Mendrup

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Terma
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Mendrup

Post by Terma »

I have a few questions about what i presume are mendrup pills that i have received from my teachers.

First, they look like little round black and brown balls; almost like seeds. They have been sitting on my shrine for 5 or 6 years in the tiny ziploc bag that it was given to me in.

I have heard some say that they embed a few in pendants that they would wear and others say that they swallow a few here and there. Of course i was not smart enough to ask about all of thus when they were given to me...lol.

So I would like to know a bit more about their purpose and how they are used including these questions.

As they are made up of various ingredients, do they expire in any way making them unsafe to ingest after such a period?

What else does one do with these?

Thanks.
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Grigoris
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Re: Mendrup

Post by Grigoris »

Terma wrote:I have a few questions about what i presume are mendrup pills that i have received from my teachers.

First, they look like little round black and brown balls; almost like seeds. They have been sitting on my shrine for 5 or 6 years in the tiny ziploc bag that it was given to me in.
Yup, they are mendrup pills.
I have heard some say that they embed a few in pendants that they would wear and others say that they swallow a few here and there. Of course i was not smart enough to ask about all of thus when they were given to me...lol.
Yup, both those uses are valid. You can also dissolve them in strong alcohol for men offerings, or a sip every now and then.
As they are made up of various ingredients, do they expire in any way making them unsafe to ingest after such a period?
No.
What else does one do with these?
Slip them into the food and drink of unsuspecting non-believers! :)

If you knew from what deity puja they are from, you can use them to counteract specific problems.
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
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pemachophel
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Re: Mendrup

Post by pemachophel »

Mendrub is made from hundreds, potentially thousands of ingredients. These include all sorts of healing herbs and medicinals. It also includes relics of all types of Buddhas, Bodhisatva, Teachers, Saints, and Sages. It may include other mendrubs as a way of increasing and extending the blessings. Then there are the five meats and five amrits. Last time my Teacher made mendrub, He spent $8K US in India and Nepal for the materials He had to buy. Many other materials such as the relics and other mendrubs and special blessed pills of one sort or another, He has collected over a lifetime. Often Lamas print out lists of ingredients of their mendrub in order to help catalyze faith in those who receive it.

After the mendrub is physically compounded, which typically takes several days, it is consecrated in a drubchen where a group of practitioners do a special sadhana for 7-10 non-stop over 24 hours (in shifts). Commonly, there are visible or measurable differences in the mendrub from before to after the consecration often consisting of the mendrub becoming more (as in weighing more or as in filling out the bags it's in). There may also be other miraculous signs not appropriate to discuss in public.

Mendrub is "Liberation on Tasting." Having tasted it, one's ultimate Liberation is assured. Taking a little bit every day first thing in the morning in a little boiled water or alcohol helps balance, energize, and restore the channels, winds, and thigles. It is a supreme samaya substance and an indispensable part of tshog/ganachakra. It is also an important ingredient in offerings of various kinds. It consecrates all that it comes in contact with. So it is put inside statues, permanent tormas, and stupas. From my POV, it is worth more than gold. Although I am very, very skeptical of the bona fides of the people who sell mendrub on-line. It is something that is given by a Teacher and should not be sold. I've never heard it said, but my guess is that it is a breach of samaya to sell mendrub for personal gain.

Because different mendrub have different lineages, some ngakpas become connosieurs (?) of excellent mendrub and may maintain collections of mendrub over decades and lifetimes. Some practitioners avidly seek out certain mendrub from particular Teachers.

Hope that helps a little.
Pema Chophel པདྨ་ཆོས་འཕེལ
Terma
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Re: Mendrup

Post by Terma »

Thanks to both of you for your responses. I wish i had known to ask about what drubchen was performed during the consecration of the 2 sets of mendrub that i received. I mainly practice in a terma tradition and for one set i was specifically told that the lineage goes right back to Guru Rinpoche.

Pema Chophel, that was an excellent description and background on what mendrub is.

I will certainly treasure my good merit in receiving such sacred substances from my teachers. I will also do as was suggested.

Thanks again.
pemachophel
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Re: Mendrup

Post by pemachophel »

Here's Lama Rangbar's take on mendrub. Lama Rangbar will be sponsoring a Vajrakilaya mendrub drubchen in Nepal in October. You can read more about this on FaceBook at either Lama Rangbar or Bodhivastu.

