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Excerpts
from:
THE
AWAKENING OF VIRTUE:
THE
BLESSINGS AND BENEFITS OF PILGRIMAGE
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By
Drupon Khenpo Lodro Namgyal Negi
Drupon
Khenpo Lodro Namgyal Negi graduated from Nalanda Institute
in Rumtek, Sikkim, in 1991. Upon his graduation, he was appointed
a Khenpo at the Institute and taught there for two years.
In 1997, he completed the traditional 3-year Mahamudra retreat
in Pullahari in Kathmandu, Nepal, under Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso
Rinpoche, who then appointed him the assistant retreat master
at Pullahari and conferred on him the title of Drupon Khenpo
in recognition of his accomplishment as a practitioner and
scholar. Today he resides in Pullahari.
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SPECIAL
BENEFITS OF SACRED SITES SUCH AS BODHGAYA
Awakening
Virtuous Potential In Our Mindstream
When we visit a
place such as Bodhgaya, we can actually feel and directly
experience the power of the blessings of the Buddha. Even
people who have wild minds and very strong habits of distraction
find it very easy to engender faith and devotion when they
go to Bodhgaya; they may immediately begin prostrating and
circumambulating. In this way, sacred places such as Bodhgaya
bestow another main benefit through their ability to awaken
virtue within our mind. Through simply being at Bodhgaya,
even people who previously were not inclined toward virtuous
activity can awaken virtuous seeds in their mindstream. We
also may find that if we go there, we will be able to bring
to mind things that we previously were not able to bring to
mind. These are examples of very direct and immediate results
that we can experience by going to places such as Bodhgaya,
which have actual body, speech and mind representations. This
is another main reason or benefit of pilgrimage: the awakening
of virtuous potential in our mindstream.
It is said that
the great statue of the Buddha inside the Mahabodhi stupa
possesses the same amount of blessings as the actual body
of the Buddha. There are said to be only three differences
between this statue and the body of the Buddha. It is said
that, in terms of the actual body of the historical Buddha,
his clothing always rested one finger width away from his
body. That is not the case with this statue. That is one difference.
The second difference is that this statue does not perform
the four physical activities of walking, wandering, sitting
and sleeping. (Some people count walking and wandering as
one and add eating as the fourth.) That is the second difference:
this statue in Bodhgaya does not perform those activities.
The third difference is that we cannot hear the speech of
the Buddha through this statue in the way we could through
the actual body of the Buddha Shakyamuni. However, aside from
these three differences, it is said that this statue possesses
the exact same qualities as the body of the Buddha in terms
of the power of its blessing. It is said that when we see
this statue, our mind will be swiftly reminded of virtuous
actions, while our coarse kleshas will be pacified and other
types of very powerful qualities will arise.
Gathering
Accumulations Of Merit And Purifying Obscurations
In addition to
bestowing these qualities, undertaking pilgrimage to such
sites as Bodhgaya has a special power to help us gather accumulations
of merit and purify our obscurations. This was especially
true in the ancient societies when there were no planes or
cars or any kind of automobiles to go from sacred site to
sacred site. All traveling was undertaken by foot so, in this
way, the hardships people endured for the purpose of going
on a pilgrimage acted to purify their obscurations. Today,
it seems that since we have automobiles and planes to take
us to all of these locations, we have somewhat lost the opportunity
to purify our obscurations by means of going through physical
hardships. However, when we undertake a pilgrimage and travel
on planes, we are undertaking considerable expense to do so,
and we can view that as an offering. When we spend our money
on travels to the sacred sites, we can view that as an offering
of our possessions. When we offer our material possessions,
both as an offering to the three jewels and as generosity
to people we meet along the way, this will both purify our
obscurations and gather accumulations of merit.
Seeing
Samsara And Nirvana In One Place
We can also view
the conditions of both samsara and nirvana at Bodhgaya. When
we are in the presence of the stupa and statues, we can look
at them and see the qualities of nirvana. Then, we can immediately
turn around and see all the beggars who are present and see
the qualities of samsara. In this way, we will be able to
easily engender faith as well as renunciation and compassion.
Looking at the representations of Buddha will engender faith,
while turning around and seeing the poverty will give rise
to renunciation towards samsara, as well as compassion for
those suffering in samsara. In this way, Bodhgaya becomes
a very special place for training in these qualities.
The
Special Effects Of Sacred Sites On Our Virtuous Activities
The virtuous activities
that we practice in such sacred sites as Bodhgaya can become
special for many reasons. First, Bodhgaya is a place that
has been blessed in a very special way by the Buddha. For
that reason, the virtuous activity that we engage in there
becomes special. Our activities can become even more special
if we engage in them with a mind of uncontrived, genuine faith.
That can multiply the effect of our virtuous activities.
Second, when we
practice virtuous actions at such sites, if we are able to
feel compassion spontaneously when we see the suffering around
those locations, then we will not have to meditate in order
to purposely generate compassion. It will arise naturally.
It is said that simply being in Bodhgaya and looking at the
beggars there once will engender more compassion than if you
were to meditate in a regular place for four sessions or a
full day.
Similarly,
if you want to engender faith, it is said that if you go to
Bodhgaya and simply look once at the various representations
of the Buddha, that experience will also engender more faith
than practicing four sessions of meditation in an ordinary
place. When we say something like this-that one hour of practice
in Bodhgaya accumulates more virtue than months of practice
in an ordinary place-it is not just talk. We are not saying
these things just for the sake of saying them. This kind of
result is actually established by both reasoning and experience.
We can gain certainty in this through logical reasoning; but
not only that, we can also gain certainty in this kind of
efficacy through experience as well.
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