Where is “Mr. Buddha” ?
--- A memoir of Year 2005 Karma Kagyu Monlam Chenmo
　

by Karma Yeshe Wangmo
edited by Linda Lynton

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Chinese Version

“Your Holiness, we come to BodhGaya, the place where Mr. Buddha achieved enlightenment, to have Monlam Chenmo. Under that Bodhi Tree, are we supposed to feel anything? Do you feel anything special? Do you feel Mr. Buddha? “

A westerner raised this question to Karmapa inside a gleaming lecture hall. The whole audience burst into laughs by hearing this amusing term --- “Mr. Buddha”.

I joined the Taiwan Karma Lekshey Ling Buddhist Institute’s pilgrimage to India which took place from Dec 28, 2005 to Jan 18, 2006. After the 5-day lineage dharma lectures taught by the Karmapa to Chinese disciples in Thrangu Vajra Vidya Monastery, Varanasi, our group was divided into two: one group returned home, and the remaining 20-some continued the journey in India to arrive at BodhGaya to attend the 8-day Kagyu Monlam Chenmo led by the Karmapa.

Though “Year 2005 Kagyu Monlam Chenmo” went from Jan 7 to 14, 2006, from the perspective of the Tibetan calendar it was still year 2005. (The Tibetan New Year began in February) The first Monlam Chenmo was initiated by the first Kalu Rinpoche in 1983, and this year marks the 23rd anniversary of the event in BodhGaya. The first monlam only had sangha members from the Sonada and Mirik Monasteries, so the event was called Kamtsang Monlam Chenmo.(Kamtsang Kagyu is a specific Kagyu lineage). In recent years, however, in order to enhance harmony and cooperation between the four great and eight lesser Kagyu schools, the event had been renamed Karma Kagyu Monlam Chenmo.

The Mahabodhi Temple

The objective of the Monlam Chenmo is multi-fold. It includes helping to disseminate the dharma as taught by Shakyamuni Buddha, to eliminate the chaos of the last period of the world, and to accumulate merit by providing offerings to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, in order to achieve world peace and harmony. In addition, there are supplications to the gurus’ teachings and to their longevity along with purifications to be reborn in the Pure Land or better realms. Led by the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, the attendees included dharma sons, tulkus, rinpoches, lamas, anis, and lay dharma practitioners from all over the world. The main activity in the Monlam Chenmo is the recitation 100,000-times of the Aspiration of Samantabhadra, along with various mantras, supplications, lamp offerings, and pujas.

In our group, we had people from the US, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore. We stayed in a hotel called Mahamaya (Maha means large; maya means delusion, all external appearances), which was not far from the Karma Lekshey Ling Buddhist Institute’s principle’s place (the Institute’s principle also attended the monlam) Mahayana Hotel, (yana means vehicle). Our hotel was probably the closest hotel to the main meeting place, and was a simple and family-style establishment. All of our 3-meals a day took place in the hotel’s restaurant, which was in the basement. The chef was very good at satisfying our appetite, and made authentic Chinese dishes out of his Indian kitchen. From the fried eggs, gong gee, roasted peanuts for breakfast to fried rice, fried lo-man, sauté cauliflower for lunch and dinner, we joked that this establishment, whose chef was trained by us, was probably the most authentic Chinese restaurant in BodhGaya.

Electric power supply in India is notorious for its unreliability. When there is an increase in electric power usage, a power outage (rolling blackout) often occurs. The power system in our hotel often went on strike whenever there was a usage load increase, such as when many people took a shower at the same time. Whenever this happened, the hotel clerk would rush out of the hotel and turned on the power generator in the yard outside. The duration of the power service interruption was dictated by the speed of the hotel rescue team. If the outage happened in the middle of night, it would take longer to get power back online since the clerk needed to be woken up (by us), to put on a coat, and ignite the generator. After a few of these occurrences, we started to remember to put a flashlight in the bathroom and to wake up the hotel clerk if we did not hear the humming of the generator in the darkness.

The three forefathers of the lineage

The Monlam Chenmo took place in the Mahabodhi Temple, whose original stupa was erected 1500 years ago. During our stay, the Stupa was undergoing maintenance and was surrounded by scaffolding. In the shadow of the Stupa stands the bodhi tree. Though it is not the exact bodhi tree that witnessed Buddha’s enlightenment 2500 years ago, it is a cutting from a cutting from the original tree (a cutting was taken from the original tree and planted in temple grounds in Sri Lanka. The current tree was a cutting from that tree). The bodhi tree grows out exuberantly tall and strong. The Monlam Chenmo’s mandala was located right under the bodhi tree, and was only a few meters away from the Vajra Seat, where the Buddha achieved enlightenment. The centre of the mandala had a drawing of the Buddha with five bhikkhus showing the first turning of the dharma wheel. On the right side of the mandala, there were three two-meter high large relief sculptures made out of butter and flour. These sculptures were finely sculpted, with delicate details in riotous profusion, by a group of lamas who had worked diligently day and night for over a month. The middle one represented the great interpreter Marpa, who had undergone humongous difficulties traveling to India to request teachings from Naropa. The sculpture on the right was Marpa’s disciple Milarepa, and the sculpture on the left was Milarepa’s disciple Gampopa. These three sculptures illustrated the three great founders of our lineage. During the Monlam Chenmo, standing in front of Gampopa is the Karmapa, Gampopa’s number one disciple, who has been reincarnated 17 times as the Galwa Karmapa, and behind the Karmapa crowded a group of disciples–including us.

The daily schedule of the Monlam Chenmo was the following (except for the last two days):

6:00 AM ~ 7:00 AM    Sojong (or Mahayana Vows) given by the Karmapa
7:00 AM ~ 9:00 AM    First Session
9:00 AM ~ 9:30 AM    Tea break
9:30 AM ~ 11:30 AM  Second Session
11:30 AM ~ 1:00 PM  Lunch break
1:00 PM ~ 3:00 PM    The Karmapa’s Tibetan lecture to sangha members
                                      (without English and Chinese translation)
3:00 PM ~ 3:30 PM    Tea break
3:30 PM ~ 5:00 PM    Third Session
5:00 PM ~ 7:00 PM    Dinner break
7:00 PM ~ 8:30 PM    Karmapa’s teaching on Chenrezik practice
                                      (with English and Chinese translation)

One thing that everyone did was “watch the Karmapa” during the tea break. During the main events of the monlam, the Karmapa would face the mandala and have his back toward us. It was only during the tea break that the Karmapa would turn around and face us. Therefore, the tea break became a good opportunity for everyone to “watch the Karmapa” or “take photos of Karmapa”.

