Compassion | Tibetan Buddhist Altar

Plea for the Safety of the Troy Parrots

November 10, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is a plea written by Rigdzin Zeoli, caretaker of the Garuda Aviary Parrot Rescue and Sanctuary:

Doug Ratcliff of Union Township was not an animal hoarder. He is trying to start a parrot mill. The horrific photos that brought the world’s attention to Union Township were not unfamiliar to me. The sight of parrots living and dying in filth and squalor is often what you find in a parrot mill.
As an experienced parrot handler and primary caretaker for Garuda Aviary parrot rescue and sanctuary, I recognized Doug Ratcliff’s methods as being consistent with other inhumane parrot breeding “facilities” deemed parrot mills. An associate of mine who was on the scene in Union Township during the rescue phase of the horrific “Troy Parrots” story confirmed my suspicions by reporting the presence of rows of “breeding boxes” where the parrots were kept on Ratcliff’s property.
Parrot mills are very similar to puppy mills in that the breeding animals are denied basic health care in an attempt to increase profits. If one of the breeding animals get sick or injured, the breeder will often let it die rather then pay for it’s medical care.
Doug Ratcliff is trying to regain custody of the 10 parrots currently under the care of Dr Brauer at the South Dayton Veterinary Clinic in Kettering. It is no surprise he wants these birds returned as they represent the core of his breeding population.
Returning these parrots to Mr. Ratcliff would be a unconscionable crime. He has multiple animal cruelty and neglect violations in his history of parrot keeping.
I have seen parrots kept in inhumane negligence. The conditions seen on Doug Ratcliff’s property were probably the worst conditions I’ve ever encountered. It has been extremely difficult for Dr. Brauer to keep some of these birds alive and to get them to some semblance of a healthy state.
With all of the negative press Ohio has received recently regarding the inhumane treatment of animals, the LAST thing the people of Ohio would want in their area is a parrot mill. Anybody with even a vague interest in the humane care of animals would regard this as proof that Ohio’s perspective on animal welfare is cruel and archaic.
I am sending this plea out to anybody who might have relevant authority regarding this issue.
Dr. Brauer is filing an injunction to gain ownership of these 10 parrots still under his care so that he may find the proper rescue facilities to continue their recovery.
On my hands and knees, I beg, BEG you to help Dr. Brauer gain ownership and deny Mr. Ratcliff these very special exotic birds.
If these parrots are returned to Ratcliff, they will suffer in filth and illness and many will die. There is NO reason to believe otherwise when one sees his past record of criminal negligence.
PLEASE do the right thing and help see these exotic birds to safety.

Thank you
Christopher Zeoli
Garuda Aviary

If you would like to add your voice to the call for protecting these precious lives here is some contact information:

Send a letter via http://governor.ohio.gov/Contact/ContacttheGovernor.aspx

HSUS Ohio State Director
web form: http://www.humanesociety.org/forms/states/contact_ohio_director.html

Prosecutor Gary Nasal
email: [email protected]

Mayor Michael L. Beamish
email: [email protected]

[email protected]

Attn: Caren Golden

[email protected]

Melody Vallieu Troy Daily News

Impartiality

November 10, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is a full length video teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo given at Kunzang Palyul Choling:

Video streaming by Ustream

Jetsunma describes how to use the natural love and responsibility we feel towards those we love as a window to recognizing the suffering of all beings, and taking responsibility for relieving the suffering of all beings without partiality.

We The People

November 4, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is a series of tweets from Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo offered in support of the #Occupy movements:

For those who bring compassion to the people OM MANI PEDME HUNG! May you abide in the comfort of love.

For those who may die or are being hurt from the struggle. OM AMI DEWA HRI. You will be crowned as a protector of “we the people.”

For those who break through ignorance with the sword of wisdom. OM AH RA PA TSA NA DHI – You are the bringers of the way for “we the people.”

For all who hunger for the clear light of Primordial Nature and safety – Long Life for all OM TARE TUTARE TURE PUNYE PUSHTIM AH YOU PUSHTIM KURU YE SOHA. You may save us all!

