A sacred space for everyone
Live in the moment
Straight from the heart
Being, being in space
One hand clapping
Love that is felt
For its simple simple face
Loving easy moment
Deep and simple time
Light and space in my mind
Oohh simple moment
Nothing much to do
Only me and you
Nothing to try, nothing to fear
Mistress of time, I am here
So easy, just here
© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, May 15, 1992
Just as Though This Were My Time
I feel it coming
I seem to feel a change
I feel a promise ripening in my mind
Just as though someone were
Calling
My name
Oh I feel your power
And I can feel your love
You know I can feel it
Just as though this were my time
My time
I can’t deny the movement
That I’m feeling in my life
It seems as though I’m stepping out of time
As though I hear a song that
I had written long ago
I taste a sweet ambrosia on my mind
I feel a hunger
To make the moment mine
I feel the start of everything I know
Just as though something were
Moving
At last
Oh I know you see it
And I know you know my name
I know you know me
Just as though I’d found my purpose
My purpose
I can’t deny the movement
That I’m feeling in my life
It seems as though I’m stepping out of time
As though I hear a song that
I had written long ago
I taste a sweet ambrosia on my mind
I know a fever
Is rising in my heart
A deep response to everything I’ve dreamed
Everything seems to be different
So pure
Oh I know this moment
And I know you know it too
You’re with me
Just as though this had to be
Had to be
I can’t deny the movement
That I’m feeling in my life
It seems as though I’m stepping out of time
As though I hear a song that
I had written long ago
I taste a sweet ambrosia on my mind
I feel there’s magic
I know it’s really true
I’ve waited for you always in my dreams
Just as though your love were
Certain
As though it were true
Oh I feel your power
And I can feel your love
You mean me to feel it
Just as though this were my time
My time
© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, April 30, 1992
An excerpt from a teaching called True Motivation for Kindess by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
In the Mahayana vehicle the Buddha teaches us that we should be more concerned for the welfare of sentient beings than we should for our own welfare. If we examine ourselves carefully, however, we understand that that is not a natural way for us to behave. The survival of self has always been our primary concern, and the habit or strong habitual tendency of preserving the ego is so deeply ingrained we do not actually understand how frequently we engage in it.
Now you might disagree, thinking, “Well, I was very kind to my family yesterday, and I was kind and generous to my friends last week. I even gave some things away.” If you think like that, think again. The only way that you can remember when you were kind is by comparison to other times. This means that there has to be a hefty measure of time when you were not kind, to be able to compare the two.
If we were truly bodhisattvas here solely to benefit sentient beings, the activity of kindness would be so all-pervasive and natural we wouldn’t be able to discriminate it. One would not know that one was kind. If someone were to say to you, “You’re really kind. Your whole life is kindness,” one would say, “Really?” because one wouldn’t know. There would be nothing to compare it to.
When we look at our kindness truthfully, we often find out it is all about us, and for the most part has very little to do with anyone else. This is a hard truth to face, but it must be faced in order to discover what the Buddha is talking about when he speaks of kindness toward all sentient beings.
Self-examination often leads us to the decision to be a kind person. When your decision is about being a kind person, however, there is actually very little true caring for the welfare of sentient beings. What you are really trying to do is to find yourself, or to like yourself, or to label yourself, to discriminate between self and other and to continue the continuum of egocentricity. When a person decides to be kind, they do so because they want to be a certain way or they want to present themselves a certain way, but generally it’s all about them.
The Buddha teaches us that when we wish to embody the virtue of compassion — when we actually decide to be kind — we should do so for very logical reasons. First, we should study cyclic existence, the cycle of death and rebirth well enough to see its faults. One of the main faults of cyclic existence is that everyone who is born will die. Coupled with this is that during the entire time you’re alive until you start to age or become extremely sick you forget that simple fact, and you do not act appropriately.
We’re all going to experience death. But the way you’re thinking now and the way you act the rest of the day will demonstrate that you’re not thinking like that. You will act like a person who does not remember his or her own death. Because the other thing that you learn about your death is that when you die you can’t take anything with you, not a thing — except the condition, or karma, or habitual tendency of your mind.
Knowing you can only take the habitual tendency of your mind with you when you die, are you going to act appropriately the rest of the day? No way. For the rest of the day, the rest of the week, we will try to accumulate as much approval as possible. “I’m going to make people like me; I’m going to make people proud. I’m going to get love. I’m going to do anything I can — lie, cheat, steal — I’ll put on an act, pretend. I’ll mask my true feelings and do anything just to get a little bit of approval. Who cares if that creates a habit of grasping? Who cares if I take only for me and don’t much care what happens to anyone else? I need that approval, that love.”
The other thing we’ll do is try to accumulate material goods for no good purpose other than that we want them. We forget we can’t take them with us. We don’t act like people who know that. We act like people who believe in some kind of hokey fairy tale or story that can’t possibly come true.
