In view of the coming Chinese New Year of the Sheep according to lunar calendar, Maha Tare Centre takes the pleasure of conducting “Yangdrup”, an extensive ritual for generation of good fortune according to Buddhist tradition, on 19 February 2015. The Buddhist ritual, presided over by Geshe Lama Konchok of Maha Tare Centre, will be conducted in honor of and in reliance upon powerful gods of wealth and fortune—Arya Dzambhala and Maha Vaishravana.
Yangdrup ritual is mainly conducted for generating “Yang”, the powerful magnetizing properties associated with fortune, luck and prosperity that bring wealth, riches, fame and success in a person’s life. Yang is an external, arbitrary force that determines the condition of human life and experience. Unlike other traditions, Tibetan Buddhism and Bon recognize the magnetizing Yang elements and properties as existing in different forms such as those associated with one’s personality to clothes, house, food and beverages, experience, and so forth. The Yang determines the condition and quality of one’s interaction with other and also how others perceive us. In addition to individual Yang, a family Yang is an amalgamation of Yang of each individual member. To ensure individual and collective well being, Tibetans, of both Buddhist and Bon traditions, observe Yangdrup to increase and enhance the power of individual and family Yang and prevent them from loss or degeneration.
Like personal charm and charisma, which can be lost and retrieved, Yang, in Tibetan tradition, operates in a corresponding manner. Just as persona lacking charm and charisma fails to instill likability, people lacking Yang, the properties of good fortune, luck, and prosperity, normally fail to attract wealth or opportunities leading to it no matter how hard he or she might try. Dating back to as early as 8th century in Tibet, it is religiously observed at all important events including birth anniversaries, wedding ceremonies and others in various Buddhist and Bon communities.
This ritual employs the use of medicinal plants and herbs and precious pills formed through an admixture of precious metals and gems as offerings to the two most popular Buddhist gods of wealth and fortune—Arya Dzambhala and Maha Vaishravana. Monks officiating the ritual observe a series of brief visualizations that involve
- sanctifying the entire ritual and the deities and offerings through deep meditation on emptiness;
- inviting the wealth gods and making delightful offerings;
- singing eulogies and praises in the form of prayers and mantras to honor the gods;
- making formal supplication to ensure generation of luck, fortune, wealth and prosperity for sentient beings in general and for patrons commissioning the rituals in particular.
During the course of the ritual, patrons commissioning or participating express their wishes, goals, and aspirations either by writing on a paper or internally invoking through prayers. These are then extended with the offerings to the gods. In many rituals, the writings and prayers are enshrined alongside precious pills and offerings in Yang-gam, a ‘safe box of fortune’, whereby the contents are visualized as wealth gods and the container, ranging from small amulets to vases and chests, as celestial abodes of these deities. Like the mythical wish-granting tree or wish-fulfilling jewel, these containers of fortune are intended to shower forth unending opportunities for generation of wealth, riches and prosperity for both the individual and his or her family.
In brief, this ritual is intended to create good fortune and luck, which in turn creates all opportunities for ensuring abundance of wealth, prosperity and success. It is aimed at averting all negative factors that obstruct us from realizing the true happiness and joy of living in the coming Year of the Sheep.
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