Kathok Rigzin Chenpo Rinpoche
It is my family’s tradition to practice the Tsogdak Mahakala (an enlightened
Dharma protector). This has been carrying on for more than 300 years. Everyone in the family specialises in this
practice, reciting more Mahakala than even the Mani mantra or Amitabha mantra.
All the family members whether young or old, male or female, adore Mahakala. They practice Mahakala even
more than Guru Rinpoche. In the Nyingma school, Guru Rinpoche is considered the
universal practice. But my family loves to practice Tsogdak Mahakala.
They regard Mahakala as their father, as their mother, or someone who is very
close to their heart. I remember that when we had large ceremonies for
Mahakala, when it came to the supplication prayers or prayers for invoking
Mahakala, many people wept out of sheer devotion whether it was the monastics
or the laypeople. Everyone was crying.
They felt that kind of closeness and affection for Mahakala.
My generation is less emotional than the previous generations (Rinpoche
laughs). The previous generation had
very strong clinging to Mahakala. It is
based on self-grasping. They felt that
Mahakala belonged to them. Mahakala was
their father. Like the people in the
Rebkong region in Tibet who focused on Palden Lhamo. They called Palden Lhamo “mother”. Or like in the Chinese culture, we have
people who were adopted by Kwan Yin as their foster children…these people had
very endearing terms for their chosen deity, calling them “Mother” and so on…
For some worldly protectors, if you practice them today and you miss the
practice tomorrow, their retinues would get angry and give you trouble. We should avoid these types of practices. I seldom practice such protectors. I
generally do not recommend people to practice protectors. If you have to
practice, then Mahakala or Palden Lhamo is enough. For the rest… the monasteries do these
practices, but for individual practitioners, it is better not to do these
practices. People who can’t even manage
to practice their yidam deities well will not get much results from protector
practices anyway.
So, I often advise people not to practice protectors too much, especially for
less well-known protectors that most people barely know about. It is better not to touch such practices.
Otherwise, it is easy to invite the deity but difficult to send him away. By the time you decide to stop the practice,
the protector might not allow you to stop.
A lot of problems will come…
(With regards to Tsogdak Mahakala,) my faith cannot be compared to my
grandparents. While I also have faith,
it cannot be compared to theirs, or at least the sense of closeness is not like
theirs. I have doubtless faith in Mahakala but it is not like theirs. Many of
them saw Mahakala instead of Amitabha when they were passing away.
My great grandfather recited Mahakala’s mantra several hundred million times.
Many locals wanted to keep his hair or a piece of his clothing because they
felt that it was like an amulet that protects against bullets or knives. Everyone had that kind of faith in him.
When he was passing away, he did not see Amitabha, he saw Mahakala instead.
Before he died, he did a smoke offering to Mahakala. He lived to the age of
101. That year, he told people that he was leaving this world and that Mahakala
was coming to bring him to Sukhavati. The deity that came to bring him to
Sukhavati was not Chenrezig or Amitabha, it was Mahakala.
After the large smoke puja which he had invited several masters to conduct on
his behalf, he sat down and recited the Aspiration of Samantabhadra. Following that, he recited several Mahakala
mantras and then passed on. At that
time, Bero Rinpoche and several masters were present at the house and were
performing a Mahakala puja. My great
grandfather sat with them within their sight and recited the Aspiration of
Samantabhadra together, then reciting Mahakala mantras, he left his body.
There are many similar cases. These
people had enormous faith. Therefore, we
can definitely receive Mahakala’s blessings. You need not have any doubt or
dispute this point. The main thing is to have faith.
