September, 2017 | Tibetan Buddhist Altar

Astrology for 9/25/2017

September 25, 2017September 25, 2017 by Norma

9/25/2017 Monday by Norma

Feelings-those pesky little critters-combined with a self righteous attitude land you in trouble so avoid acting on them today. Make sweeping generalizations that fly in the face of reality and you will be shot down. “Every child deserves his own room,” you say to a family of six living in a two bedroom apartment. Consider the reality others face before making judgments. Arnold Glascow said, “The fewer the facts, the stronger the opinion.”

Today one person goes around tidying things and another goes around messing things up. Ask yourself which role you’re playing and you’ll understand your contribution to the mess. This is an excellent day for partnership- once you’re working in the same direction- for healing measures, for detailed work and for satisfaction on the job. A forgiving attitude makes everything work.

Astrology for 9/24/2017

September 24, 2017 by Norma

9/24/2017 Sunday by Norma

A covert activity is discovered, causing trouble. Think again if you imagined you could get away with something that goes against the norms of public interest. Feeling disgraced? Apologize, take your medicine and it’ll go away. Defend yourself and it will get worse.

A plethora of details can’t solve a murky issue today, but medicine can heal a health problem. Try not to annoy someone who is recuperating, avoid dancing attendance on someone who wants to be alone, don’t chase someone who is trying to get away. Just step back and wait. Doug Larson said, “The real secret of patience is to find something to do in the meantime.” Partnership is wonderful, work is fun, you’re smarter than you used to be and not afraid to show what you know.

Astrology for 9/23/2017

September 23, 2017 by Norma

9/23/2017 Saturday by Norma

Sit down, take a break and relax. You’ve earned it and you deserve it. Harder than it sounds, since you still want to maintain the breakneck pace you’ve grown accustomed to. The problem is your work has become your fun.

Investors, sponsors and donors appear where none were before. Got a cause? This is your time. Cheerfully accept every gift whether or not you want it, need it, or like it. Abandon pride and be grateful. Hidden influences are at work changing things and moving them in a more positive direction. Unless you know what these forces are, don’t question what’s happening.

A seed planted long ago is beginning to bear fruit. Water it, fertilize it, gaze at it, but don’t pull it up to find out what it is. “Everything gains by non-interference” according to Lao Tsu.

Where Spiritual Life Begins

September 22, 2017 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Conceptual Proliferation”

We who are sentient beings are wandering in samsara, and according to the Buddha’s teaching, if we have the assumption of self-nature as being inherently real, we are all basically in the same condition of wandering. It is only the gurus and the teachers who, in their past, may have accomplished sufficient Dharma which is the teaching of the enlightened mind. Having accomplished Dharma, they actually have clarified their mind to the point that they can see through the mist in a way that we cannot. You should trust in those teachers who have themselves accomplished their practice.

Some guidelines that you might use are these. I’ve taught this before and I’d like to reiterate this, because it is important at this time. You can have two kinds of expectation about a proper teacher for yourself or about yourself, if you think you are a proper teacher. One of them is that you should have in this lifetime totally accomplished and be, yourself, teaching pure Dharma. That is Dharma that is brought by the enlightened mind, the Buddha, one who has attained Buddhahood. This is not the kind where you make it up yourself according to the messages that you’re getting from the Pleiades. This is real Dharma, no kidding. Buddha taught it. If you are accomplishing Dharma or have accomplished it in this lifetime, and you are teaching Dharma, then you are a qualified teacher, or someone you are looking for is a qualified teacher. The only other circumstance is if there is someone who is recognized to be a reincarnate or a tulku or a great bodhisattva, who has in the past accomplished Dharma sufficiently to where, in this lifetime, their minds are the very display of Dharma and all of their activity is engaged in Dharma, and results in Dharma. And that can only be determined by being recognized by others who are themselves recognized and realized in that way. Those are the only two kinds of teachers that you should accept. And if you yourself are neither one, then you are not a good teacher. The rest are wandering in samsara and there is confusion and suffering.

That being the case, you have a choice to make now. And the choice is based on either continuing your dream-like false assumptions and dream-like confusion, and continuing the narcotic experience of just living in super-structured conceptual proliferation—death and rebirth, death and rebirth, death and rebirth—or you can get off of that and trust in the teaching of one who has accomplished Dharma. Trust in what ends up being like a lighthouse beacon in a very dark land, and go in the direction that you are guided to go in by your teacher. You must have a proper teacher. Go in that direction, and follow those instructions implicitly. To assume that you know nothing, to think that you know nothing because of your confusion, doesn’t make you bad, doesn’t make you less than anyone else. It simply states the facts. You’re still worthy. You still, in your nature, are the Buddha. You still are equally worthy of love with all sentient beings. But you accept the condition that you actually are in and it provides a tool for you, a power, a potency that you didn’t have before. Before it was like you were wandering around in a dark room trying to find the door and it’s pitch black and there’s all kinds of furniture and things hanging, you know, and drapes and dividers and things like that, and all you could do was stumble. You should think of the teacher as being like a lighthouse that shows you the door and, in fact, also is the door; because it shines to you from outside the door. And you should go in that direction. When you start going in that direction and assuming the validity of the teacher’s mind, and assuming that that is refuge, once you actually assume that, the moment that you assume that, you have begun to accomplish view. The moment you take that directive, other than your own confusion, as the direction in which you should go, you have started to heal. You have started to make real spiritual progress. You are on the path of Dharma. That is when your spiritual life begins.

Astrology for 9/22/2017

September 22, 2017 by Norma

9/22/2017 Friday by Norma

A last minute push wraps up a work project. You’ll know when it’s done by the change in atmosphere: from hard charging to sitting around looking at pretty things, enjoying pleasant company and engaging in beautification projects. Feel like spiffing up your car, home, or appearance? Interested finding someone to bond with? Libra has arrived!

Keep an eye out for hard-charging folks and avoid being run over as you stop mid-path to gaze at the scenery. Many oppositions reflect differences of opinion and your job is to learn about each position while gracefully sticking with yours. Samuel Johnson said, “Curiosity is one of the most certain and permanent characteristics of a vigorous intellect.”

This is a good day to complete a major piece of work, to tend to important details, and to move steadily in a direction that fulfill your heart’s desire.

An Ocean of Blessings

September 21, 2017 by Holly

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The Stanzas of Offering Water from the Pure Vision, An Ocean of Blessings

By His Holiness Dudjom Lingpa

HUNG YAN LAG GYED DAN DUD TSI DZING BU DI

HUNG Offering a lake of nectar possessing the eight qualities of pure water

CHOM DAN KHOR DANG CHE LA BUL WAR GYI

To all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas

ZHE NE DAG DAG SEM CHAN THAM CHAD KYI

By acceptance of this offering, may I and all sentient beings

TSOG DZOG DRIB TAG KHOR WA TONG TRUK SHOG

Accumulate merit and wisdom, purify all obscurations and liberate all beings.

Mantra:

OM SARVA TATHAGATA SAPARIWARA ARGHAM PRATI TSA PUJA MEGHA SAMUDRA SAPA RANA SAMAYA AH HUNG

One night in a dream a white Dakini appeared to Dudjom Lingpa. She said that she was Sukha Siddhi and proceeded to recite the above offering stanzas for the sake of all sentient beings. She said that this wishing prayer included everything. This vision arose in the dream of Dudjom Lingpa after a prayer for water offering was requested of him by Lama Tsultim Dorje. It was recorded by Dudjom Lingpa’s secretary, Phuntsog Tashi.

Astrology for 9/21/2017

September 21, 2017 by Norma

9/21/2017 Thursday by Norma

Work continues to be a major theme, with worry following right behind. An unsolved problem is nipping at your heels, or so it seems, but in fact it’s been handled. You’ve worried so long it will take time to wind down and return to normal. A partner operates as a stabilizing agent offering suggestions that help broaden your perspective on issues. Winston Churchill said, “The greatest lesson in life is to know that everyone is right sometimes.”

A major transformation is taking place, one of such magnitude that it’s hard to comprehend. Take everything one step at a time, don’t try to look too far ahead and stay busy with your own work. The minute you start looking at what others are doing you’ll go wrong. People express love by performing small tasks for each other: the one who empties your trashcan or brings you lunch truly cares for you.

Change and Continuity: from “Journey to Enlightenment”

September 20, 2017 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is respectfully quoted from “Enlightened Journey: the Life and World of Khyentse Rinpoche” by Matthieu Riccard:

Change and Continuity
The Spiritual Legacy

Transmission and continuity are key points in the Buddhist tradition. The living teachers must not die out; true spiritual realization must be imparted from teacher to disciple. Great Tibetan masters are not isolated mystics. Their wisdom, rooted in the fertile earth of their own confidence and perseverance, has slowly ripened in the sun of their teacher’s blessings and wisdom. There are many ways to please one’s teacher and repay his kindness, but the way considered best of all is to put his teachings into practice until genuine realization dawns in one’s own mind.

Of this way, Khyentse Rinpoche’s life was a perfect example. Besides his two main teachers, he studied with more than fifty outstanding masters from all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Having entirely integrated the teachings into his own being, he could then impart them to thousands of disciples. Among those disciples, a few became true holders of the teachings, his spiritual heirs, and are continuing the lineage today.

