Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

This story was shared by Ani Sangye, one of Jetsunma’s students:

On Wednesday, February 26, 2020, a 30 year old horse named Strike Up the Band fell in his pasture, after having suffered from an infection for several days that had caused him great pain in one leg. Strike wasn’t responding to treatment begun days earlier and had stopped eating. He was completely exhausted from standing on three legs and couldn’t get up. The decision was made to euthanize him. 

I live on the farm where Strike lived, with his devoted owners of 21 years, Erich and Gloria. When he fell, we all happened to be home and rushed out to the pasture. While waiting for the vet to arrive, Jetsunma’s “Prayer to Be Reborn in Dewachen” was played for him. I texted Jetsunma’s attendant, Ani Sonam, informing her of what had happened and requesting that Jetsunma please pray for Strike. We didn’t hear back until the exact moment when the vet was administering the sedative prior to the euthanasia drug– perfect timing. Jetsunma said she would pray for him and instructed us to tap the crown of his head repeatedly. Gloria, Erich and I all took turns tapping while he was euthanized and for 15 minutes after, at which point I looked at his crown and saw the unmistakable sign of his liberation– a hole-like opening in the hair.

I immediately texted Ani Sonam with a picture. Jetsunma asked, “Did you get oil on your tapping fingers?” We then saw that Gloria’s fingertips were coated in a thick black oil, which had a distinctive perfume-like scent, sort of floral with a hint of honey. Gloria had been the one tapping his crown right before we saw the signs. Gloria noted that her fingers didn’t smell at all like horse. She also remarked that she doesn’t use any scented products at all, so this scent couldn’t have come from her hands. 

Jetsunma said, “This is an auspicious sign! That horse went to Dewachen!” 

Almost immediately after seeing the signs on Strike’s head a gentle rain began, which is considered auspicious. 

Strike’s holy body will continue to purify the earth and water around it and to bring benefit to countless beings. My Precious Guru Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo, a sublime and supremely enlightened one, has liberated this horse and blessed us with unmistakable signs. It was an extraordinary blessing to be able to witness such a rare and profound event. 

May this account deepen the faith and devotion of every Dharma student, as we see undeniable proof of the teachings before our very eyes. 

May Jetsunma’s life be strengthened and lengthened as a result of her compassionate activity and blessing us in this way. 

May this event be the cause for all sentient beings to be liberated at death. 
This account was written by Ani Sangye. 

The following is a video teaching by Khenpo Tenzin Norgay offered at Kunzang Palyul Choling temple in Maryland:

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Faults of Cyclic Existence”

If we broaden our perspective, we look out from our own self-absorption into our immediate environment which is generally pretty easy for most of us.  We have friends and relatives that we don’t mind increasing our space to include and we look at them and we consider them part of our lives. But let’s move out and see all the rest of humankind.  They are all, in the same way as we are, striving to be happy.  And then look out beyond that to the animal realm.  Even though these animals don’t have a forehead, even though these animals cannot conceptualize in the same way that we do, still each one of them in their own way is trying to be happy according to their capacity. The predator is trying to be happy when it chases its prey.  The prey is trying to be happy when it fixes itself or creates for itself a safe environment and develops coping mechanisms with the reality that the predator is always out there.

There are many different ways to view this, but we can see if we really study, that we all have that in common and so we become, in a sense one family with a fundamental genetic code.  Even across species, even across the form and formless realms, we become one family with this particular underlying reality in common. Now if we were to really contemplate this issue in this way, we might come up with a new world view.  Wouldn’t that be wonderful!  We might come up with a new, more universal perspective.  Wouldn’t it be delightful!  We could use that tool as a way to end self-absorption, and to really open our eyes and look at everything around us with a new kind of vision, a new kind of empathy, a new kind of understanding, a new kind of willingness to put oneself in the place of others, a new kind of planetary human, you know, aware of life around itself, a new kind of cosmic perspective, a new understanding as to what life is all about.

Now how does this relate to refuge?  Well, as we are turning our minds towards Dharma,  that means softening them, preparing them, fertilizing them, plowing the field so that the mind is turned toward the path that leads to liberation and renouncing what does not lead to liberation.

