets of the deceased are burnt away. The fire used in the burning symbolizes the wisdom of the hundred deities; the burning of the tablets symbolizes the cutting of the attachment of the deceased to a “self” which is the cause of his or her suffering. Through the prayer and the ritual performed, the consciousness of the deceased are merged and become inseparable from the wisdom of the hundred deities. Thus they are liberated.
100 Peaceful and Wrathful Deities practice is a rare teaching from the Treasure Cycle of Karma Lingpa — The profound dharma of the natural liberation through contemplating the Peaceful and Wrathful deities during the completion instructions on the six bardos.
For practitioners and students that would like an in depth understanding of the deities, Thrangu Rinpoche provides an excellent teaching on the Bardo here at www.rinpoche.com/teachings/bardo.pdf
This new translation of the classic text, The Torch of True Meaning, by the great master and scholar Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye gives clear and concise instructions on the preliminary and main practices of mahamudra meditation. But it does not only teach mahamudra: this book describes vividly what is necessary for any meditation practice. It is presented here in a new translation that includes the previously unpublished final chapter of Jamgön Kongtrul’s work, a brief yet inspiring description of the actual practice of mahamudra.
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