Event : Amitabha Empowerment and Puja with Khenchen
Rinpoche
Date : April 15-17
Venue : Astopaputra Dharma Fellowship Society
Address : 7 Lorong 33 Geylang
Website : http://www.utbf.org/en/centers/city/singapore/
Map :
http://www.streetdirectory.com/asia_travel/travel/travel_id_1/travel_site_48781/
Programme :
April 15
2pm-4pm
Assembly of 9 Deities Ngensong Dongtrug Jang Chog Puja
April 16
2pm-4pm
Assembly of 9 Deities Ngensong Dongtrug Jang Chog Puja
7:30pm-9:30pm
Medicine Buddha Empowerment
April 17
10am-12pm
Assembly of 9 Deities Ngensong Dongtrug Jang Chog Puja
2pm-4pm
Amitabha Buddha Empowerment and Practice
Khenchen Rinpoche was born in 1930 in Nangshen of Kham. He began
monastic training at the age of five after being sent to the Bakyod
Monastery by his father. This monastery was a three-day horse ride
from his childhood home. When he was seventeen his father died,
leaving behind the wish for him to practice diligently and become a
good Dharma practitioner.
Khenchen Rinpoche took the full monk's vows in 1948 at the age of
nineteen. Shortly thereafter he started his first traditional
three-year, three-month, three-day retreat and completed it in
1951. In 1952, he started his second such retreat. Due to excessive
efforts in practice, he became physically weak and had to come out
after one year. In order to regain stability of mind, he began to
visit and pay homage to various holy places in Tibet. In 1954, at
the age of twenty-five, he re-entered his second retreat. During
that period all the senior teachers of the monastery recognized his
superior qualities and appointed him to be an instructor for
retreats. Thus he was given the title of Druponla, or retreat
master in 1957, at the age of twenty-eight. Subsequently, in his
third retreat he started to teach other retreatants.
At the end of 1959, when the massive destruction in Tibet began,
the monks began to escape Tibet and the retreat program was ended
prematurely. Druponla, together with four other lamas, made the
dangerous one-year journey to Nepal. In the face of various
life-threatening situations, hunger and physical exhaustion, they
never stopped their practice. After finally arriving in Nepal, the
language barriers and different climate, lifestyle and food
conditions posed numerous problems. Nevertheless, grievances or
hostility never arose in Druponla's mind during this entire process
as he thought that all the difficulties he and his traveling
companions had faced were a result of karma and that karma had also
led them safely to Nepal. This experience enhanced his
understandings of the dharma and deepened his faith. After a
pilgrimage to the eight holy places of the Buddha in Nepal and
India, Druponla's only wish was to see the 16th Gyalwa
Karmapa.
In 1960, Druponla met with the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa Rigpe Dorje in
Sikhim. According to Karmapa's instruction, he stayed in Rumtek
Monastery, which was still under construction. While the young
monks joined in the construction work, Karmapa assigned Druponla to
the practice group doing certain practices every day to clear
obstacles. Several years later, Karmapa sent Druponla to take care
of the Tashi Choeling Monastery in Bhutan, which had been offered
to the Karmapa by the King of Bhutan.
During his three-year stay in Bhutan, Druponla received many
Nyingmapa teachings from Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, visited numerous
holy places where Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava had stayed, including
the famous cave of Taktsang (Tiger's Den). Here Padmasambhava had
forcefully subdued hostile forces and here also Druponla did a
month's retreat on Padmasambhava. Some extraordinary experiences
from the practice arose in him.
In the beginning of 1972, Druponla received a letter from the 16th
Karmapa asking him to return to Rumtek Monastery before the eighth
day of the Tibetan new year to be Trungram Gyaltrul Rinpoche's
personal tutor (Gegenla). He hesitated and asked the Karmapa
whether he was really qualified for the task. The Karmapa reassured
him by saying, "If I'm not sure, why would I choose you? I chose
you from many lamas." Then Gegenla said, "Because of my father's
wishes, I hope to practice in closed retreats for the rest of my
life." Karmapa then said, "If you follow my instructions, that's
the best practice!"
Therefore, on an auspicious day, Gegenla began to teach Rinpoche
the Tibetan language, then various rituals and practices.