Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Want a Taste?

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Excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series

From the first day that I began teaching until the last day that I ever have the opportunity to teach, I will invariably speak of compassion. If compassion were ice cream, by the time you finish with me you will have tasted every flavor at least 475 times. So, now we will talk about another flavor of compassion.

Previously, we have discussed why compassion is necessary. Then we spoke about how to begin to apply that compassion. We talked about various ways in which one could be motivated by compassion, as well as thoughts that you might have found moving or encouraging and that were geared to deepen and soften your mind. These are very important. One of the greatest, most precious jewels that you will hopefully attain in traveling the Buddhist path, or any spiritual path, is to have your mind softened and deepened.

There is an expression in one of our prayers, that one’s mind becomes ‘hard as horn.’ The minute I first read that particular phrase, it touched me deeply. Every time I have thought about it, it has meant more and more to me. One’s mind becomes hard as horn because of the discrimination, the conceptualization that is involved with the idea of ego, because of the pride and arrogance that arise from our belief in self-nature as being inherently real. We have established in our minds all of the clothing, the dogma, the discrimination of this idea of self as being real. These things become rigid in our minds, and our minds are no longer gentle.

The moment you decide in some subconscious way you have an ego, that you are a self, you have to start gathering the constructs of self-identity around you. You have to determine where self ends and other begins. In order to do that your mind has to be filled with conceptualization. In order to be a self you have to survive as a self.  In order to maintain this conceptualization that makes survival possible, your mind has to become rigid. So if I say to you that your mind is rigid, you shouldn’t think I have insulted you. I am talking about a condition all sentient beings have, and it is a condition that is the cause of a great deal of suffering.

When I say that all sentient beings are suffering, I don’t wish it to be a real downer for you. That is not the point. Realizing all sentient beings are suffering is meant to soften your mind, because to realize all sentient beings are suffering, you have to be willing to examine phenomena and to examine yourself in a deep way, in a way that you don’t normally do. Therefore, you have to challenge your concepts. Why is that? Because naturally, and without any teaching or any encouragement, you will try to convince yourself that you are happy.

You may do this in much the same way that a person who is hungry and unable to eat will do something to take his mind off his hunger. Let’s say its 10 o’clock. You’re on the job, you’re famished, and you know you can’t get off for lunch until 12 o’clock. You are going to try to think of something else. You’re going to try to keep your mind busy, or try not to focus on your hunger. In much the same way, if you are suffering and you don’t have the technology to remove from your mind the causes of this suffering, you are going to try to convince yourself that you are okay. You are going to put a band-aid on it, and in order for you to do so, your mind has to become more hardened.

It is useful to really look around at sentient beings and see they are suffering. It is also useful to look at yourself. This is not meant to make you depressed or sad. It is meant to give you what it takes to go to the next step, which is to try to determine for yourself the way to remove the causes of suffering.

Even though there are times when hunger is not comfortable, when you would rather not think about it, there are also times when hunger is useful in that it keeps you alive. In the same way, while it may be uncomfortable for you to think that all sentient beings are suffering, it is actually quite useful for you to realize that. It is this realization that will give you the foundation and the ability to turn your mind in such a way that you have to seek out the causes of suffering, and how you can remove them from your mind.

It is not useful in any long-term way to try to convince yourself, by putting a band-aid on an ulcer, that everything is okay, because you still have to face the same things that you’ve always had to face. Nothing has changed. You still have to face old age, sickness and death. Neither does it help you to be helpful to other sentient beings. Look at the animal realm. Go to India and see how the oxen are beaten and tied up in order to be worked. They are worked all of their lives. That is suffering. Look at all the different ways that other creatures suffer just out of ignorance, because they have no way to help themselves.

Once you have determined suffering does exist, there is no need to dwell on it in a morbid way. Rather, you should think, “This is how it is. Now I have to realize that there is, in fact, a cure, there is a way to deal with this.” It is not useful to dwell on suffering without also accepting the antidote. In other words, if you just think about hunger all the time, and you don’t eat, that is stupid. When hunger is no longer useful to you, it is simply suffering. You should use your awareness of suffering to prod you to seek and practice the antidote to suffering. Use your awareness; it is your tool.

© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

In Emptiness, Fullness

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In emptiness – fullness

In silence – song

In stillness – movement

Going, coming, sleeping, waking, empty, full

Speaking, listening, bitter and sweet

The same, in essence.

This much is known

And old truth and new

Kindness is the way

Love, the display

Meaning in method

A blessing for today

Let’s try it.

Let’s try it.

This way

© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

A Constant Wish

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The kind of practice that results in supreme enlightenment is the continuous, natural, graceful effort.  It is a happy, blissful,and  joyful effort.  We should always be in the posture of the teachings.  That means that you literally walk around with your heart like a bowl, your mind like a bowl and you are in the posture of a constant wish:

“Please Lord Guru

Change me into whatever form is necessary.

Change my mind – Change my heart – Purify my karma.

Please Lord Guru

The only thing that I request that you do is to not let me remain the same.

Please Lord Guru

Constantly pour the nectar of your Dharma into me.

Lord Guru,

Do not abandon me in samsara.

Do not leave me in the condition that I am now.

Change me utterly and completely to where I do not recognize

Myself as an ordinary samsaric being any longer.

Think of the Guru like a mother bird.  Constantly remain in the posture of beseeching the Guru for teachings.

The thing that you have been terrified of, the thing that you have guarded

yourself against, is the very thing that you should be requesting constantly:

That you should be transformed and changed according to the wishes of the

Guru.

Do not let me be separate from your teachings even for a moment.

Have courage.

© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

Thoughtfulness

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Awww! Our Dear Palyul Khenpo Norgay gave me the most luscious big bouquet I’ve ever seen. http://plixi.com/p/43798792

Many thanks to Dear Khenpo Norgay for this enormous gift of flowers. Frantic hunting for HUGE VASE! http://plixi.com/p/43799122

That was so kind and uplifting to receive such a lovely gift from Khenpo-La! Means the world. That’s the kind of thing Kyabje HHPR would do!

One year for my birthday Kyabje HHPR gave me two carved silver vases with a dozen long-stemmed roses + baby’s breath in each. So kind.

So this reminds me of the fragrance, the nectar that was Palyul when it was run by Kyabje HHPR’s uncompromised Boddhicitta. I miss HIM.

It is healing, joyful to see Kyabje HHPR’s uncompromising LOVE remains for Palul and our world EMAHO! OM AH HUNG VAJRA GURU PEMA SIDDHI HUNG

Faults of Cyclic Existence

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It is gorgeous today! Breezy, cool in shade, mostly sunny. A day to be in love with! Our neighbor came up and told us weird news.

Two of their beef calves were killed in the field last night. They were nearly 300lbs each. What could have done that? Bear? Big Cat?

I wonder about mountain Lion or something. I’ve sent someone over to see carcass. Looks like some flank torn, leg pulled back and up.

OM MANI PEDME HUNG for the poor things, will offer my practice for them. 🙁 But you know what? They said the next stop was the feedlot.

It is hard to imagine the suffering these calves go through in a feed lot. They live in pens, have a fetid environment, and they live to be to be killed, to be delicious. They live with their feet hurting always, not allowed to move. Just marble up, KIDS! Stand and eat!

This brings to mind Buddha’s teachings about the sufferings of all beings. Animals suffer from fear and stupidity. Farm animals can easily overpower their keepers. Elephants in the Circus and other animals can take trainers down. But they are fearful and ignorant and unaware they can be in charge.

OM TARE TU TARE TURE SOHA may mother Buddha Tara bless and care for suffering beings. May all suffering in all forms end! Humans suffer from old age, sickness and death. Most never think about that. They think about distraction with which to hide the inevitable.

Buddhists plan, practice and work for a noble death and a good, high rebirth. I do. May ALL beings awaken!

