Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo | Tibetan Buddhist Altar

The Blessings of the Guru

July 28, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from Palyul Ling Retreat Center in upstate New York:

From the three syllables in the Lama Guru’s three places white, red, and blue light rays emerge.

OM…the white ray from Guru’s head to the disciple’s head, blessing one’s body.

AH…The red ray from the Lama Guru’s throat blesses and purifies the disciple’s speech.

Then HUNG….the blue ray from the Guru Lama’s heart pours forth to mix with the disciple’s heart.

The precious Tantric Initiations are just so! In this way blessings and ripening are conferred from Guru to student directly, like milk from mother to child. May the precious Guru remain and the Lineage and transmissions remain unbroken for countless aeons, and may all without exception be Liberated from suffering!

May Palyul remain the perfect source of refuge and stainless Dharma activity in the world!

The Flawless Captain

July 27, 2011 by anisonam

From a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

Nothing referred to as “precisely” or “exactly” is anything other than conceptual proliferation. These subtleties can only be truly understood with Guru-disciple transmission, maturing mind with Empowerment, directly. It is necessary to receive pointing-out instruction from an awakened “Sublime Being,” fully qualified. Too much talk about emptiness or primordial view is no good, misleading. All such talk leads to concepts, one becomes deluded.

The problem is this: After direct transmission, empowerment, and instruction, one must experience empty nature for oneself. If one talks or preaches endlessly about emptiness, there is no direct experience, the secret transmission is lost. If one adheres to such false talk, putting trust in such false teaching, they will be lost, like blind leading blind. To cross the ocean of suffering, one must have a perfect ship (method) and a flawless captain (Guru Buddha) who has crossed many times.

This teaching is without the stain of pride, and in the spirit of loving kindness, may we all accomplish.

Praying for the Return of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche

August 4, 2011July 26, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

Precious Guru beyond measure, Kyabje His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, please return to us swiftly! Without you there is no sun. Our hearts fill with tears each day your precious face is hidden from the world. May your Dharma heir Palyul His Holiness Karma Kuchen stand up with strength, power and glory to carry on all you have built, your great accomplishment in the world. I vow to uphold as well your blessings, especially those bestowed on me, your bumbling servant. Forgive me for this wretched sadness since your Parinirvana. Please remain enthroned in my heart, grant me the power of our ancient Lineage and all the Throneholders, from the mighty Kunzang Sherab and the extraordinary Terton child Migure Dorje, the very foundation on which Palyul was built! Kyabje Rinpoche, when you enthroned me you bestowed all the blessings of Palyul on me and I pray in gratitude for the strength to uphold. I confess every lack or weakness and vow at your very lotus feet to attend to the gift of loving kindness you have granted. Your compassion, your Bodhicitta, your purity, are needed like a desert needs rain. Therefore if I have any merit in the three times I beg you, Tsawei Lama to return in glory and without obstacle! You, Guru above the crown of my head, my bliss, my treasure, my “king,” my love, our Father, all of us, do not abandon us! I beg you with precious jeweled Mandala, return to us all!

His Holiness Penor Rinpoche – The Guru Above the Crown of My Head

July 25, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo while on retreat at the Palyul Retreat Center in upstate New York:

Tulkus are precious jewels in our tradition. They are the realized and awakened, like Kyabje His Holiness Penor Rinpoche and the inheritor His Holiness Karma Kuchen, both have given many incarnations for the sake of Dharma and all sentient beings. His Holiness Penor Rinpoche and His Holiness Karma Kuchen are the “kings,” one from the other. The rest, we are to serve them.

No pride here. Kyabje His Holiness Penor Rinpoche is the Tsawei Lama who came to USA to find me, thus bringing Palyul here after building Namdroling. This is history. Beyond Kyabje His Holiness Penor Rinpoche and His spiritual heir, where is our treasure? His Holiness Penor Rinpoche is the rock, the treasure. He is my treasure, Without Him we have nothing.

May I always have strength to follow Tsawei Lama! May I always have knees to kneel voice to sing for Him, and carry on for him, the Guru above the crown of my head! Gathering all virtue I have accumulated in the three times, Guru, precious beyond all measure, return! I beg for the sake of sentient beings! May all blessings be dedicated to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings!

Blessings from Palyul Retreat Center

July 22, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

I just finished my afternoon practice and all is well. I am enjoying this time (‘cept the heat) and it feels healing. My mind is clarifying. Again, I feel stronger. The disturbance of the last three plus years is dissipating like smoke in the sky, and I’m grateful for the blessing and rest.

The Palyul family here looks happy with the practice and Dharma activity. People who are busy with Dharma generally are relaxed and joyful. This place is so precious, one of the many gifts given to us by Kyabje His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, as we need retreat to deepen.

In ordinary life we become comfortable and complacent, forgetting that we must continually make progress until full awakening, until Buddahood. We must not become dull or self-satisfied, forgetting the Tsawei Lama, and puffing up with pride. Constant practice helps. A good practitioner is always the humblest of all, never bragging about themselves, just simply and quietly attending to the Liberation and Salvation of all sentient beings. That, after all is the point, of course as samsara is filled with suffering. That is why we dedicate all merit to others, and never do harm.

Sometimes a Lama gives a wrathful display, and that is to cut through obstacles. This is a blessing. Or to protect others from some sort of downfall. But it is always done in compassion and in the spirit of Bodhicitta. To be of benefit.

Tomorrow is Vajrasattva Empowerment, and Sunday is Nyingthik Yumka, which I hope to attend. What excellent good fortune! I have not seen the students here for some time, and those I have seen are continually increasing their good qualities. How wonderful to see this testament to Kyabje His Holiness Penor Rinpoche’s amazing work. His footprint in this world is peerless, really. We should never forget, always enthroning the precious Guru on the Lotus Throne within our hearts. Now we have here His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche, carrying on our Tsawei Lama’s good works. We are the most fortunate of beings! May His life be long and free of any obstacles until all beings are liberated! EMAHO!

Face It

July 22, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series

You cannot be a ‘sugar daddy’ in this world; there are no ‘sugar daddies’ in this world. You cannot be the conqueror or the savior as you cannot conquer someone else’s mind. Each person has to relieve themselves of the hatred, greed and ignorance in their own minds. But you can be the savior, and you can be the conqueror, in the sense that you, yourself, can liberate your own mind from hatred, greed and ignorance. In so doing, you can be a way or a path or an instrument by which the hatred, greed and ignorance in the minds of others can also be liberated. Therefore, your prayers have to consist, at least in part, of liberating your own mind from the causes of suffering. At the end of every practice, at the end of every teaching, at the end of every empowerment or anything that you do as a Buddhist, the prayer is this: “May I attain liberation in order to benefit beings.”

It’s very difficult for Americans to hear this kind of thing. It is a real struggle. We don’t like to hear about suffering; it’s so hard for us to hear about suffering. Yet, if you go to different parts of the world, they know about suffering. They know it exists. There are lots of people in the world that can say, “Hey, I’ve heard about this. I know this song.” But we who live comfortably don’t like to talk about it. We think it’s beneath us somehow to speak of suffering. We’ve become hardened to the idea.

You might say, “Well, I don’t believe that it does any good to talk about suffering. I think it does good to think positive thoughts and to constantly create a positive world.” I don’t think that’s the answer. We have become hardened to the idea of suffering, and we must first cultivate within ourselves a willingness to understand the nature of suffering so deeply and profoundly that we can do something other than scratch the surface.

© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

Day One At Palyul Retreat

July 19, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is from a series of tweets by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from Palyul Ling Retreat Center in Upstate New York:

I’m here at Palyul Retreat Center and it is lovely. Wildflowers everywhere, and pure Dharma practice. I’ve greeted and received many of the students, and will talk with more. I’m getting into my own practice more deeply as well, so healing…Rocky waters seem far away now.

Students are asking me to teach, and I’d like to give a “heart talk”. We’ll see. This is day one. I saw the love and faith and was greatly moved. These are the precious faces I must remember in my heart of hearts. Here there is love.

Here we also see the grief of the absence of Kyabje His Holiness Penor Rinpoche. But he is here, always enthroned in our hearts. He is Dharmakaya as vast as the sky, as deep as the ocean, as pristine and stainless as space. He also remains as His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche. Clearly their minds have fully mixed, like milk with water. How kind these Throne Holders are, to keep our great family Palyul pure, and strong. EMAHO!

Evaluate Your Spiritual Teacher

July 17, 2011 by anisonam

The following is a YouTube video teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

Where Does Desire Come From?

July 11, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series

Where does desire come from? It comes from the belief that self-nature is real. According to the Buddha, if you believe that you are a self, if you believe in self-nature as being real, as being truly existent, then there has to be desire, because in order to be a self or to have a self, you have to define a self. That’s how it is. If you believe in the nature of self, you have to have an underlying belief that self ends here and other begins there. You have to have some conceptualization in your mind about what the self is, because the idea of self cannot exist without some definition. Conceptual proliferation develops, and with that, desire.

Desires are not always fulfilled. There is always the contest between self and other, and from those contests the three root poisons of hatred, greed and ignorance occur. It is the presence of hatred, greed and ignorance in the mind that causes phenomena to appear as they do. If there were no hatred, greed and ignorance in the mind, there would be no cause for suffering and therefore we would not see the phenomena of war, hunger, old age, sickness and death in the world. There would be no cause. This is the understanding and commitment that you should think about and work with in your mind.

Love That Sustains

July 10, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo from the Vow of Love series

How can you develop the kind of love that sustains itself? How can you cultivate compassion like a fire that never runs out of wood to burn? That never goes out. The fire of compassion is based on being courageous enough to come to an understanding of suffering. You have to come to a deep understanding that all sentient beings are suffering endlessly and helplessly, and bring yourself to the point where you can’t bear it. Cultivate the understanding that even though you know you can’t see all sentient beings, you can’t feel them, you can’t touch them, still, you want nothing more than to rid hatred, greed and ignorance from their minds, because you understand this is the cause of their suffering. You understand the whole dynamics of suffering: why it exists, how it exists, where it exists, how it grows, and at that point you become deeply committed.

You can begin by renouncing the causes of suffering yourself. If you have not renounced the causes of suffering, you can’t do a thing for anyone else, and so it takes a tremendous amount of courage. According to the Buddha, hatred, greed and ignorance in the mind are the causes of suffering. Hatred, greed and ignorance are preceded by desire. If there is no desire in the mind, there is no root from which these poisons can grow; there is no cause for hatred, greed and ignorance.