Your partner is a sweetheart today, and romance is in the picture. Routine demands make you impatient, so it’s a great day to be out of the house or office. A change of scenery and a breath of fresh air is just what the doctor ordered. Give yourself a break. Freedom is delicious, and a smooth-talking person brings happiness. You are able to see the harmony in others and in yourself, and you recognize well-meaning behavior when you see it. Lighten up, joke around. A difficult experience can be resolved by changing your attitude. Oscar Wilde, released from prison (for homosexuality) said “If England treats her criminals the way she has treated me, she doesn’t deserve to have any!” What are you complaining about?
The daily astrology post affects everyone. Because individual charts vary, the circumstances outlined in the post will affect people differently. Some will feel this energy in the personal arena, some in finances, some with children or family, some in work and so forth. There are many departments of life. Look to see where the dynamic affects you!
After repeated requests from her students, Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo agreed to recount parts of the story of her life, and at the insistence of her students, consented to be videotaped. This is the first part of her story:
The temptation is great to disagree with a partner. Someone seems to be opposing you for no reason. Someone seems indecisive and slow. Consider that you may be going too fast, and from this perspective everyone else is going too slow. The end of a happy project is in sight, and you are ready for it to end. On a different front, a money making proposal is in the development stage. Talk things over, negotiate costs. Present a proposal. Attention to detail is absolutely critical right now, and your thinking is careful and disciplined. When you are sure you have everything right, make your move. If the other side has questions, answer them carefully. Be aware that you are convincing someone to do something. Be willing to listen to and change based on criticism. Winston Churchill said “Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” Listen and change and things go well.
The daily astrology post affects everyone. Because individual charts vary, the circumstances outlined in the post will affect people differently. Some will feel this energy in the personal arena, some in finances, some with children or family, some in work and so forth. There are many departments of life. Look to see where the dynamic affects you!
The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:
Palyul totally rocks, moves my heart, and is my beloved family. The tea with His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche was wonderful! There was so much to tell each other. I shared what hellishness has gone on the past few years. His Holiness Karma Kuchen said it doesn’t matter. Palyul is huge, and I am 100% supported by the great Palyul. And so importantly, His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche supports me. As I do all Palyul, always have.
All feels good now. Palyul is thriving again. We lost His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, beloved Tsawei Lama, but now we are marching forward. Palyul Tibet, consisting of many monasteries is also doing well with His Holiness Karma Kuchen as the Head of all Palyul. His presence is so luminous, peaceful. He is so much like His Holiness PenorRinpoche it is baffling, clearly His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche has mixed his mind with the Tsawei Lama. I am re-inspired! Did the Precious Guru ever leave me? Never. Never since I saw the precious face in this or any lifetime.
Surprise is in store early today. Emotions are high, and you are blocked by authority. Back off, even though your deepest wish is to move forward forcefully. You can’t win, the other side holds all the cards in this game. Once the dust has settled, you’ll get back to cheerfully zipping along with your work. Domestic matters continue to consume whatever energy is left over when your work is done. Real talent and love is being poured into your work, do not stop until your entire project is complete. A nervous energy or person keeps streaking through the environment, and gossip is tempting. Don’t listen, it’s untrue. Winston Churchill said “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” Don’t be part of spreading a lie.
The daily astrology post affects everyone. Because individual charts vary, the circumstances outlined in the post will affect people differently. Some will feel this energy in the personal arena, some in finances, some with children or family, some in work and so forth. There are many departments of life. Look to see where the dynamic affects you!
The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:
I am happy that Palyul Throneholder His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche is here and settled in. He seems comfortable and happy. And His Eminence Muksang Tulku will be arriving tomorrow. How fortunate we are! We are blessed to gather again we have been close many lifetimes. And the Sangha is blessed to have the merit to be with this young Throne Holder, a living Buddha!
Palyul is rich in wisdom, having indeed been the astounding effort and lifelong work of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, without whom nothing of this would have happened. We are very fortunate beings!
We will be busy for a few days, but I’ll tweet when I can. Thank you for your friendship! May all be rich with blessings and love!
Surprise is in store early today. Emotions are high, and you are blocked by authority. Back off, even though your deepest wish is to move forward forcefully. You can’t win, the other side holds all the cards in this game. Once the dust has settled, you’ll get back to cheerfully zipping along with your work. Domestic matters continue to consume whatever energy is left over when your work is done. Real talent and love is being poured into your work, do not stop until your entire project is complete. A nervous energy or person keeps streaking through the environment, and gossip is tempting. Don’t listen, it’s untrue. Winston Churchill said “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” Don’t be part of spreading a lie.
The daily astrology post affects everyone. Because individual charts vary, the circumstances outlined in the post will affect people differently. Some will feel this energy in the personal arena, some in finances, some with children or family, some in work and so forth. There are many departments of life. Look to see where the dynamic affects you!
Shop, buy household necessities. Go to the grocery store and cook wonderful recipes. A domestic event inspires creativity and happiness. Family functions are satisfying. Something is pulling at you. A memory of the past keeps knocking at the door of your memory. Remember a bit, but don’t stay there for long. A hunch is right on the money. A private talk clears things up. Your health is improving. Pace yourself today between private time and time spent with others. If you get an idea, act on it. You can show an understanding of a situation that helps someone else. You have the ability to break something down into its component parts and solve a problem. Be careful, and your answer will be the right one. Richard Feynman said “Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which are there.”
The daily astrology post affects everyone. Because individual charts vary, the circumstances outlined in the post will affect people differently. Some will feel this energy in the personal arena, some in finances, some with children or family, some in work and so forth. There are many departments of life. Look to see where the dynamic affects you!
Love pops up as you are working, of all things! Romance as you balance the checkbook? Happiness in the kitchen? Sure it’s the weekend, but virgoan work never ends. Find someone who likes to work with you and you will really get the job done! Silliness prevails, why not? This evening get together with friends, or go out on the town. It’s time to mingle with the world, you’ve had your nose to the grindstone long enough. A Japanese proverb says “Time laughing is time spent with the gods.” Spend time people you enjoy.
The daily astrology post affects everyone. Because individual charts vary, the circumstances outlined in the post will affect people differently. Some will feel this energy in the personal arena, some in finances, some with children or family, some in work and so forth. There are many departments of life. Look to see where the dynamic affects you!
One of the questions that often comes up for Western practitioners is why is lineage important? As long as you find a teacher you like, what difference does it make if he or she has a lineage or not?
Here is what His Holiness, the 12th Gyalwa Drukpa, head of the Drukpa Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism, has to say about that:
Many years ago in India, Tibet, Japan, Korea, and Thailand many people got enlightened, with the support and encouragement of wise and experienced teachers. Not many people are experiencing this kind of spiritual enlightenment in the West, in modern life and times. Why not? Because they are depending too much on the intellect; they’re not depending on the lineage blessings and experience. You can learn, you can know, but not necessarily be accomplished. You can be very big in your head, but that doesn’t mean anything, except your head will be very heavy. And the teachings won’t go to the heart because there’s no lineage, no transmission of the authentic mind-to-mind non-conceptual blessings, from wisdom heart to your heart.
Q. What is it about authentic lineage that is passed on or transmitted?
A blessing. The blessing is something very mysterious, actually. It is not only mysterious, it has a lot of substance. There are also years and decades, centuries of experience here, amidst the blessings and teaching. There’s an unbelievable sense of transformation of your mental state, liberating your mind and opening your heart. How can I express it, because it’s like tasting honey? It’s sweet. But sweet means what? It’s inexpressible. I feel very happy, delighted, delicious, but I can’t express it—until you taste it, and then we can share something of the experience together. This is one aspect of the blessing, of course, which a book cannot give you.
But this is not the only important aspect. What I care about is that the blessing is truly transforming. Your life transforms into the divine state of mind. Even though you live the same way, everything is different—concepts, precepts, everything is different. Yesterday maybe you were unhappy; perhaps you were stealing, cheating, drinking, or simply dissatisfied or depressed. But last night perhaps by good karma you have seen the appropriate guru and have been inspired to change and today you have changed.
This is not necessarily overnight, it may take years or decades but time doesn’t matter. It changes everything, the whole world, your whole attitude. Your whole life can be transformed. From my point of view, if there is no guru, there is no way to get enlightenment. I’m one hundred percent sure. You have to have a personal transmission from a qualified genuine guru, one who has the lineage and is qualified to give this. If you don’t have the lineage, your practice and path is uncooked, unfinished. If you don’t have a human master who gave you the lineage, it cannot be received from a book. (From an interview, “Blessings Like Honey”, with His Holiness by Lama Surya Das)
So His Holiness is saying that without a lineage, there is no blessing to be passed on to the student. Without a lineage of masters behind the teacher, the teacher really is not qualified to teach.
Karma Chagme (Raga Asya) was a well-known Drikung Kagyu lama who also served as Tertön Migyur Dorje’s attendant for years. Tertön (Treasure Revealer) Migyur Dorje was the founder of the Palyul Lineage of the Nyingma School. He revealed many teachings that he received directly from the deities themselves. He started receiving them when he was just a young boy. Karma Chagme literally followed the young tertön around to write down everything that was revealed to him as the revelations could happen at any time. Here is what Karma Chagme had to say about lineage:
The crucial, primary qualification of a spiritual mentor is stated by Naropa, “The qualification of a spiritual mentor is that he possesses the lineage.” The Single Meaning of the Vajra Speech states, “There is great profundity in the connection within the lineage of the holy Dharma.” The real lineage of the realization of this Dharma, which transfers blessings, is the unbroken rosary of Buddhas. (From A Spacious Path to Freedom, by Karma Chagme , commentary by Ven. Gyaltrul Rinpoche, translated by Alan B. Wallace, Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca, New York, 1998, p.22)
The Palyul Lineage became known in Tibet for the purity of its teachers and the level of accomplishment they had.
Each of the great throne and lineage holders of the Palyul tradition became well known as great scholars of sutra, tantra and the outer and inner sciences. The successive throne holders and monks of the mother and branch Palyul monasteries practice the vinaya code of ethics as the foundational discipline. Upon this foundation, the second root practice, the mind training of the great vehicle of Mahayana called bodhicitta is placed. The aspirant trains to develop both aspirational and practical bodhicitta for the purpose of benefiting all sentient beings.
The tradition of practice that these highly disciplined monks strictly enforced has caused The Palyul Lineage to become known as the tradition of accomplishment. (From www.palyul.org)
Therefore when one is examining a teacher, it is crucial to also examine his or her lineage. If there is no lineage, there can be no accomplishment by the student. Jetsunma says that lineage gives the student security, the trust that the teachings are authentic and have been proven over time again and again. Without that, as sentient beings we do not have the ability to discriminate between true teachers and false teachers.
