According to Chinese traditions, the Tomb-Sweeping Festival is a time to pay respects to one's ancestors and to tidy their gravesites. This year, the Tomb-Sweeping Festival falls on April 4th. On that day, The Thrangu Monastery will perform prayers for the deceased and you are invited to join us. Family members can make offerings to the three jewels, recite mantras and prayers, and dedicate the merits to the deceased. By those merits we aspire that the deceased could be reborn in the Pure Land of the Amitahba Buddha and achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible.
Through the prayers for the deceased, negative karmas can be purified, and their consciousness can be transferred to the Pure Land. It is also beneficial to those who have died recently and are in the intermediate state on their way to the lower realms. The prayers can help change their rebirths to the human realm or the Pure Land. Other sentient beings can also be liberated from the lower realms and reborn in the Pure Land. By performing the pujas and prayers, family members and friends who are left behind can also accumulate a lot of merits through their offerings of flowers and lights and paying respects to the deceased.
Join us for a wonderful 3 days of retreat focused on Amitabha April 2~4 (Monday to Wednesday), 2012. During this puja, the participants will join together to recite and accumulate Amitabha Buddha mantras. This powerful meditation and chanting practice will be led by our resident masters Lama Pema and Khenpo Tashi along with 7 other resident monks. During the first two days (April 2 and 3), we will focus on the main prayers and on April 4 evening, we will conduct fire puja.
The Buddha Amitabha, known as the Buddha of Infinite Light, is the protector of beings who call upon him as they experience death and the after-death transitions in the bardo. Amitabha is central to the practice of the transference of consciousness whereby one can attain liberation at the time of death.
What are the benefits of doing the Amitabha meditation and chanting practice? Meditating on Buddha Amitabha transforms the deluded energy of attachment into the enlightened energy of discriminating awareness wisdoms and the clear-seeing warmth of true loving compassion. Ego’s selfish demands yield to our deepening commitment to the well-being and enlightenment of others.
Monday April 2 and Tuesday 3 April 2012
Time Activity
9:00 to 10:15 am Green Tara
2:00 to 4:00pm Amitabha Puja
4:30 to 5:30pm Mahakala Practice
7:00 to 9pm Amitabha Puja
Wednesday 4 April 2012
Time Activity
9:00 to 10:15 am Green Tara
2:00 to 4:00pm Amitabha Puja
4:30 to 5:30pm Mahakala Practice
7:00 to 9pm Amitabha Fire Puja for Deceased
Please come and join us in this meritorious event.
If you are interested in sponsorship, please kindly contact Rabjor.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
Tel: (778) 297-6010
Fax: (778) 297-6033
E-mail: rabjor@thrangumonastery.org
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