According to some literature, just by seeing the Karmapa once means that eons of kleshas can be purified, and one will not fall into lower realms during the bardo. Moreover, it was the first time for many of us to see the Karmapa in person, so we paid close attention to every movement His Holiness made. Those who were not first-time “viewers” also fully concentrated on the Karmapa because they were aware that the impermanence of life means that death could strike at any time and there was no guarantee that one would ever have the opportunity to see His Holiness in this holy place again.

The Karmapa giving an teaching

What we saw of the Karmapa--His Holiness’s grandness, penetrating eyesight, royalty, and absorbing dignified manner, passed through our eyes and became engraved in our hearts. Regardless of the fact that “watching the Karmapa” could be for karmic purification, a sense of affinity, and/or out of mere curiosity, just as Khenpo Lodro Tengye, the vice Principle of Taiwan Lekshey Ling Buddhist Institute, said: “One can never be tired of watching the Karmapa!”

Day 1 (Saturday, 1/7/06)

This is the first day of the event. Everyone looked excited and nervous. The nervousness came from our not knowing the schedule and being afraid of missing important activities (we didn’t get the schedule shown above until noon of the first day). As anticipated, something unexpected happened in the morning on the very first day. At 4:00AM, the attendants of the Choje principle (the principle of Leshey Ling Buddhist Institute) rushed about on errands from the Mahayaha Hotel to the Mahamaya Hotel to get all the sangha members ready for the congregation at the Mahabodhi Stupa.

We laypersons were able to follow the original plan to have breakfast in the hotel, gather in the hotel lobby, and walk together to the stupa. But by the time we arrived at the mandala, the first session had started. We walked around the grounds and crowds of people in order to find a place where we could see the Karmapa clearly yet would not be overly exposed to the strong Indian sunlight.

After lunch, the Karmapa started the Tibetan-language lecture to the ordained sangha. Since the lecture was specifically directed to ordained sangha members, there was no formal English or Chinese translation. We were lucky to have Kenpo Lodro Tengye with us, who was the main Chinese translator for the event; he translated for us. The Karmapa teached “The Jewel Ornament of Liberation” by Gampopa to the sangha; and His Holiness talked about the paramita of patience among the six paramitas. The Karmapa said that the true meaning of patience is to respond to people who mistreat you with a mind of compassion rather than a mind of the three poisons. Treating people with compassion is like taking care of a patient. The Karmapa emphasized further that even when one has a compassionate heart one’s external behavior should also reverberate with that compassion. Therefore, the expression in one’s eyes is very important. One should look at all sentient beings with a compassionate expression in one’s eyes because these people are the ones who help us obtain Buddhahood. Moreover, when we receive precepts, we should also investigate our motivation for doing so. The motivation needs to be pure, and should be for the benefits of all sentient beings.

The Karmapa also mentioned that when reciting the liturgy one should contemplate on each word’s meaning, form, and sound. On this very first day, the Karampa encouraged attendees to grasp every opportunity to practice dharma diligently during this special event as this gathering in such a holy place has a special affinity. If one feels drowsy or sleepy, one should ask what good is it to fall asleep at such an exceptional event? The antidote to drowsiness could be open one’s eyes widely, level up one’s spirit, or get a good sleep beforehand, and then come to the Monlam Chenmo.

The Karmapa’s evening teaching started at 7 o’clock. Due to the huge lineup in the daytime, we anticipated that the evening teaching would be crowded. So we arrived at the entrance of Shenchen Monastery around 6 o’clock. Just as we thought, the main shrine room very quickly reached full capacity. The organizers requested people sit closely together three times, so allowing more people waiting to be admitted. In the end, we sat shoulder against shoulder and foot against foot, sweating quite a bit despite it being a cold winter night in BodhGaya. Still, many dharma practitioners had to stand outside, trying hard to listen to the teaching through the windows or the wide open doorway of the main shrine room.

The Karmapa must have sensed the awkward situation among us, and considerately said that that night’s teaching would be brief in order to let people rest earlier and clean away the tiredness from their long distance travel.

That night the Karmapa touched upon the topic of compassion. His Holiness mentioned that the practice of compassion can not be done solely by one’s own efforts (He raised one hand and swayed it in the air), and that, most importantly, it should rely on the force given by the environment (the Karmapa slams the raised hand into his own face) because only the external environment can bring about the extraordinary power that is inside us.

Hearing this, my entangled heart suddenly opens up, and at that moment I realized what it really means to encounter the filth and poverty in India’s holy cities. As this was my first trip to India, I was shocked by the unbearable living situations of many people I saw along the way. [Bihar is one of the poorest and least “cared for” states in India, there is actually a quiet civil war going on there—editor] It was very difficult for me to associate the appalling poverty and highly polluted environment with the holy places where Buddha turned the wheel of dharma. [this region was once very wealthy and was the base of India’s first great empire, similar to Rome—editor] I could not help but ask where did Buddha’s teachings go? And why do people in this place look so depressed? As I look back, my initial expectation of this sacred place was contrary to the appearance of the environment, and it was the very environment that this showed propels us to walk on the path of dharma. It is the suffering of sentient beings that brings out the great compassion that lies deep inside us, and the shocks created by the poverty and destitution are far beyond what we are likely to experience in our own lives. So I realize that trying to look for bodhi (using bodhi as a symbol for Buddha or Buddha’s mind) in a sacred place could be in vain; for all we see through our own eyes are suffering and ignorance; close our eyes, and what arises inside our heart is what Buddha intends to teach.

Day 2 (Sunday, 1/8/06)

The Karmapa and Gyaltsab Rinpoche

We rose very early in the morning. We quickly got ready and arrived at the meeting place before dawn to receive the Mahayana Vow bestowed by the Karmapa. This vow had to be taken before dawn and it would automatically expire after the sunrise of next day. If one wanted to continue the vow, one would have to take it again before the next dawn. There are 8 precepts involved with this vow: The five basic precepts of non-killing, non-stealing, non-sexual misconduct, non-incorrect speech, non-intoxicant drinking; plus 3 precepts of refraining from eating at forbidden times, from wearing perfumes and garlands, and from lying on luxurious beds or seats. The motivation for taking these vows needs to be for the benefit of sentient beings and for the termination of their suffering. All ordained sangha members are required to receive the vow, and laypersons like us could decide whether we wanted to take the vow or not on a daily basis.

