Ask for Guidance

"Last time I went to Tibet, to the Potala, I was making pilgrimage to the Potala, and there are five or six shrine rooms, which they normally don't allow people to see. They are locked, but this time they allowed us in because the monks there knew us. One monk was Geshe Sopa Rinpoche's disciple and there were also a few other monks. We met when I went there ten years ago, so they remembered that. Anyway, they showed us about five or six rooms which are secret and are not shown to the people. These are the rooms where His Holiness received teachings from His Holiness Ling Rinpoche or did retreat or different things, where His Holiness did different activities. There was also one main room where His Holiness would meet the officials and things like that on special occasions.

There was one very good monk, a senior Namgyal monk there, and he recited His Holiness the Dalai Lama's long-life prayer. Usually I think there's danger to say it; you can't even have photos of His Holiness. But he led the prayer and also the prayer for the independence of Tibet, he chanted that. Then there was a camera, like the supermarkets in the West where there is a camera in the shops to see whether people are stealing or not. There was a camera in that room, but I'm sure the monks knew there was a camera there. Anyway, he did all these prayers.

People are not allowed to have photos of His Holiness, but there was a throne. His Holiness's throne was there and on it was the dagam, His Holiness's coat. The monk had put this on the throne because he couldn't have His Holiness's photo. I don't know how he got our Maitreya Buddha picture, the dream to build the 500-foot Maitreya Buddha statue in India; I don't know how he got that picture, but instead of putting His Holiness's photo there on the throne, he had put the picture of the Maitreya Buddha statue, our Maitreya Buddha picture, there in the coat. I was surprised to see it there in the Potala, in that secret room.

Anyway, after that he told us some stories about His Holiness. He told us about the day when Keutsang Rinpoche, who checked the reincarnation of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama on the Palden Lhamo lake [Lhamo La-Tso Lake, Tibet]. I think he spent maybe seven days at the lake checking about His Holiness's incarnation, the incarnation of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. He checked there in the Palden Lhamo lake for many days.

And then after that he saw everything in that lake--the house, which place, everything, the parents and the child--then, disguised as a beggar, he went to Amdo to the family's place. So he told us this story. How the child, who is the present Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, how that child immediately recognized the lama, Keutsang Rinpoche, even though he was disguised as a beggar. The child recognized the malas and put them on his head, and recognized the walking sticks and everything.

So the monk told those stories, then at the end he told us that this little child, His Holiness's incarnation, said, "I'm the one who does work for all the sentient beings." The Namgyal monk told us this child said, "I'm the one who does work for all the sentient beings." I don't remember seeing that in a book, anyway, the last thing the monk told us was that. When I heard that, I broke [into tears.] I couldn't bear it and it made me cry so much after hearing that. The old monk tried to clean my nose and my eyes, that old monk tried to help clean the tears. [Rinpoche laughs]

Anyway, the story that he told us exactly fitted, because that's what His Holiness does all the time. That's what he is, what he does, all the time.

Nowadays, even though Buddhism spread to the West not so long ago, we have a very close connection [ with His Holiness.] We receive the actual Compassion Buddha in human form in the West again and again, and we hear teachings so many times, as well as the Kalachakra initiation and so forth. His Holiness, the Compassion Buddha, is not only the special deity of Tibet, but also for us, for all the Western people, who receive guidance from him. So you can see the Compassion Buddha, there's a special connection for everyone who receives guidance from His Holiness, who receives teachings, who has this great fortune. We are guided and taken care of by the Compassion Buddha.

Continuously, from Chenrezig's side, there are all the qualities, all the skills to guide us-perfect omniscience, power, understanding, compassion, everything, all the qualities to guide us. From our side we just need to continuously put effort into following the path shown by the Compassion Buddha.

There is also a story that if we pray one time, if we make a prayer to Compassion Buddha one time, if we ask for guidance one time, then all the time in our future lives we will be guided by the Compassion Buddha. However, I'm not going to go through that story tonight.

If we request guidance; if we make a request one time, then in all our coming future lives the Compassion Buddha will definitely guide us. There is a kind of promise; it's like a promise."

~ Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kadampa Deities Retreat Institut Vajra Yogini, France, 18 April to 11 May 2003.

Photo ~ Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme), 2014