Amitabha Pure Land (thangka from Rubin Museum)
November 22-25 - Amitabha Tsok and P'howa Teachings
THANKSGIVING DAY: Thursday, November 22
Thanksgiving Dinner - Invitation and Potluck information to follow
From 1:00 - 2:30 PM Lama Sonam Rinpoche will lead us in Dudjom Lingpa's "The Excellent Path to Omniscience", which will be followed by our annual Thanksgiving sangha dinner.
Thanksgiving is a special day for loved ones to gather and for that reason it is positive. But it is also a time when many turkeys' lives are taken. We are doing this puja to pray that these turkeys be reborn in Amitabha's pureland. This practice will focus our compassion for them and all sentient beings, including our loved ones who may be ill or have passed away." Lama Sonam Tsering Rinpoche, 2014
November 23-25 - Amitabha P'howa
The Vajrakilaya Explanatory Tantra says “Death is a concept; P’howa leads us to the celestial realm.”
Lama Sonam Rinpoche will teach on Amitabha P'howa, using Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche's Chariot to the Realm of Bliss instruction manual, a text that was compiled by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche in 2008 (see the text list for availability in print and digital formats).
"P’howa, or transference of consciousness at the time of death, is one of the most precious among all the pith instructions and tantras of the Great Secret Vajrayana. It is a profound pith instruction for accomplishing buddhahood with very little effort. It is a practice for sentient beings in these degenerate times, ignorant and lazy beings with short lives and coarse passions, who even though they may have obtained instructions on creation and completion, are under the sway of distraction and unable to complete their practices. Even those who have committed the great sins of the five actions with immediate consequences, if they encounter this path, are immediately liberated at the moment of death. P’howa is an auxiliary practice on the profound, extraordinary path of the Great Perfection.
"There are practices of Outer, Inner and Secret Phowa. The Three Concepts Phowa utilizes visualization of the Buddha Amitabha as the destination, your mind as the traveler, and the central channel as the path. This Phowa requires faith and devotion in Buddha Amitabha.
"All beings who have not already received instructions for liberation at the moment of death definitely need these instructions on the profound path of P’howa. It is the best method for cutting the root of samsara and avoiding falling into the lower realms at the end of this human life. It is essential."
Lama Sonam Tsering Rinpoche, 2018