Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo | Tibetan Buddhist Altar

The Law of Gravity and Karma: The Seed and the Fruit

April 12, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Bringing Virtue Into Life”

Denial, in my opinion, is much worse than how fast our lives go. If we have even a meager life span of sixty years, if we really got it, if we really understood cause and effect, we would probably be motivated to start practicing early; and by the time that we were sixty and ready to die, we’d have something accomplished. We would have prepared for our next rebirth. But we don’t do that because we cannot connect the dots. We wait.

I think about the young people that I know, and even the young people that are very close to me. They have the idea that they have all the time in the world. I know because I used to have that idea. All the time in the world. It’s like Friday night. You’ve got the whole weekend so party hearty. It’s really like that. We really have this idea. So when we’re young we do not begin our practice. And then when we’re not so young, when we move into real adulthood, we still are in denial. I tell you when we’re finished being young, the next stage is to pretend that we’re young. That’s the next thing that we do. And then after pretending that we’re young doesn’t work, we imagine that we’re young. It’s sort of like that. We keep pushing off the inevitable, which is that moment when we get that life is really passing and something must be done.

This kind of narcotic quality that is part and parcel of samsaric existence is the real enemy here. It is the real enemy. It causes us to think very strangely, in an odd way, a way that is not productive and is not protective and beneficial toward ourselves. We are not being our own best friends in other words. So what happens is we are deluded, we are stuck. We stay without any understanding. We simply cannot commit to practice. We have this Scarlet O’Hara kind of idea, that tomorrow is soon enough. Tomorrow everything will be fine. So we find ourselves in something of a bind.

A person who has not been able to practice these thoughts that turn the mind toward Dharma is in the most trouble because they can’t move to the next step. That’s the next thought that turns the mind towards Dharma, and it’s a very simple one. It’s actually very logical. It’s about as logical as the law of gravity seems to be, and the law of gravity seems to be pretty logical. Drop it and it goes down…every time that I’ve seen. Show me something different, but every time I’ve seen it. The law of gravity is kind of logical. , I don’t know the physics of it, but, basically it means that this is heavier than the air that it displaces so it’s going down. And the earth will pull it down because of the magnetic quality that the motion of the earth produces. So we understand that this is very logical.

But there is another logical truth that we are missing completely. It’s just as logical, equally as logical, but again we’re playing the game of forever young, never gonna die and always deluded. That’s the game we’re playing. And here’s the truth that is logical, the truth that we’re missing that is so simple. If you think about it, you know it’s true and it’s this: Non-virtuous behavior, such as killing, stealing, adultery, judgment, lack of kindness, lack of generosity, harming others, lying, these kinds of activities bring about unhappiness, every time. There is no case in which you can engage in nonvirtuous behavior in order to produce happy results. It will never happen. It will never happen. In the same way that apple seeds will not grow orange trees, it simply doesn’t happen.

Nonvirtuous behavior, negative behavior, will always, every time, bring unhappiness. The funny thing is we always engage in nonvirtuous activity in order to bring us happiness. That’s what we think we’re doing. We lie about somebody else so that, let’s see… Here’s a good example: Let’s say that I have a boyfriend and my boyfriend loves two women. I’m one of them. So I might, in order to bring about my own happiness, lie about that other woman and say “Oh, she’s no good. You don’t want her. She’s no good.” I might lie about that other woman so I can have this boyfriend. I’m thinking that this lie is going to bring me happiness. It’s never going to happen. It’s never going to happen, because eventually what’s going to happen is this: Someday you’re going to want something very much. Someday you’re going to be completely and totally entitled to something, and that person will be able to keep it from you. You see? It may not happen in this lifetime. It may not happen in the next lifetime. It could happen 10,000 lifetimes from now, where you couldn’t possibly remember, but it will make you unhappy. Eventually it will make you unhappy.

Denial: The Big Picture

April 9, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Bringing Virtue Into Life”

The Buddha teaches us that this precious human rebirth is very, very brief, as brief as a waterfall going down a mountain. You know there is no way that you can appreciate that when you’re young. There is no way. I know because I’ve been young and now I am middle-aged. There is no way. No matter how smart you are. No matter how spiritual you are. No matter how you try to stop and think about it. It is so difficult to understand how quickly our lives pass. When we reach middle age, the big hubbub everybody talks about, we all have mid-life crisis. Well, that’s what it’s about. It’s during the middle of our lives when we realize that basically we have been on a weekend pass and, honey, it is Saturday night late, and the only thing you’ve got left is Sunday. Remember how you used to feel when you were a kid? You looked forward to the weekend so much all week long and by the time it was Saturday night you had this kind of funny feeling realizing that it was pretty much gone. The only thing you had left was Sunday and you had to go to church! So that’s how we think, and right around mid-life we begin to understand that life is very short. But it’s very difficult to understand it before that, particularly since in our culture we are not permitted to see death very much. When our relatives die, they put them in a bag and cart them off. We never get to see them. We get to see them when they look pretty. That’s true! They pretty them up, and then they show them to us after that; but we never really understand what has happened. So we’re shielded even from having that kind of sensibility.

