Takla Mebar's New Year's Celebration 

We can attempt to enter the new year in a sacred way. We know that the energies of daily life and worldly life are very powerful. So before we rush heedlessly into the new year or allow those energies to pull us forward, we can take time to step back. We want to see if we can enter this new year with conscious intention and aspiration. 

It is said that we should be very careful on the first day of the new year in terms of the actions of our body, speech, and mind. These are our first tentative steps into the year ahead. We want to be sure that we are acting with as much consciousness and intention as possible, living by our aspiration from the very first moment of this new year. We can try to manifest every aspiration we hold for how we want to be in the world and in our relationships.

There are countless causes and conditions that have brought us all together in this moment. Each of us has our own history of causes and conditions, including our family of origin, our experiences in school, community, culture, and religion, and all the influences that have shaped us.

Each of us has lived a life, some longer than others, made up of things that worked out well and things that did not. There have been good choices and bad choices, many of which we cannot even remember. All the roads, turnarounds, and U-turns we have taken are part of our karma, the causes that have brought us to this moment. We cannot see or know them all, but the energy of all of it is what has brought us here. In addition, there are the causes and conditions of our culture, society, and historical moment that also condition why we are here.

Countless beings have practiced, studied, revised, reformed, and transmitted these teachings, all of which have manifested in this lifetime through the teachers who brought the Dharma to America and whom we continue to learn from.

When we look at the biggest picture we can, we can see this miraculous unfolding of life. Whatever our karma has been, all that really matters is that it has brought us to this moment. In this moment, we are all here. Here in this river of causes and conditions, this river of experience that we all share individually and collectively. Each of us has our own karmic energy, manifesting through the actions of body, speech, and mind. This energy has propelled us through life with all kinds of positive and negative experiences. It becomes our default. We do not have to work at being who we are. We can simply get up in the morning and let it unfold. That is our default, and it takes no effort or intentionality.

Individually and collectively, the world also has its own karmic momentum that unfolds unconsciously. It would be wonderful if the whole world could retreat and reflect, but here we do our best. Each of us carries historical conditioning that shows up in our relationships and in the way we live. This is the strongest stream in our lives.

Then there is something else that begins to awaken in us. During this retreat we may come to call it Takla Mebar. There is a sense that there may be another way to live and another way to be. There may be different actions of body, speech, and mind that produce different results. When we encounter Takla Mebar, he clearly lays out another way to live, feel, relate, and understand ourselves and the world, something in us responds.

If we are honest, our karmic energy is more powerful because it is our default. It takes no effort. The spiritual path is fragile by comparison and requires effort. We work with Takla Mebar, this flaming tiger energy, until it gains strength and becomes embodied within us in the same way our conditioning is embodied.

This is why we practice the Takla Mebar retreat. Change only occurs in the present. We cannot redo the past, and our good intentions for the future only last so long. We want to create an opening – some space. We create space by putting everything down and being here. We create space to clearly see the patterns of karmic energy pulling us along and to see the other possibility for living differently. We work with both our past and the possibilities of the future.

Everyone has the potential to be a Buddha, to be awake, and to be free. Everyone has the energy of Takla Mebar inside them. Everyone already has basic goodness within them. This is more than just being ethical or a good person. It is a whole vision of what it means to be human.

It is this bodhisattva ideal, an awakened being dedicated to liberating others. To discover that this path could be walked by an ordinary lay person with family, work, and responsibilities can be deeply inspiring. This vision has inspired millions of people for thousands of years. 

There are two real challenges for us. One is truly believing in our spiritual path and trusting that it works. It helps to look at people who have walked the path and who look just like us. The second challenge is dealing with our past and our conditioning. We often identify ourselves with our issues rather than with our awakened nature, Takla Mebar.

This tension plays out in daily life. Every morning, if we do nothing, we hear the voice of our conditioning getting us ready for another day. The purpose of this retreat is to create space so that as we enter the new year, we have a way of relating to the past and a way of manifesting ourselves differently in the future.

Reflecting on the Past Year

We begin with reflection on the past year. Many people have a negative reaction to the words repentance or penitence. Yet I have come to believe they are essential for change. Penitence implies a humble recognition of misdeeds and a determination not to repeat them. None of us has a perfect past. We have all done harm to ourselves or others. These things often remain active in us because we do not know how to process them.

In Buddhism, there is no concept of guilt or shame. There is remorse, the honest recognition that we acted unskillfully. We act unskillfully because we are deluded and do not see clearly. Just as children act without understanding, we too have been learning. Repentance means acknowledging our actions and resolving to change.

The Buddha taught that wrongdoing is like frost on the ground. When the sun of wisdom rises, it disappears. Before we move forward, we need to clean up our act through repentance and penitence.

Now, we will write. You can focus on the past year or your whole life. Write down the unskillful actions that still weigh on you. This is for no one else to read. Be honest and specific. Write down the things that, when you remember them, make you wince. Write them all down.

These are the things we feel remorse about. That can include guilt, shame, or feeling bad about what we have done. However that shows up for you, it is that side of our past that we are working with.

