Astrology for 4/27/2017

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4/27/2017 Thursday by Norma

You are able to look through an opening and see the future today, keep an eye out for this experience. It’ll come and go in a flash but you’ll know what to do after it happens. Happiness is back on the menu and a combination of intelligence and stability brings satisfaction. Mercury is still in retrograde, reminding you to file your taxes (“oops- forgot!”), renew your driver’s license and anything else that slipped right past you in the hubub of daily life. Pema Chodron said, “Just where you are-that’s the place to start.” A certain quickness and agility is present that allows you to work fast, walk fast and zip through projects. A last minute healing regimen handles a pesky problem, and love is in bloom.

Introduction to the Life Story of Migyur Dorje

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The following is an excerpt from a teaching offered by Tulku Dawa Gyalpo at Kunzang Palyul Choling in Maryland. Future posts will continue with the teaching on the Life of Migyur Dorje.

First of all, generate this altruistic bodhicitta thinking that for the sake of all sentient beings, I am going to listen to the life story of the great Tertön Migyur Dorje. By listening to his life story, I’m going to generate confidence in the revelation teachings of Tertön Migyur Dorje. Then I’m going to put the generation and completion stages into practice, to be able to lead all sentient beings into the complete state of Vidyadharahood. For that purpose, I’m going to listen to this and generate bodhicitta.

 

Today’s talk is about the life story of Tertön Migyur Dorje. I came to know that Jetsunma Akhön Lhamo had this sudden experience, or some kind of thing, that made her ask me to talk about his life story. This was related to me from Gonpo and others. I heard about Tertön Migyur Dorje’s life story here and there from our late Holiness Penor Rinpoche Holiness, but I didn’t really study his life story deeply. Because I was told to talk about his life story, that became a catalyst or a condition for me to look into the life story of Tulku Migyur Dorje.  I heard the life story of Tertön Migyur Dorje from our late Holiness, my own root guru, as well as from our Khenpos and tulkus. They taught me about Tulku Migyur Dorje’s story. I know their personalities very well, so I didn’t look at it in detail. Today, when Jetsunma Akhön Lhamo asked me to talk about this, then I started to look in detail. Actually it is not possible to complete this in two hours. There is an outer history, inner history and secret history. There are over 250 pages [in this book] and that is not all. There are also some others [books] that I have to look at. Here I am trying to shorten over 250 pages [to fit] within this two hours. I think maybe tonight it will take a little longer than usual.

When I looked, I enjoyed myself very much. I felt bliss after I looked at those histories. Before I start this, I would like to thank Jetsunma Akhon Lhamo so much because she made this condition for me. I am so pleased and happy to talk about it. Not just only for me; for all who follow this tradition. It’s very important. He is the head, or root, of this tradition, where it comes from, when it started, and from there, what is going on in the Palyul lineage. He is like Shakyamuni Buddha, the person who started Buddhism on this planet. Likewise, Tulku Migyur Dorje is the person who started this Palyul tradition, especially this Sky Treasure. Therefore, I’m considering myself very fortunate to have a chance to talk about it.

Before I start, I would like to describe a little about the namthar, which is a kind of liberation. thar is liberation. Nam is like aspect, if you translate it word for word. The life history of a normal person isn’t namthar. We don’t call it namthar. It is “history,” but in Tibetan we have a different word. If the life has a very deep meaning and is very beneficial, it’s called namthar. If it is just a normal person’s life story, we call logyu, a different way of saying it. In English, it is Tulku Dawa’s history or it is Tulku Migyur Dorje’s history. It’s the same. There’s no different “history.” But when we talk in the Tibetan way, there is a big difference.

Nam is the aspect, or it could also be “appearance.” Thar is liberation by looking in that person’s aspect, which means their life. Their life is their aspect, their appearance. Through looking at their aspect, or the appearance of their three doors, we can get liberation by studying their life story. For that it is very important to look at the great person’s life story so we will know what we have to do in order to follow their path. Like Shakyamuni Buddha’s life history. If I am trying to follow him, then what should I do? This is Tulku Migyur Dorje’s history, the namthar.

