Tweets | Tibetan Buddhist Altar

No Time to Waste

May 2, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

Death comes to us all, often sooner than we know. Prepare for death. If you have accomplished Phowa then death is not frightening, and can be noble and of benefit. Leave with no debt unpaid, and practice. Death will be in the heart of the Primordial Mother.

One can practice Amitaba Buddha, and at the time of passing to Dharmakaya Buddha, the practice will be the connection. OM AH MI DEWA HRI!

Either way, if dying, renounce all, for not one grain of rice will go with you. This is not a time to pick apart the world, or hurt anyone.

These are the teachings as given by my Lineage, Palyul.

If death is chaotic and fearful, unprepared or cruelly, there is unimaginable suffering in the Bardo of death. Always attend your mind. Leave some worthy act of compassion, keep the mind loving and peaceful. Life is as short as a cup of water travelling down a waterfall, and as fast.

© Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo

Bodhicitta: The Great Mother

April 25, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

New science theory wonders if space and time might be the same stuff. I don’t think that is exactly right, but close. So many theories being toyed with right now, that when “membranes” bump together that bump is a “big bang,” that there are infinite “bubble” universes all in the same place. That probable realities spin off with each choice we make. (Karma?) That where we sit is empty space, mostly, with atoms, and other nearly impossible to see particles. The rest of everything we see is mostly space with particles.

Another theory: what if when we space out, sleep, or forget where we are sometimes (just daydreaming) we may actually be focused on another reality. Hmm. Of course, that would mean brain is not consciousness, which is more. They are finding particles move in and out this dimension, and that black holes exist everywhere! Tiny and massive ones. So when we look at the stars and see galaxies, suns etc, we mostly see energy, same vibe as our eyes pick up. They look like what we think we know. But science always comes up needing a new theory. What if it all looks as it does because our own five senses came up with the very tools and measurements to prove themselves right? What if perception and consciousness became part of the equation? Like, all the empty space and speeding particles were exactly in the space we think we occupy? What if the macrocosm is the microcosm? What if looking “out” is delusion? What if all we see is our own perception? And what if that conscious/awareness perception is warped by thinking habitually, that it is all “out there” due to the scientific tools we created to see exactly that?

Okay, now, what if all consciousness could suddenly blink off. And there was no perception happening? Like a tree falling down with nothing and no one to perceive it would not make a sound. If there were no consciousness or perception, it would be unborn space, empty- but perfectly complete when there is perception and awareness.

We are one nature; that nature displays as we see it. We cannot be separated, but we can be duped by our own learned awareness, and so we have been, all this time. We are space. Our “vibration” is light, all-pervasive love. In Buddhism we call that Bodhicitta, the display of emptiness, the wisdom of Empty nature and its display. Bodhicitta, the great Mother of us all. We are that also. Buddha. But we are dreaming, and will someday awaken to view the primordial ground of being without the many gorgeous veils she dances with! Pure view. EH MA HO!

© Jetsunma Ahkön Norbu Lhamo

What the World Needs Now…

April 13, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

Many of us remember a song recorded by I think- Dionne Warwick called “What the World Needs Now” (is Love Sweet Love) many years ago. The song is now thought of as “pretty”, but too old to be current. And Ms. Warwick’s voice – wow.

These days, everybody is “hip” and “cool” and too “chill” or “real” to be warm, and loving, to have a tender and generous heart. Instead we think we must be tough to get by. Why is that? When did kindness and compassion, respect for others go out of style? I feel it is good to examine ourselves with true honesty and pure intention. No one can afford to stop growing, and self-honesty is the way to go.

When people are hard and unable to open up it is mostly due to fear and ego protection. We are afraid of being hurt, rejected, and disrespected. So warmth is seen as weakness and vulnerability. It isn’t. Quite the opposite. Strong people can afford to serve others, to bow down and wash the feet of others. That takes a true “warrior for love,“ a true inspiration for humankind.

Most of us talk tough sometimes, and tough love is sometimes needed. Not that often, though, and not for long. If you want to do that, however, you are bound by ethics to take the time to truly study where this person is coming from. What they have been conditioned by. In other words you must learn about them, and reach a point of empathy. The old Native American adage- “Walk a mile in their shoes” before we give ourselves permission to be tough with them. You don’t know, we don’t know, what open wounds we are seeing. Also it is no good to advise others or have authority over them if you do not love them and tolerate their coping methods and their pain. Maybe we think the person deserves our rage. Let me let you in on a secret: we are all the same nature and none of us deserve hatred. None. Even to be born human we are worthy. As are all sentient beings who are unable to ask for kindness.

It is up to us to demonstrate and put into play our capabilities and our contribution. To gather a controllable circle of “yes Sirs” is not love, strength, power, goodness, or anything like that. It is false. It is not love and not power. It is blatant fear and the need to dominate others. We were not made to dominate. No sentient being is. We were meant to love and live together in harmony. Let’s do it together!

OM MANI PEDME HUNG

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA

©Jetsunma Ahkön Norbu Lhamo

Uncover the Treasure

April 5, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

While every being is sacred and precious, and has within the seed of Buddha-nature it is also difficult to see sometimes. Neonatal nurses in the “old days” could plainly see that babies are born different. To say that now is not politically correct, just not done. However it is true!

Some come out kicking and punching, wailing their healthy lungs out. Some babies come out peaceful, contemplative, eyes open like little old folks. Some seem dull and dazed. Other babies seem joyful, alive, innocent, devilish, comical, sleepy. Many nurses feel a “bad” energy under some conditions. A creepy feeling this child will come to no good. Why is that? Not every odd “feeling” child will grow up to murder their parents. But many babies that don’t feel right do act out. Why? In Buddhism we say this is a reflection of past karma and habitual tendencies. Of course to every mom her baby is a personal event, either yearned for or unwanted. Still, they carry the essence of Buddha. Yet some do grow up haters, mentally unstable, thieves, murderers and meanies. While others become saints, clerics, monks, nuns, caregivers.

Why? We are taught the negative patterns of past lifetimes still reflect in one’s mind stream now. If we apply self honesty and examine our activities in this life we will see. Look in the mirror. Have you caused suffering or benefit? Do you find the habit of helping others or the habit of criminals? You can see and you can change to reflect the precious triple gem within, waiting like a lotus to bloom from the mud, as all lotus must do. Rise up. Bloom, bring beauty. As it is our nature to do so, we must!

At birth we are beings with potential. Mixed karma, good and bad, mixed potential. Yes, the ultimate treasure is within. But we must uncover and polish it until every single facet shows its ultimate potential. And do it with joyful spirit. We are, after all, Buddhas. We have method, intention, and power to benefit all beings. We are free to love and deepen. Free to choose the ground, path and result. EMAHO!

The Door of the Heart

April 2, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

It is difficult when we love one person especially. Might as well poison yourself, grief comes. Love all beings equally, you will never be alone. There is nothing outside your own heart that will make you truly happy. Without training our hearts to love altruistically we will never recognize love. The door of heart opens from within.

Why do I say this? Because I love you. You, you.

Why do people doubt the motivation and truth of love? Because they cannot feel it. They cannot imagine it. To some, love is the enemy; the proof that all sentient beings are equal. One ego is nothing.

In truth without altruistic love we are not truly alive. This is the mark of a human life! Our capacity. Oh, Father Sun, Sister Moon kindly bless us and our Mama Earth at this time of change, deciding and endurance. Prayer needed.

May wind come as a caress. May rain gently cleanse and nurture. May the sun show his wisdom. May all sentient beings be happy.

Dedication

March 22, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

May all sentient beings be fully satisfied in both relative and ultimate ways. May all who hunger and thirst for pure and deep Dharma be fully satisfied. May all who pray for more have twice as much. May all who crave what belongs to others have twice that, and all causes accompanied by all qualities and activities. May all who suffer in any way be mine to bear. OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA! In the three times, to the three jewels, I dedicate all merit. To Palyul I dedicate. To haters, to the sick, to the poor, to the planet in peril, to animal rescue. Gratitude.

And of course, the Root of all accomplishment…Tsewei Lama Kyabje Third Drubwang His Holiness Pedma Norbu Rinpoche, Padmasambhava Himself as he found me again!

How Will You Live Your Life?

March 14, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

You live in human form because you now have the merit to do so. When the merit is exhausted you will die. All is impermanent. Therefore while we live, this Precious Human Rebirth must be honored as the perfect vehicle for awakening it is. Accomplish your Dharma while your mental capacity is clear and strong. This is the time to Practice Dharma! While younger, before age fades aptitude.

Please do all you can to make the world a better place. Try to satisfy the needs of all sentient beings. Feed the hungry. Clothe the poor. Share your worldly goods. Save animals from suffering. Shelter the homeless. Ease the suffering and fear of the dying. Accomplish the Phowa for yourself and others. “Do” for others what they cannot do for themselves. While doing so, please respect their dignity. Please allow other folk their own faith without meanness and disrespect. We have faith. And we try to live it.

What Qualities Are You Cultivating?

March 13, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

I think many of us realize time grows short and sentient beings more lost. Our planet needs prayer and we can’t afford to waste merit judging, gossiping, pointing fingers and hating. It is time for all Bodhisattvas to give rise to the very best qualities they are capable of. To go over the same obsessions, compulsions, neurosis at times like these is just egocentric and selfish, as well as unhelpful and mean spirited. Talk while bragging that one is the best Buddhist that is, the best Uber-Roshi there is, is just stupid. And to most people looks stupid.

It seems to me that the Buddha’s teaching is a large enough umbrella for us all to be happy under. Kindly and lovingly. If we don’t stop warring, then Buddhism will lose the reputation of being the most peaceful, loving, altruistic faith there is. We are losing that view, pure view, and who is to blame? We are. We like to sit on our bums and watch it all go down for the privilege (?) of saying, “I told ya so.” That is not Buddhist, not kindness, it’s not even human. Try harder, please? Not all of us are doing the work; not many are pulling their own weight. That is not fair, and not acceptable to a person truly on the path of Dharma. We need you! And there is nothing to wait for.

OM AH HUNG BENZAR GURU PEDMA SIDDHI HUNG

OM MANI PEDME HUNG

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA

The Nature of Dreams

March 7, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo in response to a question:

Questioner: What do you think dreams are? Are dreams a mirror of daily consciousness? Is there anything to do with them?

Jetsunma:

A great question! And more than one way to look at it. Physicists are beginning to recognize dreams as a glimpse into other probable realities that we are connected to. And that maybe these dimensions are all mind. They are getting close.

I say all realities are a Bardo in that we seem to be passing through them, and “Bardo” means passage. Dreams are as real as any other state, no more, no less. What you bring back from a dream may well be significant, in that on a subconscious level you want to remember it. That can be on the emotional level where we tend to sort out info and take what we need. Other dreams can be sorting info from the future, present and past. If we glimpse a future probability we might see it as prophetic. From the past? Some sort of processing. About the present, we puzzle and organize. And try to fill in the blank bits according to our preconceived notions. However, all concepts, waking or dreaming, are our fabrication of karma. We, the seer, the dreamer, the objects we “see,” the probable uncountable endless realities, the entire cosmos, inner and outer, are all empty of self nature! Like in quantum physics we are beginning to see that all is fundamental space, that even atoms and molecules are space! All inherently empty.

It is that trickster, the habitually confused ego, trying to run the show. So we cannot see the void ground of nature. The ego does not allow for that, as its purpose is opposed to the very idea. Ego argues with primordial emptiness. Yet without it there would be no dream. Just uncontrived unborn and yet spontaneously liberated space. It’s really not so scary. And quite relaxing to see all as impermanent and free.

The Importance of Deepening: Expanding Our Efforts on the Path

March 6, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

Many practitioners on the path of Buddhadharma do not realize that one must continually make progress. You don’t land, then sit.

Having realized we must make progress in Buddhism, Vajrayana requires empowerment, lung, and commentary. These are the blessings needed.

When students grow dull in their practice it is because they are not making further progress. If we don’t grow, we are stagnant which does no good. There are many stories in Tibet of ordinary people going to extraordinary trouble, and traveling great distances to receive one precious Empowerment and practicing that one deity and mantra their whole lives with great devotion, as it took so much effort to obtain. And because of that they made much progress with that one simple puja.

Here in the USA it isn’t that way. First, it is easy to go anywhere. Secondly, we, in our culture are not raised with such faith. And nothing in our culture supports it. So we must continually support ourselves by continual instruction, stage by stage progression, until the most advanced atiyoga, to dzogchen. We need the continual stimulation. We all must grow, or our hearts and minds become hard and stiff and we do not enhance our qualities, we do not give rise to bodhicitta. We do not increase in the concerned activity of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Then anger, pride, jealousy and ignorance come creeping in.

So we must make a continually expanding effort. We should seek empowerment, and learn different practices. We should do retreat to go deeper and deeper until we both enjoy and feel happy in our practice. Then we will not be inclined toward poor qualities, judgment of others etc. We will be less inclined to be mean or cruel to any being. We will also, then have grown as human beings – kinder, more generous and loving. We will have grown up at last.

A little Dharma for your Monday evening!

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA!