Communication continues unabated. Your need to know is strong. Men, women and children all need to be heard. Talking in a group is like eating pie. Everyone gets an equal slice, everyone gets to speak an equal amount of time. You wouldn’t go somewhere and eat all the food; don’t go somewhere and do all the talking. Often the silent one has the most interesting input. This is an excellent time to learn a new skill, and mental agility is very pronounced. Learn a new language? New computer skills? You have the ability to learn practically anything right now. Use this ability, it doesn’t last long. Be sure to speak in such a way that if what you say appeared on the front page of the newspaper, you’d still have friends. Words go public very quickly in these times. Be diplomatic, no insults. You’ll enjoy travel of all sorts. This is a time to learn and to change. Antoine de Saint-Exupery said “A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.”
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!
Is it just a coincidence that the one path that can bring about realization in a single lifetime is the one path that focuses upon the Guru as the ultimate object of refuge? No, for it is the astonishing potency of the Guru’s appearance in the world that makes this possible. Devotional yoga becomes everything: the milk, the nectar. There is no other practice. All else is but a part of that.
In Vajrayana, the Guru is the central figure, the supreme object of refuge. We rely on the Guru to ripen our minds, to bring our minds to fruition. But this is difficult for Westerners to accept. We Westerners are taught to be strong, independent individuals. This is all we have ever known. We are brought up to reach for things that are outside us, to collect them—and to be constantly self-concerned. Our generation is the first to swallow pop-psychology unquestioningly, even unconsciously. There are so many new-age ideas and so much misinformation mixed in with what passes for Dharma teaching and spirituality. This is made up by people who have not achieved enlightenment.
True enlightenment cannot be described. It is totally different from new age “aha!” insights. People go from teacher to teacher until they have collected a pocketful of something that they can paste on themselves. They fail to realize how materialistic and “collecting” they have been brought up to be. If you have always been on a merry-go-round, you will not know that you are going around in circles. You will fail to recognize the cultural-intellectual baggage that keeps you from deepening in your practice of Guru Yoga.
At first, this difficulty may appear to be an inherent lack of capacity in students. But when I look more closely, I see that the capacity is there. So, how do we break through? How can we turn our minds so that we form new habitual tendencies? Anything that arises from samsara, like our old habits, results in samsara. We can see this in our entire lives. We are not yet sitting on a lotus in the middle of a lake. How then are we supposed to practice Guru Yoga? What is our relationship with the actual Root Guru? How does this relationship take shape? Human beings, it seems, learn through suffering and through observation. Just as children need to mimic “grown-up-ness,” we need to see what Guru Yoga looks like in someone’s life. I shall try to describe this.
First, if you have the good fortune to meet your Root Guru, and if you make a commitment in your mind, heart, and prayers or to the face of this Guru, you must never—even at the cost of your life—break that commitment. At first, make only commitments that you can work toward and keep. In the context of your Guru Yoga, a perfect preliminary level of commitment to your Teacher would be: “I will do more than I have ever done before, and I will continually deepen my devotion and practice.” Then as you grow on the path, you keep increasing your commitment. Some of my students have made flowery, dramatic commitments to me and then broken them as if they were merely hot air. Without exception, those are students who have become stagnant in their practice.
This is from my heart to your heart. When you make a commitment to your Root Guru, you must understand what you are doing: You are making a commitment to the condensed essence of all the objects of refuge, to all the Lamas, not just the one Lama, to all the Buddhas, to all the Bodhisattvas, to all the meditational Deities, to all the Dakinis, to all the Dharma Protectors. Moreover, you are making that commitment to the very door of liberation itself. Consider once again what the Teacher actually is for you. Remember that sentient beings are wandering helplessly in samsara—afraid, alone, and without hope. It is like being in a burning room with no way out. Nothing in samsara can help you to escape. Only the objects of refuge—all contained in the vessel that is the Root Guru—can provide an exit. The heat keeps increasing, and your body is fragile. The Lama is the way out, the door to liberation. Picture yourself in a burning room. Would you have difficulty concentrating on the door? I doubt it.
But again, if you are a “collecting” materialist, if you keep the greater portion of everything for yourself, for your own happiness, if you remain as the center of the mandala of your life, you cannot walk through that door. The Lama must be at the center of your mandala. Is that schizophrenic? Is it psychotic? Will you go mad? How can someone else be at the center of your spiritual focus?
When you practice Guru Yoga correctly, you are practicing view. You gradually come to understand that upon recognizing the Lama, upon becoming non-dual with the Lama, you recognize your own true nature, your own true face, that which is beyond accepting and rejecting. If the Lama is in the center of the mandala of your practice, you are training yourself to awaken, to exit samsara, to achieve realization for the sake of sentient beings. But if you break the connection with your Root Guru, you cannot accomplish Dharma. No matter what happens, once you have made the offering of body, speech and mind to the spiritual friend who has hooked and established you on the path, to the Root Guru, you must never abandon that commitment. If you do, you are cutting off the very root and source of your accomplishment. After that there is no real accomplishment on the path, no matter what you do. You must always keep your view pure, and therefore the Guru Yoga will be your blessing and your true spiritual wealth. So even if you are on the other side of the planet, the Root Guru should rest upon your heart or above the crown of your head when you say your prayers. Never break that connection, even for a moment.
You should guard your commitment, thinking of yourself as Dorje Phagmo with fangs, as though you had fangs or weapons. Anything that prevents you from relying completely on your Root Guru should be cut away from your heart, cut out of your life. It’s as if you have fangs coming out, and that curved vajra blade in your hand, and you’re swinging at anything that comes near this connection. You’re guarding your own personal treasure, not allowing a single bit of impurity to be near it. Those fangs should always be out.
Eclipse day! Today begins a month long talkathon! Gemini, the chatterbox of the zodiac, is in high gear. The Messenger of the Gods has news for everyone, so listen up! You’ll feel as though you’re either talking or listening all day long. You might start talking in your sleep! The ideas that appear are excellent, well-grounded and reasonable. Major negotiations and good outcomes are possible on the personal front as well as the world. Realism prevails. Act on your good ideas, and watch yourself succeed. Everyone wants to “tell you all about it”. Listen. You will hear important news. Dale Baughman said “You can never hope to become a skilled conversationalist until you learn how to put your foot tactfully through the television set”. Keep it real.
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:
Who said that? Vajrayana without a Guru? How do you manage Guru Yoga in Ngondro? Think of unicorns? When Empowerment is given, is it so ordinary that we all just stand up, clap and cheer? So who gives Empowerments and from which Guru and lineage? How does one receive any transmission? Do they all sit in a circle and transmit to each other? Blind leading senseless? How do they mix their minds with the Guru, like milk and water? Oh, right – no Guru, no way to do that. So they’ll just sit around stroking each other’s…egos? Here comes the downfall of Vajrayana in the West. Yesirree, the slide has begun. But not on my watch. And not in my Lineage. Some “pick” a Guru from a book, long dead, because it is easier being a pompous fool than a student. That is just ignorant, and indicates one who does not understand Pure Vajrayana.
To fully transmit teaching you can’t be a book or a fool. Sorry, you do not practice Vajrayana without the Guru. That is not possible, that is a tainted soup of yuk, and then you are the ass it comes out of. Nobody needs that ignorant poop mixed into the Triple Gem!
Communication is significant today. You could sign a contract or make an agreement that works out very well. Purchases are excellent. You have a good eye for quality and you will be pleased with things you buy. Emotions are well expressed. This is a nice day to think of things you are grateful for and tell people that you appreciate them. A project that has absorbed you for some time is drawing to a conclusion. For several months you have been pouring energy in one direction. Do your best to keep pushing for one more week. After that your energy, and the situation, will change. Men do an especially good job today, and their ideas are valuable and will have favorable long term results. Listen to the men in your life! Authority figures are doing an excellent, thoughtful job. Support them. Peter Drucker said “Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.”
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:
Happy Memorial Day, I’m AWOL today, family over. We are having a barbecue and eating inside. Heat warning today and tomorrow. Steamy!
I wanted to show heartfelt gratitude to our service men and women, for our safety. You are our great treasure, and you never fail these United States of America. You give us your lives, your health, blood, every part. Though I hate war, I love and cherish you!
And I wish I could buy you all a beer! Muuuwaah! Hugs.
The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Guru Yoga”
We should think in such a way that we know if we practice deeply enough, we will look at Guru Rinpoche and see that innate wakeful state which is the true face.
Guru Rinpoche said before he left, “I will appear as your Root Teacher.” What that means is we should practice considering that the teacher who comes to teach us and gives us blessing, gives us empowerment, gives us commentary teaching, who makes it possible for us to practice the path, is actually an extension of Guru Rinpoche’s activity. The teacher cannot be separated from Guru Rinpoche’s activity, and is Guru Rinpoche’s activity—an extension of miraculous enlightened compassion, enlightened intention.
If we, in our ordinary perception, separate the two and say, ”Oh, Guru Rinpoche is over here, and the Root Teacher’s over there, and I’m over there,” and practice in a superficial way, we won’t get very far. But if we see the whole event as the miraculous intention of the Buddha, as enlightenment itself, if we understand that the path is inseparable from the benefit, inseparable from the nature itself, and if we understand this activity to be this enlightened process, inseparable from the true face, and we practice focused in that way, the blessing cannot be counted. It is incredibly profound. It’s an entirely different process, really, than the kinds of ordinary activity that we always engage in. We’re always working hard at something,,but that’s not the point. The point is to see the face, to know the nature. The point is to be awake.
If one uses the thoughts that I have just described, contemplating in the way that I have described, practicing Guru Yoga as I have described it, one dispels the delusion that comes from the fixation on self-nature and phenomenal existence as being inherently real and solid. By dispelling fixation, one can know the nature that can only really be described as “suchness,” that which is beyond.
So, I hope that you will take this into your heart and begin to practice. Perhaps you can begin to practice the Seven Line Prayer and Vajra Guru Mantra. But most especially, I really hope that you will think in the way that I’ve described: understanding what is ordinary and what is not ordinary; understanding what is of the world; understanding what is part of the process of fixation and what is a direct display of the Mind of Enlightenment. Thinking on these things and practicing accordingly, one can have great results.
Today you feel energized, happy, chatty and fortunate! It’s a busy day, both emotionally and activity-wise. Remain engaged and keep communicating. Emails, messages and calls keep you going. Beauty is especially stimulating today. Do your best to dress well and to look good; this has a major influence on your fortunes. You and others are powerfully influenced by appearance and by impressive looking objects. An unadorned treasure (you?) can be overlooked if you’re not putting your best foot forward. Don’t let that happen! Your appearance is your gift to the world. Pubililus Syrus said, “A fair exterior is a silent recommendation.”
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!
Today is hot and so humid! Barnsville is in the DC area. Get used to sweat, friends. It rained all spring and now we sweat it back. Tomorrow a severe heatwave. I wanna go with my pack to the beach. Or a lake. I really like cool weather (even cold) best. I’ll have fun as the planet warms. May have to head north. Alaska? A cold refuge. Freezer?
All funny talk except that the planet is warming. And soon we’ll all sweat. The wild critters suffer most when “Mama-Earth” shifts. The wild ones have ancient habits coded in their DNA. That is hard to change. Humans have changed so fast we cannot catch our collective breath. We don’t even feel so connected to the earth anymore.
I love nature. More than I can say. I wish I could live in space. Wind. Water. Fire. And in the land of Tara. Too bad this is Barnesville. Of course, the Land of Tara is a Pureland. And cool places will sustain us longer. And we must take care of the wild creatures. We must do much better by the land, water, air, and fire places and keep them sacred. Maybe then, we will live. Do all you can, beloveds…
The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Guru Yoga”
What makes Guru Rinpoche’s teaching, his path, different from others, different from other activities that we could do in our lives? Well, if we want to attain wisdom, why don’t we just go get a card in the library? Why don’t we just read everything there is to read? Why don’t we just go through every book in the world? Would we become wise then? Not necessarily, even from an ordinary point of view, because we would not have done anything about dispelling the fixation on phenomenal existence. We would not have done anything about dispelling the fixation on self-nature as being inherently real. We would do nothing about the delusion within our mindstreams. We would simply have accumulated information. I know lots of people that are smart, but not too wise from a Buddhist point of view. That is because the things that you can read from the library, the things that you can do in the world, arise from ordinary circumstances. They are compiled, or made up, of ordinary things. They can be collected. They are things in phenomenal existence.
What comes from Guru Rinpoche does not come from an ordinary place. What we receive from Guru Rinpoche in terms of teaching and blessing actually arises from the state of enlightenment. It therefore has an extraordinary source. And you always get apple trees from apple seeds. If what he offers arises from the mind of enlightenment, then it will result in enlightenment. It will bring about enlightenment. It has the capacity to do so.
There’s no way you can get that blessing other than through extraordinary means. You can’t pay money to get it. You can’t pay someone else to help you get it. You can’t take a pill to get it. You can’t eat the right foods to get it. You can’t work for 40 hours a week for so many years in order to get it. You can’t collect it. And so we practice Guru Yoga in order to increase our faith and our certainty and our confidence in order to receive the blessing that actually arises from enlightenment.
If we understand the nature of the Guru, if we understand the nature of Guru Rinpoche as being these profound things that I have described in brief, then we can understand that by practicing Guru Yoga, one can achieve extraordinary result that can be had through no other means. But in order to do so, one has to meditate and really concentrate on what that blessing is, how it arises, and what it comes from. One has to see the reality of Guru Rinpoche as being something more than superficial phenomenal appearance. One has to understand in a more deep and profound way.
So the blessing we receive from Guru Yoga then depends on us. How much time are we actually going to put into this consideration? And how are we going to view it? Are we going to continue to view Guru Rinpoche as somebody out there somewhere separate from ourselves who did something that affects us now? That’s a very limited, very superficial, very ordinary view and it won’t get us very far. We have to think about the nature of the Lama. We have to think that this phenomenal appearance of the Lama in physical existence is due to the miraculous extraordinary compassion that comes from a fully enlightened mind, that is inseparable from a fully enlightened mind. And we must understand that nature as being totally and completely realized, totally awake. We must understand it as being completely revealed in display form, emptiness and luminosity, emptiness and compassion. When we look at the Lama, when we see Guru Rinpoche, this is what we should understand.
