In the dream, I was to attend a very grand Dharma event, supposedly teachings given by Choden Rinpoche. It was in a very modern looking white building. There were many many rooms and auditoriums, with walls painted in white, all very clean. Each and every room was arranged with chairs for the event. There were so many people and students around, the place was buzzing with activity, as everyone got ready to welcome Choden Rinpoche. My whole family and some relatives were with me, although everyone was separated in different rooms. All the rooms have very high ceilings, and there was even a room with a mini ferris wheel! And some students could sit inside each of the ferris wheel's cubicle! Each room had a huge projection screen, supposedly to tune in to Rinpoche's talk later on.
Throughout the dream, I only remember my grandma was with me all the time. She looked weaker than usual, but was very enthusiastic and excited about the forthcoming event. I remember grandma was weak on one leg, with a slight limp, and kept a close distance to me, so that I could hold her arm and support her when she walked. We managed to catch a glimpse of a room, brightly lit, and 2 high-throne chairs in wood with maroon-coloured seats, and there were floor cushions scattered around on the floor.
I found another aunt in another room, greeted her and I went on my way to explore the huge place. Many people were seated or trying to be seated, and on everyone's lips, all I could hear was "Rinpoche.... (this and that)..". I bumped into another cousin, V, who just came in too. My grandma kept asking me stuff in Teochew, she did not understand why we were going through the event. She kept asking 'are we done?', very typical of grandma's gan-cheong (anxious) behaviour in real life. Throughout the dream, I did not see any photos of Choden Rinpoche or any altar or Buddha statues. I also did not see any members of the Sangha around. In the dream, the visualization of Choden Rinpoche's face kept appearing in the corner of my head. I helped my grandma got on a very long escalator and we were up to another higher level. Then we suddenly heard people whispering that Rinpoche was here. There were so many people that it was hard to identify Rinpoche. Then just as fast, in a mere few seconds, I saw Choden Rinpoche walking past slowly, smiling gently, holding a rosary in his palm. Everyone hushed and bowed down their heads in respect, as he entered the room with the 2 high throne seats. End of dream.
This dream really had me floored. I do not know Choden Rinpoche at all. Never read anything about him at all. Why did I dream of him? And you know what, I suddenly realised, Choden Rinpoche looked a little like my Grandma's eldest brother, who had already passed on many years back. What a resemblance.
Here is an intro of Choden Rinpoche I found online:
Here is an intro of Choden Rinpoche I found online:
Choden Rinpoche of Sera Je Monastery, is one of the highest of the Gelug lamas. During the communist Chinese takeover of Tibet in 1959, Choden Rinpoche stayed in Tibet and went into solitary retreat for 19 years. He never left his tiny, dark room in Lhasa from 1965 to 1985, and was virtually unknown in his monastery for this reason. He neither escaped his country after 1959 nor was imprisoned; instead, he lived in a house in Lhasa, never leaving his small, dark, empty room for 19 years, even to go to the toilet, and never cutting his hair and beard. In 1985 he was allowed to leave Tibet for India, and has since taught for many years to thousands of students at Sera Je monastery in South India. At the request of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Choden Rinpoche has now visited the west several times to give teachings and lead retreats.
His words of wisdom, on his 19 years retreat:
"The future life is more important than this life – this life is just like a dream. So if you went and did as the Chinese said, you would get a good house and car, you could enjoy so many things, but this would have caused you to fall to the lower realms, where you would experience sufferings for so many eons. Future lives are much more important than this life. In order to work for the future lives, I stayed inside to practice.
His words of wisdom, on his 19 years retreat:
"The future life is more important than this life – this life is just like a dream. So if you went and did as the Chinese said, you would get a good house and car, you could enjoy so many things, but this would have caused you to fall to the lower realms, where you would experience sufferings for so many eons. Future lives are much more important than this life. In order to work for the future lives, I stayed inside to practice.
When we die we don’t just vanish. We have to take rebirth, and we don’t have any choice in that birth, only what our karma determines – whether we’re reborn in the lower realms or upper realms. If you’ve done positive things in this life you can take rebirth in the human realm, and you can enjoy the result of these actions. If you do negative actions, the karma does not vanish; even the smallest karma accumulated you have to experience in the future.
The future is very long, many eons. This life is so short, it’s just fiction, just a dream. Your mind continues infinitely, and when you die in the next life, again it doesn’t vanish, and again you continue to the next life, and the next – many lives you have to go through. So all of these are determined by the present actions. You have no choice. So the present action is very important. This life is so short, perhaps only one hundred years – very small compared to the future lives. This is why the future lives are more important than this life".
More details of Choden Rinpoche can be found here.
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