Lama Zopa Rinpoche
News
August 8, 2008
Liberating the ocean’s lower realms
On May 13 the waters off Santa Cruz, California, glinted diamonds of saffron and maroon as a yacht carrying Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Choden Rinpoche, Geshe Dakpa, 25 monks and nuns and 25 lay students of the FPMT, sailed between Santa Cruz and Capitola harbors.
What appeared to be an afternoon outing of Buddhist monks and nuns, sailing in the sun, was, in fact, a venture of much greater significance – the crew of Chardonnay II were on a quest to bless the ocean’s numberless sentient beings.
For three hours the 70-foot luxury sailing yacht towed a piece of plexiglass embossed with the long mantra of Namgyalma, a Buddha of long life and purification, leaving imprint after imprint of the mantra on billions and billions of water molecules.
The letters of the mantra, being in relief, cut through the water, stamping the mantra into the ocean, Pam Cayton, a longtime student of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, explained to a reporter from The Santa Cruz Sentinel.
The lamas say that every being that comes into contact with those water molecules will be purified of their negative karma and achieve a higher rebirth – birds, fish, sea creatures and people.
The crew, which included Liberation Prison Project Teacher Coordinator Carina Rumrill and prison project teachers Elaine Jackson and Fabienne Pradelle, also dunked stupas, structures representing the Buddha’s enlightened mind filled with mantras, behind the boat, further blessing the ocean and all its creatures.
It was a fun day, but it was also beneficial, Carina said. “To think, our lamas live every moment like this – using every situation as an opportunity to be of benefit, no wasted time at all!”
During the three hours at sea, the lamas and students also recited The Animal Liberation Sadhana.