Teachings

Guru – Condensed Essence of the Path

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From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo (@jalpalyul) on November 21, 2010

In Tibetan Vajrayana one absolutely needs a Guru. It is the Guru that ripens and turns the mind. One cannot learn Tantra from books.  If the mind is not matured, purified through empowerment, there is no chance for ultimate benefit. Empowerment empowers the student to practice. Without these blessings one’s understanding of Dharma is shallow and there is not much faith. Not much benefit.

Without a Guru, one can talk Dharma only in a shallow way, and the result is merely intellectual.  There is no view. If you practice without a qualified Guru you will do exactly as you want, and end up with exactly what you have – obscured mind.

In Empowerment the student connects with a Lineage of ripening, unbroken from the source. If the ripening has no past, it has no future

The Guru in Vajrayana is the main source of refuge, as Guru is the condensed essence of the Three Precious Jewels.  The three jewels are Buddha, Dharma and Sangha (spiritual community). The Lama represents all three.  All are needed.

To hang out and simply discuss Dharma, to endlessly pontificate from no source is useless. The mind becomes hard, and ego grows. This is not to say that one should not read and study; this is essential. Still, the Guru is the actual guide, and again, if enlightenment is the goal, Guru is the source.  The Tulku system is based on that. It is based on an unbroken Lineage of accomplishment beginning with the source of the cycle being taught.

© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Advice from the Heart

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From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

It is very important, before one’s death, that we pay back as much karmic debt as possible. And pay forward all gifts. OM AH MI DEWA HRI

When one’s self becomes more important than one’s practice, one has failed. Stop. Go back and do it right. OM BENZAR SATO HUNG

We seem to act as if there were no such thing as cause and effect. That we will never grow old. Or never die. What dream is this?

There is no fear in death if one has prepared well. Wither it comes fast or slow we must prepare. We should die as meditators.

We act as if someone else were responsible for purifying our inner poisons, or purifying our mind streams. It is for ourselves alone to do.

No one can grant us happiness from the outside. Happiness is a habit to be cultivated.

© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Pearls of Wisdom

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From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

I’ve found if there is bitter enmity that all suffer. The best thing to do is just walk away, agree to disagree.

For one’s physical and emotional health abandon conflict. If the other parties do not follow suit protect oneself. And walk away.

The best way to have happiness that is stable is to spend your life in Compassionate activity, helping others with no thought of reward.

Prayer every day is absolutely essential for mental relaxation. As is meditation, contemplation, making offerings.

Suffering in part is due to dualistic perception. In the view all is the Celestial Mandala of the yidam. Separation makes hope and fear.

All material things are illusory, impermanent. We cannot even take even one grain of rice at death. Put your practice as your true wealth.

Gratitude is the bread and water for one’s spirit! One must try to see the good in all. Or one’s spirit grows dark.

© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Navigating Kaliyuga

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Talk about disappointing. I hear a “monk” stole the robes and ritual items from a monk I know. This is a Buddhist? Has he even heard of Vinaya? Vinaya is the code of conduct for the Ordained at all levels. It was laid down by Lord Buddha Himself. To steal another monk’s robes is heinous! My conclusion is this was a thug dressed as a monk, a rogue monk who thinks he is somehow superior to Vinaya, or a mentally ill person. Perhaps this Monk was uneducated. Though in order to wear robes one must learn the Vinaya or cannot observe the conduct. All this is troubling,

And a sign of how confused Spirituality is now. How totally off the mark – fake teachers everywhere, giving confusion rather than wisdom.

This is truly the time of Kaliyuga – dark. True Dharma is not easy to find. The teaching is that eventually Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will not be able to return because there is not enough merit. So this evening I hope to tweech on merit: why, what how, and how one goes about gathering it

So please stay tuned for tonight’s tweeching, assuming all goes well. See you there!

© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Dharma in the West

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From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo (@jalpalyul)

We must reach for a planet with no violence and no hate. We must learn to respect.  We are the western Tibetan Buddhist community. If we cannot display love and compassion, tolerance and understanding, who will?

From the first time the Buddha sat, he taught not to harm others.  The first turning of the dharma wheel – purify. Do no harm. The second turning – the Bodhicitta, both relative and ultimate.  The third turning of the dharma wheel – establish view – emptiness of phenomena, the nature of mind.

At any moment on earth there are always 80 great Mahasiddhas. Always pray and make offerings to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas!

In Mahayana the two “eyes” of method are relative bodhicitta and ultimate bodhicitta. Both are necessary and essential. One is like giving what is essentially built from samsara. The other, ultimate, arises from Buddhanature. If you could feed poor folks and care for them for the rest of their lives; if you were that rich; it would still be relative and ordinary, although fabulous! To attain supreme enlightenment and return to teach others how to exit samsara, that is the ultimate bodhicitta and the ultimate enlightenment. To return until all are liberated, this is the ultimate aspiration and result!

© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Let Me Go

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I live a life where I am speaking
And I’m trying SO HARD to speak the truth
Every day they say I’m lying
Oh no oh no LET ME GO

Oh sista I see you trying
But they will never let you show your light
Every day we see you dying
Oh no oh no LET ME GO

(Chorus)
Let me go into the fire
Let me dance into the Light
I am here, my Love my Father
Let me come to Your Sight

Wisdom Well that I carry
You my sisters bear as well
All the scars we have married
Oh no oh no LET ME GO

Wasted time and sullied promise
Will we ever push on through?
Sometimes don’t know why I bother
Oh no Oh no LET ME GO

Chorus (again)

Half the world is screaming War and
Half the world cries out for Peace
Don’t you dream of worlds of gentle wisdom?
Oh, oh no, LET ME GO.

Let me go to fields of ripening jewels
Let me go to where I can  be me
Let me see the light’s Mandala
Brother, Sister, LET IT BE

I was born in wisdom fire
Must return so I can breathe free
I am here, but can you find me
Oh no oh no let me BE!

Oh no no no Let me go.

© Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Preparing for Death

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It seems really hard to believe this year is nearly over. Is impermanence moving faster these days? Must be. My pack and I are aging.

It is so strange. Of course we all know about impermanence intellectually but “getting it” is different. We see ourselves and others changing, but somehow remain convinced we and all else remain stable. Once my mother looked in the mirror and said “how did this happen to me?”

It is unfortunate that we have been protected from the reality of death. It is real, and part of life. Lord Buddha taught about the three human sufferings – old age, sickness and death. I’m at two out of three-LOL! No one escapes these things – which is why I keep harping on preparation for death.

What you do with your life should always go with an eye on our next rebirth. Great Lamas often leave amazing signs as to how to find their next incarnation. When His Holiness the Dalai Lama muses that he might be female next time LISTEN to him, he is a Living Buddha, Himself preparing.

Given this, it behooves us ordinary folk to make a MIGHTY effort. Before death, a Vajrayana Practioner should recite a BUM, or a MILLION recitations of Buddha Amitaba’s mantra OM AH MI DEWA HRI.  I have aspired to recite the Seven Line Prayer to Guru Rinpoche. I am bumping up on my million.

His Eminence Gyaltrul Rinpoche told me way back; when I got past 300,000 recitations I should come for the most profound essence of the prayer and Guru Yoga. I did.

The teaching was not long, but Rinpoche leaned in close and deeply with his eyes and told me absolute VIEW. What IS and is empty – the Guru’s face. To me it was a teaching not of words alone. It was a subtle but POWERFUL teaching by indication. But I “got” it and was satisfied.

That night he put me in HIS bed, and HE slept in the top altar room. I felt held by Guru Rinpoche once more. I know I never walk alone. Such a gift!

Different schools of Buddhism in Vajrayana have different emphasis and sometimes method. All are good. Some say one should emphasize accumulating the three Roots of accomplishment. The three roots are Lama, Yiddam, and Dakini.

In some methods it’s step by step. His Holiness Kyabje Penor Rinpoche taught like that, step by step. He said if one dives into Dzogchen without preliminaries it is like throwing a seed on stone. The mind is too hard and the precious seed cannot grow.

It is, if one has practiced well and deeply, TOTALLY evident when a pretender speaks intellectually about Dzogchen from a superficial understanding. It is the experience that is the juice inside the hard shell of the coconut. No intellectual teachings or understanding will suffice. So when Lamas give Dzogchen to new students or those of lesser qualities it is harmful. Those students may think they know but they do NOT know.

In the movie “AVATAR” the Mother Shaman says “It is hard to fill a cup that is already full”. And so it is with Dharma. To practice Dharma well and properly, to prepare for rebirth, one must empty the cup of EGO. Especially pride, and then it is possible to drink the Nectar; and be fully satisfied, ready to go to Amitaba’s pureland; or Padmasambava’s Copper Mountain; this is according to Qualities and Accomplishment, and FAITH. I would not recommend entering the Bardo without the Shield of Faith.

EMAHO!

OM AH HUNG BENZAR GURU PEDMA SIDDHI HUNG!

Loving Kindness and Adversity

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From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, known as @JALpalyul on Twitter:

My dear, much Beloved Tweethearts I haven’t been on much today. Follow Friday! But I’ve been quite exhausted and feeling low. Nothing happening in my reality to upset me, except the continuous stream of lying and hate that has come to me for years now. By those who readily admit they are bird dogging me, and digging through my underwear drawer for something “wrong” with me. When they can’t find anything wrong they just make it up!

So I find myself deeply sad and emotionally exhausted. I have no fight in me. They are amused but still beat a nearly dead horse and laugh.

I pray they will find their way spiritually and ethically, and stop wasting time. They both have heart disease and just do not understand karma, cause and effect. They cannot see through the hate long enough to know that in trying to destroy me and KPC they are actually destroying themselves.

I wish as a mother I could comfort them. Hold them and speak of truth, love, living and dying in a noble way. Wish I could heal them as only LOVE and TRUTH can do.

But the walls are up; I cannot get in to help. I can pray for them and I do – every day.

I have thousands of followers on twitter and on my Altar blog. They in truth have very few. But I cannot be satisfied until I see their pain end. I think of them with a sorrow so deep I cannot explain.

If a pure display of love is squelched it is beyond tragic as the world needs love!

I wish I could help them; however my experience is that if I show my gentle side I get knifed in the back by these two – over and over.

I didn’t sign up for Crucifixion in this life. Another faith, that.

I pray for the day they just stop. Maybe try to help people? Animal rescue? Volunteering to help others? Comfort those in hospice? Tutor a child? There are many ways to help. Then there is no time to beat people up. One can live a helpful and productive life. Not end up in jail with a felony record. A waste of life when there is Dharma available.

There is no time to waste! We are taught in the four thoughts that turn the mind: It is like going to a continent of precious jewels and coming back empty handed.

That is the most tragic thing of all; to waste this precious human rebirth, with all its endowments on gathering trash.

So for these people I pray:

OM MANI PEDME HUNG!

OM AH HUNG BENZAR GURU PEDMA SIDDHI HUNG!

OM BENZAR SATO HUNG!

May this heal all enemies to Dharma and bring joy to all!

What Seeds Are You Planting?

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A person who will not hear truth cannot speak truth. Always check for yourself.

A person who sees no truth for themselves cannot relate truth to others.

A person who is only interested in creating a “popular” image and is indifferent to truth will never recognize truth from LIES.

From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, known on twitter as @JALpalyul:

If a person is dying and refuses to prepare with honesty and truth, they will die an ordinary- not a noble – death.

The one that gives no comfort, kindness, truth or honesty will never see any of these in their next rebirth.

The one who gets sick will get better by offering love, healing, nourishment, kindness, service for others and prayer for their health.

Those who hold hate and resentment and do not try to purify it, will fall to the low hell realms.  And with a twisted mind will enjoy hate!

So much better to live a life of LOVE, character, honesty, right view, respect, generosity, and kindness. Never lie to put yourself up! These will carry over to next rebirth as HABITS.

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