Dharma Wheel

KonchokZoepa wrote:do you know if this book is available other than in kindle form

It is available in other formats as well here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/351728

Also, there is a paperback edition but it is a little hard to come by. If you really are interested in getting the paperback edition PM me.

I just bought the kindle version and downloaded into my Android tablet (Nook HD) using the Kindle App. It's nice to have a backup in the Kindle Cloud for whenever I'm at a computer but don't have my tablet. That's the advantage of Kindle over other formats, imo.

I would like to offer my apologies. It was not my intention to appear to be criticising Gyatrul Rinpoche. I am in no position to be critical of anyone or anything quite frankly. I feel rather foolish right now.

Well, I downloaded the book and was not thrilled to read "you can't simply receive a mala from someone else and just start using it." Apparently, you must bless it first. Unfortunately, the particular ritual he gives for blessing it is full of words I don't know how to pronounce properly. How does one pronounce A vs AA, for example? There must be other blessing rituals out there which are much simpler and some teachers would probably say it's not necessary at all. So, if anyone has other blessing rituals they know of, please post links. Thanks.

padma norbu wrote:How does one pronounce A vs AA, for example?

I am guessing this is A=འ vs. AA=ཨ.

tomamundsen wrote:

padma norbu wrote:How does one pronounce A vs AA, for example?

I am guessing this is A=འ vs. AA=ཨ.

Thanks, any chance it could be the other way around?
Pretty cool how you linked the sounds to the Tibetan.

padma norbu wrote:

tomamundsen wrote:

padma norbu wrote:How does one pronounce A vs AA, for example?

I am guessing this is A=འ vs. AA=ཨ.

Thanks, any chance it could be the other way around?
Pretty cool how you linked the sounds to the Tibetan.

It is certainly possible. I've never seen that phonetic scheme of A and AA before. ཨ is a long "ah" and འ is short, so I assumed it that way. You'll often see ཨ as AH.

Also, I am really only just beginning to learn the language, so I'm very far from being an expert. Others on the board are far more familiar with the language than myself.

padma norbu wrote:Well, I downloaded the book and was not thrilled to read "you can't simply receive a mala from someone else and just start using it." Apparently, you must bless it first. Unfortunately, the particular ritual he gives for blessing it is full of words I don't know how to pronounce properly. How does one pronounce A vs AA, for example? There must be other blessing rituals out there which are much simpler and some teachers would probably say it's not necessary at all. So, if anyone has other blessing rituals they know of, please post links. Thanks.

The section you are referring to is the part where you recite the sanskrit alphabet that starts with अ (A) and अा (AA) these are the short and long version of the vowel A - but then there are also the clearing and purifying mantras and I can understand that this might seem quite complex.

Rinpoche said if you feel this ritual is too complex you can bless your mala by simply saying the final mantra : OM RU TSI RAMA NI TRA WATRA YA HUM - 100 times.

Question on this business of blessing your own mala: shouldn't the person reciting the blessing have some mantric accomplishment so that the recited mantra blessings actually do something?

tomamundsen wrote:

padma norbu wrote:How does one pronounce A vs AA, for example?

I am guessing this is A=འ vs. AA=ཨ.

Actually in Tibetan like this ཨ and ཨཱ

tomamundsen wrote:Question on this business of blessing your own mala: shouldn't the person reciting the blessing have some mantric accomplishment so that the recited mantra blessings actually do something?

Rinpoche says there are blessings due to the prayers and mantra.

Tom wrote:

padma norbu wrote:Well, I downloaded the book and was not thrilled to read "you can't simply receive a mala from someone else and just start using it." Apparently, you must bless it first. Unfortunately, the particular ritual he gives for blessing it is full of words I don't know how to pronounce properly. How does one pronounce A vs AA, for example? There must be other blessing rituals out there which are much simpler and some teachers would probably say it's not necessary at all. So, if anyone has other blessing rituals they know of, please post links. Thanks.

The section you are referring to is the part where you recite the sanskrit alphabet that starts with अ (A) and अा (AA) these are the short and long version of the vowel A - but then there are also the clearing and purifying mantras and I can understand that this might seem quite complex.

