Notions of Tonglen

Thought Transformation in Eight Stanzas
By Langri Tangpa Dorje Senge

1.
Being determined to accomplish
The highest welfare for all beings,
Who are more precious than the wish-fulfilling gem,
I shall constantly hold them dear.
2.
When accompanying anyone,
I shall view myself as the lowest of all
And in the depth of my heart,
Shall hold others dearly as supreme.
3.
Examining my continuum through all actions,
As soon as an emotional affliction arises
That endangers myself and others,
By facing it, I shall strictly avert it.
4.
When seeing a being of wicked nature,
Who is forced by violent wrongs and sufferings,
I shall hold dear this one – so hard to find -
As though discovering a precious treasure.
5.
When others, out of jealousy,
Treat me badly with abuse, insults and the like,
I shall accept their hard words
And offer the other the victory.
6.
When someone whom I have assisted
And in whom I have placed great hope
Inflicts me with extremely great harm,
I shall view him as my supreme spiritual friend.
7.
In short, I shall offer benefit and bliss to all mothers,
In this life and in the future continuum
And secretly I shall take upon myself
All of the harms and sufferings of my mothers.
8.
When, having not defiled all these by the stain
Of preconceptions of the eight worldly feelings,
And perceiving all phenomena as illusory
Free from aversion and clinging,
I shall release from bondage.

In Memory of A Friend

"Altogether we are happy to die.

We take our joy along with us.

It is unusually romantic to die:

Born a monk,

Died a king-

Such thunderstorm does not stop.

We will be haunting you, along with the dralas.

Jolly good luck!"

--from Trungpa Rinpoche's Last Will & Testament

Patrul Rinpoche

Hello to Patrul Rinpoche!

Jigme, Making the Rounds

"A TIBETAN POEM
Each Choice--by Jigme Lingpa

As the eagle soars in the endless blue,
Its shadow races after it, far below.
Yet space does not divide: bird and shadow are linked.
So too each act—each choice
and consequence.

Source: Tibet, 18th Century"

This, above, is making the rounds of the various blogs today, and soon we will see it on bumperstickers.

The precise translation, from the Treasury of Precious Qualities, is:

"When the eagle soars up, high above the ground,
For a while its shadow is nowhere to be seen;
Yet bird and shadow still are linked. So it is with our actions:
When the right conditions come together, their effects will manifest."

Tharpaling in Bhutan

Tharpaling in Bhutan (best available photograph). The place needs care and above all, Jigme Lingpa slept here, so what are we waiting for?

Third Kalu Rinpoche

Here, by request, is a photograph of the Third Kalu Rinpoche.

Restoration in Tibet (Tsering Jong) and Bhutan

I am particularly interested in the restoration of Tsering Jong in Tibet, and Tharpaling, in Bhutan. Anyone who shares a similar interest is invited to contact me. Note that the photo above is of Tsering Jong, scanned in from Janet Gyatso's book, which apart from H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche's book is the only public depiction I know about. If anyone else has any photographs of Tsering Jong available, I would like to see them.

Dalai Lama to Visit Pasadena

His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama, seen here tinkering in his workshop (he likes to repair watches and things), will be visiting Pasadena again, September 12, 2006.

Need Help With Prayer Wheels

We cooked up a project to erect some prayer wheels. The basic, 12" x 10" diameter units (pictured above) cost us USD $175.00 each, and then we would purchase some timbers and set them up so people could spin them. This is a relatively inexpensive way to put up prayer wheels in public places: a far cry from the USD $3,600.00 they want for the trillion-mantra "high tech" prayer wheels manufactured in Washington State. I will never understand why Dharma centers victimize each other financially, but they do, so what can we say? Anyway, if you want to help, or you know somebody who wants to help, please let us know. I will put a prayer wheel anyplace anybody will let me put a prayer wheel.

Five Buddha Crown

Here, by request, is picture of the Five Buddha Crown.

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)