Month: November 2011

21 Homages to Tara: Verse 21 Commentary Khenpo Tenzin Norgay

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Thupten Shedrub Gyatso, who was a Tulku in one of the Palyul Monasteries, wrote this commentary. His present incarnation, Rago Chogtrul currently lives in Tibet.

Translation by Khenpo Tenzin Norgey ~ Spring, 2004,
Palyul Retreat Center, Mc Donough, NY USA ~Wood Monkey Year 2131

Homage to you, who is adorned by three Suchnesses.
Perfectly endowed with the power of serenity.
Destroyer of demons, zombies and yakshas.
O TURE! Sublime excellent lady.

The twenty-first praise is the homage to Lhamo Odser Chenma,Tib the “Goddess with Brilliance”, who can restore the life force.  She is white, her left hand is in the boon-giving mudra, and her right hand is in the refuge-giving mudra, holding a blue lotus on which sit the auspicious golden fishes.  At her three places: crown, throat, and heart, are OM, AH, and HUNG, respectively, which form the sublime protection against all obstacles.  The light rays from these letters protect the three doors of beings from the harm of all outer obstacles caused by evil forces, both form and formless.  They also protect beings from the inner obstacles of ill health, and the secret obstacles of dualistic affliction.  The rays have the power to pacify them without a trace.  Particularly, the rays from the three letters can restore the life force stolen by spirits, zombies, and yakshas, and eliminate their harmful intentions and actions.  The homage is to TURE, the great compassionate lady who acts swiftly for the benefit of sentient beings.  The true meaning is that Tara has the power to guide the minds of beings to be tamed in the “three approaches to liberation”.  These are: emptiness, attributelessness and aspirationlessness, or, the suchness of an entity, its nature and compassion, and the clearing of all its obscurations.  Ultimately the vajra body, speech and mind are the primordially pure nature of all phenomena.  By meditating on the sphere of the indivisibility of the three vajras, the demons, sufferings, zombies, and yakshas are transformed by the great bliss of primordial wisdom.

This is the praise to Her root mantra,
And the Twenty-One Homages.

Astrology

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Pitch your proposal today! Imagination combines with reality to make a solid product. Talk things over with important people. If someone makes a suggestion, you will cheerfully change your plan. Humility has entered the picture and everyone is willing to “go along to get along”. Common sense rules supreme! A man or a powerful person has been standing in the background, quietly and unnoticed. This person is watching everything and waiting for the right moment to enter the scene. Don’t be intimidated; just keep doing the right thing. You are judged by your productivity today, so keep producing. It’s what you do, not what you are, that matters today. And happy news just keeps on coming. David Grayson said “Happiness, I have discovered, is nearly always a rebound from hard work.”

The daily astrology post affects everyone. Because individual charts vary, the circumstances outlined in the post will affect people differently. Some will feel this energy in the personal arena, some in finances, some with children or family, some in work and so forth. There are many departments of life. Look to see where the dynamic affects you!

21 Homages to Tara: Verse 20 Commentary Khenpo Tenzin Norgay

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Thupten Shedrub Gyatso, who was a Tulku in one of the Palyul Monasteries, wrote this commentary. His present incarnation, Rago Chogtrul currently lives in Tibet.

Translation by Khenpo Tenzin Norgey ~ Spring, 2004,
Palyul Retreat Center, Mc Donough, NY USA ~Wood Monkey Year 2131

Homage to you, whose two eyes, the sun and the moon
Radiate sublime luminous light.
Uttering HARA twice and TUTTARA
You dispel all horrifying epidemics.

The twentieth homage is to Lhamo Rithrodma,Tib  the “Mendicant Tara”, who averts all diseases.  She is orange and her hand holds a vase of nectar on a blue lotus.  Her left eye is like the full moon and her right eye is like the sun.  Her right eye emits blazing rays that burn all the lords of diseases, (those who command the evil spirits that bring disease) like haystacks.  Clear nectar flows from the moon, (her left eye) curing the causes and effects of diseases and epidemics.  Her mantra, OM TARE TUTTARE TURE NAMA TARE NAMO HARA HUNG HARA SVA HA has two HARA sounds and a TUTTARA.  The mantra can cure even the most dangerous incurable epidemics.  The ultimate meaning is that if the mother-sphere of transcendent wisdom is realized, the most dangerous epidemics of afflictions, their causes and fruitions, can be cured.