Not only is life quick but there are certain hidden rules within our lives that we cannot take in. Why can’t we take them in? First of all, our minds don’t want to take them in, in the same way that when we are in a traumatic situation we often shield ourselves by being in denial about that situation. How many of you know about that little psychological trick of denial? Ever had any denial in your life? Any of you married? So we have that wonderful trick of denial. We are in denial about what is happening with our lives. We just don’t think about it at all.

Then the other thing about it—if you think about how our minds work—what are your earliest memories? Some people say they can remember infancy. Some people say they can remember two years old, some people say four. Usually it’s about three or four years that you can have your earliest, earliest shreds of memory. Usually that’s the case. From that time until the age that you are now, that’s all the real memory that you have. So you have a problem, and that is you cannot learn cause and effect. There is no way that you can learn cause and effect thoroughly from your life. Do you know why that is? It’s because many of the causes that have caused your life to be the way that it is now did not happen in this lifetime. According to the Buddha’s teaching, you have lived many times before—not once, not ten times, but uncountable times in many different forms. And most of the causes that bring about the results of your life right now have been brought about or have been birthed previous to this incarnation, so you can’t possibly make the connection between cause and effect.

Many people resent the idea that it’s actually karma, or cause and effect, that causes us to suffer, because we don’t like the idea that we actually deserve this. We don’t like that kind of idea. We don’t like the idea that we may have been bad in the past. That kind of thinking is a bit childlike, isn’t it? Truly, it’s a bit childlike. When you look at your life right now…, let’s say you are experiencing extreme poverty, or let’s say you are experiencing some kind of terrible illness. If you are experiencing extreme poverty, it’s probably because in the past you have had a lack of generosity towards others. If you are experiencing some terrible disease, it’s probably because in the past you have broken some vows or commitments that you made with your body. These are the Buddha’s teachings.

Those things may have happened in this lifetime, but probably have not happened in this lifetime. Maybe in this lifetime you are very generous. Maybe in this lifetime you are keeping as many commitments as you can possibly manage. Maybe you’re doing the very best that you can. Doesn’t it seem unfair, therefore, that you would suffer from something that happened in a previous incarnation? What’s really unfair about it is that you can’t connect the dots. That’s the problem. You can’t connect the dots. There’s no way that we as ordinary samsaric beings, ordinary sentient beings with limited view, can possibly connect those dots. It’s impossible. What if you were seeing that your life was filled with terrible poverty and that, no matter what you did there was no way to get out of it? And yet you look at your life and you think, “Well, I have been generous. I’ve tried, you know. I mean, I’ve tried to give to others. I’ve tried to be kind. I mean I haven’t always done it perfectly, but I tried. So why do I deserve this poverty?” It’s very difficult for us, under that kind of situation, to do anything other than feel sorry for ourselves, and that’s what most of us end up doing. We end up perpetuating the myth that nothing is connected with nothing, that we don’t have to work at it, we don’t have to think about it. It’s just the luck of the draw. So we end up spending most of our lives in denial and complaining, and just not getting the big picture. That is the worst thing about samsara.

Bodhicitta in the World

February 15, 2017February 15, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo given at Palyul Ling Retreat 2012:

They say that I am a Dakini. I’m not so sure but they say I am. The Dakini has to do with the activity of the Buddhas. And so that being the case, I feel it is my responsibility to try to bring some benefit in the activity way. So I try to feed everybody – animals, people, and the birds outside my house. Everybody knows that we spend a lot of money on feeding people and feeding beings. And it is a happy thing to do. It makes us all happy. So many beings are fed. And they are having what they need because of the kindness of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, and what he taught me. The precious bodhicitta, the nectar of kindness that is inherent in the dharma. This is what I was taught, what I learned, and its what I practice.

We have a prison program also. We like to forget people who have done something wrong and just throw them away, but we have a program where we can go and teach prisoners some dharma, because these men will die in prison. And they will have no way to get any kind of help or straighten themselves out for a proper or good rebirth. They don’t know how to die well. They have no teachings on Phowa. It makes us sad, and so that being so said, we’re able to go out and do these things. And it is why KPC is always broke. We don’t have any money because we spend it on the needs of sentient beings, and I am very happy about that. That makes it worth it to me.

