Uncategorized | Tibetan Buddhist Altar

Invitation

July 30, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an invitation offered to participants of the Palyul Ling Retreat in upstate New York:

After the wonderful experience of being in New York at Kyabje Penor Rinpoche’s center with our precious Palyul family, many people wish the summer would last. If you are one of these, Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo and the sangha of Kunzang Palyul Choling joyfully invite you to come visit our center and continue your practice experience.

We would like to share our lovely temple enriched with the blessings of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche’s first Rinchen Terzod outside of Tibet, and all the supports for Dharma practice. We have teaching and meditation rooms – open 24 hours a day for prayers, and a continuous prayer vigil around-the-clock.

If you like the outdoors, you can walk freely in our 72-acre peace park and enjoy the 15 Stupas that grace the property there. One of them contains precious relics of Terton Migyur Dorje, a gift from His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, who consecrated the Stupa. Many people have experienced tremendous healing from circumambulating the Migyur Dorje Stupa with faith. For those of you with the transmission, we also have a private Tsa-Lung hut on the property and weekly practices there.

You will be welcomed by our large ordained Sangha – many of whom you know – and who uphold the practice calendar with daily tsog, and frequent group practices. All of this we’d like to share with you so that you may deepen your practice and fulfill your deepest wishes for enlightenment in this lifetime.

We hope you will visit soon!

www.tara.org

Astrology

July 29, 2011 by Norma

Ok, someone has done a bit of work and you’re here to tell them what’s wrong with it. The job needs revision but try to revise in such a way that everyone is happy. You can correct things without damaging someone’s ego or wounding their spirit. If the other side is incommunicado, go back and try again. If you have gotten corrected, be accepting. This is an excellent day to attend to health matters, choose a new doctor, or get a tune up of any sort. A perfectionist is on the job, which is better for machines than for people. “Hannah Arendt said, “In order to go on living one must try to escape the death involved in perfectionism.” Be gentle with yourself and others. On another front, do your absolute best to look fabulous today. Brush up, spiff up, it’ll make all the difference!

The daily astrology post affects everyone. Because individual charts vary, the circumstances outlined in the post will affect people differently. Some will feel this energy in the personal arena, some in finances, some with children or family, some in work and so forth. There are many departments of life. Look to see where the dynamic affects you!

Love That Sustains

July 10, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

How can you develop the kind of love that sustains itself? How can you cultivate compassion like a fire that never runs out of wood to burn? That never goes out. The fire of compassion is based on being courageous enough to come to an understanding of suffering. You have to come to a deep understanding that all sentient beings are suffering endlessly and helplessly, and bring yourself to the point where you can’t bear it. Cultivate the understanding that even though you know you can’t see all sentient beings, you can’t feel them, you can’t touch them, still, you want nothing more than to rid hatred, greed and ignorance from their minds, because you understand this is the cause of their suffering. You understand the whole dynamics of suffering: why it exists, how it exists, where it exists, how it grows, and at that point you become deeply committed.

You can begin by renouncing the causes of suffering yourself. If you have not renounced the causes of suffering, you can’t do a thing for anyone else, and so it takes a tremendous amount of courage. According to the Buddha, hatred, greed and ignorance in the mind are the causes of suffering. Hatred, greed and ignorance are preceded by desire. If there is no desire in the mind, there is no root from which these poisons can grow; there is no cause for hatred, greed and ignorance.

Motivation That Nourishes the Path

July 9, 2011 by Holly

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

It’s almost impossible to attain the goal of selfless compassion, where you commit every fiber of your being to benefiting all sentient beings, seen and unseen, without a moment’s hesitation. It’s almost impossible to develop the kind of compassion where you understand that all sentient beings are revolving helplessly in such suffering that they can’t bear it, and you can’t bear to think it’s going on, without cultivating a deep understanding of suffering. You want to avoid the trap of making the very same prayers that the selfishly motivated person might do, but instead have the idea that you want to be a great Bodhisattva.

One goal will produce lasting results and the other will not. The person with the motivation of selflessness has the key. Through extraordinary, selfless compassion, that person has the strength to persevere through everything until he or she is awake. That person will persevere until he or she has completely purged from his or her mind even the smallest, gossamer thin seeds of hatred, greed and ignorance. The person whose motivation is to be the ‘good person’ will not be able to do the same for any length of time. The foundation isn’t strong enough. That person may need some kind of feedback, or warm fuzzies as reward for being good. Even tried and true Buddhists will find this impure motivation in your minds. Even our ordained Sangha will find that they, themselves, will have dry periods. You’ll go spiritually dry, bone dry, and you’ll think, “What am I doing here? I can’t go on; it’s just too hard.” Then the next day, you’ll wake up and you’ll think, “Another day…good.” You’ll have all these different feelings that are just so common. Everybody, everybody has them. You don’t have to be a Buddhist to have these feelings.

Why does it flip flop back and forth? Because you have not built the firm foundation of very pure, selfless compassion. You need to cultivate it every single moment. You need to get yourself past the point where you need warm fuzzies to keep you going. If you are only looking at the symptom of suffering and trying to manipulate your environment to turn suffering around, you will always need feedback. That feedback may or may not come. Your compassion, your love should not depend on that.

Astrology

June 28, 2011 by Norma

Mental activity is sharp today. A razor like mindset can cut through information and find the most important points. Use your mind today, not your emotions. Emotional thinking will betray you. Do your best to separate yourself from your desires, and work with the things that make sense rationally. If emotions well up, recognize them, but continue with your job. It’s as through two forces are attempting to gain control of your life. One appeals to your heart and the other to your mind. The mind holds the winning hand right now. Beware of being pulled out of the present. Charles Flandrau said ” the greatest gift is the realization that life does not consist either of wallowing in the past or of peering anxiously at the future. It is good for one to appreciate that life is now…this day, this hour.” Be here now. A happy message is welcome.

Setting Aside Judgment

June 27, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Your Treasure is Heart”

We view our own liberation as non-dual with the liberation of others: As I reach liberation, as I move closer to enlightenment, I am more and more able to be of benefit to others. So I am interested in my own spiritual practice, interested in my own enlightenment for their sake, as well as for my sake. Of course, I am one of them. My own liberation and the liberation of others become non-dual, and we begin to understand that we are truly and utterly inseparable in essence and in truth.

So we begin by walking with these simple and mindful meditations. Now don’t get obsessive about it. If you forget to do it for an hour a day, just like anything else, you just climb back on. Judgment is useless—you can toss it out. What is needed, what you should cultivate, is the ability to view yourself honestly, without self-hatred. Self-hatred has no place on this path. Hatred of any kind has no place on this path. So, too, that kind of ridiculous judgment. I would prefer that you do not judge me as a Bodhisattva, expecting me to look or act a certain way. I would prefer that you do not judge yourself as a budding Bodhisattva to look and act a certain way, and thereby condemn and end your potency on the path. So don’t do it to me, and don’t do it to you. You won’t catch me doing it to me or you.

United States v. William Cassidy 8:11-cr-00091

January 9, 2012June 10, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Dialogue and critical thinking are valuable gifts we share as sentient beings. Freedom of belief and freedom of expression are valuable rights we cherish in our democracy. Hatred and violent threats, however, are neither valuable nor right. In recent years, Jetsunma and KPC have been threatened repeatedly and made the target of hateful, homophobic and misogynistic epithets.These threats were reported to law enforcement and, following a full investigation conducted by FBI and U.S. Department of Justice, federal criminal charges were filed in the case of United States v. William Cassidy, 8:11-cr-00091 and he has been charged with cyberstalking.

We understand from law enforcement that, as part of that criminal investigation, search warrants were executed upon the residences of both William Cassidy and an individual named Andrew Wilson. KPC has no comment on these matters and possesses no authority over the ultimate outcome of this criminal case. The matter now is up to the courts and our criminal justice system. KPC has cooperated fully with law enforcement requests and will continue to do so.

What matters remain in our hands and in the hands of all responsible, peace-seeking and law abiding citizens is our own behavior. Persons seeking the path of truth do not taunt and seek to hurt others through hateful and demeaning epithets directed at women and sexual orientation. That is not an esoteric concept but common decency. Hatred and fear wear many masks in our world but their true face is eventually revealed. We call upon all to engage in healthy dialogue and critical thinking free of hatred and fear. Love, forgiveness and acceptance are the way of peace and enlightenment.

Compassion, Wisdom and the Importance of Lineage

January 9, 2012May 22, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Palyul Nyingma Refuge Tree — Nam Cho Refuge Tree

The following is a series of tweets given by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo on the importance of lineage:

Wisdom and Compassion are the two eyes of Mahayana. Wisdom is pure awareness of empty nature. Not book learning. Compassion is Boddhicitta. Boddhicitta is primordial fundamental uncontrived nature’s pristine display. To attain wisdom meditate on emptiness – the sublime view. To give rise to Boddhicitta, accomplish View, leading to the understanding that all beings are same in nature, and struggle to be happy. Ordinary human kindness will suffice in this life but the Great Boddhicitta accomplishment benefits every future life.

Wisdom is not taught in school. That is knowledge. Wisdom cannot come from books, only knowledge. Wisdom comes with the mind ripening at Guru’s feet. Neither ordinary kindness nor book knowledge bring Supreme Buddhahood- Liberation. Only Wisdom View and Boddhicitta’s nectar can. Ordinary thoughts and concepts from ordinary people are just that. Primordial Wisdom is more rare and precious than any jewel. When you find yourself lost in blah blah blah let it go like vanishing dew. Come back to Wisdom and Boddhicitta- pray, meditate. This is the method and the way of uncountable Buddhas and Bodhisattvas before you from practices handed down through Lineage. All empowerment passed through lineage can be traced back to the blessing of Guru Padmasambava and Consort in an unbroken chain of mastery.

Empowerment without lineage is not traceable to original source. Never take empowerment without tracing through Lineage. If not traceable from Guru to student through out the centuries it is likely tainted by broken Samaya or is totally made up. Taking impure empowerment is like drinking poison and will destroy your path and progress. Every pure Lama gives lineage of empowerment.

Astrology

May 22, 2011 by Norma

This is a day to use your intelligence. Pull all your thinking together, aim it in one direction, and you can’t go wrong. Women friends are especially helplful, as are all friends. Two forces are favorable. First, the intellectual realm is powerful, and next the material or financial realm is strong. Give each its due and try not to mix the two together, because today they work against each other. Move forward cheerfully and at a careful pace. A steady growth is promised. Anya Bass said, “Yesterday’s history, tomorrow’s a mystery. I try to live in the present.” Excellent advice for today.

Astrology

April 12, 2011 by Norma

This is an excellent day for an important accomplishment, and you feel proud of yourself. Dress up! Appearance is crucial today, you could find yourself on the front page of the newspaper or on tv. Be sure you look good! You could be an “ad hoc” spokesperson for a cause. Someone could look to you for leadership, be ready! Seneca said “Life is like a play: it’s not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.” You must play your part well and with dignity today, and the results will be excellent. Leaders are magnanamous and inspiring.