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A
Teaching on the Significance of Offering Butterlamps
by
The Very Venerable Lama Norlha Rinpoche
In general making offerings is an extremely important
method for the practitioner to accumulate merit.
The attainment of the state of enlightenment occurs
when we have brought to full perfection our accumulation of
merit. In particular, the method of offering bowls of saffron
water is an excellent way of accumulating merit because it
is an act of generosity in which you have no greed. You don't
have any particular attachment to the water, so it is a way
to offer that which we have no concept of possessing.
It is also excellent to offer the butterlamps, candles
or light because this act of offering this light symbolizes
burning away our mental afflictions of desire, aggression,
greed, jealousy, pride and so forth. The other part of the
symbolism is that it is a way to burn away our illness.
In the Tibetan medical tradition, physical illness
is based on an imbalance of the elements in the body, illness
is seen as an imbalance between wind, bile and phlegm. When
these are out of balance sickness arises in the body. So this
offering symbolizes burning away illness. In general, making
offerings such as these with a good attitude is an excellent
means for accumulating an enormous amount of merit. It is
particularly meritorious for us because we are very fortunate
to be part of a lineage of great masters who made these types
of offerings. For example, my and our own root Lama, the Very
Venerable Kalu Rinpoche, made it his particular special offering
to offer a lot of butterlamps and offered 100 every day.
Then Deshun Rinpoche, who was also a very important to me in
my own training, was incomparable in his offering of the bowls
of saffron water. Because we are part of this lineage makes
the merit even stronger. For this reason at our monastery
in New York every week we offer 1000 butterlamps, 1000 bowls
of saffron water and also 1000 flowers and incense. And also,
I am in the process of finishing up the sponsorship of 300,000
lamps in Bodh Gaya. Two hundred thousand have already been offered in the
past and now my mother is helping to implement those offerings
in Bodh Gaya right now. Seventy thousand of the last 100,000 butterlamps
are finished. I wanted to share this so you understand that
it is a very important practice for me in the accumulation
of merit. Because I feel a very strong connection to all of
you its an important practice for all of you, too. Lineage
is a very important part of Dharma practice and if you have
a very strong lineage behind you and you are practicing in
accord with it, this makes your own accumulation of merit
easier and greater, stronger in its intensity. So through
your practice and relying on an authentic lineage and authentic
teachers, it will be easier for you to bring your practice
to fruition. It works the same way in the world as it does
in the Dharma. If you are just doing something ordinary but
you have a lot of support, you have a lot of people behind
you, you have a lot of money, you have power behind you, it
is easier to accomplish your aims. It is the same thing to
rely on an authentic lineage. That is the support we need
to bring our practice to fruition.
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