Boundless Treasury Of Blessings | Tibetan Buddhist Altar

Boundless Treasury of Blessings is now available on Amazon in paperback and kindle versions. This forward prepared by Khenpo Pem Sheri Sherpa:

NAMO GURU DEWA DAKI YE

It is a great blessing and honor to have an opportunity to give a short introduction about Her Eminence Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo and her noble activities.

Her Eminence Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo is a Western reincarnation of a Bodhisattva who practices Secret Mantrayana and is spreading the Buddha’s doctrine in the West in a way that is accessible to Westerners. I have known her since 1996, when His Holiness Pema Norbu Rinpoche enthroned her at Namdroling Monastery in Bylakuppe, India. She is the founder of Kunzang Odsal Palyul Changchub Chöling(KPC), which is located in Poolesville, MD, USA. In this Dharma center, there is 24/7 prayer, group practice, recitation, and other spiritual and community activities; and it is open for the public as well.

In order to understand who Jetsunma is and what KPC is we must know a brief historical introduction to Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. The founder of Buddhism, Buddha Shakyamuni was born in Lumbini grove in Nepal, the son of King Sudhodana and Queen Maya Devi. His early life was spent in palatial luxury, and he excelled in all the pursuits of his time, both academic and athletic. Slowly he began to doubt the validity of his worldly life. At the age of 29, he renounced his worldly life, and left the palace. After six years of unwavering meditation, at the age 35, he attained enlightenment.

Through his infinite compassion, Buddha started to teach, but his teaching was so vast and profound that it was broadly divided into three categories or levels which are now known as the Hinayana School, Mahayana School, and the Vajrayana or Secret Mantrayana School, which uses a variety of skillful methods to bring about that same vast and profound realization in a relatively short time. These different traditions were gradually propagated all over India, Nepal, and many other Asiancountries. The Buddha’s teachings are still unbroken today. The Hinayanateachings have been preserved in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia and other countries in Southeast Asia. The Mahayana teachings have been preserved in China, Japan, and Korea; and the Vajrayana teachings have been preserved mainly in Tibet, Bhutan, and the Himalayan part of Nepal.

Tibet was doubly fortunate. Not only was it one of the few countries in which Vajrayana continued to be practiced, it was also the only one in which the full range of teaching, from all three traditions, was transmitted and preserved.

Over the centuries these many strands of the Buddha’s teaching have been handed down from master to students, as demonstrated by the lineage holder. Today there are four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Of these four main schools, the Nyingma school was the very first Buddhist school in Tibet. It was establishedaround the eighth century and is known as the old-translation school. The Kagyu, Shakya, and Gelug schools came after the tenth century and are called new-translation schools.

The first Nyingma school masters were mainly the Indian masters Shantarakshita, Vimalamitra and Padmasambhava, whom the Tibetans refer to as Guru Rinpoche, the precious Master. These masters handed the teachings down through fully realized Tibetan masters such as Longchen, Jigme Lingpa, Mipham Rinpoche and others. Within the Nyingma lineage, there are also six mother monasteries: Palyul,Kathog, Shechen, Dzogchen, Mindroling, and Dorje Drag.

Palyul was founded by Rigdzin Kunzang Sherab, the elder brother of the previous Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo. The lineage was passed down from Rigdzin KunzangSherab to Pema Lhundrup Gyatso and Drubwang Pema Norbu Rinpoche throughtwelve Palyul lineage holders to His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche and Her Eminence Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo. All the teachings have been passed down unbroken from master to students until the present master.

Her Eminence Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo is none other than an emanation of the great yogini Mandarava who was the consort of Guru Padmasambhava. Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo is a Bodhisattva who has boundless love and compassion toward all sentient beings. A Bodhisattva is one who has bodhichitta (the mind of enlightenment), one who has transcended samsara. To be a genuine Buddhist practitioner, you must go through a traditional system. First, you must take refuge in front of the Three Jewels, the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and also, in Vajrayana, in front of the root master (the guru). After that we also need to arousethe Bodhichitta. Without Bodhichitta we cannot possibly attain the ultimate goal of complete enlightenment. Then in the path of Dzogchen, Bodhicitta must be aroused because it is the only doorway to Dzogchen. In essence, all Dzogchenpractice is guru yoga practice. It is a special, powerful, skillful means for accomplishing this path and attaining the siddhis, spiritual accomplishments. Just practicing only guru yoga will directly destroy dualistic thoughts. Then one canrest in the unaltered natural state of awareness (rigpa) itself.

I think Western people are very good at analyzing and researching the reason to practice, but in order to accomplish the practice itself, one must have a good master who can show the methods of skillful means and confer blessings. That could be the reason that the Bodhisattva, Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo, came in Western form to teach Western people in their own language.

I wish and pray that this book will bring immense benefit to all the Western people as well as whoever sees it, reads it, contemplates it, and meditates on it. May all sentient beings be free from the ocean of suffering. May all sentient beings attain complete enlightenment in this very life.