Southwest Dharma Celebration
I am tired, but it was a great weekend. And after all the awful snow and ice we've had the past two weeks, we got perfect weather for the empowerment this weekend. I got to go to the entire event this year, since I got back from Seattle Friday afternoon thanks to taking the earliest Southwest flight I could (6am). Otherwise I would have missed the Friday night intro session.
So this year's event was the empowerment of Buddha Amitayus, the Buddha of long life. This is probably the most involved empowerment I've had so far. The other empowerments involved reciting some vows and mantras and visualizations, and this one had that too, but also some additional stuff at the end. Actually, the additional stuff is really during the empowerment, but because there were so many people (over 100), it was impractical to do it until the end. The extra stuff was the life nectar, life pills, and life cord; we all lined up to receive each in turn. The nectar and life pills were set in our left hands for us to then drink and eat, and the red cord tied around our left wrists as a reminder to practice love and compassion. We're supposed to wear them until they fall apart, but they used nylon thread and it's rather slick and doesn't want to stay tied in a knot very well. I've had to re-tie it a few times already. I double knotted it the last time so maybe that will finally keep it on.
We had plenty of time to visit with everyone and lunch was included in the celebration. Saturday we had spinach wraps from Jason's Deli and today we had Greek pizzas from Schlotsky's. I ended up with quite a bit of fruit, chocolate, and peacock feathers from the tsog offerings as well. (Amitayus sits on a peacock feather throne, so they had a lot of peacock feathers on his shrine for the empowerment and anyone who wanted some could take some blessed feathers for their own shrines at home.) I bought a small copper statue of Amitayus for my shrine, as well as a Kadampa T-shirt (they had hoodies too, but not the design I wanted in my size - maybe next time), a book that was half off because it was an older edition, and some Lamrim meditation cards that will be helpful for my practice when traveling. They're easier to keep in my purse than the meditation handbook.
Jangchub asked me if I would like to start a blog on one of the more popular blog sites about my experiences in the NKT, like Wordpress or Tumbler. He said there are lots of Buddhists of other traditions who blog, but not many Kadampas, and we need a more positive presence on the internet. Since LJ is pretty dead, I may look into one of these other sites next weekend and start something there, focusing mainly on my Buddhist practice. Once I do, I'll let everyone here know.
So this year's event was the empowerment of Buddha Amitayus, the Buddha of long life. This is probably the most involved empowerment I've had so far. The other empowerments involved reciting some vows and mantras and visualizations, and this one had that too, but also some additional stuff at the end. Actually, the additional stuff is really during the empowerment, but because there were so many people (over 100), it was impractical to do it until the end. The extra stuff was the life nectar, life pills, and life cord; we all lined up to receive each in turn. The nectar and life pills were set in our left hands for us to then drink and eat, and the red cord tied around our left wrists as a reminder to practice love and compassion. We're supposed to wear them until they fall apart, but they used nylon thread and it's rather slick and doesn't want to stay tied in a knot very well. I've had to re-tie it a few times already. I double knotted it the last time so maybe that will finally keep it on.
We had plenty of time to visit with everyone and lunch was included in the celebration. Saturday we had spinach wraps from Jason's Deli and today we had Greek pizzas from Schlotsky's. I ended up with quite a bit of fruit, chocolate, and peacock feathers from the tsog offerings as well. (Amitayus sits on a peacock feather throne, so they had a lot of peacock feathers on his shrine for the empowerment and anyone who wanted some could take some blessed feathers for their own shrines at home.) I bought a small copper statue of Amitayus for my shrine, as well as a Kadampa T-shirt (they had hoodies too, but not the design I wanted in my size - maybe next time), a book that was half off because it was an older edition, and some Lamrim meditation cards that will be helpful for my practice when traveling. They're easier to keep in my purse than the meditation handbook.
Jangchub asked me if I would like to start a blog on one of the more popular blog sites about my experiences in the NKT, like Wordpress or Tumbler. He said there are lots of Buddhists of other traditions who blog, but not many Kadampas, and we need a more positive presence on the internet. Since LJ is pretty dead, I may look into one of these other sites next weekend and start something there, focusing mainly on my Buddhist practice. Once I do, I'll let everyone here know.