In our food program there are many people who don’t know how to cook the kind of food that we provide for them, because they are poor people and they are used to cheap food. And so we have been trying to teach them how to cook lentils, and beans, and rice and things that are very nourishing. We try to teach them how to make protein, and how to eat well so that they feel better. This is a totally new thing for them. They don’t know how to be healthy, and their children don’t know how to be healthy. Many of them eat too much sugar and too much candy and they are unwell. And so we are teaching them. We are involved enough in the community to teach them how to cook, how to prepare food and what food is nourishing, and what is not. These are great pleasurable things that we do. Not that they are so great, but they are great pleasure. To see people become nourished. To see people learn some dharma, whether they understand it or not. To even understand, Om Mani Pedme Hum. To even repeat Om Mani Pedme Hung is so much better than anything else they could receive in the ordinary world. Very simple things like that can make the world of difference, as you know.

Who Needs Refuge?

January 6, 2017January 7, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Faults of Cyclic Existence”

How is the understanding of compassion a clarifying thought as well as a motivating thought? How is it a clarifying thought? Now here is where the profound connection with refuge comes into play. Not only does the compassion motivate us to take refuge, but it makes us think it through very clearly. If we utilize it, it does.

When we enter onto the path of the Buddhadharma, we take refuge in the outer refuge of Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, the inner refuge of lama, yidam, khandro, and the secret refuge of the channels, winds and fluids. When we actually enter into this refuge, which for our purposes now are the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, Triple Gem refuge, we must define why it must be arranged the way it is. Why is it organized the way it is? For instance, if it’s true that all sentient beings are suffering but they wish to be happy and they are mostly suffering due to desire and the confusion about issues concerning desire, if that’s what the Buddha said, then why don’t we just kind of sit down and have a therapeutic session of insight so that we can isolate for ourselves what it is that we actually want.And maybe then we can go and get it. If all sentient beings are really suffering and we’re really unhappy and we’re trying to be happy, why don’t we just have an insight of some kind and go for it!? Why don’t we do that? Well, because you’ve done that before. You’ve done that before. You do it all the time to greater or lesser degree, according to your capacity and your habitual tendency. In fact, we do that all of the time. We feel a need. We feel desire. We feel something. Something is moving that locomotive down the track. What is it? So we sit down and we try to center ourselves or we get busy and allow thoughts to come up. Each one of us has a characteristic way to deal with things. Maybe we’ll do a little journaling, we’ll do a little art, we’ll do a little music, we’ll do a little whatever, take a walk and try to center ourselves, and figure out what’s going on. Well, we’ll come up with something. You always come up with something

Now we’re going to figure out, “Oh , if I don’t get with the great love of my life pretty soon…, That’s what it is, I know that’s what it is.” So now you’re on to the next adventure. Or you may ask yourself,“What is it that’s troubling me? What is it that’s troubling me?” And you sit down and you’re reaching inside and using all this psychological technique and you’re going, “Oh it’s my mother!!! My mother didn’t love me!!” Each of these are valid. I’m not saying that these are not issues in your life. I’m not saying that these are not valid things to think about, but I am saying that there is some confusion there in that you are looking at the superficial causes for discomfort, but not the deeper ones.

If we were to look more deeply,, we would discover that the underlying cause of all suffering is desire, and that we’re real, real, real confused about this whole issue. So we examine the path and examine the teachings a little bit further. And we find that the Buddha has taught us that samsara is actually made up of the things that potentially make us suffer. That is to say that the first step or connection with samsara, that is the wheel of death and rebirth, is based on the idea, the first gossamer thin assumption or idea, of self-nature as being inherently real. Why does that happen? That happens because it can. End of subject. It’s one of the potentials in the great ground of primordial nature which contains within it all potentials. So this has happened. We have considered ourselves separate.

In order to consider one’s self as self nature separate, other has to be external. In order for other to be external, it has to be determined. In order for it to be determined, we have to react toward it. There has to be a reaction toward it with acceptance or rejection. You cannot see something without registering acceptance or rejection, or the combination of the two, which is neutrality. Neutrality is not lack of reaction. It is a combination of reactions. So we cannot experience anything as outside ourselves without some sort of reaction. And once that has happened, we react toward everything with hope and fear.

So everything in samsara is then built from that original structure of the idea of self nature being inherently real and at this point one’s self is determined, and other becomes external. We split into subjective-objective reality. Everything in samsara, every kind of perception with the senses, anything that we take in with our eyes, our ears, our tongues, anything that senses, comes from, at the root, that original construct, that original assumption of self-nature as being inherently real. So everything in samsara is built of that. That is to say that nothing that we experience now, nothing that we have ever experienced, is separate from the realm of desire. So literally, everything within samsara is potentially cause for more suffering.

