Tales With My Lama: Daily Practice
Pastor David has been a student of His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche for over 15 years and within the ‘Tales With My Lama’ series of articles, he explores his spiritual relationship with Rinpoche, sharing anecdotes, stories, observations and little Dharma nuggets. It is all told to inspire others for their own spiritual relationship with their teachers.
Daily Practice
For as long as I can remember, I have seen Rinpoche spend hours each day engaged in his formal meditational practice, which is called ‘sadhana’. A sadhana consists of recitations, meditations, prayers and mantras meant to acquaint the human mind with the mind of a particular Buddha or protector deity. In other words, the sadhana helps us achieve union with that particular Buddha-deity and that means we take on the enlightened qualities of that particular Buddha. It is usually a commitment given by a lama to his disciples either as a general instruction or as a commitment after receiving initiation of that deity.
Rinpoche’s sadhanas take a long time each day because he is responsible for several important lineages. He has to be able to uphold the sadhana commitments of all these practices so he is qualified to confer the initiation of that practice when the need arises. Rinpoche has explained that this is part and parcel of what a lama has to do in order to benefit others and proliferate the teachings and practices.
Rinpoche carries with him a thick tome with a line drawing of Manjushri on the cover. It contains all the sadhanas, prayers and mantras within it and more. These days, he has streamlined his sadhana to a thinner book that only contains the immediate sadhanas, recitations and mantras that he practices on a daily basis. This sadhana book is the most worn out book Rinpoche has, which is a testament to his commitment to his daily practice.
Rinpoche making offerings of traditional butter lamps to Vajra Yogini. Rinpoche holds all forms of Dharma practice as extremely important, this is not only limited to daily recitations, mantras and meditations but includes making a lot of offerings and the transformation of the mind.
There never goes a day where Rinpoche does not complete his sadhanas. On days that he is very tired, he asks someone by his side to nudge him awake so he can complete the daily ritual. I have done this many times over the years when Rinpoche’s schedule is especially heavy. On some days, Rinpoche has become so exhausted that he is unable to even recall whether or not he has completed his sadhana. He makes up for it the following day. Thus, he has maintained his sadhana steadfastly, never wavering or giving up on his practice.
Like most lamas, Rinpoche carries a mala with him wherever he goes. A mala is a string of Buddhist prayer beads which helps practitioners keep track of the number of mantras that they recite. Rinpoche usually recites more mantras than required by his practice. He even recites mantras and blows them on stray animals, thus implanting a special blessing on these animals. He recites mantras whenever he can, while travelling, watching a movie and even when he goes for walks.
This is because Rinpoche does not take his daily sadhana as a daily chore or just a habit but a means towards gaining higher spiritual attainments. In actual fact, these sadhanas, mantras, prayers and practices were all bestowed to him by his great teachers. That is why Rinpoche sees doing his daily sadhana as an extension of his devotion to his teacher.
For more interesting information:
- Tales With My Lama : Laugh Away Your Ego
- Tales With My Lama: Why Rinpoche Has To Suffer
- Tales With My Lama : Larger than Life
- Tales with my Lama – Manjushri
- Tales With My Lama : Audience With Tsem Rinpoche
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The purpose of Sadhana is to transform a delusional mind into a wisdom mind. Doing Sadhana is not just about recitation of holy text, it involves visualizations and meditations. Combine with offerings made as well as the power of mantras, this is a method to purify karma and collecting merits. One can only imagine how much effort, time and care that Rinpoche has in completing His sadhana daily. Besides as an extension of His devotion to His Teacher, to me it is also an expression of immense love, caring and compassion that Rinpoche has for others so that Buddha Dharma continues in benefitting and changing others lives. Many people take Sadhana for granted not bother to do it at all, and some just do it simple because it has to be done. Thank you Rinpoche and Pastor David for this wonderful and inspiring write up of Rinpoche doing prayers without fail. ???
The purpose of Sadhana is to transform a delusional mind into a wisdom mind. Doing Sadhana is not just about recitation of holy text, it involves visualizations and meditations. Combine with offerings made as well as the power of mantras, this is a method to purify karma and collecting merits. When we receive initiations, doing Sadhana is fulfilling our commitments and holding our vows. Always remember Rinpoche’s kindness and contemplate on Rinpoche’s great Guru Devotion to his root Guru. We should do the same too.
Thank you so much for this article. In many article, I have came across the word ‘sadhana’, but i don’t have any idea what the word really means. Sadhana mainly helps us to achieve union with that particular Buddha-deity and that means taking on the enlightened qualities of that particular Buddha.
Even though Rinpoche has become so exhausted where he is unable to recall whether he has done or not his sadhanas, he still makes up for it the following day. Thus, he has maintained his sadhana steadfastly, never wavering or giving up on his practice.
Thank you Pastor David for this wonderful write up of Rinpoche doing prayers without fail. Rinpoche have been doing continuously , as a commitments and responsibility as an extension of his devotion to his teacher. Rinpoche has show us an example the way and guiding us throughout as a means towards gaining higher spiritual attainments. These sadhanas, mantras, prayers and practices, were all given and entrusted by his great teachers.
Many take our Sadhana for granted and just do it mechanically. Some do it simple because it has to be done. What is good to remember is to see our daily sadhana as:
1) an extension of our devotion to our teacher.
2) a method of towards gaining higher spiritual attainments.
Thank you for this is a short yet insightful read, Pastor David.
One can only imagine how much effort, time and care that Rinpoche has in completing His sadhana daily. Besides as an extension of His devotion to His Teacher, to me it is also an expression of immense love, caring and compassion that Rinpoche has for others so that BuddhaDharma continues in benefitting and changing others lives.
As a student, although I do not have such a heavy responsibility and ‘thick’ sadhana to do daily, but I am grateful that I am able to do my Guru Yoga Lama Tsongkhapa + Protector Dorje Shugden practice everyday. If it wasn’t because of Rinpoche, I didn’t even know where and how to start my daily practice. Thank you Pastor for this sharing.