We should awaken in recognition of the clear, undefiled emptiness of the Primordial wisdom state. This is the very ground of being.

It is our very NATURE, as it IS. We must apply method diligently in order to awaken to the true state of recognition- Buddhahood!

And then return, life after life awakened and able to bring much benefit. This is the path of every Bodhisattva! The way of Buddhahood.

From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Rejoicing

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An excerpt from a teaching called Viewing the Guru:  The Seven Limb Puja by Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo on October 18, 1995

The next posture that we maintain constantly is that of rejoicing.  Constantly rejoice. This posture of rejoicing actually isn’t like, “Walk around being happy!”  That would be like putting on a false face.  You have all this samsaric past in you and yet you’re putting this happy face on it.   That’s not what we’re talking about.

We’re talking about rejoicing in the accomplishments of the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas, of all those who have achieved realization.  We’re talking about rejoicing in the accomplishments of others.  In the face of the Guru, as the Guru’s child and inseparable from the Guru’s nature, instead we say, “Oh, this one has crossed the ocean of suffering,” and rejoice in the accomplishment of the Guru.  The accomplishment of the Guru reflects on one’s own karma, if you think about it. “I rejoice in the accomplishment of the Guru, and now I am in the presence of the Guru, and now the accomplishment of the Guru then becomes available to me, as well.”  How do you think the accomplishment of the Guru could ever become available to you if you do not rejoice in that respectfully, if you do not give rise to the recognition of the joy of that?  If you say, “Well, I wonder what she really has accomplished?  I mean, let’s think about it.  I mean she really doesn’t pay much attention to facts.  She doesn’t know any of those lists.”  You know  those lists that you all have to know? So you might be saying to yourself, “She doesn’t know any of those lists, so how good can she be?”  So that’s the kind of thought that you might have about your teacher, and maybe in this case you would be right.  But in this case you would be wrong for you, because it doesn’t help you to think like that!  If you find fault in the face of your Guru, you will never achieve realization.  Period.  That’s it.  If you don’t recognize the nature of the Guru, you cannot recognize your own nature.  It simply will not occur. So instead, we recognize the qualities of the Guru.  We see that this is the very extension of Guru Rinpoche’s miraculous compassion, that this is primordial empty nature and luminosity, non-dual, expressed in the world in a form that I can understand. This is beyond flaw.  Because that’s what it is.  It is not a human being.  It is not a samsaric being.  It is not a prop.  It is not a thing.  It is not ‘out there.’  It is the very display of our nature, in a form that we can recognize.  So we rejoice in that.

That’s how it’s relevant to our practice, but in general, rejoicing in the welfare of those who have accomplished Dharma includes rejoicing in the Buddhas who have crossed the ocean of suffering and returned for the sake of sentient beings: rejoicing in the Bodhisattvas who hold back from the brink of nirvana for the sake of sentient beings; rejoicing even in practitioners who have accomplished, who are now accomplishing, Dharma in order to benefit sentient beings.  When you hear that one of your peers has completed Ngondro or completed some other practice, or had a really profound relationship with their practice or they are really going into it and they are really moving on it, the faulty human tendency would be to say, “Well, I could do that.”  Or,  “Well, yeah, but they’re not taking out the garbage!  I mean, they’re practicing all day, but you never see them take out the garbage.”  That’s the kind of tendency that we have.

Instead, we are talking about constantly rejoicing in the achievements of others.  That is a way to increase your own accomplishment as well.  But in terms of practicing with the Guru, you should think that, in fact, we are looking at the face of primordial nature, we are looking at the nature of emptiness, at the display of luminosity. The Guru appears in the world, and we are rejoicing in the accomplishment of the Guru, rejoicing in the magical, mystical and miraculous appearance in the world, for the sake of sentient beings.  We are constantly rejoicing in that to where there is no room for grasping and clinging and judging and all those things that we normally do.

© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

From “The Way to Freedom” by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

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“As long as prisoners do not know that they are in prison and do not perceive the life of prison is difficult and painful to bear they will not develop any genuine wish to free themselves from prison.