Astrology

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This is a good day to travel and an excellent day to talk. If you’re a writer, start looking for a publisher. If you have something to say, look for an audience or a friendly ear. A job is lining up for you that’s really great. If you’re working on a project, it will be a winner. You have settled down and become productive in a way you could not be in the past. Get the facts right. Check things out. Something solid is in the process of being constructed. It’s like building a house: check the plans and follow them. Step by step the job is being done. Carl Zuckmayer said “One half of life is luck; the other half is discipline – and that’s the important half, for without discipline you wouldn’t know what to do with your luck.” At the same time, pleasant conversation combines with good news from afar.

The daily astrology post affects everyone. Because individual charts vary, the circumstances outlined in the post will affect people differently. Some will feel this energy in the personal arena, some in finances, some with children or family, some in work and so forth. There are many departments of life. Look to see where the dynamic affects you!

Crow: Compassion in Action

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The following is a true story as told by Rigdzin Zeoli, caretaker of the Garuda Aviary and son of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

25 years ago in San Diego, a man, we’ll call him Ryan, because his name is Ryan, happened across a baby crow. This baby crow had been dropped out of it’s nest before it was old enough to fledge. Looking up he could see it’s parents in a tree, so he didn’t interfere thinking that if he did, the parents would abandon the chick. The next day he stopped by to find the baby crow still on the ground. Ryan brought the crow to the vet. Frost damaged the tiny bird’s right wing and tail and had to be removed. Ryan kindly took the crow home to care for her for the next thirteen years. In that time while living in a wire cage, Crow managed to mangle both of her feet. They were worthless clubs for the rest of her life.

As an inhabitant of Sedona, Arizona, Ryan came to know a man who took care of birds. Ryan asked that man to care for the crow. I know this because I am that man. I took the bird who we’ll call Crow, because she’s a crow, and cared for her the best I could.

Because Crow had clubbed feet she couldn’t perch or walk. She would hobble about on her “elbows” which developed edema. Wrapping her lower legs in small strips of bandage provided her with “shoes” to keep the edema under control. I gave her the best, most nutritious diet I could manage. I knew she liked my cooking because she would gobble it down with enthusiasm. I must have made the right nutritional choices because she lived to the ripe old age of 25. Crows usually only live to 15 years at best.

A crow that can’t walk or perch can certainly make a mess of itself with it’s own waste, so I lined the bottom of her cage with pine shavings. As she got older, the dust from the shavings would get in her weak eye and cause inflammation. I corrected that with antiseptic eye medicine. And I would put the fresh pine shavings in a screen mesh and sift, sift, sift to get all of the dust out. Keeping that weak eye healthy was an uphill battle. She eventually lost sight in that eye within a year of her passing. About two months before she passed, she got pretty weak. I would crouch down next to her and tell her if she wants to stay, she can stay as long as she likes and I will always take care of her and love her. But if she wanted to go, that was ok too because I would tell Jetsunma and she would make sure Crow had a auspicious bardo and rebirth.

I came in one Tuesday morning to find Crow had passed. I determined she had passed within the hour because her good eye was still in perfect shape. After death, eyes begin to change pretty quickly. I called Jetsunma right away to tell her that Crow had passed. She said she would take care of it. That evening I walked around the Stupa saying prayers with Crows body in a little box and then buried her.
I saw Jetsunma later that evening and she had a wonderful story to tell me.

Shortly after I called her, she went into her prayer room to do Crow’s powa. When a being goes through the bardo, they are often confused and frightened, so Jetsunma appears to them as something or somebody they will recognize. In this case it was my voice and my boots. While she was alive, I cleaned Crow’s cage every few days. I’d have to put her on the floor next to me. Down there she would get a good look at my boots. In the bardo, Crow was comforted by this presence she thought was me. Jetsunma embraced her and began to lift her up out of the bardo. At that moment, a very loud murder of crows (flock of crows) circled over Jetsunma’s house. They landed in a part of the yard we call “the grove” and then flew off. Jetsunma could see this for what it really was. It was a group of dakini’s that had taken physical form to collect Crow’s soul, essence, consciousness, whatever you want to call it. Crow appeared with them while in flight before landing and then flew off, escorted by these dakini’s. As they flew off they dissolved into emptiness. What a wonderful thing! Crow had never experienced flight. On this occasion, she flew in a perfect body with other crows. It must have felt joyous and amazing.

Now here’s the kicker! I always figured Crow was burning off some bad body karma, judging from her pathetic broken little body. Jetsunma told me she could see that this rebirth was a kind of personal hell realm. Apparently, these hell realms can intermingle with our own physical existence. She told me Crow would have suffered terribly had it not been for me. she said I was the hero in this story because I made Crow’s plight bearable.
I can’t express how happy that made me. To know that I had managed to save Crow from some of the pain and suffering. And that Crow had burned off that negative karma, then achieved liberation.
When I said prayers at the Stupa with Crow’s body, I had not yet heard the details of this story. I only knew that Jetsunma had found her and liberated her. When we usually say prayers, go to a Stupa, do practice at an alter, we generally ask for things. We pray to the 3 precious jewels to fix this, or change that. This time however, I had nothing but gratitude. No requests, only thank you, thank you, thank you. Jetsunma… Thank you for liberating this dear being.  Crow… Thank you for the honer of serving you.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo.  All rights reserved

21 Homages to Tara: Verse 19 Commentary Khenpo Tenzin Norgay

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Thupten Shedrub Gyatso, who was a Tulku in one of the Palyul Monasteries, wrote this commentary. His present incarnation, Rago Chogtrul currently lives in Tibet.

Translation by Khenpo Tenzin Norgey ~ Spring, 2004,
Palyul Retreat Center, Mc Donough, NY USA ~Wood Monkey Year 2131

Homage to you, on whom kings, congregations of gods,
Minor gods, and kinaras rely.
Your armor of magnificent joy
Dispels all disputes and bad dreams.

The nineteenth is homage to Mipham Gyalmo,Tib the “Undefeated Queen”, who averts conflicts and bad dreams.  She is white and holds a white umbrella.  Indra, Brahma, gods of the desire and form realms, demons and local gods who harm beings, and the gods of mountains, lakes and trees who help beings, honor her without exception.  In general, by the mantra that is blessed by her and the visualization of her body as armor, all conflicts and bad dreams can be averted.  In particular, the multi-colored vajras and the sparkles they emit avert religious and political critics, and make their statements powerless.  She wears a crown to symbolize honoring lamas as deities, actualization of primordial wisdom, and stabilization of bodhicitta.  She wears earrings as a sign of refraining from the humiliation of lamas.  Her armlets, bracelets, and anklets, six in number, signify that she refrains from killing insects.  Her necklaces represent her perfect recitation of mantra.  Her belt, lower garments and ornaments indicate that her body is endowed with bodhicitta.  All of her ornaments are like fine armor, whose splendor can avert criticism and the bad dreams caused by the imbalance of the winds, channels and seminal essence[i].  The inner meaning is that by having the karmic wind[ii]flow into the uma, the central channel, the experience of the armor of emptiness is actualized, averting the delusions that cause conflict and bad dreams.


[i] winds, channels and seminal essence ~ Our vital energy or wind, moves the essential fluid of consciousness or seminal essence, also called tigle or drop, through the channels, or in Sanskrit, nadis.

[ii] karmic wind  ~ The vital energy generated by our karma.

Astrology

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You wake up willing to work!  Any job is fine. An ego issue has vanished and you’re here to be helpful. Today people are willing to come over and rake the lawn or clean the kitchen or any other job you can think of. Just ask. It’s a “whistle while you work” time. Criticism can appear. If someone else does the job, accept what they’ve done gracefully. You zip through detail work at the speed of light. Organization is excellent, and you can analyze pretty much anything. When it comes to love, however, put your analytical skills away and be generous. C.W. Metcalf said “Take your work seriously but yourself lightly.”

The daily astrology post affects everyone. Because individual charts vary, the circumstances outlined in the post will affect people differently. Some will feel this energy in the personal arena, some in finances, some with children or family, some in work and so forth. There are many departments of life. Look to see where the dynamic affects you!

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