For you who treasure truth and pray for the liberation of “we the people” – OM AH HUNG VAJRA GURU PEMA NORBU SIDDHI HUNG- I treasure you, the beautiful.

For those who wish to serve the people and feed the poor – OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA – May you have, and share, every gift in every form. I love you.

May “we the people” gather, talk, march, pray, be together as one to birth a new world of virtue and compassion for all.

I believe. I believe in you.

Thank you all for your good efforts.

Peace. Occupy Earth!

Love is the Medicine: Quotes from Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

November 4, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

No true Dharma Master behaves with rage, hate, ranting, self- importance. These are signs of mental instability, a character flaw. Never follow such a one as that.

One should rest with a peaceful and loving mind. Even wrathful emanating Buddhas manifest solely out of the wish to liberate beings.

Respect kindly all religions that teach loving kindness, and have no respect for envy and jealousy. Never follow hate.

No being incapable of controlling their own mind or developing ethics and a loving character can ever be a Master. First we must have accomplishment.

If we develop a good heart we will progress to true compassion, and awaken Bodhicitta. This is the way of the Buddha’s method.

The way of loving kindness is what is to be accepted. Love! The benefit is clear. Rage, hate are the way of chaos and darkness – to be rejected.

In short: if one has nothing of value to say, only that which is impure defilement, avoid them. They are masters of the dark. Of no use.

Always walk in peace and beauty; in grace and love, speak only truth and you will be blessed. Where we are, let there be light.

Hate is the last refuge of the ignorant. Love is the medicine. Compassion is the gift of the awakened ones.

The Gift

November 2, 2011November 2, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

A peaceful mind is a precious jewel, more precious than any gem in the world. It is because jewels cannot make you happier for long, and they can be lost, stolen, or broken. That is not the case with a peaceful mind.

If one trains the mind in calm abiding, subdues greed, trains in Bodhicitta, gains view of the condition of samsara, and discovers its impermanence, then understanding will come. There is no gift, no wealth, no treasure like a peaceful, loving mind. Nothing worldly is worth striving for except the opportunity to serve others. If we do that, our dominating ego quiets, the endless craving, the endless hatred, the boundless confusion of pride, and neediness for attention, all gradually and gently disappear like an early morning mist. It does take effort, yet the mist will vanish and reveal the glory and beauty of our true face, the natural, unborn, yet completely fulfilled Primordial Ground of our nature – the Buddha nature. It is so present, so fresh, so now, yet seems totally out of reach. That is why we must study method. No good result can possibly come from poor conduct, and wild acting out with an unstable mind cannot bring satisfaction, love, peace, joy or character.

Here the nation is falling apart, losing freedom due to fear and negative intention. Our planet is being raped and poisoned by those who think, pridefully, that it is their right to do so. We are being crushed under the weight of our own twisted confusion. What we still don’t understand is that the main battle is within. If we wake up in time, as is the case with Occupy Wall Street, we must also understand that what we are doing in our head is also important. If altruism is not the basis, hate will rule. If kindness is not there, the result will be more of the same. If greed wins, we will have nothing.

So train well in spirit and heart-mind long before the time comes when we will see this new, brave world convulse itself into birth. This way we will actually contribute to a better world, rather than build a shiny new floor over the same old hate and societal insanity. We cannot afford this. Mama Earth cannot afford this. The bliss and joy of true accomplishment and awakened view is so immediate and beautiful in a new, pristine way. We have Buddha in the palm of our hand! The gift.

BLEEDING

October 27, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following poem is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement:

I cried so much earlier, then I stopped a while. Time to cry again, no tears now. Too late for tears.

I wish I had some tears left over. I wish the well wasn’t dry. I wish I could speak to those with ears. So few.

I wish we all had understanding and Wisdom. And Compassion. But we are so busy, no time, even to pray. And so we lose our way.

