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Shitro Empowerment and Bardo Teachings March 14Th – 17Th

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Shitro Empowerment and Bardo Teachings March 14Th – 17Th Shitro Empowerment and Bardo Teachings March 14 th – 17 th Drikung Kyobpa Choling Monastery 1600 Sheridan Place Escondido CA 92027 Phone: 760-738-0089 or 909-625-5955 100 PEACEFUL AD WRATHFUL DEITIES This empowerment introduces the practitioner to experiences described in the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol) and helps prepare one to recognize the true nature of mind encountered in the bardo (intermediate state) between death and rebirth. • This is a rare empowerment that will further develop the companion practice of Phowa. • Liberation can follow a single moment’s recognition at the time of death or in the bardo between lives. • This complete transmission includes teachings on the True Nature of Mind. This teaching of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities is the supreme method for the practitioners who are entering into the practices of the Creation Stage, the Completion Stage, and the Great Perfection. It is the supreme method for them to amend all of their impairments of samaya that have become fragmented. It is the supreme method for them to purify the obscurations of conceptuality, and it is the supreme method for them to help all sentient beings, by pulling them up from the lower realms of samsara and establishing them in the karmic fortune of obtaining the supreme siddhi [enlightenment]. It is also said that merely hearing this teaching prevents birth in the lower realms; merely understanding it causes one to travel the path of great bliss; and bringing its meaning to mind causes one to accomplish the irreversible state of the spontaneously arisen awareness holder. For everyone who connects with this teaching there will be great purpose and meaning. The ancient traditions of Tibetan Buddhism include many methods for experiencing the continuity of consciousness; such as tracing awareness through waking and dreaming states, and beyond those, through apparent unconsciousness into the bardo. The bardos are the transitional spaces through which all beings pass within and between lives. The word bardo means 'an interval '. Our experiences are made up of various kinds of intervals. Even the gap between one thought and the next can be called a bardo. Traditionally, six bardos are named: three describing the experience from the moment of death to the time when consciousness approaches a new birth, and three describing our experiences in this life The Buddhadharma describes the dawning of the Mandalas of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities in the bardo following death. These deities are dimensions of our own awareness that are vast and multidimensional. The empowerment that Drupon Samten Rinpoche will give connects those who receive this transmission with these mandalas and archetypal fields, and will thereby confer benefits that endure through this lifetime, on into the bardo, and beyond. The Shitro Empowerment is a very amazing empowerment in that it supports our recognition of the clear light of our awareness both in this life and beyond. Six Bardos in Tibetan Buddhism There are six traditional bardo states known as the Six Bardos : the Bardo of This Life; the Bardo of Meditation; the Bardo of Dream; the Bardo of Dying; the Bardo of Dharmata; and the Bardo of Existence or of Becoming. The first bardo begins when we take birth and endures as long as we live. The second is the bardo of dreams. The third is the bardo of concentration or meditation. The fourth occurs at the moment of death. The fifth is known as the bardo of the luminosity of the true nature. The sixth is called the bardo of transmigration or karmic becoming. These teachings are very important to receive and are highly recommended by teachers from many traditions. Achi Chokyi Dolma According to prophecy in the Chakrasamvara Tantra it is said, " The head of the Karma Dakinis will come to the area of Tidro cave in Drikung. This will be a nirmanakaya manifestation of Vajrayogini .” This was the prophecy of the great Dharma Protector, Achi Chokyi Dolma . Achi was the great grandmother of Lord Jigton Sumgon, founder of the Drikung Kagyu Lineage. To this day she remains a great dharma protector of the Buddha's teachings. Although Achi has a particular commitment to protect the Drikung Kagyu, she is recognized and practiced by practitioners of all lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. She is the emanation of Vajra Yogini who is the embodiment of the wisdom and compassion of all the Buddhas. She is the divine mother of the Buddhas who manifested out of compassion in the form of the Dakinis of the Five Buddha families. In order to benefit beings in samsara she displays a limitless number of manifestations at different times and in different space dimensions. At the time of her death, Achi Chokyi Drolma did not pass away in an ordinary manner. She first took her disciples to a huge cave where many sacred and secret items were discovered. Then she offered a tsok feast, and those who partook of that feast achieved many sublime qualities of the Buddhas. Then Achi composed a text containing a sadhana of herself and promised to look after the teachings of the Buddha and to protect the essence of his teachings that would appear in the future. With that she said, “My activities through this body have come to an end,” and she flew up to a Buddha Field on her blue horse without leaving her body. Once, when Jigten Sumgon was staying in Drikung Thil, he heard the sound of the damaru accompanied by beautiful celestial songs. A great yogi disciple was there and asked Jigten Sumgon about the music. Jigten Sumgon said, “The incomparable sounds are from Achi Chokyi Drolma, who is a wisdom-dakini.” Then this yogi insistently requested that he be given a method on how to practice Achi and Jigten Sumgon composed a sadhana consisting of ten leaves which is contained in the “Achi Pebum.” As a protector Achi is visualized on her blue wisdom horse to symbolize the swiftness of her enlightened activities. She holds a wish-fulfilling jewel to symbolize her ability to bestow everything needed and desired when asked. She vowed to protect all Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana practitioners, as she had taken the vows from many great enlightened masters promising that she would protect the teachings of the 1000 Buddhas. She also manifests in different forms in different Buddha fields. Her activities are like lightning in that as soon as you pray she will be there. There are many magnificent stories about Achi in both the present and past. She removes inner and outer obstacles to practice and lays the groundwork for circumstances best suited to our progress along the path. Those who practice her meditation and recite her mantra are sure to be protected from obstacles and hindrances. .
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