Powerful Malas

8/3/2019 Powerful Malas

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All About Rosaries

Source http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/all-

about-rosaries.html

So anyways, some people asked some questions and I am going to talk about

that. Alright. Malas. Malas or rosaries. Malas or rosaries are simply, on aconventional level, counters. They help you to count a particular amount ofsacred words, which we talked about last year, mantras. The powerful effect of

mantras on our psychology, on our body and on our winds and on ourmovement, and how incredible, powerful certain mantras can be over a period of


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time. They really are words of power. That I can attest to myself. And in extremecases, where we really, really concentrate, you can actually you knowI mean Iam not joking, you really can stop rain with mantras. Literally, you can just stop

rain. Isnt that a great way to pick up a girl? (blows in the air) Just think aboutthat. Isnt that a great way to pick up a guy? Some girls. (snaps fingers) Nah itaint gonna work. But my point is this, the real point. In fact, thats how Sharon

was impressed. Her partner stopped the rain, but she checked the weatherforecast and, Its going to be like that that many hours She said, Lets go out

at this time, its gonna stop in a minute and then Sharon is like, Wow! Youre afabulous bomoh! Fabulous! So you see it can be another method to happiness.Anyways, malas are simply counters. They help you to keep track so you can

concentrate. Malas are used to concentrate and used to help you to focus andconcentrate on the mantras you are doing and the meditation, because if you

have to keep count of a certain mantra, then you lose count and meditating, and

lose count and meditatingin the beginning it is quite hard because our mind isvery dysfunctional. Its not able to multitask in the beginning. In the beginning.So its like, Where was I? Oh oh oh meditating then you start all over again and

then you say, Forget about this meditation thing. Im going out and having a rootbeer!

So, malas are simply counters to help you remember where you are and howmany you need to do. They are actually used to help you to concentrate, contrary

to what some people think, that the whole focus is having a holy mala and its

really fabulous and its really wonderful and thats the spiritual practice no, no,no, no, no. Malas are not spiritual practices in itself; it helps you to becomespiritual because it helps you to focus on what you are supposed to be doing:repetitions. And so therefore, the mala is a counter. It contains 108 beads. 100 is

the usual number that we count, eight is for the mistakes we have done.

Sometimes we mispronounced, unintentionally. Sometimes we skipped,sometimes we missed, so the eight is to make up for that. They have other

complicated explanations but Im gonna leave it there because for our write-upwe dont need to be so complicated.

108and the quality of the mala is according to your means. But I wouldrecommend you to get malas that last, that are durable, that dont break easy,and that are easy to use. You get a lapis lazuli mala because you can afford it, its

heavy! Someone offered me one, I was like, Ooh! Lapis lazuli! Give that to me!

because its got gold on it and Im like, Oooh gold, oooh I love it! Thats gonnahelp my meditation! Boy its heavy! After a while, youre like, OM MANI PADME

HUNG, OM MANI PADME HUNG, OM MANI PADME HUNG, OM MANI PADMEHUNG, I have biceps on this side from using that mala but no biceps on this side.

Its not practical at all. And you know some Chinese Mahayana people its notwrong because Tibetans do that too have huge malas, its that thick, and theywrap it around and it goes down to the knee, and when theyre walking, Namo

Amituofo. Oh my god! And then they carry these malas, its so huge, its biggerthan my thumb, its like, OM MANI PADME HUNG! OM MANI PADME HUNG! OMMANI PADME HUNG! And then you got to hold the mala and go (shakes hand inpain), then like, OM MANI PADME HUNG! OM MANI PADME HUNG! OM MANI

PADME HUNG! By the time, you finish you got Arnold Schwarzenegger fingers!Its so heavy, and then the biceps of course. Which is not bad but its only on one

side so you show this arm but not that. But I dont see the purpose of those huge


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malas. Its not bad, I mean if you like it all the power to you, huge mala peoplegreat. For me I dont like it too big, I dont like it too heavy. I dont like a lot ofthings hanging off it because Tibetans put counters on them. Which a lot of

people like, but I dont like because I find that it gets tangled.

I like it simple and easy, but good material. Ill tell you why now. Certain

practices, certain types of mantras, if you do it combined with certain materials,it helps to facilitate the results of that mantra. For example, if you put very

calming, beautiful music and you go for crystal therapy and then they put the

aromatherapy stuff, it does help. Crystals do help certain parts of your body.Ancient medicine or traditional medicine is all made up of components that are


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all natural, elements, mercury, gold, and silver. Tibetan medicine is. So its allelements. So crystals do help, they help, but it is in conjunction with things. Somalas do help in conjunction with certain mantras. So if you recite OM MANI

PADME HUNG and Chenrezig, or Kuan Yinyou know, in Tibetan we call himChenrezig. In Tibetan, hes a he and in Chinese, he is a she but it doesnt reallymatter, he, she, you know. I think your form is in drag, but never mind. Hes still a

bodhisattva inside right? Drag or whatever, who cares? Buddha is Buddha lah. Soanyways, Chenrezig, when you recite the mantra, its very good to have crystal

malas. Its not a necessity, its not a must, its not that you have to and if youdont, oh god you know, Kuan Yin is not going to bless you. How ridiculous.But crystal malas are very good for Kuan Yin. And Bodhi seed malas are very

good. Bodhi seed. Because Bodhi seed is originally linked to the Bodhi tree. TheBodhi tree is what Lord Buddha sat under to meditate, to become a Buddha. So

Bodhi tree reminds us its not necessary because its not the tree that Buddha

sat under you know its a tree that grew 50,000 miles away so its a Bodhi tree,big deal, but thats not the one that Buddha sat under. But if you use a Bodhi treemala, it kind of reminds you of your purpose to become a Buddha, and implants

imprints, with that awareness, that I will be a Buddha. That I want to be aBuddha. So Bodhi seed is very good because its light, its solid, its nice and its a

reminder of where Lord Buddha attained his final release. Bodhi seeds arewonderful. And pearls are very nice, theyre precious, and Ill explain why in a

few minutes. Wood, any type of wood is alright; sandalwood is beautiful,

fabulous. And these days we have synthetic materials which is okay too. Theydont break, they last a long time, theyre synthetic. Even glass and all that. Theydidnt have all that in Tibet. Its not not allowed, you know you can even havepure coral, its up to you, its really up to you. Because a mala is used as a counter

but in higher practices because youre not gonna remain at your level, youre

gonna go to higher practices where you recite certain mantras, as you recitemore and more it energizes your mala. It really does. So what happens is when

you recite a lot of mantras, it energizes your mala, and the mala becomes a verypowerful object, a talisman, a protection. Why do you think a lot of Chinese

people hang malas inside their car? Because it comes from that reasoning, thatsomeone blessed and holy has done prayers on it, and the energy is there.So malas can contain very powerful energies. And when you recite mantras and

after youre finished, you blow on your mala. It becomes a protection. Why? The

energy of that certain deity that you have been contacting, Kuan Yin for example,Manjushri, OM AH RA PA TSA NA DHI, OM MANI PADME HUNG, it goes right in

and it stays, and it energizes it, and its yours. Very nice. And then in higherpractices, in the sutra practices, in the lower practices, in the medium practices,

whatever then malas become an object of offering. Example, for conveniencesake, it can be used as a mandala offering. So what you visualize on your mala is astring of jewels, and diamonds and pearls and rubies and sapphires and

amethysts, all the beautiful things you visualize and you offer. So if you actuallyhave a few precious items on it, its a wonderful offering every single day to offerto the Buddhas when youre doing your practices.So therefore if you have some pearl malas, its very, very nice because its nice to

use, its unique, its different but its an offering. You think, Well if I offered ityesterday today, I cant offer it again. No. Yesterday was yesterdays reality.

Today its yours again. Its a different reality today. So you can have beautiful


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pearl malas to offer up to Lord Buddha, up to Tsongkhapa when you do yourmeditations. And then on the highest form of practice this is not a necessity,this is just my own little thinking when you have malas that are of precious

material, you offer it to yourself as a deity. If you visualize yourselfin the higherpractices you change your reality to the Yidam, the meditational deity. Yidam isthe one that holds your mind so that refers to your personal affinity deity that

you meditate on to achieve enlightenment. Because you know there is 108deities, you cant meditate and recite their sutra and mantras every single day,

you cant. Its just too much. Its physically impossible no matter how enlightenedyou are. And its not necessary. If you have one, it contains the energy of all.So your lama or your teacher or your Guru, when youre ready, you request, he

will assign you an affinity deity. That one that fits your particular need, yourparticular mind, and your particular energy and your particular way to

enlightenment. And therefore, when you have this Yidam, and then you receive

the initiations, and then you have the visualizations of yourself as that deity,when you have these precious items, its an offering. I offer it to Chenrezig. I offerto Manjushri. And therefore, you can have precious items that are nice without

attachment, without the result of attachment. And in that same meditation, youcan have many precious things around you. Maybe you are someone in society.

Maybe you are, and you have to keep up looks for business, for the sake of yourfamily, whatever because the world operates on that convention. You may not.

So in your mind you dont operate on that convention but outwardly you do, but

with good motivationyou know, Im gonna have a big fat car, Im going to havea big fancy house, I m going to have fancy jewelry, because I have to because Iam in this station in life so I have to help maintain my family, out of compassionyou have those things. So in that way, when you have those things, it doesnt

create negative karma or attachment. Why? The intention is to benefit.

So malas can be used, theyre basically counters. And traditionally, you have acenter, and then on this side is 21, and on this side its 21. Because in many

practices, the mantra you recite up to 21. And then after 21 you have somethingbigger here if you prefer. Why? Because everything is designed not to interrupt

your meditation. So when you go to 21 like that, you can feel it and then you stop.So everything is to facilitate your meditation. And so, if you are very lucky, if yourlama or your Guru has some relationship with you and stuff, hes offered you a

mala, you should think its fabulous. Because most likely your lama, your Guru or

whatever has put his energy in it, prayers, his Yidam so that when you touch thatmala and do the practice, it helps to open up seeds in your mind, faster. Because

someone who is spiritually advanced has the propensity to open us up faster andeasier. Much faster. Or if we have a mala and its blessed by a person that we

respect, and a person that is attained, or at least is a good person, and has goodenergy and prays, and then it empowers our mala. If its not then its ok also.Because everyday we bless it ourselves. We can bless, we dont have to be a

Rinpoche to bless, we all can bless. The Buddhas can work through all of us.So, it can be of any material, certain practices require certain different types ofmala, certain practices. And then certain practices require you to use your lefthand or your right hand. And which finger. But generally for us, we just use any

hand we like, any finger but for auspicious reasons, when we do the highertantric practices which are very profound, if you do the mother tantras, then you

use the left hand. If you do the mother tantras, you use the left hand. For peaceful


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activities, to require peaceful abilities, peaceful forms of powers andclairvoyance, you use your index finger. If you want to increase wealth, increaseknowledge, increase harmony, you want to increase prosperity in that area, with

those deities you will use the second finger. So you recite it like that with theparticular mantra and meditation, it will increase. Because you have windchannels here. These wind channels activate certain things in your mind that

help you go to that direction, that open up things in that direction. And then, inthe mother tantras, if you want to do controlling activities, controlling weather,

controlling spirits, exorcisms, stopping negativities, then you use the third finger.The third finger is the control aspect. It will gain you the power to control certainsituations, to be of benefit of others. And then last but not least, is when all three

methods fail, you have to use wrath or ferocity, wrathful methods. Some peopleyou need to be wrathful. Their minds dont move unless youre wrathful.

So to gain that wrathful abilitywrathful is anger without anger. Isnt that

beautiful? Anger without anger. You get angry not because youre angry; you getangry because its a method. So for wrathful meditations, and wrathful youknow, if you are in a very violent area like a cemetery, or near a cemetery, or a

place where people have been killed and died, its very wrathful. And every timeyou meditate you see things, you feel things, youre uncomfortable, or you feel

jittery; its not necessary a sprit but you yourself feelbecause the area is veryenergized with wrathful bad energy, then you use the last finger. This is wrath,

this is controlling the situation around you and you do particular mantras.

If you do the father tantras, then you use the right hand. Left is permissible butyou use more on the right. Left represents wisdom, which is mother tantras.Right represents father tantras, which is based on method. Both is necessary forenlightenment, both are two wings of a bird. Its just which method you go

towards. So if were doing for example, Vajrayogini practices, Heruka practices,

Kalachakra practices, then we will concentrate on the left hand using the firstindex finger. And we will train ourselves to use that, and then we pull the mala

towards us. This is how we use it: we keep it at heart level, concentrate, and wepull it towards us. And when you finish it, when you get to the end, maybe you

have to do 1000, 500, 1, I dont know when you get to the end, you justcontinue, you just go over. This is nothing sacred or holy, its a marker. Somepeople turn it around, its not necessary. You just continue.


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So those who are doing Yamantaka practices, Guhyasamaja practices, they will

use the right hand. Those of us who are not initiated into the higher tantras atthis time, you can use any hand that you like. But if you like to be initiated into

one of the higher tantras and you know which one you like, or which one youhave been told you are going to get, then you will start, for example Vajrayogini

and Heruka is left hand; Yamantaka, Guhyasamaja, right hand. Kalachakra, lefthand. Mother tantra. And thats not a big deal but you see its another way to help

you to gain attainments faster. If you use the wrong hands, Uh oh, no effect. No

lah. Got effect. There are plenty of villagers out there who, you know, they donteven have fingers, they just recite the mantras. They dont have hands, accidents,


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whatever, they still gain attainments. So these are just to help you. Dont getcaught up on this. And if you make it very beautiful, if you make it very attractive,it is nice too, because some people are at that level where they like nice things, so

if you give them nice things they will do nice mantras. If you give them uglythings, they wont do the mantra. I mean, there are all types of people.So if you know some guy who is filthy, wealthy rich and he has everything

around him in gold, including his toilet bowl, everything is gold, you give him acrappy little wooden mala that smells, thats misshapen, Here! Be a Buddhist,

pray! and hes like Ugh, thank you very much! Yeah, but if you give this guy apearl, Ooh! I wanna recite mantras every day! You know, at that level. As theydo more and more, their minds change and after a while it doesnt matter to

them. But it attracts them at their level.(JP asks a question)

Oh you lost the accent. Go ahead.

(answer) The significance is precious stones are acquired by you having wealth.The wealth is a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tears. And with blood, sweatand tears, if you have money, you can spend them on many things, but if you

spend them on something to offer to a Buddha who is enlightened being, youcreate the causes for you to gain great wealth again.

(JP asks a question)(answer) No, because if your motivation is to get rich as an end to itself, its

feeding desire. Because you are already feeding desire as you are now doing that,

every day. Every single day whatever you do is to get wealth. You are feedingdesire every single day. But its better to feed your desire through an enlightenedbeing which eventually will extinguish that. Because if youre a really ugly nastyperson, if you hang around a nice person, eventually you start to transform and

change.

So like that if youre gonna feed your desire by offering pearls and precious itemson a Buddha image, what happens is this, is that every single day that Buddha

image contains the item, you collect the merits every single day. And when youcollect that merit, it transforms your mind. It helps you to switch your mind over

to something good even initially if it is negative. And at the same time when youoffer something precious, choose an enlightened being. That enlightened beinghas no desire for it, he has no need, and on top of that he has all that he wants.

But when you offer it up to an enlightened being whose mind is free from

attachments, then you create the causes for you to reach that state, because youare making an affinity with that being. And the affinity youre making is not a

cheap little glass of yogurt, its something really that your greedy mind wouldhave normally have not done, but you pull yourself away from your greed to

offer it to something that you feel you dont get immediate benefit. So on manylevels, it has a lot of effect. Okay? And hence in Buddhist places, they encouragethat. Like in Thailand, gold on the Buddhas. Oh yes. It is meant as a counter to

attachment, a counter. Okay?So when you have beautiful malas, when you have beautiful malas, nice malas,for some people it is encouraging. For some people they use it as a practice intheir daily practice. Its an offering. But it doesnt matter, it doesnt really, really

matter what kind of mala you have. Its basically a counter, and its pleasant, itsnice, you pick the size that you like. You pick the size that you find pleasant, and

you can change it. And its a wonderful gift to people because its very


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meaningful. Its very beautiful. It symbolizes practice. Kuan Yin in the Tibetantradition, four arms, in this arm holds a mala. In this arm holds a lotus, and thesetwo arms here holds a wish-fulfilling jewel. So this arm here holding a lotus, its a

reminder to us that by practice, Kuan Yin became enlightened. By listening to hermaster, Shakyamuni Buddha, she became enlightened. And she becameenlightened not by listening but by applying what she heard into practice, into

assimilation with her mind. So this mala that she is holding representsassimilation. So when you have a mala and you keep a mala and its kept well, it

is also awareness of your spiritual practice, that you need to practice. When yousee a mala, what do you think? Youre not gonna wrap it around yourself and goon a podiumI mean you can but thats not what you usually associate it with.

And higher beings who are very practiced in mantra, who are very practiced inmeditation, their malas are very powerful. Because their energy, their

motivation, and everything you want to achieve, is contained in their prayers and

then its blessed. And some higher beings can manifest as different meditationaldeities. So during their meditations, they manifest as different meditationaldeities, it is not them holding, it is the meditational deity holding the mala and

blessing it. So if those kind of beings, if they give you one of their malas its veryblessed. Why is it blessed? It is blessed because it contains the energy of that

deity which, when you touch and you use daily, it will open up that energy in you.And, if they cut their mala and they offer it, and you can get one, and you can

wear it, very protective. Very, very protective.

So on a different level, malas can be used as a protection. And in some cases ofhigh lamas, their malas are so energized, they know it, they actually use the malato bless people. For example, in the Vajrayogini tantras and in the Herukatantras, the mantra is very, very potent for dispelling negative spirits. Very

potent for exorcising or chasing away negativities. Vajrayogini. So in

Vajrayoginis tantra, it is encouraged to have a nice mala, its encouraged to havea strong one and to keep one, and to blow the mantra after you are done, and

then with that you can bless many people. People who are touched by this malain the Vajrayogini tantra, actually receive an imprint of her holy blessings. Whats

her holy blessings? That in future they can practice. So with Vajrayoginis tantra,for people to even see the mala of the practitioner, and to be placed on top of thehead and to be blessed, very powerful. Very, very powerful.

So the mala is a counter. Its an ornament for the Buddhas. Its an offering to the

Buddhas. It is a reminder of spiritual practice. It is a counter to help us focus ourawareness and meditation because we are at a rough, gross level. And, it can help

us to attain different types of powers by activating the winds and energies in thedifferent parts of our fingers, in the different parts of our body.

(someone asks a question)(answer) All. All. No problem. No problem. You know, some lamas, they have topractice 100-200 deities, they cant have 200 malas, thats gonna be pretty heavy.

Imagine going through immigration, theyre gonna say youre a businessmanselling malas. Taxed! One mala for all. Even better.(JP asks a question)(answer) No difference. Your preference and your hand size. If youre 62oh!

That one. Probably 21. Those are for short pratices, just to wear, anywhere youcan use it. I mean sometimes its not practical to have a big, long one. So when

you wear a little short one like what you have, you can take it off and you use it


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any time. Ya. And then lets be a little bitchy. If youre 62 and gorgeous andfabulous, then you have a long, big mala. If youre not, you have a short one. Well,if youre not and you have a long one, its gonna be likeyoure gonna have to be

like (holds mala high in the air), OM MANI PADME HUNG, OM MANI PADMEHUNG, OM MANI PADME HUNG, OM MANI PADME HUNG, OM MANI PADMEHUNG. Well? And if youre 62 and gorgeous, and fabulous and beautiful and

Tibetan, then you have a long one, its very elegant. Because if its a little short,youll be like (imitates holding a small mala)get it? Good? Any more intelligent

questions that might embarrass you? He loves it.

Yes Paris.


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(Paris asks a question)(answer) Because as I mentioned earlier, a lot of practices require you just torecite 21. And thats the duration of the meditation that is necessary for that

particular practice. Just 21. It can be 21, it can be 28, it depends on differentpractices. And sometimes it can depend on your wrist, because if you are 62and gorgeous and fabulous, and have thick, wonderful wrists, 21 is going to be a

little too tight so maybe you put 23.I mean dont get caught up in the numbers. Thats what is specified, but that

doesnt have to be. You have to be practical. So if youre not 62 and gorgeous,maybe 21 is gonna be a little loose, you keep losing it you know. And if you go tothe Indian toilet and you wipe yourself the Indian way, which is what we do in

India, then your mala goes down the Indian toilet, because its a little too loose.So you do what is practical.

(JP asks a question)

(answer) Oh, you can get it from right here. Thats what we are doing right now.This whole thing is for write-ups. See, these are our writers. Ive got four writershere. This is a writer. Yeah. Oh no no, you can get it anywhere else. In fact you

should check several sources so you can get this information, you can check theNet. You can check the Net. You just put, you know, the significance rosaries,

Buddhist rosaries, how theyre used, just check the Net. No problem.(someone asks a question)

(answer) Its not necessary. The purpose of bone malas is this: that has an energy

to help us remember our mortality. That has an energy to help us visualize andfeel death. And feeling death and mortality is not a depressing state. It is a happystate because it compels us to do things that bring happiness. If we know we aregoing to die tomorrow, theres a lot of things we wouldnt do today that will be

harmful to others. And some of the tantric deities they use wrathful means. They

use wrathful means in order to subdue others. So malas that are bone representdeath and when you use these malas, it reminds you of the energy that you are

tapping into to subdue others in violent places, but its not necessary. Its notnecessary and I dont recommend it.

Yes.(someone asks a question)(answer) Katvanga. Number one, Lama Tsongkhapas head doesnt tilt to the side

in the normal form. He has five main emanations. One, this is Lama Tsongkhapa.

Two, three, four and the last one there in the form of a mahasiddha, thats allLama Tsongkhapa. He has five main forms. Alright? Five main, not restricted.

Each of the forms are different and they manifest differently for differentpurposes and needs. A deity who has the head tilted in lower tantras, the deity

whose head is tilted in the lower tantras, denotes compassion, maternal love,care and extreme compassion. So what youre doing is, its reminding you of thegoal, and to remind you that when we reach the goal we still have to be very

compassionate and kind. So a deity that is slightly tilted like that, like Tara,slightly tilted, it represents the state they have achieved, which is greatcompassion, which Is equivalent to maternal love, much much more. Thats one.On Guru Rinpoche, in Guru Rinpoches holy case, when his head is tilted, it

represents tantric achievements where he uses his tantric elements and tantricachievements to subdue. Because Guru Rinpoche was very well-known in Tibet

when he first came to subdue many, many unnatural, supernatural, unhappy and


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very negative forces. So when he was doing that, he wasnt just sitting like that,he had to move this way and that way; he had different rituals and different waysto do it, and different mudras and different actions and different body

movements. So him doing that represents activity from compassion. In LamaTsongkhapas case he is usually pictured as straight, straight meaning mentalstabilization. Straight meaning by great meditation because when we meditate

we wont do like that. Sitting straight and meditating represents hes achievedfull enlightenment through practice. But its different for the five emanations, for

example this one. This one here, he appeared on an elephantthis one and that isis the same but when he appeared on an elephant to one of his disciples,Khedrup Rinpoche, why? He was showing great compassion, great love for a

student. Because Lama Tsongkhapa is a Buddha. He appears in visions to people,hes very sensitive. There are many Lama Tsongkhapa statues in Tibet that

manifest pills, or speak, oreither very heavy to move or very light, it has

unusual ways of manifesting its power.Lama Tsongkhapa is a very easy deity to practice, very easy to tap into, very easyto hold on to, very easy to achieve, because of his nature and who he is and the

combination of deities. And his mantra and the meditations are not difficult butthey are very, very effective. So Lama Tsongkhapa in this formwe call these

forms the Je Zikpa Nga, the five visions of Je Rinpoche, Je Tsongkhapa. In thisform, when he appeared on an elephant, the elephant represents overcoming

ignorance, stubbornness, narrow mindedness, and Lama Tsongkhapas

overcome that. On a pristine white elephant. Because the elephant is not anactual animal, it is an emanation of his mind to show you his quality. And ridingon a white, pristine clear elephant represents his luminous nature that he hasachieved Buddhahood. And him being tilted shows you great love and

compassion. I care for you. I am appearing to you out of love. You invoked me. I

appear to you out of great love, great compassion. And in this form, his feet aredown instead of the usual meditational pose telling you that although he is fully

achieved, he is not stiff and hard. He is able to come to you immediately to help.So this form is very, very significant, with the head tilted. In the case of tantric

deities, the head being tilted represents the type of tantras they are gearedtowards. Vajrayoginis is tilted towards the left. Herukas tilted to the left.Kalachakra, to the left. Yamantaka, to the right. Left denotes mother tantra,

focusing on clear light. Right is more on father tantra, illusory body. So in tantric

deities when they tilt left and right, it symbolizes the method that they use, thatyou will utilize to achieve enlightenment. Both is equal, its just dependent on

what you need.So tilting of the head in iconography is very powerful symbology. Very, very

powerful. And if you know what it represents, when you look at the deity youimmediately know the path, you know what they are doing, whats happening,what youre gonna engage in, you understand very clearly. So iconography is not

simply beautiful art; it is very powerful symbology towards an awakened state ofmind, which reminds you and when you see it, when you see an enlightenedbeing, a statue or a thangka or whatever, it plants imprints in your mind. It is adirect channel to them. Okay?

Now where was I. Malas. So they are counters, they can be made of preciousitems so that you can make offerings, and they can be of any size. They can be of

any materials, and they can be used for whatever you like, and they can be


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switched any time. So if you want to switch malas, dont go, Oh god, how do Itransfer the energy? No, dont worry about it because the energy is not reallythe mala, its you. If youre attained, whatever you touch becomes enlightened.

You can touch one toilet paper and put it on people and bless them with it, if youare really that state. Why? Because this is just all a substance, its earth, air, waterand fire. And the blessings is carried over to someone, because they are not able

to achieve direct blessing with you. So what happens is, its blessed. Example, wehave clothes and we have relics from Lama Tsongkhapa or Buddha. Those are

very blessed because it was them. You know their energies pervaded their wholebody and what they wore. So it can be transferred on a tissue, it can betransferred on a toilet paper, it can be transferred on a mala. So dont think, Oh

if I switch malas how? I need to go see a Tibetan Lama, fly to Tibet and see HisHoliness blublublablabla and then you cant acclimatize so for three days there,

youre throwing up and youre dizzy, just to transfer the energy of this mala to

this mala and then you find out from Tsem Rnpoche that you dont have to. Andyou dont have to fly to Shangri-la, Tibet, you can just fly to PJ. Isnt that fabulous?Just in PJ. Wonderful.

In the past people who went for teachings, they walkedTrijang Rinpoche, whenhe went for the Lamrim teachings, he walked for three months from his part of

Tibet, on horseback and walked, the highest lama of Tibet, to central Tibet toreceive teachings from his Guru. These days, when we have to drive from

another part of town and there is traffic, oh god I tell you. If there was a picture

of our Guru wed be punching him. Very easy these days.So malas on a higher level can be protection. Why? It is imbued with thatpractice, it is imbued with the power of that mantra. Remember what Imentioned last week without going all into it again? Mantras contain the essence

of that Buddha, in the form of words. So when you chant that mantra, you are

tapping into the energy of that Buddha, you are tapping into its potential. Andyoure tapping into yourself connecting with that energy and becoming one with

it. So words of power as I explained last weekwho missed it, you can get the CD,its available. Seng Piow has it produced. Its very, very powerful. It should be

kept clean, it should be kept well. It should be kept in a good place. Why?Because it can become dirty? No. Respecting and keeping it in a nice place issymbolic of your spiritual practice and how you treat it. And its great gifts.

Malas. Alright? Any questions?


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(someone asks a question)

(answer) Well, if the Dalai Lama says, I want to hold your mala, Id give it tohim. Pleaseeee!! In fact rub it all over you! You know, if its a hantu, no, no

thank you because if youre weak in energy and they touch it, if a holy being canput good energy on it, an evil being can put negative energy on it, and it can

affect you if youre weak. If you are highly practiced, you can give it to all thehantus (Malay: ghosts) and they can touch it and bring it back and when you

touch it, you bless them. But if youre like me, a clown, then hantusevil people,

when you touch it, you go, Ughh no. You know, you turn into the wolf man.Because touch can affect. You know because sometimes we touch it, we feel,


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Ooooh nice; sometimes when we think (sniff), Ooooh got smell too! Touchdoes affect you. So if youre on this kind of level like me, then I mean yourfriends, your parents, all that can touch it, and they can use it. Its not a big deal.

And then if worse comes to worst scenario, if somebody evil touches it, you thinkits evil you know, because you are obscured, then you take it back. You recite themantra of your deity 21 times and you blow on it. OM MANI PADME HUNG, OM

MANI PADME HUNG, OM MANI PADME HUNG, OM MANI PADME HUNG, OMMANI PADME HUNG, OM MANI PADME HUNG, OM MANI PADME HUNG, OM

MANI PADME HUNG, OM MANI PADME HUNG, OM MANI PADME HUNG, itsokay already. You can be your own Guru. Yah. And if you dont believe in you, youcan bring an ang pau (traditional Chinese gift of money in a red packet) and

come see me lah. But not the teeny little thin ang paus from OCBC. Im talkingabout the big ones with dragons and it can fit a lot of things in there so when I

get it I can feel how much. Dont you hate it when you get one of those big ang

paus, you open up its 5 dollars. Thank you very much! And some of these smallones, Im not even gonna look at it and then a week later, you go, Ohhhh! Its 200ringgit! I should have opened it last week because I needed money for petrol!

No, Im just kidding.(JP asks a question)

(answer) You attract spirits by reciting mantras? No, no, no. Im not questioningyou. I want to understand your question. When you recite mantras you attract

spirits? And what do you think about that? Is that good or bad? Good or bad?

Okay, so your question? But if theyre just there and its not good or bad, whocares? Why is it annoying? Then its bad. So its good or bad? Okay. If its bad,then you recite your mantras really loud, and you tell them to buzz off. And ifyoure attained, they will buzz off; if youre not, theyre gonna bug you more. So

what you do is when you recite mantras, you generate loving compassion, and

you realize they become spirits due to the force of their miserliness, stinginess,and their attachment to wealth and money and prestige, and because of that

great attachment that theyve habituated their whole life, when they die thesepeople become spirits. Very attached. So therefore, these type of people become

spirits and theyre still attached to that. So when you fight them back or whenyou hurt them back, they become even more vicious, if youre not realized.In the case of spirits for ordinary clowns like all of us, we do is, when they come

to us, we immediately think about our Yidams. If our Yidam is Lama Tsongkhapa,

we focus and meditate on Lama Tsongkhapa, and relax, and develop compassiontowards them. Because usually, in people who are very angry, if you say, Im

sorry, they calm down. So in the case with spirits, the best practice for ordinarybeings like us is not to generate anger or to repel them. What you do is

immediately, you generate compassion. Compassion based on what? They are aspirit, and you are not. They harm, you dont. They cant eat or drink or havecompany or have love. You can. And their result resembles the cause. So if they

are spirits always wanting things and they cant get it, it must be their previouslives is extremely miserly, and they were very selfish and they were attached totheir possessions. And so therefore they become spirits. They linger aroundplaces that they are attached to. It could be people, it could be a person, it could

be a thing, it could be possessions. It could be revenge.So with these kinds of beings, what you do, the best thing you do is this: you

immediately develop compassion instead of being afraid of them. Instead of


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being afraid, because maybe theyre not there to harm. Maybe they are therebefore you. Maybe because that is where they have died. Maybe they were therefor 300 years and youre the invader, not them. So what you do is, the best

method immediately, is to take refuge. Take refuge means surrender to anenlightened being and relax, come under their protection. And then, with greatcompassion you think about their level, and you generate compassion towards

them. And you know whats happening? Contrary to what were used to seehantu, see bomoh, see Tibetan lama, Mi-Tsung lama contrary to your normal

belief, bless them. They are suffering. They are suffering. No spirit is having agood time. No spirit. Nobody in a war is having a good time. Nobody in a war. Nospirit is having a good time. A spirit is a negative reincarnation. They have

different levels and different types of sufferings and different lifespans just likeus, but nevertheless, they are still suffering.

