Given before the Tomb Sweeping Day (Ching Ming) of Chinese Lunar Calendar, on the Meaning of Sur
by Khenpo Tashi
We all have loved ones who have passed on. These loved ones have been connected to us not by random chance. They have been connected to us due to the strength of our own Karmas.
Karmic debts and connections
We can remember their kindness as they took care of us in the past. Such kindness are due to our own past accumulated good Karma. As we look around us, we can see how many children do not receive such kind of care from the adults around them. Many even receive abuse. This is what we call ‘Karmic debts’ or ‘negative Karmic connections’ in Buddhism.
Karmic connection can also be positive. There are two stories in the Sutra of Wise and Foolish about positive Karmic connections that I would like to share.
The first is between Buddha Shakyamuni and King Ashoka. As you know, as Buddhists, we owe a lot to King Ashoka (304 – 232 BC). This great Indian emperor and benefactor of Buddhism built the Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya and Damek Stupa in Varanasi.
It is said that King Ashoka built 84,000 Stupas around India during his rule. He could do this because of a very small but strong Karmic connection he made with Buddha Shakyamuni in his previous life.
During the Buddha’s time, King Ashoka was just an ordinary boy. Seeing the Buddha walking on the road, the boy offered a handful of dirt to the Buddha. From this small act and due to that boy’s faith, the boy was reborn in his next life as King Ashoka. This act of offering, however small, became the cause for King Ashoka to build 84,000 holy stupas.
Another Story: Karmic Connection
The second story was a previous life of Buddha Shakyamuni as a king. During this time, the Buddha Bursa had appeared on earth. This king requested Buddha Bursa to be painted. He then distributed Buddha Bursa’s image to his 84,000 minor kings.
This meritorious act generated faith and reverence in the king’s ministers and minor kings. Eons later, that king was eventually reborn as Buddha Shakyamuni.
Due to the king’s past meritorious act, Buddha Shakyamuni’s relics could be placed inside the 84,000 stupas that King Ashoka later erected.
These stories are from the Sutra of Wise and Foolish. Please read them to get a glimpse of the complexity of Karma in Buddhism.
Karmic connections, negative and positive, are numerous and complex. We pray to purify as many of the negative ones. We also pray to generate positive causes for this life and for our future lives.
Finally, we pray for our deceased loved ones, for our debtors and enemies. At the least, if our enemies are happy, they will stop disturbing us.
The Sur Offering
The prayer for Ching Ming (Tomb Sweeping Day) is 100 Peaceful and Wrathful Buddhas (Tibetan: Shi tro). This is a liturgy for purifying ours and our loved ones’ negative Karma and downfalls. We will also conduct a Sur offering.
The difference between Smoke prayer and Sur is that, in Smoke Prayer, we offer the smoke, mainly to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Meanwhile, in Sur, we offer the smell, mainly to the deceased, hungry ghosts, and all migrating sentient beings. (READ: Smoke Prayer)
Please remember that in one hour or within a day, billions and trillions of beings die. Just imagine the mounds of ants and insects and animals in the forests that die. There are a lot, a lot. All these consciousnesses will migrate for sometime after dying.
The Sur is special in three ways. Through compassion, generosity, meditation on the Buddha’s words of truth, and mantras, we purify the impurities of the Sur materials.
We then multiply the materials into enormous amounts filling vast areas.
Finally, we transform the smell into wish-fulfilling materials, not only as food and drink. If we offer to all these migrating sentient beings, it is a source of great merit for ourselves. If we offer in the name of our deceased loved ones, there is also great merit to be gained.
When these three things – purify, multiply and transform – are finished, and all the billions and trillions of migrating consciousnesses benefit from them, we recite some Teachings of the Buddha to them, making these consciousnesses hear and learn some Truth about reality. Thus, they are satisfied and they may make a connection to the Buddha’s words.
Please recite Bodhisattva Chenrezig’s mantra – Om Mani Peme Hung – on your own. Think of all these migrating consciousnesses and our deceased loved ones. Generate great compassion and recite. Nothing is more beneficial than this.