Examining Cause and Effect in Real Life

August 7, 2015 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Bringing Virtue Into Life”

You may have been born rich, or perhaps during the course of your life it has been relatively easy for you to make money, gain riches. Or perhaps during the course of your life, at some point you have inherited riches. And you wonder to yourself, “How is it that I hear about the starving poor and yet I, who wasn’t even hungry in the first place, have inherited this money, or I have this money? How is it? It would seem as though I am completely undeserving. How has that happened?” You wonder about that. “Why is it easy for me to make money?” Well, the reason why it is easy for you to inherit that money or to make that money is because some time in the past you have earned it; and the way that you have earned it is by engaging in virtuous activity concerned with generosity toward others. If you have given food to others, in this life you always have enough to eat, and more. In fact, the problem is not eating too much.

So then, if you have a lot of money and things have been pretty comfortable for you, then sometime in the past you must have been very generous toward others, and your big problem in this lifetime is not how to make money but how to spend it, or not spend it. In that case, you deserve everything that you get. You deserve all of it.

Now, in this lifetime, if you just take that money and express through it no acts of generosity,… Let’s say maybe you keep it in your family to make sure that your children are provided for. Well, that’s a kind of generosity. You did give some to your children, but that isn’t real generosity, because children are kind of like an extension of our own ego. We think of them as part of us. We don’t think of them as being separate from us. We like our children to be rich because it’s a good reflection on us and it makes us die happy.

But let’s say in this lifetime, although you have lots of money, you haven’t really given any to benefit others. You haven’t helped others not to be hungry. You haven’t given it to children that don’t get any toys as Christmas. You haven’t made any offerings to the temple where you receive all your spiritual benefit. You haven’t done anything with your money. If you think then that you’re going to somehow be able to legally make it happen that they’ll find you in your next incarnation and give you back that money,… Au contraire, monsieur. You can’t take it with you. It’s not going to appear again in your next life. Forget it! It’s not going to happen. But in your next life you will probably be born much poorer because, even though you had the money before, you were not very generous.

So it’s very, very clear that cause and effect are interconnected. In fact, the Buddha teaches us that they arise interdependently: When the cause arises, the effect arises at the same time, but in seed form. Think about that. Think about that the next time you have non-virtuous behavior. One of the reasons why it’s so easy to be non-virtuous is because you think, “Well, O.K., I’m being non-virtuous now, but I don’t see the effect rising yet. So maybe they…(Who are they anyway? We don’t know.) they’ll forget about it. “ You know, the guys with the x’s and the checks. They’re up there. They’re sitting on the throne. You know, the guy with long beard. Maybe he’ll forget about it by then. But in fact the Buddha teaches that, number one, there is nobody with a book up there, or a beard. And number two, when you give rise to the cause, the effect is already born, and you will experience it. You will experience it.

The “Chicken Suit”

July 28, 2015 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Neurotic Interaction to Guru Yoga”

It seems you have these strong habitual tendencies and project them onto an environment stimulated by just about anything. And when the stimulation looks like it’s even on the same continent as a predetermined habitual karmic scenario that you have been going through cyclically, you’ll do it again. So many people do not have a good or honest or true relationship with their teacher because they are basically having a relationship with their own neuroses. That’s the truth! That’s the truth! They’re having it with their own neuroses. But you see here again is a mystery, something beautiful that you really need to understand. I’m using a very western way of explaining this so that you will understand better. That’s part of the gift of having a teacher. It’s part of the gift, because the teacher will show you your own mind, will mirror something. There’ll be that little bounce-back phenomena there so that when you have a meeting with the teacher, and something begins, you begin to feel like, “What’s happening here? I’m beginning to feel a little itchy twitchy. Now wait a minute, I’m seeing some authority figure stuff come out.” Or, “Oh God, that reminds me of my mother!!”

Or men are like, ALL women do that!! I hate that!! So that will start to happen, and when that starts to happen, what the student doesn’t realize is that is a perfect opportunity to look at your mind. It’s a gift. Of course, you can make this gift happen anywhere in your life and actually this is the best way to practice Guru Yoga. There is a lot of poetry and a lot of very profound Dharma text written about seeing the Guru’s face everywhere—in every person, in every situation, in every hardship, in every joy, in everything that comes to you one way or the other—seeing the Guru’s face, and therefore turning adversity into felicity. Using the practice of seeing that the teacher’s face, the Guru’s face is everywhere. Therefore I turn all adversity into felicity because I honor that blessing, you see. So that would be a great way to practice.

But what happens instead is that we project our own neuroses onto the teacher. Now as a teacher I’ll tell you that oftentimes what happens is that you have to hang back and just let the student do that thing they’re going to do. Just let them spin around and do whatever it is they have to do. Go on, knock yourself out. You kind of watch them go through their little freak out. They’re smooth. They kind of do their little neurotic thing, and they’ll freak in their response to this and their reaction to that and so forth. After a while the student will kind of calm down. What they’ll find is that it will come in their face so much that they’ll have to work some of it out. And they’ll also notice that, pretty much, the teacher’s not playing. You know, the teacher just doesn’t play the game with you.

Once in a while a student has been so locked in that confusion that (I’ve had to do this too) I’ve seen teachers kind of put on the chicken suit and go in there and dance with the student a little bit, because they need to make some kind of connection. They feel kind of out in space somewhere and they need to make some kind of connection. So even if there aren’t honest and true, disciplined and pure student-teacher relationship responses happening, there is the introduction to that which is the student and teacher kind of dancing around a little bit. But you must understand the teacher is dancing with your neuroses. That’s what’s happening.

In order to practice Guru Yoga well, here’s the trick: Most people think that Guru Yoga is about giving up your will. Now you don’t have to think any more, you have a teacher. Wonderful! Mazel tov! This is terrific! In fact, when you have a teacher, what that means is that you have to take responsibility. It means more responsibility, not less. The teacher is not here to blow your nose for you. The teacher is not here to take responsibility for you. If the teacher were here to take responsibility for you, the teacher could also have your enlightenment. And since that’s not what she wants because the teacher has already got their own situation handled hopefully, then you must understand that the responsibility is yours.

AA and Buddhism

March 29, 2015 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “AA and Buddhism”

In our teaching today, strangely enough, I’m going to talk about alcoholism and addiction; but I’m not going to talk about alcoholism and addiction in a way that specifically is meant to treat or help a person who is addicted to a substance. What I’d like to do is examine addiction, examine the idea of substance addiction or alcoholism and see how very much it actually is like the condition that we all find ourselves in in samsara. Although I myself have never been involved in the program, I know people who have and some of my best students actually have. I have been fascinated with the program that is used by Alcoholics Anonymous, the 12 Step Program, fascinated by it in that I can hardly believe the more I learn about it how completely compatible it is with the Buddha’s teaching, how completely compatible it is with Buddhist thought.

Now I can’t even say that about other religions. I myself saw His Holiness the Dalai Lama speak to the highest Episcopal bishops in the country, and heard these bishops say to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, ‘Well we’re all one religion anyway and we basically believe the same thing.’Now you must understand this is a man who is the head of a theistic religion talking to a man who is the head of a non-theistic philosophy. So, of course, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, ‘While I appreciate that there are certain things that we hold in common, such as the wish to benefit sentient beings, the wish to act compassionately, and these are the important things that we have in common, still I must say your religion and my religion are not the same. And it betrays both of them to pretend that they are.’ Because, in fact, the heart of Buddhist philosophy is the awareness of the primordial empty state and that is not the heart of Christianity. The heart of Christianity is different than that and the way that it‘s practiced is different than that. The technology is different than that. So there are some common denominators. But I can say that far more than other religions, a program like Alcoholics Anonymous is very, very similar to Buddhism, and I find that fascinating. I’m really quite taken with that.

The reason why I want to bring this up at all is because of the way, personally, I view samsara, or the cycle of death and rebirth, and the way that I have been taught to view samsara by my teachers. Also, I’m bringing it up because of the similarity in a certain point or inner posture that one has to get to, that each one of us has to get to, in order to go further in either program. Whether it be Buddhism or Alcoholics Anonymous, there is a certain point that one has to get to. That point is the recognition of the condition. That point is the recognition of one’s state, the condition that one finds one’s self in. Now, again, I know very little about Alcoholics Anonymous, and any of you who wish to argue with me or contribute to what I’m saying are free to do so. But one thing I do understand is that generally it’s considered that an alcoholic is not help-able, is really beyond help, until they bottom out. That means they get to a point where they are just disgusted. They see that their life is really falling apart and there is literally nowhere to go other than forward or up. There is a bottom that’s reached. And many times during the history of an alcoholic, they’ll reach low points certainly, but they will not reach a point at which they bottom out. And it isn’t until they reach that point that they are help-able. They have to basically find themselves stripped down to a point where there is no other useful or beneficial or pleasant way to go. It’s just the bottom. How else can you describe the bottom? It is the bottom. And it is at that point that alcoholics are help-able, that they can begin to help themselves. Am I right, any of you guys who know about this? OK.

