Tibetan Buddhist Altar » Lineage

The Meaning of Lineage Empowerment: Full Length Video Teaching

Jetsunma — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:46:50 +0000

The following is a full length video teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

Empowerment comes directly from the stainless compassion of Guru Rinpoche himself. Allow yourself to be changed and ripened by this gift of compassion.

A Strong and Precious Refuge

Jetsunma — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:21:47 +0000

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

My visit with His Eminence Mugsang Rinpoche is over now. I feel such love for him. We talked about KPC and long range plans and programs.

I’ve dedicated my intention to accomplishing Empowerments, hopefully in English. I hope to become most proficient in Palyul ritual and Sadhana and look forward to the excellent Lamas and tutors lined up. KPC will grow strong and be a precious refuge for all beings.

Now His Eminence Mugsang Rinpoche goes back to California and His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche is in India. Monlam is soon. They are Pure Throneholders, EH MA HO! So Precious!

Interesting Times: Keeping Dharma Pure

Jetsunma — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:12:10 +0000

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

Interesting times still, my friends. But all is well, and I am getting stronger and healthy. The slow de-stress of being safe is true medicine. I never truly understood what a killer stress is – causes high blood pressure, spastic muscles, depression, IBS, palpitations, panic attacks, etc. I am moving through most of it. Takes time though. And practice. But I am pleased and hopeful for more recovery. I miss family and students.

Here I am feeding wild birds, they need the help. Here I see when I don’t talk much and have some freedom I can see new beginnings. 2012-13- what will they be? I see dimensional “thinning” which is hard to describe. I am in a truly sacred place now, and I hear Dakinis singing when I do. See doors where there are none. I am seeing a lot of quantum change, all natural. I see activity so subtle it blows my mind.

Are the truly great Lamas returning? Will they reflect the mirror – like truth of our nature? Or reflect these sorry times?

Nothing new is happening here, this disrespect for pure undefiled Dharma was all predicted as was misunderstanding the Lama’s words or disregarding them entirely, making it up as they go along. This time, when Dharma moved west was expected.

My commitment is to keep Vajrayana safe and secure by following the instruction of my perfect Teacher. I will keep the transmission of Lineage and Terma from Palyul undefiled. This is what I am expected to do. And when it is safe and I am healed, I will come roaring back triumphant and ready to rock!

Palyul needs me, sentient beings need me and women need me. I want to fulfill them all. I keep hearing encouragement from my own, and the cries of the lost and worldly, the poor and hungry. How can I fail? How can I give in, leaving beings in suffering? I can’t.

If anyone prefers another Lama or stage of Buddhism I’m all for it. If it is real. But change Vajrayana or defile Palyul and you will see the wrathful fangs of the Dakini for sure. Be warned.

And yes, this IS love. It is Bodhicitta in wrathful form. But pure, wholesome – and vital. Be sure; I love you, Palyul and all the great noble, stainless family we share.

Merit and the Blessings of Lineage

Jetsunma — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 22:45:58 +0000

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

Here amongst friends, my Palyul family in peace, I smell delicious cooking, my hosts are so kind! Even before dinner I feel full with love.

Having always fed and housed wildlife, homeless, poor, taken in the sick and infirm, I think there must be a karmic connection with these events in my life. But what I know for sure is the strength and blessing of Palyul. I’ve always been loyal to my Lineage and they to me.
Yep, that is merit and karma in a nutshell. You earn it, and you pay it forward, with joy!