Busy in our minds, dead in our hearts, eyes blind. I speak to a tree. At least it listens. Goodbye beautiful one.

Please awaken in spring, give us hope, a place to be. A place to Love again. A shady spot to remember when we were innocent.

We were so innocent while being eaten alive. I will always remember. If I don’t, who will?

Occupy Wall Street!

October 16, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

I don’t understand the suppression of Occupy Wall Street news. The more it is bottled up the bigger the explosion will be. Do we want to defeat the protesters? As in a war? Aren’t they our people? Occupy Wall Street is in every continent. These people are us. Why not listen? These OWS protesters watch corporations like Enron drain us dry. We are not the proud people of USA, who grew and made progress in life. Our jobs are gone overseas, our services gone, if we follow our corrupt leaders we will run off a cliff. We love our nations. But we are being drained, our planet is dying- and no one but the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations are telling the truth. Why can’t we sit together and talk?

Occupy Wall Street is the biggest story on earth, along with Fukushima. Why the cover up? We are afraid, do not trust our government/corporations and demand change to benefit “we the people,” not the giants that beat and jail the OWS people. The government should answer to people. Occupy Wall Street!

When I was young I marched to change the world. And here we are again. You should listen this time. Occupy Wall Street!

Untamed Mind

October 8, 2011October 8, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

If a person is deeply obsessed with someone daily, and for a long time unrelenting, that indicates no accomplishment and a disturbed mind. That sort of person, the obsessive one, can potentially turn violent, hurt their victim and themselves. Much easier to get treatment. It is demonic, truly, to hate others who honestly and truly try to benefit others. Especially if one tries to harm them to the point they cannot accomplish their spiritual vocation, I feel it is criminal.

We all have the right to accomplish what we came here to do. Some have no such commitment. It is the Bodhisattvas who return only to benefit sentient beings. It is their responsibility to practice and teach others to practice Bodhicitta, the “great compassion,” the essence of awakening to Buddhahood. All is done to heal and help. That cannot be stopped; nor can it be accomplished by those who only want to bring harm and cry in pity for themselves. Senseless to remain so infantile. And cry for justice when one’s ego has been threatened? No. Justice when one’s life and livelihood are threatened. That is the way.

If one has no mission, no livelihood, and a damaged brain filled with hate and blame, it needs healing. That is the way. A life of generous display and heartfelt caring is the nature of the Bodhisattvas. They are true Buddhas in the flesh. Kindly support them, and leave them to their great and beneficial works. Find something else to do, other than cry.

OM AH HUNG VAJRA GURU PEMA NORBU SIDDHI HUNG

OM MANI PEDME HUNG

The Four Immeasurables by Venerable Gyaltrul Rinpoche

October 7, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a public talk given by Venerable Gyaltrul Rinpoche:

What is the benefit of taking refuge in a great teacher such as Buddha? Why would we want to do that? Is it so we can become more worldly, have more worldly power and develop worldly qualities? Actually, it’s for just the opposite reason. If we take refuge in a great spiritual teacher and follow a true spiritual path, we will achieve happiness, and many obstacles in our life will be removed. But the most important point to consider is the way that refuge affects our mind and prepares us for future lifetimes. The duration of this life is a very short period of time. Rather than be concerned with this life alone, it is far more important to think about endless time and what happens after this life.

This is why we take refuge in a spiritual guide, and why we should do it without any doubt, with a mind that is single-pointedly aware of the qualities and accomplishments of that object of refuge. It is important to recognize what those qualities and accomplishments are, and to understand that exactly that is what we wish to actualize, and will actualize, if we follow the path our object of refuge presents to us. So, without a lazy, slothful attitude, and without any doubts, we must follow an object of refuge.

At the same time, we must consider that up until now, throughout all of our past lifetimes, we have tried to accomplish our own purpose, focusing only on our self, but we haven’t been able to accomplish even that. Wouldn’t it be wiser to exchange self for others and focus on how to be of benefit to others? If we think in this way, and exchange our self-cherishing attitude for the wish to benefit others, automatically we benefit our self. This is really the only way to benefit our self. By thinking of others, automatically we experience happiness.

