Tibetan Buddhist Altar » devotion

The Challenges of the Contemporary Disciple

Jetsunma — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:30:26 +0000

The following is respectfully excerpted from “How to Follow a Spiritual Master” edited by the Ngagyur Nyingma Institute:

We have tried above to show the deeper meaning and role of a Spiritual Master, as well as the way in which he should be sought and followed, by first looking at what dharma means, how it came into this world and further in Tibet; we also looked at a summary of the extensive teachings given in both sutras and tantras about the Master and disciple relationship.

We saw that we do not only have to carefully examine a prospective Master, but we also have to fundamentally alter our outer and inner behavior to be able to benefit from his presence, Teachings and Blessings.

Today, moreover, we are living in what is known as the degenerate times, presenting us with additional challenges, as well as making the rare opportunities to meet and be guided by an authentic Teacher even more exceptional and precious.

Why is this period we live in called degenerate times? Prophecies abound about the particularity of our times and its struggles, yet it is very difficult for us to recognize or acknowledge this, because this degeneration of times is rooted in the thickening of our own obscuration and deepening of ignorance with the inevitably correlated narrowing of our mind’s horizon.

How can it be so, we may ask, when most people are talking about a general progress and improvement? Well, if we examine the nature of the so-called progress and the apparent increase in personal freedom, we will soon realize that these, indeed, only relate to the pursuit of external goals. By this we count on an increase of material wealth, improvement of facilities- albiet for some part of the world only; people are becoming more eager to speak their mind, believe in their own ability and strive for the betterment of their physical surroundings. This however does not occur without a cost, that we are not prepared to examine.

Improving material wealth happens at the cost of the environment both physical and social, whereby those in pursuit of this goal will sacrifice anything to achieve success, family, values and traditions which are reminding us of the impermanence of people and things, the need to remind ourselves of the cycle of suffering and death. Instead they put these considerations to the side and engage in a frenzied chase without ever seeing a satisfaction to their desires and perceived needs.

Young people are demanding more freedom and responsibility, refusing to listen to older generations experiences, believing they know better than their parents or teachers and thereby unleashing an unrestrained flow of conflict, suffering and quarrels among families and social groups. As such generations succeed each other, less moral values, understanding and compassion are to be found, since they are systematically uprooted from the children both at home and in school.

It is therefore very difficult for us these days, even if we have the fortunate karma to meet with an authentic Spiritual Master, to be able to follow him according to the advice we are hearing. The values of respect and service are alien to our western society and appear old fashioned and obsolete. The habits we have acquired from our social surroundings are so strong yet subtle that they reflect the narrowing of our ability to reflect on the benefit of such advice and form layers of obstacles we have to work hard to recognize and eliminate.

Furthermore, we have the innate tendency to want to see results there and then, even before understanding what the situation really is and what is needed to remedy to it. We listen superficially to a little bit of advice, may be, if we have time try to apply it over breakfast, and by lunch time complain that we have seen no improvement; by evening time we are demoralized and go to the pictures to console ourselves.

This certainly cannot work and does not reflect any understanding of how long habits have taken to form. Like ruts, we now unconsciously follow them and Masters warn us over again that overturning them is not an easy matter, which can be accomplished overnight. Methods to do so exist, but what we lack is the sustained determination to apply them at any cost and the real concentration to do so. This sustained determination, this unfailing courage we are exhorted to develop are the fruits of both inner reflections on the Teachings we receive from our Masters as well as the unshakable confidence in their validity, born out of faith and devotion.

So although the texts describe in great details the preciousness of our human life, the only form of existence, which allows us to free ourselves from the cycle of Samsara, through meeting with the dharma and authentic Masters, we act as if we could waste this life in trivial pursuits with impunity. Although we do not know when the moment of death will occur, we act as if eons are in front of us to enjoy, and when death strikes, we are just as helpless and lost as any other, wandering without realization in the bardo and rushing indiscriminately into the next samsaric rebirth.

To benefit from having sought, found and to follow an authentic Master correctly, we must therefore unfold vigilance and courage as never before.

A Teaching on the Four Immeasurables

Jetsunma — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:22:07 +0000

The following is respectfully taken from “How to Follow a Spiritual Master” edited by Ngagyur Nyingma Institute.

The following story of King Tsangpa Lha (Brahma Deva) and his son Gyaltshab Dhampa provides insights into the way bygone great practitioners have followed and practiced with their own Masters. The Prince was seeking dharma teachings but could not find any, feeling very saddened. Indra, the King of Gods knew clairvoyantly the mind of the Prince and assumed the guise of a Brahmin. He came to sit near the gate of the palace announcing he could give teachings. The Prince came to hear about it and requested them. The Brahmin answered that he would give teachings if the Prince were to jump into a deep fire pit and then make offerings.