So from that point of view, when an alcoholic’s or an addict’s life becomes bottomed out like that, they are at the first good point they’ve been at for a long time. It may not feel like that to the alcoholic. To the alcoholic it is the most deluded and confusing time. It is the most helpless of times. It is the time in which they have almost no skills, no resources, and they are quite helpless. But it is the first time where any benefit can actually happen.

Experiencing Practice

March 28, 2015 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo offered during a “Good Heart Retreat”

When I start to talk about all of this, it seems like I’m saying, “Okay, go do this, and go do that.” Please don’t hear it that way. I wish that there was some way you could not hear so much with your ears, so that they go in two different channels and you have all those voices in your head arguing with you. But instead hear it with your heart and really kind of vibes with the spirit of the message that I’m putting out here. Again I’m encouraging you not to keep your practice outside as this isolated separate little phenomena that you do in your prayer room. But remember I’m asking you to integrate your faith into your life. To make it real. If we are talking about impartiality, equanimity, and purifying the poisons, then we are talking about abolishing hatred, greed, ignorance, jealousy, and pridefulness. We are talking about making the world a better place—to see as the Buddha has taught us. Really see it. Really get it. In our nature, we are the same. This is what the Buddha has said. In our nature we are the same. To really get that. You can’t do that by simply running around doing all these things that I’m telling you to do. Make a foundation, collect some soup, you know, buy a couple of Christmas presents. That’s not how it’s going to happen.

I have another revolutionary idea. Supposing, once again, you were to really get into your path in such a way as to get into the mysticism of your path. Not simply by visualizing properly, not simply by memorizing the entire Celestial Palace Mandala, so that you have every little bit of it just right. I don’t mean that. If you can do that, it’s great. But in the meantime while you’re doing that, let’s also do something else. Let’s have a mystical experience, shall we? I mean how hard can it be? We’re Buddhists. We’re supposed to be mystical. So rather than talking about the end of ethnic prejudice, the end of hatred, the end of pride, the end of greediness, instead of talking about it, what if we really practiced it and felt it in our practice. Supposing we could kick off this grand idea of being a spiritual community in the world by actually feeling it, by actually doing it in our practice and in our prayers. Supposing we together as a Sangha were to gather periodically and do a meditation. Oh, wow! It’s not written down in the Buddhist books! That’s okay. It’s not a sin to do this. I mean, you know, it’s a funny thing. We have this idea that since we’ve become Buddhist and our prayers are written down in here, we don’t get to say any others. You only get to say those, in Tibetan. Like the Buddhas are up there and they don’t understand anything but Tibetan. If you talk to them, they aren’t really listening, they only talk to the Asians. That’s ridiculous, isn’t it? That’s impossible.

So supposing that we, as Buddhist practitioners had meditations. These are meditations that I like to do by myself. What if we did these as a group together? What if we sat in meditation, simply watching the breath as we do in Vipassana meditation or in shiney meditation, simply gentle meditation with no particular visualization. In our meditation we would relax the mind and abide naturally in the natural state, simply watching the breath as the Buddha has taught. But from that point, what if in this meditation, abiding gently in the nature, we were to expand our view to include first, everyone that we were praying with, to celebrate in meditation, in practice, and in truth, one nature, to meditate gently and abide naturally together. If it’s possible for one, it’s got to be possible for all of us. Supposing after that, we were to reach out, gently, and in that natural state, abiding spontaneously, embrace or include the community around us. Supposing we could recognize that in essence, our breath is the same. Literally, it is. That our breath is the same. Supposing we could understand that in our nature, there’s no place where I end and you begin. Supposing we could do away with those ideas of separation, and in our meditation, expand and embrace till we are meditating as one people. Supposing we could go a little further and meditate as one nation. And what if we could go a little further still and meditate as one world.

Supposing we got so good at this, that in our meditation, we would begin to awaken to the equality and the sameness of all that lives, just like the Buddha said. Supposing in our meditation, we could feel our oneness, our sameness with everybody in Africa, everybody in India, everybody in China, everybody in Europe, everybody everywhere. Supposing we went beyond that to include, as inseparable from that nature, beings who are other species, like the animal kingdom. Supposing we got so good at this that we knew that we were one and could begin to live it. How hard can it be? Nobody’s asking you to work out or anything. All you got to do is sit there and do that. How hard can it be?

And then supposing beyond that we could think about those great pictures they’re sending back from the Hubble telescope. Hmm? We could think about this galaxy and what it looks like. We could think about all the galaxies, those beautiful pictures of all those galaxies in deep space. Have you seen any of those? Oh, breath taking! What if all of that were inseparable from you? What if all of that were inside of you?

The Way Out

March 22, 2015 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Faults of Cyclic Existence”

According to the Buddha’s teaching, the only end to the sufferings of cyclic existence in a permanent way is the cessation of cyclic existence. There is no intermediate or impermanent means that can accomplish the end of suffering that we experience in cyclic existence. Only the termination of the causes by which we are reborn in cyclic existence actually produces the end of suffering.

So the fault of cyclic existence is that there is suffering, and even happiness is impermanent; that it is unpredictable, and that its causes and effects are so interdependent that it is inescapable. The means by which one can escape cyclic existence is the miraculous intention of the enlightened mind, kind of penetrating into cyclic existence as a light being would penetrate into a tunnel and give us the means to go out of the tunnel. There is nothing about the tunnel, or the darkness in the tunnel that brings about the end of the tunnel. It is the light at the end of tunnel that brings about the end; and it is toward that light that we walk. In the same way, it is the practicing of a pure path, such as the Buddhadharma that brings about the cessation of the causes of being entrapped in cyclic existence. That is the cessation of desire, the cessation of the belief in self nature as being inherently real through meditation and practice. These things are actually the ones that bring about the end of the tunnel, or the end of cyclic existence and its sufferings.

It is necessary for us to examine the faults of cyclic existence. I believe that. Even if our intention is so kind, even if we have extreme kindness, even if we are so completely tuned into the suffering of the world that we are willing, at least initially, to practice til the end of our lives until we accomplish Dharma for the sake of sentient beings. And we should hold to that practice. I have taught again and again and again that our hearts need to be on fire with that love. I have tried to describe that fire as being the only allowable passion, the one that should warm you and should sustain you in every way. Still we must also discipline ourselves, really, or cause ourselves, or allow ourselves to experience what the faults of cyclic existence truly are. We must have an understanding of that in order to gain a firm foundation in our practice.

If we do not understand that all the joys of cyclic existence are impermanent, as well as the sufferings, that all of the circumstances are constantly changing and unpredictable, and if we do not understand that cause and effect are never ending and inescapable, we may not understand that nothing that we do in an intermediate way will really help the situation. And we will continue to do what we are doing now which is to try to solve our problems by moving things around a lot.

You know how we manipulate the circumstances of our lives. We will change our job, or we will find a new loved one or find a new boyfriend or girlfriend, and have another baby, or take ourselves out or go on vacation. These things are great. You should do them all. I don’t care. Have ten million babies. Have a hundred thousand lovers. Do whatever you want to. I don’t mean any of that. You will find out that ultimately all of these are very impermanent; and at that point we have to understand that it doesn’t matter how we manipulate the circumstances of our lives. Ultimately we have to understand that cause and effect relationships continue to cause cause and effect that continues and perpetuates cyclic existence. That’s it. The only way to really end suffering, to really bring about the cessation of suffering, is through accomplishing enlightenment. Nothing intermediate can work. In fact it tends to bring about more disappointment.

Haven’t you ever understood or seen yourself when you experience great happiness? Say you do have the boyfriend or girlfriend, and say you do have that new baby, and you do find yourself on vacation, almost afraid to experience how happy you are at that moment because you know that pretty soon that happiness will be terminated. There is almost a superstition that we have that if we are too happy right now that pretty soon that happiness will wear off real quick. And you know there is something to that in that if we think of that happiness as the end of suffering, we will be disappointed. You should allow yourself to be happy. Every moment that you can have a moment of happiness, by golly, be happy. Don’t worry, be happy just like the song says. One of my favorite songs. However, while you are not worrying and while you are being happy, please understand the faults of cyclic existence. Please understand that in order to accomplish the end of suffering truly and completely and permanently, and in order to be in a place and to be at a level of wisdom and understanding that you yourself can actually bring about the end of suffering for all sentient beings, that you yourself can experience the competency and the qualities necessary to bring about the end of suffering for all sentient beings, in order for that to occur, you must understand the faults of cyclic existence.

There is nothing in cyclic existence that brings about the end of suffering. It is the cessation of desire and of all causes that trap us in cyclic existence. These things brought to an end will bring about the end of suffering. And the name of the end of suffering is enlightenment. It is the only name of the end of suffering. There is no other way to look at it. Anything else is impermanent. It is okay, but it is merely phenomena. The end of suffering is enlightenment.

Please hold that in your mind as you catch yourself manipulating your life. Use that manipulation as you catch yourself trying to make yourself happy through intermediate ways or through holding on to instant gratification or doing all the things that we do so habitually. I don’t expect that we will change overnight, but use those situations as a catalyst to motivate yourself, to really hold on to and accomplish a true path. Use these things as a means to make your understanding move in the direction of a true path so that you can begin to establish a firm foundation or motivation in order to accomplish enlightenment. This is really the end of suffering, and in fact the only one.

So I hope that you will take these things to heart and use them. They are no good if you don’t use them. It doesn’t do you a bit of good if you just come here to listen. You really have to use these insights and try to develop for yourself a way to bring about your own enlightenment.

Meditation Instruction: Tonglen

March 21, 2015 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

I would like to show you one more technique that you can use. This is a very common technique. It’s a sending and receiving, but with a slight variation.

The first time that I met His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, this was the first thing he told me to do. His Holiness asked me, “Do you wish there to be no more suffering?”

“Of course! Of course, this is my only wish.”

Then he said, “As a Bodhisattva, will you take on the suffering of others, if you have the opportunity?”

I said, “Of course!”

And then he said, “Do you think if you do, that it will harm you?”

I said, “No, of course not. How can love harm somebody? That’s ridiculous!”

And he said, “Well, I’ll tell you, when you have faith in the Three Precious Jewels, the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, and you align yourself with the great purpose of the Bodhisattvas, then you have nothing to fear.” And he said, “In that case, let me teach you how to practice.” He said, “Every breath that you take, every moment that you walk around, your breath is a cycle of OM, AH, HUNG.”

OM. We take in the suffering, no matter what it is, of all sentient beings, no matter who they are. We breathe it in. OM.

AH —is the space between the inhale and the exhale. AH is an immediate meditation on non-duality with the Three Precious Jewels, an immediate meditation on the nature as it is—inseparable, indivisible, free of concept. So there’s that meditation. AH.

And then, HUNG. Breathe out all of the virtue and merit that you and all practitioners have accomplished in the past, in the present and in the future. (This is like a spiritual credit card deal. You get to borrow on what you hope you’re going to do later).

So it’s OM, I take in the suffering of all sentient beings. I’m not separate. AH, I rely on the Three Precious Jewels. I am inseparable from the Three Precious Jewels. I rely on the strength of the Three Precious Jewels. And I am that. HUNG, I offer all of my virtue and merit, all the good I have ever accomplished in the past, present, and future, for the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings, every breath.

To walk past poor people, different colored people, people of different religions, and breathe in their suffering, breathe it in, really breathe it in. Hold your place, hold the line. Hold your place as a representative of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on this earth with confidence, vajra courage. Then breathe out to them all of the virtue and merit that you have accomplished in the three times. Every breath of your life. It’s very, very hard to do at first because you get a little obsessive. OM-AH-HUNG, OM-AH-HUNG. People that have practiced watching the breath realize that once you start watching the breath, the breath starts acting weird. But little by little, you practice and you get through that. It becomes a very natural, sincere and very deep intention. Freely, I take on. Spontaneously, I abide naturally. Freely, I offer what I have. In a way, you become like a circle, inseparable from all that is, inseparable from others. You have the sense, eventually, of breathing for them, of inhaling and exhaling for them, of carrying them, of being completely inseparable from them. In that meditation, you find yourself just singing, ‘I love you.’. Is it okay for a Buddhist to say something, oh I don’t know, gushy? Yes it is. Because although the Buddha used different words, like compassion, in the west we are more familiar with the word ‘love.’ And so, to hold ‘all that is’ within you and from that place of mystical awareness, instead of painting a picture, ‘I love you,’or an affirmation, ‘I love you,’ to know from the depth of your being, ’I love you,’ it will change your life. And it will change our community if we begin to practice in that way.

Here we are asking for recognition. Not just saying the words. Not just doing the practice. But recognition. This is a different step. If we are going to be potent in our spiritual lives, and if Buddhism is going to be a potent force in this world, that’s where it has to start. And the great thing about spiritual practice is that there is no time better to start it than right this minute. I’d like to invite you to participate in that.

Now you know my everlasting practice. This is what I do all the time, because my teacher told me to, and I wish to repay his kindness. So I’m doing that all the time. I also find that when I meditate in a mystical way, and experience, accept and awaken to the inseparability and non-duality of all that lives—the sameness, the equality of all that lives—I’m always inspired, because there’s nothing else but to offer all that I have—my feet, my legs, my torso, my arms, my neck, my head, everything—for the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings. This is how to be moved by your practice, to be deep in your practice. This is why you’re wearing the robes, because you are ministers. It’s hard for us to understand because of the cultural change, but you are ministers. Make circumambulation around the Stupa. Pray to Guru Rinpoche as sincerely as you can that this pact that you have made is sealed. Pray that you will accomplish this. Pray that you will be a spiritual voice in a world that is longing to hear such a voice.