Each year on the 23rd -29th lunar days of the 9th month, the congregation of Menri Monastery in India performs the wrathful retreat of the Blazing Tiger Deity, Takla Mébar. In 2022, these lunar dates coincide with November 16th-22nd. This deity is a wrathful manifestation of Buddha Tönpa Shenrap Miwo that incinerates all negativity, illness, and obstacles. Through practicing Takla Mébar as a yidam, or commitment deity, and receiving his blessing and power through intensive retreat and mantra recitation, the practitioner’s illness and obstacles are removed, the five wisdoms arise, and one obtains the power to heal and benefit others. Performing the practice and reciting the mantra at least 100,000 bestows protection like wearing body armor.
According to his principal function, Takla Mébar is depicted in a number of different ways. His body color can be red or blue-black, with or without wings, and variously holding a golden spinning wheel, nine intertwined swords, an iron hook, a skull-cup filled with blood, a sword, or a wheel of fire.
A Takla Mebar ritual for incinerating negativity performed at the Dolpo Bön School in Dunai, Nepal
“You, the greatly wrathful Takla Mébar have an enlightened body that is majestic and blue-black in color. Your hair billows throughout the limits of the three worlds of existence. You have divine sight, stand with legs spread apart, and are open mouthed with clenched teeth.
You subdue and liberate those who pollute and corrupt their vows. The five deities of phenomenal space are seated upon your head. You protect the vitality and extend the life-span of Bön practitioners. You hold in your right hand a spinning wheel of fire that burns both those who have corrupted their vows and those who associate with them. You hold in your left hand a spinning, golden wheel for the activity of assisting and protecting those who have stainless vows.”
On the 24th day of the 7th lunar month in the Western year 2017, His Holiness the 33rd Menri Trizin Lungtok Tenpé Nyima Rinpoché displayed his realization by passing into nirvana from his physical body. In 2022, this date coincides with the Western calendar date September 19th. On this day, Yungdrung Bön religious centers worldwide will recognize this auspicious day with special prayers and rituals.
It is an especially auspicious day to recite the Tséwang Mönlam, Tséwang’s Precious Mala of Aspiration Prayers. The English translation of this prayer is freely and publicly available for private use on the Publications page of this website.
In accordance with the request of H.H. 34th Menri Trizin Rinpoche, a statue with the likeness of H.H. the 33rd Menri Trizin Lungtok Tenpe Nyima Rinpoche was commissioned and has been newly installed at Menri Monastery in India.
His Holiness 33rd Menri Trizin Rinpoche traveled the world teaching and sharing his advice and wisdom. In this way, many Westerners were blessed with the experience of hearing the sacred teachings directly from the mouth of the holy teacher.
“It is important for you to feel grateful every day to the one who introduced you to the nature of mind. When you do a meditation you feel gratitude, blessings, and thankfulness, experiences of inspiration and devotion. It is not like your gratitude is benefitting the master. Rather, it is important in order for you to develop your practice. If you cannot do a form of guru yoga every day, then just before you are going to sleep, as you are going to bed, feel the blessings, gratitude, and joy and dissolve the master from the crown to the heart. Feel the master in your heart and go to sleep. You will have beter dreams and more peaceful sleep. When you wake up in the morning, those energies can come out from the top of the head, that liveliness, and you can have a better day. You can begin the right way.”
Extract from Living Wisdom: Dzogchen Teachings from the 33rd Menri Trizin, His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche published by Sacred Sky Press
His Eminence Menri Yongdzin Rinpoche bestows blessed water. Photo credit and copyright: Samaya Producciones.
The 5th lunar day of the 7th month each year is a powerful day for receiving blessed water or for practicing with water for cleansing or healing. The healing from water, or other types of medicine, taken on this day will continue to have power for seven days. This lunar date corresponds with September 1, 2022 on the Western calendar.
It is a widespread belief shared among many religious traditions that particular bodies of water can bestow purification, healing, eternal youth, or special knowledge. Within the Yungdrung Bön religious tradition, there are many rituals to imbue water with the blessings and power of enlightened deities in order to wash away negativities and provide healing and protection. One of the most widespread is Nampar Jompa’s Healing WatersMantra practice. The enlightened deity Nampar Jompa has a wrathful appearance with a light-blue body and distinctly having serpents as ornaments on his arms, legs, waist, and hair.
“I, myself, as the deity Nampar Jompa hold in my right hand a vessel filled with elixir. In my left hand, I hold a mirror which removes all illness and injury. Having washed with this healing water, I clearly imagine that any remaining contamination is washed away because of this medicine.”
— From The Practice of the Washing Rite within Nampar Jompa’s Healing Waters Mantra
At the conclusion of the practice after the practitioner has transformed into the deity Nampar Jompa, empowered the water with mantra, and then washed with the water, the practice text includes a final notation emphasizing the power of the practice.
“Thus, through this supplication prayer of the washing rite, having purified all traces of previous illness and negative external influences, just like the overflow of water from a crystal vessel, imagine that all negativity and illness leave from the tips of the fingers and toes, the nostrils and the secret place.
There is no place what-so-ever for the creation of even the smallest thing to arise. Not even a single atom remains that needs to be purified!”
Sigyal Drakngak Walmo, the enlightened deity who protects from contagious disease through empowered water
During the beginning time of the global pandemic of Covid 19, many Yungdrung Bön lamas advised their disciples to engage with the mantra and practice of Sigyal Drakngak, a manifestation of Sipé Gyalmo, who specifically protects from infectious disease through the use of empowered water. Translation of this text, The Heartdrop of Si Gyal that is All-pervasive and Clears Away Afflictive Emotions and Illness, has been published in both English and French and is available to be ordered for those who have received transmission for the practice.
“OM!
This water of nectar has the nature of wisdom and medicine.
May all negative karma, afflictive emotions and discursive thoughts of migrating beings be washed away!
May all illness, external negative forces, karmic potentialities, and contaminations be purified!
Like a deity of medicine, may you have health and happiness!”
— From The Heartdrop of Si Gyal that is All-pervasive and Clears Away Afflictive Emotions and Illness
In addition to the practices specifically using water as a method of purification, healing, and empowerment, there are many practices and mantra that can be used to transform water from an ordinary substance to one that is imbued with extraordinary qualities. For example, one can recite the great mantra of Yungdrung Bön, the MA TRI, one hundred times or more without interrupting the recitation with ordinary speech. Then, the breathe is blown onto clean water in an undamaged vessel. This water is then used for ritual washing. Within The Thirty-two Benefits of the Recitation Practice of the Precious Lamp, it states:
“Anyone affected by contaminated energy, latent karmic potentialities, misfortune, and/or defilements, having recited this MA TRI mantra into pure, clean water, if they ritually wash for seven mornings, even karmic defilements will be purified. Removing defilements is a benefit of this precious lamp.”
— From The Thirty-two Benefits of the Recitation Practice of the Precious Lamp
The Heartdrop of Jamma is an aural transmission from Khandro Sherap Lo Pélma who is a manifestation of Sherap Jamma and a deity who is specifically practiced to develop the intellect. In The Heartdrop of Jamma, the practitioner uses the power of the mantric syllables to transform each aspect of their body into one of Jamma’s countless manifestations. This text is commonly recited by Yungdrung Bön families after the final meal of the day. This texts lists many benefits of its recitation. This includes the use of water.
“If you recite the mantra to good quality water mixed with powdered, medicinal incense containing blessed medicine and the six excellent substances, and then cleanse with that water, all illness and sickness caused by negative forces will be pacified and all defilements and contaminations will be purified.”
In addition to the above-mentioned practices, the Yungdrung Bön tradition includes the daily practice of washing with empowered water that is used each morning most commonly by those with ordination or genyen vows. However, this practice is open to anyone. One of the commonly used prayers for this practice is The Cleansing Rite Supplication. The English translation of this prayer has been made freely available to the worldwide sangha and can be downloaded from the Publications page of this website.
Today, August 7, 2022 coincides with the 10th lunar day of the month. According to the Yungdrung Bön religious calendar, the 10th lunar day of each month is designated as the day to perform practices for Tséwang Rikdzin, his twin brother Pema Tongdrol, and their father the great lama Drenpa Namkha. In honor of this, Raven Cypress Wood is releasing The Practice of the King of Longevity Practice Manual to be publicly available.
Previously, this translation and practice manual was restricted to students with verified transmission of the Tséwang Jarima longevity practice of Tséwang Rikdzin. At this time, many students around the world have received transmission, empowerment, and in-depth teaching from this scripture. Therefore, in order to support the deepening practice of these students, this practice manual is being made more easily available. This manual assumes that the student has received fundamental instruction regarding the longevity practice and its related seven-day yidam retreat. In that way, it contains less introductory and explanatory information and more detail regarding the intensive practice, yidam retreat, and the associated rituals.
Yidam torma for the longevity practice
This is a practice manual for the longevity ritual, the seven-day yidam retreat of Lama Tséwang Rikdzin, as well as the daily yidam practice. It contains English translations of the root text, supplemental texts, and support and study materials. These include translation of the text for making offerings to Sayi Lhamo Tenma, the Earth Goddess, in order to ask for blessings and support at the beginning of the yidam retreat or longevity ritual, translation of the feast offering prayers, the mantric seal used to set the boundary for the seven-day retreat, prompts for the use of instruments and offering of torma, and so on.
“Namo!
Previously, during a much earlier time, the Bönku Künzang, the Dzok ku Sangwa Düpa, the Tülku and protector of beings Tséwang Rikdzin, and the great mother Khandro Tukjé Kündrol, together with a gathering of those who have the direct mind-to-mind lineage of the three enlightened bodies,
upon the peak of the sacred place of Jarima in Tazik, having arranged the first portion of a collection of enjoyable food, they fulfilled the sacred commitments to the group of lamas, yidams, rikdzin, and khandro.”
Extract from Fulfilling Our Commitments and Bringing Delight to the Lineage of the Tséwang Jarima, A Mala of Utpala Flowers
With the public release of this practice manual, it is hoped that the blessings of indestructible longevity and wisdom rain down upon the Yungdrung Bön faithful!
His Holiness 1st Menri Trizin Nyammé Sherap Gyaltsen Rinpoche
The 8th lunar day of the 6th month is the anniversary of the parinirvana of the founder and first abbot of Menri Monastery, His Holiness Nyammé Sherap Gyaltsen Rinpoche, the one known as The Second Buddha. In 2022, this date coincides with August 5th. He was born in 1356 in the Gyalrong region of Tibet into the esteemed Dru family lineage. He passed into Nirvana in 1415 at the age of 60. (For more information about Nyammé Sherap Gyaltsen Rinpoche, see previous article: https://ravencypresswood.com/2022/03/06/666th-birth-celebration-of-the-second-buddha-h-h-the-1st-menri-trizin-nyamme-sherap-gyaltsen-rinpoche/ )
On this auspicious day, it is appropriate to make offerings the root lama in the form of Nyammé Sherab Gyaltsen Rinpoche, recite prayers of aspiration, and/or to perform any kind of spiritual practice and acts of virtue. It is an especially auspicious time to recite the Tséwang Mönlam, Tsewang’s Precious Mala of Beneficial Aspiration Prayers. The English language translation of this prayer is freely available for personal use on the Publication page of this website. Simply click the Publications tab at the top of the page and scroll down to the download link.
Nine Ways 