MIGTSEMATHON

One Million Migtsemas for the flourishing of Dharma

What is Migtsema?

Migtsema is the praise and mantra of Lama Je Tsongkhapa composed by the great Sakyapa master Jetsun Rendawa in praise and appreciation of Je Tsongkhapa’s qualities and virtues. In this praise, we evoke the energies of the Buddhas’ Compassion, Wisdom and Spiritual Strength. This is a complete balance of the energies innate in us which can help us to find peace and happiness in our lives.

MIG-MEY TZE-WEY TER-CHEN CHENREZIG
You are Avalokitesvara, great goldmine of compassion untainted by ego’s delusion.
The entire universe is kept rolling through the power of love. Love without agenda in Buddhism is compassion and the Buddha’s visual manifestation of Compassion is represented by Chenresig, the great Buddha of Love and Compassion. This evokes the qualities of compassion within us to be able to help ourselves and fuel us on our spiritual path.

DRIMEY KHYEN-PE WANG-PO JAMPAL YANG
You are Manjushri, great master of stainless wisdom.
With knowledge, we understand the meaning of life. Through constant study, contemplation and meditation, we realize a purpose in our life when wisdom arises in us. It is a spontaneous realization which brings us to higher levels of thought to solving problems in our lives which we’ve never thought of before.

DU-PUNG MALU JOMDZEY SANG-WEY DAG
You are Vajrapani, great subduer of all the gatherings of demons.
We are faced with obstacles many a times in our life and yearn for protection from a higher Being for protection both spiritually and physically. The Buddha Vajrapani, who is also an embodiment of Lama Tsongkhapa provides us protection towards inner and outer interferences.

GANG-CHEN KE-PEY TSUG-YEN TSONGKHAPA
Je Tsongkhapa, crown jewel of the holy Masters of the land of snows,
Celebrated as one of the greatest scholar saints since the 14^th century, Lama Tsongkhapa is also dubbed as the Second Buddha during his lifetime. His teachings, influence and inspiration has spread across the globe, inspiring people towards the road of Happiness.

LO-SANG TRAG-PEY SHAB-LA SOL-WA DEB
At your feet, famed Lobsang Drakpa, I humbly bow and earnestly request
That all sentient beings achieve Enlightenment.
We make request at this last line of the prayer for ourselves and others to both the outer and inner Buddha nature in us. This creates causes for us to attain a state of peace within ourselves.

How does reciting Migtsema contribute to the flourishing of the Dharma?

By reciting Migtsema as a group we generate a vast amount of merits which is harvested from the blessings of the Buddhas’ compassion, wisdom and spiritual strength. By the power of the sound and vibration generated from reciting this prayer, we clear away the problems which arises in our minds. With a clear mind, we evoke upon these three qualities of the Buddhas in the form of Lama Tsongkhapa, enriching our mind stream with these virtues.

As a group, we come together combined to realize a spiritual community enabling Dharma to grow within ourselves and be able to influence others to find their spiritual path. Many spiritual seekers are out there looking for a path to follow and as we recite, we create the causes for Spiritual Guides from different traditions to have long life in order to be able to show the way to these spiritual aspirants.

Does Migtsema only help aspirants who are only inclined to Lama Tsongkhapa?

Buddhas manifest in many forms to help us realize happiness within our lives. In Modern Buddhist Fellowship, we propitiate Lama Tsongkhapa as He is the embodiment of a Spiritual Guide of all the Buddhas. As he is a living saint in a time close to ours, we find it easier to connect with Him, through his writings, teachings and experiences.

The teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa are based on the schools of old such as the Nyingma, Kadam, Kagyu and Sakya schools of Buddhism in Tibet. Lama Tsongkhapa’s realizations come from His study of the three scopes of Buddhism which is the smaller, middling and larger scopes. As such, regardless which lineage or school you belong, it does not matter as Lama Tsongkhapa is a fully enlightened Buddhas free of all labels and dogmas.

Why one million?

When we put ourselves to the challenge, we realize that there is a height in spirituality which we can put ourselves to achieve. Coupled with group effort, we create a community focused on collecting spiritual merits to fuel ours and others’ spiritual path. One million is a number which we put for ourselves as a challenge in order to dedicate towards this cause.

Modern Buddhist Fellowship is a group of young and dynamic yuppies who are passionate about spreading the teachings of love, peace and ancient Buddhist wisdom in the modern world today. We are especially passionate about the works, writings and teachings of the Incomparable Lama Je Tsongkhapa who was a scholar monk, mendicant and compassionate saint who lived in the 14th century. Following Je Tsongkhapa's footsteps, we have gathered together to form a group in order to promote and propagate Je Tsongkhapa's teachings in modern day language.

Our Refuge
As Buddhists, we take refuge in the Three Jewels (ie: the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha). This refuge spans into every sect, school and vehicle of thought in Buddhism. As we live in the 21st century where modern necessities and technology is available much to our convenience, we tend to ask ourselves what is the meaning of life. We are at times met with crossroads which we could not find a direction, we are left on our own to decide and many times we fail to find the right direction. Taking refuge in the Three Jewels does not mean we kowtow to Buddha statues daily and read endless mantras and scriptures or even do we have to be shaven monks ourselves. We do not advocate such. We brand ourselves as educated people who have passion in the Buddha Dharma which illucidly points to us towards a happier and peaceful state of mind. 

Our Buddha

As we are always caught up with work and our daily commitments, we tend to forget that there is someone at the end of our daily rat race waiting for us. Yes, it is nothing else but the Buddha nature within us which is screaming to surface. Often enough, we find ourselves having compassion for another person or animal which is less fortunate than our current state of being and we pause to think "Why are they in such a condition? How can I help?".

That as we are taught by Je Tsongkhapa to be our Buddha Nature which is the sole source of undying holistic energy which fuels our life with purpose. Compassion is our innate nature which when coupled with Wisdom, we become better people to help ourselves. And in helping ourselves, we get to help others who are in need.

This form of energy is like the rays of the sun which potentially can either burn up an entire forest or bring life to the world it shines on. We take this form of Enlightenment in its most pure and subtle form in the form of a monk, wearing a golden pointed hat. He is Je Tsongkhapa, a perfect embodiment of every good quality which we seek in ourselves; compassion, wisdom and spiritual strength.

We take refuge in him not in a worshipping manner but in the manner of taking His qualities and inspiring ourselves onto the path which he has shown us. He is a benchmark for our spiritual growth. He was once human and took the teaching of the Buddha, practiced it and gained attainments with it and became who he is today.

Our Dharma

Je Tsongkhapa studied the vast corpus of scriptures both written and commentaries given by highly attained masters of both India and Tibet. These set of teachings were condensed through the power of contemplation and meditation and whatever arises from the omniscient mind of Je Tsongkhapa was written down to form one of His greatest work called the “Lamrim Chenmo” which means the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment.

Our main central focus and the core of our spiritual practice is based on this text which is a celebrated work in Tibet, Mongolia and China during ancient times and now practiced all over the world. This shows how pervasive, in-depth and relevant these teachings are for our time.

As an introduction to this text, we enter the door of Je Tsongkhapa’s world using the “Buddhist Bible” called “Liberation in the Palm of your Hand” which is a series of talks given in Lhasa in 1921 by one of the most celebrated Lamas of our time – Kyabje Pabongkha Dorje Chang. 

Our Sangha

We respect all enlightened masters of all traditions regardless of their view, culture and school of thought. This enables us to create a space of harmony which we begin to embrace ourselves with the shortcomings which we have and overcome them with the support and encouragement of the fellowship.

The Buddha intended for the community of Sangha to be formed as means of support and encouragement for those journeying the spiritual path of Liberation. As the access of spiritual guides are limited in this land, we have formed a group of lay yuppies here to help facilitate, share the Dharma of Je Tsongkhapa’s tradition with hopes of spreading it in this region.

As our spiritual journey is never a smooth ride, we need a caring watchman to assist us during difficult times which we propitiate the help and blessings of the Dharma protector Setrap Chen which has sword his oath to safe guard Je Tsongkhapa’s teachings and its practitioners.

With this little introduction, we welcome you to a new chapter in the Buddhist circle, the Modern Buddhist Fellowship.