Chenrezig Mani Retreat

Chenrezig is the Buddha of Compassion, and by doing practices related to Chenrezig we try to develop this perfection of enlightened compassion within ourselves. During this one-day retreat with Geshe Gelek, we'll learn a basic visualization and focus on saying Chenrezig's mantra (the short one is widely known: OM MANI PADME HUM). Also, if you have a prayer wheel, please bring it to use during the practice, since they are traditionally filled with Mani mantras as well. Please also bring a vegetarian potluck dish for lunch - entrees are particularly helpful, and should be brought in a crockpot if hot (we don't have cooking facilities). Bringing a list of ingredients helps people with allergies enjoy, and helps us serve Geshe Gelek and other sangha who have dietary restrictions.

According to Lama Zopa Rinpoche:

Without creating the karma we cannot find success, for example, finding a job may be unbelievable difficult, so even if we make unbelievable effort, we are unable to find success. By practicing Dharma, we are able to purify negative karma and collect extensive merits. So by reciting OM MANI PADME HUM and other methods it becomes so unbelievably easy to have success and all the happiness. By realizing that just by generating compassion, you—the one person—are able to liberate numberless sentient beings from each realm, from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to full enlightenment. This is most amazing, so these are the benefits that we get by reciting this mantra even just one time. Then the particular benefit of this mantra is that we generate great compassion to all sentient beings.

Therefore this is the best thing that we can do for world peace. Reciting these mantras is unbelievably important, it makes our mind more peaceful, more calm and more compassionate to others. Even if we don’t know Buddhist philosophy—the hundreds of volumes of Buddha’s teachings and the 200 volumes of the commentaries of the great highly attained holy beings, the Indian great pandits, as well as the many teachings written by the enlightened Tibetan lamas. So without even learning all of this, just by chanting these mantras, it makes our life so peaceful and we can benefit others so much. Even if we have no intelligence or no understanding of Dharma, we get unbelievable benefits by reciting these mantras. We purify past negative karma, collect extensive merits and our mind becomes more compassionate to others. In this way, so many sentient beings don’t receive harm from us; they receive peace and happiness from us and we go towards enlightenment day-by-day. 

Resources

For the entire teaching on the benefits of prayer wheels and Mani practice, see: http://www.lamayeshe.com/index.php?sect=article&id=772#sthash.AYFlbsC1.dpuf

A limited number of prayer wheels will be available through our bookstore, along with books on Chenrezig practice and prayer wheels. Recommended titles:

Teachings from the Mani Retreat (available as an ebook or free online) by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Cultivating a Compassionate Heart by Ven. Thubten Chodron

Wheel of Great Compassion by Lorne Ladner