Peerless Guru: His Holiness Penor Rinpoche

Jetsunma — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 21:22:37 +0000

The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo: I wish there was no corruption in any religion. I wish there was no corruption in Buddhism. I wish there was no corruption in humans. When Tsawei Lama Third Drubwang His Holiness Penor Rinpoche was alive there was never any such thing. His Holiness always emphasized purity, honesty, bodhicitta. His Holiness Kyabje Penor Rinpoche ruled with care, and love. He was never in His life spoken of badly by anyone that mattered. All loved and revered him. His Holiness Penor Rinpoche kept his vows, outer, inner, and secret ones, all without stain. He began and built Palyul in India with his own hands! What Tulku, Khenchen, monk or nun could ever hope to accomplish the same? His Holiness Penor Rinpoche was peerless! Now we’ve lost Him. Who will keep Palyul pure? I can say this. No one should make money off Dharma. It should pay the bills, yes. KPC has no major donors, just many small ones. But we keep the doors open. Money goes to help sentient beings, like Garuda Aviary and Taras Babies or feeding the poor. Not lining pockets. Everyone, for the most part, wants money for themselves. Money is power. And it feels good until the Bardo, where all we will have is our selfishness without interruption! Everyone, except Kybje His Holiness Penor Rinpoche. He only wished to preserve the purity of Palyul and to empty samsara from its depths! May His Holiness Karma Kuchen rise up and do His work. And offering the precious jewel Mandala I beg and cry out for His Holiness Penor Rinpoche’s Yangsi to appear and return to us who mourn! Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo. All rights reserved

Prayer to His Holiness Karma Kuchen

Jetsunma — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:16:38 +0000

From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo while at Palyul Ling Retreat Center in Upstate New York:

To the victorious Guru Karma Kuchen I pray – for the sake of beings in these degenerate times, ascend the Lion Throne of Palyul fully endowed with every strength and virtue! May we who long for your blessing be satisfied!

In previous times you came to us as Karma Tashi to clear our ignorance, our attachment to ordinary confused appearance!

You again sat on the glorious Palyul throne to grant us the awakening to Primordial Buddha nature as the great display Karma Gyurmed, the dance of suchness, as it is!

Then you returned as Karma Tegchog Nyingpo, also known as Tsawei Lama by the peerless Guru, the Third Drubwang Pema Norbu Rinpoche.

You now have come again as Karma Kuchen, pure and stainless. Kye ho! Such are the many miracles of your display for the sake of beings. Now please abide steadfast upon the Lotus Throne of my heart. Rise this very moment, clear all obstacles to mighty Palyul, banish the enemies of the Heart Essence Nectar given to us by the second Buddha Padmasambava through the child Terton Migure Dorje. Restore us all to original purity, clear recognition and perfect virtue!

May Palyul remain as the great unbroken refuge it is in the world now. Please establish the work of your predecessors and that of our Guru. Protect with mighty vigor the insurmountable accomplishment of our Guru Kyabje Pema Norbu, may nothing be wasted, and may all beings benefit! Live long! Strengthen the Throne of Palyul and remain in perfect health! Show your holy face as we hunger and thirst; and we need you now more than ever, in these darkening times we need your light, the sun of Palyul, Guru within my heart, grant your blessings!

Moving Forward

Jetsunma — Sat, 28 May 2011 02:26:47 +0000

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

Hello, all in Twitterverse. I’ve been gone all day to meetings and glad to be back. I don’t like Baltimore much but it was necessary.

I returned to see the haters have come back to torment me, except for the main one, who is now gone. But I must leave it to the law. It is right to go, or they can drag one through the sewer they live in. I won’t be like them. I won’t. I can’t imagine being like that. So selfish when the world is in such awful shape and people are hungry for pure Dharma.

And thankfully most people want the real deal, not a show. So I will continue the best I can, maybe take time away. Certainly for the Palyul summer retreat, to continue my practice and peace of mind. Also this summer I will be training to offer Empowerment. The Tulku, Lama Lobsang will arive soon. He is the one Kyabje His Holiness Penor Rinpoche had been arranging since a year before His parinirvana. I have wanted more training, have asked for years, and finally he is coming! His Holiness Penor Rinpoche chose him for his pure qualities, scholarship and complete disinterest in ridiculous politics and games. I love that. I have no interest in them either. Politics has always been part of every religion, sadly. Wars have been the result. If one calls themselves spiritual, they should abandon such ridiculous habitual tendencies and tend to their practice. That is what the Gurus of every Lineage tell us. It was His Eminence Ponlop Rinpoche that said, when my dear Michelle G. asked him how to repair the lies and damage, he said “Kyabje His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, the purest of Gurus recognized Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo. He has said she is a Pure Lama. Therefore go back to her and repair Samaya!” He would not teach her. He sent her back. What merit she must have! How pure Ponlop must be! Amazing!

Anyone can see the Sun again, it never leaves. It is we who are dishonest and turn our faces away.