Rinpoche said if you feel this ritual is too complex you can bless your mala by simply saying the final mantra : OM RU TSI RAMA NI TRA WATRA YA HUM - 100 times.

Thanks. The blessing is from a different lineage, so yeah its pretty different from anything I've heard/seen before. This OM RU TSI RAMA NI TRA WATRA YA HUM is easy enough, but I have no idea what it is. I Googled it and got nothing. Is there any explanation for whose mantra it is?

in my sadhanas it is enough to say om rutsiramani pravartaya hum 7 times and then blow on your mala and rub it in your hands

KonchokZoepa wrote:in my sadhanas it is enough to say om rutsiramani pravartaya hum 7 times and then blow on your mala and rub it in your hands

This is also the same mantra as the one in my previous post. The variation "trawatraya" for "pravartaya" is due to the fact that "pra" when transliterated into Tibetan (པྲ) is pronounced in native Tibetan as "tra" and also since there is no "va" in the Tibetan alphabet it is often transliterated as "wa."

Sorry, Padma Norbu - I don't have the explanation of the mantra to hand. Maybe someone else will chime in...

I think I have found some incorrect information, but I'm checking with you guys...

"‘Bodhi’ seeds, which is a misnomer, are from a tree related to the Rudraksha (Elaeocarpus ganitrus) and not the Bodhi tree (being a fig tree, its seeds are inside a tiny fig, and are miniscule). The scientific name of this tree, native to Nepal, is yet to be determined."
— http://digital-dharma.net/2008/02/26/an ... odhi-seed/

So my new bodhi seed mala has about 8 beads with additional holes on the sides. Small little cracky holes that look like minor damage rather than intentionally drilled by accident. I have recently read that any cracked beads should be replaced right away with non-cracked beads. This gets in the realm of the superstitious for me, but I don't know if I want to keep it with these holes. That will probably be in the back of my mind and drive me nuts. Is it common for bodhi seed malas to have additional little cracks/holes? I thought my old bodhi seed wrist mala was similar, but when I got home, I saw that none of the beads have additional holes like this. If it's pretty common for bodhi seeds, I won't return it. If you think they should be replaced with non-damaged beads, I will just return it and hope I get my money back through Paypal.

padma norbu wrote:So my new bodhi seed mala has about 8 beads with additional holes on the sides. Small little cracky holes that look like minor damage rather than intentionally drilled by accident. I have recently read that any cracked beads should be replaced right away with non-cracked beads. This gets in the realm of the superstitious for me, but I don't know if I want to keep it with these holes. That will probably be in the back of my mind and drive me nuts. Is it common for bodhi seed malas to have additional little cracks/holes? I thought my old bodhi seed wrist mala was similar, but when I got home, I saw that none of the beads have additional holes like this. If it's pretty common for bodhi seeds, I won't return it. If you think they should be replaced with non-damaged beads, I will just return it and hope I get my money back through Paypal.

So, Rinpoche said these additional holes are no problem. It is more of a problem if you drop the mala and it cracks or something like that.

padma norbu wrote:I think I have found some incorrect information, but I'm checking with you guys...

"‘Bodhi’ seeds, which is a misnomer, are from a tree related to the Rudraksha (Elaeocarpus ganitrus) and not the Bodhi tree (being a fig tree, its seeds are inside a tiny fig, and are miniscule). The scientific name of this tree, native to Nepal, is yet to be determined."
— http://digital-dharma.net/2008/02/26/an ... odhi-seed/

I think bodhi seed beads do not actually come from the bodhi tree but from some other variety of tree found in Nepal, but I'm not sure of the exact name. It could be the one mentioned above.

Cool, thanks Tom. I'm hoping my "bodhi seed" mala is from the wood of the bodhi tree rather than rudraksha. Looking at them, I can't really tell. Could easily be either a smoothed-down rudraksha seed or some kind of gnarly wood smoothed down... but, I'm guessing smoothed down rudraksha makes the most sense because I see no reason bodhi tree wood would be any harder to smooth down than sandalwood. So... I am guessing it's not really "infinitely multiplying" since it's not really bodhi seed.

i think the paradox or dilemma here is that there is no real bodhiseed malas, coming from the bodhitree.