Lay Practices, and other questions

Rahamkar · Post by **Rahamkar** » Mon May 03, 2021 7:27 pm

Hello! I live in Eastern Canada (Maritimes). I’m off grid and live alone, have a small farm, and for sometime now I have been devoted to the Om Mani mantra. My practice currently includes the 8 offerings, I burn juniper/ cedar for spirits, 30 minutes of meditation in the morning, and then I devote myself to the mantra with mala and prayer wheel. I gravitate towards the mantra recitation a lot, and I find it focuses my mind.

I don’t know a lot about the dharma at all, but I would like to know what some of the practices/rituals are that lay Tibetan (Himalayas) Buddhists engage in. I’m very interested in the shamanic/animistic side of things as well.

Also, if there are people or groups in my area of Canada I would like to know and connect with more people, thank you!

Hazel · Post by **Hazel** » Mon May 03, 2021 7:58 pm

Hello!

Welcome to the forum.

It's probably worth noting that we're very focused on Buddhism here and often don't stray into areas where the topic crosses over to other belief systems, so that part we might not be able to help you with.

At the end of the day, Tibetan Buddhism is actually quite practical. A lot of the 'magic" feel to it comes from public appearance and some more advanced practices that seem odd out of context. I suggest you start with the basics. Taking practices out of context can actually be quite dangerous to your mind.

I'm sure some people will be able to recommend some good books to you! In my tradition, there are some good ones by Venerable Thubten Chodron and/or the His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This YouTube channel is filled with great stuff: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCni1-6 ... XPN_IFDZ2w

Take care!

Rahamkar · Post by **Rahamkar** » Mon May 03, 2021 8:09 pm

Thank you very much! Mostly I’m interested in the non-academic non-monastic observances that lay people tend to engage in, which seem to be merit based and fairly ritualistic (like mantra recitation, mani wheel, kora, etc). I’m sure there are higher meanings to all of these things, but I’m fairly simple minded and the more merit based, ritualistic understanding of these devotions appeals to me a lot more than the academic side, which I find very difficult to understand. Thank you very much for the YouTube link, I’ve always found her discourses very valuable.

Rahamkar · Post by **Rahamkar** » Mon May 03, 2021 8:10 pm

Hello! I live in Eastern Canada (Maritimes). I’m off grid and live alone, have a small farm, and for sometime now I have been devoted to the Om Mani mantra. My practice currently includes the 8 offerings, I burn juniper/ cedar for spirits, 30 minutes of meditation in the morning, and then I devote myself to the mantra with mala and prayer wheel. I gravitate towards the mantra recitation a lot, and I find it focuses my mind.

I don’t know a lot about the dharma at all, but I would like to know what some of the practices/rituals are that lay Tibetan (Himalayas) Buddhists engage in. I’m very interested in the shamanic/animistic side of things as well.

Also, if there are people or groups in my area of Canada I would like to know and connect with more people, thank you!

Post by **Johnny Dangerous** » Mon May 03, 2021 8:21 pm

Rahamkar wrote: ↑Mon May 03, 2021 8:10 pm Hello! I live in Eastern Canada (Maritimes). I’m off grid and live alone, have a small farm, and for sometime now I have been devoted to the Om Mani mantra. My practice currently includes the 8 offerings, I burn juniper/ cedar for spirits, 30 minutes of meditation in the morning, and then I devote myself to the mantra with mala and prayer wheel. I gravitate towards the mantra recitation a lot, and I find it focuses my mind.

I don’t know a lot about the dharma at all, but I would like to know what some of the practices/rituals are that lay Tibetan (Himalayas) Buddhists engage in. I’m very interested in the shamanic/animistic side of things as well.

Also, if there are people or groups in my area of Canada I would like to know and connect with more people, thank you!

Welcome to the forum. Generally speaking you do not learn practices simply by observing lay practitioners in Tibetan Buddhism, unless you grow up in that culture. Rather, you learn them by making a connection to lineages and teachers, through whom the practices are transmitted. I would suppose that a place to begin would be reputable teachers of Tibetan Buddhism on Youtube, particularly if you are isolated. As far as offerings etc. you can look into practices like Sang and Serkyem, but these are things that generally speaking require help from a teacher, not a thing you just try yourself with no instruction. one of the first things you can learn easily is just to do water bowl offerings:

You also might want to look the Bön tradition if you are interested in the "shamanistic" side of things, though be forewarned some Bönpo do not care for that terminology.

Here are a couple Youtube resources to start with:

Tenzing Wangyal Rinpoche - probablythe most well known Bönpo teacher in the West:

https://www.youtube.com/user/ligmincha

Mingyur Rinpoche - excellent Buddhist teacher with fairly accessible videos:

https://www.youtube.com/user/MingyurRinpoche

These are just random examples of teachers who have good Youtube presence, part of involvement with teachings is putting forth some effort to learn and make connections.

I wish you the best in making connections and on your journey generally!

Hazel · Post by **Hazel** » Mon May 03, 2021 8:27 pm

Merged duplicate topic into this one. Note, new users have their posts queued for approval so there may be a delay at first before seeing them

Rahamkar · Post by **Rahamkar** » Tue May 04, 2021 12:01 am

Thank you very much Johnny, this is very good information. I’ve reached out to Gampo Abbey now which is fairly close to me, so that probably would be the most practical connection. Thank you very much for the advices and well wishes!

Dharma Wheel