Where does the idea of Bodhicitta actually come into play?  Actually it comes into play as both a motivator and as a clarifier.  As a motivator , we understand that part of the process of turning the mind towards Dharma is to truly look at the six realms of cyclic existence and all the conditions and situations of sentient beings.  Having done that, we see that cyclic existence is faulted and that these sentient beings, although they do wish to be happy, have no understanding of the causes of happiness.  That’s the main different between a Dharma practitioner, and the serial killer.  The Dharma practitioner wants to be happy just like the serial killer, but they are engaging in method.  Method means we are looking at cause and effect relationship.  We see the faults.  We look at cause and effect relationships and we are trying to work it out where we produce the causes that allow the desired effect.

The serial killer is also trying to do that.  He perhaps feels some kind of need build up in him and then he goes and tries to satisfy that need.  So in his way, this serial killer is doing the same thing.  He is engaged in trying to create the causes that produce happiness.   The difference is he does not understand.  There is such heavy delusion that there is no understanding of what causes produce happiness, so the serial killer is in a way, like a completely ignorant, completely confused, completely hatred-oriented basket of misconstrued ideas acting in a knee-jerk way to get some kind of result.  He is not able to think it through and has no guidance to think it through.  So the serial killer is yes, engaging in method, but what method?  The serial killer is engaging in the method of hatred, is engaging in the method of destruction, is engaging in the method of harm-doing, and is thinking that it will bring some sort of power or happiness or relief in some way.  And yet what this person doesn’t understand is that the seed and the fruit cannot be unrelated.  You cannot produce happiness from the fruit of hatred, destruction, ignorance and harm doing.  You cannot produce happiness in the same way that a peach seed cannot produce a banana tree.

 Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo All rights reserved

Dear Mr President,

I want you to know that first of all, I greatly respect your office. In this country our democracy, we are all one nation, Dems and Republicans. I don’t understand why you so hate the Dems. It’s so evident that you do and they are half our nation. Can’t you understand you are doing yourself no favors? 

You are rejecting half our nation and as a result, half is rejecting you also. I know you think you have some special power or special mind, but Sir, I think life is life and cause and effect are perfect. I certainly can not threaten you and I wouldn’t do that. I have no power. But the rest of us are really hurting. They don’t understand why our democracy is turning into smut. Have you read the Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood. Of course not, you don’t read. I ask you please to have someone read it to you or for you and give you notations. It’s what is happening now to us. And you are part of it. Please help us. I beg you for compassion for the people. 

The people are everything. We the individuals, don’t amount to much. 

But the nation is vast. Please open your eyes. Before you get too old. And you die too. Please see the light.

A spontaneous teaching on Bodhicitta by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

Be real. It’s not that easy. You decide and your will decides and your will has gotten you where you are. How superficial is that? You have to practice deeply and meditate. And correct yourself from judging sentient beings by practicing Bodhicitta. You don’t just stop yourself from doing it. You go after it with dragon teeth!
Practice deeply. Cut out the ROOT.
And try to practice with others. You are too isolated.

Jetsunma gave rise to this teaching during an interaction with a troubled student:

Oh and don’t forget- 2+2 ALWAYS make 4. No matter what you do, equations are real. Whenever you do “this” “that” will happen. Because they arise interdependently. Think about that. It’s not someday. It’s THE day that it ripens. The causes have already been created. 

And that’s what you’re afraid of. It’s what you’re running away from. But you can’t. 

The chicks are helping me so much to walk more. And I’m so proud of their happiness and progress. 
It’s so much better caring for other sentient beings rather than just oneself. #Happiness

How can you be happy? Take account for your life. What you did. And what the result is. You will learn to do things  you never thought you would. Because growing up is beautiful. 
Most of my students think they are old. I think they are hardly even mature. 

A spontaneous teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo on 9/7/19

An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Stabilizing the Mind”

In order to practice the Buddha’s teaching with any meaning, you first have to understand that all sentient beings are suffering.  Now I have to ask you: Have you really seen that with your own heart, with your own eyes, with your own mind?  Have you seen that all sentient beings are suffering?

