Offered for the Benefit of All Beings

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Western Chod”

My teachers have instructed me that that practice is actually called ‘chöd’ (and there is an umlaut above the o).  Actually there is no text to go with it so you couldn’t say it was the practice of chöd as it is written in the text.  It has been called by my teachers the essence or essential nectar of chöd.  So I have been given permission to continue to practice that way and also to teach others to practice in that way. My experience has been that it has made my life a lot easier.

Now how is that? Well, I’ll tell you.  It came to pass that there were many sacrifices that needed to be made.  I’m not saying this so that you’ll say “Oh, isn’t she a good girl!”   Save it.  I don’t care.  But there were sacrifices that needed to be made. If I’d had my druthers, I would still be on a farm in North Carolina.  By now I would not only know how to put up beans, but I would have the best darn garden you’d ever seen, and all the farmers around would be impressed.  And I would have a dairy cow to boot.  I would still be there.  I would still be there, much isolated.  I prefer a lot of privacy.  Even though I seem to be good at this (I don’t know why but I seem to be good at this),  I have to tell you that everyone who knows me well knows that to get me out of the house so that I’ll come and do my job, it takes oh, spraying with Pam and loosening her up with a crowbar.  It’s not my natural tendency to want to come out and do this. I really don’t like this kind of thing.

Not only did privacy have to be given up (and that seems to be getting worse and worse), but also personal freedom.  Now I am in the position where if I decide that I want to go somewhere and just not think about whether I look like a dharma teacher or not, just sort of be myself, I find that it’s a little tricky. It happens pretty often that people will come up to me and they will say “Are you that Buddha lady?”  It really happens on a regular basis.  In fact one time at the airport somebody came running up to me, “Are you that Jetsa Jetsa Buddha lady?”  That Jetsa Jetsa Buddha lady, that’s me!  So I have that kind of going on. And you know, I was not brought up as a Tibetan.  I was not groomed for this job; I just got this job.  So I found that many sacrifices had to take place, including watching my children have to give up their own privacy.

There are just a lot of issues.  When we first came to this temple, none of the doors that you see were here.  There were hardly any doors on the inside of the temple.  Everything was very open and this room was divided in half. We used to live upstairs, but there were no doors between the upstairs and the lower, and so basically I was not separate from the temple whatsoever. And the only coffee pot, get this!, the only coffee pot in the whole place was downstairs where the kitchen room is downstairs now, and I slept upstairs.   , Because this place was open 24 hours a day, I would have to wade through students to get to my first cup of coffee in the morning.  If that’s not love, what is? ?  Then my students would say to me, “You never smile at me in the morning.”  Smile in the morning!!  The weight of the bags under my eyes keep my cheeks from going up, what can I tell you!  So anyway, smiling was not forthcoming before the coffee, I’m sorry.  There’s not that much compassion in the world!

I eventually came to draw a lot of strength and a great deal of comfort from that early practice because I found out that I never actually had to make another decision.  And that’s what we struggle with all the time.  Should I spare this time to do my practice?  Should I spare this time to practice compassion toward others?  Should I spend the effort to go over here and help that person?  Should I do that? It’s that thinking—should I, should I, should I?  You burn more calories doing that than any of the good works that you actually do in your life.  So I found out that that head thing that we do when we can’t decide and we always go through the dilemma of being a samsaric being, that was alleviated, and I never really had to make another decision ever again.  I felt that from that point on, everything in my life had already been decided because I didn’t own my feet, I didn’t own my ankles, didn’t own my body, didn’t own my speech, didn’t own my hearing, didn’t own anything. Anything!  I had already decided that I owned nothing.  None of it was mine.

So then whenever I was called upon, well will you do this, will you do that, will you do that?  Now the ultimate test, the moving!  Will you do that?  Yeah, I’ll do that.  You know why I’ll do that?  Because it’s already decided.  None of this really belongs to me.  My job now is to protect every capability that I have or any effort that I’ve made in order to benefit beings.  That I will protect, with fangs out and nails extended.  That’s when you’ll see the meanness in me.  That I will protect, but regarding anything personal, it’s no big deal because it’s already gone.  I don’t own it.  So I take good care of it.  I feed it well.  I exercise it, but ultimately I realize that I’m doing that in order to maintain its strength in order to benefit sentient beings.  I don’t feel that I own it.  I’ve  already given it up.

 Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo All rights reserved

Astrology

Today is like March; it “comes in like a lion and out like a lamb.”  You start out proud and indecisive and end up knowing where you stand and ready to get to work.  This feeling of certainty is a huge relief, and it clears up issues that have cluttered the landscape for some time.  Keep your nose to the grindstone and don’t be confused by people who make vague suggestions along the lines of “everything would be nicer in a different color, but I don’t know which one.”  The person who is doing the job should make the decisions today.  Either cook or get out of the kitchen!  Avoid the temptation, which is irresistible, to bother people who are hard at work.  Elsewhere, a happy frame of mind brings amusing and enjoyable communication of all sorts.  A private conversation with a powerful person can bear fruit.  Emotional shrewdness appears today, use it.  Joyce Brothers said, “Trust your hunches.  They’re usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level.”

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!

What Are You Looking For?

An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Longing for the Guru”

In order for you to be with your Teacher, however good or bad that Teacher may be, if you are in a situation where you are close to your Teacher and consistently so and have a great deal of relatively intimate guidance, you must have spent a great deal of time longing for the Teacher.  It must be that you have spent a great deal of time making wishing prayers that you would never be separate from your Teacher.  There had to be a great deal of time spent in that consideration and with that intention.  It’s the only karma that will allow for this situation.

Each of us, then, as we grew up, must have experienced the seeds of that longing.  If we look back at our earlier lives, we may not understand that.  It’s very difficult to understand how we ended up practicing Vajrayana.  We certainly weren’t brought up this way.  We certainly had no idea in our younger lives that we were going to be Buddhists, that’s for sure.

Yet, if we were to look in a penetrating way, we would discover that somewhere in our childhood there was a longing.  That is the seed or the residue of something that we experienced in a previous incarnation.  Because it is not consistent with our culture, because it is not sympathetic with what our culture views as proper, probably when we grew up, we never heard of a Teacher.  We never heard of a Guru.  We may have diverted into different paths.  We may have felt the longing as a need to find ourselves or we may have felt a sense of waiting to be told or to find something that we knew we would find.

For instance, it is possible that you felt a sense of searching and perhaps went from relationship to relationship, searching for someone who would be intimate with you, a certain searching for a fullness that was never found.  It could be that you even went from a self-help group to insight situation to church to different kinds of situations that you thought would bring you the answer and you had no idea that it was a spiritual search.
But now, in retrospect, if you examine that, do you think that perhaps you were looking for something you didn’t find because you did not understand exactly what you were looking for?  Surely, if you examine your life, you will find something of that longing in your past.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  All rights reserved

Astrology

Put your best foot forward and present yourself in style today.  You’re emotionally pulled toward a partnership, yet the relationship presents more problems than you anticipated.  A situation that began lightly turns serious and possibly contentious.  Maintain your dignity and remember who you are.  Others make heavy demands, and your job is to determine whether the relationship is worth the bother you now know it entails.  Are you “in” or “out”?  That’s the question for the day.  If you’ve been living on hope; hanging in there because you thought things would improve the next few days will test you.  Be aware of your expectations and wishes, and be aware of what others hope for as well.  Elsewhere, happiness comes through speech and it’s a good time to cook and express positive feelings.  This is both a hard day and an easy day, depending on how you take it.  Anais Nin said, “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”  Be brave.

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!

Gaining Strength!