Trulshik Rinpoche, born in 1924, is not simply a lineage holder; he is also the principal depository of Khyentse Rinpoche’s “mind treasures,” as specifically predicted in the texts of these treasures. He is also the main bestower of monastic vows in the Nyingma lineages and has ordained several thousand monks.

in the 1960’s, after a pilgrimage to Namo Buddha in Nepal, Khyentse Rinpoche dreamt one night that he was climbing a lofty mountain. At the summit was a small temple. He entered, and inside, side by side, his own former teachers–the three main lamas of Shechen monastery: Shechen Gyaltsap Rinpoche, Shechen Rabjam, and Shechen Kongtrul. Khyentse Rinpoche prostrated himself before them and, singing in sorrowful verse, asked them how they had suffered at the hands of the Chinese (all three of them having perished in Chinese jails in the early sixties). With one voice they replied, also in verse, saying, “For us birth and death are like dreams or illusions. The absolute state knows neither increase nor decline.” Khyentse Rinpoche expressed his wish to join them soon in the buddhafields, since he saw little point in remaining in a world where the teachings were vanishing fast and most teachers were but spurious impostors. At this point, Shechen Kongtrul, gazing at Khyentse Rinpoche with a piercing stare, said, “You must toil to benefit beings and perpetuate the teachings until your last breath. Merging into one, the three of us will come to you as a single incarnation, a helper to fulfill your aims.”

Astrology for 9/20/2017

September 20, 2017 by Norma

9/20/2017 Wednesday by Norma

Diplomacy is highlighted today, extend it to everyone you meet. Be kind, to the point and do not waste time. Benjamin Franklin said, “Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation.” Work turns into fun today and you’re having a good time with projects that unnerved you earlier. A partner breathes new life into something that has gone cold. If your job involves sales, attracting people to your cause or precision work, this is your day!

All medical procedures are effective, scheduled activities are satisfying and work goes smoothly. This is a good day to give pets special attention; add a new diet, buy a new pet bed, clean out the rabbit cage, feed the goldfish or groom your horse. Don’t have animals? Enjoy wildlife, watch birds as they fly. You’ll know why later.

Problems?

September 19, 2017 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Conceptual Proliferation”

When we see the guru, we don’t look at the guru and say, Well, I like him or her, or, I don’t like him or her. We don’t think like that. That’s not a good reason to take a teacher; and it’s not a good reason to reject a teacher. We accept a teacher based on the clarity that they can show us, and whether they themselves have crossed the ocean of suffering. And so our view of the teacher is based on that.

Now, we find ourselves in a position where we are confused. We really don’t get the big picture. We really are experiencing everything that we experience due to a false assumption and false reaction and false set of conceptualizations that are built on all those erroneous views. How can we untangle this spaghetti kind of phenomena? Well, if we tried to pick out the pieces one by one, we would still be doing it from the point of view of the assumption of self-nature, so it’s never going to be clear. We really must rely on the perception of that one who has crossed the ocean of suffering. We really have to rely on the guidance of our teachers and the teaching of the Buddha. We really must rely on that.

The most important step that any student can make—and any good student will really have to make this at some point—is arriving at the conclusion, or coming to the understanding that you really just don’t know. That you really just don’t have a clue. Many students, when they first come to temple, and when they first begin on the spiritual path, feel a kind of arrogance, a kind of pridefulness. We talked about that the last time that we were together. They really assume that they know something, you know? ‘Well, I’ve had several different teachers and I’ve been on the spiritual path for some time now; and yes, I have a great affinity for spiritual things. And in fact, I myself have taught a few people, in my humble way.’ You know, and they sort of think like that. They come to the temple, and then they think, ‘Yes, well I’ve tried everything so now I think I’ll try some Tibetan Buddhism because you know, it’s like really exotic. Having been everywhere, I guess I’ll try Tibet.’ And so that’s what they think, really, when they come to the path. And really even some of the oldie, goldies over here were like that. Oh, oh, let me tell you. It was pew city for a long time. I actually had many of them come to me and tell me how wonderful they were and how helpful they had been in other people’s spiritual awakening. And all they needed from me was a reading. You don’t think that’s weird? Then you have some work to do. So, anyway, they experienced that, and you may actually be experiencing that. And you may feel just a little itchy under the collar when I talk about this, or a little uncomfortable.

At any rate, there will come a point in any proper student’s life when they might enter in that way. Then, at some point, they simply realize that they don’t know anything. They just haven’t got a clue in the world. And at that point, they finally have entered onto the path, because you cannot enter onto the path any other way. And every religion has a way of telling you that. I’m thinking about Christianity—that you have to enter Jerusalem through the eye of the needle. There is actually a place in Jerusalem, as I understand it, or was—I don’t know if it’s actually still there—where there is a tunnel or rock formation which is quite low, and it’s called the eye of the needle. Camels going into Jerusalem that way actually have to get down on their knees to enter into it. So that analogy is made: That you have to enter by getting down on your knees. You actually have to get off of the arrogance and the spiritual superiority that you have.

This may come as a shock to you; but, in fact, you are not getting messages from Jesus, or Buddha, from the Pleiades star system, or anybody else, as you thought you were every night at 7:00. You actually are not getting the inner directives that you thought you were. You’re just confused! And I’m really sorry about that. I really hate to break this to you, but you’re having a lot of problems. When you get to the point on the path that you can actually realize that, you’re somewhere and you’re in good shape. Until you realize that, believe me—and you’re not going to like my saying this and you might not come back—but you’re nowhere and you’re not in good shape.