Dharma Name in tibetan tradition
Upvote:1
During one Refuge ceremony, I remember Dza Kilung Rinpoche telling his students:
Some people obsess with their Dharma names, try to find everything about it - who had that name, what it means and so on. Do not research your Dharma name too much. Who knows, maybe it will research you ;)
Your relationship with your Dharma name is a mysterious relationship. Let it do its thing, do not research the magic away.
Upvote:3
Like you, when I took refuge, I received a dharma name—and so did the other twenty, or so, people who took refuge at the same time. We all received the same dharma name. I can’t answer your questions 1 and 2, but I do have a first-person account of a teaching related to dharma names in Tibetan Buddhism.
I once attended a weekend course on meditation in New York City given by a well-known Tibetan lama, and at one point, he digressed to tell a story about what are called “Buddhist names” and a time that he tried to teach a student that his desire for such a name was an attachment that was holding him back.
He related that this student had come to him to ask the lama to bestow a Buddhist name on him, pointing out that he had been a good and earnest student for many years. The lama asked the student what his given name was, and the man replied, “John.” The lama said: “Ok, your Buddhist name is John.” The student, as the lama recounted, stood there bewildered. So the lama, after a sufficient pause, explained to the man that his idea of a Buddhist name was an attachment.
I found the story the lama related very useful myself, especially given the predilection of many people to become attached to symbols and traditions, rather than the underlying wisdom that they stand for. I don’t know what the purpose of a Buddhist name is, but I believe it may be more a way to fulfill a ‘Western’ need, than a substantive accomplishment.
It’s different, of course, if you have a more direct relation with your teacher, and he gives you a Buddhist name. In that case, it is a direct recognition of your efforts along your path.
More post
- 📝 Should I consider multitasking while listening to audiobooks? Is it a danger to mindfulness?
- 📝 Is craving unskilful because it fuels craving?
- 📝 Anapanasati in Pali script
- 📝 Understanding non-self, life and rebirth
- 📝 Is it even possible to attain Nirvana?
- 📝 Sounds during meditation
- 📝 Understanding Rūparāgo and Arūparāgo
- 📝 Buddhavamsa and the 29 Buddhas
- 📝 Would you say the "dharma" explains "dharmas"
- 📝 How many dimensions are there according to Buddhism?
- 📝 Inferiority and being judged by other
- 📝 Not remembering past life(s)?
- 📝 Can bad kammas be eased by apologizing?
- 📝 Did Siddartha have a back problem?
- 📝 Can Stoicism be seen as something close to Buddhism in some aspects?
- 📝 I have a question about mantra, and Vajrayana Buddhism?
- 📝 Apocarteresis in Buddhism
- 📝 Does the middle way apply to objects as well as the skandhas?
- 📝 Emptiness and physical pain
- 📝 Decoupling happiness from state of the world: Useful? Against human nature?
- 📝 Accuracy of suttas
- 📝 Tibetan Buddhism:Recieving inititation in India/Tibet
- 📝 Sensual Desire and Guarding the Sense Doors
- 📝 Is there a story or a mentioning about masturbation in the Buddhist teachings?
- 📝 Are some of the supernormal powers a direct contradiction to old age, sickness, and death being unavoidable?
- 📝 Books on monastic traditions and techniques
- 📝 Ancient texts on Meditation Techniques?
- 📝 Difference between Equanimity which is diversified and Equanimity which is unified
- 📝 Emptiness in Theravada and Mahayana
- 📝 What was the reason behind the fall of Buddhism in India?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Dharma Name in tibetan tradition
- 📝 What is the relationship between the New Kadampa Tradition and Tibetan Buddhism?
- 📝 Types of LHA in the tibetan tradition
- 📝 What are the Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma according to Tibetan Buddhism?
- 📝 Are Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhism the same thing?
- 📝 Any authentic sutta from any tradition that gives guidance on what kind of partner to choose?
- 📝 Should a Buddhist feel offended by misuses of Buddha's name or image?
- 📝 What does Buddhism literature and tradition say about transgender folks?
- 📝 What are the main schools of Tibetan Buddhism?
- 📝 Is there a tradition or practice involving fasting in Buddhism or Buddhist countries?
- 📝 How and when did the name "Buddhism" appear?
- 📝 The spiritual significance of the sand mandala in Tibetan Buddhism
- 📝 Historically, where do the concepts of Karma, Nirvana, Dharma and Samsara come from?
- 📝 Significance of touching forheads in Tibetan Buddhism (Karma Kagyu)?
- 📝 Within Tibetan Buddhism, are the Lamas always the same "soul"?
- 📝 "When the iron bird flies and horses run on wheels, the dharma will come to the land of the red faces"
- 📝 Information Technology Careers and Right Livelihood Dharma
- 📝 What is the benefit of staying with one method, lineage or Dharma tradition?
- 📝 Preliminaries (common and uncommon) in Tibetan Buddhism
- 📝 What is the name in Pāli and Sanskrit for the ‘body scanning’ meditation technique?
- 📝 What is known about the years of oral tradition of the Pali Canon?
- 📝 What are the funeral rites for Tibetan lay Buddhists?
- 📝 What is the relationship between Bon and Tibetan Buddhism?
- 📝 How to use a Tibetan singing bowl when meditating solo?
- 📝 Noting craving for food : Ven. Mahasi Saydaw tradition
- 📝 Vajrayana Buddhism relies on a teacher-pupil relationship. What in tradition or the literature explains how to find the appropriate teacher?
- 📝 Can a being be reborn into more that one body in Tibetan Buddhism?
- 📝 Meditation "thinking" "imagining" mental note : Ven . Mahasi Sayadaw tradition
- 📝 The needs of the same human being may differ at different stages of life. Can there be one Dharma for all stages?
- 📝 Tibetan Mahayana