After the ceremony, the sky began to grow light with the sunrise. We returned to the hotel for breakfast and went back to the meeting place shortly afterwards. We spread out under the bodhi tree and concentrated on the voice of the chanting master in order to figure out which sutra to follow. Unfortunately, I could only identify three sutras from the frequently used sadhana compilation that we brought with us. They were the Mahamudra Prayer, The Aspiration of Samantabhadra, and Buddha’s 12 Conduct Praise Prayer. For other times, we could only sit up straight, meditate, or experience a feeling of being out of place, unconnected. After some investigation, I realized that it was quite challenging following the sutra recitations with the sangha. First, all the sutras were recited in Tibetan (no Chinese or English translations available). Unless you knew Tibetan, it was impossible to recite. Second, the order of the sutra recitations was not the same every day. Though the chanting master announced the title of the sutra before starting the recitation, unless one was extremely familiar with the page numbers of the different sutras it was difficult to keep up with the speed. Given these very real difficulties, we soon gave up all hope of following the sutra recitation. Instead, we allowed our minds to settle in the energetic sound of the recitations of the dharma being created by the ordained sangha, and practiced Avaloketeshvara’s method of training our hearing cognition.

The Karmapa’s evening teaching was moved from yesterday’s Shechen Monastery to the Taiwan Temple in order to accommodate more people. His Holiness continued with the teaching on Chenrezik practice. In the class, His Holiness revealed his family tradition of Chenrezik practice. He said that his grandmother is blind, and naturally she suffers from the inconveniences and difficulties that all the blind have. But whenever his grandmother recited the six-syllable mantra, her face would be shining with hope and happiness. This hope brought to his grandmother by the Chenrezik practice made her sufferings more tolerable and less bitter. His Holiness went on to say that he comes from a very poor family, and the only thing that he could share with us is this practice of Chenrezik. His grandmother handed down the practice to his mother, his mother handed it down to His Holiness, and now His Holiness hands down the practice to us. The moment I hear this, I was really touched by His Holiness’s kindness. Whathe was teaching to us was not a distant, ice-cold event, but a warm family dharma practice. With that statement, he clearly viewed all of us as members of his family, and I felt that the distance between His Holiness and us swiftly vanished.

The Karmapa then talked about the key points in the proceeding practices of taking refuge and the generation of Bodhichitta. Taking refuge is regarded as having confidence in the dharma, and bodhichitta is the motivation behind all dharma practice. With such confidence and pure motivation, provided it is accompanied with a proper guidance, we can gradually achieve our goal of reaching enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings step by step.

Day 3 (Monday, 1/9/06)

As before, we received the Mahayaha Vow before dawn. During the ceremony, a girl with a strong British accent sat next to me and we receive the vow together. She had been roaming around India for more than a year at that point. Hearing that the Karmapa was leading a Monlam Chenmo in BodhGaya, she had traveled quite a long distance from another city to attend this event. In addition to this girl, there were many other individuals not affiliated with any group, scattered around the mandala attending this Monlam Chenmo. Most of them were young people from Western countries who flew across half a hemisphere to India to look for the meaning of life. India attracted them because it has given birth to many religions and many great spiritual masters live there. The low living expenses allowed these young people to wander around without work for years. I could not help but wonder how many of them would eventually find the answer to their search, and move forward with full confidence. And how many of them would exhaust all their money and be forced to return disappointed? Nevertheless, their courage and determination won my great respect.

After lunch it is the Karmapa’s Tibetan teaching again. Due to accumulating duties, Khenpo Lodro Tengye could not translate for us so often in the future. Although we did not understand the Kamapa’s words, we still looked for a good seat and concentrated on His Holiness’s speech, and we did this every day. When the Karmapa teaches, he speaks eloquently with lots of hand gestures and facial expressions. According to some anis who understood Tibetan, His Holiness likes to tell stories in his teachings, one story after another. From time to time, we heard a burst of laughter from the audience. Even though we do not understand it at all, we laughed along with them.

In the evening teaching, the Karmapa mentioned that with great wisdom and great compassion the Buddha achieved profound buddhahood. Buddha had the ability to know everything, and this ability can be understood as the ability to know any and every method for alleviating the sufferings and fulfilling the needs of all sentient beings.

His Holiness continued to say that we should develop a sense of closeness and intimacy with Buddha. How to develop this kind of familiarity with Buddha? His Holiness indicated that as we stand on this sacred land, where Buddha had lived, walked, and turned the wheel of dharma, we should contemplate all of the Buddha’s activities that took place here over and over again. By doing so, we can definitely shorten the distance between us and the Buddha. His Holiness added that if the Buddha was alive today and if we could still see Him in person, then without a doubt we would be deeply moved by his great compassion.

That night, the Karmapa introduced two pieces of music that he had composed. The first was the new melody for the Chenrezik Sadhana. This new melody has a repetition length of two sentences. In other words, every two sentences the melody then repeats. The conventional melody has a repetition length of one sentence, and the length of each note is about the same. The new melody composed by His Holiness has a relatively larger variation in note length and pitch, and the last two syllables of the first sentence is the beginning of the next melody. In such a way, the first sentence and the second sentence has a very lingering connection. I believe that the new melody better invokes one’s feelings when reciting the sadhana.

The Karmapa in the eveningteaching

The second composition was an English-language prayer song titled “The World”. The lyric came from a poem originally written by the Karmapa in Tibetan. It was later translated into English and Chinese. The Karmapa composed the melody on the English version, and it was the prayer song for this current Monlam Chenmo. The “world” in the song’s title refers to the place where we live -- the Earth -- and so alluded to all beings, sentient or non-sentient, living on the Earth. The world is personified in the song, and the singer speaks to the world of one’s aspirations. That is the aspiration for world peace and happiness. The first stanza pointed out that we live and die on you (the Earth), and we also play out our woes and joys on you. You are forever our home and we will cherish you forever. The second stanza spokes about our wishes to transform you into the pure realm of our dreams --- a place where all beings can live in peace and harmony, a goddess of gentleness and kindness, a goddess we can all embrace. The third stanza continued with our aspiration that until we finish transforming you please remain as the support of our lives and do not show us your dark side. We vow to transform your every corner into a place of freedom and happiness.
I felt the Karmapa’s composition was floating like a melody descending from Heaven. Combined with the lyrics of earnest supplication, when we sang the song we entered a dream-like trance and completely forgot the space and time we were in. As we sang the song, it reminded us of the 500 great compassionate aspirations made by the Buddha to eradicate the sufferings of despicable beings, to purify the Earth, and to transform samsara into a solemn Pure Land.

As we sing the song, our hearts seem get closer to the heart of the Buddha …

As we sing the song, our hearts also seem get closer to the heart of the Karmapa …

Day 4 (Tuesday, 1/10/06)

This morning’s Mahayana Vow was offered by His Eminence Gyaltsab Rinpoche instead of the Karmapa. Later we learn that the Karmapa had some flu symptoms due to his overloaded schedule. Nevertheless the Karmapa insisted on giving the afternoon lecture and evening teaching. During the teaching, from time to time he would stroke his throat or softly cough. Then he would open his eyes widely and make a funny face to make everyone laugh. The Karmapa seemed want to tell us that he was fine and we should not be worried.

