Motivation | Tibetan Buddhist Altar

In Your Hands

April 2, 2018 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

An Excerpt from a teaching called Our Motivation Is For Those Who Have Hopes of Us by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

When you practice you should think of all the uncountable beings who through ages and ages of wandering and endless revolution in cyclic existence you have had some either meaningful or meaningless contact with. I can tell you for certain — absolute certain — that there will come a day when you will see them again. And due to the purity of your intention and due to the strength of your practice, you will hold them in your hands. And it’s only your compassion and your love that will be of benefit to them. You will be able to bring them to the end of their suffering. You have to remember that — and practice accordingly.

You have to remember that now you don’t have the power to look into the eyes of even your own children, your most beloved ones — your lovers, your husbands, your wives — you don’t have the power to look into their eyes and say, “I will always take care of you. I will follow you. I will make sure that you’re all right.” You can’t promise even your babies that you will feed them always. You can’t make them that promise because they will die, and you don’t have — if you don’t have the practice — the power to see that they are happy in the next life. There’s only one way you can keep that promise. And that is through the sincerity and purity of your intention and through your practice. But you can do that. Due to Guru Rinpoche’s blessing, these things you can do now.

You can make prayers that in a future life you’ll be able to take those you now love so dearly in your hands and hold them until they achieve realization, that they will find the Dharma and be sure-footed on the path. And the potency of that prayer will make a difference. During the course of your life you should practice, knowing for certain that you are responsible for them, knowing for certain that you will hold them in your hands. Knowing for certain that that’s the only way that love of any kind can be meaningful.

So you should come to the Dharma with the heart of a child, hoping that in the future you will be able to free from suffering those with whom you’ve come into contact. The lamas teach us that the ones we love will someday be in our hands. Now is the time to practice so that we don’t let them down. Do not abandon them. Do not forget them. Hold them as carefully as you hold your own breath, and with more concern. Because if you practice now, you will see them again. Remember they are the ones who have hopes of you.

The Morning After…

February 5, 2018 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Essence of Devotion”

Let’s say that you have suddenly woken up at the party. And you looked outside and you saw this horror—horror that people that you love and respect and know are doing their very best, are trying so hard, are not able to make themselves happy. And you see the suffering. You see hunger. You see poverty. Read the paper, it’s all there—hunger, poverty, sickness, diseases that we can’t cure, and more coming every day. So many different kinds of horrible suffering! Let’s say at the party you woke up and you saw that. And then suddenly you looked at yourself and you thought, “Why am I dressed like this! I look more stupid than I can possibly imagine! This is stupid!” And you realize that you put so much effort into this, beating yourself up and getting the right connections and going to the party, and getting there in time, having a good time. You realize you’ve spent so much energy on that and you feel like… I hate to use this example but, let’s say you ate a couple of tablespoons of nice warm mayonnaise. Bleh. That kind of cloying feeling in your mouth. Isn’t that disgusting? That’s how you’d feel. That’s how you’d feel. You look at yourself, and you look at what’s going on, and you look at the suffering out there and you look at the silly amusement—the silly things that hook us, that make us respond, the ridiculous things that make up our particular individual kind of party—and suddenly you feel like you’re sick of it.

There’s a feeling once you study the suffering of sentient beings and the horror of cyclic existence. It becomes a little bit nauseating, sickening in your mouth. You’ve been eating it your whole life, sickening. You look at yourself go through cycle after cycle of unfulfilling or sometimes negative bad relationships and you just wonder when you’re going to get the big picture, when you’re going to wise up. It suddenly seems like your own lust and your own neediness are kind of like a little sickening. Maybe not all the way yet, but not so cool.

Suddenly you look at yourself and you realize that you’re kind of like a kid, just wearing clothes that are inappropriate. It reminds me of what little kids do. My daughter is not here so I can talk about her again. Sometimes she likes to play dress up, you know. She’s goes into a closet and pulls out everything that doesn’t match and all of the funny clothes that young people think are very dramatic. We took her out for dinner with her friend last night and what they wanted to wear was a funny-looking skirt and blouse that didn’t match, cowboy boots, a cowboy hat, and pants underneath it. It was just a very strange outfit. At this party you kind of look like that. You know, we look at ourselves and we go, “Who put this on me? How did this happen?” It’s that kind of feeling.

So at that point one needs to build on that first inkling of reality, that first inkling of renunciation. That first inkling is precious. It’s like the first taste of pure water in your mouth. Let’s say you are a person who, for your whole life, has had nothing to eat or drink other than, let’s say, salt water, sugar water, nasty foods, warm mayonnaise, things like that that just don’t feel good in your mouth, and suddenly someone gives you just a bit of this precious, sweetest, coolest water to drink—mountain water, pure mountain water. How delicious would that be! Cool and sweet in a natural way. Your mouth maybe can’t even take it in. You’re used to that other stuff and you can’t even take it in, but something inside of you says, “Yes. Yes. This is it!”

Letting Go of Judgment

January 6, 2017 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Bodhicitta”

We should begin to think of these teachings that the Buddha has given us in such a way that we awaken within ourselves a real caring for the well-being of sentient beings. If you saw a tiny rabbit caught in a trap, and its leg was bleeding and bruised, I know that you would open the trap and let the rabbit be free. If you saw a child that was really hungry, hopefully you would be not in the circumstance where you would make all kinds of judgments about that hunger, such as, if you looked at a bum who was drinking alcohol or something like that where your discursive mind got in the way. But if you just looked at a child, just a child, a helpless child, who was hungry; if you had food on your plate, I know that you would give some to that child. In this way, you should think of other sentient beings and begin to, through utilizing that kind of thought, understand their plight. It is most necessary to understand their plight, and through that begin to polish away the dirt and the filth that covers that precious jewel which is our inherent nature.

We should take a hold of ourselves in such a way that we do not feel separate from Bodhicitta as though it were a thing that we have to get, but instead begin to develop the understanding that ultimately it is the awakened state. Because of supreme awakening, we will understand fully the faults of cyclic existence. We will understand absolutely the awakening that is the cessation of all suffering and be naturally and completely motivated to bring about the end of suffering for all sentient beings, because at the same time, we will understand that the self that we cling to, the one that causes us to think only of selfish concern, this self is also illusory.

Having realized that, there is literally nothing to do other than to emanate in a form or to engage in miraculous activity that brings about the liberation of all sentient beings. So this activity is not something we do when we get kind. It isn’t something that we collect as though it were wisdom. It is the natural state of awakening.

Do It Because You MUST

April 29, 2016 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

Here are some thoughts that we do not accomplish because initially they are uncomfortable. They are painful. We do not want to know this. We have this idea when we’re young, that by the time we get to be an adult we’re going to have all the answers. And in fact you do have all the answers, until you’re about 25. Before that you’re omnipotent you see, and then when you’re 25 you’re no longer omnipotent. Do you know why that is? Because you have a brain that has finally started to grow in your cranium. Before that it was only brain buds. So now that you’re about 25 you’re beginning to realize that you don’t have all the answers and the omniscience, the supreme omniscience that you were afflicted with earlier, is dissipating.

That happened to me too. When I was little I used to think when I grow up, I’m going to be completely comfortable. I thought when I have children I’m going to raise them just this way; and I will never do this and I will always do this. Who has had good luck with that I want to know? Have you ever heard yourself yelling at your kid and you find out you are your mother? You have turned into your mother for real! Well, that kind of thing has happened. Also, you grow up and you think, when I grow up I’m going to have all of the answers. When I grow up I’m going to be secure. When I grow up I’ll have financial things worked out. It’s all going to come together for me. When you’re young you think like that. And when you’re older you realize almost none of it is going to come together for you, almost none of it. Some, yeah. There are good things in life. There are good things in samsara, but you realize that it’s not what it seems to be.

As practitioners this is really what you have to take away with you. As a practitioner, you cannot fall into the trap that we as younger people fall into. You can’t stay there very long. And you that are younger, you need to create the habit of thinking about this: Samsara is a deluded experience. It’s like a narcotic. It fools you. It creates a way for you to look in the mirror at 45 with dyed hair and think “I’m not dead yet!” Instead of pinching your cheeks for a little blush, putting on your lipstick and bouncing out of the house like you did when you were 18 or 20, after 45 minutes with the makeup, you look at yourself, blink twice, hope that the eyelashes don’t stick together, and go “I’m not dead yet!” again. You can’t stay like that. You cannot keep yourself in that childlike, ridiculous idea. You must, at some point in your life, realize that life is going by very quickly and that you are going by with it, and there is not a moment to be wasted.

