A very special visitor at the Healing Meditation Center: the young master Trijang Rinpoche «We must make every moment of our life meaningful, by working to benefit other beings». Inauguration of the great circular prayer hall

Peace Times 16

by Enrica Mazzi

Joyful celebrations at the «Albagnano Healing Meditation Center» for the recent visit of eighteen year old Trijang Rinpoche, who was in his previous life one of the highest lamas in Tibet, the teacher of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and of Lama Gangchen.

Trijang Rinpoche, who presently lives and studies in the dharma centres of Rabten and Tashi Choeling, located in Switzerland and Austria, did not arrive alone but accompanied by two other great teachers: with him Gonsar Rinpoche, the spiritual guide of the two centers, and thirteen year old Geshe Rabten Rinpoche, reincarnation of the great master who founded many centres in the west. Together with them also arrived seven other monks and geshes who - joining those monks already guests of Kunpen Lama Gangchen, and with the presence of Lama Michel - created on the shores of Lake Maggiore a real «monastic atmosphere».

The visit, from the 31st of May to the 4th of June, was an important sign of the profound and indissoluble bond that from life to life connects Lama Gangchen to his guru. It was also an auspicious omen and powerful blessing for the future, for the Albagnano Healing Meditation Center, where the first real season of activities are about to begin.

On Saturday, after two days dedicated to prayer ceremonies, upon the request of Lama Gangchen, each of the guest lamas offered a short teaching. Trijang Rinpoche spoke first: «Between Lama Gangchen and myself, there exists a profound and ancient spiritual connection, and I rejoice in the great work that he has carried out to benefit the people of the West, through both spiritual teachings and the practice of Tibetan medicine. I will always pray for the continuation and success of his activities.

All of you, have held for a long time an interest in spiritual teachings, and this is very good; you must continue to learn and to expand your studies so that you can follow and complete your spiritual path.

Today I would like to talk about the teachings of Buddha, which are extremely vast, profound and difficult to grasp in one time: but their essence, can be condensed in two simple points: first, do not harm others; second, always try to benefit and help others. So, if we are unable to benefit others, we should at least try not to cause them suffering. Buddha himself condensed his own teachings into one verse: «Do no evil whatsoever, do good, tame your mind». This is the teaching of the Buddha. In Lojong texts, he also added: «Offer the victory to others, take the defeat on yourself». This is not an easy thing to do, but if we try to train ouselves in this attitude, it will eventually become natural to us. The dharma teachings are very vast: but if we just think of these simple words and above all if we put them into practise, we will introduce into our life the very essence of all Buddha’s teachings. I will pray constantly, that this positive intention and motivation will strengthen in all of you».

It was then the turn of the young Geshe Rabten Rinpoche who, even if deeply moved by his first words in public, offered a short but very profound and essential teaching: « I am very happy to meet all of you, and I wish you all a long and very meaningful life. Whatever you need to learn, you will learn it from your guru: and, I request you, please put what you learn into practise»

After him spoke Gonsar Rinpoche, who underlined the importance of meeting all together on this occasion: «We all belong to one spiritual family, we are like the children of one father. There is a special and profound connection between us and the lineage of Trijang Rinpoche, and it is therefore deeply meaningful and auspicious that we can all meet here today in his presence, to strengthen more and more the bond that joins us... All of Lama Gangchen’s activities are beneficial to others and deserve admiration and I foresee that they will continue to flourish in a tremendous way. His methods to help others are extremely skilful and are therefore bound to obtain great results. I would also like to remind you of that which Trijang Rinpoche said previously: the essence of dharma practice is helping other sentient beings. The most important qualities to develop are sincerity and stability in the devotion to the guru and the divinities, and in benefitting others».

Finally, it was the turn of Lama Michel also eighteen years old: «I am very happy to be here today, because we are here with all these great lamas: but not just simply because I am happy to stay with them, but because their presence here, has a very deep meaning. I think we are all here today because we wish to follow a path, the path of Buddha’s teachings which can release us from our suffering. Lama Gangchen has offered to us all the best conditions to follow our path, for example by making such a wonderful place as this become a reality: but these houses are nothing without our teachers, therefore I think this meeting is very auspicious for the future of Albagnano, a place which will be very important for the spiritual development of us all».

Particularly interesting was the much awaited speech of the economist Alfredo Sfeir Jounis, who will be interviewed in the next issue of Peace Times. He underlined how the ecomony is and should be strongly connected to spirituality: «only in this way can we resolve the great problems of humanity, such as famine and conflicts between peoples».

On sunday the most important ceremony was held, the initiation of Amitayus, the Buddha of long-life, which was conferred by Trijang Rinpoche. The most auspicious occasion for the inauguration of the great circular «gompa» in Albagnano.

In just a few hours, under the direction of Lama Gangchen, who worked personally since the first light of dawn, the bare concrete structure completely transformed. The five large Dhyani Buddha statues, sent from the Borobudur Temple in Indonesia, were surrounded by flowers, candles, incense, and prayer flags. The beautiful carved wooden throne, the work of Nepalese artists, was carried there for Trijang Rinpoche; then arrived carpets, brocades, chairs and meditation cushions, the final result was a wonderful ‘miracle born’ temple.

Lama Gangchen was visibly moved and happy, showing in every slightest detail his most complete devotion to the guru who guided him in his youth, first in Tibet and later in India, demonstrating a deeply meaningful and unsurpassable example of what is and what should be an authentic relation with the guru. In the presence of around two hundred people, Lama Gangchen introduced his guru with a few emotional words: «In Tibet, the spiritual qualities of H.H. Trijang Dorje Chang were incomparable. Everyone turned to him to ask for spiritual guidance: even the yogis who lived in mountain caves used to come down once a year to ask for his spiritual advice and guidance. Even the most advanced practitioners, could find in him guidance and support. He was the teacher of the highest lamas in Tibet, including His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama».

He went on to remind those present that Trijang Rinpoche is the reincarnation of Atisha, the great Indian master to whom we owe the great development of Tibetan Buddhism. In fact, it was Atisha who brought Buddhism from India to Tibet at the beginning of the XIth century, at the same time saving the most precious holy texts that would soon be destroyed in India during the Muslim invasions.

It is told that Tara herself appeared to him, and requested him to go to Tibet; she also prophesized that in Tibet his life would be shortened, because the climate would be too harsh for him: but the benefit that he would bring would be immense.

Trijang Rinpoche then introduced the initiation ceremony with a brief discourse on the importance of the motivation that drives us on our spiritual path: «We are all extremely lucky because we have attained this precious human rebirth, we have met the spiritual teachings, and we have the conditions to practice them. Our time is therefore very precious, we should not waste even one second. However, we sometimes let many days pass without doing anything meaningful with this precious time we have. If we lose our purse we think this is an extremely serious problem, we experience a lot of suffering, but this purse is actually nothing compared to the preciousness of the time we waste everyday.

Even the largest collection of wishfulfilling jewels is nothing compared to what we can achieve in this life: by following the spiritual path we can attain freedom from suffering, as well as from the lowest forms of existence; no form of material richness can protect us from that. But, not only this, we can even attain enlightenment.

This precious human life, with all the favourble conditions to practice, we did not get by chance, we got it because in our previous lives we practiced ethics, morality, generosity, and because we prayed to achieve it in the future.

So now, we must make our life really meaningful, by working towards enlightenment, not only for ourselves, but for the benefit of all sentient beings. We must train our mind in this, using the freedom and the rare opportunity that we have to dedicate ourselves to this scope».

Trijang Rinpoche left with the promise to return soon to Italy: and this is also the deep wish of all of those present - that Trijang Rinpoche will return quickly to once again illuminate the shores of Lake Maggiore with his presence and beautiful smile.