In the presence of the Healing Lama...

Many people knew of and were very excited about the grand healing event that happened on 1-3 Oct. I have finally sieved through all the photos of this event, so here is the summary of the event that happened. While I have taken tons of photos myself, below are mostly photos courtesy from Gaden Shartse Dro-Phen Ling, thank you.  A long post with lots of photos ahead!

They came, they saw, they were blessed and healed. We waited for the visit of the Great Healing Lama to Singapore for almost 3 years. It was not easy to invite the reknown healer, His Eminence Kangyur Rinpoche, as he is already 90 years old. Rinpoche resides in Dharamsala where he is still seeing and curing many patients everyday. So it was with great honour and merits that we were able to meet Him again on this special visit. For those who saw him and planted the seed of affinity with him, and for those who have been healed by him of various ailments, they were indeed very fortunate.  

The magnitude of crowds in which Rinpoche was able to command was unbelievable. People came in throngs just to bask in the presence of The Healing Lama and to receive his blessings. 

Unlike some other events where people from various organisations were gathered in congregation and chartered busloads to the venue, each individual participant here came on his own free will to attend the sessions. In the large convention hall of Suntec City, there were 1500-2500 participants in EACH of the 6 different healing sessions and 3 blessing initiations. And they could not get enough of the Healing Lama. 

It was usually full house in each session, and some had to sit on the floor.  It was this particular puja in 2007 in which 800 chairs had to be brought in at the last minute due to overwhelming crowd which left many participants standing.

The entire hall was like a beautiful Pureland. Up on the stage were all the huge thangkas of the Buddhas. This is a thangka of Maitreya Buddha, the coming Future Buddha, who currently resides in Tushita Heaven, waiting for his time. Other thangkas on the stage were Manjushri, Vajrapani, Amitayus and Green Tara.

Below the stage were mountains of heaps and heaps of offerings, flowers, light offerings, food offerings. Outside participants sponsored and wrote on prayer flags to be brought to the mountains of Nepal.

Light offerings of Medicine Buddha and Heart Sutra, beautiful flowers, and fruits and snacks offerings. At the center was the light offering lit by Rinpoche.

On the stage, was the statue of the beautiful Green Tara, who is a female Buddha, the Mother of all Buddhas. She is known as a swift liberator of obstacles. She is another aspect of Chenrezig (Kuan Yin).

Next to Green Tara is a stupa which contains the holy relics of His Holiness Kyabje Lati Rinpoche. Dro-Phen Ling is most fortunate to receive from Gaden  Shartse Monastery the relics of Lati Rinpoche who passed into Nirvana in April this year. As stressed by the Monastery, no other centres around the world except DPL were given Rinpoche's holy relics. This shows Lati Rinpoche's kindness towards the people in Singapore, especially his students in DPL. Lati Rinpoche had given the last few years of his life visiting Singapore  and was closely linked with his students in DPL.  Dro-Phen Ling has been responsible and is a large contributor  in raising funds for the Monastery, in order to support the teachings of the Buddha and the livelihood of the Sangha.

Awaiting the arrival of Kangyur Rinpoche to the event venue.  All his entourage of 20 monks standing in attendance to welcome Rinpoche, as well as thousands of people.

The opening ceremony on the first day was graced by Mrs Goh Chok Tong.  Rinpoche together with Mrs Goh, cut the ribbon to the prayer chants of the monks to have a successful healing event.

Rinpoche went on stage, and was looking at the Buddhas. The audience stood with respect, in silence.

Rinpoche then got ready to do three prostrations to The Buddhas. Usually when I see all my gurus, at their elderly age, doing prostrations, I will feel so moved. In my mind, I think, my gurus are all so respectful to the 3 Jewels and are still making prostrations despite their old age and body, as well as being high practitioners, shouldn't we, laymen who are still suffering in samsara, put in even more effort in our practice? What excuse/s do we have?
   

Rinpoche prostrating to The Three Jewels, after which everyone also did 3 prostrations.

When Rinpoche ascended his throne, he stood and gazed compassionately at all the audience, slowly from right to left, before sitting down. He did this for ALL his sessions. I believe Rinpoche was blessing everyone. :)

Everyone sat down, the monks, the VIPs, and the audience, before the important puja began. Rinpoche has kindly insisted that he conducts this puja himself.

Mrs Goh with the mandala offering.

The Chairperson of DPL, Karen, with the mandala offering.

Throughout the 3 days, sponsors offered mandala offering before the start of each session, as well as offering the Buddha's statue, text and stupa which are symbolic of offering Buddha's Body, Speech and Mind respectively.