When it comes to who should practice and who should not practice, it is not for you to practice to impress your friends. It is not for you to practice because I want you to practice and it would please me. Certainly not. It is not for you to practice because you’ll be cheek by jowl with the other people who are practicing. It is for you to practice because this is the nature of your situation. You are involved in the cycle of death and rebirth. Life passes quickly and if you do not prepare for your next life, your next life will not be what you want it to be. There is a very good chance that you will end up with a lower rebirth or a rebirth of extreme suffering. So, when you think about why you should embrace spirituality, particularly when you think why you should embrace the path of Dharma, don’t do it for me. Don’t do it for the temple. Don’t do it because it’s cool. Do it because you must.

Why Enlightenment Matters

September 15, 2014 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

After practicing Aspirational Bodhicitta, you will move into Practical Bodhicitta. Practical Bodhicitta is where one actually attempts and begins actually to develop the technology or method by which the cessation of suffering can be brought about.

Again, back to the foundational teachings of the Buddha: The Buddha teaches us that the sufferings that we see and think we understand the causes for are only symptomatic of a deeper suffering; and that deeper suffering is actually the faults of cyclic existence. These are the real sufferings: Impermanence; the fact that cyclic existence has nothing inherent within it that leads to the end of suffering. These things are the faults of cyclic existence.

Having understood the faults of cyclic existence, we must then think what the Buddha has told us: Only enlightenment brings about the cessation of suffering. And to carry that further, only an enlightened being, and ultimately a supremely realized being, can truly bring about the end of suffering. So you have to consider Practical Bodhicitta in more than one way. You must actually consider that you wish to accomplish whatever means will bring about the cessation of suffering for all sentient beings: whatever practices will bring about the end of suffering; whatever methods. You have to employ these methods; but you must also think that your own enlightenment then becomes significant. Even if you are thinking only of sentient beings—and that is the proper motivation—even if you are thinking only of motherly sentient beings and their suffering and not thinking of your own suffering so much, if you have come to that profound level of Aspiration Bodhicitta because of entering into the phase of Practical Bodhicitta and the need for you to accomplish enlightenment in order to lead other beings to enlightenment, then one’s own enlightenment becomes significant. And that is the real reason why one’s own enlightenment becomes significant. Yes, it’s true that each of us wishes to be free of suffering. But from the point of view of Bodhicitta, the proper motivation for practice then is the cessation of suffering for all sentient beings.

An excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Bodhicitta”

Heart Advice on Saga Dawa Duchen 2013

May 30, 2013 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is a full length video teaching offered by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo on Saga Dawa Duchen 2013. Kunzang Palyul Choling temple is currently closed for public assembly due to required renovations to meet Montgomery County, Maryland Use and Occupancy Codes. Read more about the situation here.

Freedom from Fear

April 20, 2012 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

The need for power is born of fear.
The need for hateful speech is born of fear.
There is no good reason for hate.
The reason for arrogance is fear. There is no other reason and it makes fear worse.
Mean speech is ugly and unseemly and also born of fear. It is hurtful to the receiver and deadly to the sender.
Look at your twitter stream. If hateful and full of judgment and making fun at the expense of others, hard life lessons are at your door.
Desire for another’s goods or life is due to fear that you will never accomplish anything meaningful. Only obsession results.
It is possible to have a singularly beautiful life with simply wishing everything good for everyone else- sincerely.
Try to see the Buddha, or Christ in all beings. Then feed and care for them the best you can.
I teach you even if you think meanly about me. Why? Because I love you. I love you. I want you to be happy and well.

Examining Motivation

April 12, 2012 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

If you feel you must whine and put others down, it’s time to examine your motivation in life. Are you here to harm others? If you value character and goodness, stop childish behavior. Stop thinking it’s all about you. That is foolish thinking and wrong view.

To say all life is one and consciousness is all and then act out calling names, and such, makes you a hypocrite. And you are calling all beings, including yourself, those names. If you turn people against others you are a waste of breath. Or want what others have: foolish!

I see all this on twitter and hope people will wake up at last!

Keep Your Practice Alive: Full Length Video Teaching

December 2, 2011 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is a full length video teaching offered by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo at Kunzang Palyul Choling:

For us in the west the most important part of Dharma practice is within your heart. Practicing the foundational thoughts that turn the mind will help you keep that alive.