If you have seen that you are suffering, then let me describe a funny little thing that you still do that cannot coexist with that knowledge.  You have circumstances throughout the day (and throughout the month, the year, your life) that either please you or displease you, that either make you happy or make you unhappy.

You may think, “Oh, I’m really down today.”  Then you talk to someone, and someone has an upbeat thing to say to you.  It’s meaningful, it’s good, and it pleases you.  So what happens to you?  You go up, right?  There’s a nice sense of warm fuzzies, and you go up.

Or let’s say you are a renunciate, a monk or nun, and when you wake up in the morning, it’s a ho-hum day.  You’re in a flat-line zone, a kind of grey zone.  And let’s say you manage to get in all of the practices that you want to do in the morning, and you manage to have a pretty good experience with them.  You feel buoyant in your practice.  You feel stable in your practice.  You’re able to hold your visualization.  Somehow that magical thing that happens every now and then happens.  You had a good practice.  Then you have your breakfast, eating your cereal by the window like a guy in a commercial, and you say, “Morning is my time!”  But later on the dog urinates on your one robe, you are too busy to eat any lunch or any dinner, and you have a bad practice.  That’s the worst thing – you have a bad practice – and things are no longer going so well.

These things happen to all of you, and yet, although you say you know that there is suffering from the depth of your heart, you have looked to satisfy the end of suffering in a way that is different from what the Buddha taught.  We let our minds float on an ocean of waves like a buoy, up and down.  What is “up”?  What is “down”?  And who is feeling it?  Who says morning is your time?  Who says evening is not?  Who says life is good when you go out to a restaurant and have a glass of wine?  These are concepts that are part of your mind, and your consciousness floats on them.  For some of you, there is not a moment of spaciousness in your mind where your consciousness is not floating on some circumstance you contrived all by yourself.  Why does that happen?

You say that all sentient beings are suffering and that the end to suffering is enlightenment, yet you allow your mind to be satisfied going up and down according to circumstances.  All of the beings that you say are suffering are doing the same thing.  Has anyone achieved happiness by allowing the mind to float on that ocean of concept that we call samsara, affected by circumstances, lifted up by what we call high circumstances, put down by what we call low circumstances?

No one.  Never.  The Buddha tells us that samsara is not happiness, that the contrivances of the mind are not happiness, that sentient beings are suffering, and that the only end to suffering is enlightenment.  Yet we allow ourselves to slide up and down every day.  We get excited about some project, we get enthusiastic, but it always comes to a dead stop.  It always ends.  It has never, never, never, never, never continued until it gave you supreme happiness.

So here’s the point I am trying to make.  First brick: All sentient beings are suffering.  Now, we’ll put the next one on top of it: There is an end to suffering, and it is enlightenment.  Just two bricks, and already we find that we are not secure behind those two bricks, that we don’t believe.  Yes, you say that you believe that all sentient beings are suffering.  Yes, you say that you believe enlightenment is the end of suffering.  Can you tell me how that can coexist with the tendency to let your mind drift, relying on circumstances to make it happy, being the victim of circumstances that make it unhappy?  How do we allow that?

We forget.  We’re caught in a dream, and we lose faith.  So how are you going to practice this Vajrayana, the Diamond Vehicle, the Tantric teachings of Buddhism, passed from teacher to disciple, that can lead to the attainment of enlightenment in one lifetime, a path with sincerity and stability for the rest of your life until some potential comes for you to achieve supreme enlightenment?  Do you believe that that can happen?