To work for the welfare of others, we must first of all have the aspiration, the wish to do so. In this wishing, we must first develop a sense of the equality of all that lives; we must recognize that all beings are truly equal. Then we must develop love for them all equally, compassion for them all equally, and joy for them all equally. When we are able to develop these four qualities—equanimity, love, compassion, and joy—we can then engage in practices in our daily life to actually bring benefit to beings, practices such as generosity, patience, ethics, perseverance, concentration, wisdom, and so forth.

Compassion for others is developed by seeing that all living beings without exception, as long as they remain on the wheel of existence, exist in a state of suffering and discontent because they haven’t been able to realize the true nature of their own minds. Seeing them like this, suffering in all their different predicaments, we feel compassion for them. It is just how we would feel if our own child were to be thrown into prison and we would see him, or her, suffering there.

Love arises when we then develop the wish that these beings may be free from their suffering. For instance, we certainly feel compassion and pity for our child who is suffering in prison, but along with that we also have a strong desire that our child be liberated from that experience of suffering. That strong desire is love.

Then, the happiness we feel when we see others established in a state of permanent happiness or bliss is joy. We naturally feel joy when we see others happy and liberated from their suffering.

Finally, equanimity is the experience of compassion and love and joy for all living beings equally, without any partiality. For instance, if we have two children in jail, we feel the same about each of them, not loving one more than the other, not wanting one to be free of the condition of suffering more than the other. Exactly in this way, we must develop love and compassion equally for all living beings.

Compassion, love, joy, and equanimity are what is called “aspirational bodhichitta”, and because we have this for all living beings, which are limitless, these four qualities are called the “four immeasurables”. If we have them as a foundation, then any activity we engage in will be virtuous and positive. Actualizing our bodhichitta aspiration, putting it into action in our daily life, will produce powerful, positive results. But if we don’t have this foundation we won’t achieve the same results. Doing good things without compassion, love, joy, and equanimity simply doesn’t accomplish the same results at all. This point is extremely important.

Indestructible Compassion: Awakened Bodhicitta

September 25, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

This is the 23rd Anniversary of my Enthronement in the Palyul Lineage. My students celebrate this day, but me? Not so much.

Tulkus take rebirth for the sake of all beings. Not to play video games or ice skate! Ha! Most Tulkus come back with a mission. Pre-ordained, and ready for a life much different than most people would choose. When His Holiness Penor Rinpoche enthroned me, His Eminence Gyaltrul Rinpoche said to me: “Now you are in jail!” So true. As Palyul Lineage Holder, I have responsibilities that I would not have if not enthroned. I must propagate Dharma and protect Palyul from harm, which I have worked extremely hard to do. From corruption, from villains, con men, thieves, and have done my best at every fork and twist in the road. So I see this day as a marking of this life’s effort.

If there is merit, there will be more effort, and more lives of service. It is all that matters to me. Service. And when have we needed it more than we do now? Mother Earth is sick, crazy people and ideas abound, the older, experienced Bodhisattvas are passing, and Kaliyuga is upon us. So we must be prepared to keep on for the sake of those still revolving in samsara. The sick, hungry, those filled with rage, the deluded. The abused, the poor, and the jealous and ignorant. Each one is a Buddha, having the seed of Buddhahood. But most are asleep, locked in the dream that reflects their mind and their karma. It is for them I will return. May I be the last to cross to that state beyond, so I may be the one to see the end of all suffering. Everything is impermanent. I pray that all suffering is too.

From my deepest heart I dedicate all virtue in the three times, past, present and future, to that end. May all who are sick be healed. May all the poor, hungry, abused dysfunctional, homeless, unloved, without exception be healed. May all find the path of Dharma and love. May we end war, and give rise to ethics and peace. Whatever merit I have ever gathered, and all I and my students have ever done, as well, be dedicated to the liberation and salvation of all!

OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA