On Wesak Day, Rinpoche gave a baby baptism which consecrates the mind of a child and plant Dharmic imprints into their mindstream, and then gave refuge to 112 people. I could hear Rinpoche's heavy breathing as he blessed the children through the mic, even though i was watching him from a television screen in another hall as the main gompa was packed full with children and their parents. It was the first ever ceremony of its kind in the world.
After the kids came the refuge. Rinpoche gave a really funny yet provocative talk on what is it to be spiritual and Buddhist, and what does refuge entail. He gave a very complete but contemporary explaination on the 10 non virtues that a Buddhist should avoid after refuge (which is an extension of the 5 percepts), clearer than any text or book could ever give or reach out to people of this age.
However, the heart essence of the talk was about developing real compassion. Rinpoche has been very conservative in giving out tantric initiations as he really sees them as sacred. However in the talk, he expressed his interest in giving it out to a select few of 30 people. Tantra is not secret to those who are stable enough to walk its path, but are only secret to those whose mindstreams are not prepared for the intense transformative practices ahead and it requires a mastery in the sutra path. The binding basis for both paths is real, genuine compassion, a type of compassion where an individual develops love and care towards all living beings and acts upon that, without ever wishing or expecting something back that does not fluster over time-- The mastery and nuturing of Bodhicitta.
Rinpoche mentioned that aspiring initiates should hold the vows and demonstrate mental stability and consistency as mantras will need to be recited every single day without fail, and these should be present BEFORE the initiation and not after. He gives a very simple reason -- do you learn to drive before or after you buy the car? It should be before so that you dont crash the car. So, in other words, as his students we should try our best to generate the qualities of mental stability and consistency and develop this in our mindstreams in order to receive higher teachings.
"Do not be discouraged whenever you encounter suffering -- let it fuel you to do more for others. When Bodhisattvas meet difficult people or people who hurt them and let them down, they become even more passionate in finding a solution to helping these people. Dont pray to escape. Dont pray to go to a pureland. But pray to remain in samsara until space ends to help living beings. Go to a pureland and leave everyone else behind to suffer? I dont think so."
It was a really powerful talk on compassion and on how it should be developed and how Bodhisattvas do not fear suffering but use it as fuel to propel themselves to help others.
Rinpoche also talked about the importance of speech, and it is from speech that you can enlighten others and also destroy others. He explained that we need to always keep our promises. Mental sufferings such as mood swings are caused by us giving people hope and then letting them down repeatedly many times as you bring people up and down repeatedly so it is reflected in the mind.
Again, i am really grateful to Rinpoche for such through explanations that help relieve the afflictions of people of this age and time that was not present or mentioned in older times: mood swings and depression, from a Buddhist point of view.
This, i feel, was the essence of Rinpoche's talk although there was so much more in his 3 hour talk that i cant possibly remember every single detail, but only talk about what resonates with me...
After the talk, my mind no longer operated in an easily dissapointed/depressed mode and it felt like my mind has opened up so much more compared than before and suddenly i realize i was not doing enough Dharma from where i am and i need to get involved more. It just hit me with "oh! I have not been doing enough and i should go and do more. There is no more time for excuses." Will probably need to send a few emails out asking if they need things to be done after working out my schedule!
There's a video for the entire teaching as well:
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