Tweets | Tibetan Buddhist Altar

Would You Know?

December 23, 2011April 5, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

It’s not just me and mine. Respect and view toward Lineage Lamas has tanked in western centers. Reminds me of a song I love by Art Garfunkle:

“And if you watch the stars at night, and find them shining equally bright- you might have seen Jesus and not have known what you saw. Who would notice a GEM in a Five and Dime store?”

Perfect example of lack of view in a material world!

OM MANI PEDME HUNG!

Whether a Positive or Negative Connection

April 3, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

Oooo boy, today I have an awful toothache, one tooth is abscessing, another one with temporary filling fallen out, so I had to take pain meds and still hurting. I have…have to see a dentist tomorrow if someone will fit me in. I hate to go but must. On top of that my lower back has kicked in. It is pretty hard to do anything.

It’s my own fault, I let medical things go way too long. I’m good with taking care of others, and I care very much. My pack gets only the best care. Just ask the book keeper at the Vet’s office. . And that is with Dr. Pema’s help for free. I really don’t know why I resist taking care of myself. I know I feel whiny and foolish when I go. It isn’t reasonable – I know. Childish even, but there you are.

I know people who love going to Doctor. Over the littlest things! Medical people joking say they are “frequent flyers” (kinda funny) but who knows? Maybe they’ll live forever, and I’ll plotz from a dental abscess or ingrown toenail. And sadly I’m so stubborn, ask my family. Can’t make me do anything, sadly. Ani Ariana is often gently trying to urge me on, then she tries another tactic. I am clearly the bane of her existence, poor thing. Too late Ani! Bwahahaha!

I remember Kyabje His Holiness Penor Rinpoche telling me I should take better care because he needs me to live a long time. Yikes, haven’t taken that instruction to heart. Not good. And His Eminence Gyaltrul Rinpoche says I must live another 50 years. Oy. For the sake of Dharma in the west.

I never understood those instructions, had a “who, me?” attitude. The last three years or so I’ve come to understand what was meant. I’ve had, with the help of my Sangha, to physically protect our Stupas from defilement and wrong use, had to protect Palyul from vicious slander, His Holiness Penor Rinpoche too. I’ve had to fight vicious lies about me, my family, my sangha, my Lineage. I’ve been threatened as has KPC. I guess it is all good, as the light at the end of the tunnel is visible.

All Long Life prayers for me include the declaration that whether good or bad circumstance every sentient being will benefit be connecting with me. Therefore whatever happens will make the world better somehow, and Dharma safer too. For that I am truly happy and feel it is all worthwhile. I don’t want to talk to haters and don’t like thinking so many exist. But they do, and in numbers; I want to help, and I’m happy I can, whatever method. KYE HO!

OM AH MI DEWA HRI!

OM MANI PEDME HUNG!

The Longevity Supplication of Lhacham Ahkön Lhamo

called

A Garland of Utpala Flowers

EH MA HO ORGYEN DU MA THA LA’I ZHING KHAM NE

EH MA HO In the pure realm, Dumatala’i of Orgyen,

KHA CHÖD KHANDRO’I TSO MO DRÖL MA KAR

White Tara is the principal Dakini of Khachöd

DAKI LHACHAM MANDARAWA NYID

Whose nature is the Dakini Lhacham Mandarawa

BÖD YÜL AHKÖN LHAMO CHANG CHUB DRÖN

Appearing in the land of Tibet as Ahkön Lhamo Changchub Drön,

KU SUM ZHING NA TRO DU DZED PA’I GAR

Performing the dance of radiating and reabsorbing from the realm of the three Kayas.

AH KAR ÖD DZE LHAMO ME TOG DRÖN

Beautiful light of the white AH, Lhamo Metog Drön (Goddess Flower Light),

CHI LING KYE U DREN LA SÖL WA DEB

I supplicate you to save beings in the Western realm.