In cyclic existence we also suffer from the suffering of suffering. If we had a different kind of mind, we could see birth and death and our minds would be stable and spacious. Perhaps these events wouldn’t bother us so much.
Unfortunately everything bothers us. Everything is something we react toward, because it is the nature of our mind to react toward everything with acceptance or rejection, hope and fear. What must come from that is hatred, greed and ignorance. We either hate something, or we want it, or we ignore it. Thus, we engage in the suffering of suffering. We not only experience death, we suffer because of our reaction to death. We not only experience separation, we suffer because of our reaction to separation.
So these are the faults of cyclic existence, and what else would you do other than practice a path that leads to the cessation of suffering? You could accumulate material goods, but what good will that do? Or you could continue the habit of being hateful. What good would that do? Or you could continue to grasp. What good would that do?
The Buddha teaches us that there is an end to suffering. That end is to exit cyclic existence; and in order to leave, one must achieve liberation, or enlightenment. Upon awakening to the enlightened state, one no longer revolves in cyclic existence, because one does not have the building blocks of death and rebirth which are based on the assumption of ego, or self-nature as being inherently real, and the reaction to phenomenal experiences. That is what cyclic existence actually is–that through that means one actually creates the karma of suffering and death, the endless experience or cycle we find ourselves in.
The Buddha teaches us that to attain enlightenment, to awaken to the primordial wisdom state, one no longer accumulates karma. In fact all of that perceptual experience is pacified, in that one finally awakens to and truly views the primordial wisdom nature. So there is an end to suffering. So, if you become a spiritual person in order to be something, you’re still clinging to ego and you’ll actually never attain enlightenment by awakening to the primordial wisdom nature.
And the Buddha teaches us that this can be done through the systematic pacification of hatred, greed and ignorance, the pacification of desire, through meditation, prayer, contemplation, study, through the pursuance of enlightened activity.
© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
A series of tweets from Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo on September 26, 2010
The leaves are turning, rains are coming, and we are all getting old. Impermanence is the most dependable of all things. Everything changes.
The Teachings all say that life is like a swift waterfall. It looks permanent, but if you follow one cup of water down, it disappears quickly.
We are always taught one’s time on Earth should be used to benefit others, and to progress on one’s path. This assures good rebirth until Enlightenment (not intellectual), which is the precious awakening to Primordial Wisdom, the very Ground of Being without contrivance!
Lord Buddha himself never made any other claim than that – To be AWAKE to the emptiness of all phenomena, and of self-nature, and the display of cause and result interdependently arising. That is, as cause arises, so does result, though they may be separated by the dance of time!
This is the essence of the Buddha’s teachings. And it was said ALL taught by HIM heard the teachings in their own language. Thus the BIG debate- did the Buddha know everything all at once? Speak all languages? Asked ANY spiritual question, He was able to reply correctly and completely. He knew the path of all who came to him. A true display of his omniscience!
I feel Buddha knew what he knew when He needed to know it. I’m in that camp. Because he was in a body but no longer ordinary His vision and wisdom would arise naturally according to the karma of those around, and the situation at hand.
© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series
What is renunciation? Do you have to give up your car? No, I have a car, and I have no plan to give it up. Do you have to give up a nice place to live? No, you don’t have to give up a nice place to live. What then do you have to give up? You have to give up self-absorption. You have to give up selfishness. You have to give up a life filled with non-virtue. That is true renunciation, regardless of the outer form or appearance. You may choose to adopt the outer form of renunciation, which is a time-honored, pure and useful way to utilize these teachings. But you can also adopt it in an inner way. If you have the ability to practice renunciation in an inner and profound way, it is also useful. It also works.
What you renounce is self-absorption, and you begin to live an extraordinary life, one that is involved in Bodhicitta, or compassion. That is the way to understand Bodhicitta in the simplest view, to understand it as compassion. You must live an extraordinary life, and in living an extraordinary life you are actually taking the cure, you are taking the medicine. Not only is it a nice thing to do, not only will you be known worldwide as a nice guy, but you will also be taking the medicine of selflessness. If the sickness is the belief in self-nature and the desire and grasping that come from all the phenomena surrounding the idea of self, then the cure is a selfless life. The cure is compassion, and you are taking the cure.
© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series
You are at the beginning. You have arrived at the door to liberation. You are knocking on a door that opens to the end of suffering. You have a tremendous capacity here, and in order to utilize that capacity you have to begin to utilize the technology being offered you. That technology is very simple: you have to soften and turn your mind. Whether you are a Buddhist or not, in order to achieve any realization at all – in fact in order to continue in a steadfast way on a path without being pulled away by the craziness of your own mind – you have to develop stability. That stability has to be based on the softening and gentling of your mind. You have to free it as much as possible from discursive thought, and from the conceptualization associated with the belief in self-nature as being real. You have to free it enough to be able to get some perspective.
