In order to know the Precious Teacher, you must become a renunciate. This is not a sacrifice, however. You should not sadly enumerate the things you have to give up. Think of it as a privilege, because the very things you renounce are the ones that are killing you. You are only saving yourself. Taking vows (either as a lay practitioner or as a monk or nun) should be understood as a feast of opportunities. Look at the things that renunciates give up: hatred, greed, ignorance, self-absorption, blind faith in the five senses, a love of impermanent things. You are being asked to give up poison. Understand, once and for all, that there is no old God on a throne, forcing you to do something you dislike and grading you at every turn. Instead, you are weaning yourself from the things that have betrayed you. You are making contact with your true nature.
Discipline yourself to come to terms with your life. Take responsibility. Try to deepen. Take sincere refuge in the one unfailing source, and renounce that which keeps us wandering in samsara. The realization of your own nature—the awareness of true mind, the precious Root Guru, Guru Rinpoche will be born. At that point, the teachings that come to you will be the very voice of the Dharmakaya, the very voice of the Root Teacher.
The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:
Did a dog bite you? Did food poison you? Did a gun face your face? Did you suffer? Do you suffer the suffering of suffering? Did you burn? Did you freeze? Did you starve for love? Did the FBI or the police or the mighty wolf blow your house down? Got a cold? Welcome to the glorious gift of duality.
Samsara- we are here together only relying on our own karma. Suffering of suffering, because we cannot let go. No use to complain, I found. Better to go on strong, find your way. Why feel sorry for yourself? He who learns to laugh at himself will never cease to be amused! Haha!
Tulkus take rebirth for the sake of all beings. Not to play video games or ice skate! Ha! Most Tulkus come back with a mission. Pre-ordained, and ready for a life much different than most people would choose. When His Holiness Penor Rinpoche enthroned me, His Eminence Gyaltrul Rinpoche said to me: “Now you are in jail!” So true. As Palyul Lineage Holder, I have responsibilities that I would not have if not enthroned. I must propagate Dharma and protect Palyul from harm, which I have worked extremely hard to do. From corruption, from villains, con men, thieves, and have done my best at every fork and twist in the road. So I see this day as a marking of this life’s effort.
If there is merit, there will be more effort, and more lives of service. It is all that matters to me. Service. And when have we needed it more than we do now? Mother Earth is sick, crazy people and ideas abound, the older, experienced Bodhisattvas are passing, and Kaliyuga is upon us. So we must be prepared to keep on for the sake of those still revolving in samsara. The sick, hungry, those filled with rage, the deluded. The abused, the poor, and the jealous and ignorant. Each one is a Buddha, having the seed of Buddhahood. But most are asleep, locked in the dream that reflects their mind and their karma. It is for them I will return. May I be the last to cross to that state beyond, so I may be the one to see the end of all suffering. Everything is impermanent. I pray that all suffering is too.
From my deepest heart I dedicate all virtue in the three times, past, present and future, to that end. May all who are sick be healed. May all the poor, hungry, abused dysfunctional, homeless, unloved, without exception be healed. May all find the path of Dharma and love. May we end war, and give rise to ethics and peace. Whatever merit I have ever gathered, and all I and my students have ever done, as well, be dedicated to the liberation and salvation of all!
The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:
I feel like I have my confidence and courage back. I can’t explain what this visit by His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche and His Eminence Muksang Rinpoche has done. It has bound my wounds, stopped the bleed, and healed my heart. Like a beaten child given food, warmth, comfort and love. Only Palyul can do this, as I have no other family besides my kids.
I’ve given my entire life to Palyul, since enthroned. All I do is now by authorization of Palyul for the sake of all sentient beings. And that is what I need. I wanted many things- we all do. But for me, Lineage is all I’ve ever really needed. I thought romantic love was needed, a mate, (I have the 2.5 kids) and the dog(s) all by myself. And I have learned to protect myself and my Lineage, and the kind of love that, while not romantic, fills my heart like nothing ordinary can. I’m amazed at that, and wonder why anything else has ever interested me. Yes, in every family there is a bad apple or two. But Palyul is wholly stainless, and amazingly, life after life they have found me, raised me up so I can help and be of benefit to all who need. Or want. And I can also benefit my noble family by increasing Palyul’s miraculous activity. I respect and love all traditions that include compassion, wisdom and respect. But I am committed to the precious method and glorious Lineage Masters of Palyul. They alone can honor the promise of the Guru within my heart, Padmasambhava, to find me every time and point the way to the cessation of suffering through Vajrayana method. EH MA HO!
The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:
Tomorrow evening KPC is having a potluck feast with His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche for Palyul students. Both PCD and KPC. The sincere wish and prayer is that all Palyul will be truly united. For the sake of all sentient beings and the return of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche. It is the strength of pure devotion that will bring back the Yangsi and we must abandon gossip now, and be in harmony for Palyul.
Together we can benefit the western Dharma practitioners. With unity. Separate we can do little, and fighting and gossip will harm us all. Let’s be a powerful worldwide force for Dharma, compassion community and peace. Let’s lead the way, a great pure Lineage of kindness.
We should stop fooling ourselves that somehow, magically, with envy and self-importance we can be of any use. It simply isn’t possible. Love and respect really work! We don’t need or want more petty wars! They are a true blight and poison on the Earth. The more respect we give is the best way, and appreciation for each other is the only way to make a peaceful world.
After repeated requests from her students, Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo agreed to recount parts of the story of her life, and at the insistence of her students, consented to be videotaped. This is the first part of her story:
The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:
Palyul totally rocks, moves my heart, and is my beloved family. The tea with His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche was wonderful! There was so much to tell each other. I shared what hellishness has gone on the past few years. His Holiness Karma Kuchen said it doesn’t matter. Palyul is huge, and I am 100% supported by the great Palyul. And so importantly, His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche supports me. As I do all Palyul, always have.
