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.

Putting Gratitude into your Hands

Putting gratitude into your hands
JJ Chong

MBF didn’t come by chance or by coincidence though. It was a labor of love and kindness pouring from every direction. Thinking about the kindness of Rinpoche and all He has done for not only myself but everyone He gets into contact with, I thought that would be the best way of sharing the Dharma with the people here.

The first of the 6 perfections of a Bodhisattva is the perfection of Giving. No Buddhist tradition can be passed out as being a tradition which is not charitable. The Buddha, the founder of the entire Buddhist doctrine gave up his entire life, kingdom and family for humanity. His Eminence Tsem Tulku Rinpoche was of no different. Rinpoche gave his life tirelessly to the people from all walks of life.

It was Chinese New Year and while the entire Chinese world was merry making He was busy giving gifts of encouragement to people, working on his blog, taking students who didn’t have a family out for meals and of course at the end of the day making sure that everyone was well taken cared of. It was at this time which Rinpoche texted his ‘infamous’ line of sms: “Where are you and what are you doing?”

So I told him what I was doing back home and explained that I was raising funds to renovate the studio for MBF. Initially I intended to bring my 3’ Lama Tsongkhapa statue from home to be placed as the main object of veneration here as I thought that would be a great statue. Then a call from His private office came and the next thing you know is that Rinpoche was planning to induce a new idea of having a 5’ statue on your altar instead!

The next thing that came was that his entire household was in search of a 5’ statue of Lama Tsongkhapa and I was to visit Rinpoche as soon as I can to pick out the statue which I think would fit the studio@MBF. This I did and had it arranged to be transported back to Singapore. A lot of hard work and red tape had to be endured to ensure that Lama Tsongkhapa had a safe travel here to Singapore.

All these wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for Rinpoche. For a man his position, Rinpoche gives out tirelessly to humankind. I for one have received innumerable kindness from Rinpoche directly and  hence this has been a propelling factor of what I do today.

So the next time you visit the Studio@MBF, do make a prayer and dedicate it towards your loved one for Tsongkhapa represents the perfection  of Giving, the leading factor out of the six qualities of a Bodhisattva.

What's in a Prayer?

What’s in a prayer?
JJ Chong

In different faiths and beliefs, we all have one common thing called prayer. What is it really? A means of communication with the Divine or is it something which we can do in order to let a higher or bigger force come into our lives? Each of these prayers sum up a mass of energy when tapped correctly and is able to help solve some of our pending mundane and supramundane problems.

Within our lineage and practice is Lama Tsongkhapa’s Guru Yoga. A lot of our members here have come week in and week out to attend meditation classes based on this lovely composition. I would like to share with you my craze over this beautiful deity whom I call Buddha Je Tsongkhapa. It is not a craze really; it is more like life in itself.

\When I first met my Guru in 2003, His first teaching to me was the Guru Yoga of Lama Tsongkhapa. Back then I didn’t know who Tsongkhapa was and how was it related to other deities of Buddhism. Why was he so different? Why the yellow pointy hat? Why can’t I just do my own practice and say my Namo Amituofo? All these thoughts soon derailed in my mind.

What Lama Tsongkhapa embodies is the every single perfection which we all have within ourselves! We want love and security, Lama Tsongkhapa who is the embodiment of Kuan Yin can bestow us 

with the necessary love and care which cannot be found elsewhere. How? It is simple yet profound, when we do this practice, we evoke on the power of Kuan Yin through Lama Tsongkhapa. This enables us to seek peace with ourselves by facing our insecurities and creating causes for us to love and be loved.

We are able to free ourselves from the obscurations we implicated onto ourselves whether it is via our conscious actions or even if it is inflicted by karma. Lama Tsongkhapa releases the energies of boundless love which is free of the Ego and blesses us to gain that same type of selfless love. By virtue of practice, obstacles will arise and we will feel disillusioned sometimes as we are thrown off track but in faith we should rely on and persevere. I believe that potent medicines are never nice to be taken, only with bitterness one can obtain a higher chance of cure. Don’t u think  so?

I do my daily prayers with meditations of Lama Tsongkhapa with the following eight verses which helps me a lot in my daily undertakings:

Eight Verses of Training The Mind

(By Kadampa Geshe Langri Tangpa 1054 – 1123)

With the determination to accomplish
The highest welfare for all sentient beings
Who surpass even a wish-granting jewel
I will learn to hold them supremely dear.

Whenever I associate with others I will learn
To think of myself as the lowest among all
And respectfully hold others to be supreme
From the very depths of my heart

In all actions I will learn to search into my mind
And as soon as an afflictive emotion arises
Endangering myself and others
I will firmly face and avert it.

I will learn to cherish all beings of bad nature
And those pressed by strong sins and sufferings
As if I had found a precious
Treasure very difficult to find

When others out of jealousy treat me badly
With abuse, slander, and so on,
May I suffer the defeat
And offer the victory to them

When one whom I have benefited with great hope
Unreasonably hurts me very badly,
I will learn to view that person
As an excellent spiritual guide.

In short, I will learn to offer to everyone without exception
All help and happiness directly and indirectly
And respectfully take upon myself
All harm and suffering of my mothers.

I will learn to keep all these practices 

Undefiled by the stains of the eight worldly conceptions
And by the understanding of all phenomena as like illusions
Be released from the bondage of attachment.

I will blog this another time but for now. We can do our daily meditations and have a better outline to get our prayers going more effectively.