MARICHI - Ödzer Chenma Retreat Over New Year’s At Dzamling Gar with Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

Ödzer Chenma Retreat Over New Year’s At Dzamling Gar with Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

Ödzer Chenma Retreat Over New Year’s At Dzamling Gar with Chögyal Namkhai Norbu
December 28, 2015 – January 1, 2016

Rinpoche walks to the Gonpa for the Teachings

by Julia Lawless

The retreat over the New Year’s was dedicated to the practice of Ödzer Chenma, a female deity connected with the rays of the sun. And as if to help with our visualization and to help our practice, throughout the whole retreat the sun shone clearly every day and the sky remained a clear azure blue.

This deity of light has the power (siddhi) to dispel all darkness: the dark veil of ignorance, confusion, fear and obstacles, which we experience in our everyday life. She is depicted with the sun behind her figure, representing infinite rays, which eliminate all negative karma. So instantly, through this light, all negativity is eliminated. We need to have this understanding when we recite her mantra. Thus for several days, Rinpoche explained the principles and the value of this practice both for realization and for helping overcome our problems in daily life.

Buddha explained this secondary practice in the Sutra teachings by, but it is also explained in the Vajrayana teachings as a method for attaining complete realization. Ödzer Chenma is also useful for our relative life and for overcoming problems in our daily life. It is therefore very important having both relative and ultimate benefits. She is similar to Green Tara in that she has a particularly active quality of wisdom, especially if we have the need to obtain something quickly. For example, if we can’t get a job although we have tried our best, her practice can help to make this happen. Her practice is also very good for achieving wealth and during travel as protection.

As Rinpoche says:

“If there is any kind of desire or wish that you need to attain then do Ödzer Chenma practice and you can obtain it! But you don’t need to tell Ödzer Chenma a your specific problem as she already knows…”

It is best to do her practice in the early morning when it has more effect, just as the sun is rising. But this does not mean you have to always do it in early morning … you can also do it later if you wish. We can do her practice in several forms: in the Sutra style, or in the Lower Tantra style by using many invocations to wisdom of Ödzer Chenma– like Green Tara – while visualizing her in front of us. We can also do her practice in Anuyoga style or simply as Ati Guruyoga directly. Her seed syllable is ‘MUM’ so although we generally we sound ‘A’ as Guruyoga, here we can use MUM as Guruyoga instead. In this way we spread white light from the MUM at our heart to invite the wisdom of Ödzer Chenma imagining ourselves to be radiating infinite light, and then continuing with trondu. Whilst during this we recite her simple invocation just 7 or 21 times. So it is best to memorize her short invocation and mantra so we can do Ödzer Chenma practice anytime and anywhere we need it!