Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo | Tibetan Buddhist Altar

Today’s the Day to Wake Up

January 25, 2012 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is a full length video teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo offered at Kunzang Palyul Choling:

A Strong and Precious Refuge

January 24, 2012 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

My visit with His Eminence Mugsang Rinpoche is over now. I feel such love for him. We talked about KPC and long range plans and programs.

I’ve dedicated my intention to accomplishing Empowerments, hopefully in English. I hope to become most proficient in Palyul ritual and Sadhana and look forward to the excellent Lamas and tutors lined up. KPC will grow strong and be a precious refuge for all beings.

Now His Eminence Mugsang Rinpoche goes back to California and His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche is in India. Monlam is soon. They are Pure Throneholders, EH MA HO! So Precious!

Understanding Offerings

January 24, 2012 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is a full length video teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo offered at Kunzang Palyul Choling:

Taught on Lha Bab Duchen in 1989, this teaching explains how the practice of offering helps purify our desire and grasping. It also, if done purely, can move us toward the state of pure enlightenment.

What is Buddhahood?

January 23, 2012 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is a full length video teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo offered at Kunzang Palyul Choling:

In the path of Dharma, we are guided to the ultimate state of Budhahood. Along the way, we pacify poisons, develop compassion, and gradually ascend the bhumis as Bodhisattvas, cultimating in supreme Buddhahood. Jetsunma explores what that looks like along the way.

The True Meaning of Friendship

January 22, 2012 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is a full length video teaching offered by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo at Kunzang Palyul Choling:

Friends are so precious in our lives. How can we maximize these relationships to move both our friends and ourselves toward enlightement.

Transform Neurosis Into True Guru Yoga: Full Length Video Teaching

January 21, 2012 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is a full length video teaching from Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo offered at Kunzang Palyul Choling:

How does this relationship with a Guru work? Do you give over l thought? Of course not. Jetsunma explores how our habits get in the way of an honest relationship. Then she helps us see how to change that so we are moving toward enlightenment.

Vajrayana’s Final Hour: Full Length Video Teaching

January 20, 2012 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is a full length video teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

We are living in the timo of degeneration – kaliyuga – this is the perfect time to practice Vajrayana – the diamond vehicle – before it’s too late.

Interdependence

January 19, 2012 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

Hello all. I have some doctor appointments today, so I thought I’d drop in on Twitter. Miss you all. I am doing well, though. IBS is slowing, headaches are less awful, (much) lower back somewhat improved, BP lower, PTSD treatment helpful.

Better to take responsibility yourself than to blame and point. Sadly, our karma is our own, and nobody else’s. When we point and blame we demonstrate how incompetent we are in understanding cause and effect.

At any rate we must eventually come to see the full equation. Cause and effect – result. Exacting result.

The relative universe is like a woven fabric. If one thread is pulled, it also pulls elsewhere in time and space. If pressure is applied somewhere it will produce a “pull” somewhere else. And no measure of denial or disrespect will change anything, although it will increase blind, babbling ignorance with no blessing to help anyone.

The Bodhisattva Ideal: Full Length Video Teaching

January 19, 2012 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is a full length video teaching offered by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo at Kunzang Palyul Choling:

Live for the benefit of others – let love guide everything in your life and you will be moving toward the Bodhisattva ideal.

Facing Facts

January 19, 2012 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Commitment to the Path”

Buddhism is not the kind of religion that necessarily comforts us, although once you get the big picture, it’s the only thing that comforts you, the only thing that makes sense. That’s my experience. Other religions will tell you, “Don’t worry. Have faith. Everything is going to be OK,” but Buddhism says,” Well, you know, maybe not.” The first thing we hear in Buddhism is, “We’re all going to die.” And so sometimes because of our cultural habits, we think, “That’s kind of a downer. I don’t want to hear that. Don’t give me any down stuff. Just give me the up stuff. I want the feel good religion. That’s what I want.” So you think, “Well, I don’t want to hear about how I’m going to die. I don’t want to hear about how everything is impermanent. I don’t want to hear about everybody suffering and I have to make it better. I want to hear some good news.”

But Dharma actually tells you the truth. Dharma is like that kind of perfect parent that doesn’t speak in a condescending way to their children, a parent that tells them the truth directly, maybe in child language, but tells them the truth, speaks clearly, respects their dignity enough to tell them what is up. And that is what Dharma does. Dharma says to us that everything is impermanent. We are all wandering in cyclic existence. We do not know how to get out of cyclic existence because we don’t know how to create the causes for liberation. We don’t know how to create the causes for happiness. So it’s a roll of the dice: Which of our karma is going to ripen? According to the Buddha’s teaching, it’s all there. We have been existing as sentient beings since time out of mind. We have had time to create the causes for everything from living in a god realm to living in a hell realm.

Once we see that our lives are kind of like a wild locomotive careening down a track, down a mountain with no brakes, and we just really can’t tell when it’s going to derail, we begin to ask ourselves, “How can I prepare? What can I do?” That’s when Dharma becomes to us a sensible religion, a make-sense kind of thing, because it shows us cause and effect relationships. It shows us what we’ve got to deal with and it gives us a way to recognize a path out, a path through, a path under and over, and there is always something that we can do to prepare our minds.