Question asked by Jigme Rabten
Hello dear Pastor!
Have a nice day to you.
I have some questions about sortilege or fortune sticks in chinese temple to seek for advices and instructions.
Do these kind of methods to seek for advices or instructions is accepted in Buddhist's teachings or good for Buddhist or taking refuges vows?
Myself as a Buddhist that i never seek advices or instructions from wordly gods or goddess in Chinese Culture but only taking refuges in Guru and Three Jewels.
So, when i seeked advices or instructions from these methods ( as i had said above) with my family that usually, i prefer them to visit Kuan Yin or Guan gong temple to seek for advices instead vist to other wordly gods chinese temple.
As i knew that Kuan Yin is actually enlightenment Buddha and therefore, It's safe to rely on Him.
As I knew also that Guan Gong also one of Gelug Dharma Protectors and some highly masters also promoted his practices even H.H Tenpai Nyima explaine he was one with Zhanglon Mahakala and Dzongtsen Shenpay and H.H Changkya Roipay Dorje clarify he is one with Begtse and a wisdom Dharma Protectors.
Thank you so much.
Dear Jigten Rabten,
Methods of divination are accepted within Tibetan Buddhism. For a full explanation of divination within the Tibetan systems, you can watch a teaching by H.E. Tsem Rinpoche here: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/tibetan-divination-a-complete-explanation.html
There is one key difference between methods based on the practice of the enlightened beings and other systems however. That is that the methods always give Dharma remedies for each and every problem or question asked, for example what practices or pujas can be done or engaged in to overcome that particular problem or to help the particular situation to be smoother.
In regards to the sortilege sticks commonly found throughout Chinese temples, I am not familar with them so I do not know if they actually give Dharma remedies or not.
According to the teachings given by Tsem Rinpoche, divination is not something that we should rely heavily for small questions/problems. We should follow the teachings of the Dharma and try our best to sort out the issues to the best of our ability. If there is really no way that we can do that, then we can rely on the divination systems of the enlightened beings. Rinpoche talks more about this and relying on actualy Dharma practice here: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/one-minute-story/psychics-fortune-tellers-and-how-to-change-your-luck. I hope this helps. Thank you.