A sacred space for everyone
The following is a full length video teaching offered by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo at Kunzang Palyul Choling:
Using the example of Mandarava whose love for her Guru and the path was so strong that even a rock could not hold her from that – Jetsunma talks about the western belief that we should be in control at all times. This renders us unable to truly love. We will benefit from allowing that love and passion to be our guide.
Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo. All rights reserved
The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Neurotic Interaction to Guru Yoga”
You need to determine for yourself, “Did I choose this to be what it is? And have I gone through the entire process? And do I know what I’m thinking? Or not.” It is not about being true to the guru. It’s not like you’re married and can’t go out with anybody else. It’s not like that. Being true to yourself: you have this opportunity. Let this be the one arena in which you do not do the little neurotic dance. Let this be the one area in which you accept the responsibility of watching the relationship with one’s teacher as though one were watching a display of one’s own mind on an external projection thing, like a TV. Able to learn about oneself, able to determine.
And so this experience, then, the relationship with one’s teacher, becomes extremely useful and extremely pure. There is no exerting of one will over the other. That’s not what’s happening here. It is the development of a pure understanding, free of the usual habitual tendency and contrivance that we engage in. We all do this. We all do this. I even find myself doing this. Sometimes I’ll think, “Oh, god, it’s been too long since I’ve called my teacher. I’ve gotta call him.” That’s so ridiculous, so ridiculous to think like that. And then also to think, “Oh, maybe he’ll be mad at me when I call him. Maybe it’s been too long.” It’s so ridiculous. Completely ridiculous. Because instead you should be asking yourself, “In my continuum, in my mindstream, where is my teacher? What is that? Where is the light of my heart? Is it there? Is it free to be exactly what it can be? Or have I superimposed all of my ideas about relationships on it? Is it time now, in a natural way, do I need to hear the voice of my teacher? Do I need to feel that connection again? Do I need to tell him that his efforts with me have not been wasteful, that I am carrying on his wishes, that I’m doing my best to please him by benefiting sentient beings?” Something like that. Where is the light of my life? That’s the true relationship in there. It doesn’t matter what you do on the outside.
As a teacher, the thing I hate worst in the world is the student that does a whole lot of this, and none of this. It’s not in there. It’s not happening. I mean, boys and girls, I hate to tell you, most of the teachers and myself included, were not born under a rock. They know the difference. So where is the heart? That’s what it’s really about, isn’t it? Where is the heart?
In that way, if you practice purely in that way–and I found this to be truth for me–I know that this is true personally on a deep level. If I practice like that, then my teacher teaches me constantly, whether he is here or not. My teacher teaches me through you, constantly. Don’t even go there! Thinking that now you’re going to be a teacher! Don’t even think it! I saw that little “Oh, yeah, I can do that!” No, it’s true, my teacher teaches me through you. I get to see, I learn so much, through you. I watch how your minds play with things. I watch how you respond to things. I watch how you let go, how you get caught up, and I learn about myself, of course. Of course. And I also learn about the power of the Three Precious Jewels. I have watched them transform lives–unbelievable. Unbelievable!
Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo. All rights reserved
The following is a full length video teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo offered at Kunzang Palyul Choling:
The times are getting darker, and in order to benefit beings we need to come up with creative ways of reaching them. One of those ways is the 24-hour prayer vigil – an American Drupchen. Another is mantra in music. His Holiness Penor Rinpoche has said “mantra is indestructible” – so those who hear it receive blessings no matter how unusual.
Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo. All rights reserved
From The Spiritual Path: A Compilation of Teachings by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
It is not enough to visualize the form of a teacher or lama, thinking that you see only a man or a woman. Such a shallow perception does not put you in touch with what is truly happening. In fact, it causes virtually all the value and function of the lama to be lost to you. Guru Rinpoche comes to us as a direct emanation of the Dharmakaya Buddha, Amitabha. The nature of Amitabha is non-dual. The Dharmakaya is clear, crystalline, uncontrived. It is mind as it is—without limitation or conceptualization of any kind.
This is difficult to understand because we have never had a direct experience of our essential nature. Even our moments of deepest meditation—of what we might call Samadhi—are merely intermediate stages, not to be misconstrued as the ultimate, true realization that occurs when one reaches liberation from all conceptualization. The nature of mind is much like a crystal: clear and uncontrived. It has no sense of self and other. Its nature is such that it can reflect all forms of emanation, and there is nothing that is separate from that all-pervading mind. From that nature, Guru Rinpoche is born. Guru Rinpoche can be understood as a form of the Dharmakaya that is visible to our eyes. He can also be understood, more correctly, as the result of the all-pervading compassion of that mind. If it were possible for the Dharmakaya to reveal itself in some form, that form would be, and is, Guru Rinpoche.
The nature of Dharmakaya is compassion, but not as we usually think of it. Humans generally understand compassion to be directed toward a certain object, for example: “I feel compassion for you.” In our language, that means, “I am sorry for you.” True compassion, in the nature of mind—in Dharmakaya—is quite different. It is objectless. It is not directed toward any specific other, and thus it is all pervading. Why is it not directed toward any specific other? Because in the nature of true mind there is no other. If this all-pervading nature, in its non-dual reality, considers that there is no other, then it must fully embrace and never keep itself away from any object. That is true compassion because it is unconditional.
Such compassion cannot be earned or bought; nor can it be destroyed. It is the nature of the primordial mind. There is nothing you can do to distance yourself from this mind, which is your true nature. You can cover it up by developing thoughts of duality, contrivance, and judgment. You can create so much non-virtue that you fail to perceive that nature, but you cannot distance yourself from it. It is still your nature, unaltered and indestructible. That which is seemingly far away is therefore quite close; in fact, it is non-dual with all that you are.
© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo
The following is a full length video teachings offered by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo at Kunzang Palyul Choling:
Every minute counts. Every mantra counts. Every time you engage in self-honesty, it will bring benefit beyond measure. Every time you are compassionate toward others, you insure a better future.
Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo. All rights reserved
The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:
Tashi Delek! I have been invited to take refuge in retreat land in New York by Palyul,where I can do retreat. William L Cassidy will be free. My family and I, land and accomplishment are now unsafe. Palyulis my faith, life and conviction His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, His Holiness Karma Kuchen, His Holiness Ngawang Tenzin, and Muksang Rinpoche have been kind to me. I will go underground for safety while Cassidy is loose.
OM TARE TUTARE TURE PUNYE PUSHTIM AH YOU PUSHTIM KURU YE SOHA
Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo. All rights reserved
The following is a full length video teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo offered at Kunzang Palyul Choling:
The narcotic of samsara encourages us to believe that we will stay the same forever. Self-honesty tells us differently. Jetsunma helps us see the reality of impermanence and karma in our lives. Living a life of virtue will bring us ultimate happiness.
Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo. All rights reserved
From The Spiritual Path: A Compilation of Teachings by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
Dharmakaya is objectless compassion. It is everywhere. It upholds all manifested reality. All that we see, all appearances, are merely the arising of that mind in its emanation phase. Unfortunately, we have contrived a dualistic perception of self and other. We have acted against other. We have judged other. We have spent countless lives trying to earn the approval and love of other. While our true nature is untouched and perfectly pure, we have developed a dusty coating upon it. That coating is quite thick in the minds of sentient beings. Though their nature remains pure, their perception of that nature is not a true one. What we need is a way to see that true face. We need to discover firsthand the nature of non-dual mind, of that all-pervading compassion.
If this pure nature is the inner reality, then the appearance of Guru Rinpoche to the world is the outer reality. He is born from the heart of Amitabha Buddha, the face and name of the Dharmakaya itself. He entered into the world, a world that did not know Him, and a world that could not give Him birth. And yet He came. We are told that He was born upon a lotus. One way to understand this is to realize that such a pure and undefiled reality could not be born from the level of human delusion. Another way is to relate the lotus to your own mind. The lotus has its roots in mud and muck, yet appears on the surface as a pure, fresh, beautiful flower. Is that not like your own nature? Despite the mud and muck of eons of cyclic existence and the resulting delusion, that nature remains pure. It can still be born directly from the muck.
Upon that pure lotus appears Guru Rinpoche, just as within your own purified mind you realize the nature of the compassionate Guru. But in a mind polluted by judgment, stiffened by conceptualization, unstable through non-virtue, the Guru cannot be realized. He is born upon a pure lotus. Therefore, we make wishing prayers and do practices that we might finally see the Guru. If, without the purified mind, we cannot truly perceive the nature of the Guru, why did He come to a world unprepared for Him? Only a true understanding of all-pervading compassion can solve this mystery. Due to the Dharmakaya’s all-pervading, compassionate nature, it was possible for Guru Rinpoche to appear as a human and walk upon the earth while still purely displaying the uncontrived, fully realized nature of mind.
How was He received? How was He perceived by those around Him? Differently by each one. In the mind of delusion, it is possible to see the most precious gem as just another rhinestone. However, a few were able to perceive that this was beyond the ken of man and woman, that He was the precious Nature incarnate.
© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo
The following is a full length video teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo offered at Kunzang Palyul Choling:
“Pure View” is a central concept in Vajrayana. It’s often misunderstood and Jetsunma brings clarity to this, giving you ways to enjoy and progress n the Buddha’s path.
Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo. All rights reserved
The following is a full length video teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo offered at Kunzang Palyul Choling:
In this introduction, Jetsunma explains the logic that Buddhists use to follow the path which leads to Enlightenment. She also helps us navigate the various available paths to us as westerners.
Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo. All rights reserved