Stupas

Passion for Compassion

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Migyur Dorje Stupa

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “This Time Is Radical”

Why is it more practice now?  Because it is needed; because there is so much suffering. And this is your opportunity in this very lifetime, not only to enter onto the path of Dharma and practice, but to give rise to the great Bodhicitta. Bodhicitta is not just a word. It is awakening. It is awakening to the nature that is the primordial wisdom Buddha nature, and that nature is not different from Bodhicitta. They are the same, the same light, the same essence. They cannot be separated. Anytime we practice Bodhicitta and offer simple kindness, and simple mindfulness to the people around us in order to be kind, this is a great work. I’ve been screaming about this for years, but now it’s so much more important than ever because there is so little of this nectar of kindness in the world. This very country used to have altruistic ideals, and now it’s all run by companies. It’s crazy.

And so while the darkness is coming to us thicker and thicker all the time, and the holy places in the world… When you think about what is happening for instance in Nepal in Katmandu:  Stupas and relics and important Buddhist monuments are being threatened. And so where will the Dharma be safe?

I know where. Right here. Right there [pointing at her heart]. That’s where the Dharma is going to be safe. And for every stupa that someone knocks down, I will build another one. That’s the way I feel about that. And in this time of darkness when more and more people hate, and more and more people that have karma to practice the path even leave the path because their delusion has grown so thick, in this time we have to get our shoulder against the darkness and push. Now I know that’s not very Zen, but we’re not practicing Zen here. We’re practicing rough, tough Buddhism from Brooklyn. And what I’m telling you is that we do need to hold the darkness at bay, and each one of us has the capacity to help with that. When we practice and we generate the deity, there is the deity and you should have confidence with that. When we practice and make offerings, there is great merit accumulated.

Here in this place, we’ve set it up.  There is every opportunity to gather merit, and to offer that merit to end the suffering of sentient beings. It is set up so well here. We have stupas.  We can offer gold paint every year. We can offer circumambulation. Nowhere else in America is there so much of this. We have to get behind this, and we have to be impassioned.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo All rights reserved

A Variety of Stupas

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An excerpt from a teaching called Cosmology of a Stupa by Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche

Stupas can be roughly divided into two categories – Theravada or Hinayana stupas, and stupas in the Mahayana tradition.  There are further subdivisions of those stupas, with different shapes and designs.

In the Hinayana tradition, there are stupas that are roughly in the shape of the Buddha’s body, some in the shape of his robes, some in the shape of his alms or begging bowl, and some in the shape of his throne or in the shape of a staff.  There are different renditions.

BurmeseStupa

In the Mahayana tradition, there are eight principle stupas.  At the time after the Buddha was cremated, his relics were divided into eight piles and given to eight different great kings who made stupas for those relics.  According to the great teacher, Nagarjuna, there are eight principle stupas that perform eight different functions.

These eight principle stupas in the Mahayana tradition commemorate the great deeds of the Buddha’s life, from the time when he was born till his passing into nirvana.  For example, there is a stupa that commemorates his birth, that moment just after his birth when he took seven steps in the four directions.  Each time he took a step, a lotus flower blossomed under his foot. And so, there is a stupa that commemorates the birth of the Buddha.

stupa-types-1stupa-types-2

There is a stupa that commemorates the fact that the Buddha studied a whole variety of topics in his youth and mastered them all.  There is another stupa called the auspicious many-gated stupa.  The Tashi Gomang stupa celebrates the fact that the Buddha descended back down from Tushita Pure Land, where he was teaching his mother.

In the Vajrayana tradition, the tantric vehicle, there are specific stupas that accomplish particular purposes.  For example, there are the four main types of stupas for pacification.  Some are to magnetize.  Some are to increase, increase prosperity and merit, and others are for more wrathful activities. There are different shapes that the stupa can adopt, but the fundamental meaning is the same – stupas represent the enlightened body, speech and mind of the Buddha.  The stupa primarily represents the enlightened mind of the Buddha.

Stupas of KPC: A Resource for Healing, Peace and Prayer

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

If weary, sick or sad, come to the KPC Stupas and rest and pray. Leave an offering to say “I was here!”.

Stupas are meant to heal suffering, bring peace, balance, strengthen one’s path. Come see for yourself.