Next you can create a small fire, where you will place your paper so you can let it burn and let go.

The reason we are writing everything down and placing it in the fire is that we are acknowledging it clearly in our own mind. Repentance means making a commitment not to repeat these actions. That is where we want to arrive. We see clearly the harm caused by the way we have acted, spoken, or failed to act, whether through omission or commission. Going forward, we commit not to do it again. That is what matters. We have learned our lesson. Please take your time and reflect deeply.

Repaying Our Karmic Debt

Through this past year, this life, and countless past lives we have accrued karmic debt. So we wish to repay this debt through the practice of making offerings. How wonderful it is to make amends and begin anew! Karmic debt offerings are offered to beings whom we owe karmic debts to. We can make "karmic debt torma offerings" out of flour, barley, gingerbread, or even PlayDoh. This is a small ball of roasted flour made into a dough that has been rubbed over the body from head to toe in order to absorb all illness and negative energy. Then, the ball of dough is rolled into a strip the width of the hand and squeezed so that each of the fingers make an impression. We mark the dough with our five fingers representing our actions of body, speech, and mind which has accumulated this karma through our own actions. Women make the impression with their left hands, and men use their right hands. This karmic debt torma is then placed with the other gifts around our altar. Then we can light a candle and offer these gifts with songs or prayers. We can reflect on all the unwholesome actions of body, speech, and mind that we have accumulated over the years. Actions which may have caused us, our loved ones, or being we don’t even know much suffering. And we can take these unwholesome actions and put them into the offering, transforming them from parts of us we don’t normally like to fresh offerings to give away. 

Once we are done we can take the offerings outside and leave them for the local troubled spirits.

“OM Come here, all you spirits who have a commitment to the teachings of the Buddha! Come all gods, humans, and demi-gods, all spirits that cause harm or disease, all male and female demons. Without excluding anyone, all you spirits, come! Accept this ransom torma which repays my karmic debts. Do not cause harm to this family or community and don’t create any obstacles to our spiritual practice! Now, each of you happily return to your homes and listen to the noble teachings of the Buddha. 

SO OM BA DZRA TRO TA SUM TRI GHA TSA YA GHA TSA YA NÖ JÉ JUNG PO A MU KHA RA YA HUNG PÉ”

Then after the celebration we can go outside in the dark and light candles or a fire as a physical symbol of burning away our negatives from the last year, as well as a symbol of the light of compassion shining outward in all directions to all beings. Our bodhicitta shining bright.

If you would like to learn more about repaying our karmic debts, please check out the ancient Bon ritual of Lu Sang; smoke offering to the Nagas. 

Longevity and Prosperity Prayers

We do two prayers. Longevity prayer and prosperity prayer. Why these two? Because life is very important and precious. Without life, nothing else matters. Therefore out of all the five divine energies, which are life-force, health, livelihood, social, and the soul, the life-force is important because without life-force energy, there can be no other four energies. This is why we pray for longevity of the life-force energy. Each of the five divine energies depends on the quality of the one before it. If your life-force energy is good, you can have good health energy. If you have good health energy, your livelihood energy can prosper. With a good livelihood, your social or relationship energy can develop. Your social energy is the relationship or connection not only with other beings but also with yourself, but your body, speech, and mind as well as your relationship with the environment. Your relationship with the five elements need to be balanced. Your relationship with the three humors need to be balanced. When these outer, inner, and secret five elements are balanced you will have a strong foundation which we call our soul. So these prayers are for good health, and good prosperity.  

When you do these prayers, think about the long life and prosperity of yourself and all your family members and friends. We can say out loud our name and the names of all the loved ones we wish to include in these prayers.

We can hold our wealth vase close to our heart. We can imagine that the vase is our palace or our body. And we can imagine that our essence of our lifeforce, essence of our health, essence of our livelihood energy, essence of our social energy, and essence of our soul - the five divine energies are inside. Using our Long Life Arrow, we can circle it around our head and the wealth vase. Each of the five colored ribbons on the long life arrow, gather up all of the powers and blessings of the five divine elements in the ten directions. These are the foundation and basic building blocks of our being. All of the energies needed to bring long life and prosperity are gathered and brought into the wealth vase. Then imagine that once all the energies are collected in the wealth vase, they enter into you thus healing and repairing the five divine energies within you.

Long Life prayer: So Ma Ma Mu Wer Tsa Mun Hri Drung Mu She Tsu Dewa Tse Ni Drum Du Ma Ma Yam Ram Kham Tse Ni Si Ti Drum Du

Wealth Prosperity Prayer: So Ma Ma Mu Wer Tsa Mun Hri Redna Si Ti Samaya Hring Hring Ma Ma Hring Hring Redna Si Ti Dud Dud Ma Ma Ni Kung Dza

If you would like to learn more about long-life practices, please check out Tsewang Rigzin, the Long Life King.

Takla Mebar Dokpa Ritual

When a storm arises in our body or our mind, we can recognize that the worldly winds are blowing us around and pause. Clapping our hands, Dok! Dok! Dok! we can send the storm back to where it came from. Where did the storm come from? Ah!