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

Just back from Phys Therapy. Worked hard and making great progress! Even one session made a difference. Proud of myself and happy with the clinic.

My physical therapist is awesome! She totally gets how I got there. A kind lady. I trust her.

OM TARE TU TARE TU TURE YE SOHA!

When you’re gaining strength you are alive!

 Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo All rights reserved

Astrology

Indecision kicks off the day.  You’re trying to make a decision but you can’t because the situation keeps changing, and you can’t pin down the facts.  Your tendency is to bounce back and forth, weighing two different approaches.  This won’t work. Ask an expert for help and follow the advice you receive.  Moving right along, you’re vaulted into an emotional state based on remembrance of the past.  This is also a dead end so don’t waste your time reminiscing. H.L Mencken said, “We are here and it is now.  Further than that, all knowledge is moonshine.”  What’s good about today is a stable project that advances your position in the world.  There is one area where you have 100% confidence, where you absolutely know that you will succeed, and that’s where you should put your energy.  Bet on the sure thing, not on the thing where you’re indecisive, and you can’t go wrong.

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!

Practical Advice for IBS

The following is extracted from an exchange with one of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo’s twitter followers:

Follower: Ah, I thought you had Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), which I have.

Jetsunma: I do have both. Today was tough. Half and half.

Follower: Very sorry! Do you have any advice for others with IBS?

Jetsunma: Gentle fiber, small frequent meals, fresh aloe juice, Green Superfood. Fluids. No ibuprofen or aspirin. That is just what works for me. Who knows? Just know what makes me bleed, and stop.

Second Follower: boil chia seeds in water & drink immediately

Jetsunma: And center in your body. Commune with it. You’re in charge and yet are one.

The Guru Above the Crown of My Head

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

I’m doing much better with my treatment. I’ve had, honestly, fear (from stalker) and stagnation locked up in my body. I’m working it hard so I can be strong for  Pema Kod. I’m determined.

We have so much power once we decide to change things. And I have, being the only one after all, who can. I am much stronger now, and grateful to the Bliss Gone Guru for answering prayers. Eh Ma Ho!

I’m not gonna stop. The Guru above the top of my head is my strength and safety. Who can doubt it?

Om Ah Hung Benzar Guru Pema Siddhi Hung!

 Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo All rights reserved

Astrology

A financial arrangement can be negotiated.  It’s important to tend to details: sign papers and complete necessary transactions.  A behind-the-scenes force is ready to help but you must do the legwork.  A bequest or legacy is at hand.  Something ends beneficially.  The most important activity today involves the stabilization of a partnership with a respected person.  It’s a great day to dress up and engage in formal display of respect for others.  Emotional issues appear that are unrelated to the dominant themes of the day.  In the middle of meeting an important person, you’ll remember a loved one from the past and feel nostalgic.  Do your best to set aside this emotional outpouring, it is a distraction from the issue at hand.  But you don’t want to!  Memories are so appealing that it’s hard to see them for what they are…blocks to accomplishment.  Adrienne Rich said, “Every journey into the past is complicated by delusions, false memories, and false namings of real events.”  Stay in the present!

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!

Astrology

A work project is steadily chugging forward.  The success of a big endeavour is dependent on the completion of all the small tasks associated with it.  Having an important function?  Don’t forget the napkins and name tags!  Meeting the president?  Comb your hair!  The success of the large depends on the small today.  Knowing this makes life easier.  If you don’t know what to do next, performing a small task will clear your mind.  A brilliant idea suddenly appears.  Believe it, and don’t listen to doubters who want to stick with the status quo.  Someone wants to hold onto power and will knock down anyone who seems threatening.  Susan B. Anthony said, “Cautious, careful people always casting about to preserve their reputation or social standards never can bring about reform.  Those who are really in earnest are willing to be anything or nothing in the world’s estimation.”  Pursue your goals and avoid those angling to hold onto their power.  They have nothing to offer and will sabotage your efforts.

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!

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