Tibetan Buddhist Altar

The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo in response to a question:

Questioner: What do you think dreams are? Are dreams a mirror of daily consciousness? Is there anything to do with them?

Jetsunma:

A great question! And more than one way to look at it. Physicists are beginning to recognize dreams as a glimpse into other probable realities that we are connected to. And that maybe these dimensions are all mind. They are getting close.

I say all realities are a Bardo in that we seem to be passing through them, and “Bardo” means passage. Dreams are as real as any other state, no more, no less. What you bring back from a dream may well be significant, in that on a subconscious level you want to remember it. That can be on the emotional level where we tend to sort out info and take what we need. Other dreams can be sorting info from the future, present and past. If we glimpse a future probability we might see it as prophetic. From the past? Some sort of processing. About the present, we puzzle and organize. And try to fill in the blank bits according to our preconceived notions. However, all concepts, waking or dreaming, are our fabrication of karma. We, the seer, the dreamer, the objects we “see,” the probable uncountable endless realities, the entire cosmos, inner and outer, are all empty of self nature! Like in quantum physics we are beginning to see that all is fundamental space, that even atoms and molecules are space! All inherently empty.

It is that trickster, the habitually confused ego, trying to run the show. So we cannot see the void ground of nature. The ego does not allow for that, as its purpose is opposed to the very idea. Ego argues with primordial emptiness. Yet without it there would be no dream. Just uncontrived unborn and yet spontaneously liberated space. It’s really not so scary. And quite relaxing to see all as impermanent and free.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  All rights reserved

The following teaching is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

Many practitioners on the path of Buddhadharma do not realize that one must continually make progress. You don’t land, then sit.

Having realized we must make progress in Buddhism, Vajrayana requires empowerment, lung, and commentary. These are the blessings needed.

When students grow dull in their practice it is because they are not making further progress. If we don’t grow, we are stagnant which does no good. There are many stories in Tibet of ordinary people going to extraordinary trouble, and traveling great distances to receive one precious Empowerment and practicing that one deity and mantra their whole lives with great devotion, as it took so much effort to obtain. And because of that they made much progress with that one simple puja.

Here in the USA it isn’t that way. First, it is easy to go anywhere. Secondly, we, in our culture are not raised with such faith. And nothing in our culture supports it. So we must continually support ourselves by continual instruction, stage by stage progression, until the most advanced atiyoga, to dzogchen. We need the continual stimulation. We all must grow, or our hearts and minds become hard and stiff and we do not enhance our qualities, we do not give rise to bodhicitta. We do not increase in the concerned activity of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Then anger, pride, jealousy and ignorance come creeping in.

So we must make a continually expanding effort. We should seek empowerment, and learn different practices. We should do retreat to go deeper and deeper until we both enjoy and feel happy in our practice. Then we will not be inclined toward poor qualities, judgment of others etc. We will be less inclined to be mean or cruel to any being. We will also, then have grown as human beings – kinder, more generous and loving. We will have grown up at last.

A little Dharma for your Monday evening!

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA!

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo. All rights reserved

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

When you develop the mind of compassion, you have to be careful how you develop that mind. If you examine yourself profoundly and honestly – and you have to be willing to be very honest with yourself – you may find that your goal is not really to benefit all sentient beings, but to be a kind person. There are worlds and universes of difference between these two goals. One is selfless: you truly wish to be of benefit to all sentient beings. The other is heading in the right direction, but ultimately it is not selfless because you wish that you could be a kind person. I hope that you can hear the difference between these two ideas. There are worlds of difference between them.

How does one cultivate the selfless goal and not fall unconsciously into the trap of ending up with the second goal? A good way to begin is to open our eyes and truly understand the nature of suffering. Why is there suffering in the world? Why is there suffering in the worlds unseen? If we don’t examine this idea, we might take what we see at face value. We might look at people in poor parts of town and say, “Oh they’re suffering because they’re poor.” We might look at people in different countries around the world and say, “Oh, they’re suffering because they’re hungry.” We might look at people in different situations and think we understand the nature of their suffering. But we’re looking at the symptom of their suffering. We’re looking at the fact that they are suffering, but we do still not understand why.

If we see that they are suffering – that some people are poor, some people are hungry, some people are old, some people are sick, and some people are dying — and do not probe to understand the reason for their suffering, we might fall into the trap of trying to do something about those apparent issues. There’s nothing wrong with doing something about those issues. In fact I hope you do, because human kindness – exemplary and virtuous human kindness – has to be part of this world, it has to be part of the activity that you, as Bodhisattvas, are involved in. But if you stop there, you will never succeed, because if you try to cure the symptom of suffering without going to the cause, it’s impossible. The suffering will simply pop up in new and different ways.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo. All rights reserved

The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

Often when people begin practicing Buddhism it feels fresh and wonderful. But our expectations may be unreasonable. Often I hear that folks can’t “feel” devotion or compassion. Neither of these are a “feeling.” They are both method. Same with Emptiness. If we could “feel” it, it would not be emptiness, but some sort of contrivance. We seem to want to imagine it all, think about what it must be, rather than to see primordial nature just as it is. No amount of talk or even study can make that happen. We can discuss Guru Devotion with hearts as cold as ice. We can want to be “good” without ever being generous and kind. We can want to be anything that sounds great without doing the work, and then we are lost. That is very much like reading fitness books and dreaming of a fabulous new body without ever leaving the sofa and eating like a pig.

There is no bodhicitta without human compassion, as that is the display of it. There is no Guru Devotion without respect and view. And Guru Devotion is not a “feeling” but is based on a clear comprehension that the mind of the Guru and our own must mix like milk with water. This precludes judgment and hate, or putting down other Vajra bros and sistas because the mind of the Guru is as vast and clear as space. If we are hateful we are dishonoring the Vajra Master, who teaches us differently than that. If we do not take the trouble to master the qualities of the Three Roots we have broken samaya. No numbers of mantra repetitions will ever make up for quality and depth. No vow ever taken will ever make up for the absence of actually fulfilling that vow. If you are mean spirited, selfish and filled with arrogance you are not what you profess to be. And that is raw truth. Silly rabbit! Tricks are for kids!!!

OM AH HUNG BENZAR GURU PEDMA SIDDHI HUNG!

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo. All rights reserved

This is the final excerpt from a teaching on Compassion by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.

I have listened to some of the teachings on Buddhist cosmology, and heard the prophecy that there will be a time when there is no Buddha in this world – no teaching, no help, and no light. When things will be so dark there will be nothing, no hope. As a Buddhist I am supposed to believe this teaching, and I try. But I refuse to accept it, I won’t accept it, and if that makes me a bad Buddhist, then I am. But rather than think in a prideful way that I refuse to accept this teaching, I hope instead to cultivate an endless amount of energy to continue to practice for the benefit of others, no matter what the odds are. To consider that it is worthwhile if even one person can be benefited.

I wish we would all think in this way – that nothing will stop us. I find it necessary to believe that compassion is the strongest power anywhere, that love is stronger than prophecy. Believing this, we must continue as we are. Every day we must be stronger and continue in a more determined way.

When I see those of you who have taken ordination, I think you are the hope of the world. If you can remain emanating in the world always, even after attaining supreme realization, if your love is that strong that you change the prophecies, we have hope.

I also think of those who are newly starting, and those of you who are intermediate, and those of you who are choosing whatever particular path you choose. If you use the Buddha’s understanding, and come to a point of profound commitment and practice – if you consider love is your life, so that it will increase throughout every future incarnation – then you, too, are the hope of the world.

We must take this vocation very seriously. I don’t mean we have to walk around like somber people, with a terrible, woeful expression on our faces, or that we never get to have any fun anymore. It’s not like that. But our sense of joy is the kind of joy that is born of the mind of compassion, the kind of joy that appears in the mind with the commitment to benefit beings at any cost, the kind of joy that knows there is an antidote to suffering. That kind of joy is stronger than human joy and human sadness, because those things come and go, day to day, up and down, in and out.

I suggest you choose to live a lasting life of love, rather than one that is impermanent and superficial. In doing so, come to know something that doesn’t vary. Know something that grows from a tiny seed into a profound sense of bliss, which, as it grows, produces the kind of realization that can let you at last be someone who can truly help sentient beings with the right medicine.

You are at a crossroads in time now. Tremendous opportunities are coming your way. They have come your way. You are at a point very rare in cyclic existence. It is now possible for you to make this choice. It was not possible before. You should take this time very seriously, and consider deeply whether you will cultivate the mind of compassion every moment from now on for the rest of your life, and in all future lives to come, knowing that this is the only end to suffering.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo. All rights reserved