TSHE DAG RIG NGA TSHE YI PHO NYA DANG

The five classes of the owners of life and the messengers of longevity,

PEMA KA RA GYA GAR RIG DZIN GYED

Padmasambhava and the eight Vidhyadharas of India

NE YÜL ZHING KYE PA WO PA MO’I TSHOG

And the assembly of Dakas and Dakinis of the realms of the sacred places and countries,

CHI DAG PUNG JOM KHYED NAM DEN TOB KYI

By your power of Truth, overcome and defeat the Lord of Death.

AH KAR ÖD DZE LHAMO ME TOG DRÖN

Beautiful white light of AH, Lhamo Metog Drön,

KU TSHE’I GAL KYEN BAR CHED YING SU SÖL

May the conflicting circumstances and obstacles to your life expectancy dissolve in the sphere of Truth.

DÜL CHA’I KHAM LA DÜ SUM TAG ZHUG SÖL

Throughout the Three Times, pray, remain firm in the realms of beings to be tamed,

GYAL TEN DZIN KYONG PEL LA NÜ TOB GYE

Ever increasing your strength to hold, maintain and increase the Buddha’s Doctrine.

ZHAL JAL SUNG THÖ ZANG NGEN GANG DREL CHE

May whoever sees you, meets you or hears your speech,

MED JUNG KU ZHI’I LING DU WANG JOR SHOG

Be it a positive or negative connection, become a sovereign of the unsurpassed realm of the Four Kayas!

Samaya ku sung tug kyi gya

This supplication prayer was revealed by the well-known incarnation of the Indian Mahasiddha Trilwupa, Tertön Pedma Tumpo.
May virtue prevail!

Compassion Like the Rays of the Sun

March 31, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

One of the saddest things to see is an ordinary Buddhist student, having read many books, presuming to correct a Lineage Lama. The arrogance is extraordinary when we consider these Rinpoches who were in monastery since childhood, trained well by Lineage Masters, and have benefitted all sentient beings for so many lifetimes. American pridefulness is a disease among Buddhists here. One can surely not understand the teachings and question. One can surely disagree and say so respectfully. No true Lama has a problem with that. At monastery young Lamas are taught to debate as a way to truly internalize and absorb the teachings, so debate is an excellent learning tool. But there is a difference between such debate and insisting one is more correct than the Lama, which is a real downfall, and a sure way to lose the path.

When we have an argument with our root Guru we are fighting with our own true face. Our own awakening. Being ignorant most westerners think, with their ego and pride, along with a dash (or a bucket) of amazing self cherishing, that my concept is the right one because I said it! So ridiculous, to think that because we have heard Lamas and done some practice (and can pronounce those funny foreign words) we then become experts. It is sad and funny.

Any Lama will tell you one must first have good intention (hurt no one, help everyone) and give rise to Bodhicitta. Most westerners forget that. It is better to learn from a kind Saint than a rude, curmudgeon of a “scholar.” You will never taste the sweetness of Dharma from a mean spirited, ridged thinking person like that. No one needs more of that.

We do need, however, to learn kindness, tolerance, view, how to put the needs of other beings before one’s own, generosity, willingness to walk in another’s shoes to understand them better. Before every teaching or Puja we are asked to do as we do for all beings. We are asked to gather pure intention. And we are always told that giving rise to Bodhicitta is the method to awaken as it is the very display of our own Buddhahood, like the sun’s rays are of the sun. So, pride or no pride, arrogance or not – Bodhicitta or compassion must be accomplished in the beginning, at the end (especially with Dzogchen) and everywhere in between. This is, essentially, the path, and it does not need changing. Sure, the dress may change, the words may change, but the nectar of Bodhicitta never does, as it is our nature, always was and will be. Our face.

Why Do You Practice Dharma?

December 23, 2011March 31, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

If you’re only approaching Dharma by riding on the surface of your mind, you will not stick with it. You shouldn’t practice Dharma because you like Dharma. If you do that, there will be a day when you don’t like Dharma. Dharma is not like listening to music: You like it, you listen to it; you don’t like it, you don’t listen to it. It’s not that kind of thing. You should follow the Dharma from a place of spaciousness in your mind, initially because the Buddha says so — and the Buddha is supremely enlightened — and then ultimately from your own knowing, from your own sense of your own nature, from the spaciousness in your mind, and with the dignity that is inherently yours as part of that mind. From that place of stability, you should choose Dharma, and you should choose it for good reasons.

It is necessary to stabilize the mind so that you can even think about practicing Dharma. It is important to be stable in your practice. Being stable in your practice is a step that you need to take before you even commit to stabilizing your mind in your ordinary life.

Look at the mind and see how much stuff you make up all the time. Why do you practice Dharma? How much stuff have you made up about Dharma already? One of you likes to talk about being an old yogi. Another one of you likes to talk about caves. You want to talk about the romanticism of practicing Dharma. Your practice is not going to last if you approach Dharma in that way. You have to approach Dharma in a solid way because you know that sentient beings are suffering, because you know that you are suffering, because you know that nothing you have tried to date has ended that suffering, and because you know that according to the Buddha’s teaching, there is an end to suffering, and that end is enlightenment. You should practice from a place of space in your mind where you’re not just following yourself down the garden path, making up all these crazy stories about Dharma in the same way that you make up everything about everything.

Come to love the Dharma for what it is, for what it can do, for the rich potential of it. Love it because it is a practice that, if practiced sincerely, can awaken pure compassion in the mind. Love it because awakening pure compassion in the mind can be the end of war and of famine and of all kinds of problems that we have on the earth that we haven’t been able to solve. Love Dharma for the right reasons, from a stable place, not in the same way that you fall in and out of love with everything else. And in order to do that you must approach Dharma and see and understand it from the place of having a stable mind, from a place of spaciousness.

You are not immune from falling out of love with Dharma until you achieve realization. The potential is there. The way to remove that potential is by practicing Dharma in a stable way and for stable reasons. I don’t think that you’ve thought enough about why you practice. You say, “Oh, it’s not my nature to do that. I just become excited about things, and I go into them. I’m spontaneous. That’s my nature.” No, that’s wrong. It doesn’t work. You can’t do it that way. You have to think about it, even if you’ve never thought about anything else before. You have to think, “Why Dharma? Why me? What does this mean?” If you don’t consider all of these things, if you just do it because it feels right, believe me when I tell you, your feelings are so unstable that one day Dharma will feel wrong.

Please build this fortress carefully with careful consideration and careful thinking. Even if it’s not your nature to think about anything, anytime, for any length of time, start now. This is a good reason to start, and it’s very important.

Embracing Change for a Better World

March 29, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

I wonder if it is the aspect between Jupiter opposite Saturn that is giving me the brain drain. I suspect it may be. It is a generational aspect, every 20 years. And it also seems there is a tug between old, crystallized ways and new, more radical ways.

I hope so. Maybe government and corporate people will show transparency for a change! I feel strongly that is the way to go. Old institutions and “old thinking” people definitely hold us in a zone, and feel entitled to do so. When I see something or someone who refuses to listen or change it boggles my mind and angers me too (sadly.) When new ideas and ways of thinking develop they should never be smashed down. And the new thinking folks should never be bullied or called names. We are free to speak and share ideas as new ideas are needed! The world has so many problems.

Bullies, tend to try to keep those around them unchanging, sheep-like and safely mum. So it turns out bullies are the weaker as their emotional lives are maintained by putting others down. That is weak. And cruel. Especially to those trying to learn, and formulate their own ideas. We must be encouraging, not suffocating new ideas by blowing them down. No one has the right to do that, corporations or governments as well. We have the right to evolve as thoughtful people. The world requires it. The times require it. The nuclear crisis in Japan is a prime example. To save face Japan will not tell us the truth, and we have the right to know. Similarly our own government, here in the USA, does the same. To what extent we may never know.

No, I am not a rabid conspiracy nut. But I see something is very wrong with this picture. We should have full disclosure, especially about those things which affect our health and our thinking. I hope this Jupiter (expanding) and Saturn (crystalizing, unchanging) duke it out (it is us of course) and we come up with new ways. Respect, tolerance, compassion, spiritual depth, open mindedness, these ways that lead us forward and do not support secretiveness and bullying, harmful domination of others, etc; may these things, having had their day, allow the rest of us to have ours!

Prayer Works:Pray for Japan and the Earth

December 23, 2011March 27, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

Asking all people to have faith in prayer and not feel hopeless. If everything, every effort in Japan is hopeless, even then prayer works!

Please don’t forget that, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, in their great compassion hear our cries. All faiths, call upon your faith and help. Each of us has our own beliefs. Doesn’t matter. Call on your faith to see us through. We all need each other to do the right thing for the earth.

Blessings and love to my brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers in Japan. Pray for Japan. Pray for the earth, for Libya. We are one people.

https://www.tibetanbuddhistaltar.org/2010/06/21-homages-to-tara-pdf-download/

https://www.tibetanbuddhistaltar.org/2009/12/the-seven-line-prayer/

Today is the Day to Renew Prayers for Japan, the Earth and Humankind

December 16, 2011March 27, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

Today is the day to renew our commitment to pray for Japan, for the earth, for human kind. I feel the Japan nuclear situation is growing more dangerous every day, that Tepco and Japanese government are trying to save face by not admitting how bad it is, and how little they know about getting it to stop. When the reactors are cracked and leaking, it is catastrophic. So I ask my students and followers to pray, to go to the stupas and pray, recite mantra, etc. We must all, every faith, park the dogma and join in prayer round the globe as one family.

Prayer is amazingly powerful especially when many people pray together with pure intention to heal others, and the planet. And we may find ourselves relying exclusively on prayer as nothing else seems to be working. I beg Japan to reveal the exact situation so we the people can know what to do and what not to do. It is our right to know, as I’ve said – and who knows? We may actually figure something out for ourselves! I think of Dr. Michio Kaku, who feels the only thing to do is bury it all with concrete, gravel, antidotal chemicals, sand, more concrete as was done with Chernobyl. They cannot save the reactors- they are only poison now.

Jetsunma recommended the following prayers for Japan and for the earth:

https://www.tibetanbuddhistaltar.org/2011/01/21-homages-to-tara/

https://www.tibetanbuddhistaltar.org/amitaba/

One World: Let the People Speak

March 26, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

Today I have a down mood. Watching what is happening worldwide is hard to take. Japan hiding info we need, in the Middle East giving more than we can use. Everywhere there are terrible events and dramas.

One theme I see is secretiveness by those in power. Any info we get is from regular people. I sincerely hope our government is asking questions, someone has to. So I guess I am worrying a lot. Worry is useless unless it spurs one to action. As in praying, or offering some relief. I work at Prayer, but I wish I could stop the wars, leaking nukes etc. One person cannot manage very much. But governments and groups of people can. That is why it is so hard to hear about these issues. They are fixable, but we refuse to change ourselves, our views, and so then government will not change. Government is us. Even if we feel impotent, we are the people and government should be serving our interests. We have lost our way, governments now work for themselves and are therefore hard to trust. We aren’t getting news. We are getting propaganda from hierarchies who are in self- protection mode. We are playing games with our planet and the sentient beings who live here. This is wrong, unethical and immoral. Government is a good example, but not the only one. For business and institutions to keep secrets and do wrong without consequence is not acceptable.

We must speak out and demand information about everything that affects planet earth. Especially things like ecological disasters which eventually affect us all. We are world citizens and we have the right to know! Secrets lead to disaffected people, disempowered. So nothing changes and the people never get to speak. This does not work for planet earth and her people. We have ideas that should be allowed to see the light of day! We aren’t stupid, we actually think and create. And so we must think of a way through this habit. What are we thinking?! Let the people in! Let us speak!

Ghost Stories and Understanding Karma

December 16, 2011March 24, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

From a series of tweets between Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo and two of her followers, Michelle9647 and Seedsdown:

Michelle asked Jetsunma about ghosts after sharing a video of a “ghostly image” she had seen online. She asked Jetsunma if she had ever had an encounter.

Jetsunma: Yes. Some seem to be repetitive emotional “bodies”. Others seem to be temporary thinning of other dimensional systems.

Seedsdown: Demons you mean? There are those too!

Jetsunma: There are demons. But they aren’t ghosts.

Michelle: Are some of the classes of demons subject to the thinning dimensional systems?

Jetsunma: Maybe, but I think hell-beings are there due to Karma. The heinous crimes especially – cause and effect. Not a god punishing us. If that doesn’t fly, think about this: do we have nightmares? They are our own emotions being worked through in a display. In that way at time of death all emotions, concepts appear outwardly, jumbled in time. If we are haters, that is one hellish appearance. If greedy, another hell. We are drawn to repeat our own habitual tendencies. Like draws like. So we are attracted to what we know in the Bardo. As many hell-dreams as there are “dreamers” to “dream” them. That is why it is so precious to awaken. As Buddha did.

Michelle: Just a thought. If mankind was to wake up one day and live a life of love and the karma is purified, what then happens to the demons?

Jetsunma: Very good question. It is very difficult to change habits in a hell realm, but it can be done, must be done. In the same way it is so difficult to let go of the addiction to samsara when living. Or to wake up from a dream. We must accumulate a storehouse of merit and virtue to draw from. It is like money in the bank, simply stated.

Was that clear enough for twitter? Any more questions?

Michelle: I’ve heard stories of great beings taming the demons. How is this done if merit is needed, because I do believe these stories to be true.

Jetsunma: Those stories are true. The merit of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is so great it can transform all through Bodhicitta, thereby transforming the habit and non-virtue of hell beings. That is the power of many lifetimes living compassion and love. So don’t waste time.

Sometimes, demons (hell beings) can affect the world we know. They are powerful in their laser like focus on hate. Some remain in one habitual place, like a haunting. Some want to return to their old ways desperately. I once knew an alcoholic (raging!) and three pitiful demons possessed him, trying to get their mouths and noses where his were. They were trying to smell and drink the liquor he always stank of. So the poor gent’s craving was magnified three times! So disgusting to see!

Another time a little girl had cerebral palsy and I saw a bag like thing sucking from her lower brain. She had a mild case. When I removed it the doctors were amazed, said she had “grown out of it.” Easier to take I guess! It seemed they had a karmic bond, hurting each other life after life. When it came off it tried to go to me and was transformed, able to take a higher rebirth. Some are easy to deal with, others extremely difficult.

But we should never fear if we can help it. They love that. One can visualize oneself in a sphere of light to protect. Buddhists have more options, puja, smoke offering, mantra, deity generation. Eventually we get strong and naturally repel them.

Michelle: It makes one wonder how many of these conditions are more “beings” based than medical.

Jetsunma: Many more than we can imagine.

Michelle: What you just said was heartbreaking and for some reason it was also very freeing.

Jetsunma: Goes to show. We live in our own karmic stream, and our own awareness and view is the door to samsara and enlightenment both.

Message in a Banana

March 23, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

We are about to get heavy thunderstorms and lots of rain. Delightful! They should be fun. Which is good, I’ve been kinda down. Ho hum. So I asked for a sign, you know. And right on time there it is. In a banana. It may be Jesus, or blessed Mary:

But wow! As all things are impermanent I offer you this image. Too bad it is not long for this world. Well who is? I’m over ripe too, turning brown. And squishy. So how do we preserve this precious bit of fruity dogma? Eat it. Let it be one with your universe. That’s the ticket. Soon it will be brown anyway, no matter what. Oh well. I guess letting go is real. As is laughing till you fall down! Working on both now. I love to laugh, and don’t know what to do when people take themselves too seriously. Tickle? I don’t think I could do that, I’d bust out laughing.

It’s not that life is a joke, far from it. It is hard work and takes courage. But when you stop having fun and laughing you are a cooked goose and clowns will eat you. Or zombies. Now don’t go crazy like Batman’s Joker. (OMG just look at his lipstick!) Ladies, who can take advice from him! And oy, what’s with the hair? (Wash it homie!)

So once again the middle way is best. Not so puffed up, not so deflated. Have some fun! But don’t get so lost in it you forget who and what you are, and why you are here. We are here to help and to awaken. You can laugh or cry during either but never forget the suffering of all beings, or your true capacity.

EH MA HO!

OM MANI PEDME HUNG!

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SO HA!