The Magical Power of the Phat Syllable

A Journey to the West L65 The Magical Power of the Phat Syllable

In this final session covering the first volume of A Journey to the West, Khenpo Sodargye recounts His Holiness’s profound teachings at a Unitarian Church in Ashland and the Yeshe Nyingpo center in San Francisco. Emphasizing the preciousness and fragility of human life, Khenpo conveys His Holiness’s core advice: practitioners must urgently cut all attachment to worldly wealth and status, realizing that at the moment of death, only one's accumulated karma and Dharma practice offer any protection. He highlights praying to Amitabha Buddha for rebirth in Sukhavati as the most accessible and supremely effective method within Buddhism. The session vividly details a remarkable moment during a Phowa practice where His Holiness’s mighty shout of the syllable Phat instantly severed the conceptual thoughts of Western disciples, leaving a profound blessing that remained etched in their memories for decades. The narrative elegantly concludes the US West Coast Dharma tour, marking a triumphant milestone in spreading Dzogchen.