Great Treasury of Merit. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

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СКАЧАТЬ Je she par ma (The Venerable One who Disappeared with a Smile)

      (2) Je nga dra ma (The Venerable One who is a Better Likeness)

      (3) Je shen pen ma (The Venerable One who is More Beneficial to Others)

      (4) Je ku thim ma (The Venerable One who Dissolved into the Body)

      (5) Je nam pur ma (The Venerable One who Rose into Space)

      (6) Je tsong pon gelek ma (The Venerable Chief Merchant Gelek)

      (7) Je tso dog ma (The Venerable One who Pacifies Conflicts)

      (8) Je ling pur ma (The Venerable One Gone to Another Land)

      The story of the first statue is as follows. At one time a humble practitioner tried to find a statue of Je Tsongkhapa for his retreat but was unsuccessful, so during his retreat he made a small statue and placed it on his shrine. For him this statue was like the living Je Tsongkhapa, and every day before beginning his meditation he made offerings and prostrations in front of it. One day as he rose from meditation he noticed that the statue was gradually melting into light. As he watched, the statue suddenly smiled and, rising into space, completely disappeared. The meditator was astonished and could hardly believe what he had seen. After reflecting for a long time he decided to go to his Teacher to tell him what had happened. His Teacher was delighted and told him to make another statue exactly like the previous one. This he did, and it is this statue that subsequently became known as The Venerable One who Disappeared with a Smile.

      The second and third statues were made by two craftsmen who were engaged in a friendly contest to see who was the more skilled at making statues. They took the two statues to a high Lama to adjudicate. As the Lama was examining them with a faithful mind, one statue spoke saying ‘I am a better likeness.’ Then the other statue retorted ‘But I am more beneficial to others.’ This is how these two famous statues received their names.

      The fourth statue is named after one that belonged to a practitioner called Nyungnay Lama, whose main practice was the Guru yoga of Je Tsongkhapa. He used to keep a statue of Je Tsongkhapa on his shrine, and he regarded this statue as the living Je Tsongkhapa. Each day he would practise Guru yoga from going for refuge up to dissolving Guru Tsongkhapa into his heart. Because he practised so sincerely he developed a very pure heart and attained a special experience of concentration. One day, while visualizing Je Tsongkhapa dissolving into his heart, he experienced his statue actually dissolving into him, and when he rose from meditation the statue on his shrine had completely disappeared. After this he quickly attained many high realizations. News of this event spread and the craftsman who had made the statue became very famous. Later he made another statue of Je Tsongkhapa to which he gave the name, The Venerable One who Dissolved into the Body.

      The fifth statue belonged to a monastery where it was often seen by one particularly sincere practitioner to rise into space and then return to its place on the shrine. Because of this, the statue became known as The Venerable One who Rose into Space.

      The sixth statue was made by a government minister who was a faithful disciple of Je Tsongkhapa, and Je Tsongkhapa himself had blessed it. One day however an evil person out of jealousy stole the statue and, taking it a long way away, threw it into a large river. Some time later an important merchant called Gelek was travelling on horseback in that area when he noticed a brightly coloured rainbow standing vertically in space, apparently emerging from the bed of a river. Thinking that this was an unusual sign, he decided to spend the night nearby. The next morning the rainbow was still there and so he decided to investigate further. Although the local people could see nothing in the river, Gelek was not convinced. Securing himself with ropes he waded into the icy river and dived to the bottom. There he found the statue of Je Tsongkhapa radiating brightly coloured rainbow lights. When he came to the surface the onlookers were astonished to see that he had not drowned, and even more astonished to see the precious statue that he was holding. Since it was the chief merchant Gelek who retrieved the statue, it subsequently became known as The Venerable Chief Merchant Gelek.

      The seventh statue comes from a part of eastern Tibet where at one time there was prolonged civil war. The local people longed for the fighting to stop and so they went to a nearby Lama who was renowned as a great meditator and asked him what they should do. He told them to construct a large statue of Je Tsongkhapa in their town and make offerings and requests in front of it. This they did and soon afterwards the fighting stopped and peace prevailed throughout the region. This statue later became known as The Venerable One who Pacifies Conflicts.

      The eighth statue is named after a much revered statue of Je Tsongkhapa that mysteriously disappeared from Tibet. Pure practitioners with clairvoyance realized that the statue had gone to another land far away where the ground was strewn with diamonds and where the language and customs were completely different. They also realized that the statue was benefiting the people of that land, and so they decided to make another one similar to it and named it The Venerable One Gone to Another Land.

      Miracles such as these are not confined to ancient times. Even today there are many statues and other representations of Je Tsongkhapa that possess special qualities. For example, there was one Geshe called Geshe Jatse whom I knew well when I was at Sera Monastery in Tibet. When he had completed his Geshe training he withdrew to a mountain cave to do retreat and remained there, living just like Milarepa, for the rest of his life. When he died his many disciples, together with a large number of onlookers, went to the cave to pay their respects and, to their astonishment, saw that Geshe Jatse’s statue of Je Tsongkhapa had grown teeth and hair. I heard this account directly from these disciples, some of whom I knew well.

      My first Teacher in philosophy at Ngamring Jampaling Monastery was called Geshe Palden. At one time he did a long close retreat on Je Tsongkhapa counting Migtsema prayers. At the end of his retreat an image of Je Tsongkhapa appeared on one of the beads of his mala. He showed this to me and I saw it very clearly.

      There are many other stories such as these which show that, even in these impure times, faithful practitioners can receive unceasing blessings from Je Tsongkhapa. If we keep a painting or statue of Je Tsongkhapa on our shrine and, with deep faith, regard that representation as the living Je Tsongkhapa and make offerings, prostrations, and requests in front of it, our life span and Dharma realizations will definitely increase. In particular, it is said that if a statue of Je Tsongkhapa is kept in a house the members of that household will not experience problems of poverty and their wisdom will naturally increase.

      Togden Jampel Gyatso

Why We Need to Practise the Guru Yoga of Je Tsongkhapa

      THE GURU YOGA OF JE TSONGKHAPA

      The Guru yoga of Je Tsongkhapa will now be explained under three headings:

      1 Why we need to practise the Guru yoga of Je Tsongkhapa

      2 The origin and lineage of these instructions

      3 The actual instructions

      WHY WE NEED TO PRACTISE THE GURU YOGA OF JE TSONGKHAPA

      Because we are so attached to worldly activities we usually have little desire to practise Dharma at all, let alone the Guru yoga of Je Tsongkhapa. This is our main obstacle. To overcome it we need to reflect on the reasons why it is necessary to practise this special Guru yoga.

      There are two main Guru yogas related to Je Tsongkhapa: Offering to the Spiritual Guide, or Lama Chopa, which is practised in conjunction with Highest Yoga Tantra, and The Hundreds СКАЧАТЬ