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Vajrayana Without a Guru?

May 31, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

Who said that? Vajrayana without a Guru? How do you manage Guru Yoga in Ngondro? Think of unicorns? When Empowerment is given, is it so ordinary that we all just stand up, clap and cheer? So who gives Empowerments and from which Guru and lineage? How does one receive any transmission? Do they all sit in a circle and transmit to each other? Blind leading senseless? How do they mix their minds with the Guru, like milk and water? Oh, right – no Guru, no way to do that. So they’ll just sit around stroking each other’s…egos? Here comes the downfall of Vajrayana in the West. Yesirree, the slide has begun. But not on my watch. And not in my Lineage. Some “pick” a Guru from a book, long dead, because it is easier being a pompous fool than a student. That is just ignorant, and indicates one who does not understand Pure Vajrayana.

To fully transmit teaching you can’t be a book or a fool. Sorry, you do not practice Vajrayana without the Guru. That is not possible, that is a tainted soup of yuk, and then you are the ass it comes out of. Nobody needs that ignorant poop mixed into the Triple Gem!

Happy Memorial Day!

May 30, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

Happy Memorial Day, I’m AWOL today, family over. We are having a barbecue and eating inside. Heat warning today and tomorrow. Steamy!

I wanted to show heartfelt gratitude to our service men and women, for our safety. You are our great treasure, and you never fail these United States of America. You give us your lives, your health, blood, every part. Though I hate war, I love and cherish you!

And I wish I could buy you all a beer! Muuuwaah! Hugs.

Contemplating the True Nature of the Guru

May 30, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Guru Yoga”

We should think in such a way that we know if we practice deeply enough, we will look at Guru Rinpoche and see that innate wakeful state which is the true face.

Guru Rinpoche said before he left, “I will appear as your Root Teacher.” What that means is we should practice considering that the teacher who comes to teach us and gives us blessing, gives us empowerment, gives us commentary teaching, who makes it possible for us to practice the path, is actually an extension of Guru Rinpoche’s activity. The teacher cannot be separated from Guru Rinpoche’s activity, and is Guru Rinpoche’s activity—an extension of miraculous enlightened compassion, enlightened intention.

If we, in our ordinary perception, separate the two and say, ”Oh, Guru Rinpoche is over here, and the Root Teacher’s over there, and I’m over there,” and practice in a superficial way, we won’t get very far. But if we see the whole event as the miraculous intention of the Buddha, as enlightenment itself, if we understand that the path is inseparable from the benefit, inseparable from the nature itself, and if we understand this activity to be this enlightened process, inseparable from the true face, and we practice focused in that way, the blessing cannot be counted. It is incredibly profound. It’s an entirely different process, really, than the kinds of ordinary activity that we always engage in. We’re always working hard at something,,but that’s not the point. The point is to see the face, to know the nature. The point is to be awake.

If one uses the thoughts that I have just described, contemplating in the way that I have described, practicing Guru Yoga as I have described it, one dispels the delusion that comes from the fixation on self-nature and phenomenal existence as being inherently real and solid. By dispelling fixation, one can know the nature that can only really be described as “suchness,” that which is beyond.

So, I hope that you will take this into your heart and begin to practice. Perhaps you can begin to practice the Seven Line Prayer and Vajra Guru Mantra. But most especially, I really hope that you will think in the way that I’ve described: understanding what is ordinary and what is not ordinary; understanding what is of the world; understanding what is part of the process of fixation and what is a direct display of the Mind of Enlightenment. Thinking on these things and practicing accordingly, one can have great results.

Keeping the Earth Sacred

May 29, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

Today is hot and so humid! Barnsville is in the DC area. Get used to sweat, friends. It rained all spring and now we sweat it back. Tomorrow a severe heatwave. I wanna go with my pack to the beach. Or a lake. I really like cool weather (even cold) best. I’ll have fun as the planet warms. May have to head north. Alaska? A cold refuge. Freezer?

All funny talk except that the planet is warming. And soon we’ll all sweat. The wild critters suffer most when “Mama-Earth” shifts. The wild ones have ancient habits coded in their DNA. That is hard to change. Humans have changed so fast we cannot catch our collective breath. We don’t even feel so connected to the earth anymore.

I love nature. More than I can say. I wish I could live in space. Wind. Water. Fire. And in the land of Tara. Too bad this is Barnesville. Of course, the Land of Tara is a Pureland. And cool places will sustain us longer. And we must take care of the wild creatures. We must do much better by the land, water, air, and fire places and keep them sacred. Maybe then, we will live. Do all you can, beloveds…

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA!