In the most non-noticeable corner of the meeting place sat a group of getsuls. (A getsul is a novice monk, usually under 10 years old.) They were from 3 to 6 years old, and were being taken care of by some slightly older getsuls. They always left the meeting place after everyone else had gone. They lined up in the hallway with each holding onto the clothing of the one in front. I asked the lama in charge if they could understand the chanting and follow it. The lama smiled with his hand waving and said “No. They are too young to follow the chanting. But they are very excited to come to the Monlam Chenmo everyday!”

Getsuls from Palpung JangchupChoekorling

The difference in temperature in BodhGaya between the morning and evening is significant, and we often changed clothes 3 times in one day: winter clothes in the morning, summer clothes at noon, and back to winter clothes in the evening. A dharma member noticed that the getsuls had only one set of robes for the whole day, which looked somewhat insubstantial for BodhGaya’s winter, so she took off her shawl and handed it to one of the smaller getsuls; she developed the aspiration to buy them winter clothes.

After talking to the leading lama Chojee Lama Nyima Tashi, we learned that there were 170 getsuls in the group. Among them, 80 were female (we had originally thought that all of them were male). They came from Palpung Jangchup Choekorling Monastery, and were heading to the Tai Situ Rinpoche’s Palpung Sherab Ling Monastery to receive 6 years of education in Buddhism study. After the completion of their education, they would return to their original monastery and take on the responsibility of spreading the dharma and of benefiting all sentient beings. Currently, though, they were in need of winter jackets.

After we returned to the hotel, our group contributed 6200 rupees as an offering for the getsuls‘ winter jackets. Although the amount of money was only a fraction of what was needed, everyone’s altruistic enthusiasm was insurmountably precious. We joked about that this is a great beginning because one of the getsuls, who currently has two strips of nasal mucus on the face, might be a guru for one of us one day!

The Getsuls get ready to leave

I and two other dharma members went to a nearby Tibetan monastery at the end of the Karmapa’s afternoon lecture to rent prostration boards as we planned to do some fundamental practices. The rental cost for each board was 30 rupees (100 rupees are about 2.3 US dollars) and the rental period was for 3 months, although we only needed to use them for the remaining 5 days of the event. For each board we added an extra 10 rupees to hire labor to carry the board to the meeting place. In addition to us, there were about 100-plus boards of other dharma practitioners scattered around the stupa. Because the Indian sunlight was penetratingly hot and there was very little shade around the meeting place, most people needed to race against time to do prostrations before sunrise or after sunset. We were lucky to find a treasure land under the bodhi tree in front of the mandala which also had good feng shui because it was close to the Karmapa, had shade, and was not far from other group members. The next day one more dharma member joined us, and another member had her board moved to our “treasure land”. So our “Assiduous Prostration Team” was officially formed and there were a total of 5 people in our team.

Due to the advantage of the geographical location of our “treasure land”, the number of time slots available for prostrations proved to be plentiful. For instance, we had one hour before breakfast, one hour before lunch, one-and-a-half hours after the afternoon break, etc. Practicing prostrations in BodhGaya was a very special experience, and I called it “The Miraculous Prostrations in the Sacred Land”. It was miraculous because even after a couple hundred prostrations one did not get tired and one’s body still felt very light. This was not just my personal experience, it was an experience shared by many others. Looking back to the prostration experiences I had had on my living room floor at home, I was highly motivated to take this opportunity in such a sacred land to assiduously conduct prostration practice.

In the evening teaching, the Karmapa talked about the visualization for the main Chenrezik practice. At the end of the teaching, a Q&A session was opened to the floor. One question in particular caught my attention. It was that as we make offerings to the Buddha and Bodhisattvas in order to benefit sentient beings, why do we not directly help those people currently in need? The Karmapa’s reply was the following: Providing needy people with help can definitely alleviate the current situation of these people. At the same time these acts also make the Buddha and Bodhisattvas happy, and are worthy of encouragement. But the offerings to the Buddha and Bodhisattvas and the offerings to the needy lead to two different results. Though offerings to the needy can solve their immediate problems, the help those people can bring us is not as big as that of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. It is like knowing people in power or with authority, and the help they can provide to us is far more than a normal people can provide. [Through cultivating an affinity with spiritually “powerful” or “wise” people, with an intention to benefit all beings, enables us to gain greater compassion – and ultimately an ability to truly help--the suffering we see in others.]

After the teaching, some people stayed up to practice the prayer song “The World”. This song was to be performed in the candle lighting ceremony on the last day. As we reveled in the solemn pure land by singing the song, some little beggars, who didn’t succeed in getting candies from us previously, started making trouble outside the window of the temple. We sang “DO”, and they purposely sang “ME”! We drove them away, and they returned even more excited. This made me reflect on the Karmapa’s teaching on compassion on Day One. It is the miseries of the people and environment around us that brings out our compassion and propels us to dedicate our life to learning and practicing dharma. In a symbolic sense, the people/environment we “encounter” serves as a stimulus. The beggars reminded me of samsara, reminded me that we should not feel “too comfortable” in a heaven-like atmosphere while we sang the song.

Day 5 (Wednesday, 1/11/06)

This was the second day that we did prostration practice. Because we now had a clear goal (doing prostrations) our minds and bodies seemed to find it easier to settle into the Monlam Chenmo. Our prostration boards became our temporary home for the rest of the event. On top of them, we prostrated, chanted, or meditated. Before the sunlight wreaked its havoc, we assiduously performed prostrations. We visualized the bodhi tree above our head as the wish-fulfilling tree in the Ngundo refuge visulation, imagined that the Buddha still meditated here, entering the state of samadhi under the bodhi tree, imagined that our family, relatives, creditors, and mother-like sentient beings were all together with us prostrating to the Buddha under the bodhi tree, to the bodhisattvas in the mandala, to the Karmapa in the front, to all the sangha members in the Monlam Chenmo!

Pal Tergar Rigdzin Khacho Dargye Ling Monastery of Mingyur Rinpoche

Many people in our group were disciples of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. Hearing that Mingyur Rinpoche had a monastery under construction in BodhGaya, we decided to visit it so we could tell Rinpoche during his visit to Taiwan in March and show some photos. After a brief lunch we set out to the monastery, which was only 5 minutes away by car. Rinpoche’s monastery was situated in the middle of open farmland with refreshing air and a far reaching field of vision. The moment we stepped into the main shrine room, people’s exclamations were incessant. We were astonished by the fine drawing of dragons and phoenixes on the ceiling. The pattern of dragons and phoenixes might be quite common in Chinese monasteries, but it was not so usual in Tibetan ones. Maybe this monastery wanted to express the unified beauty of Chinese and Tibetan art? The main building was 3-stories high. The side-rooms on two sides on the second floor were the guest rooms for visiting lamas and rinpoches, and the central room was the reception area. The Karmapa’s room was located on the third floor. Behind the main building there were two separate buildings. The larger one was the guesthouse for laypersons and visiting sangha, and the smaller one was Mingyur Rinpoche’s residence.