The Prince accepted without hesitation and set about digging the fire pit at the dismay of the The King, Queen, Ministers and courtiers. Yet the Brahmin maintained his condition and the Prince his resolve so all was set for the Prince to jump. All his subjects requested him to abandon the idea to which the Prince replied, “I have been born in Samsara countless times and taken rebirth in higher realm of God and humans. There I have suffered under desire, in the lower realm I had undergone immense suffering. All to no avail and further I have never sacrificed my life in order to receive Teachings. Now I am going to offer this impure body. Please do not hold me back and alter this pure motivation in order to achieve enlightenment. I will give you the Teachings as soon as I have gained enlightenment. The subjects saw that the Prince was very determined and they could not press the matter further.

The Prince was ready to jump staying close to the pit as he spoke to Brahmin. O great Teacher! Please give me the teachings now as I may die and not be able to receive them from you. Then the Brahmin gave the following teachings on the Four Immeasurable,

Practice loving kindness,
Abandon anger
Protect the beings through great compassion
Shed tears of Compassion
With all sentient beings never to be separated from happiness
and the causes of happiness
By protecting all the beings through great compassion
You will become a genuine Bodhisattva

As soon as he finished these teachings, the Prince jumped into the fire pit. Both Indra and Brahma held him back holding him on both sides from falling into the pit. They said, “You are the Protector of beings who is very kind and compassionate. What will happen to your subjects if you jump now? It will be like the death of our parent.” The Prince replied, “Don’t hold me back from entering the path to Buddhahood, and all became silent as the Prince jumped into the firepit.

The earth shook and the Gods in the sky lamented shedding a shower of tears like rainfall transforming the firepit into a lake at the center of which the Prince stood on a lotus and the Gods showered flowers to praise him.

Transform Neurosis Into True Guru Yoga: Full Length Video Teaching

Jetsunma — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:45:47 +0000

The following is a full length video teaching from Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo offered at Kunzang Palyul Choling:

How does this relationship with a Guru work? Do you give over l thought? Of course not. Jetsunma explores how our habits get in the way of an honest relationship. Then she helps us see how to change that so we are moving toward enlightenment.

Every Time

Jetsunma — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:57:35 +0000

The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

It is really not healthy to get so upset constantly. Not for body and not for mind. If one has some practice or Dharma teaching, these can easily be overcome in one’s meditation.

The trick is to actually apply what one knows, rather than react like a child in a snowball game. I feel a good sign of adulthood is to cope well, and take responsibility for one’s actions. To assume one has a part in the drama. In fact, our dramas always begin and end with our own habitual tendencies. One cannot blame the environment, it is all within. Every bit of phenomena’s display actually occurs within.

For instance the FBI lost the case in which I am victim. So what. I’ll keep me and mine safe, somehow. I’ll deal. It is samsara, and we must bear it. So I deal, no? And what (or who) doesn’t kill me will make me strong.

Anyone who has born a heavy burdon will attest to that. You grow up. You bear it. And you become strong. This is an opportunity for me I must accept. I will. My heart is big and my shoulders very strong. I’ll just do what it takes. Every time.

Prayer to the Peerless Guru

Jetsunma — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:44:27 +0000

The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo on the first Guru Rinpoche Day of 2012:

Interesting isn’t it, how we tend to think only of ourselves, and not even realize it?

When His Holiness Penor Rinpoche passed to his Parinirvana I thought I’d never recover. But of course this happens, and we do. We must.

I knew there must be a transition for the Palyul Lineage and that although His Holiness Penor Rinpoche prepared us all, some instability may happen. It showed me how loved and powerful he was/is.

He rebuilt Palyul in India after crossing the Himalayas, starting with many and landing with so few – His Holiness Penor Rinpoche made mud bricks himself.

He was, and is, Palyul, as are his Heart Sons.

And now His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche is on the throne. Great confusion for a bit, and how it’s all right as rain.

What I never expected was how precious a jewel he was to the very fabric of reality – to many of us, the whole world, communal karma, the very universe, (cannot personally speak to the other three million myriads of universes.) The fabric of our lives changed tremendously.

We have a jewel on Palyul’s throne now. Yet the Dharmakaya Buddha who sat before is glorious, peerless, beyond measure. And I miss him so much! And always will. How precious to know he is always with us.

Lord of my life, please return to us swiftly! I’m calling you! Not like a lonely toddler, but with the force of love and the yearning of a small flower for the glory of the sun.

“Father” – A Devotional Song Dedicated to His Holiness Penor Rinpoche

Jetsunma — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:30:26 +0000

The following is a YouTube video prepared by a student of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

Go Beyond Safety to Live: Full Length Video Teaching

Jetsunma — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:07:01 +0000

The following is a full length video teaching offered by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo at Kunzang Palyul Choling:

Using the example of Mandarava whose love for her Guru and the path was so strong that even a rock could not hold her from that – Jetsunma talks about the western belief that we should be in control at all times. This renders us unable to truly love. We will benefit from allowing that love and passion to be our guide.

Your Guru

Jetsunma — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:30:50 +0000

Ven Gyaltrul Rinpoche

From The Spiritual Path: A Compilation of Teachings by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

In Vajrayana Buddhism, the Teacher is the cornerstone of all practice. The Teacher is everything—the underlying strength and the means by which transmission and understanding occur.

Let us compare the Teacher’s function with the function of various other objects of refuge. All people—not just Buddhists—have such objects. Try for a moment to determine your own. If you think that the accumulation of material wealth is the way to happiness, money has become your guru. The material things you treasure are your guru. If, on the other hand, you choose the beer-and-sports routine, watching ESPN every night until you fall asleep, you have accepted the TV as your guru. It pacifies you. It makes you temporarily happy. You betray yourself: these things are unreliable, impermanent, and deceptive. Yet you put your trust and faith in them. Nothing in our impermanent realm of phenomenal existence can lead to happiness. Nothing—even if it seems ideal, like the perfect job or the perfect relationship in a perfect split-level, with 2.5 perfect children surrounded by a perfect white picket fence. At the moment of death, you are alone.

According to Buddhist teaching, there is a lasting happiness: enlightenment. It is the only end to all forms of suffering, including impermanence. Enlightenment cannot be tainted; it cannot be eaten by moths. It cannot rust; it cannot be destroyed. Enlightenment is the true source of refuge, the only thing that will not allow you to be betrayed. True happiness cannot be taken away. It is permanent and unchanging—the steadfast, stable reality of the enlightened mind. When you achieve enlightenment, what is revealed is your own primordial-wisdom nature. Some people think that they must give birth to enlightenment or that they have to find it. Actually, the primordial-wisdom nature has never left you, nor is it unborn. It remains in the way that a crystal is still a crystal, even though covered by dirt and mud.

Once you accept enlightenment as your goal, you should understand that the Guru is someone who can get you there. What should you look for in a Guru? A Teacher should not be seeking power or personal gain. Your Guru should have profound compassion, profound awareness. Most important, your Teacher should be able to transmit to you a true path. Suppose you go to a psychiatrist who helps you to be happier, more effective. This is very useful, but it is only a temporary way to cope, whereas the Guru offers you supreme enlightenment. This has nothing to do with coping. In fact, it has nothing to do with satisfying the ego.

Do not be fooled by charisma, saying: “I can tell by my feelings. This is the Teacher for me!” Instead, ask: Does this person teach a path that has been proven, time and time again, to stabilize the mind to the extent that miraculous activity can occur? Does this Teacher offer a technology that can stabilize the mind during the death experience? Can this technology result in miraculous signs at the time of passing? Are there indications that others have had success with this path and can now return in an emanation form in order to benefit beings? Look at the people who have practiced before you. Look at their successes or failures. Examine the history of the path, including the accounts of any enlightenment it has produced. At their passing, practitioners may produce miraculous signs: rainless rainbows, sweet scents, the transformation of the body into a rainbow of light, leaving only the hair and nails, the mysterious formation of relics or other unusual substances. On the Vajrayana path, such miraculous signs have been witnessed and recorded by many. People have seen the rainbow body; they have smelled the sweet scents; they have seen these extraordinary events.

The Buddha Himself said that we should use logic in choosing a Teacher or a path. After that, however, you begin to rely on the Teacher for everything. Why? Because you make a god out of your Teacher? Do you lose your brains and become a drone or a bliss ninny? Not at all. We Americans like to think we are unique, important, the best in the world. We think that to be happy, we must develop our individuality, so the idea of following a Guru is unappealing. But a teacher should not be chosen with blind faith or rampant emotion. You should exercise both intelligence and surrender. They are not in conflict. They can coexist very comfortably within the same mind, the same heart.

Note that you do not surrender to a person. It is not about a person. Your Teacher represents the door to liberation, the path that leads to enlightenment. Your relationship with the Guru is the most precious of all relationships. This is you talking to you—and finding out that you are not you at all. This is a glimpse, a taste, of true nature. At last we have arrived at the correct way to understand the Teacher.

Cultivate the precious relationship with your Guru through devotion. Make sure, however, that it really is devotion—not merely the kow-towing to a physical being. Devotion is an understanding of refuge, an understanding of your goal, plus the courage to walk through the door you have chosen. Choose only once, and choose correctly. From then on, allow yourself the grace to love deeply and gently.

Extraordinary Relationship

Jetsunma — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:30:02 +0000

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Neurotic Interaction to Guru Yoga”

If we rely purely on an emotional level, not much will come of the path. If we do not challenge ourselves to truly understand all of the thoughts that turn the mind (and you’ve been taught them many, many times. You can go back and re-listen to the teachings if you aren’t sure what they are), if we do not require of ourselves to really recognize this precious opportunity, we won’t get very far. And now the recognition has to go even deeper than that. Number one, understanding that the teacher is a spiritual ally, a spiritual friend—someone on whom you can depend as a spiritual guide or a spiritual friend—is a really important first realization. Secondarily, you must understand that this reality that you are looking at when you see your teacher, when you see the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, is to be considered separate from ordinary samsaric cause and effect conditions, or separate from the wheel of death and rebirth, because this is all the result of the Buddha’s teaching which arises from the mind of enlightenment and, like a seed, it must always create a fruit that is appropriate to that seed. So if this reality rises from the mind of enlightenment, it results in enlightenment as well. The seed and the fruit are always consistent.

That being the case, this is understood as something different. Now, if you wish you can, like that Tibetan man with His Holiness Penor Rinpoche regarding his opinion on my enthronement (this student did not agree with His Holiness Penor Rinpoche’s recognition of Jetsunma) waste the opportunity by just playing out your little intellectual ‘here’s my idea, what’s your idea. I’ll see you as something equal to my common ordinary intellectual mind in the world. You know, I’ll see you as that.’ Or you can play the game where “O.K., you’re the Guru, so I’m going to call you the real thing, but in my heart, in my mind, I’m pretty much just going to keep doing exactly what I’m doing, but I’ll have a teacher,” rather than gathering oneself together in order to understand something about this primordial wisdom nature, rather than trying to move further on the path of accomplishing pure view, rather than utilizing the teacher as a way to untangle some of our neuroses and actually seeing the condition of our mind and how different that is from what the Buddha described when the Buddha said simply, “I am awake.” The Buddha didn’t say, “I’m different from you.” The Buddha didn’t say “I am better than you.” The Buddha said “I am awake.” Awake to that nature that is also your nature.

Now supposing that you could use the relationship with the teacher to puzzle that out, to work that out. It’s such a fine line how to you give rise to or at least, shall I say not suppress, not give rise to, conflicting thoughts that you may have. How can you not suppress them and still utilize the teacher faithfully in the best possible way? Not as something common and ordinary that is equal to your own conceptual proliferation because then you could do that with anything. We do that with all of our relationships. We do that with all of the areas in life that we work with. We have preconceived ideas that we play out in our lives. Why would the teacher be different then? Why would it be precious? What’s the value then of having a teacher?

So it becomes the student’s responsibility to harness their mind. It isn’t about going brain dead. It isn’t about suppressing your ideas and your thoughts and your feelings. It’s about recognition between what is ordinary, habitual, definitely part of birth and death cyclic existence, that which arises from ordinary cyclic existence, and always therefore results in more ordinary cyclic existence, or that which arises from the precious primordial awakened state that is also your nature, and therefore always results in that precious primordial state that is also your nature—enlightenment. You are the one that must make the distinction.

So the Buddha recommends this: Take a long time determining your relationship with your teacher. If at first you have an emotional reaction, that’s fine. You don’t just suppress that either, but don’t stop there. It’s a big mistake just to stop there, because otherwise you just stay in some kind of wacko bliss thing. You could get that wacko over a cute little puppy or something, or a new car, or a new honey. You gets lots more wacko about a new honey, don’t you? Way more wacko about that! So your responsibility then becomes the responsibility of recognition. You have determined that this teacher has the necessary qualities to give you what you need. You can travel on the path now. You can understand very clearly. The teacher has a way of explaining to you and you can understand. You can hear it. You mind is opening. It is ripening. It’s deepening. Your compassion is increasing. Something is happening here and you are able to determine that this is not ordinary because this didn’t come from ordinary experience.

You’re travelling the path of Dharma and this is precious. This teacher has hooked you onto the path of Dharma, placed your feet there, deepened and ripened your mind, provided for you all of the necessary accoutrements. Therefore this is precious. You then must determine that this is different for you. You see, it’s not up to the teacher to provide proof for you. It’s not up to the teacher to convince you. It’s up to you to determine for yourself. Take your time, do it right, move through all the foundational teachings and decide for yourself: Is this precious to me? Then if it is, treat it like it is.

Responsibility Begins With Recognition

anisonam — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:30:06 +0000

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Neurotic Interaction to Guru Yoga”

Responsibility begins with recognition. Simply that. Recognition. There are some fundamental truths that must be recognized here in order to stop the game of projecting your own neuroses onto yet another external object. Because that is not the practice of Dharma. That is not going to lead you to liberation. That will continue to lead you to more and more neuroses. So you must play the game correctly. The first thing that happens is recognition. It begins with the recognition of the fundamental foundational truth that we call turning the mind toward Dharma—the faults of cyclic existence, cause and effect relationships, impermanence, these kinds of thoughts, and then the realization that in all the six realms of cyclic existence there is suffering. Then the recognition that there is the appearance of the Buddha, which brings the element of enlightenment and supreme realization and the visage or face of our own primordial wisdom nature, and puts that into the world. That’s the Buddha, the Dharma, which is the Buddha’s method, inseparable from the Buddha like the rays are inseparable from the sun, and the result, which is enlightenment, also inseparable from the Buddha. You begin to recognize that this has in fact happened.

In the world there is the Buddha. There is the Dharma. There is the Sangha, and there is the Lama as the condensed essence of all three. That recognition alone puts you into position where you have to choose between continuing in samsara and neurotic redundancy which is what samsara really is. Isn’t that a great term? Neurotic redundancy. Don’t you just love that? Neurotic redundancy,.Or you can choose Buddha, and Dharma, and Sangha—this three-legged stool, or chariot we should say, by which we travel through the door of liberation into enlightenment, into realization, the precious awakened state that the Buddha named.

So we’re in a position now where we make that choice. That choice is based on this recognition. You can’t make that choice on an emotional level. Big mistake! And some people try to do that. They come to the temple and they say, “I like this stuff! It’s all weird. I like the colors. I like the shape. I like the material over there. Look how they built that up there. Isn’t that cute? Those books… You know, I like that they don’t turn this way. I like that they turn this way. It’s so exotic. I think it’s really cool, don’t you? And then all the statues and crystals! Look at this! This is really cool to be with the crystals!” Really I’m describing a silly mindstate, but many students, when they first begin, will come here and say, “Oh this stuff is so cool. I really want to do this. O.K., you’re my teacher.” So on that emotional level, really not much has happened. Or they might come in and have an emotional reaction. I’ve seen that happen too.

In fact, this is another story that you’ll be amazed at. This is an amazing story. A woman once walked into the bookstore. I happened to be there, checking out the earrings as usual! So I was in the bookstore and she turned around. She got immediately who I was. She had never been around Dharma before, knew nothing about Dharma, knew nothing about anything like that and she just was entranced. She was transfixed. She looked at me and then she did three perfect prostrations. Then when she got up she said “I don’t know what that is. I don’t know what I just did.” No idea what happened there, no idea. And then I never saw her again. And she was crying, crying, just like “My teacher. My teacher at last! My teacher!” Crying. Big emotional thing, and I never saw her again.

What happened there was unfortunate. I would call that an obstacle to her practice. She obviously had enough inner purity to remember a former relationship with her teacher. Something bled through and yet the obstacle was that she could only, in that moment of meeting, relate on a purely emotional level. She could not lay down the foundation. She could not make any connecting thought. Really, as beautiful as that story is, it broke my heart that she never came back. It really did. I love you all, but I have to tell you I have many stories about the ones that got away! You see, she could have been very close to me and it broke my heart that she didn’t come back. But what you’re seeing there is just purely an obstacle. She was only able to relate on this emotional level, and really, it’s not that much different from what you see your dog do when your dog barks to go out or sits there looking at the door. It is an immediate emotional hit that you’re just overwhelmed with. It’s not that different from what animals do. But animals can’t practice Dharma, because what’s needed here is to make these connecting thoughts, these cause and effect thoughts, by creating the kinds of awareness and thinking that causes you to move into a deeper level on the path, and causes you to get the lay of the land, to really get what’s going on here.

This is what’s necessary. She was not able to, at that time, to think of the faults of cyclic existence, to think of impermanence and that this opportunity might not come again. She was not able to think “Now that I’ve found my teacher, I have found a way to travel the path of Dharma and pass through the door of liberation.” Just not able to think like that. This is a big obstacle that arose in her path at the same time as the blessing of meeting with her teacher again. So this is the difficulty that we all have, but now we are here and we are in a learning and teaching situation. We’re in a situation where we have time to think. We have the leisure to think. We have the ability to put two and two together, and this is how we have to approach the path. This is how we have to do this.