These are very troubled times. Events occur that show how very quickly a storm can arise and blow away everything we thought we knew. This kind of destruction has happened many times in history. There is no safety in the world. Everything is always changing. Wherever you look all over the world all kinds of sudden disturbance occur by which the security of our prediction that ‘tomorrow will be like today’ is just blown away.  Our minds are the root of all suffering. So let us practice an effective method of unifying the wisdom of emptiness with the skillful means of kindness to all.

When we say Dok! Dok! Dok! we clap our hands at each Dok! and imagine that all the negative forces are returned to where they come.

Dok! is a Tibetan word that indicates sending something back to where it came from. This is not revenge. It is simply returning a gift that we do not want and did not ask for. We are saying, “This is yours, please keep it!”

You can use the fourth Takla Mebar mantra, the ultimate secret manta as a Dokpa mantra. This is especially beneficial if doing the December Takla Mebar retreat.

Ultimate Secret Mantra

SO SO RAM RAM DOK DOK/ HÉ HÉ DOK DOK/ SO SO DOK DOK/ AH AH DOK DOK/

RAM CHEM RAM CHEM DOK DOK/ DÜN TA RAM DOK DOK/

AH RAM AH RAM DOK DOK/ HA RAM HA RAM DOK DOK/

JÉ MA NÖ JÉ KYI NYING LA RAM DOK DOK

Takla Mebar Mask Dance

And finally, we can dance! The Takla Mebar mask dance is a traditional dance done in front of the temple each year. Dressed in a Takla Mebar mask, the dance master comes out and dances to melodic prayers. Even without a mask, prayers, or specific melodies, we can sing the prayer below to our own melody and dance with our friends and family to bring in the new year. We dance on our negativities and disturbing emotions that have given us trouble throughout the year. We trample these trouble makers so that they will not come back into the new year. So dance on your obstacles and negative emotions and bring in the new year. This is another form of Dokpa practice.

SO in the fierce É triangle shape of the house.

On the corpse of parting from the enemies and obstacles.

While the great terrifying and majestic Flaming Tiger performs a fierce dance.

It is the dance of emanations of compassion and wisdom.

The bad karmas, trouble making enemies, and obstacles,

Suppressed under it and don’t come back again.

Don’t bounce back from this attachment.

RAM NI HRO MAR SHAK DÜL NEN 

YAM NI LI TÜN SHAK DÜL NEN

KHAM NI TING MUR SHAK DÜL NEN

The fire “RAM”, wind “YAM”, and earth “KHAM” energies burn, blow away, and bury all of our negatives that have accumulated over the past year. Dance and be merry in the freedom and purity of beginning anew.

If you would like to learn more about Takla Mebar, please click here.

Lha Gyal: Prayer for Increasing Prosperity and Luck

Having cleansed and purified our actions of body, speech, and mind we can look to the new year, and recite prayers for prosperity, luck, and the benefit of all beings. We can recite the following prayer:

May the unsurpassable compassion of the Buddha extend everywhere.

May the good wishes and aspirations remain alive in each being.

May the teachings of the Buddha flourish.

May all beings meet with happiness and prosperity.

May all unwholesome thoughts and actions come to an end.

May all harmful conditions decline.

May all beings within cyclic existence

Be completely free of pain and suffering.

May the ultimate happiness and prosperity be realized.

KI KI SO SO LHA GYAL LO!

[Shout the mantra loudly and joyfully, throwing your hand up in the air as you do.]

We also can go around shouting "KI KI SO SO LHA GYAL LO!" as we gaze up into the sky during our walk outside on New Year’s Day.

Ki - Cry of Eagle.

Ki - Spell for the Sky.

So - Earthly deep Sound.

So - Spell for the Earth.

Lha - Basic Human Goodness.

Gyal lo - Be Victorious.

Lha gyal lo’ means “may all the good forces be victorious”

You’ll have to shout “ki ki so so lha gyalo” loudly. At that time, let your eyes gaze into the sky, and put your awareness into your eyes, one-pointedly. Stare straight into the middle of the sky, piercingly into the sky. Then bring your gaze higher and higher, while merging your mind indivisibly with the sky. You have to really concentrate on that, and not let ordinary conceptual thoughts stain the mind. Consider that your five divine energies rise limitlessly. If you do that, there is no doubt your five divine energies will increase.

If you would like to learn more about increasing prosperity and luck check out the wealth protector and prosperity archetype of the Shen, Blue Zambala, Kubera.  

When we understand that every moment is fresh, and that once a moment ends it is truly over, there is no need to carry it forward. If you choose to carry anything forward, carry the good things. Carry what will nurture you, your relationships, and your family. The mistakes and unskillful actions are noted, met with remorse, learned from, and then released as we recommit to another way of being.

When you live this way, life becomes lighter. You do not carry baggage with you. Can you feel how freeing that is? Take just a moment to feel that freedom. Imagine letting go of all your baggage. Each of us knows what our baggage is, so whatever yours may be, imagine that it is gone. This is a fresh moment, and it is waiting for your imprint.

Will you imprint this moment with the past, or will you imprint it with how you want your future to be? That is a conscious choice.