Month: June 2018

Excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series

Everything that you do should have meaning. It’s important that your life be understood as a vehicle for practice. It’s the only thing that is meaningful: to make this life, which is so rich in opportunity, a vehicle by which you can come to benefit beings. This is the development of aspirational Bodhicitta. Every time you do something good, use that opportunity to dedicate it to the liberation of all beings. If you pat a little child on the head and it makes them smile, that’s a good thing. So you must think, “I dedicate the virtue of this action to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings.” If you give money to somebody, pray, “I dedicate the virtue of this act to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings.” You should continue like that in everything that you do. Make up your own prayer. You don’t have to use mine. Dedicate everything that you do so that it might go on, and grow, and be of use to benefit beings. Wean yourself from empty activity, activity that is useless and meaningless. Wean yourself from the need for ‘feel-good’ junk. Learn how to live a life in which your only concern is to liberate beings from the causes of suffering, because doing this is the only thing you can really feel good about. You aspire constantly through these prayers. You really train yourself to do this, and it should never stop.

After you are stable on the path of aspirational compassion, you have to think about concrete or practical compassion. You don’t forget aspirational compassion, saying, “Oh, I did that for a little while when I was a younger practitioner.” You should never stop. Never. I will never stop, and you should never stop. That’s not baby stuff. That’s the real stuff. Then you expand this to include practical compassion.

First you have to decide that the Buddha was right. You look at the Buddha’s teachings and you say, “If he’s right, then I have to think of some practical way to eliminate hatred, greed and ignorance from the world and from the mindstreams of myself and all sentient beings.”

Based on that you begin, and your practice should be deep and true. If you choose to be a Buddhist, the path is laid out, and the path is secure. It goes all the way to supreme realization. If you choose not to be a Buddhist, you still have to find a way to live a life of practical compassion, based on the goal of rooting hatred, greed and ignorance out of the mindstreams of yourself and all sentient beings. You should think that reciting many prayers on a regular basis for others could be of use. You should think activities that cause you to realize the emptiness of self-nature and therefore eliminate desire from your own mindstream would be of benefit. And that, finally, free of desire, when you are truly awake, as the Buddha said, you can go on to benefit others. You should be determined to liberate your own mind, and you should pray every day that you will return in whatever form necessary in order to liberate the minds of all sentient beings.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo. All rights reserved

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Your Treasure is Heart”

So where do you start? Exactly where you are. Remember that different people have different experiences. If you’re not sure about that, ask other people. No one knows what another person’s experience has actually been. No one knows how karmic patterns develop into the tapestry that they become. As people engage on the path of the Bodhisattva, each and every one will look a little different. It’s not for you to judge. It’s only for you to begin.

When some people begin to engage in the Bodhisattva meditations, although they’re saying, “I dedicate myself to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings,” they’re thinking, “I don’t feel like it today. I’m not happy about it, but I know it’s the right thing to do. So I’ll work on it” Another person will say, without thinking about it at all, “Oh, yes, right now I dedicate myself to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings!!!!” Both are equally ridiculous! Why make a judgment about either one? You can see that’s just the first step. So whatever it looks like, let it be that.

Eventually in maturity there is not so much concern for appearances, not so much concern for how it should be. There is mostly concern for others. Now there’s a new trick. Rather than being concerned about appearances, we are mostly concerned for others. When we were judging ourselves and others for not looking perfect as a Bodhisattva, that’s the part we left out, wasn’t it? It isn’t about how we look. It’s about them. It’s about others.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo. All rights reserved

An excerpt from a teaching called How Buddhists Think by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

In America, as in few other countries, you can find a multitude of ways to be “a spiritual person.”  When Tibetan Lamas first came to this country, they were appalled.  They were saddened to see there are so many ways to think that you are being spiritual, that you are adopting a spiritual path.  The Lamas saw this as the unfortunate, unbearable, bad karma of the American people.

Doesn’t that sound odd?  Many of us might say: “No! It’s just the opposite!  We can do anything we want, we can be spiritual in this place or that.  We can choose to be traditionally spiritual or non-traditionally spiritual.  This is the land of opportunity.”

But as the Lamas understand it, much of what is assumed to be spirituality was started less than 50 years ago.  Essentially this means we don’t know if it can produce Enlightenment.  Many Americans are diligently trying to cross the ocean of suffering in a boat that has never made it across a lake.

Even in the older religions in America, you can be confused about what goals to pursue.  Some leaders of Christan churches admit that the original teachings Jesus gave are not found in the Bible.  Many teachings have been lost, portions may have been deleted, and the true meaning may have been clouded over by layers of translations.  Many of today’s Christian practitioners have no idea that they could become immersed in a mysticism that will actually change their perception.  Very few understand that they could practice in a way that leads to Realization.

Lamas who came to this country understood that it would be difficult for Americans to be open to the Buddha’s teachings.  So many things in America seem more flashy, seem to promise a great deal more.  New Age ideas include promises of instant healing and even opportunities to talk to Masters from the Great Beyond.  But has anything like that produced Enlightenment yet?  Have we seen the signs?

Buddhist Lamas who came to America had seen miraculous signs.  For instance, both my root gurus had seen Lamas fly through the air.  A close student of one of my root gurus had seen him lift off the ground and hover for some time.  Many of the Lamas had seen the miraculous appearance of the rainbow body after a Dharma practitioner died.

Not long ago, when a Buddhist Lama died, his body was cremated in a fire so hot that his very bones turned into a crispy substance, with a texture somewhere between ashes and potato chips.  Yet his heart remained uncooked, raw!

