Christianity in Early Tibet

There is a most fascinating post of the same name on the earlytibet.com blog, and I suppose I should let this speak for itself.

One of the most striking features of this post is the included reference to Jesus Christ as an amalgam of Vajrapani and Shakyamuni (!)

You'll also find a link to the "Tibeto-Logic" blog's deconstruction of Jesus in Tibet.

While you're at it, you might as well also visit the "Jesus Thangka."

Well, Merry Christmas, everybody. Now nobody can say we didn't give equal time.

Peacock Town

I'm visiting the wonderful city of Arcadia, California today. I used to live here quite happily and, in fact, once died here-- on an operating table in the local hospital, only to be immediately brought back. The town symbol is the peacock, because peacocks strut freely about the streets. They center around the Los Angeles County Arboretum: one of my favorite places in the world. Every time I see a peacock it brings to mind Dharmarakshita's Wheel of Sharp Weapons. There is both a literal and a poetic translation on line, which you can see here.

In jungles of poisonous plants strut the peacocks,
Though medicine gardens of beauty lie near.
The masses of peacocks don’t find gardens pleasant,
But thrive on the essence of poisonous plants.

In similar fashion, the brave bodhisattvas
Remain in the jungle of worldly concern.
No matter how joyful this world’s pleasure gardens,
These brave ones are never attracted to pleasures,
But thrive in the jungle of suffering and pain.

UPDATED: Well, the thing is, I missed the place so much that I moved back, just to be near the peacocks.

Prayer to Remove Obstacles

Du sum sang gyay guru rinpoche
Ngo drup kun dak de wa chen poi zhap
Bar chad kun sel dud dul drak pos tsal
Sol wa deb so jyin gyiy lap tu sol
Chyi nang sang wai bar chad zhi wa dang
Sam pa lhun gyi drup par jyin gyi lob

Precious guru, embodiment of all Buddhas of the three times;
Great bliss, the lord of all accomplishments;
Wrathful power, who dispels all hindrances and subdues demons;
Pray bestow your blessings.
Please remove the outer, inner, and secret obstacles and
Grant your blessings to accomplish wishes spontaneously.

1963 Video of Dudjom Rinpoche

Quite a few people missed this link to a 1963 French television documentary featuring Dudjom Rinpoche and the 16th Karmapa, among others. The commentary is dated and pretentious, but the photography is tremendous.

This is a photograph of the XVIth Karmapa, at around age 40, as seen in the video. The thing to remember is that these images were captured not long after the 1959 exodus to India.

If you know who to look for, this video is a treasure trove. Here is a rare photograph of Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche.

Speaking of Goblins

Now, a very good friend of mine was boasting about goblins not long ago. I didn't want to say anything at the time, but we have our own goblins around here. However, the thing is, we turn our goblins into stone and only animate them when they do so awfully wish to be good.

Tibetan Braille

Sabriye Tenberken went blind at age 13, but she still managed to pursue her dreams. Her 1994 visit to Tibet, and her encounters with blind children there, led to another dream, and now, because of this, we have Braille Without Borders.

Most importantly, because of Sabriye, we now have the Tibetan Braille system she developed at Friedrich-Willhelms University,in Bonn, Germany.

Please, visit her web site, linked above, and purchase her book, My Path Leads to Tibet. The proceeds are used to fund her work with the estimated 30,000 blind people in the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

Ocean Eyes

Today is Dakini Day, and I send the above photograph along to absent friends. And now, time for today's particularly special post. Like the song says, this is dedicated to the one I love.

When we are young, twenty years seems like a very long time.

When we are older, it seems like the blink of an eye.

Linearly-experienced time has the quality of accelerating: as we age, time goes faster and faster.

The year that seems like ten years to you seems like a month to me. But, there is a paradox: the minute that seems like a second to you, feels like eternity to me. This is the minute just before I hear your voice or see your face.

However, today I have a gift for you. I have recently been disguised around people again, noticing my foibles and pitfalls. I want to give you something that will help you pierce through such foibles and avoid such pitfalls, so that the connection between us remains meaningful.

In the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, with which I have some enduring link, during the twentieth century there were two particularly great masters: Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche, and Kyabje Tarthang Rinpoche the Elder. Through the inestimable kindness of the latter, I was able to meet the former. Through the inestimable kindness of both, I was able to study a composition popularly known as the “Confession Prayer” of Dudjom Rinpoche. This is sometimes known as the “Vajrayana Confession Prayer.” In particular, I was fortunate enough to privately receive oral commentaries and pith instructions upon this theme when I was quite young---when I was your age, in fact. To hear it once is sufficient. To hear it twice is joy. To place it into use is to invite success.