Among all the 6 healing pujas, Rinpoche also personally conducted the large scale Six-Elements Cleansing Healing Puja. This is a very rare and special puja which can only be performed by highly-skilled practitioners. It is especially helpful for patients who suffer from stroke, paralysis, cancer, depression, autism, and rheumatism; and anyone who wish to prevent the occurrence of contracting such diseases.

Rinpoche explained that in every ordinary human being, there are 6 elements present within our body which may be poisoned. They are namely the Poisons of:

1. Wood element (grass) – originates from our pulse; experiencing immobility of limbs, physical difficulty.

2. Earth element (soil) – originates from bones & flesh; experiencing a constantly heavy & tired body.

3. Fire element (lit candle) – whereby it causes body temperature to rise and fever.

4. Water element (clean water) – originates from blood & body fluids; experiencing blood pressure issues, problems in the joints of limbs, and rheumatism.

5. Wind element (waving of peacock feather) – whereby one experiences impatience, quick-temper, anger and frustration.

6. Space element (waving of mirror) – whereby one experiences depression, hallucination, and insanity.

5 different types ingredients representing the 6 elements are necessary. These ingredients symbolize our poisons, and Rinpoche went through the ritual to purge the 6 poisons present in our bodies. 

When Rinpoche performed this puja in 2007, countless people who suffered from stroke, paralysis, cancer and various illnesses have experienced miracles and signs of recovery. It takes a highly powerful tantric ritual master like Kangyur Rinpoche to be able to bear the karma of all these suffering beings, and in turn, use his merit to aid the recovery of all these patients.

Rinpoche was assisted by the old Geshe-las and the 20 monks who did the prayers during this ritual. This is a very rare puja which not only helps in the recovery process, but also helps  to avoid such major diseases from befalling us, hence it was a highly beneficial puja.

Prevention is better than cure. Some people, especially the young ones, think they are perfectly healthy and do not require any healing. This is utterly wrong. It is recorded in the scriptures that every single person has 424 subtle illnesses in the body and 80,000 different obstacles which can potentially manifest. And this is something which no one can avoid.  Since we are all human beings, we are unable to detect any problems in our body until the sickness happens. Hence it does not mean we are perfectly healthy even though we feel fine. Only a Living Buddha like Rinpoche is 'equipped' with the powers to heal.

Indeed everyone who was present had their merits ripened to be able to receive such a rare and special healing for the masses by the Healing Lama. Some of my friends  and acquaintances attended the sessions, some are new to such healing rituals while  a few are totally new to Tibetan Buddhism. But from their feedback, they are very receptive and said the experience was incredible and they were all very very touched by the compassionate and kind Rinpoche. 

At the end of each session, Rinpoche and the Sangha put on their yellow hats in Gelugpa tradition, and it was time for dedication. In whatever we do (in prayers or holy activities), it is crucial to set the right motivation in the beginning, and then at the end of the session, it is equally important to dedicate the merits, so that the merits amassed from this spiritual session would not go to waste.

Rinpoche and the monks helped the audience with much visualisation and strong prayers. Like what the late Lati Rinpoche said, in any pujas, the Sangha is synonymous to an army of soldiers, to help us fight and overcome our obstacles. The more soldiers there are, the higher the chances of us winning the battle. Likewise, with so many monks who chanted prayers for us, the more effective the healing pujas would be to heal us. 

This was usually the moment everyone was waiting for, going up on stage to receive blessings from Rinpoche. The Healing Lama smiled at each person and blessed the head with the torma, symbolic of the Buddha presiding over the session. In this case, this was the blessing of the Medicine Buddha initiation. Can you imagine Rinpoche, at 90 years old, holding on to the not-so-light torma, tapping the head and blessing each of the 2500 people, in up and down motion, 2500 times?!

The Buddha said "To keep the body in good health is a duty, otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear". Hence, in order that we can practice without obstacles in the Dharma path, we must first and foremost, be healthy. We should practice even more if we are sick or unwell, and do not wait until we are sick before we turn to the 3 Jewels. Being healthy is a bonus. Cherish our health when we are still able to.

Present in the healing sessions were many sick patients, stroke patients in wheelchairs and walking sticks.  The family of this stroke patient brought him to the healing sessions everyday. May he get well soon. Here is my earlier post on the testimonies of the patients who have been healed. Amazing!

The old Geshe-las also blessed each patient with blessed water from the pujas. Seeing the sick patients with movement immobility being blessed by Rinpoche and the old Geshe-las, I cannot help but really appreciate their efforts. I believe in the powers of the prayers to the Three Jewels. 