Many Lamas, I among them, have relics of Lamas who died, relics that are “pearls” produced automatically by their bodies.  When kept in a dark, quiet place, these pearls continue to reproduce themselves.  Lamas I know have told of stupas with empowerments so strong that on one side would come a sweet nectar; on the other, a sour nectar.  The flow was continual, and would never dry up.  This has been happening for hundreds of years. There has been no explanation for it.

When a Buddhist speaks of “a True Path,” this is not meant as: “My religion is better than yours.”  It is not intended to be haughty or prideful.  Rather, we want to be on a path that has repeatedly produced results, and can be expected to do so in the future.

That is how I view the Buddha’s teachings.  They did not come from any ordinary intellectual process or experience, or from a compilation of other people’s views.  They arose from the mind of Enlightenment.

Some people call themselves “enlightened,” and when I hear this, I cease to believe them.  The Buddha simply said, “I am awake.”  He never made himself out to be a god; he never said he was different from anyone else.  He simply said, “I’ve given you the Path.  Now work out your own salvation.”

© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

To download the complete teaching, click here and scroll down to How Buddhists Think

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo given at Palyul Ling Retreat 2012:

They say that I am a Dakini. I’m not so sure but they say I am. The Dakini has to do with the activity of the Buddhas. And so that being the case, I feel it is my responsibility to try to bring some benefit in the activity way. So I try to feed everybody – animals, people, and the birds outside my house. Everybody knows that we spend a lot of money on feeding people and feeding beings. And it is a happy thing to do. It makes us all happy. So many beings are fed. And they are having what they need because of the kindness of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, and what he taught me. The precious bodhicitta, the nectar of kindness that is inherent in the dharma. This is what I was taught, what I learned, and its what I practice.

We have a prison program also. We like to forget people who have done something wrong and just throw them away, but we have a program where we can go and teach prisoners some dharma, because these men will die in prison. And they will have no way to get any kind of help or straighten themselves out for a proper or good rebirth. They don’t know how to die well. They have no teachings on Phowa. It makes us sad, and so that being so said, we’re able to go out and do these things. And it is why KPC is always broke. We don’t have any money because we spend it on the needs of sentient beings, and I am very happy about that. That makes it worth it to me.

In our food program there are many people who don’t know how to cook the kind of food that we provide for them, because they are poor people and they are used to cheap food. And so we have been trying to teach them how to cook lentils, and beans, and rice and things that are very nourishing. We try to teach them how to make protein, and how to eat well so that they feel better. This is a totally new thing for them. They don’t know how to be healthy, and their children don’t know how to be healthy. Many of them eat too much sugar and too much candy and they are unwell. And so we are teaching them. We are involved enough in the community to teach them how to cook, how to prepare food and what food is nourishing, and what is not. These are great pleasurable things that we do. Not that they are so great, but they are great pleasure. To see people become nourished. To see people learn some dharma, whether they understand it or not. To even understand, Om Mani Pedme Hum. To even repeat Om Mani Pedme Hung is so much better than anything else they could receive in the ordinary world. Very simple things like that can make the world of difference, as you know.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo All rights reserved

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Your Treasure is Heart”

It is very important to understand why we practice the Bodhichitta. First, we must examine the Buddha’s four noble truths: All sentient beings are suffering; they are suffering due to desire; there is a cessation of suffering; and the method for the cessation of suffering is presented in the eight-fold path, or as in our tradition, condensed into the path of wisdom and compassion. So we engage in the method for those reasons. Do you see the logic in that? All sentient beings are suffering. They are suffering from desire. However, there is an end to suffering, and this is the method. Characteristic of the Buddha’s teachings. it is logical, because in the Buddhadharma we’re not asked to do anything on blind faith. We’re asked to think it through. Once it seems reasonable, logical and true to us, then we are able to practice because that kind of logical activity is appealing. It seems realistic, and it makes sense to us.

So then the next thing we have to do is examine the thoughts that turn the mind toward Dharma. These thoughts that turn the mind toward Dharma are contemplations. They are interesting, thought-provoking, profound and deep sets of concepts and ideas, that help us to examine the six realms of cyclic existence and all their faults. It is extremely important that we examine them closely so that we can see that cyclic existence is a bit like a drug. We can therefore feel for ourselves how narcotic cyclic existence actually is. We begin to understand that cause and effect is absolutely true in every way within our lives. Literally every experience that we have, or have ever had, has been brought about by a cause that we ourselves created.

Actually, cause and effect relationships arise interdependently. They arise, not separately, but as one. Arising interdependently means that if we have created a cause, then just as surely as anything can be sure, we will live through the effect. Trust me on this. The effect can be modified. It can be delayed. It can be subdued. It can be dealt with effectively through certain kinds of practice, but we will still realize the effect of any cause that we have produced. If you really examine that particular teaching you will learn that virtuous activity, for instance, brings about happiness and good results. Non-virtuous activity, no matter how it looks at first, always brings about unhappiness and suffering. For example, if you stole a car, at first you might have a great time riding around in it, but eventually that event would ruin your life. If not this life, then surely in the future, it would bring about suffering and unhappiness for you, but you wouldn’t know that. Unless you have the training that cause and effect relationships are actually related, you won’t make the connection

Another thing that we learn on the Buddhist path by practicing this is the great skill of thinking in full equations. Do you know that most of the suffering in our life is because we cannot think in full equations? We think like chickens, “Over here this is happening, I’ll do this. Over there that is happening, I’ll do that.” It’s as disconnected as “whatever” to us. We just don’t get it. But the Buddhadharma teaches us to think in full equations.

So now we’re thinking in full equations and we’re turning our minds toward Dharma. This is a necessary step because we have to realize cause and effect relationships in order to really give rise to the Bodhichitta.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo. All rights reserved