I wish I had funds to build Stupas all along the Pacific Rim. They would heal, balance, purify the Earth.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo All rights reserved

 

Stupas and the Enlightened Mind

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Stupas

An excerpt from a teaching by H.E. Gochen Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche at Kunzang Palyul Choling in Sedona, Arizona on May 14, 2003.  Tulku Sang-ngag is a renowned Stupa Builder and Vajrayana master.   In addition to the many stupas he has helped to build and consecrate in the US,  Kunzang Palyul Choling was very fortunate to have Tulku Sang Nang guide the construction of the Amitabha Stupa, to consecrate it, and to teach on the meaning of a stupa to the Sangha.

The enlightened mind of the Buddha

Before offering this Dharma teaching on the meaning of the stupa, I would like first to offer homage to the Three Jewels –  the Supreme and Unsurpassed Guide, the Buddha;  the teachings that the Buddha taught, the Holy Dharma; and  the followers of the teaching, the Sangha.  I offer homage to those three.  And then to the Unsurpassed Guide, my personal teacher, who is the embodiment of all of those three in one single form.  I am offering this teaching on the meaning of a stupa in accord with Jetsunma’s wishes.

That which is known as a stupa is called a “chorten” in Tibetan.  A chorten means a receptacle of offerings.  A stupa actually represents an outward expression of the Buddha’s enlightened body, speech and mind.  First of all, we have the Buddha’s mind.  The Buddha’s mind is such that it is non-composite phenomena.  It has neither shape nor color, but it is all knowing.  It is cognizant and lucid and yet you cannot identify it as being anything whatsoever.  The Buddha’s mind is unelaborated cognizance.

In order to address the predicament that all sentient beings find themselves in, to tame those beings and bring them on the path to enlightenment, the Buddha has manifested in two specific forms in an effortless manner.  In a non-artificial and natural manner, he manifests in two types of bodies.  That state of the pure potentiality of enlightenment, that is the state of being a Buddha, is something, which is beyond any kind of representation.  It is beyond having color or a shape or a size or any kind of form.  That authentic state of enlightenment, which is yet to manifest, is the genuine stupa.  It is the genuine stupa of basic space, “cho kyi ying,” which means the sphere of Dharma, the sphere of pure potential.  That is what is known as the authentic stupa before the onset of manifestation.  It is the potentiality.  It is the actual state of enlightenment that we are talking about before it is actually manifest.

The state of basic space, the Dharmadhatu, manifests a display of appearances, which are spontaneously present, complete, and perfect.  Because that basic space is an unhindered display of dynamic energy, a variety of stupas manifest in the four directions in order to benefit beings.

The state of the Buddha’s mind is such that it has the 32 qualities of enlightenment.  They are the ten powers and the ten states of fearlessness and so on.  Those 32 qualities of the enlightened mind of the Buddha manifest outwardly as the 32 characteristics of a physical stupa.  They are actually a physical representation of those internal qualities of the Buddha’s mind.

Compassionate Blessings: A Dialog

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The following is from a twitter dialog between Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo and one of her followers:

Stupas cost about $150K -200K to build including the required Stupa Master. It boggles that people with that kind of money don’t support Stupa building for peace, to pacify suffering, sickness and old age, delay death, pacify war and hunger, and balance the planet. That’s why we should build Stupas.

(Jetsunma asks follower how he is doing.)

Follower: Happy as a clam and fit as a fiddle, lovely one. Your pretty little self?

Jetsunma: Not too shabby even though I had a hopeful ring appraised to build a Stupa. It was a total flat out fake. Gotta fund raise. Fund raising is kind of embarrassing, but its for an excellent reason. We’ll figure it out. Stupas are worth it. If there was anything else worth it I’d give it up in a heartbeat.

Follower: Well, it could be argued that raising the funds for those in need takes precedent, which is, to an extent true.

Jetsunma: I have built Stupas already, over 30, want to build them anywhere there is suffering and hardship or war.

Follower: Good for you, angel. I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t. I spend part of my time raising money to keep a 13th century building up.

Jetsunma: To me and mine this is the best way to give to all, blessings bring result. What kind of blessing? For example, a tumor dissolves, and no money for medical costs. It’s a “vibrational” blessing, sphere of truth. Love. Like a Buddha.

Follower: What about the poor and needy? If only life where black and white, eh?

Jetsunma: And you are right. Its not black or white: compassion. And we do a food bank, animal rescue, we work for the benefit of all. Here’s a teaching offered by a Master Stupa builder on the blessings they bring https://www.tibetanbuddhistaltar.org/the-merit-of-stupa-building/. Thing is you can argue and such but this is what I do, charity and benefit are my reason for being.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo All rights reserved

 

 

 

 

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