Understanding the Seed and the Fruit

May 29, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Guru Yoga”

What makes Guru Rinpoche’s teaching, his path, different from others, different from other activities that we could do in our lives? Well, if we want to attain wisdom, why don’t we just go get a card in the library? Why don’t we just read everything there is to read? Why don’t we just go through every book in the world? Would we become wise then? Not necessarily, even from an ordinary point of view, because we would not have done anything about dispelling the fixation on phenomenal existence. We would not have done anything about dispelling the fixation on self-nature as being inherently real. We would do nothing about the delusion within our mindstreams. We would simply have accumulated information. I know lots of people that are smart, but not too wise from a Buddhist point of view. That is because the things that you can read from the library, the things that you can do in the world, arise from ordinary circumstances. They are compiled, or made up, of ordinary things. They can be collected. They are things in phenomenal existence.

What comes from Guru Rinpoche does not come from an ordinary place. What we receive from Guru Rinpoche in terms of teaching and blessing actually arises from the state of enlightenment. It therefore has an extraordinary source. And you always get apple trees from apple seeds. If what he offers arises from the mind of enlightenment, then it will result in enlightenment. It will bring about enlightenment. It has the capacity to do so.

There’s no way you can get that blessing other than through extraordinary means. You can’t pay money to get it. You can’t pay someone else to help you get it. You can’t take a pill to get it. You can’t eat the right foods to get it. You can’t work for 40 hours a week for so many years in order to get it. You can’t collect it. And so we practice Guru Yoga in order to increase our faith and our certainty and our confidence in order to receive the blessing that actually arises from enlightenment.

If we understand the nature of the Guru, if we understand the nature of Guru Rinpoche as being these profound things that I have described in brief, then we can understand that by practicing Guru Yoga, one can achieve extraordinary result that can be had through no other means. But in order to do so, one has to meditate and really concentrate on what that blessing is, how it arises, and what it comes from. One has to see the reality of Guru Rinpoche as being something more than superficial phenomenal appearance. One has to understand in a more deep and profound way.

So the blessing we receive from Guru Yoga then depends on us. How much time are we actually going to put into this consideration? And how are we going to view it? Are we going to continue to view Guru Rinpoche as somebody out there somewhere separate from ourselves who did something that affects us now? That’s a very limited, very superficial, very ordinary view and it won’t get us very far. We have to think about the nature of the Lama. We have to think that this phenomenal appearance of the Lama in physical existence is due to the miraculous extraordinary compassion that comes from a fully enlightened mind, that is inseparable from a fully enlightened mind. And we must understand that nature as being totally and completely realized, totally awake. We must understand it as being completely revealed in display form, emptiness and luminosity, emptiness and compassion. When we look at the Lama, when we see Guru Rinpoche, this is what we should understand.

Moving Forward

January 9, 2012May 27, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

Hello, all in Twitterverse. I’ve been gone all day to meetings and glad to be back. I don’t like Baltimore much but it was necessary.

I returned to see the haters have come back to torment me, except for the main one, who is now gone. But I must leave it to the law. It is right to go, or they can drag one through the sewer they live in. I won’t be like them. I won’t. I can’t imagine being like that. So selfish when the world is in such awful shape and people are hungry for pure Dharma.

And thankfully most people want the real deal, not a show. So I will continue the best I can, maybe take time away. Certainly for the Palyul summer retreat, to continue my practice and peace of mind. Also this summer I will be training to offer Empowerment. The Tulku, Lama Lobsang will arive soon. He is the one Kyabje His Holiness Penor Rinpoche had been arranging since a year before His parinirvana. I have wanted more training, have asked for years, and finally he is coming! His Holiness Penor Rinpoche chose him for his pure qualities, scholarship and complete disinterest in ridiculous politics and games. I love that. I have no interest in them either. Politics has always been part of every religion, sadly. Wars have been the result. If one calls themselves spiritual, they should abandon such ridiculous habitual tendencies and tend to their practice. That is what the Gurus of every Lineage tell us. It was His Eminence Ponlop Rinpoche that said, when my dear Michelle G. asked him how to repair the lies and damage, he said “Kyabje His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, the purest of Gurus recognized Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo. He has said she is a Pure Lama. Therefore go back to her and repair Samaya!” He would not teach her. He sent her back. What merit she must have! How pure Ponlop must be! Amazing!

Anyone can see the Sun again, it never leaves. It is we who are dishonest and turn our faces away.

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA!

Discerning the Qualities of Awakening

January 9, 2012May 25, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

To describe the precious state of Lord Buddha, and the other Buddhas in that miraculous state… When Buddha was asked “are you a God? Are you a man? A great Rishi? A saint?” “Who or what are you?” Lord Buddha simply said, “I am awake” so simple and pure. No bragging. Awake!

Of all the things Buddha ever said I think this is the purest and must succinct. Awake. He did not go on about “marvelous experiences.” He said that his mind, merit and meditation had ripened his mind completely. He proved his Enlightenment through the miraculous fruits of his life. That is how one knows about the qualities of Buddhahood. By conduct and evidence. One cannot simply decide. Unless the manifestations are there which concur, no way. We should never accept baseless claims, especially about spiritual accomplishment. It can ruin your life.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama says the Chinese are his Gurus because they taught him impermanence, by destroying Tibet and her people and faith. As a young monk he could not think such cruelty possible just for a land grab and power. He was so innocent! A true Buddha in every way.

I have never called myself a Buddha or “Enlightened Being.” I’ve taught of the need to follow a pure teacher with bodhicitta. What other people call me is of no concern. It makes me happy when my Gurus said these things, and I love the old stories which I sometimes recall. But what ordinary people say doesn’t matter much. I have students that support and love.

And there are those who hate, and I don’t know why or who they are. Yet they venerate themselves to the degree that people bow and scrape or they are banished and put down. That is not Dharma and it never will be until the darkest time. Then the glorious Buddha of the next age will be born. May it be soon! I would sing his Praise and honor his name, this Buddha of the future. But many people call themselves “His name” and praise themselves as the incarnation. I won’t contribute to that. It is delusion and self cherishing. That circus show is not helpful. We have a planet to save.

The Nature of the Guru

May 25, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Guru Yoga”

According to the Buddha, the state that is the pure undefiled primordial wisdom state—this precious awakened state that is luminosity and emptiness inseparable from one another—is our true nature. But since time-out-of-mind, we have been involved in the incorrect assumption of self-nature as being inherently real. So due to our fixation on specific awareness and therefore our constantly defining and reestablishing the distinction between self and other, and the resultant attraction and repulsion that we are constantly involved in, we have never tasted this nature. We don’t know it.

It isn’t that it’s far away. It isn’t that we don’t have it yet. It isn’t that we have to grow it. It isn’t like that. That nature is right now! It’s right here. It isn’t anywhere else; it isn’t far away. And yet it is beyond here and now, beyond here and there. Due to our fixation on self-nature as being inherently real, due to the delusion of division within our mindstreams, we cannot taste that nature. We are involved in the process of fixation, and that nature which is all pervasive is not understood.

Guru Rinpoche is that nature. In his Dharmakaya form, he is displayed as Lord Buddha Amitabha—the Absolute Nature, free of any contrivance, free of any distinction, that nature which is emptiness. In his Sambhogakaya form, he is considered to be Chenrezig, that Nature which is pure luminosity, free of any contrivance. seen in a miraculous blissful display—a dance, if you will.—that shows itself in an emanation form displaying Wisdom and Miraculous Accomplishment, Emptiness and Method, or Luminosity and Compassion. It is so hard for us to understand what that really means.

For us, what we see is the Nirmanakaya, the physical form. Through thinking about it, we can understand the great benefit that Guru Rinpoche has brought. We can understand the extraordinary good fortune that we have to be able to do the practices that he has taught. We can understand that this is compassionate activity. We can understand that by the virtue of what he has done, we have a shot (if you will) at achieving some realization. We have hope; we have a path; we have a method. Through reliance upon his blessing, we come to realize that his very nature is the door to liberation.

If we go deeper, we realize that he is not only the Nirmanakaya form, but also, he is the deeper and more subtle forms. In fact, he is the very display of enlightenment itself. We realize then that Guru Rinpoche is inseparable from our own nature. How do you cut that nature up? The Buddha Nature is the Buddha Nature. And so, when we look at Guru Rinpoche, and we practice devotion in order to achieve a certain natural transmission, aren’t we actually walking through the door of our own nature? Aren’t we actually looking at the true face which is our face as well? Aren’t we actually doing what we do best—seeing something as external which is actually inseparable from us? That’s what we do very well. That’s all that we know how to do.

And so we practice Guru Yoga. Ultimately, we understand that by receiving the empowerment of the Lama, and practicing deeply, to understand the nature of the Lama, is to understand our own nature. That to meditate accordingly is to see the true face which is that nature. Ultimately, we will practice in such a way as to dispel the delusion of separation. We will come to dispel such distinction. We will come to realize that nature as our own nature, an event that is not ordinary.

What to Abandon and What to Accept

May 24, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

When an ordinary person decides they are Enlightened but hate, gossip and bad qualities show they absolutely are not. Be careful and watch. If one believes in a person who self proclaims Enlightenment and follows them in lying, hate, gossip they too will fall to a lower rebirth. If a person proclaims themselves Enlightened and has nothing to show for it their lives bear no extraordinary fruit and they should be abandoned. To hide one’s flaws and preach to others is a waste of time. Most people aren’t blind. And flaws will never be pacified.

How excellent, how wonderful to abandon pride, hatred, gossip, etc and attend to a pure practice given by a pure master from a pure source!

How sad when one does not know what to abandon and what to accept. Anyone can talk. Dogs bark, cats meow. Compassion and courage to get out and benefit beings and our planet – this is what counts.

OM AH HUNG BENZAR GURU PEDMA SIDDHI HUNG!

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.