Astrology for 4/26/2017

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4/26/2017 Wednesday by Norma

The new moon day gives you a whole new start for the month, and peaceful Taurus feels just right for those who have been buffeted by rambunctious Aries planets. Need a rest? This is your time to be relaxed and smart as a whip, a great combination! You are blessed with stability of purpose, determination and intelligence. Abraham Lincoln said, “Always remember that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.” Partnership is excellent, diplomacy is excellent and conversations are invigorating.

The Importance of Preparing for Death

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The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo offered during a Phowa retreat:

So where were we the last time we met? We were dead, weren’t we? We were, weren’t we? Let’s see, how dead were we? I think we were pretty much all the way dead. We had finished with the red and with the white, and we were talking about the black path or the dark path, but I have more to give you on that. Anyway, we definitely are dead here.

There are some interesting passages in this book that I would like to use as well. There’s one point that the lama in this book makes that I think is worth making. Even though it isn’t what you’d call an essential point, still, it is definitely a worthwhile point, and it’s because of the way we think. When we think about practicing for death, or when we think about, even talk about the different kinds of sufferings that people may undergo, even talk about the kinds of death experiences that we will all definitely share in common, and some of the unique experiences that some of us may share, there are many people who give Buddhism a bum rap. What I would call a bum rap. And the idea, of course, that they confer when they have that thought is kind of a bum idea, if you think about it. It isn’t thought through; it is an idea born of ignorance. What people say about Buddhism often is that it makes them think in a depressive way, or it makes them think in a melancholy way. Since one of the main points in Buddhism is to prepare for what happens after this life, there are many people who accuse Buddhism of being a sad religion or depressive or having a bad effect on one’s mood. Well, these very people are the people who are in denial about the fact that they too will actually go through this experience.

You may not want to learn what to do in an emergency…Here’s a good example: When I was in junior high school, believe it or not, I learned how to deliver a baby, in case of emergency. Can you believe that? This Red Cross representative came to our school and gave us lessons on different things one could do in case of an emergency. And in this case I learned what to do if someone is having a baby and there’s no way to get to a hospital and one is shut off and it’s an emergency. Now you might think to yourself, “So what? What are the chances that I’m going to deliver a baby in this lifetime?” I’m mostly called on when people die; I’m not necessarily called on when they’re born. I’ve had the great, wonderful pleasure of naming babies. I’ve been there right after the baby’s born, but so far, not ever having taken that job as a taxicab driver that I once thought about, I’ve never had to deliver a baby, ever in my life. So you think to yourself, “How useful was that?” Well, the only reason why you would think that is because so far I haven’t had to deliver a baby. But let’s say, any of you who are women capable of having babies, you and I were stranded in a snowstorm some time, and I was the very one that saved you from trouble by delivering your baby. Would you say that that course was useful to me? I would say it’s useful to me, because I would have been climbing the walls if I hadn’t known what to do when you were having a baby! You can count on that. That just would have been the scariest moment of my life! I’d rather usher people out than usher them in! Less messy.

So what does all of this have to do with the Buddha Dharma? Well, I’ll tell you. If the day ever comes that I do get caught in a snowstorm with somebody and have to deliver a baby, and I remember those skills and have to use them, suddenly those skills will be considered by me to be completely different than they were before. Now I think of it as a kind of interesting and unusual thing that happened. Not many people learn how to do this. This is not something that is commonly taught in junior high school. So I can look back and think, “What an interesting episode for the New York school system to bring in these people. It’s just a very interesting thing that the New York school system did.” But the idea that I would have if I were to actually help someone give birth, and I were to actually possibly save a life that way, or at least make a life more comfortable in its beginning, if I were able to do that, suddenly that teaching, that course that I took would take on new dimensions and new meaning. Wouldn’t that be true? Suddenly I would really see the benefit of that in a way that I could not have seen if it were only a theoretical event that I might have to deliver a baby some day. So I would have seen the definite result of that.