We shuttled between the inside and outside of the monastery several times, and tried visualizing what it would look like when completed. We tried to imagine how it would be when we all came here to attend teachings. We even joked about the open land on the right hand side and said “Let’s take this piece of land and turn it into a Karma Kagyu Village!” Strangely, this uncompleted monastery felt like a strong magnet that irrefutably drew us toward it. We wandered around the construction site without any desire to leave. The ani had to urge us to leave several times before we reluctantly got on the bus and rushed back to catch the Karmapa’s afternoon lecture.

We arrived at the meeting on time. Anis and lamas resumed their pre-assigned seats, we looked for a place with an unblocked sight of the Karmapa in order to “see” his lecture in Tibetan. Such a location enabled me to become gradually immersed in the atmosphere, and often be in a completely absorbed state. As I found myself comfortable, an Indian national SAHARA TV reporter, along with a camera man, asked to interview me. Initially I thought I should find a Khenpo or the organizers to have the interview as they would provide better and more accurate information than me about the Monlam Chenmo. But the reporter said that he wanted to interview normal attendees for their impressions of the Monlam Chenmo, and of the Karmapa etc. So I agreeably accepted to be interviewed.

The reporter asked me three good questions and the total interview time was about 5 minutes. The first question was “What is the purpose of me being here (BodhGaya)?” I repliled that there were two reasons. The first was that the Karmapa is here to conduct the Monlam Chenmo and I came here to see the Karmapa. The second was that being a Buddhist there is always a force inside me to come to the place where the Buddha reached enlightenment, to see this place and feel the land for myself. The second question was “Have I had a chance to meet the Karmapa in person? And how do I feel about him?” I replied that I did not have a chance to meet the Karmapa on a one-to-one basis, but I did have the opportunity to see him as part of a group of about 50 people. My first impression of the Karmapa was that he is very young, very compassionate, full of energy, and has shown great leadership on many occasions. Another thing that surprised me was that when we visited the Karmapa, I found that he was very easy to get close to, which was quite different from my initial expectations, as I had expected to feel somewhat remote or distant from him. The third question was “Am I aware of the Karmapa twin case? And what is my view on this?” My answer was that I am aware of the Karmapa twin case. As to my views on this, I have never met “the other” Karmapa, so I could not give any comment on him. I think we need to patiently give it some time for the confusion and misunderstandings of the whole event to be gradually clarified and resolved. From my personal perspective, I can surely say that I have greatly benefited from the Karmapa’s teaching and have been learning a lot from this lineage.

Not long after the interview, the Karmapa’s afternoon lecture also came to an end. The Karmapa was soon surrounded by his attendants and sangha members and was about to leave the meeting place. We stood up to show our respect and to wait for his departure. Just before the Karmapa was about to step out of the main gate, His Holiness suddenly stopped and turned his head toward where we stood and gave us a smile.

That night the Karmapa continued his teaching on Chenrezik practice. His Holiness mentioned that practicing dharma requires confidence, motivation, and trust. The confidence entails complete trust in the dharma, motivation needs to be for the benefit of others, and trust is the assurance of being able to reach the goal. Also, one needs to ascertain that Chenrezik can be one’s true protector, and one does possess the cause for being rescued. This kind of assurance is not established on the basis of blind faith but through the result of investigation and analysis. We should investigate and analyze to find out if Chenrezik can truly be a reliable protector for us. And what kind of cause should we have to allow for this to happen? In addition, when one recites the sadhana it is important to emit the sound. Because sound itself possesses a certain degree of power, even by hearing ourselves reciting it can have a significant impact on us. Our chanting should also be full of affection so that not only would we be touched by our chanting, any others hearing our chanting would also be moved.

Day 6 (Thursday, 1/12/06)

On Thursday we were lucky to have Khenpo Lodro Tengye stop by and translate parts of the Karmapa’s afternoon lecture. The Karmapa talked about the Father and Son Lineage Longevity Prayer. This prayer was originally written by the 13th Karmapa, and His Holiness revised the old text and announced the new revision in the Monlam Chenmo. The objective of this effort was to improve the harmony inside the lineage. It is an effort to bring people’s attention to the prayer and be more serious about it; like paying attention to an old teaching with a new perspective.

The Vajra Seat

The Buddha had talked about the merits of circumambulating stupas and his teaching is documented in the Buddha States Right Circumambulation Merits Sutra. The merits derived from the circumambulation of stupas include “being away from 8 difficulties and born into a trouble-free environment”, “being with good looks, grace and wealth”, “having abundant wealth but without stinginess and being proactive with generosity”, “having a delicate appearance, so people who see it feel pleasant, the place where one lives is always peaceful”, “possessing great perseverance, diligently practicing various dharmas, never feeling tiredness”, “being bold and powerful, proactively practice dharma, being indestructible, all one is engaged in will be accomplish quickly” etc. Since circumambulating Stupas possess so many unconceivable merits, our mandala was located right next to the Mahabodhi Stupa, how could we let this great opportunity to circumambulate the Stupa in the sacred place slip by? Therefore, the stupa circumambulation became one of our most important daily activities in the morning, at noon, and in the evening.

In order to be compatible with the Monlam Chenmo ceremony, the 4 surrounding outer walls of the Stupa were decorated with flowers in white, yellow, and tangerine. One side of the hallway had an altar array, on top of it was rice, incense, and tormas. The most popular corner of the Stupa was the Vajra seat. The Vajra seat is the seat on which the Prince Siddhartha saw the morning star and in that moment achieved the state of Buddhahood. For this reason, this seat bears a very special meaning. For safety concerns, the Vajra seat is segregated in an enclosure, and is only opened to public two hours a day (6:00AM ~ 7:00AM and 5:00PM ~ 6:00PM). At other times, one could only peep through the metal frames to see inside. The space within was very small, about 50 square feet. During open hours, it would only hold 5-6 people, and others had to wait patiently outside until the previous group exited after completing their worship. A knee-high altar was placed on the Vajra seat, on top of which sat a one-foot high statute of the Buddha in lotus meditation posture. The whole statue was bright silver in color, and decorated with numerous white diamonds of various sizes. The statue did not face the entrance, instead it faced the side wall of the Stupa. As a result, we could only see the left side of the statue. This peculiar placement indicated the direction the Buddha faced on reaching enlightenment. I roughly estimated the direction to be east.

