Odiyan : Tarthang Rinpoche's Immortal Vision

Two views of the main temple at Odiyan, in Sonoma County, California:

a 900 acre Nyingmapa temple complex that sprang from the ocean-like mind of Tarthang Rinpoche.

Please visit here.

Here is a curiosity: Old Tibetan Documents Online. These are transliterations of various and sundry things that were deemed important several hundred years ago. Some Dunhuang material here about not carrying off the women.

NYINGMA PROTECTORS

MAY THE LIVES OF THE TREASURE REVEALERS

AND LINEAGE HOLDERS BE CONSTANTLY PROTECTED

"Yellow" Tara

White Mahakala

We earnestly appeal to White Mahakala to bring peace and prosperity to the valley and surrounding area where we are now staying, and to all sentient beings; may they know abundance in every beneficial form and be free from suffering and the cause of suffering.

White Dzambhala, a deity of Wealth.

Namgyalma, a deity of Long Life.

The five-deity Kurukulle mandala?
Anybody familiar with this?

The Diplomat and the Dalai Lama

Seminal contacts (on June 17, 1908) between Tibet, in the person of H.H. the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, and the White House, in the person of U.S. Minister to China William Woodville Rockhill (1854-1914), are described in an interesting page from the Library of Congress. Worth reading. I know from experience that LOC's Tibetan holdings are superb, and did you know they have a prayer wheel?

A gift from the Nyingma Sect of Tibetan Buddhism to the people of America.

RIG 'DZIN 'JIG MED GLING PA

May the clouds of ignorance that prevent me from seeing you be
spontaneously lifted:

A heart-stream of adorned motive
is tributary to a river of mercy,
where beings as numberless as stars
find, and take comfort from,
the energetic display of
your thousand faces of wisdom.

For you, inhabiting one and then the other,
with a realization beyond the three times,
I pray that a connection be established forever.

Oh, Rinpoche, even as I have no understanding,
let faith guide me to the self-liberation
that comes through your presence;
even as I have no faith,
let intention guide me to the aspiration
that comes through your voice;
even as I have no intention
let the hero of awareness
waken me from conceptual thinking.

Oh, Rinpoche, I beg you to look quickly to me;
Oh, Rinpoche, I beg you please remain.

The Ninth through the Sixteenth Karmapas

H.E. Kalu Rinpoche

This photograph is loved by thousands of people all over the world, as it captures Rinpoche's inherent gentleness. This photograph is personally meaningful for me, because I was directly in front of him when it was taken. A few moments prior, I was the "test," sitting in the chair for a portrait so the photographer could arrange the lighting. When this was complete, Rinpoche sat down. The session was at a private residence in San Gabriel Valley, in the library room.

This was Kalu Rinpoche's last visit to America. He returned to Asia not long after this photograph was taken, and thereafter passed away. What I remember lately is our last private meeting. Wordlessly, he handed me two images of the peaceful and wrathful Bardo dieties, respectively, and I instantly understood what he wished to communicate. Afterward, we drove from Southern California to San Francisco because he wanted to pray for all the beings from south to north. He enjoyed California very much and this was his way of saying goodbye.

My Root Lama, who is Nyingmapa, first suggested that I seek out Kalu Rinpoche and make his acquaintance. I am so thankful for this. Because of this I had the indescribably rare opportunity to be in the company of a living saint. The term "living Buddha" is tossed around a great deal and usually doesn't carry much weight. Kalu Rinpoche was a Living Buddha in every conceivable way.

The First through the Eighth Karmapas

A personal note about seemingly hopeless situations.

On March 30th of this year I experienced what my cardiologist called a "massive" heart attack. Emergency surgical intervention was necessary to save my life, and as they prepared to do this, the doctor recorded in his notes that the likelihood of mortality was "high." Following surgery, the intensive care unit nurses informed me, "It is considered a miracle that you are alive." I was told that the damage was so severe, my life expectancy was being measured in weeks, not months.

Yesterday, I went to the hospital for a checkup. Apart from the artifact of the stent in my left artery, my EKG was normal. My cholesterol, which was 275 on discharge from hospital, was now absolutely spot on. Oxygen was 98% on room air.

Of course I am watching my diet, of course I am taking medicine, and I try to walk every day as I have been instructed. However, one factor--more than any other--has played a key role in what the doctors now concede is a very rapid and unprecedented recovery.

If you find yourself feeling hopeless about this or that medical issue, please write to me and describe your situation and I will send you something that helps where nothing else can.

These are usually hung over the door. Dharma Publishing in Emeryville, California makes lovely ones that are available commercially in the various shops.

I thought long and hard before posting this one. This is a "Liberation by Wearing" (BTAGS GROL GYI 'KHOR LO) wheel, also known as the Kuntunzangpo or Adi Buddha circle. The first ones I saw were printed in red ink on thin paper. I later printed many of these under my teacher's supervision. These are encased in cloth (sewn in little cloth pockets) and thereafter worn. When one passes away, the mandala is taken out, unfolded, and laid upon the chest during cremation. I happen to know that the above scan is taken from one my teacher brought to America in the late 1960s. You can also find a depiction of this (and complete explanation) in the new, complete translation of the so-called "Tibetan Book of the Dead." You can purchase one of these, nicely encased in brocade cloth, for $15.00 from Dodrupchen Rinpoche's U.S. center. There are places you can download high resolution images for printing, but this is not something you should play with unless you know what you are doing. If you make a mistake, you cannot just throw one of these away; you must dispose of them in a particular fashion. This is an EXTREMELY POWERFUL AND SACRED IMAGE - TREAT IT AS SUCH.

Today (August 18th) was the 25th day of the 6th Tibetan month:

a Dakini Day.

HRI

Mantric Syllable (for Kurukulle)

Kurukulle

(in the form visualized in H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche's Dakini Heart Essence)

Kurukulle Mandala

Above is a Kurukulle yantra from Indian sources. We are reminded that these are considered powerless without the seed mantra inscribed.

Kurukulle Magnetizing Jin Sek Mandala (from Nyingmapa sources)