I am very touched particularly by this photo. Senior 75-year-old Geshe Lungtok Wangchuk who walks with slight difficulty and with a hunchback, had to be held up by a younger monk and volunteer, because he wanted to stand up to bless this young girl who was in a wheelchair. The girl was held up by her father in order to be blessed by Geshe-la.

There were many sick people who came, as well as many elderly senior citizens. Everyone, sick or healthy, wants to receive blessings.  These 2 elderly couple could not kneel down, hence they had to bend down real low so that Geshe-la could bless them.

The queues were so long as everyone took turns to go on stage for blessings, while the MC entertained us with many explanations of the healing pujas. A very appreciative friend of mine smsed me 2 days after the event, to thank me for recommending  her to come for the healing sessions and also wanted me to thank the MC for doing such a wonderful job in guiding the audience through the pujas and for being so "sincere and natural that we are all very touched by her". I quote my friend "The 3 days at the inspiring pujas was the best time I had in a long long time, the hall was filled with so much positive and electrifying energy yet peace prevailed! What a wonderful experience!"

Top left photo the Geshe-las personally blessing the medical herbs which participants could sponsor during the Medicine Buddha puja. They were so meticulous that they asked that all the packs to be opened for blessing on the spot. There were a few hundred packs of these herbs and the 8 Treasures tea which all the monks had chanted many prayers and blessed earlier back in the Centre.  Mrs Goh also gave out bottles of really really blessed water to each participant. This blessed water was personally blessed by Rinpoche who chanted many healing prayers every morning. This blessed water was known to have healed and saved many sick people, especially cancer patients in 2007. Again, Rinpoche was very meticulous, all the bottles had to be opened up and transferred into bigger containers so that Rinpoche could bless and blow on the water, and the monks then painstakingly poured the water back into the bottles, all 3000 bottles. Everyone who received a bottle of this blessed water was very fortunate.

Besides blessed water, participants also received Dharma pills, which have been blessed from pujas by the thousands of monks in Gaden Shartse Monastery. Mrs Goh also gave out to everyone mala beads bracelets which again had been personally blessed by Rinpoche. 

This was before the initiation of the Medicine Buddha on the last night. Rinpoche had to come earlier before the ceremony to do his preliminary preparation as the Vajra Master. I feel really lucky to be able to receive the 3 blessing initiations from Rinpoche this time: Chenrezig (Kuan Yin Who Liberates from Lower Realms), Medicine Buddha, as well as the 3-In-1 Wrathful Deities (Vajrapani, Garuda, Hayagriva) Initiation. 

This is the first time I have seen a picture of the Kuan Yin Who Liberates From Lower Realms 恶趣遍解脱观音. Rinpoche requested and commissioned the printing of the photo of this particular Kuan Yin for this initiation. Immediately that night after I received this initiation, I dreamt of Kuan Yin!  Here was my earlier post about this auspicious dream.

I have full faith in Rinpoche being able to benefit and heal so many people. The dream re-enforced this confidence even more. 

The Sangha who were so hardworking and tireless in setting up the entire hall, arranging the altar, and preparing and transporting all the zillion items from the Centre. Hard labour.  I really appreciate them a lot. That is why if we believe in the Three Jewels, we should always support our gurus and the Sangha in any way we can.  

And all the volunteers who were so hardworking, helpful, cheerful and so committed.  They were a great cooperative team for such a grand large scale event.

The Buddha said "Fashion your life as a garland of beautiful deeds". Indeed this group of beautiful people were doing great deeds in helping out in Dharma events and  have amassed great merits by being volunteers for so many years. Kudos! 

Picture taking time. A smiling Rinpoche with Mrs Goh and the Sangha. 

Rinpoche taking his leave for the evening.  Many people are still calling DPL to enquire about Rinpoche. Requests to see Rinpoche for personal healing are too overwhelming and we would like Rinpoche to be well rested. However there is a final session ONLY for sick patients this Saturday 16 Oct at 10am in DPL centre. All patients suffering from cancer, stroke, skin problems, paralysis, supernatural harrassment, and all other illnesses, who wish to attend this session must call to register 63449521 or 63420806. Rinpoche is leaving Singapore on Mon 18 Oct.

It was such a wonderful wonderful wonderful healing event where I witnessed first hand how many people were simply touched by the Healing Lama. I have friends who were new to Tibetan Buddhism and first timers attending a rare healing event, and ended being convinced and so so supportive of Rinpoche. Many of them were so overjoyed  and touched by Rinpoche that they shed tears of joy.  I rejoice in the awakening of their compassionate heart.  They have met their guru in this lifetime, and planted the seed of affinity with Rinpoche to meet him again and again for many lifetimes to come. 

I can't thank you enough, Rinpoche.

"Our sorrows and wounds are healed only

when we touch them with compassion."

- Buddha