Green Tara

Once we entered the Vajra seat, a strong fragrance immediately entered our nostrils. We first performed 3 prostrations, and then knelt down in front of the altar, placed our forehead against the edge of the table, and prayed reverently. The periphery around the Vajra seat was covered with meditation mats brought by various groups. People sat on top of the meditation mats meditating or chanting. The sounds of the chanting fluttered in the wind in various languages--Chinese, English, Pali, Japanese, Korean, Tibetan. Some diligent dharma practitioners even covered their bodies with a mosquito net to prevent interference from bugs and mosquitoes. It was quite an experience.

After passing by the Vajra seat and array of altars, a one-meter-high Green Tara statue inlaid (set into a surface in a decorative design) into the Stupa wall greeted us. This statue stood out and differed from many other statues including others carved into the walls due to its size and style. It was much larger and appeared to have a vigorous life of its own, compared with most of the other friezes. The Green Tara statue often had wreaths around its neck, being offerings from devotees. It is said that Green Tara can bestow special powers to enhance activities. Therefore, every time we passed the statue in our circumambulation we placed our forehead against the wall below her lotus seat and prayed reverently. Due to such devotion from pilgrims over many years, the wall was oily bright --some parts were even covered with gold foil. Pasting gold foil on the Stupa’s walls was a way of making offerings and was often seen here.

Shakyamuni Buddha

Walking forward with small steps, we would then arrive in front of the entrance of the main shrine room. Inside sat a 2-meter high golden Buddha statue. The Buddha’s mouth was slightly raised at the corners, he looked straight into the wide open space in front, wearing a golden silk dharma robe, with a third eye made of diamonds in the middle of his forehead. After we entered the shrine room, we prostrated before this noble statue, knelt in front of it, and prayed reverently. That particular day, our actions reminded me of the early morning after we arrived in BodhGaya, when our whole group had practiced The Thirty-Seven Practices of  Bodhisattvas altogether right here!

Stepping out of the monastery, on the right hand side there was an array of 4 or 5 stone rooms. The doors were all narrow and short, and the space inside was very small (about 100 square feet each room). Most of the dieties enshrined in these rooms were Hindu gods and goddesses; so we did not linger further but continued on our journey. In a few steps, we had returned to the point where we had started and so had completed one round of circumambulation.

In the evening teaching, the Karmapa touched upon two topics: self-attachment and bodhichitta. His Holiness said that self-attachment and external appearances are artificial creations of the mind, and that appearances do not have a true existence. He likened it to watching movies. Though the moving images in the movies do not have a true existence, as we watch them our mind still goes up and down due to events in the stories. The affected mind then influences the creation of external appearances. In such a way, our mind and apparent appearances have a strong bond and they impact each other with a mutual interdependence. Since appearances can have a climax as well as a recession, why not just focus our mind on the positive side of this equation and use compassion to deal with the negative side? And in such a way, become a true master of the mind.

Day 7 (Friday, 1/13/06)

The Monlam Chenmo became increasingly intense toward the end, and everyone was busy getting ready for the final sprint. Among those who were eager to be actively involved and go “on stage” included us. (The Monlam is like a show that everyone can take a part in it. We were not simply an audience, but participants. So we were eager to be involved and “perform” in the Monlam.)

After the Mahayana Vow ceremony that morning, the ordained sangha did not continue with the first session of chanting as they had before. They were busy doing numerous, to us, mysterious activities. We asked what is going on, and were told that the next program was the Mahayana Sutra Circumambulation. There was not much time left for us to prepare for this. In addition to informing other group members, I and another member rushed outside to buy flowers and incense. The florist sees the sudden upsurge in demand and started driving the prices up. After some back and forth bargaining, we eventually brought back a dozen lotus flowers at a reasonable price. The process of buying incense went well, but burning the incenses cost us a lot of tears. The incense sticks were bundled together, and each bundle wrapped in a red strand had about 20 sticks. The original plan was to get 10 packs of incense, and after they were all lit we would unbundle the packs and distribute the sticks to more people. The unwrapped incense sticks turned out to be very fragile, and even a gentle touch would instantly break them up. Consequently, we lost quite a lot of incense. Also the incense had absorbed moisture, and it took a long time for us to ignite it all.

With flowers and incense in hand, we stood on both sides of the path patiently waiting for the circumambulating troop to arrive. The troop was headed by a flag team followed by the Karmapa and then by hundreds of ordained sangha members. Every sangha member held a bulky book of Mahayana Sutras, wrapped in yellow cloth about a half meter long, 10 cm wide and 10 cm high. The troop circumambulated the Stupa three times in large, middle, and small circles. The first round was on the outer pathway, the second on the middle, and the final round on the inner pathway close to the Stupa. Finally, the troop returned to the mandala, and the sangha members divided up the Mahayana Sutras for recitation.

Mahayana Sutra Tour Troops

Initially we waited on the outer pathway, and then moved to the middle path. Seeing the troop slowly pass in front of us, we silently prayed that the teachings of the Buddha be widely spread, and that the turning of the dharma wheel be eternal. By seeing and thinking about this, everyone’s spirit became very high. Suddenly, a man - stuck out his head, and a lama raised the book he held and tapped his head with it. Being touched by a sacred text symbolizes the uncovering of wisdom. Therefore, we all imitated this man and stuck out our heads. Suddenly the pounding sound of being tapped on the head and the exaggerated cry of response was heard all along the line, up and down everywhere. I guess that even being knocked out by this would still fill one with gratitude!

The Mahayana Sutra tour finally returned to the mandala. Every sangha member received a share of the books and started the recitation (in Tibetan). With the combined effort of hundreds, it took about two hours to complete the recitation of all the texts. After that, there was a special ceremony to alleviate the sufferings of the deceased and to bestow blessings upon the living. To the sound of the reverberating chanting, we assiduously completed our prostrations.

That night was the Karmapa’s last teaching. Prior to the teaching, a feeling of “it is going to end now” arose, and I couldn’t help wondering how the Karmapa would end this last teaching. First the Karmapa continued the explanation of the visualization in the main practice, and then lead us to sing the Chenrezik Sadhana with the new melody that he had composed. The Karmapa’s thick and deep voice smoothly slides through BodhGaya’s winter night, which remained cold, but our heart/blood was “boiling”. As we sang along with the Karmapa, His Holiness suddenly paused and slightly tilted his head to listen to us, like a commander reviewing his troops passing through his station, with satisfaction. After a while, the Karmapa continued leading us toward the end of the sadhana. It was time now. The Karmapa looked at us, slowly and sincerely, he said “In my eyes, you are all Buddha and Bodhisattvas … it is you who give me strength!” Then the Karmapa firmly told us that the knot between himself and us was tied.
And I thought, the arising of this supreme affinity could not be a better ending.