"Mendrup is a sacred substance empowered during the drupchen which has hundreds of root and branch substances such as herbs, minerals and relics from the treasure troves of several high Lamas. Mendrup comes from the category of medicine called Liberation Upon Taste and is a very rare and precious substance which is difficult to produce. In Tibet, faithful people will walk for weeks just to get a small amount of this substance. Additionally, if one engages in Vajrayana practice, one needs to keep an amount of this substance for eating, wearing (such as within an amulet) and offering at the time of tsok and also for propitiating the Dharma protectors. Since it is not always easy to obtain mendrup, we have made a traditional share system for those who either participate in the drupchen with their actual presence, or for those who support the drupchen.

"By partaking of a very small portion of mendrup each day or on special occasions, one removes obscurations to the nerves, winds and essences and restores luminosity to the channels. This in turn protects us from a plethora of unwanted circumstances and draws down positive seed causes for excellent circumstances."
Pema Chophel པདྨ་ཆོས་འཕེལ
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Konchog1
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Re: Mendrup

Post by Konchog1 »

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Without attachment, self-liberating, like a snake in a knot.
Through the qualities of meditating in that way,
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A Ah Sha Sa Ma Ha
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Re: Mendrup

Post by A Ah Sha Sa Ma Ha »

I went to a Guru Yoga blessing given by Tsikey Choking Rinpoche lll, many years ago....he gave us a long paper envelope
with Tibetan writing on it....i had it on top of my shrine . One day my son was curious about it, and asked me what it was...i told him it was special with many blessings, to be consumed ....he immediately consumed almost the whole thing...leaving me with some, which i then consumed with him....
15111060_10154811588991385_2678050913128117798_o.jpg
Tenma
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Re: Mendrup

Post by Tenma »

pemachophel wrote: Sat Jun 17, 2017 4:39 pm Mendrub is made from hundreds, potentially thousands of ingredients. These include all sorts of healing herbs and medicinals. It also includes relics of all types of Buddhas, Bodhisatva, Teachers, Saints, and Sages. It may include other mendrubs as a way of increasing and extending the blessings. Then there are the five meats and five amrits. Last time my Teacher made mendrub, He spent $8K US in India and Nepal for the materials He had to buy. Many other materials such as the relics and other mendrubs and special blessed pills of one sort or another, He has collected over a lifetime. Often Lamas print out lists of ingredients of their mendrub in order to help catalyze faith in those who receive it.

After the mendrub is physically compounded, which typically takes several days, it is consecrated in a drubchen where a group of practitioners do a special sadhana for 7-10 non-stop over 24 hours (in shifts). Commonly, there are visible or measurable differences in the mendrub from before to after the consecration often consisting of the mendrub becoming more (as in weighing more or as in filling out the bags it's in). There may also be other miraculous signs not appropriate to discuss in public.

Mendrub is "Liberation on Tasting." Having tasted it, one's ultimate Liberation is assured. Taking a little bit every day first thing in the morning in a little boiled water or alcohol helps balance, energize, and restore the channels, winds, and thigles. It is a supreme samaya substance and an indispensable part of tshog/ganachakra. It is also an important ingredient in offerings of various kinds. It consecrates all that it comes in contact with. So it is put inside statues, permanent tormas, and stupas. From my POV, it is worth more than gold. Although I am very, very skeptical of the bona fides of the people who sell mendrub on-line. It is something that is given by a Teacher and should not be sold. I've never heard it said, but my guess is that it is a breach of samaya to sell mendrub for personal gain.

Because different mendrub have different lineages, some ngakpas become connosieurs (?) of excellent mendrub and may maintain collections of mendrub over decades and lifetimes. Some practitioners avidly seek out certain mendrub from particular Teachers.

Hope that helps a little.
Wait, but wouldn't the relics run out shortly, thus making mendrup no longer available?
pemachophel
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Re: Mendrup

Post by pemachophel »

they are "cultured" by making a "mother" substance. then a little of this "starter" is added to make more. this is common with a number of different substances in vajrayana, such as beb-dze/descent-substance for jen-dren/invitation.
Pema Chophel པདྨ་ཆོས་འཕེལ
Tenma
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Re: Mendrup

Post by Tenma »

pemachophel wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 1:50 am they are "cultured" by making a "mother" substance. then a little of this "starter" is added to make more. this is common with a number of different substances in vajrayana, such as beb-dze/descent-substance for jen-dren/invitation.
Sorry, I don't understand what that means. Could you perhaps explain a little more detail with an example please? Like how on earth they manage to get Padmasambhava's hair into thousands of pills or Milarepa's relics into many pills? Not only that, but are there poisonous substances like mercury, lead, etc. in these or perhaps items that might trigger an allergic reaction such as grass or something?
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