The same is true of samsara: as long as you are unable to perceive. The defects of life within this cycle of existence, you  will never develop a genuine wish to gain nirvana, freedom from samsara.

If we remain idle and do not think seriously about karmic law, we might feel that we are not accumulating any negative actions and that we are good practioners.

If we analyze our thoughts and actions closely, however, we will find we are engaging in idle speech, harming others, or engaging in covetousness on a daily basis.

We will find we actually lack the primary factor of deep conviction Necessary to really observe the law of karma.” From: THE WAY to FREEDOM by His Holiness Dalai Lama of #Tibet @Dalailama#Buddhism

Something told me to open my book to pg108. And there were jewels there, the unfathomable wisdom of HH Dalai Lama.  I gathered them for YOU!  Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Excerpt From The Way to Freedom

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by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

There are no physical markers by which to measure progress between positive and negative forces in consciousness.  Changes begin when you first identify & recognize your delusions, such as anger and jealousy. One then needs to know the antidote to delusion, and that knowledge is gained by listening to the teachings. There is NO simple way to remove delusions. They cannot be extracted surgically.  They have to be recognized, and then, through the practice of these teachings can be gradually reduced and then completely eliminated!

These teachings offer the means to free oneself from delusion; a path that eventually leads to freedom from all suffering and to the BLISS of enlightenment. The more one comes to understand the Dharma, or Buddhist teachings, the weaker will be the grip of pride, hatred, greed, and other negative emotions that cause so much suffering. Applying this understanding in daily life over a period of months and years will gradually transform the mind because despite the fact that it often seems otherwise, the mind is subject to change.

Though we realize the harm caused by our delusions, such as damage done to ourselves and others when we act out of anger we still fall under its influence. Thus an untamed mind throws us recklessly into the abyss instead of stopping when it sees the edge.

All merit dedicated to the continued Long Life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet. Gratitude for the great blessing of His kind words! All benefit!

Similarly even I have taught that self-honesty in viewing one’s faults and taking the necessary antidote is truly the way. -JAL

Understanding AH

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A Relic from the First Ahkon Lhamo, housed at Kunzang Palyul Choling in Poolesville, MD

 

From a Series of Tweets by @ahkonlhamo

Don’t get misled! “Ah” is Sanskrit or Tibetan. It is not Japanese or Chinese. It is the seed vowel of our Primordial Wisdom Nature, the very ground of being. Buddha Primordial! It is our own pristine face. Please don’t be confused.

It is so essential to understand “Ah,” as it is the primordial ground of display. The ground – Buddha nature. The path – Dharma, or method.  The fruit is Buddhahood. Notice the relationship of seed, ground; and fruit, result. Cause and effect! The result can never be other than the seed. One cannot awaken to Buddhahood if the ground and path, seed and method are wrong. Ground/method/result, seed/path/fruit.  THIS is what the Buddha taught. Do not be confused by false teachings. There is no magic, miracle cure for samsara. It’s not for slackers!

Dedicated to all those who in their ignorance, oppose the Buddha’s teaching.  May their afflictions be antidoted.  May they find peace and happiness.

© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

Introduction to Mantra Recitation

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from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

If you see any animal dying, even a bug or worm, recite audibly *OM AMI DEWA HRI* then *OM MANI PEDME HUNG* to bless them, for a good rebirth.

If you or someone you know suffers from mental confusion recite *OM AH RA PA TSA NA DHI* to Bodhisattva Manjushri and then *DHI D D D….. At least one full MALA of each.

If you are on the spiritual path and wish to find your Guru or repair any connection with GURU recite *OM AH HUNG BENZAR GURU PEMA SIDDHI HUNG* That is the Mantra for GURU Padmasambhava, the lotus born Guru.

If one sees a disaster, natural or otherwise; or many suffering pray to Tara, Mother of all Buddhas recite; *OM TARE TU TARE TURE SOHA*

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