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  All rights reserved

༈རྗེ་བཙུན་མ་ཨ་ཁམ་ལྷ་མོ།

རྗེ་བཙུན་སྒྲོལ་མའི་རྣམ་པར་སྤྲུལ་བ་འགྲོ་བ་མིའི་ཤ་ཚུགས་སུ་བྱོན་པ་རྗེ་བཙུན་མ་ཨ་ཁམ་ལྷ་མོ་ནི། མདོ་ཁམས་བུ་འབོར་གང་གི་ཆར་གཏོགས་པ་དཔལ་ཡུལ་ཨ་མཆོག་གྲོ་ལྷས་ཞེས་པ་སའི་དགེ་བཅུ་ཚང་བའི་ཡུལ་དུ་ཡབ་རིགས་རུས་ཀྱི་མངོན་པར་མཐོ་བ་དམུ་ཚ་སྒའི་རིགས་རྒྱུད་རྡོ་རྗེ་དང། ཡུམ་ཡེ་ཤེས་མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ་གུ་རུ་མཚོ་གཉིས་ཀྱི་སྲས་མོར་བོད་རབ་བྱུང་༡༡་པའི་དཀྱིལ་སྨད་ཙམ་དང་སྤྱི་ལོ་དུས་རབས་༡༧་པའི་སྨད་ཙམ་དུ་ངོ་མཚར་བའི་ལྟས་དུ་མ་དང་བཅས་ཏེ་རིག་འཛིན་ཆེན་པོ་ཀུན་བཟང་ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་གཅུང་མོ་ཆུང་བར་སྐུ་འཁྲུངས་ཤིང་། སྐུ་ན་ཆུང་དུས་ནས་ཡི་གེ་འབྲི་ཀློག་སོགས་བསླབ་པ་ཙམ་གྱིས་ཚེགས་མེད་པ་མཁྱེན་པ་བྱུང་། རིག་འཛིན་ཀུན་བཟང་ཤེས་རབ་དང་མཉམ་དུ་སྔ་གཞུག་རྣམས་སུ་གཏེར་སྟོན་ཆེན་པོ་མི་འགྱུར་རྡོ་རྗེ་དང་། ཅོག་རོ་ཀླུའི་རྒྱལ་མཚན་གྱི་ཟློས་གར་མཁས་གྲུབ་ཀརྨ་ཆགས་མེད་རྣམ་གཉིས་ཀྱི་གཙོས་མཁས་ཤིང་གྲུབ་པ་བརྙེས་པའི་སྐྱེས་ཆེན་དུ་མའི་ཞབས་རྡུལ་སྤྱི་བོར་བླངས་ནས་མདོ་རྒྱུད་རྒྱུད་སྡེ་རབ་འབྱམས་ལ་ཐོས་བསམ་གྱིས་སྒྲོ་འདོགས་ལེགས་པར་བཅད་དེ། གནས་ངེས་མེད་རྣམས་སུ་བྱོན་ནས་སྒྲུབ་པ་ཉམས་ལེན་ལ་རྩེ་གཅིག་ཏུ་གཞོལ་བར་མཛད་ནས་ལྷག་པའི་ལྷ་རབ་འབྱམས་ཀྱི་ཞལ་གཟིགས་ཤིང་ལུང་བསྟན་དུ་མ་ཐོབ། འདིར་སྣང་གི་འཁྲུལ་པ་ཀ་དག་སྤྲོས་བྲལ་གྱི་དབྱིངས་སུ་རང་སར་དག་ནས་ཆོས་སྐུ་ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོའི་རྒྱལ་ཐབས་ལ་མངའ་དབང་འབྱོར་ཞིང་། དཔལ་ཡུལ་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཆོས་གླིང་གི་ཤར་ཐད་ཀྱི་རི་སུལ་དུ་བཞུགས་ཏེ། བཙུན་མའི་འཁོར་སློབ་མང་དུ་འདུས་པ་རྣམས་ལ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ་བར་མེད་དུ་བསྐོར་བར་མཛད་ཅིང་རིམ་གྱིས་དགོན་སྡེ་ཆགས་པས་ཇོ་དགོན་གདོང་ཞེས་པའི་མཚན་དང་། ན་བཟའ་དམར་པོ་མནབ་པའི་ཨ་ནེ་ཇོ་མོས་གང་བས་གྲོང་དམར་སྟེང་ཞེས་མིང་དེ་དག་དེ་ནས་ཐོགས་པར་བྱུང་། མདོར་ན་རྗེ་བཙུན་མ་འདི་ཉིད་ཀྱིས་བཤད་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ་གཉིས་ལྡན་གྱི་གོ་ནས་འཁོར་གདུལ་བྱ་དུ་མ་བསྐྱངས་ཏེ། མཁས་གྲུབ་གཉིས་ལྡན་གྱི་གོ་འཕང་ལ་མངའ་དབང་འབྱོར་བའི་འཁོར་དུ་མ་སྨིན་པར་མཛད་ཅིང་། ཞིང་འདིའི་གདུལ་བྱ་དེ་ཙམ་གཟིགས་ནས། མཐར་ཆོས་ཉིད་ཞི་བའི་དབྱིངས་སུ་གཤེགས་ནས་གདུང་ཞུགས་ལ་འབུལ་སྐབས་དབུ་ཐོད་ནམ་མཁར་ཡར་ནས་སྔར་རིག་འཛིན་ཆེན་པོའི་ཆོས་གསུང་ཡུལ་གྱི་ཆོས་ཁྲི་སྟེང་གི་སྤང་ཁར་བབས་པས། དེ་ཕྱིན་ཆད་དམ་པའི་སྐྱེས་ཆེན་དག་གི་སྐུ་གདུང་ཞུགས་འབུལ་བྱ་ཡུལ་དང་དུར་གླིང་དུ་གྱུར། དབུ་ཐོད་དེ་སྒྲུབ་ཆེན་བྱིན་འབེབས་སྐབས་ཐོད་གཡབ་མཛད་ཅིང་ད་ལྟ་ཡང་བཞུགས་ཤིང་། ཁོང་གྱི་རྣམ་འཕྲུལ་བག་ཆགས་སད་པའི་ལས་ཅན་མ་ཞིག་ད་ལྟ་ཨ་རིའི་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ཏུ་འཁྲུངས་ཡོད་པར་ཐོས་སོ།།

