Golden Drink

[Mooch]

Anybody know the traditional recipe for preparing Serkyem/Golden drink?

[mountains]

Dear Mooch,

One can use the traditional substances in offering Golden Drink which is:

milk
beer
black tea

or you can use any substance to offer:

liquid yoghurt
soft drinks
hard liquor
herbal drinks
etc

It doesnt make a big difference. Once purified by the power of the 'five meats and five nectars' it becomes a proper offering. One that produces uncontaminated bliss.

[Mooch]

Thank-You again Mountains! You Rock!

[Vajraprotector]

I think some people may not be familiar with serkyem offering, just thought I share some info here.

The serkyem, or offering of gold libation, or called ‘golden drink’ to the protectors is an important ritual item for Vajrayana practitioners.

While on the path to enlightenment, a practitioner will definitely encounter many obstacles or Maras. As protectors are considered manifestations of the Buddhas’ activities, they manifest or have sworn to help practitioners by protecting these practitioners from obstacles on the path, improving their motivation and enhancing their practice so as to ensure their practice is successful. Thus, invoking the protectors by making offerings to them, is akin to enlisting help while one is travelling on the road to ensure that one reaches the intended destination.

Below is a picture of tea being offered with the traditional serkyem container.




There's also more discussion here about Serkyem Vs. Mantras , http://www.dorjeshugden.com/forum/index.php?topic=288.0

[harrynephew]

Anybody know the traditional recipe for preparing Serkyem/Golden drink?

Hey Mooch,

U can view this thread and get an idea of what the traditional Serkyem Recipe is like. In the modern world, what mountains mentioned can be offered. I'm sticking in my earlier post for ur reference.

http://www.dorjeshugden.com/forum/index.php?topic=1554.msg22103#msg22103

Hullo Beggar,

Interesting point number 3! I think it is a good idea for people to do Serkyem offerings on others' behalf. That's bodhichitta and no other blessings transcends that!

Also to note, I found this by chance in HE Lama Zopa Rinpoche's commentary to Sur offerings that HH Kyabje Zong Dorje Chang had a special brew of tea which he offers to the Lord Protector. I include the text below:

"Use clean flour mixed with men-chey (sman phye). Men-chey can be obtained from the Tibetan Medical Center, Dharamsala or other Tibetan pharmacy or from a Tibetan doctor. I think it is a mixture of “sang-druk” (bsangs drug), an incense made of six different shrubs. It is also used for black tea
offerings. One can also use tantric nectar pills. When His Holiness Song Rinpoche offered tea to the merit field, to protectors, or to worldly gods, he used a mixture of men-chey and black tea."

Sang-druk or Samdrup Chenma is a mixture of 6 medicinal herbs which represents the 6 medicines for the internal organs. Traditionally, these herbs were grounded into powder and mixed with incense powder to fill in statues as offering of precious herbs. Kyabje Zong Dorje Chang used these medicines coupled with black tea as offering to the Protector.

I have some of these herbs and have been making tea offerings to Dorje Shugden daily for this website to grow. I've learnt something today, I'm gonna make Serkyem offerings for the people who come in the future to have a stable mind and be able to serve the holy Dharma through Dorje Shugden.

Happy Serkyem-ing!

[beggar]

Hey mooch! Welcome dear new person!
Great question about serkym, it's one of the most powerful prayers you'll ever know and I'm happy you're asking.

I started a post a while ago about this also, with a full how-to guide on how to do the prayers and the tea ritual.

Here's the link, and a repost of the write-up below:
http://www.dorjeshugden.com/forum/index.php?topic=1554


What is a serkym offering?

"Serkym" literally means "Golden Drink" and is an offering of any type of liquid that we like - traditionally, liquids like tea, beer or milk were offered as these were precious substances. Today, we can offer anything that is precious and which we like (i.e. we offer up our attachments). It could be tea (any type of tea), milk, any type of alcohol or even any type of soft drink!

What does it mean to make a serkym offering?
When we make any offering to the Buddhas, it collects a lot of of merit for us, to clear the way for us to accomplish the things we wish and to invite the necessary conditions and resources.

The way the offering is done, liquid overflows from one vessel to another (see below) - this represents the overflowing abundance of things to come to us, visualised as all our wishes coming true.

It is believed that it is good to offer strong drinks or hot drinks, such as hot boiling tea. The heat represents a kind of swiftness, as we urge the Protector to accomplish our wishes and requests quickly.


How can we make serkym offerings?