So when you see a spirit, instead of going back to your habitual thinking, Uh oh,

spirit, Im gonna get it, Im gonna run, whatever, theyre following me, whatyou should do is to generate compassion and love for them, and bless them. Blessthem with what? OM MANI PADME HUNG! OM MANI PADME HUNG! GO AWAY!

OM MANI PADME HUNG! I BLESS YOU! No, no, no, this isntyou dont do that.Youre not in a movie with Linda Blair. This is not The Exorcist. And your Father

OOwhatever the Irish name is, I cant rememberand you know youreholding your Lamrim book and you say, By the power vested in me by the Three

Jewels, OM MANI PADME HUNG! OM MANI PADME HUNG! No, no, no. You dont

do that. Why dont you do that? Because youre gonna frustrate them, theyregoing to get angry. Blessing comes not just by the mantras. Blessings come fromyour state of mind which they can perceive as they have clairvoyance. Blessingcomes from your state of mind and your attitude towards them. And they will

feel it. So even if you dont have mantras, if you just generate loving

compassion, metta, most cases they go away. Or most cases they dont disturbyou anymore. In most casesturn it around. Bless them. Why do you only bless

humans that you can see? Why dont you bless non-humans who are sufferingalso? Even animals. Mantras are very powerful for animals. When I go running in

Bandar Utama, around here you know, when I go jogging and stuff, I always seedogs. I always recite mantras at them, even when theyre barking ferociously atme. I just bark back louder, OM MANI PADME HUNG.

Why? Planting mantras in their minds blesses them, it helps them. Very, very

much. Any type of mantras. So therefore, when we recite mantras and you attractspirits, I dont know what mantra youre recitingOm all the hantus come to me

hum phet, it must be that mantra! But what happens is when you recite themantras, you bless them. And there are higher forms of tantra, higher forms of

tantra where he is correct that when you do certain practices, it is specificallyto attract spirits but it is assumed that you have achieved a level were you canbenefit them. Directly benefit them. Subdue them, transform them and help them

to not stay in their state long. There are beings like that, definitely. There is acertain tantra called Chd. Chd practice is very powerful and when you do that,the minute you do that, spirits will come. Youll hear things move. If youreaccomplished, youll hear things move, youll hear, you know, strange sounds, the

energy changes, because there are a lot of sprits around. And seasonedpractitioners like His Holiness Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, my Guru, His Holiness

Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, when he did Chd, you will hear noises at the back all the


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time. It was really weird. And the spirits will come and he will make offerings tothem. Why? To make them happy, to give them something that no one givesthem.

Because usually when spirits see us, we run, they dont like us, or they cant seeus; they dont get love, they dont get affection, they dont get anything. All theyget is fear, hatred, and people using bomohs and magic to dispel them. It makes

them more angry. Think from their perspective. They were you. You can be them.They have a lifespan just like you. So you have to understand the nature of the

spirits. But there are certain spirits that are inherently very violent and very evil.They have been like that for hundreds of years. There are a lot of things. In thosecases, you have to use more fierce means to subdue them. Why? Out of

compassion, of not letting them do more negative karma to harm others, collectmore negative karma, to stay in their state longer, or to take rebirth again as a

spirit. So there are forceful mantras. Powerful mantras used to what? To chase

them, to harm them? No, to subdue their mind in a more powerful way becausethey are very fierce.The whole purpose of Buddhistic practice is to help another being. The whole

practice. There is no practice that chases or scares or damages another being,human or non-human. The whole basis of Buddhistic practice is to benefit, even

spirits. And if we can reach that level even spirits, we overcome ourwe can beafraid, but we can still be compassionate. We can still be kind, because we can

develop that kind of mind. So therefore, when the spirits come, when the spirits

are there, instead of being afraid, take that as an opportunity to generatecompassion. Maybe youll be the difference in their lives, that they stop doingharm to others. So in that way its very beneficial.Change your perspective, change your motivlook, weve been here for two

hours, listen to all the knowledge youve got. Even how you view certain things

that culturally youve been afraid of, spirits, you can change your thoughts bywisdom. By Buddhas wisdom. This is what I mean about Dharma. You learn a lot.

So instead of consistently being in fear out of ignorance, like a rope coiled in thecorner of the room and its dark and you think theres a snake, and everything

you fear about is a snake, and you walk around the room, you run to the otherside, maybe you call the fire department or you call everybody; the way you reactto it, its a real snake because that is what you perceive. When you turn on the

lights, you feel ridiculous. And if your friends are there, they are probably

laughing at you.Similarly, we have a perception about spirits and its only one-sided: theyre

harmful, theyre bad, theyre evil and I want them out of my life. No. We shouldntthink like that. Harmful things that come into our life are not necessarily harmful.

They can transform us. They can be a cause for us to generate a stronger andbetter mind. And we can do that with spirits. I mean, you dont run aroundatour level, you dont run around and say, Come! Im going to transform and bless

you. Youre going to have a mnage a trois of spirits, you know. The whole circusshows up and thats it. Some of them are pretty scary. And if youre not at thelevel to help them, dont invite it. If theyre around and you have no choice, thenbless them. Trust me, I dont run around calling spirits. Yes.

(someone asks a question)(answer) Exactly. That is why I said look at the situation. Generate loving

compassion. Generate loving compassion and if they continue, then you stop


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them. You stop them either by your meditations, by your mantras, soliciting yourDharma protector. Or, if you are not capable, you ask your lama to exorcise. Butyou have to check the situation. Its the same. Good or bad, you generate loving

compassion. Good or bad. Why? A being who has reached that level cannot beharmed. Cannot be. So if someone sends a bomoh to you, there are many ways toprotect yourself. Thats what I am going to go through, theres several things like

chakras and stuff that we can talk about if we have time today. I am going to talkabout it. And youre gonna learn a lot. Youre gonna learn quite a lot.

And so, what happens is, chakras, roos, protections, what theyre for, what deity,how you activate their energy, where you should wear them, where you shouldkeep them because you dont have to wear them on your neck and how to use

them. Im going to talk about chakras because I imported a lot from India andNepal to disseminate here to help people. Because you know what? When I first

arrived in Malaysia, I wasnt really into the spirit scene. But I have seen too much

in this country that it is real. Why? The arts of spirit practice and bomoh and allthat stuff and magic and harm, is still alive because people still practice it. It wasin the west, but they stopped doing it, so it kind off died off, their tradition but

that doesnt mean the spirits died off. Here, there is a real, real danger of bomohs.There is a real danger of magic harm. There is realI mean there are some

people who are just trying to get attention, and there are some people who arehallucinating, but you have to differentiate because there are signs to observe

whether they are hallucinating, and if its real or not. And there are very genuine

cases here and theyre not trying to get attention and they are not crazy. Thereare.So there are certain mantras we can do, certain deities we can propitiate.Protective circles we can visualize, when we are alone. And chakras and

mandalas, and different forms of protection we can wear. And I am going to talk

about them tonight. Because we have that in our outlets. And the ones we have inour outlets are not commercial. They are made and blessed by my root Gurus,

whose intention is to benefit others. Because my root Gurus, they have manysponsors, they dont need to make money from that. But the money from the

sales is to cover the expenses. The paper, the mantras, the blessings, theceremonies and all that. It is not for profit at all. My Gurus dont do that, I knowthem very well. In any case, so we have those things, and I am going to talk about

it. Its going to be very exciting because UFOs, Loch Ness monsters, spirits,

chakras, magic, mantras, its all exciting, isnt it? We all love that. Were dontwant to hear about philosophy that changes our mind. We wanna learn how to

be a super bomoh. How to be a super bomoh and how to be powerful, and walkaround with a lot of pride and ego and (waves hand), Try to harm me! And then

we recite a magic mantra, like one of those Thai movies and Muhhhhmoh andthe spirits disappear. But they do have power, the chakras. And I will explainwhere the power comes from, on what basis, and why because you need to know.

You need to know. It will be very beneficial. But, any questions on malas so I canfinish off on that and go to the next subject? Any questions on malas? No right?Okay. Good.(someone asks a question)

(answer) Well, if youre very ill, and you have your home remedies, thatswonderful. But if youre very ill, its very good to go to a skilled physician who

has practiced, who has studied, who has many years of being in their art of


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finding out, dictating to you whats wrong with you. So similarly, if you go to alama and his whole life has been dedicated towards that, wouldnt it be moreefficacious than yourself just picking? So thats an analogy to use. At the same

time, having said that, you can still pick out whoever you like and practice,because any Buddha you pick is very effective. Any Buddha. But sometimes, weneed something that counters something within us that we are not aware of, so

we need a particular mantra, a particular form, a particular meditation tocounter that faster. Similarly, it is likened to multi-vitamins. You can take a multi-

vitamin. All Buddhas are like multi-vitamins but sometimes we need an extradose of just C if we have a flu. So lets say that, you know, we can pray to anyBuddha but were a little slow to learn, then Tsongkhapa will be fabulous. He will

increase our memory, and there are reasons on how he increases our memory. Itisnt just chanting and it blesses and it opens. There are reasons. He opens your

memory, he opens your mind, he opens your thought, and he makes your mind

wider, encompassing and more accepting. And in that way it creates a lot ofpeace in your mind. Gives you wisdom.


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So if you know all that information to pick, it is wonderful because if you pickand you do, its never wrong. But maybe a year, two years later, you feel, Oh Ithink this onesI didnt know all this information, this is more appropriate. So

what do you do, you switch allegiance? See you later Manjushri, helloVajrayogini, and then you still dont meet a Guru, and then you find out, Oh,Chakrasamvara is more exciting, its very appropriate for me. Bye Vajrayogini,

hello. You know, you look like a hitchhiker. A Buddha hitchhiker. You get oneride, bye bye, get another ride, bye bye, get anotheryou dont get anywhere. So

its okay, you dont get any disbenefit. None, none at all. Any Buddha will be


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fabulous when you pray. You still collect merits. You still are able to generate agood mind. You still are able to make an affinity. No problem at all. None. Sodont ever have a hang up about that. We can go to any Dharma store and buy a

statue and bring it home and we can make prostrations, prayers; its very holyand very wonderful. No problem. And generally good for everyone. No problem.Its a multi-vitamin. Okay? But if were gonna be very serious and systematic in

our practice to gain results, then its very good to refine it. Very good. So whatsthe best thing? Like finding a disease, it would be very good to go to someone

who can define and refine for you. And so you practice like that so you can reachthat point and you can do it. Logical isnt it? Yeah. Okay.Tsem Rinpoche

( I gave a talk on rosaries/malasand Jean Ai accurately transcribed it here. Ithank her for the work. I feel this talk should help alot of people with questions

related to the subject matter and more. Tsem Rinpoche)

Documents

Powerful Malas