A sacred space for everyone
In emptiness – fullness
In silence – song
In stillness – movement
Going, coming, sleeping, waking, empty, full
Speaking, listening, bitter and sweet
The same, in essence.
This much is known
And old truth and new
Kindness is the way
Love, the display
Meaning in method
A blessing for today
Let’s try it.
Let’s try it.
This way
© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
The kind of practice that results in supreme enlightenment is the continuous, natural, graceful effort. It is a happy, blissful,and joyful effort. We should always be in the posture of the teachings. That means that you literally walk around with your heart like a bowl, your mind like a bowl and you are in the posture of a constant wish:
“Please Lord Guru
Change me into whatever form is necessary.
Change my mind – Change my heart – Purify my karma.
Please Lord Guru
The only thing that I request that you do is to not let me remain the same.
Please Lord Guru
Constantly pour the nectar of your Dharma into me.
Lord Guru,
Do not abandon me in samsara.
Do not leave me in the condition that I am now.
Change me utterly and completely to where I do not recognize
Myself as an ordinary samsaric being any longer.
Think of the Guru like a mother bird. Constantly remain in the posture of beseeching the Guru for teachings.
The thing that you have been terrified of, the thing that you have guarded
yourself against, is the very thing that you should be requesting constantly:
That you should be transformed and changed according to the wishes of the
Guru.
Do not let me be separate from your teachings even for a moment.
Have courage.
© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo
It is gorgeous today! Breezy, cool in shade, mostly sunny. A day to be in love with! Our neighbor came up and told us weird news.
Two of their beef calves were killed in the field last night. They were nearly 300lbs each. What could have done that? Bear? Big Cat?
I wonder about mountain Lion or something. I’ve sent someone over to see carcass. Looks like some flank torn, leg pulled back and up.
OM MANI PEDME HUNG for the poor things, will offer my practice for them. 🙁 But you know what? They said the next stop was the feedlot.
It is hard to imagine the suffering these calves go through in a feed lot. They live in pens, have a fetid environment, and they live to be to be killed, to be delicious. They live with their feet hurting always, not allowed to move. Just marble up, KIDS! Stand and eat!
This brings to mind Buddha’s teachings about the sufferings of all beings. Animals suffer from fear and stupidity. Farm animals can easily overpower their keepers. Elephants in the Circus and other animals can take trainers down. But they are fearful and ignorant and unaware they can be in charge.
OM TARE TU TARE TURE SOHA may mother Buddha Tara bless and care for suffering beings. May all suffering in all forms end! Humans suffer from old age, sickness and death. Most never think about that. They think about distraction with which to hide the inevitable.
Buddhists plan, practice and work for a noble death and a good, high rebirth. I do. May ALL beings awaken!
We should awaken in recognition of the clear, undefiled emptiness of the Primordial wisdom state. This is the very ground of being.
It is our very NATURE, as it IS. We must apply method diligently in order to awaken to the true state of recognition- Buddhahood!
And then return, life after life awakened and able to bring much benefit. This is the path of every Bodhisattva! The way of Buddhahood.
From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
An excerpt from a teaching called Viewing the Guru: The Seven Limb Puja by Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo on October 18, 1995
The next posture that we maintain constantly is that of rejoicing. Constantly rejoice. This posture of rejoicing actually isn’t like, “Walk around being happy!” That would be like putting on a false face. You have all this samsaric past in you and yet you’re putting this happy face on it. That’s not what we’re talking about.
We’re talking about rejoicing in the accomplishments of the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas, of all those who have achieved realization. We’re talking about rejoicing in the accomplishments of others. In the face of the Guru, as the Guru’s child and inseparable from the Guru’s nature, instead we say, “Oh, this one has crossed the ocean of suffering,” and rejoice in the accomplishment of the Guru. The accomplishment of the Guru reflects on one’s own karma, if you think about it. “I rejoice in the accomplishment of the Guru, and now I am in the presence of the Guru, and now the accomplishment of the Guru then becomes available to me, as well.” How do you think the accomplishment of the Guru could ever become available to you if you do not rejoice in that respectfully, if you do not give rise to the recognition of the joy of that? If you say, “Well, I wonder what she really has accomplished? I mean, let’s think about it. I mean she really doesn’t pay much attention to facts. She doesn’t know any of those lists.” You know those lists that you all have to know? So you might be saying to yourself, “She doesn’t know any of those lists, so how good can she be?” So that’s the kind of thought that you might have about your teacher, and maybe in this case you would be right. But in this case you would be wrong for you, because it doesn’t help you to think like that! If you find fault in the face of your Guru, you will never achieve realization. Period. That’s it. If you don’t recognize the nature of the Guru, you cannot recognize your own nature. It simply will not occur. So instead, we recognize the qualities of the Guru. We see that this is the very extension of Guru Rinpoche’s miraculous compassion, that this is primordial empty nature and luminosity, non-dual, expressed in the world in a form that I can understand. This is beyond flaw. Because that’s what it is. It is not a human being. It is not a samsaric being. It is not a prop. It is not a thing. It is not ‘out there.’ It is the very display of our nature, in a form that we can recognize. So we rejoice in that.
That’s how it’s relevant to our practice, but in general, rejoicing in the welfare of those who have accomplished Dharma includes rejoicing in the Buddhas who have crossed the ocean of suffering and returned for the sake of sentient beings: rejoicing in the Bodhisattvas who hold back from the brink of nirvana for the sake of sentient beings; rejoicing even in practitioners who have accomplished, who are now accomplishing, Dharma in order to benefit sentient beings. When you hear that one of your peers has completed Ngondro or completed some other practice, or had a really profound relationship with their practice or they are really going into it and they are really moving on it, the faulty human tendency would be to say, “Well, I could do that.” Or, “Well, yeah, but they’re not taking out the garbage! I mean, they’re practicing all day, but you never see them take out the garbage.” That’s the kind of tendency that we have.
Instead, we are talking about constantly rejoicing in the achievements of others. That is a way to increase your own accomplishment as well. But in terms of practicing with the Guru, you should think that, in fact, we are looking at the face of primordial nature, we are looking at the nature of emptiness, at the display of luminosity. The Guru appears in the world, and we are rejoicing in the accomplishment of the Guru, rejoicing in the magical, mystical and miraculous appearance in the world, for the sake of sentient beings. We are constantly rejoicing in that to where there is no room for grasping and clinging and judging and all those things that we normally do.
© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo
“As long as prisoners do not know that they are in prison and do not perceive the life of prison is difficult and painful to bear they will not develop any genuine wish to free themselves from prison.
The same is true of samsara: as long as you are unable to perceive. The defects of life within this cycle of existence, you will never develop a genuine wish to gain nirvana, freedom from samsara.
If we remain idle and do not think seriously about karmic law, we might feel that we are not accumulating any negative actions and that we are good practioners.
If we analyze our thoughts and actions closely, however, we will find we are engaging in idle speech, harming others, or engaging in covetousness on a daily basis.
We will find we actually lack the primary factor of deep conviction Necessary to really observe the law of karma.” From: THE WAY to FREEDOM by His Holiness Dalai Lama of #Tibet @Dalailama#Buddhism
Something told me to open my book to pg108. And there were jewels there, the unfathomable wisdom of HH Dalai Lama. I gathered them for YOU! Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
There are no physical markers by which to measure progress between positive and negative forces in consciousness. Changes begin when you first identify & recognize your delusions, such as anger and jealousy. One then needs to know the antidote to delusion, and that knowledge is gained by listening to the teachings. There is NO simple way to remove delusions. They cannot be extracted surgically. They have to be recognized, and then, through the practice of these teachings can be gradually reduced and then completely eliminated!
These teachings offer the means to free oneself from delusion; a path that eventually leads to freedom from all suffering and to the BLISS of enlightenment. The more one comes to understand the Dharma, or Buddhist teachings, the weaker will be the grip of pride, hatred, greed, and other negative emotions that cause so much suffering. Applying this understanding in daily life over a period of months and years will gradually transform the mind because despite the fact that it often seems otherwise, the mind is subject to change.
Though we realize the harm caused by our delusions, such as damage done to ourselves and others when we act out of anger we still fall under its influence. Thus an untamed mind throws us recklessly into the abyss instead of stopping when it sees the edge.
All merit dedicated to the continued Long Life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet. Gratitude for the great blessing of His kind words! All benefit!
Similarly even I have taught that self-honesty in viewing one’s faults and taking the necessary antidote is truly the way. -JAL
From a Series of Tweets by @ahkonlhamo
Don’t get misled! “Ah” is Sanskrit or Tibetan. It is not Japanese or Chinese. It is the seed vowel of our Primordial Wisdom Nature, the very ground of being. Buddha Primordial! It is our own pristine face. Please don’t be confused.
It is so essential to understand “Ah,” as it is the primordial ground of display. The ground – Buddha nature. The path – Dharma, or method. The fruit is Buddhahood. Notice the relationship of seed, ground; and fruit, result. Cause and effect! The result can never be other than the seed. One cannot awaken to Buddhahood if the ground and path, seed and method are wrong. Ground/method/result, seed/path/fruit. THIS is what the Buddha taught. Do not be confused by false teachings. There is no magic, miracle cure for samsara. It’s not for slackers!
Dedicated to all those who in their ignorance, oppose the Buddha’s teaching. May their afflictions be antidoted. May they find peace and happiness.
© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo
from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:
If you see any animal dying, even a bug or worm, recite audibly *OM AMI DEWA HRI* then *OM MANI PEDME HUNG* to bless them, for a good rebirth.
If you or someone you know suffers from mental confusion recite *OM AH RA PA TSA NA DHI* to Bodhisattva Manjushri and then *DHI D D D….. At least one full MALA of each.
If you are on the spiritual path and wish to find your Guru or repair any connection with GURU recite *OM AH HUNG BENZAR GURU PEMA SIDDHI HUNG* That is the Mantra for GURU Padmasambhava, the lotus born Guru.
If one sees a disaster, natural or otherwise; or many suffering pray to Tara, Mother of all Buddhas recite; *OM TARE TU TARE TURE SOHA*
From a Series of Tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:
Good HOT afternoon, Twitterverse from Barnesville MD where I am better and the pack is well. I feel like my body is processing dark energy and I have been able to throw it off.
The thing is to transform it to bliss, light; if one bounces it back to the sender you are as evil as them.
I would NEVER go low and dark like that. There is no place for that in my life, and the planet does not need it. We need pure Bodhicitta.
There is never an excuse for causing harm to others. Lord Buddha taught us this. If we cannot cure, then at least do no harm.
As for me, I always try to take on and transform negativity; I never let it harm others. I pray for the courage and strength to endure.
May the great ancient ones who Protect Palyul especially come forth and protect PURE DHARMA and PURE PRACTIONERS! #stopthehate #Tibet