Now some people think that it is unfortunate that Buddhism teaches, first of all, about the faults of cyclic existence, and then secondarily about the situation of dying and how our lamas constantly remind us that we in fact will definitely go through this event. This is something that we will all experience. We will not experience it together, so each one of us is responsible for our individual practice. But we will all experience it; there’s no doubt about that. None whatsoever.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo All rights reserved

 

 

Astrology for 4/25/2017

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4/25/2017 Tuesday by Norma

An early stroke of good fortune starts things off on the right foot. This is a perfect day to set off on a long-planned trip, to fire a missile at long last or launch an enterprise that kept stalling out.
All favorable forces are lined up for success. Do not take action on the basis of a sudden whim, though, it will come to nothing. Friendly forces are here to accompany you on your quest and enthusiasm is high. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The world belongs to the energetic.” Barrel around fixing things, helping people and expressing concern for everyone. You could just be the person whose attention makes someone’s day!

My Three Rules

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An excerpt from a teaching called Dharma and the Western Mind by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

As Westerners practicing the Dharma, we have a hard job ahead of us.  If we want to accomplish Dharma, and make Dharma stable, if we want to be fully instated in our practice, and if we want to be successful, we are doing so in a culture that is not really sympathetic to it. It is hard.  It is really hard.  We are doing so under circumstances in which we have to work, we have to eat and where nobody is going to pay us to pray. It is not going to be easy.  We have to stabilize ourselves with that pure intention to love and to do that we have to do three things.

These are my three rules of etiquette for newly starting practitioners and also for old ones.  First of all, give yourself a break, there are things on this path that you will not understand and you should not fall into the trap of saying, “This can’t be right, or this isn’t right.”  Give yourself a break, take time to let it fall into the slot that your Western mind is, just give it time to settle in. These concepts are very logical, they all make sense, they all work, and they are given to us by a fully enlightened mind which makes me think that they are worth more than a lot of other things that I have heard.  And they work.  It is a workable path.  If there is something that confuses you just say, “Okay I will just give myself some time about this. If I am not comfortable with the idea about being empty of self-nature let me first find out what that means before I decide that this is not good and once I find out I can make a better decision.”  So give yourself a break.

The next thing is to do the best that you can.  Don’t try to slide into Dharma, and don’t think that you can slide by.  Do the best that you can.  Cultivate that loving every day.  Don’t ever fall into the trap of thinking that you are too old, or too experienced, or too educated to learn the simple lessons that Buddha gives us that are associated with loving.  Do not think that you are too far advanced that you can no longer be taught compassion.  Don’t ever think that and please don’t think that you have come too far to learn and re-learn renunciation of ordinary things, because no one ever comes that far until we have reached supreme enlightenment. So do the best that you can.

The third thing is to take it slow and take it easy.  Try not to burn like paper – hot and fast.  Try not to burn like pinewood.  Try to burn like good aged oak or maybe even coal – slow and hot and stable.  The way that you build the stability on this path, as a Westerner, is by cultivating that slow, hot fire of loving.  Keep it going.  You don’t have to do anything crazy but you have to do something steady and stable.

Remember you have to practice this path till the end of your life so that you can fully accomplish it and so that you can truly be of benefit to sentient beings.  It is going to take some juice so please try to burn like good oak or coal, slow and hot.  Just think of yourself as a vehicle.  Think of yourself as a bowl, turned up, clean, pure, with no cracks, not turned over, and no poison of judgment or delusion at the bottom of it. Your mind is like a bowl.  Let yourself receive teachings in a very pure and uncontrived way.  In this way you will understand Dharma better.

Look for a good teacher and when you find that teacher you should take time to examine that teacher.  What is the teacher’s motivation? Can this teacher really offer me the path? Is this teacher really teaching the path that leads me to supreme enlightenment? You should examine these things and in a stable way, slow and easy, begin to accomplish Dharma.

In this way there is no doubt that you will achieve supreme realization.  There is no doubt that you will in this life and in all future lives be of some benefit to sentient beings.  Ultimately you will be of ultimate benefit to sentient beings, there is no doubt.

Keeping these things in your heart I hope that you will be cultivating that stability.  Do that and remember what a glorious and wonderful opportunity you have.  Please don’t waste this life.  It is so precious.

©  Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

Astrology for 4/24/2017

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4/24/2017 Monday by Norma

Energy! You have it and so does everyone else. An early announcement or statement kicks off the activity for the rest of the day, and fast thinking is highlighted. Women are a source of
inspiration and men are willing to follow along cheerfully. “What’s the plan?” is on everyone’s lips. The problem, of course, is that Mercury is still retrograde and a “Great leap backward” is possible. If you’ve done something before don’t do it again, it’ll work out the same as last time. This is a great day to reflect on your deepest beliefs. The image of a corralled horse bucking around is apt, feeling frisky but nowhere to go. What’s good today? A recent sadness is behind you and options appear where none were possible before. Spend time thinking about finances, making deals and cleaning up old messes. They will now stay cleaned up.

Astrology for 4/23/2017

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4/23/2017 Sunday by Norma

Men are cheerful, buying supplies and making preparations for what is to come. It is difficult to see that a sad parting today brings happiness in the future, but it does, and knowing this makes it easier to bear. James Lane Allen said, “You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.” A conversation that revisits the past has a stabilizing effect on your thinking. The news is electrifying and favorable. Partners are helpful but the individual is the major player today; the ability to determine your own course has never been more important. Ask everyone’s advice and you’ll get so many answers that you’ll be paralyzed by indecision. Make up your own mind and the way will be clear.

The Habit of Self Concern

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The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “The Habit of Bodhicitta”

Now if we really understood that and meditated on the suffering of beings, we wouldn’t have some of the same ideas that we have now. For instance, sometimes we think that because we’re following a spiritual path, we should be just a little self-righteous.  Don’t you think?  We look around at other people who are very materialistic, who are spending their whole lives doing things that we consider to be lower activities. And we look around at people that even society labels as being lower. We look around at prostitutes; we look at people who rob banks. Both are doing things that they’re doing for similar reasons to why  we’re doing what we’re doing. The prostitute wants money; she wants to make a better life, she or he. The bank robber wants money; they want to make a better life. They’re looking for power. Same reasons as we do, just the activity is different. Of course, we feel ever so much better, for whatever reason. But if we really understood and really meditated on the fact that all of us are in exactly the same condition, there would be no room for judgment. We would really realize the plight of humankind, and, in a greater sense, the plight of all sentient beings.

Now the Buddha’s teaching  gives us the foundation, or fundamental necessities, by which we can give rise to the bodhichitta, or the great compassion. But that’s only the foundation. And here is why: The problem with our trying very hard to awaken to compassion is our own habitual tendency. Our own habitual tendency is such that we only concentrate on our own plight. Sometimes we do empathize with others. We think, ‘Oh, gosh, that must be awful. That’s too bad. Gee, that would be awful for me.’ It’s almost like you take a rubber band and you stretch it out just far enough to see what the plight of the other person is, but then the habitual tendency comes back in and BINGO! Rubber band lets go and now we are thinking about ourselves again. And that is how it is, isn’t it? That is how it is. That is really the only way that we understand others, because we can understand how we would feel about that and we’re sure glad that it’s not happening to us. It’s kind of like that.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo All rights reserved

Astrology for 4/22/2017

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4/22/2017 Saturday by Norma

Peace, this is your day. A painful situation is waning and something that seemed etched in stone is dissolving. The problem is that right now you want to tell everyone about what you’ve been through, and this you should not do. Be aware that discussing something that has ended breathes new life into it, brings it back. Escapist behavior is excellent today: go to the movies, paint, create, listen to music, spend time near water. Groups are supportive and machines are helpful. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “This time, like all times, is a very good one if we but know what to do with it.” Emotion is in charge now and rational thought seems to have taken a vacation. Mercury is retrograde and nobody’s thinking straight. That clears things up! Relax, take it easy, take a bath.

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