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA!

Dharma in a New Land

Jetsunma — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 00:20:23 +0000

From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

Tonight I’d like to say a few words on the issue of how Buddhism moves west, and spreads throughout the world. Some things change; some naturally, remain the same. The Vajrayana monastics will change in that they must make and touch money, eat, often after dark, some are nurses which must tend and therefore touch. Some are doctors and must touch others. Sometimes they travel and cannot always sleep on a low bed as prescribed.

There is no doubt monastics that must not be rigid; particularly in that as Bodhisatvas, that vow always takes precedence. The reason is, that each level of Buddhism has its own vows. Theravadens focus on strict Vinaya rules to purify. Mahayana gives rise to the Great Bodhicitta, and tame their minds with renunciation and Compassion. In Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism all levels are combined into one Supreme view. The vows are kept on the outer, inner, and secret levels; quite profound and impossible to accomplish without a Supreme Guide.

Vajrayana encompasses all three levels and is hands down the more “mystical.” In the USA we take mystical as license. It is not. It does address flexibility according to capacity for view. A Bodhisattva will minister without much concern for monastic rules only if there is suffering to remedy, causing the necessity for a deeper view. In Vajrayana there is Tantra, generation of the Diety or Yiddam and attaining the qualities and view of the Yiddam. We generate Passive Yidam to grow, heal, and expand. We generate Wrathful Yidam to subdue, pacify, and overcome.

If everything remains the same as Tibet or India we would not succeed. Kyabje His Holiness Penor Rinpoche was flexible that way; he understood Buddhism was moving out of Tibet. His Holiness Penor Rinpoche allowed monks to have TV, Soccer, games. That was unless they got distracted or worldly.

They make plays about our history. His Holiness Penor Rinpoche was completely Orthodox and had never broken His vows on the three levels. But He had view, compassion, as well as common sense. He understood the times and His community. Palyul, my Lineage has always persisted because the combination of enlightened Wisdom, Compassion, and Awareness of this world. The Palyul Khenpos did not like these methods, as is the style of scholarly Khenpos, haha, the different perspective is normal and natural – wonderful, really.

But the Tulkus were somewhat different. They are the Treasures of Vajrayana, they alone have crossed the ocean of samsara and guided, successfully their disciples. They are the wisdom beings in flesh and usually each Tulku has their history with their own monastery. They have the clarity and wisdom.

When Lamas come to my Palyul temple they often weep for joy that so many are ordained here in this place. How we have numerous and Holy Stupas; we have gorgeous altars, thangkas, and a full library of texts. When His Holiness Penor Rinpoche was in India He managed to go back to Tibet and rescue ancient and extraordinary rare texts and kindly gave them to us. He himself made robes for the Ordained. His Holiness Penor Rinpoche brought them in privately to take vows, cut hair, and be formally dressed by Palyul Monks. Each felt HIS compassion, purity and wisdom. Some failed; most made it. Others were ordained at retreat in New York. Ngakpa vows are given.

We are told frequently, even by Kagyu Lamas, that the ordained here have amazing good qualities. Heart. I love and trust my monks and nuns so much more than I can possibly express. I respect their journey with my body, speech and mind. They are my family, my children. They are ALL named Thubten, His Holiness Penor Rinpoche’s ordination name. Palyul is exquisite in every way.

His Holiness Penor Rinpoche even approved my handwritten vows! I wrote them and when His Holiness saw, he giggled and said, “These are Refuge, Bodhisattva and Genyen vows.” He was the real deal, a living Buddha, and I worship the very ground where His feet were placed.

Each Lineage is unique and perfect in its way. Has a story just like this. Therefore it is never appropriate to criticize another Lineage. Mainly because you don’t know the Miracle that is it’s blood and bone, and never will. It is Karma! Therefor respect my Lineage, my Tsawei Lama and our Monks, Nuns and householders. I promise, if you have a Lineage I will respect and Honor yours, as I train my students to do. Will we now form a community of Dharma, wholesome, undivided? THIS IS MY PRAYER! Kye HO!

Lineage and Transmission

Jetsunma — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:18:49 +0000

I truly feel it is arrogant to change the Dharma to make up your own, or to say “this is what he meant.” The worst is “the Buddha never taught”.

So where does Buddhism come from? Ask those arhats that held his teachings perfectly in their minds. Shariputra, Ananda, etc then wrote the Buddhas teaching for all. Ananda had a particularly clear mind for perfect recall. His mind was pure, undefiled by ordinary existence.

As with Guru Padmasambava, also called the second emanation of Buddha, the teachings were preserved perfectly. Guru Padmasambava brought a host of peerless translators also realized and with excellent training to do the job. Tantras from India, Pali Cannon, and what was useful from Bon, Tibetan Shaman, was considered as well.

Then at the times Guru Padmasambava was with Yeshe Tsogyel and Mandarava both, Tantric Treasures were hidden for future times. They were hidden in a mystical way so that it was certain that the right Terton (revealer) would appear at the exact right time. Guru Padmasambava was able to predict the rebirth of every Terton, where they would be found. Some revelations were hidden in the sky, some hidden in water, some in rock, others in mountains, and some were passed to the Terton of the future directly in a vision!

Terton Migure Dorje was one such Terton. He died very young. Yet as a child he saw Guru Rinpoche dancing in the sky while giving the entire Nam Cho Terma Cycle which we now practice in Palyul. Among the heart students of Terton Migure Dorje were my predecessor, Genyenma Ahkon Lhamo and Palyul’s first Throneholder the great Vidyadhara Kunzang Sherab. All revelations from Nam Cho have been strictly passed down in Palyul from Guru to disciple in a Stainless unbroken chain, so no blessings were lost.

It is from the Nam Cho Cycle from Terton Migure Dorje that I will train to confer. If my predecessor was heart student of Terton Rinpoche, and my earlier predecessor was the Consort of Guru Padmasambava, then with training I feel it would be a gift if I could make that circle of blessing complete. I intend to do so, for the sake of sentient beings!

Oddly, my personal practice happens to be the Chime Tsok Dik which is the Tantra from the glorious accomplishment of Immortality, the rainbow body. That was Mandarava and Guru Padmasambava’s intimate practice. It was later revealed by His Holiness Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche, who Himself practiced With his Consort (SangYum.) But it connects directly to the venerable practice of Guru Padmasambava and Lacham Mandarava! EMAHO! Oddly, decades ago I dreamed that I flew through the eyes of a baby Dudjom Rinpoche, and through His eyes I saw the cosmos, and space. It was there I knew I’d find freedom!

Lastly, my great gift was to receive the Empowerment for the practice two times from Kyabje His Holiness Penor Rinpoche who got it from His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche five times and from His Eminence Venerable Gyaltrul Rinpoche two times. See how it works, this karma, this cause and result? It all comes back home. Perfectly!

Sincerity on the Path

Jetsunma — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 18:12:19 +0000

Today I woke up early, feeling sad at the way Westerners insist on changing Buddhism into something they like better. It’s because they simply do not understand where the power of Dharma comes from. The power/blessing comes from a traceable unbroken line of transmission from Guru to disciple and stretches back to the original source of blessing. The Buddha, Guru Padmasambava, who himself said “I will always be with you in the form or your Root Guru”. His blessing brought Tantra to Tibet and translated the texts with a committee of scholars

So the Diamond Path of Vajrayana in Tibet is one Throneholder to the next in unbroken succession. That is the way of Tibetan Buddhism. One can change it up. This is a free country, after all. But then, you are not practicing as Tibetan Lamas do and there will be no good result.

What I don’t understand is why. To make your little circle happy you destroy Tibetan Buddhism for everyone else? Many of us prefer to practice purely, without having our lineage, our Method dragged through the muck of someone’s Samsara and poor view. Why dismiss the rights of other practitioners who really want to practice as taught? What makes someone superior and self cherishing enough to do that?

We wish to practice well and deeply. We want to purify our poisons, gather merit etc. No one who prints lies has the right to put us down. It is like the Enquirer paper – built on lies and half truths. So we wake up and see that our Lineage and faith has been crucified again.

Too bad they will not talk to people who currently cherish Palyul and practice it’s teaching. To destroy that is cruel and hateful.

We love Palyul! Always have and always will. It would take character, compassion and ethics to stop the lies. Be an honest broker. Try.