Join a Puja and a One-Day Retreat Livestreaming From Maratika, Nepal During Covid-19

Maratika (Haleshi) Nepal, www.halesitreks.com.

A small group staying in Maratika have been frequently livestreaming pujas and other practices on the Choe Khor Sum Ling YouTube Channel. There are two livestreams coming up this weekend, Saturday, May 2, and Sunday, May 3, 2020.

The Maratika Caves, Nepal

Maratika, also known as Haleshi, is a holy pilgrimage site for Buddhists and Hindus in Khotang District, Nepal.

According to Sorig Congress, some of these Buddhist pilgrims do long-life practices at Maratika. The site became known as "Maratika" after Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) subdued the demons of the Lord of Death here, was bestowed the abhisheka (a religious rite or prayer) of long life by Amitayus, and accomplished the level of vidyadhara (knowledge holder) beyond birth and death.

In Tibetan, "Maratika" is Chi ba mthar byed or “the cave of making an end to or destroying death.”

Venerable Tenzin Namjong (Venerable Namjong), who is in Maratika now, explained that there are three nearby mountains associated with emanations of Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezig), Manjushri, and Vajrapani. Together these three mountains form Rig sums gonpo or "the family of three protectors."

He pointed out Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri, and Vajrapani are mentioned in the Migtsema Mantra, a praise to Lama Tsongkhapa:

"You are Avalokiteshvara, great treasure of non-referential compassion,
And Manjushri, master of flawless wisdom,
As well as Vajrapani, destroyer of hoardes of demons without exception,
Tsongkhapa, crown jewel of the Land of Snows,
Losang Dragpa, at your feet I make prostrations."

"Land of Snows" is Tibet, and "Losang Dragpa" is Lama Tsongkhapa.

Long-Life Lama Tsongkhapa image distributed on December 21, 2019 in Mundgod.

Long-Life Lama Tsongkhapa Practice

His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave the Long-Life Lama Tsongkhapa empowerment in Mundgod Tibetan refugee settlement, Karnataka State, South India, on December 16, 2019, a few days before the celebration of the 600th anniversary of Lama Tsongkhapa's passing into parinirvana.

Afterwards someone asked Venerable Namjong to translate the Long-Life Lama Tsongkhapa (Tibetan: Je Tse Dzin Ma) practice text from Tibetan into English. Venerable Namjong kindly translated it into English and made the translation, The Method Accomplishment of the Lord, Holder of Life entitled, "Quickly Accomplishing the Deathless Knowledge Holder" by by Dragom Lodrö Pälden Öser, freely available for download. Updates to the text are potentially ongoing.

One-Day Retreat Opportunity

On Sunday, May 3, the sangha staying in Maratika will lead a one-day retreat on this practice using this English translation. The one-day retreat will be composed of four practice sessions. Venerable Namjong said it is OK to join for what you can, and not to worry if you cannot participate in the entire retreat.

The livestream will begin at 6:00 AM IST on May 3, which is 5:30 PM PT on May 2. Check the Choe Khor Sum Ling Facebook page for additional details and updates.

The total number of mantras recited during the one-day retreat will be dedicated to all sentient beings, especially for the Covid-19 virus crisis to be averted, and the long-lives of all of our spiritual friends especially His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. 

Retreat Preparations

On April 26, in preparation for the May 3 retreat, Venerable Namjong livestreamed on YouTube from Maratika to explain about the practice text. He said while translating the text he had asked his teacher questions about the meaning of the practice, so could explain a little bit about the words to try to benefit viewers.

The Long-life Lama Tsongkhapa practice is highly cherished for being effective in accomplishing a long-life for oneself, one’s spiritual masters, or other sentient beings. It combines meditation of your own spiritual master as inseparable from Lama Tsongkhapa, who himself is inseparable from the long-life Buddha Amitayus.

I read on asisanart.com that Amitayus, the Buddha of Infinite Life, is connected with Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light. Since there is a cave at Maratika with Amitayus' long life vase in it, the sangha felt it auspicious to engage in a one-day global group retreat from Maratika.

Watch the two saved YouTube livestreams from Venerable Namjong on the Choe Khor Sum Ling YouTube channel, and then subscribe to the YouTube channel and request alerts to be reminded when the sanga go live from Marataika.

Part 1: 

Part 2:

Later on if you would like to get into this practice then Venerable Namjong recommends requesting the Long-Life Lama Tsongkhapa initiation and commentary.

Global Guru Rinpoche Nolsang Incense Puja

The sangha in Maratika have been leading the Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) Nolsang Incense Puja on YouTube livestream.

The next Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) Nolsang Incense Puja will take place on Saturday, May 2 at 12:30 AM PT. Participate by watching the YouTube livestream.

Request a reminder from YouTube so you will be notified when this video goes live on May 2.

This puja has been advised by Khadro Namsel Dorje Rinpoche (Khadro-la) to avert the effects of the Covid-19 crisis.

The Choe Khor Sum Ling Facebook post about the May 2 puja says, "We are organizing this virtual group practice over livestream so that we as a global community can do this practice together to purify the environment for the benefit of all of the whole world. Prior to the puja, please download the text and then prepare incense sticks, powders and as many of the substances to be offering in the practice as explained in the text as you can.

Download the Nolsang practice, Incense Ritual by the Great Master Padmasambhava called "The Divine Blue Water Clearing Away Contamination" Nölsang, for free from the FPMT website.

While doing research for this blog post I came across Alisha's blog post about her visit to Maratika, which you might enjoy.