100 Million Avalokiteshvara Mantra Recitation & Nyungne Fasting Retreat 2018, 1 & 2 Sep 2018

We are organising our 5th six-syllable Avalokiteshvara mantra recitation retreat on the 1 and 2 of September 2018 at Poh Ming Tse Temple. In conjunction with this year’s 2 days mantra recitation retreat, there will also be a Nyungne retreat for serious participants who want to receive and keep strict vows and fast during this retreat.

The purpose of this annual mass prayer retreat is to facilitate the collective accumulation of merits in order to ensure peace, harmony and prosperity in the region and the world at large, and to create an atmosphere conducive to the cultivation of compassion through mass chanting and group meditation.

The Nyungné Retreat (Eight Precepts)

Nyungné is a Buddhist fasting ritual that a practitioner observes in his or her privacy or groups for anywhere between one day to up to seven days, or ideally between seven to twenty-one days.

Fasting Vow – While a Nyungné outwardly appears like any other religious practice, where people cultivate positive thoughts and attitudes, engage in meritorious deeds and activities, and recite prayers and chants, fasting remains the primary feature in this ritual. A fasting ritual primarily falls under the practice of discipline, as the process involves guarding of vows and precepts from the beginning until the end of the session. Vows and precepts are preferably taken at dawn from an ordained or lay vow-holders, or, in case of their absence, from images or representations of the Three Precious Refuge—Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. The ritual involves the invocation of a principal enlightened deity, mostly Chenrezig (Skt. Avalokiteshvara, Ch. Guanyin), the deity of compassion.

Eight Precepts – Nyungné requires observance of the fasting vow and also the eight precepts. At the beginning of a session, preferably at dawn, a practitioner takes the vow to sustain on only one midday vegetarian meal for every twenty-four hours. Besides, practitioners ideally observe Ngakché (vow of silence) by not speaking to any other during the session. In addition, a practitioner must guard the following eight precepts during the fasting session: 1. Not killing, 2. Not stealing, 3. Not indulging in sex, 4. Not lying, 5. Not consuming alcohol or intoxicants, 6. Not sitting on high or lofty seats, 7. Not eating untimely meals, and 8. Not applying fragrance or indulging in songs and dances. Other minor precepts include avoiding excessive sleep, not yawning, et cetera.

The Practice – During the fasting ritual, a practitioner trains his or her body by enduring physical hardship through fasting, restrains speech by refraining from senseless, hurtful, or divisive talks, and tames mind by avoiding all negative and faulty conceptual thoughts. Instead, one cultivates positive feelings such as love and compassion as well as insightful wisdom on the law of causality, inter-dependence, and emptiness. During the session, a practitioner can read Buddhist scriptures, recite prayers or mantras, do prostrations, or meditate.

Benefits – The Nyungné ritual primarily helps purify negativities committed in the form of physical actions. Also, by training our speech and mind, the negativities incurred through our harmful speeches and thoughts are purified. Buddhist scriptures list numerous other benefits. In brief, Nyungné helps accumulate merits and wisdom, which eventually result in a swifter attainment of liberation and enlightenment.

The Six-Syllable Mantra

The mantra of Avalokiteshvara—Om ma ni pad me hung—has a mnemonic effect and contains the unequalled power of compassion. The mantra is employed in highly sophisticated visualisations and meditations in the Buddhist Tantra tradition. Widely referred to as “the six-syllable mantra”, it is the most common prayer uttered by millions of devout Buddhists across the Himalayas including Tibet, Mongolia, Bhutan, Sikkim, Ladakh, and parts of India and China.

The benefits of reciting Avalokiteshvara mantra are manifold. It condenses the essential qualities of compassion of all Buddhas; brings peace, harmony and tranquility in the land; provides happiness, joy and contentment to all sentient beings; purifies negative Karmic actions and deluded states of mind; provides peace and calmness in life and through the stages of dying; prevents one from falling into the hell, hungry ghost or animals realms; ensures rebirth in the higher states of Samsara and eventually in the pure land of Buddha Amitabha; will help in the cultivation of compassion and the altruistic spirit for enlightenment; and finally help one complete the spiritual paths and grounds to actualise the unsurpassed state of enlightenment.

Event details

Venue: Poh Ming Tse Temple, Level 3 (Hall of Boundless Light)

Address: 438 Dunearn Road, Singapore 289613 (Google map / streetdirectory.com)

Date: 1 and 2 September 2018 (Saturday & Sunday)

Time: 9:00 am to 6:00 pm

Meals: Vegetarian lunch and tea breaks provided (For Nyungne participants, food will have to be consumed before noon)

Language: Live translation in Chinese

Registration

Admission is free, but prior registration is required to facilitate us with the ordering of meals for the 2-day retreat. If you wish to attend the retreat, please contact one of the following persons below:

• Katherine @ 9766 9088 (Maha Tare Buddhist Centre @ 658A Geylang Road, Singapore 389588)
• Kelvin @ 9681 1326 (Dzambhala @ My Place #02-07 Fortune Centre, Singapore 188979)

Donation & Sponsorship

As this event is free of charge, we deeply appreciate your kind donations or sponsorship to cover the running costs for this event. Please kindly contact Katherine @ 9766 9088 if you are interested to help us out.

Getting to Poh Ming Tse Temple

Address: 438 Dunearn Road, Singapore 289613 (Google map / streetdirectory.com)

Driving:

Parking lots are limited in Poh Ming Tse Temple. Please abide by traffic rules if you are parking along Shelford Road.

By Bus:

Bus services along Dunearn Road (B41049) and along Bukit Timah Road (B41041 – Opposite side):

Bus numbers: 66, 67, 74, 151, 154, 156, 157, 170, 171, 174, 852, 961

By MRT:

Nearest MRT Station: Tan Kah Kee (Downtown Line – DT8) – Exit B