Temple of Wisdom and Clarity...

Went to LDC yesterday, to do some good...eversince the incident the the realization of how close I was to death, I decided to pay my uncle's temple hangout a visit....and also to check out some chicks....hahaha ok not a good joke...

nehway...being there opened my eyes to what I have been so tied up with these few months. The centre has this Buddhist teachings for kids where a Geshe (scholar/equivalent to a masters in academic terms) teaches about the elements of buddhism at a very basic and easy to understand level.

Yesterday they were talking about the second of the Seven limbs of Buddhism. Which I believe each limb are like essential exercises to being a more open buddhist.

The first limb is about Prostration. Not sure if I spell it right. But It was a really thorough explanation about it. But in a nut shell, the act of putting your palms together to pray is not exactly practiced in Tibetan Buddhism. Why?

For this reason we go back to why we put our palms together. It is a sign of respect and offering of respect from our hearts. Unfortunately if we put our palms together, there is nothing in between the palms. And it is considered not good to offer well..nothing. WIth this by sticking our thumbs in between which makes it look like a cup with something in it ...it is a symbol of which you are offering a vessel with something in it. It also becomes a shape of a jewel in which symbolizes the 3 jewels that Buddhist seek refuge in....which is the Buddha, The Dharma and the Sangha.

THe prostration begins by placing your newly formed jewel palms ontop of your head, symbolizing the crown of buddha which is our ultimate goal..which is to attain full enlightenment. Next is putting your hands to your forehead symbolizing clarity of mind and the refuge to the dharma or universal knowledge. Then bring your hands to your throat ...of which symbolizes the Sangha who are the teachers who speak out and tells the world of the dharma to follow....and finally end it at your chest level.

The long prostration...you have to lie on the floor face down.. then back up and start all over again 3 times.

Thats for prostration.

Yesterday was on offerings....Offerings no matter how big or small will only work when it is given with a sincere heart. AS long as you have a sincere heart of offering it to the Lords or anyone for that matter does it make it even more meaningful. So why are offerings made as beautiful as possible especially to the Buddhas? Because when we make offerings it is as if we are treating them as offerings to the kings all though the Buddhas are of higher ranks than kings themselves.

So how did this Seven Offerings come about? In Buddha Shakyamuni's time, it was how The Kings were received. First with a welcome drink, then basin of water to purify the feet, then incense of sandalwood to purify the halls, then flower offerings, then perfume offerings, food and finally music and entertainment. SO similarily we offer a bowl of water, then another bowl of water, a flower, offerings of incense, a bowl of perfume, food and then a seashell perhaps to symbolize music. It can actually be anything as long as it can symbolize it.

So wats the difference between the offerings to kings and to the Buddhas? Blessings...and with that when we make offerings we say out the syllables "Om Ah Hum". Very powerful syllables that are programmed into us even from birth. Om blesses and purifies the offering, Ah turns them into sweet nectar that increases its value, and Hum amplifies it many folds.

I can keep going but u'd not read it in the end so ..i'll stop here....till next lesson....see yas..