All feels good now. Palyul is thriving again. We lost His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, beloved Tsawei Lama, but now we are marching forward. Palyul Tibet, consisting of many monasteries is also doing well with His Holiness Karma Kuchen as the Head of all Palyul. His presence is so luminous, peaceful. He is so much like His Holiness PenorRinpoche it is baffling, clearly His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche has mixed his mind with the Tsawei Lama. I am re-inspired! Did the Precious Guru ever leave me? Never. Never since I saw the precious face in this or any lifetime.
The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:
I am happy that Palyul Throneholder His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche is here and settled in. He seems comfortable and happy. And His Eminence Muksang Tulku will be arriving tomorrow. How fortunate we are! We are blessed to gather again we have been close many lifetimes. And the Sangha is blessed to have the merit to be with this young Throne Holder, a living Buddha!
Palyul is rich in wisdom, having indeed been the astounding effort and lifelong work of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, without whom nothing of this would have happened. We are very fortunate beings!
We will be busy for a few days, but I’ll tweet when I can. Thank you for your friendship! May all be rich with blessings and love!
One of the questions that often comes up for Western practitioners is why is lineage important? As long as you find a teacher you like, what difference does it make if he or she has a lineage or not?
Here is what His Holiness, the 12th Gyalwa Drukpa, head of the Drukpa Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism, has to say about that:
Many years ago in India, Tibet, Japan, Korea, and Thailand many people got enlightened, with the support and encouragement of wise and experienced teachers. Not many people are experiencing this kind of spiritual enlightenment in the West, in modern life and times. Why not? Because they are depending too much on the intellect; they’re not depending on the lineage blessings and experience. You can learn, you can know, but not necessarily be accomplished. You can be very big in your head, but that doesn’t mean anything, except your head will be very heavy. And the teachings won’t go to the heart because there’s no lineage, no transmission of the authentic mind-to-mind non-conceptual blessings, from wisdom heart to your heart.
Q. What is it about authentic lineage that is passed on or transmitted?
A blessing. The blessing is something very mysterious, actually. It is not only mysterious, it has a lot of substance. There are also years and decades, centuries of experience here, amidst the blessings and teaching. There’s an unbelievable sense of transformation of your mental state, liberating your mind and opening your heart. How can I express it, because it’s like tasting honey? It’s sweet. But sweet means what? It’s inexpressible. I feel very happy, delighted, delicious, but I can’t express it—until you taste it, and then we can share something of the experience together. This is one aspect of the blessing, of course, which a book cannot give you.
But this is not the only important aspect. What I care about is that the blessing is truly transforming. Your life transforms into the divine state of mind. Even though you live the same way, everything is different—concepts, precepts, everything is different. Yesterday maybe you were unhappy; perhaps you were stealing, cheating, drinking, or simply dissatisfied or depressed. But last night perhaps by good karma you have seen the appropriate guru and have been inspired to change and today you have changed.
This is not necessarily overnight, it may take years or decades but time doesn’t matter. It changes everything, the whole world, your whole attitude. Your whole life can be transformed. From my point of view, if there is no guru, there is no way to get enlightenment. I’m one hundred percent sure. You have to have a personal transmission from a qualified genuine guru, one who has the lineage and is qualified to give this. If you don’t have the lineage, your practice and path is uncooked, unfinished. If you don’t have a human master who gave you the lineage, it cannot be received from a book. (From an interview, “Blessings Like Honey”, with His Holiness by Lama Surya Das)
So His Holiness is saying that without a lineage, there is no blessing to be passed on to the student. Without a lineage of masters behind the teacher, the teacher really is not qualified to teach.
Karma Chagme (Raga Asya) was a well-known Drikung Kagyu lama who also served as Tertön Migyur Dorje’s attendant for years. Tertön (Treasure Revealer) Migyur Dorje was the founder of the Palyul Lineage of the Nyingma School. He revealed many teachings that he received directly from the deities themselves. He started receiving them when he was just a young boy. Karma Chagme literally followed the young tertön around to write down everything that was revealed to him as the revelations could happen at any time. Here is what Karma Chagme had to say about lineage:
The crucial, primary qualification of a spiritual mentor is stated by Naropa, “The qualification of a spiritual mentor is that he possesses the lineage.” The Single Meaning of the Vajra Speech states, “There is great profundity in the connection within the lineage of the holy Dharma.” The real lineage of the realization of this Dharma, which transfers blessings, is the unbroken rosary of Buddhas. (From A Spacious Path to Freedom, by Karma Chagme , commentary by Ven. Gyaltrul Rinpoche, translated by Alan B. Wallace, Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca, New York, 1998, p.22)
The Palyul Lineage became known in Tibet for the purity of its teachers and the level of accomplishment they had.
Each of the great throne and lineage holders of the Palyul tradition became well known as great scholars of sutra, tantra and the outer and inner sciences. The successive throne holders and monks of the mother and branch Palyul monasteries practice the vinaya code of ethics as the foundational discipline. Upon this foundation, the second root practice, the mind training of the great vehicle of Mahayana called bodhicitta is placed. The aspirant trains to develop both aspirational and practical bodhicitta for the purpose of benefiting all sentient beings.
The tradition of practice that these highly disciplined monks strictly enforced has caused The Palyul Lineage to become known as the tradition of accomplishment. (From www.palyul.org)
Therefore when one is examining a teacher, it is crucial to also examine his or her lineage. If there is no lineage, there can be no accomplishment by the student. Jetsunma says that lineage gives the student security, the trust that the teachings are authentic and have been proven over time again and again. Without that, as sentient beings we do not have the ability to discriminate between true teachers and false teachers.
