From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo (@jalpalyul) on November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving to one and all! Whatever your life is like, let’s take this time together in gratitude for all the blessings we have. Even if this year has been difficult, still let’s leave trouble at the front door and celebrate the good with family and friends!
Thanksgiving really isn’t about food. It is about learning to live together in community and kindness, to respect one another, and share bounty. I pray we all feel connected in unity and love, and come to realize we are one essence, non-dual, always.
Tomorrow is a day for gratitude and Thanksgiving. And people eat. We used to stuff pumpkins with chestnut and fresh bread (homemade) spinach etc instead of turkey as young vegetarians. All grown or bought locally. I had a hand turned flower mill, ground cornmeal, wheat flour soy, etc from flour to grits. Even pastry flour!
I once LOVED cooking. But making the kitchen functional, shopping, saving vegetable stock for healthy soup, the profound connected part was my favorite. I always looked for ways to put a little wheat germ or soy flour a la Adelle Davis in everything. Picked wild greens, gardened, we ate healthy for nothing!
Mmmmm – we made wild huckleberry pie and cobbler. I made my own jams and jellies. In particular, our own Cherries with one or two pits put back. They give a complimentary almond flavor.
We had a dairy cow, made yogurt, butter, cheese, soft and wheels of hard. Like parmesan I learned so much! We cut felled wood for heat.
Those were such beautiful days. I could go on…. Those were the happiest days.
Goodnight, that was your bedtime story, Beloveds! Sweet dreams!
Feeling depression is a sign to stop, look, and listen, evaluate, also a sign that one has become too self-absorbed. Give to others!
No matter how one rationalizes, rage and anger are another way to say hate. Begin change by loving!
My main focus on twitter is to teach Dharma, to connect with friends, and enjoy the many different cultures. I don’t care for argument and fighting. I do care to discuss in a calm way with the intention that all parties walk away with a gift.
Put on your boots and gloves and weed your Spiritual garden. You may not like what you see there! Pull it up by the root.
From http://www.polyvore.com/best_2009/collection?id=41015
From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:
Looking forward to Khenpo Tenzin Norgay’s visit and teaching. I admire and like him so much! He is not into politics and is pure. He seems to have no ego issues and is not one to climb on other’s backs. He is very kind, much Bodhicitta, respectful, never rude. I don’t like rudeness at all. I never have. And if I myself am rude (mostly accidental) I really take myself to task, examine my view. It is best to do that quickly before habit sets in. Anyway, why waste one’s time yammering if one has nothing useful to say? Shut the old pie-hole and practice kindness, and do no harm.
There are so many versions of Dharma now. We have tasters, who sample and take only what they like to heart. Thus they make up their own religion. There are those who talk day and night about how enlightened they are, thus demonstrating they are ordinary. Then the ones who collect Dharma as one collects stuff. Mainly to strut and fluff up their resume, showing they have a very shallow understanding of the point of Dharma.
And there are those who in a sociopathic way like to destroy; people, lineages, Sangha, method and result. No reason, other than they enjoy the power and the drama, the calamity, the pain – it makes one feel potent, important. Sad to say they will have an awful bardo and rebirth experience. One then continues wandering through the realms and suffering of samsara endlessly, as crazed as a bee in a jar.
Why smash your head on the jar over and over again? Better to work the path with character, purity, kind intention devoid of pride and anger. Then there will be actual progress, and depth.
One’s ignorance really runs the show. When one acts like they will never face the karma they have made, they do not know what the Buddha taught. In fact they do not understand the Guru’s teaching on good motivation, and taking care of one’s own poisons, living the life of a true Buddhist by giving rise to Bodhicitta, and preparing for death. If it were me and I were dying, I would be in final retreat, not puffing up ego.
I am weary of lies but my skin is thicker. I wonder if it will ever stop, and allow me to do my work, my spiritual vocation. I’ll keep plugging, and I have the confidence of His Holiness Karma Kuchen, as I enjoyed with His Holiness Kyabje Penor Rinpoche, and will be content as a Palyul Lineageholder to uphold my Lineage and her people, as well as dharma. So I will teach and learn. I am reminded that when you are up to your neck in alligators, it is hard to remember you came to drain the swamp.
From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo (@jalpalyul) on November 21, 2010
In Tibetan Vajrayana one absolutely needs a Guru. It is the Guru that ripens and turns the mind. One cannot learn Tantra from books. If the mind is not matured, purified through empowerment, there is no chance for ultimate benefit. Empowerment empowers the student to practice. Without these blessings one’s understanding of Dharma is shallow and there is not much faith. Not much benefit.
Without a Guru, one can talk Dharma only in a shallow way, and the result is merely intellectual. There is no view. If you practice without a qualified Guru you will do exactly as you want, and end up with exactly what you have – obscured mind.
In Empowerment the student connects with a Lineage of ripening, unbroken from the source. If the ripening has no past, it has no future
The Guru in Vajrayana is the main source of refuge, as Guru is the condensed essence of the Three Precious Jewels. The three jewels are Buddha, Dharma and Sangha (spiritual community). The Lama represents all three. All are needed.
To hang out and simply discuss Dharma, to endlessly pontificate from no source is useless. The mind becomes hard, and ego grows. This is not to say that one should not read and study; this is essential. Still, the Guru is the actual guide, and again, if enlightenment is the goal, Guru is the source. The Tulku system is based on that. It is based on an unbroken Lineage of accomplishment beginning with the source of the cycle being taught.
Talk about disappointing. I hear a “monk” stole the robes and ritual items from a monk I know. This is a Buddhist? Has he even heard of Vinaya? Vinaya is the code of conduct for the Ordained at all levels. It was laid down by Lord Buddha Himself. To steal another monk’s robes is heinous! My conclusion is this was a thug dressed as a monk, a rogue monk who thinks he is somehow superior to Vinaya, or a mentally ill person. Perhaps this Monk was uneducated. Though in order to wear robes one must learn the Vinaya or cannot observe the conduct. All this is troubling,
And a sign of how confused Spirituality is now. How totally off the mark – fake teachers everywhere, giving confusion rather than wisdom.
This is truly the time of Kaliyuga – dark. True Dharma is not easy to find. The teaching is that eventually Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will not be able to return because there is not enough merit. So this evening I hope to tweech on merit: why, what how, and how one goes about gathering it
So please stay tuned for tonight’s tweeching, assuming all goes well. See you there!
From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo (@jalpalyul)
We must reach for a planet with no violence and no hate. We must learn to respect. We are the western Tibetan Buddhist community. If we cannot display love and compassion, tolerance and understanding, who will?
From the first time the Buddha sat, he taught not to harm others. The first turning of the dharma wheel – purify. Do no harm. The second turning – the Bodhicitta, both relative and ultimate. The third turning of the dharma wheel – establish view – emptiness of phenomena, the nature of mind.
At any moment on earth there are always 80 great Mahasiddhas. Always pray and make offerings to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas!
In Mahayana the two “eyes” of method are relative bodhicitta and ultimate bodhicitta. Both are necessary and essential. One is like giving what is essentially built from samsara. The other, ultimate, arises from Buddhanature. If you could feed poor folks and care for them for the rest of their lives; if you were that rich; it would still be relative and ordinary, although fabulous! To attain supreme enlightenment and return to teach others how to exit samsara, that is the ultimate bodhicitta and the ultimate enlightenment. To return until all are liberated, this is the ultimate aspiration and result!