Jetsunma Ah Kham Lhamo

Birth

Ah Kham Lhamo, the emanation of Noble Tara, the mother of all Buddhas, took the form of a human being, in Palyul Achog Dro Lhae, a province of Dokham Bubor Gang, the land with complete signs of the ten virtues. Her father, Dorjee, was from the noble family of Mutsa Ga, and her mother, Guru Tsho, was a Wisdom Dakini. She was born just after the second half of the 11th Rabjung cycle, which is around the end of the 17th century. At her birth, there were many amazing signs. She was the younger sister of Rigzin Kunzang Sherab.

Education

At a very early age, she was able to master reading and writing without any difficulties. On many occasions she accompanied Kunzang Sherab, to receive teachings from the Great Terton Migyur Dorjee, Karma Chagmed (who was the emanation of Chokro Luyi Gyeltshen), and many other great accomplished scholars and mahasiddhas of that time. Under their guidance she mastered the sutras and the tantras–especially the infinite tantras–and cleared any misunderstanding of them, with her wisdom of hearing and wisdom of contemplation.

Practices and retreats

Then she wandered in many sacred places and practiced with single-pointed perseverance. She had the visions of unfathomable deities and received many revelations from them. She purified the delusion of ordinary perception into the expanse of the primordially pure state, free of all elaborations, and gained mastery over the kingdom of Dharmakaya Samantabadra.

Benefiting Beings

She resided on the hill to the east of Palyul Namgyal Jangchub Choling where she constantly turned the Wheel of Dharma to her disciples of nuns. Gradually, it became a nunnery and was called Jo Gon Dong. Because the place was filled with nuns in their maroon robes, it was also called Upper Red Village. Thus the place got its names.

Conclusion

In brief, Jetsunma cared for and benefited countless beings to be tamed by the wheel of teachings and practices. She ripened the minds of her followers, and many became great scholars and accomplished practitioners.

Finally, seeing that her benevolent activities had come to an end, she entered the peaceful state of dharmadhatu. When her holy body was cremated, her skull jumped up in the sky and fell on the throne that Rigzin Kunzang Sherab used to give teachings. This site later became the cremation ground of the holy lamas.
The skull was used to invoke the blessings of the deities during the Drubchen practices. It is still with us.

I have heard that her emanation, a lady with fortunate karma, who had awakened in the experience of the past, has been born in America.

This is the life and liberation of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, from the History of the Palyul Lineage written by Tulku Thubten Palzang.