His Holiness Sakya Trizin at SIBA
“OUR PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED!”
(by Venerable Jampal and Ani Kunsang)To veiw more photos of the week with His Holiness at SIBA (click here>>)
The Golden House seemed to glow in the afternoon sunlight of a perfect winter’s day as if we were in a pure realm when, on Monday 29 July at 4.30 p.m., 200 people lined up with silk kata scarves outstretched to welcome the arrival of His Holiness the Sakya Trizin for the first time to SIBA. It truly seemed miraculous and a dream to witness His Holiness, the living embodiment of Bodhisattva Manjushri, step out of car to be gracefully received by Lama Choedak Rinpoche. SIBA was nearly three years old and to all those who have chanted His Long-life Prayer every day it felt like our prayers had been answered! The expression of delight on our Rinpoche's face was unforgettable as His Holiness, the patron of our tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, took up His throne at the front of the exquisitely decorated meditation hall. To be able to offer this magnificent seat of the Sakya tradition to His Holiness was a historic moment. It represented the culmination of 20 years of wholehearted commitment from Rinpoche and Sakya Losal Choe Dzong to propagating the Buddhadharma in general and specifically the teachings of the Sakya lineage in Australia and New Zealand.
His Holiness gave a brief but happy greeting to us all and said that He had heard much about SIBA from His two sons who had previously visited. He was pleased to see so many of us gathered in such a isolated and suitable location where we were able to share together the Buddha's teachings. Everyone lined up to offer their katas and receive a formal blessing from His Holiness.
The transformation of the Golden House into SIBA's magnificent meditation hall was the inspiration of Rinpoche who named the hall after the main gonpa at Shalu Monastery in Tibet, the seat of the lineage of His late Eminence Chogye Trichen Rinpoche. It is said to be painted gold on the outside and, unusually for a Tibetan gonpa, has a tiled roof. The renovation of our hall started about two months before the arrival of His Holiness with Jampal, Jack, Paul and Tim doing many invisible preparations. During the last week or two the tide of willing helpers rose like a tsunami with the arrival of Tharchin, Sean, Hue, Rikki, Rinpoche, Jaki, Choezom and her Mum (all the beautiful artificial flower arrangements), Pam Cernak, Mark, Peter (our landscaper responsible for the four day backyard blitz) and Tsultim. Each of these last days saw huge progress in the preparedness compared to those early days. The finishing touch was the traditional gonpa dots on the outside walls.
Tuesday, the second day, was a rest day for His Holiness who was near the end of a three month of teaching tour. For the retreatants it began, as every day did, with Green Tara puja in the Golden House led in Tibetan by His Eminence Zimog Rinpoche (Jamchen Buddhist Centre), joined by Khenpo Ngawang Damchoe (Drogmi Retreat Centre), Lama Choedak Rinpoche and the full compliment of His Holiness' entourage. The chanting of the actual 21 Praises to Tara alternated between English and Tibetan for the benefit of the large congregation who enthusiastically took part each day while the final Prayer for the Happiness of All That Lives by Ngorchen was also recited in English in a rousing chorus. His Holiness would go for a walk each morning during this period as is part of His daily routine and He was not put off by the wild, windy weather we experienced during alot of that week.
All systems were at full swing for the week at SIBA and the facility proved itself capable of looking after the large numbers more than adequately and there was a relaxed atmosphere despite the fact that the some of the rooms were filled with a few more beds that usual. Besides renovating the Golden House, some of the other extraordinary measures taken to host His Holiness and the retreatant guests were converting the large messy workshop under the gonpa into a comfortable second dining hall for 100 as well as allowing people to eat their meals in the gonpa itself, seated on the carpet. The kitchen never rested for the whole week and the 3,500 meals were prepared by our dedicated resident Merrybelle (who did all the weeks of planning) and who was complimented by a crew of caterers engaged for the retreat including Lynndel, Helen, Urgyen, Star, and Karma. Pam, Donna, Peter, Angelo and Sean looked after breakfast each day. So many people contributed by assisting in every area where it was needed and no one could be left out of the list of contributors in typical SIBA style. Some of the weekend retreatants stayed at Karoondah Park, 15 minutes drive up the road at Gelantipy.
At each sessions with His Holiness in the Golden House the atmosphere was awesome in the true sense of the word. There was always much ritual and ceremony around His Holiness, the owner of all the Sakya practices and teachings. The Lamdre Lineage masters prayer was carefully chanted, full mandala offerings were made every day and in keeping with all Tibetan monasteries morning tea was always offered to all in an impressive procession. During the teachings His Holiness had everyone's complete attention and you could sense that people were giving everything that they might partake of just a spoonful of the vast ocean of His wisdom and compassion.
The main part of His Holiness' programme at SIBA was teaching on "Illuminating the Sages Intent". This Tibetan classic was composed by Sakya Pandita in the 13th Century extracting the essence of the profound and complex Mahayanasutralankara of Bodhisattva Maitreya. It is one of the jewels of the Sakya tradition and our Lama Choedak Rinpoche requested it being the Golden Jubilee of His Holiness' enthronement when He had the responsibility to first give this teaching. Each of the teaching sessions began with a thorough overview of the Right Motivation for undertaking the study of the Mahayana as well as a succinct summary of the previous teachings. His Holiness taught at length on Buddhanature, Refuge, Bodhicitta, the Six Perfections, Four Persuasions and then more briefly on the Five Bhumi's, Ten Paths and then the Final Result (Buddhahood) which completed the text. Lama Choedak Rinpoche did the traditional re-teaching sessions in the afternoon which he suggested we rather consider as contemplation sessions. We all felt doubly blessed to benefit from Rinpoche's insights and assistance in absorbing the profound teachings of the Mahayana that we had received in each morning from His Holiness.
In the afternoons on most days there was the unique opportunity for people to have a brief audience with His Holiness. This is part of His daily routine even when at home in India. The office at SIBA was transformed into a magnificent reception lounge worthy of His Holiness' Dolma Podrang residence. It was a moving sight to see people come away visible touched having received a blessing in audience with His Holiness.
A few of the late afternoon sessions were filled with a discussion panel of various longer term ordained and lay dharma practitioners offering their thoughts on the topic of "Buddhism In My Life" and which was facilitated by Lynda Bates. It was a suitable shift in the pace of the day's programme and the topic got everyone contemplating it at a personal level. There was good involvement from the audience with many thoughtful questions that brought out heart felt as well as amusing anecdotes from the panel members.
On the final weekend, with the arrival of an additional forty retreatants, His Holiness gave Manjushri Empowerment on Saturday morning and then completed the teachings in "Illuminating the Sage's Intent" in the afternoon. Sunday's programme was particularly rich starting in the morning with His Holiness performing an elaborate and uncommon Bodhisattva Vows ceremony taking three and a half hours. In the afternoon our flock of 70 lambs that had been rescued from slaughter were blessed and then there followed in our "little" gonpa an lengthy and very powerful consecration of the many new statues brought by members and friends that the entourage of monks had been busy filling all week. Finally His Holiness presided over a soor service for the deceased completing a unique day.
Monday morning the skies cleared and the sun returned for His Holiness' day of travel. After breakfast there was a brief flag raising ritual with auspicious prayers being chanted and we all took a pinch of flour which we playfully threw into the sky shouting "ki ki so so lha gyal lo!" invoking the gods to restore harmony of the elements. There followed a Sixteen Arhat Puja performed to celebrate the birthday of the Dalai Lama. Michelle John did her cello solo music offering. His Holiness offered some beautiful words of honour of the occassion saying that He perceived the favourable weather as an auspicious sign that the Dalai Lama will remain amongst us long into the future and His noble activities will continue to relieve sentient beings of suffering and to guide. He offered to us His complete faith and assurance that the Dalai Lama was the unmistakable manifestation of Bodhisattva Chenrezig. His Holiness once again thanked those who made the retreat possible and encouraged all in their dharma practice. There was some final words of gratitude and offerings from Lama Choedak Rinpoche and Venerable Jampal and they received from His Holiness, in response, a gift of a huge Lamdre Lineage Guru thangka. His Holiness confirmed that he would return as soon as His busy programme allowed to bestow the precious Lamdre at SIBA.
To veiw more photos of the week with His Holiness at SIBA (click here>>)