Through that stability and deepening we can begin to examine these essential thoughts: that all sentient beings want to be happy, that all beings are suffering, that there is a cessation to suffering, and that the cessation to suffering is called enlightenment.
We should examine these thoughts, because Westerners have a very complicated world. Maybe it is hard to understand that all beings wish to be happy here in the West, because here we listen to the news and we hear about people throwing bombs at each other. We hear about robbery, rape and murder. We think, “Wow, that person raped and murdered; he is a horrible person.” We condemn him immediately and forget the other side of that thought, which is that he is trying to be happy. Can you believe that? Is that not an awesome thought? People who are raping and murdering, people throwing bombs in each other’s windows – how can you believe that these people want to be happy? Yet, it is absolutely the case. All sentient beings want to be happy, but they are drunk with the idea that there is no cause and effect. They are drunk with the idea that they can attain happiness by manipulating their environment in some crazy way. It just doesn’t work.
For instance, a freedom fighter might believe if he destroys a thousand people by throwing a bomb into a building, he might attain some liberty for his people, and through that effort he will be happy. That might be his thinking, but he doesn’t realize he has killed a thousand people, and through his action has created the karma in his mindstream of a thousand deaths that can only be the cause of suffering. He really believes he is doing something good. Even the rapist and murderer – maybe he has an uncontrollable urge that is deep and profound. Where does that urge come from? Why don’t you have it? It is because he has the karma of that urge. Maybe it was caused when many lifetimes ago he threw a bomb in somebody’s window and killed a thousand people, and maybe that is why he has that urge in his mindstream now. So what does he do? He continues to rape and murder. At the moment of doing so, he thinks he will end the suffering of his uncontrollable urge through raping and murdering just once more.
That is how horrible it is, but these people really are trying to be happy. Think about that. Think about how they are suffering uncontrollably, revolving again and again in cyclic existence, helplessly, because of the karma that has infected their minds. They are helpless in the midst of the cause and effect that they have created — simply helpless. Even in these horrible cases it is true, all sentient beings are trying to be happy. On the other side of this law, which the Buddha declared, is that not understanding how to create happiness, they constantly create the causes of suffering through non-virtue.
These are things you absolutely must remember. You have to allow them to deepen your mind. They have to become as instinctive and natural to you as breathing. If you understand the infallibility of cause and effect to such a profound extent that it begins to change the compulsion you have to create non-virtue and therefore the causes of unhappiness, then you are a practitioner. You are practicing a technology that will lead you to realization. Whether you consider yourself a Buddhist or not, you are practicing a valid technology, a spiritual technology.
© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series
Now, from my point of view, if you don’t believe in reincarnation you have no access to the technology of Buddhism. You have to accept the idea you have lived before, and that some of the results you see ripening in your life now are ripening due to causes created in a time you do not know. And that some of the causes you are creating now – because you are creating causes constantly – will ripen in a time you cannot see. If you don’t accept that, Buddhist or not Buddhist, you cannot evolve in your mind; you cannot adapt and have the strength to continue. In fact, you cannot have the perspective to practice the antidote to suffering. Everyone who has ever been considered a living Buddha on this earth has taught reincarnation. So maybe you might want to consider it an idea that you could adopt.
© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series
The Buddha says that all sentient beings are suffering and that enlightenment is the cessation of suffering. But we forget that enlightenment is the cessation of suffering. As a Buddhist you say, “Oh, yes, I’ve learned that. I practice the Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind. Enlightenment is the cessation of suffering. I have that memorized.” Oh, really? I must ask you then, why do you still practice the technology of suffering? Because until you achieve supreme realization, you are still practicing the technology of suffering. You realize this, and yet you continually create the circumstances that make you suffer. Here is why we do that: we have forgotten the other infallible law, the law of the certainty of cause and effect.
We have a problem. We are locked in to our own limited perspectives. We are in finite bodies, therefore our minds perceive in a finite way, a way that is natural for a finite reality to be perceived. Within this context, we can see that certain cause and effect relationships are absolutely unchangeable, that they always happen, that they can’t be messed with. We can see that if we pick something up and then drop it, it will fall.
Now, you may say that cause and effect doesn’t always work. There is magic, there is prayer, there are miracles. Okay then, pick something up, anything, and drop it, and stop it from falling. Let me see you do it. Who can do it? If you can do it, then I am going to buy your story and the class is over. Until we can figure out how to do that, it is certain if something is dropped, it will fall. It is also certain if you stick your hand in fire for long enough, your flesh will burn. It is certain if you never eat you will starve. It is certain if you catch a disease you will be sick. These things we understand.