So great are your inherent treasures, and so sublime is your compassionate manifestation in samsara, that I know you have no real need of my counsel. Still, since you graciously permit me to instruct myself by seeming to instruct you, I will do this anyway. You are one of the only human beings I have ever immediately recognized: you shine so brightly that even a blind dog like me can see. Although the connection with you was instant, the reunification with you is gradual. It is made of eternal minutes that inhabit speeding years. In your omniscience, which is the omniscience of the true wisdom dakini, and about which there can be no mistake, you already know my heart. You already know the nature of my intention.

This photograph is for all those who have requested a picture of Tenpa Rinpoche: this is a picture of his heart. Actually, today's post is dedicated to the person in this picture. Please also note that if you click the link on Dudjom Rinpoche's name, above, you will be taken to a spectacularly interesting video taken during the 1960s. If you watch it all the way through, you will find some other, equally spectacular images.

Herewith is a very poor translation of a very great work. Henceforth, it will always be available to save you from popular delusions and the madness of crowds. If you take these words earnestly to heart, you need never be embarrassed when meeting a teacher who relies on the authenticity that comes from direct realization of the nature of mind. If you put these words into practice, mistaken guides will have no hold over you. If you practice perfectly, you will see your own faults and have no wish to see the faults of others, precisely as the prayers’ own entreaty indicates. Then, others will clearly see that you are the shining jewel of the Nyingma School: the holder of the lineage and the keeper of the samaya.

My beloved friend: make no mistake that this is the hour of darkness and we are set upon in every direction by specters of perverted view. Those who writhe in insecurity, born of reliance solely upon abstract authority, lash out in order to protect their own self-interest. Those who sell the Vajrayana, to maintain themselves in comfortable surroundings, even seek to hound the shawled practitioners from forest caves. Those whose language is harsh, and who are incapable of matching action to view, dishonor the sacrifice of dead bodhisattvas. Those, who believe their own instability is a closely guarded secret, continue to deceive themselves in the hope they may continue to depend upon credulous sycophants. Sometimes, it seems justified to wail in anguish, and ask why the old grandfathers have left us alone in this strange world. So few…so very, very few… are those who can travel to the far-off places with only the welfare of others in mind. So few… so very, very few… are those with the courage to look at themselves and fearlessly add up the shortcomings.

Against all odds, I have found you. That it happened once is no guarantee it will happen again, as much as we might both earnestly wish. Death is a door in a wilderness of doors: you and I live in a wilderness of mirrors. To you, so supremely gifted, I give this admonition: time is far too precious to waste with mistaken approaches. If you are so fortunate as to have a plethora of diamonds, then by all means, pick the one that is flawless.

Dearest Rinpoche… may this find you in excellent health. I share it with others only because I know the generous nature of your heart and the things that might bring you pleasure on Dakini Day.

His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche,
the Great Terton Jigdral Yeshe Dorje
Supreme Head of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism

I pay homage to the guru.

Shakyamuni, Victorious One.

Supreme guide of the realm for this fortunate aeon,

Sons of the Victorious one,

Assembly of noble Bodhisattvas who tame sentient beings,

Lord guru, matchless savior of beings in the dark age,

The three Roots and oath-bound Dharma guardians…

Again and again, I ask from my heart,

Recalling you with longing and one-pointed mind.

Please turn your attention toward me.

Take hold of me with your loving kindness

And with the power of your unhindered compassion

Grant your blessings that my thoughts and aims

be carried out in accord with Dharma.



Through past acts, not without merit,

I have obtained this precious human birth.

Through past merit, not slight,

I have met the sublime Dharma.

Accepted by the guru, I was able to obtain empowerments,

Blessings, and the essential instructions.

All this wealth I now hold in my hands.



But my mind, like a babbling monkey, falls under the sway

Of the enticing, deceptive demon of distraction

And I cannot take advantage of the wealth that is my own.

Thus, this free, well-favored human birth

And the lama's teaching are both wasted.



Now I am at a turning point:

All the teachings that I've asked for,

All I've received, are like a myth.

My body has the appearance of a practitioner,

And I have a practitioner's conceit;

My mind cannot fathom the true teachings.



Lacking even a trace of common Dharma, much less holy Dharma,

The sixteen rules for ordinary social behavior

Are just something that I've heard of.

Seeing myself behave badly, I'm without shame;

Seen by others, I'm unembarrassed;

My bond to the teachings is short as a marmot's tail.



Unable to practice properly true Dharma's ten virtuous deeds,

Harboring sectarian bias toward the one Buddha's teachings,

I slander the teachings and great beings

And gather up bad karma.

Based on Dharma

I carry a great weight of evil deeds.



The more teaching I've received,

The more my vision of myself inflates,

Though intellectual analyses cannot penetrate

The deep meaning of the teachings.



With conceit, I think, "I keep the Pratimoksha disciplines!"

But the four dharma practices have been lost without a trace.



With conceit, I think, "I posses the precious Bodhisattva training!"

But the Four Boundless Ones are just like pictures of a lamp.



With conceit, I think, "I keep the Secret Mantrayana samayas!"

But, not respecting the first root transgression,

I become careless about all the rest.



I can glibly explain the Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind to Dharma,

But my attachment to phenomena

Shows that my own mind has not truly changed.



Though I rely on a teacher, respect and devotion slowly ebb away;

Instead of having pure perception, I have wrong views,

And see the guru as my equal.



Love and respect toward my vajra friends weakens;

Unable to endure a few harsh words, I complain constantly.



Lacking thorough training in bodhicitta,

The love and compassion that comes about

From seeing all beings of the six realms as my parents

Disappears like mist.



Although I act as if I practice the paths of kyerim and dzogrim,

I cannot even cope with ordinary endless delusion.



I recognize that the ultimate teaching of sutra and tantra

Is emptiness, but can't make use of that recognition;

My mindstream stays hard as horn.



When I practice remaining in mind's true condition

I am without stability, yet I mouth off about the profound view

And toss cause and effect to the winds.



On the outside I can give a show of good behavior;

On the inside, desire, attachment, and greed rage like fire.



Though my body remains in isolated mountain retreat,

My mind wanders into town constantly, night and day.



Without enjoying a real measure of certainty in myself,

Thinking to act for other's benefit is just a fairytale.



Although it is impossible that the Three Jewels betray me,

Due to my weak devotion, I fear I will betray myself.



Thus, although I am without the wrong view

Of not believing in the teacher and the holy Dharma,

In these bad times we sentient beings

Are busily perfecting our bad karma,

Knowing, heedlessly, falling under the sway of unawareness;

Failing to maintain mindfulness, we suffer a great loss.



When I examine myself, I see

That everything I've done has only added on to my confusion,

That all my thinking has been stained

By the obscuring emotions and by grasping.

Not seeing that even my virtuous acts

Are polluted with negativities

Where else is there to end up but in the lower realms?

As for the way I behave and what I've done,

Bringing these to mind, I am sickened.

Looking to others, I am only more discouraged;

There are no friends to benefit and ease my mind.



If I cannot take care of myself now,

Others cannot give me refuge when hope is exhausted

And I'm in the hands of the messengers of the Lord of Death.

To wait for a rescue that can never come,

Isn't that self-deception?



Thus, with shame and remorse recognizing my own errors,

Whatever offenses against Dharma have occurred,

Whatever samaya transgressions and violations,

I won't try to conceal from those with wisdom vision.



From the bottom of my heart, I confess;

With your compassion, please endure me.

Be my refuge from the danger of the precipitous, errant path;

Grant the deliverance of finding the perfect, liberating path.



My whole life has been spent practicing this and practicing that

With nothing in my hands to show for it,

No attainment.



From now on, avoiding the miserable path of knowing much,

And missing the one thing I need

Why not go on the path of knowing the one thing that frees all?



Certain, unfailing hope, sole, supreme Lord upon whom I rely,

Root guru who combines all refuges in one,

I supplicate you with devotion and one pointed mind;

Supreme refuge, lord of greatest kindness,

Take hold of me with your compassion.



Grant your blessing that I am able to see my own faults.

Grant your blessing that I have no wish to see the faults of others.

Grant your blessing that evil, cruel, and vicious thoughts be pacified.

Grant your blessing that wholesome thoughts arise deep from within.

Grant your blessing that desire may lessen and contentment increase.

Grant your blessing that I remember the uncertainty of the time of death.

Grant your blessing that I be unconcerned at the time of death.

Grant your blessing that I develop trust in Dharma.

Grant your blessing that I practice impartial pure perception.

Grant your blessing that I develop unfabricated devotion and respect.

Grant your blessing that I persevere, seeing that I have so little time left.

Grant your blessing that I be able to establish Dharma as my ultimate innermost goal.

Grant your blessing that I free my mindstream the innermost practice.

Grant your blessing that I have no obstacles to practice

Grant your blessing that the fruit of my practice may ripen quickly.

Grant your blessing that all conduct with those with whom I have a karmic link may be meaningful.

Grant your blessing that the duality of hope and fear be extinguished.

Grant your blessing that I see nondual wakefulness.

Grant your blessing that I recognize my own innate wakefulness.

Grant your blessing that I hold the dharmakaya citadel.

Grant your blessing that I gain the great effortless certainty.



By means of the great weapon,

Indestructible primordial wakeful awareness,

May the void life-force of samsara and nirvana

Both be severed, at once.



Then, in the unending great bliss of Nyema's feast

May we always enjoy the activity

That is beyond joining and parting.



In the pervasive space of evenness,

Even the word "suffering" does not exist

So who ought to be striving for happiness?



In the Kingdom of Samantabhadra

Happiness and suffering are of one taste;

Without grasping, they liberate of themselves.


May I attain Samantabhadra's kingdom in this very life!

Farewell to the Desert

The rabbits gaze wistfully into the distance. The trailers and containers stand empty. The wind blows unobstructed across the dusty expanses, as it has done for centuries. Tenpa of the Mojave has officially moved away, lock, stock, and two empty barrels. I am gone from the high desert, bound for the bright lights of Los Angeles County. Contrary to all expectations, it seems we will winter at the beach of all places. Who would have thought? Here I was... all set for high altitudes and snow shovels... but the doctor says my old cowboy friend won't find that environment conducive to good health. Blasts of the winter ocean salt mist are better?

Oh, well... any fight, any mission, any time, any condition.

Traveling Light

As promised, the ancient lakes are filled with water again, and today is a day of rainbows in the desert. While it seems inappropriate to look back, I nevertheless suddenly remember a poem I wrote five years ago:

The Symbol Is Dissolved

By an early autumn morning’s rainbows
reprised in the rainbows
of midsummer’s late afternoon—
one in perfect happiness,
the other in perfect sorrow—
so comes from the remembered valley
on the whispered prayer of sunlight,
a dream, declared to River Sky
in which there is no shadow’s slippery promise:
where I first beheld her
and behold, beneath her,
struggling from the water into a cloud,
the purple basilisk that comes but once
before the symbol is dissolved.

Copyright (c) 2003 by Tulku Urgyan Tenpa Rinpoche. All rights reserved.

Forms Separated from Names

We imagine there are perilous roads to places of wonder and beauty because we divide our reason and fragment our sight.

These roads are neither perilous nor safe; these places are neither beautiful nor otherwise. If these things are said to "be" anything at all, then let us merely call them "temporary" and leave it at that.

As night falls, the ancient lakes come alive, replenished by light and the absence of light. Ubiquitous forms that seem to decorate the day are revealed as vowels and consonants of one primal language earth uses to communicate with sky. The purpose of forms become separated from the names we give them. The symbols dissolve.

Maybe you saw the setting sun turn the rocks to gold.

Maybe I saw something else.

Dharma Without Diplomas

The great Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche introduces us to what he calls "Buddhadharma without Credentials." We can easily find this in his Collected Works---I think in Volume II---where it occupies all of two pages, but a flawless diamond is a flawless diamond, no matter its size or setting.

The thesis is that illusion uses seeming existence as "credentials" in order to maintain or validate itself. The thesis is simple enough, but Trungpa employs it focally to explain common foibles of sangha, and in so doing exposes another layer of usefulness. He explains, "Thus, if a person is self-righteously claiming to practice the buddhadharma, [and] is using his practice as credentials, then he is simply playing ego's game." He goes on to state, "If a group of people do this together, then they reinforce each other in the same game. Inevitably they will pick a leader. Then the leader will have as his credentials the title "head of the flock." The members of the flock will have as their credentials the title 'member of such-and-such organization.' The leader and his flock reinforce each other's identities."

The Vidyadhara explains that this collective ego will be on the constant prowl for new ways of self-confirmation, and-- he says directly--- this may even extend to our perceptions of lineage, and how we emulate the teachings of great masters. "But," warns the Vidyadhara, "it will be a prostitution of those teachings." He describes what he refers to as an "ever-escalating game of one-upsmanship," pointing out that this can involve collecting endorsements, validations, certificates, ambitious projects, and so forth, eventually degenerating into something like a cult.

Thankfully, there eventually comes a point when everything that relies on the existence of credentials becomes wholly irrelevant: things becomes sufficient proof of themselves, of their own accord, with nothing external being required.

The Vidyadhara concludes his comments by saying, "The Dharma does not demand rigidity, [or] adherence to external ideals. If a teacher understands this, he needs no confirmation from his students. The turning of the wheel of dharma will be a mutual creation on the part of student and teacher." [emphasis added]

This is a tremendously liberating concept for both the teacher and the students to contemplate. Fundamentally, this is the utter honesty of self-arising things as they are, freed from neurotic labels, structures, or intellectual dilation. It suddenly becomes perfectly alright to be exactly who you are, to see what you see, and think what you think. You no longer have to limit yourself to an abstract dance of stages and levels, or certificates, or the poison of seeming approval versus disapproval. You no longer have to limit yourself to "belonging" to this or that... friends with the one, enemies with the other... to rivalries, to contests, to the great neurotic dichotomy of samsara versus nirvana.

The Vidyadhara's advice was given in the context of an admonition to Westerners, and may have been something of a reaction to the diplomas one sees on the walls of a law office, for example. He once remarked that these are no guarantee of common sense, and this is something we can all appreciate. However, his words had the greatest impact upon the up and coming generation of Tibetan teachers---the majority of whom regard Trungpa Rinpoche's writings as a "must read" proposition. In the West, we often like to think that the Vidyadhara "belonged" to us, but actually, his most profound influence takes place within his own tradition, among other Tibetan tulkus.

Was Buddha himself a Buddhist? That's an interesting question, which puts one in mind of the often-invoked circumstance wherein the Buddha is allegedly asked whether he is a man or a god, and replies, "I am awake."

Lotsawa House Wins the Prize

I simply cannot express the high esteem in which I hold the Lotsawa House effort. Plainly said, they are doing the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons and they should serve as a model of correct work that everyone might emulate. I would encourage everyone to visit their site and sample the wares, and having done so, send them encouragement in the form of currency or other freely negotiable instruments holding a store of value. Now, if they would only launch a Jigme Lingpa mini-site, I would be ever so happy!

Gyalse Tokme

Gyalse Tokme wrote Thirty-Seven Practices of A Bodhisattva in the fourteenth century and, needless to say, it still works. Susanne Fairclough has given us a fine translation, available from Padma Publishing.

Here are three of my favorites:

"Even if someone denigrates you in various ways, spreading slander throughout the three thousand fold universe, to extol her qualities with a loving mind wherever you go is the practice of a bodhisattva."

"Even if, amid a gathering of many people, someone exposes your faults or speaks abusively, to honor him respectfully, considering him a spiritual guide, is the practice of a bodhisattva."

"Even if someone you cherish as dearly as your own child happens to regard you as an enemy, to love her even more, as a mother loves her ailing child, is the practice of a bodhisattva."

Things like this are easy to read but so hard to do for some people.

Many-Faceted Gems of Offering to Others

Dorje Tsig Dun-pa
(SEVEN-LINE PRAYER TO GURU PADMASAMBHAVA)

HUM
Ur-gyan yul gyi nub chang tsam
Pe-ma ge-sar dong-po la
Ya-tsan chog gi ngo-drub nyay
Pe-ma jung-nay zhay su drag
Kor du kan-dro mang-po kor
Kyed kyi jes-su dag drub kyi
Chin gyi lob chir sheg su sol
GU-RU PE-MA SID-DHI HUM

Preparation

Namo!

I take refuge in primordially perfected basic space.

Since sentient beings of the six realms are actually Buddhas, I must awaken this true nature through the union of compassion and emptiness.

I vow to eternally shepherd sentient beings to enlightenment through the perfection of spontaneously correct action.

I vow to continually appear where I am of the greatest benefit to all sentient beings, no matter what illusion of difficulty appears to arise.

Visualization

In the space before us, just slightly above eye-level as we sit, there effortlessly appears an utterly pure and flawless crystal, perfect in every respect. This crystal draws all colours and phenomena into itself from surrounding space, transforming these into a clear and colourless, singular and unified expression of pristine beauty.

As we gaze upon this wondrous sight, we begin to understand that what seems to be a crystal is in reality a wish-granting gem, and that this gem has actually been given directly to us by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the three times and ten directions: the most precious gift we have ever received.

What shall we do with this magnificent gift?

Contemplation

These eyes in my head, which seem to apprehend such beauty, do not belong to me, do not define or delimit me, and are of no permanent benefit to me. I therefore offer them to all sentient beings and pray that they may be of some permanent benefit to others.

These thoughts that dream I see through such eyes do not belong to me, do not ultimately define or delimit reality, and have no independent existence. I therefore offer them to the expanse of basic space as gifts to the apparent deities.

This body that I dream is the vehicle of eyes and thoughts, and upon which I lavish such care and attention, does not belong to me. It is not mine, it is not me, and it is of no permanent benefit to me. I therefore offer it to the play of emptiness and pray that it may be of continuous benefit to all sentient beings.

Visualization (continued)

We, ourselves, are suddenly drawn into the pulsating gem and in that instant; the gem begins replicating itself into countless numbers of identical gems, until these clouds of gems fill the entire universe. From one gem, four gems appear. From each of the four gems, four other gems appear, and so forth, until all space is completely filled with their perfection. Multi-colored rays of light sparkle forth from each of the myriad facets of these gems, and the tips of each ray touch the hearts of the countless beings of the six realms of existence, bringing them uniquely suitable joy and satisfaction, according to their individually specific requirements.

Dedication

I dedicate the exhaustible merit of this action to the inexhaustible basic space in order to awaken sentient beings into the precious essence of exhaustion of phenomena.

Colophon

On the fifth day of the tenth month in this or that year the thief disguised as Tenpa wrote this at a ranch in Arizona surrounded by jewels that were just out of his reach. These things have a strange way of being auspicious no matter what we do, do not do, or cannot undo. Copyright (c) 2007 by Tulku Urgyan Tenpa Rinpoche. All rights reserved.

Lotsawa House Creates New Content

One of my favorite sites on the Internet, run by some of my favorite people, is boasting smart new content. If you haven't visited Lotsawa House, now is the time to do so. They are among the very few people who actually do something, as distinct from sitting around talking about it or thinking about it.

Worldwide Search for This Man

There is a worldwide search underway for the Westerner depicted at left in this photo. He is identified only as a German national who speaks Tibetan (Lhasa dialect). Please look at the photograph carefully. If you know this person or have any information about his whereabouts, please contact us immediately. This photograph is approximately five years old.

UPDATED: We've just been informed (6-6-09) that the man in question is deceased; a suicide, according to our source.

Dakini Day, November 2007

Riparian greenstone hills
shelter the dry river
that leads to opals
amid the jasper sinews of the earth:
the place where we offer mantras
to the ten directions is colorless,
featureless, and utterly plain,
that we may know its true nature.

Sometimes we go searching for aspiration
when actuality is already waiting for us.
Why do we look elsewhere,
when here is already here?

In the midst of emptiness,
to the refrain of desultory wind;
the ordered mansions of the sky
protect the scattered monuments
while the yogis and their companions
wander in wild places.

The solitary traveler who appears
and reappears with nothing in mind;
heedless of the dangers,
admitting no obstacles,
today helps himself to this mountain,
and tomorrow crosses yet another.

Believing that we speak with others
is a thoroughly useless enterprise.
We had better try to understand
that we speak only to ourselves.

Earth Sky Mandala

I want to so sincerely express my gratitude to my friends and students, who came together in order to offer a most peaceful and enjoyable birthday. Your generosity is a demonstration of your inherent qualities.

In particular, I want to acknowledge the wonderful gifts and messages of loving kindness. Greater than this, however, was what I experienced when you engaged in the practices I wrote for you.

There were two ravens dancing in the wind today: witnesses to the opal hills and the mandala of earth and sky.

Because of you, I was able to see this.

Thank you all so very much.

High Desert Dzogchen Lands

Here, in the American Dzogchen lands, the weather is turning brisk. I wrote the book High Desert to acquaint you with this place, and cordially invite you to obtain a copy of the book by clicking here. By doing so, you support the work we are doing in this region: a place on the earth of enormous importance to the future of Vajrayana in the West.

Tsering Jong

These photos were taken in July (?) 2007 by a party of Westerners who visited Tsering Jong.