After the teaching, I didn’t return to my hotel right away. Instead, I visited the booths near the hotel to buy offerings for the next day’s puja, and the sangha’s alms begging ceremony. As tomorrow was the last day of the Monlam Chenmo, there would be a daylong puja. In addition to the offerings prepared by the organizers, individuals would also bring their offerings. And at noon there would be a sangha alms begging ceremony, which emulated the custom of alms begging in Buddha’s days. The purpose of alms begging is for the sangha to recollect the great merit bestowed upon us by and the kindness of the Buddha, and to allow us laypersons to accumulate merit through making offerings to the sangha in the ceremony. While I shopped, the electric power went out and I could only pick out fruit under faint candlelight. I picked three kinds of fruit for the puja offerings: pineapples, papaya, and banana. I chose the pineapple because of the auspicious pronunciation of its name in Taiwanese (which means exuberant and prosperous), but later I learned that despite the auspicious name, pineapples and papayas are not good choices for offerings. All puja offerings are collected and divided and packed into small bags for everyone after the puja ceremony, but large fruits like pineapples and papayas cannot be divided.

So a good offering should be small but not easily crushed like apples and oranges, packed crackers, cookies, candies, drinks, or nuts like peanuts. Offerings for alms begging shared the same needs but additional concerns like size and weight are also important. In principle, the size should not be too big and the weight not too heavy since an alms bowl’s volume is limited. In ancient times, the offerings from alms begging would have been lunch for the sangha. But the alms begging in the Monlam Chenmo only took the symbolic meaning of it, the sangha’s lunch was prepared separately. Therefore, laypersons should avoid giving the sangha meal-like food offerings such as rice, soups, or dishes. For alms begging, I chose to use peanuts as offerings. Since I had consulted with our guide about the local price for peanuts, it did not take too much bargaining for me to close the deal.

Day 8 (Saturday, 1/14/06)

This was the last day of the Monlam Chenmo. It was not only the climax of the event but also the most intense day.

At 4:00AM we were up and prepared to attend the Bodhisattva Vow given by His Eminence Gyaltsab Rinpoche. When we arrived at the meeting place, the sky was still completely dark, and people from every direction were rushing into the periphery of the mandala. The atmosphere was so solemn that one became cautious about even taking a breather as it might disturb the spiritual beings around us. We found a good seat at the front of the mandala on the marble pathway. Not long after we settled down, people in the front started to pass flowers and incense. I happened to receive a lotus flower still in bud, and I said to myself, let me use this flower as an offering to the rinpoches, Buddha, and Bodhisattvas. Shortly afterwards, Gyaltsab Rinpoche walked quickly into the meeting place, and transmited the Vow in a simple and concise manner. Rinpoche said that as long as one did not loose one’s bodhichitta, one was keeping the Bodhisattva Vow.

After the Bodhisattva Vow, it was a little past 6:00AM, and the Karmapa arrived. The Karmapa gave us the Mahayana Vow. At 7:00 o’clock, the puja commenced. We started bringing the offerings to the altar, and also ran in and out to buy more offering goods. Though the offerings in front piled up like a mountain, everyone still was very determined to contribute their own share of offerings.

The meeting place in the dawn mist

After breakfast, we began another wave of shopping. This time it was to replenish the offerings for the alms begging at noon. Venerable Shinhong proposed purchasing 700 oranges as offerings. We arrived at the market place and without a hitch and completed the purchase of 9 boxes of oranges that were soon transported to the meeting place. Following that, we checked and received the Tibetan dumplings (momo) ordered the previous day. We helped the vendor place the momos one in one bag. Originally we had ordered 700, but the vendor had only managed to produce 600 momos overnight. They were divided in 3 boxes and transported to the meeting place. Other group members’ offerings also gradually arrived at the meeting place. At that moment, our offerings to alms begging included 700 oranges, 600 momos, 13 kilograms of peanuts, as well as chocolates, cookies, drinks, and bananas.

The morning session was to finish at 11:00AM, and alms begging would start around 11:15AM. We summoned all group members at 10:30AM to lay out our plan and be ready for battle. We moved the offerings to the starting point of the alms begging line, as we were determined to be the first group to present offerings to the sangha. Every group member was assigned a responsibility for a particular offering item. We rehearsed twice to test the speed and coordination of our hands and feet. The alms begging route started from the main entrance of the Mahabodhi Temple, continued along the shops and booths outside, and terminated in front of our Mahamaya Hotel. The total length was about 200 meters. We curiously asked if the Karmapa would be among the alms beggars. The answer was No. We make a joke that if the Karmapa were going to participate in the alms begging, he would need to bring a bathtub in order to hold all the offerings he would receive!

We waited at the starting point of the alms-begging route, and expected to be the first offering group. Then, the moment the alms begging started we were pleasantly surprised to loose our hope of being first … for the first person giving offerings to the sangha turned out to be the Karmapa! He suddenly appeared in front of us, and with his own hands put oranges into the sanghas’ alms bowls one by one. The image of the Karmapa standing under the boiling sunlight at noon, fully concentrating on his task, slowly and gently making offerings to each sangha member as they passed by was completely unforgettable.

The Karmapa makes offerings to sangha

Once the alms begging started, our previously agreed offering rules disappeared. For instance, we agreed that we would not repeatedly offer the same item already seen in an alms bowl, but when in action, everyone just threw whatever was at hand into the bowl. So within less than 10 meters all sangha alms bowls were completely full. Many of the sangha had to empty their alms bowls several times in order for people who were still waiting in line to make offerings. Suddenly, many sangha got attendants by their side, often laypersons, to help them carry offerings. In the end, many sangha members used their dharma robes to hold the continuous flood of offerings. I finally understood something the Venerable Miao-Rong had said about last year’s experience: that due to carrying the heavy bowls filled with offerings, their hands were still shaking after the alms begging ceremony ended.

The Indian government had sent a massive police force presence along the alms begging route in order to maintain order. They were not concerned with devotees being out of control, but were worried about potential riots from the many beggars along the way. Actually the beggars did not get upset as a part of the alms begging offerings were shared with them in the end. They only needed to be patient to support the completion of the event.
At noon we returned to the hotel for lunch, and there was a big smile on everyone’s face. We laughed and joked about what happened during the alms begging offering, and were proud of our teamwork. After lunch, there was another important program -- The Chenrenzik empowerment given by the Karmapa.

The Karmapa is called the compassionate emanation of Avalokiteshvara, so it is considered supremely auspicious to receive the Karmapa’s Chenrezik empowerment in BodhGaya. At one o’clock we returned to the meeting place to get ready. During the empowerment, Chinese and English translations would be available only for the proceeding part, for the remaining time there would only be Tibetan instructions. In the process of the empowerment, we recited after His Holiness word by word. When we recited the six syllable mantra (om mani peme hung) gales of fierce wind blew through the bodhi tree above our heads and the branches trembled so vigorously that we were covered with fallen leaves and dust shaken from the tree. This abnormal phenomenon was striking.

After the empowerment, the Karmapa continued the unfinished puja that had begun that morning. Toward the end of the puja, some sangha members started putting the offerings in bags, and distributed them to people in the audience. Everyone curiously inspected their offerings as if they were a New Year gift. The whole meeting place had an atmosphere like a carnival celebration. It was the time to offer a kata now! (Kata are scarves usually made of white silk) The Tibetans behind us adroitly held one end of their kata, and flung it up and down like swinging a ribbon. We followed them and started flinging our katas. From that moment on, everyone’s kata started to dance in the air, and we were immersed in a vast ocean of white kata. The sangha members recited one stanza of the sutra, and we responded with our dancing kata. Within a minute, the Karmapa’s kata also started to dance. The Karmapa flung his kata, and we followed with our flinging katas. The Tibetans next to us explained that this is a prayer for auspiciousness. Though we hardly had a clue about the meaning of the sutra in Tibetan, the rising and falling waves of the white kata ocean was like a conferred blessing that we gave to each other. In the end, we tossed the kata up in the air with our full strength. Some katas fell on top of the bodhi tree and never returned. The bodhi tree bore a fruit of kata, so does it bear the wishes we pledged in this holy land.

When the moon rose up to the willow trees, people congregated for another special appointment. There was to be a candle lightening ceremony that day at seven o’clock. At a quarter to seven, we arrived at the meeting place to find ourselves a good spot on the marble stairs in front of the mandala. This was the first time we visited the meeting place in the evening, and the whole area looked very different from during the day. Tonight it was full moon. The moon hung high in the sky beside the Stupa; the refreshing and gentle moonlight fell on the mandala and bodhi tree. The sangha were busy distributing candles to people in the meeting place. After everyone received a candle, the Karmapa arrived.

The Karmapa in the Candle Lighting Ceremony

The program arrangement was that at first all attendees would sing the Chenrezik sadhana with the new melody composed by the Karmapa; then the candle lighting would take place; and finally the Western members would sing the prayer song “The World”, written and composed by the Karmapa. This would conclude the ceremony. The steps of the program progressed one by one. When it was time to light the candles, we all stood up and faced the mandala. The Karmapa also faced the mandala. From behind, I searched for the Karmapa’s back, and saw His Holiness in solemn stillness. The first candle was lit! The Karmapa passed his candle flame to his dharma sons, and from the dharma sons to the rinpoches, from the rinpoches to the lamas and anis, and from the sangha to laypeople. The Karmapa’s torch quickly ripples out to the surrounding people. I looked at the Karmapa, and His Holiness’ back was still in a solemn stillness like a ponderous bell.

At that very moment, supplications of “Karmapa Khyenno” reverberated through the air.
The stormy is the ocean of life and death, and the endless is sentient beings’ unbearable sufferings ---
“Karmapa, please have compassion for us.”
“Karmapa, please think of us.”
“Karmapa, please look upon us.”
“Karmapa, please behold us in your heart --- life after life.”

The Monlam Chenmo has ended.

“Where is Mr. Buddha? Have you seen Mr. Buddha?
Did you feel Mr. Buddha? Have you been in touch with Mr. Buddha?”
The Karmapa smiled amusedly and he described an image of Mr. Buddha wearing suit and tie emerging from his mind,

“We have our Monlam Chenmo under the sacred bodhi tree. Personally, I do not have any special encounter. Nevertheless, being present in this holy place, where the Buddha reached enlightenment, constantly reminds me of the life, teachings, and activities of the Buddha. Through these reflections and contemplations, an unsurpassable faith and aspiration has arisen in my mind …”

---

Further Thoughts:

1. In this article, there are numerous citations of the Karmapa’s teachings. These are based my class notes and best memories, and they might not be the Karmapa’s original words or statements. Please forgive me for any errors and misinterpretations that may be found here. Also, thanks to the courtesy of the Karmapa Office for some photos of Karmapa.

2. During the last evening, in the candle lighting ceremony, an episode occurred that has remained with me ever since. I and another group member arrived at the meeting place a quarter hour earlier than expected. Prior to the ceremony, the organizers announced that the candle light would start from the Karmapa’s candle and then be passed onto the dharma sons, rinpoches, then sangha, and finally laypersons. However, when the program got started, some benevolently minded people, who had not heard the announcement, ignited their candles to pass their candle light onto others. It did not take long, all the candles around us had been lit, and it was very hard to distinguish which flames were from the Karmapa’s candle and which were from the other people. The people next to us offered to ignite our candles several times, and we gracefully declined. As the program continued and next performance had started, we were the only two people whose candles were not lit. We decided to break through the crowd to find the light from the Karmapa. We struggled to go through layers of people and were finally able to move forward to arrive at a flat platform in the front. We met two awesome lamas whom we had not met before, and had the following almost allegorical conversation with one of them: “Lama, does your light come from Karmapa?”, The lama paused for a second, and then replied “Yes.” “Then can we get the light from you?” “Yes.” In this way, we obtained the authentic flame from Karmapa. This may look like a small episode, but it prompted me to reflect on how difficult it is to maintain a taintless, pure teaching from generation to generation. If the Karmapa’s candlelight symbolizes the authentic lineage teachings, then after it has passed down through several layers of people, and given the distractions inevitably caused by benevolently minded others, it is very difficult to receive the original teachings by the time they reach our end. One needs to be very persistent and faithful to discern authentic teachings from false ones.

3. Originally I had no intention of writing such a long article as this. But memories come in a continuous stream, and with the habit of my academic paper writing I then found myself documenting this special event to a greater length than even I expected. During the process of writing, typing, and translating my diary, I have relived the events over and over again. Gradually I came to feel this kind of record has its own value. After all, when the event ends we all return to our daily lives, and are faced with the challenges and pressures of that everyday life. Little by little, as time evolves, the aspirations and excitement from the event fade away. How can we preserve the teachings and blessings from the Karmapa and diligently apply them to our daily life in order to avoid a spiritual setback? I think the answer is what the Karmapa had earnestly advised us to do in Varanasi--that we can maintain our spiritual path through continuous recollection and contemplation, and through continuous supplication. This article records my memories of the activities of the Monlam Chenmo. My fellow traveling companions, when discouraged by adversity in life or work, please do not forget the adventures we had together with each other, with the Karmapa, in that holy place, BodhGaya, India.

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