It is also certain that everybody gets old. But the strange thing about us is, while we are still young enough to have a little twinkle in our eye, we will continue to convince ourselves that we will never get old. What we do is unbelievable. I have done it myself, so I know. Each year we buy something new, a little wrinkle remover, a little under-eye cover-up, and each year we still convince ourselves that nothing has changed. Then eventually, none of that stuff works. Then we have two choices: we can either face the facts or consider surgery. Whatever we do, we are putting off the inevitable.
© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
Excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series
From the first day that I began teaching until the last day that I ever have the opportunity to teach, I will invariably speak of compassion. If compassion were ice cream, by the time you finish with me you will have tasted every flavor at least 475 times. So, now we will talk about another flavor of compassion.
Previously, we have discussed why compassion is necessary. Then we spoke about how to begin to apply that compassion. We talked about various ways in which one could be motivated by compassion, as well as thoughts that you might have found moving or encouraging and that were geared to deepen and soften your mind. These are very important. One of the greatest, most precious jewels that you will hopefully attain in traveling the Buddhist path, or any spiritual path, is to have your mind softened and deepened.
There is an expression in one of our prayers, that one’s mind becomes ‘hard as horn.’ The minute I first read that particular phrase, it touched me deeply. Every time I have thought about it, it has meant more and more to me. One’s mind becomes hard as horn because of the discrimination, the conceptualization that is involved with the idea of ego, because of the pride and arrogance that arise from our belief in self-nature as being inherently real. We have established in our minds all of the clothing, the dogma, the discrimination of this idea of self as being real. These things become rigid in our minds, and our minds are no longer gentle.
The moment you decide in some subconscious way you have an ego, that you are a self, you have to start gathering the constructs of self-identity around you. You have to determine where self ends and other begins. In order to do that your mind has to be filled with conceptualization. In order to be a self you have to survive as a self. In order to maintain this conceptualization that makes survival possible, your mind has to become rigid. So if I say to you that your mind is rigid, you shouldn’t think I have insulted you. I am talking about a condition all sentient beings have, and it is a condition that is the cause of a great deal of suffering.
When I say that all sentient beings are suffering, I don’t wish it to be a real downer for you. That is not the point. Realizing all sentient beings are suffering is meant to soften your mind, because to realize all sentient beings are suffering, you have to be willing to examine phenomena and to examine yourself in a deep way, in a way that you don’t normally do. Therefore, you have to challenge your concepts. Why is that? Because naturally, and without any teaching or any encouragement, you will try to convince yourself that you are happy.
You may do this in much the same way that a person who is hungry and unable to eat will do something to take his mind off his hunger. Let’s say its 10 o’clock. You’re on the job, you’re famished, and you know you can’t get off for lunch until 12 o’clock. You are going to try to think of something else. You’re going to try to keep your mind busy, or try not to focus on your hunger. In much the same way, if you are suffering and you don’t have the technology to remove from your mind the causes of this suffering, you are going to try to convince yourself that you are okay. You are going to put a band-aid on it, and in order for you to do so, your mind has to become more hardened.
It is useful to really look around at sentient beings and see they are suffering. It is also useful to look at yourself. This is not meant to make you depressed or sad. It is meant to give you what it takes to go to the next step, which is to try to determine for yourself the way to remove the causes of suffering.
Even though there are times when hunger is not comfortable, when you would rather not think about it, there are also times when hunger is useful in that it keeps you alive. In the same way, while it may be uncomfortable for you to think that all sentient beings are suffering, it is actually quite useful for you to realize that. It is this realization that will give you the foundation and the ability to turn your mind in such a way that you have to seek out the causes of suffering, and how you can remove them from your mind.
It is not useful in any long-term way to try to convince yourself, by putting a band-aid on an ulcer, that everything is okay, because you still have to face the same things that you’ve always had to face. Nothing has changed. You still have to face old age, sickness and death. Neither does it help you to be helpful to other sentient beings. Look at the animal realm. Go to India and see how the oxen are beaten and tied up in order to be worked. They are worked all of their lives. That is suffering. Look at all the different ways that other creatures suffer just out of ignorance, because they have no way to help themselves.
Once you have determined suffering does exist, there is no need to dwell on it in a morbid way. Rather, you should think, “This is how it is. Now I have to realize that there is, in fact, a cure, there is a way to deal with this.” It is not useful to dwell on suffering without also accepting the antidote. In other words, if you just think about hunger all the time, and you don’t eat, that is stupid. When hunger is no longer useful to you, it is simply suffering. You should use your awareness of suffering to prod you to seek and practice the antidote to suffering. Use your awareness; it is your tool.
© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo
In emptiness – fullness
In silence – song
In stillness – movement
Going, coming, sleeping, waking, empty, full
Speaking, listening, bitter and sweet
The same, in essence.
This much is known
And old truth and new
Kindness is the way
Love, the display
Meaning in method
A blessing for today
Let’s try it.
Let’s try it.
This way
© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo