Khenpo Tenzin Norgay

21 Homages to Tara: Commentary on Verse 3 Khenpo Tenzin Norgay

by

Thupten Shedrub Gyatso, who was a Tulku  in one of the Palyul Monasteries, wrote this commentary.  His present incarnation, Rago Chogtrul currently lives in Tibet.

Translation by Khenpo Tenzin Norgey ~ Spring, 2004,
Palyul Retreat Center, Mc Donough, NY USA ~Wood Monkey Year 2131

Homage to you, the golden lady
Whose hand is adorned with a blue lotus,
You are the lord of the domain of the activities of generosity,
Diligence, austerity, tranquility, patience and meditation.

The third praise is to Sonam Thobkyedma,Tib the “Yellow Lady of Good Fortune”.  She is beautiful; her skin is the color of pure gold glittering in the early morning sun.  Her left hand is adorned with a blue lotus, upon which sits a gem that bestows all wishes.  She is the lord of the Bodhisattvas’[i]sphere of activity, which encompasses the transcendent perfections of generosity, patience, diligence, ethics, tranquility, wisdom, and meditation.  Austerity, (in this context) is ethics, and tranquility is wisdom and meditation.  We pay homage to the unchallengeable lady who has the ten powers: the power over life, the power over mind, the power over wealth, the power over action, the power over birth, the power over inclination, the power over aspiration, the power over miracles, the power over primordial wisdom, and the power over dharma.  The outer meaning is that she has attained the completion of the six perfections, in just one meditation.  The inner meaning is that her singular meditation is like a lotus, free from the flaw of adherence to subject and object, and is endowed with the completion of the six perfections.


[i] Bodhisattva skt ~ One who has generated bodhicitta and seeks enlightenment for the benefit of others.

21 Homages to Tara: Commentary on Verse 2 Khenpo Tenzin Norgay

by

Thupten Shedrub Gyatso, who was a Tulku  in one of the Palyul Monasteries, wrote this commentary.  His present incarnation, Rago Chogtrul currently lives in Tibet.

Translation by Khenpo Tenzin Norgey ~ Spring, 2004,
Palyul Retreat Center, Mc Donough, NY USA ~Wood Monkey Year 2131

Homage to you whose face is like
The gathering of a hundred full moons in autumn,
Shining resplendent light
In the perfect, spacious constellation of a thousand stars.

The second verse is homage to Yangchenma,Tib the “Treasure of Wisdom”.  The “Lady with a shining face like an array of hundred autumn full moons,” means her face is a hundred times fairer and more beautiful than the moon.  Her right hand holds a mirror, which is like a full moon engraved with an HRI[i] syllable.  The “perfect spacious constellation of a thousand stars,” refers to the field of her wisdom, which is abundantly spacious, and vast, like the countless, resplendent rays of the full moon.  This light clears the darkness of the ignorance of practitioners, which is the cause of dullness, disease and possession by evils.  It opens the door to the treasury of knowledge by illuminating the light of the four specific perfect understandings.  These are the perfect understanding of the Dharma[ii], (teachings) the perfect understanding of the definitive meaning, perfect confidence (in the doctrine) and the perfect knowledge of the Victorious Ones, (brilliance).  According to a tantra, the inner meaning is “to serve the mother of the sphere” which means emptiness or the nature of mind.  In order to look at our innate self, the face of the ultimate Vajravarahi, we must accumulate merit[iii] and purify our mind-streams[iv], so that they are like an “array of a hundred pure white moons.”  Because of these practices, the door to her blessing will be opened by our true inclination.  In that way, we can see ultimate luminosity and ignite our dynamic wisdom.


[i] HRI syllable ~ Seed syllable of Avalokiteshvara.

[ii] dharma skt ~ It is an ambiguous Sanskrit term, here we can take it as spiritual path.

[iii] merit ~ Good karma, the energy generated by positive actions of body, speech and mind.

[iv] mind-stream ~ The continuation of consciousness, Buddhist way of expressing our mind.

21 Homages to Tara: Commentary on Verse 1 by Khenpo Tenzin Norgay

by

Thupten Shedrub Gyatso, who was a Tulku  in one of the Palyul Monasteries, wrote this commentary.  His present incarnation, Rago Chogtrul currently lives in Tibet.

Translation by Khenpo Tenzin Norgey ~ Spring, 2004,
Palyul Retreat Center, Mc Donough, NY USA ~Wood Monkey Year 2131

There are many different Indian and Tibetan traditions explaining this “tantra[i] [1]of praise”.  Motivated by devotion, I will explain this tantra in accordance with “The Treasure Vase of Essential Great Bliss of Inner Practice”, which is the profound mind-treasure[ii] teaching of the omniscient Rigdzin Jigme Lingpa.  Each of the twenty-one verses is praise to twenty-one manifestations.

 

Homage to mother Tara, swift and fearless,

Your eyes are like flashing lightning.

Born from the blossoming stamens

Of the lotus face of the Lord of Three Worlds.

 

The first praise is to Nyurma Palmo,Tib the “Fearless Swift Lady”.  Here we pay homage to the lady of activity who liberates beings from the temporal and perennial sufferings of samsara[iii].  She is called “Swift Lady” because her impartial compassion[iv] benefits beings without even an instant’s delay.  She is the “Fearless Lady”, because she has the unhindered power to subdue demons, as well as the afflictions of beings.  She protects beings from all fears.  Her wisdom eyes move like the flash of lightning as she fully cognizes all phenomena.  The lady endowed with omniscience, compassion, power, and activity was born from “the teardrops of the stamen-like eyes of the fully blossomed lotus-like face of Avalokiteshvara[v], the Savior of Three Worlds”.  The three worlds are the sub-terrestrial, terrestrial and celestial realms, (the worlds of nagas[vi], humans, and gods, respectively).

Tara is seductive, and has the youthfulness of the rising sun, and a semi-wrathful smile.  Her right hand is in the boon-giving mudra[vii], and her left hand holds a blue lotus upon which is a right-turning conch.  This symbolizes her mastery of the two truths[viii] and bodhicitta[ix] in this world, and in the god realm[x].  The outer meaning of the praise literally praises the nirmanakaya aspect of the Noble Lady.  In the inner aspect of the praise, if not taken literally, her sambhogakaya and dharmakaya aspects are praised.  The “Savior of the Three Worlds” is the dharmakaya, and its manifestation is the rupakaya, or “form body,” (which is composed of the sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya).

[i] tantra skt ~ Buddhist texts that outline the practices of the Vajra vehicle

[ii] mind treasure ~ An inspired teaching (terma) revealed directly from the Buddha-mind,  by a treasure revealer, (terton) .

[iii] samsara skt ~ Cyclic existence, the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth characterized by suffering and dominated by the three poisons: ignorance, desire and hatred.

[iv] compassion ~ Sensitivity to the sufferings experienced by sentient beings, coupled with a desire to help them overcome suffering and its causes.

[v] Avalokiteshvara skt (Chenrezig) ~The Buddha of compassion.

[vi] naga ~ A snake-like being living in the depths of water or underground.  Although they have miraculous powers, they are classified as belonging to the lower realm.

[vii] mudra skt ~ A gesture that has specific meaning used in Tantric practice as a support.

[viii] two truths ~ The absolute truth and relative truth.

[ix] bodhicitta skt ~ The mind of enlightenment.  The altruistic intention to become enlightened in order to benefit others

[x] god realm ~ One of the six realms of cyclic existence, characterized by seemingly unending pleasure and leisure.

Let the Circle Be Unbroken

by

At the invitation of Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo, Khenpo Tenzin Norgay was in Sedona the weekend of February 25-27 for several events, including an Amitabha empowerment at KPC’s Amitabha Stupa, several talks on the significance of the stupa and the sacred land upon which it is built, and even a guest appearance at the Sedona International Film Festival to answer questions at the screening of a documentary movie called Journey from Zanskar: A Monk’s Vow to Children.  The weekend’s events were a great success, drawing large audiences despite the chilly February weather and the competition of the film festival.  But the event at the stupa on Sunday, February 27th, provided a special treat to those who braved the elements.

Sunday – Dakini Day – dawned to a world of white with fluffy fresh snow blanketing the town and the red rocks.  Such a snow is considered a blessing by Tibetans, but it seemed an inauspicious start to a day that was planned to feature a talk by Khenpo at the stupa and a song offering by Hopi Indians.  It appeared that the Hopi would not be able to make it to Sedona as all roads leading from the Flagstaff area were closed.  In addition, the wet, rapidly melting snow had turned the dirt road leading up to the stupa into a quagmire.  This meant that no vehicles would be able to drive to the stupa to carry heavy equipment like a PA system or a generator to power the planned webcast.  In view of the situation, it was decided to change the schedule and replace the planned talk with a Shower of Blessings practice, which is the heart practice at KPC, and including a sang (smoke) offering to purify negativity.

By 2:00 the warm sun had melted much of the snow, and the clouds had long since abandoned the sky to the brilliant Arizona sun.  A group of about thirty people had assembled, many of whom had never participated in any kind of Tibetan Buddhist practice.  Partway through the practice, to everyone’s surprise, word arrived that the Hopis were indeed on their way and were expected shortly.  The practice was speeded to finish by the time they arrived.  As people were enjoying the food offering that is a part of the practice, Ruben Saufkie Sr. came walking up the hill with his two young sons.  They were seated on the stage next to Khenpo, and Ruben and Khenpo talked for several minutes.  People were invited to come and sit close to the stage, and Ruben then repeated what he had shared with Khenpo.

Ruben said that he personally had been out of balance for many years, caught up in the throes of alcoholism, disrespectful to everyone, out of control.  But then he looked into the eyes of his children and recognized the same look of fear and hopelessness that he had experienced as a child, for both his father and grandfather had also been alcoholics.  This realization caused him to reexamine his life as a father and as a Hopi.  His Hopi elders gave him the teachings to help him overcome his addictions and to return to balance.  As he emerged from his addictions, he also began to see how the Hopis as a tribe were also out of balance and that this was destroying them.  The population has shrunk to a mere 13,000, and out of over a hundred clans, only less than thirty survive.  Disagreements between individual Hopis and Hopi villages abound on how the Hopi nation should cope with the modern world.  What Ruben came to realize was that Hopis should return to their original teachings of how to live life in balance, that they needed to move out of their egos and return to their hearts as this was the seat of power and balance.

Ruben’s mission now, as he explained, was to do everything he could to restore this balance, both in the Hopi nation and the world.  He said he began with his own life and family, and that he was now reaching out to his fellow Hopi and to those beyond the reservation.  This has often resulted in attacks by other Hopis, accusing him of just pursuing money, consorting with non-Hopis, and not caring about his people.  Ruben said that this has been very painful for him and there have been times when he has felt like abandoning his mission.  When he received the invitation to come to Sedona to participate in the events with Khenpo, however, he felt like a new door had been opened, and his enthusiasm to continue was renewed.  On Sunday morning he saw the snow and heard the traffic reports, but he felt certain that this meeting was meant to happen, so he set out.  As he and his sons approached Flagstaff, a pure white hawk flew directly over his car, so he felt certain that everything would be auspicious.  And indeed, I-17 was reopened by the time he got to Flagstaff, and he was able to safely drive down the mountain to Sedona.

Ruben then talked about the location of the stupa and explained how this area had been known to his people long ago.  They thought it was extraordinarily beautiful, but they chose not to live there because they knew that someday someone would take the land from them for its beauty.  After a short stay, they proceeded on their way to their permanent home on the Hopi Mesas, which are shaped like a hand.  He said that building a stupa in this place is a wonderful way to honor its sacredness.

Then Ruben and his sons donned their traditional Hopi dress and prepared to sing.  First Ruben blessed the stupa, Khenpo, and the audience with condor and eagle feathers, representing the 500 year-old prophecy of the coming together of the ancient teachings of the North (eagle) with those of the South (condor) – in other words, the joining of the ancient wisdom of the Indian tribes of the North, such as the Hopi, with those of the South, the Incas, Aztecs, Mayas.  Then he and his sons formally introduced themselves, first in Hopi, then in English.  They proceeded to sing several traditional Hopi songs dedicated to bear, deer and other native animals, accompanied by drum and rattle.  The songs evinced the beauty of the high windswept mesas where the Hopi found their permanent home, evoking a feeling of ancient wisdom and a connection to the earth that has been largely lost in our modern, hyperactive world.

Several photographs taken at the time of the songs reveal miraculous images of rainbow light and bindus – small orbs of energy which, according to Khenpo (who took the picture seen here), are signs of the auspiciousness of the two traditions coming together.  Jetsunma, who followed the day’s events closely via texting and photographs,  added, “Here are two Ancient Tribes returning.”  She went on to say, “This is so auspicious!!!  I cannot tell you!”

The ancient prophecies are coming true before our eyes.  EH MA HO!

This article was written by Thubten Palzang

A New World

by

By Thubten Rinchen Palzang:

A NEW WORLD

It has become clear that the entire world is out of balance, and the only way to restore it is to return to balance.  Ruben Saufkie Sr, a Hopi singer and activist, is trying his best to do just that.  Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo, an American Buddhist teacher, is trying her best to do just that.  On Sunday,  February 27th, 2011 – Dakini Day – these two paths intersected at the Amitabha Stupa in Sedona, Arizona.  It was a most auspicious day for the whole world.

How do we return balance to a world that is increasingly out of balance?  Ruben says that it is vital for his people to return to the old ways so that they can return to balance and heal the social ills that threaten the very existence of the Hopi.  The same is true in Tibet where the Tibetan elders, the lamas and tulkus, see a return to the traditional Tibetan way of life as the only way to save their people.  But it is a hard sell.  Living according to the laws of Maasaw or following the Dharma is not easy.  It is hard work.  It means dealing with one’s own poisons, which is never attractive or fun.  The so-called modern world is much more flashy and appealing, particularly to the young people.  They fall prey to its allures and forget the old ways.  The result is suffering and the end of their way of life.

In the Hopi religion, it is said that the people came to this world, the Fourth World, when the people of the Third World had strayed from the teachings of Maasaw, the caretaker of the land.  Some Hopi  say that the people who had remained in balance in the Third World were led to the Fourth World, the present world, through a sipapu, or navel, located in the Grand Canyon, a rock that is still present in the Canyon.  Other Hopi say that when the people arrived in the Fourth World all they saw was water stretching in every direction, and the people had to make a long sea voyage before finding the mountainous shores of the new world.

Maasaw had been appointed the head of the Third World by the other deities, but he had become a little self-important himself and lost his humility.  The other deities decided to give him another chance in the Fourth World.  When the people arrived on the shores of the Fourth World, Maasaw told them to separate into clans and make a series of migrations guided by the stars.  Eventually they would meet the other clans again and settle in the center of the world.  Maasaw gave the clans sacred tablets to guide them on their journey.

Not all of the clans who began the migrations completed them.  Only those who “kept the door on top of their heads” open, those who understood the purpose and meaning of the migrations – purification, completed them and settled in their present homeland, the Hopi Mesas of Northern Arizona.

Many Hopi even today live the old way of balance, but many have been lured by the temporary pleasures of the world around them and have lost their balance.  The high incidence of alcoholism and drug abuse on the reservation and social problems including sexual abuse and domestic violence threaten the very fabric of Hopi society.  The situation on the Hopi reservation reflects that of other indigenous societies, including Tibet, where the people struggle to maintain their way of life in the face of “modernity”.  As cultural values fall, the people become lost and forget how to live in balance.   The Hopi believe that the people failed to live in balance in three previous worlds, and each time they had to start over again in a new world.  Is there to be a Fifth World, or can we finally learn to live in balance in this world?

Caretaking the earth and living in balance are two hallmarks of both the Tibetan and Hopi cultures.  Joining together the two cultures is something that has been foretold by prophecy and is said to be key to the survival of life on earth.  It is the sincere wish of Jetsunma and her sangha, along with Ruben and the other Hopis who are working to achieve this goal, that this auspicious meeting will be the beginning of a fruitful long-term relationship that will ultimately benefit all sentient beings.  Jetsunma has had a strong interest in the Hopi for years and has visited the Hopi Mesas several times.  She vowed to Ruben and the Hopi people that she will do anything to help them restore their balance, including building a stupa on Hopi land to help the process.

This may be a good time to remind ourselves of the Caretaker Vow written by Jetsunma nearly 25 years ago:

We the Caretakers of the Earth, dedicate ourselves to the liberation and salvation of all sentient beings.

We vow to work for the liberation of planet earth from the clutches of suffering, poverty, famine and death. We vow to return in whatever form necessary, under whatever necessary conditions, so that all earth creatures can be liberated from the ravages of cyclic existence.

We vow to work for world peace. We vow to work for the raising of all nations of earth into a state of union and ultimately into the blessed state of supreme wisdom, the wisdom that is beyond all description.

We vow to work toward a great Universal Quickening of mind and heart, leading all beings to a state of clarity, a state in which Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion, is enthroned within all hearts and within the planetary heart.

We vow to offer as food and drink to all sentient beings the clear, sweet Dharma so that they may feast and be satisfied at last. We offer our bodies, our speech, and our minds to be filled like bowls with Dharma that in our joy we will spill over into the waiting hearts of all our brethren. May their suffering cease forever.

To all the blessed Tathagatas, to all the root Lamas, to all the Sangha, to all the caretakers, grant us the strength to continue, the clarity to overcome self-cherishing, the determination to return forever until we are the last, and finally, the grace to find our way home.

May the Dharma take root in the West, on the Earth, and in hearts of all sentient beings. So be it.

May we all join in the fulfillment of these aspirations!  EH MA HO!

WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com