Traditionally, a serkym offering set is made up of two parts -
i. a jug of offering liquid (whatever you have chosen)
ii. a serkym set - this comprises a larger bowl or vessel with a smaller vessel / cup / glass / container inside.

We leave the smaller vessel downturned up until the moment we begin our serkym offering. Or, you can turn over the smaller vessel, and pour a little of the drink in, so that it is not empty. This is because it is considered inauspicious to leave an upturned glass empty, as if we are offering nothing to the Buddhas.   

Then, at the point of reciting the serkym verses, you can offer the serkym in one of two ways:
1. Offer / pour a little of the drink into the smaller vessel as you are reciting the verses. You will see that in the verses, there are two lines like this:
"Offering you nectar that bestows bliss,
Spontaneously grant our every wish!"

As you recite these lines, you pour a little of the drink into the smaller vessel.

Continue to do this until all the drink is poured out from the jug into the serkym set. It is normal and expected that liquid will overflow from the smaller vessel into the larger one.

2. Pour our all the liquid all at once, before reciting the verses. This is recommended for beginners, before you get used to reciting the verses and pouring simultaneously. You can use this method until you are more comfortable with the recitation, then begin to incorporate the serkym offering / pouring at the same time.


What do the verses mean?
Each of the verses in the serkym offerings, represents an offering that we make to each of the different beings, including the Yidam deities, Dorje Shugden and his emanations, and all the different beings within Dorje Shugden's entourage. 

As we make the offerings, we request them for their assistance to accomplish quickly whatever we request.


An even more condensed version for emergencies
There may be incidences where it's not possible for you to do the whole prayer and set up a serkym set; also very urgent cases where there s no time to recite everything.

Then, just recite the prayers follows;
- Refuge
- Migtsema mantra (at least 3 times)
- Invocation prayer to DS ("Before myself as yidam deity....")
- Serkym offering (you can recite only the verse to Dorje Shugden:
"Transcendent supreme dharmapala,
Dorje Shugden, strict and swift of power
Offering you nectar that bestows bliss,
Spontaneously grant our every wish!"
- DS mantra, as many times as possible
- dedication prayers

Instead of making the full serkym offerings, you can simply offer any drink that you have available, such as a cup of tea, a bottle of drink or whatever you can afford and arrange at the time.

(You can download a copy of Dorje Shugden's prayers, including the serkym offering verses here:
http://dorjeshugden.com/wp/?page_id=57)

Good luck!

[diablo1974]

I am using tea to offer..sometimes beer or red wine. looking at Harrynephew recipe, traditional serkym offerings needs more effort and preparations. Needs to source for the herbs and grind them into powder, i guess. I wonder if there's anyone doing that at their homes or just the monastery is doing that?

[Dondrup Shugden]

Many of us know the serkym offering and this post also teaches us that besides tea and why tea is used is very educational.

It is particularly useful when the practitioner is travelling and being in a hotel room may find it inconvenient to have boiled water to make tea.

[eyesoftara]

I know that traditionally, tea was the most highly prized drink in Tibet. Hence, traditionally Serkyem or Golden Drink offering is to offer "black tea".
In these modern times, my Guru advised that we can offer whatever that we like most. It can be alcoholic drinks but it not encourage to drink it after the offering is done, or it can be other drinks that we like, for example milk, Coke, or soft drinks.  The motivation is to offer the serkyem to the Guru, Yidams, Daka, Dakinis, Protector (the main receiver) and Hid entourage, akin to offering a very good drink that we like to our VIP guess who visit our house. And we request the "guests" to fulfill our wishes, which is to smoothen our path of our practice of the Dharma. This does not exclude worldly wealth that can help alleviate our daily life's needs and for the propagation of the Dharma to benefit others.

[lotus1]

Thank you all for sharing on offering serkym to Lord Shugden.
There is an article “
Dharma demystified: Golden Drink Offering (Serkyem)” (http://www.dorjeshugden.com/all-articles/dharma-readings/dharma-demystified-golden-drink-offering-serkyem/) that teaches us the knowledge of what is serkym, why we do serkum, how to do serkym, as well as brief explanation of the Serkym prayer.   
I have been doing serkym daily for nearly one year. I feel that my spiritual journey is smoother compare to without serkym.   

[kelly]

As a practitioner I think doing your daily offering is very important because we do have a lot of inner and outer obstacles especially if we want to engage in spiritual practice making golden drink offering to our protector will help us to clear all our obstacles so that we be able to stay in the path.