Stories from a Chela – Real Worship
A ‘chela’ is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘student’. In particular this word refers to the student of a spiritual teacher. Within this series of short posts, I will be sharing stories about His Eminence the 25th Tsem Rinpoche. Hopefully through these stories, you will get a glimpse of how Tsem Rinpoche and the Dharma that Rinpoche shares has not only benefited me but countless others.
Real Worship
His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche lived by his Buddhist principles and as a monk adhered strongly to the vinaya or monastic codes of conduct. As such, Rinpoche didn’t go out much unless it was for a Dharmic reason, whether to meet someone or going out shopping (which Rinpoche actually did to buy gifts for people). I remember there was one time that Rinpoche had to go to the city for a simple medical appointment. By the time we finished however, it was quite late, so we ended up staying in the city for the night.
The next morning, on our way back to Kechara Forest Retreat, we happened to pass by the Hindu Batu Caves Temple complex with it’s towering 42.7m (140 ft) high statue of the god Lord Murugan. As we drove past, Rinpoche looked out of the window at the statue and then told Pastor Seng Piow, who was driving, to turn the car around. Rinpoche wanted to go to the temple.
With Tsem Rinpoche at Batu Caves Temple Complex
So, we drove into the car park and as we got out of the car, Rinpoche led the way, with myself and Pastor Seng Piow trailing behind. Rinpoche knew the complex like the back of his hand and led us to a small vegetarian eatery there. As we sat down, Rinpoche told us that this place had the best idli (a savoury rice cake) and vada (a savoury fried lentil cake, which looks like a doughnut) in the whole of Kuala Lumpur. We proceeded to order and sure enough they were the best I have tasted since coming to Malaysia.
Once we had our breakfast, Rinpoche wanted to walk around a little. Since it was an early morning, it was somewhat cooling and we were not subjected to the scorching hot Malaysian sun. As we walked around the complex, we walked into a little shop that sold tourist trinkets and statues. One of the statues that caught Rinpoche’s eye was that of Saraswati.
Saraswati as a deity exists both in Hinduism and Buddhism. In the first, she is considered a powerful goddess and in the second she is considered a Buddha, an enlightened being who has transcended cyclic existence. Her similarities in both are uncanny. She is said to help develop memory, intelligence, logical ability and grant artistic attributes to those who worship her or engage in her practice.
The form Rinpoche saw was depicted in Hindu style and he remarked that “I love Saraswati’s practice.” As the morning progressed, Rinpoche gave a short explanation about the meaning of real worship. Rinpoche explained that no matter which Buddha or god you worship, it doesn’t matter, because if they are really divine beings they will always lead you to develop two qualities, one is compassion and the other is wisdom. When you engage in any worship or practice, these two qualities should take root in your mind and develop.
Rinpoche then explained why it is so important to depict deities with their correct forms and iconography according to whichever tradition you are practising. Each part of the deity’s body or iconography represents the path, method and results of practising that particular deity. Therefore, iconography is important and since it represents these, it actually reminds practitioners how to develop both compassion and wisdom, “That is real worship,” Rinpoche said. Real worship is transformation of the mind. It doesn’t matter what form of a genuine deity that you pray to or have an image of on your altar, as long as you use it for real worship and real transformation of the mind. Our short outing finished and we headed home to Kechara Forest Retreat.
Rinpoche’s faith in the Buddha Saraswati was extremely strong, in fact for many weeks, Rinpoche would listen to two bhajans or Indian devotional songs centred on Saraswati, here is what Rinpoche wrote about them:
I really find the Indian devotional songs (bhajan) to the various manifestations of divinity so beautiful. Being such an ancient culture they have hundreds of traditions of these bhajans. Basically bhajan is the human being expressing in music the faith, devotion, loyalty, love, gratitude and prayer to the various Gods. They are done at home, with a group, on holy days, in temples or special ceremonies. They can be done daily to invoke the presence of the particular God you are invoking. Here are two beautiful bhajans to Goddess Saraswati for you to sample the richness of this tradition.
Sri Saraswati Sahasranama Stotram Full (With Lyrics) Must listen During Navratri (Nine night festival of the Goddesses-Where you chant the thousands names of Saraswati)
Saraswati Vandana with lyrics- This ‘Stotra’ recites about a hundred sacred names of Goddess Saraswati
Rinpoche was so fond of Saraswati, he even asked us to have a thangka of Saraswati painted with Dorje Shugden as part of the Rime Thangka project:
A beautiful image of the enlightened Saraswati painted in Indian style. Click image to download high resolution file or click here for more free images for download.
Description
(Top to bottom): Saraswati and Dorje Shugden
Deity: Saraswati (Sanskrit)
Alternative names: Yangchenma / Yangchen Drolma (Tibetan); Goddess of Song and Music (English)
Saraswati is a well-known deity in both the Hindu and Tibetan Buddhist traditions. In both religions, she is considered by many great masters to be the goddess and patron of the arts, music, language, literature, poetry, philosophy, and for all those engaged in creative endeavours.
Within Tibetan Buddhism, Saraswati is known as the Buddha of music, wisdom and learning. She is widely regarded as both the emanation of Tara as well as the consort of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom, to whom she is deeply connected with due to her wisdom-bestowing nature. While she is depicted here in her leisurely peaceful form, she also emanates in a more wrathful form known as Vajravetali (Sanskrit) or Dorje Rolangma (Tibetan) who is the consort of Vajrabhairava (Yamantaka), a wrathful form of Manjushri whose practice belongs to the Highest Yoga Tantra classification. In the form of Vajravetali, she is said to have revealed the Vajrabhairava Tantras to the great Indian master Lalitavajra who consequently spread the practice.
Furthermore, Saraswati was the yidam or personal meditational deity of the 14th Century Tibetan master Je Tsongkhapa who founded the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. He composed a beautiful devotional poem titled “Prayer to Saraswati” based on the pure visions that he had of her. Saraswati is believed to have frequently appeared to Je Tsongkhapa on his travels, offering counsel and inspiration throughout his years of study and contemplation.
In the Hindu tradition, Saraswati is part of the female trinity (Tridevi) together with Lakshmi and Parvati. This trinity assists their consorts Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva respectively to create, maintain and destroy the cyclic systems of the universe. In Hinduism, Saraswati’s name means ‘She Who Possesses Speech That Purifies’. As such, she is a celebrated female deity with powers of healing and purification. The earliest mentions of her occur in Rigveda, the oldest of the Hindu scriptures. In it she is said to be the “best of mothers, best of rivers, best of goddesses, Sarasvati”.
Like her Buddhist counterpart, the Hindu version of Saraswati also manifests in wrathful forms who are propitiated in the practice of Tantra. One of her most well-known is Nila Saraswati or ‘Blue Saraswati’. In this form, she is said to be part of the 10 Mahavidyas or Knowledge-Holders who are 10 aspects of the ultimate divinity in the form of goddesses. Her ferocity is said to be second only to Kali, the most wrathful of all Hindu goddesses. Her wrath is said to be the manifestation of her loving-compassion, like a mother who scolds a child to protect them from playing with fire and hurting themselves.
Prayers to Saraswati are usually recited at dawn for a spiritually-fulfilling day or the beginning of academic or creative endeavours for a successful project or school day.
Deity: Dorje Shugden (Tibetan)
Alternative name: Vajra Bhagawan Rudra (Sanskrit)
Dorje Shugden is recognised to be an emanation of Manjushri and arose from a long line of incarnated lamas who strove to proliferate and protect the teachings. He is a protector of recent origins, arising 350 years ago, and due to his strong affinity with beings of this time, he is widely renowned to be efficacious and powerful in overcoming our obstacles and creating favourable conditions for our spiritual practice.
More free downloads: https://bit.ly/2oxb4qU
Read more about Saraswati: https://bit.ly/2T00Hds
Other Depictions of Saraswati
Rinpoche spent a lot of his time working on his computer, and during the breaks, he enjoyed searching the internet for various spiritual stories and pictures. Over the years, Rinpoche collected many images of Saraswati, below are two Indian depictions that he particularly liked.
Beautiful painting of Saraswati. It is vintage and I wanted to share with everyone.
Matangi Mahavidya, the tantric form of Saraswati and the goddess who rules intelligence and eloquence of speech. In the Purashcharyarnava Tantra it is described how the siddhi (attainment of a certain power) Matangi Devi gives is that whenever posed with a question Matangi Devi will whisper the answer in to her devotees ear.
For more interesting information:
- Stories from a Chela – The Roadside Seller
- Stories from a Chela – Blessing the Animal Realm
- Stories from a Chela – Real Transformation
- Stories from a Chela – Za Rahula and Strange Habits
- Stories from a Chela – Spiritual Nourishment for All
- Stories from a Chela – The Lama that Builds
- Stories from a Chela – The Teaching in the Tea
- Stories from a Chela – Incense Offering That Saves Lives
- Stories from a Chela – Supernatural Protection
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Thank you for the good article. Buddhism is about mind transformation. When we transform our mind, not only we will become happier but we will also bring happiness to others.
Ultimately, real worship of the deity is mind transformation and developing a mind of wisdom and compassion.It’s kind of understanding Rinpoche a bit more through this story of Goddess Saraswati.
All religions share a fundamental goal. All religions teach moral precepts for perfecting the functions of mind, body, and speech. To respect each other and promote compassion and loving-kindness toward others .It does not matter of what religion we are, it all the same to have our mind transform to be better.
Wow …. Beautiful painting of Saraswati , looking at these two Indian depictions that Rinpoche particularly liked is a blessing. Truly stunning. And of the 2 Indian devotional songs is nice to hear even though do not understand the meaning of it.
Thank you Pastor Niral for sharing.
It does not matter if you have a Hindu or Buddhist Saraswati diety on your altar. What matters, as Tsem Rinpoche clearly puts it , is that you have a diety whose iconography “represents the path, method and results of practising that particular deity”. It should actually remind us that the path is the practice of wisdom and compassion and mind transformation and the deity represents the result of practice.The iconography is the road map. The practice of wisdom and compassion, so intricately interwoven into each, is reflected in Rinpoche ‘s everyday actions of body and speech, actions which are prompted by the pure motivation of benefiting others and bringing them relief from suffering. Ultimately, real worship of the diety is mind transformation and developing a mind of wisdom and compassion. Also , devotional songs/hymns to the deity or saint are so beautiful as an expression of “faith, devotion, loyalty, love, gratitude and prayer” to them. Yes ,Rinpoche, thank you for showing us that devotional songs and prayers do enhance our worship of the divine.
Thank you Pastor Niral for your sharing that brings us closer to our precious Guru.
A real religion or spiritual practice teaches followers to be compassionate to all sentient beings, it will not encourage people to be angry, hostile or take revenge. When people are practising a real religion, they will become more peaceful, kind, generous and compassionate. Buddhism is about mind transformation. When we transform our mind, not only we will become happier but we will also bring happiness to others.
Thank you for sharing this Pastor Niral.
It’s kind of understanding Rinpoche a bit more through this story of Goddess Saraswati.
Pastor mentioned that in any worship or practice, the real goal is to develop these two important qualities; wisdom and compassion. However, back in my mind, there’s another two words keep ringing in me ~ i.e Love and Devotion ?