practice | Tibetan Buddhist Altar

Walk the Talk

December 16, 2015 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

An excerpt from a teaching called How Buddhism Differs from Other Religions by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The most glorious thing about the Buddha Dharma is that you don’t wait for a blessing outside of you for permission or the grace to ascend to the heavens for no apparent reason. That’s the great thing about Dharma. It’s real. In the Dharma you are given the tools that you need to change the circumstances of your life, and to change the condition of your consciousness as well. And the way that that happens of course is through our practice.

The difference between our own religion, which is basically a non-theistic religion and other religions, is that other religions see a blessing from outside. They wait for a redeemer who will make it okay no matter what their activity is. For instance, in my family my stepfather was Catholic, and he was an alcoholic and would beat us mercilessly. We were brutalized as children. It was a terrible situation, but then we’d all tromp off to confession. Free and clear by Sunday afternoon. So, I don’t have a good feeling about that, because they were never required to change. Even the parish priest knew that my mother was getting the stew beat out of her all the time, and he would recommend confession.

We Buddhists are not like that. We believe and understand in the relationship between cause and effect. You can’t murder a handful of people and then confess and accept Jesus as your savior and be okay. We don’t believe that. You can’t accept Buddha as your savior and be okay. You can’t accept me as your savior and be okay. You have to walk the talk. You have to walk the path, and you have to practice.

Your conduct matters a great deal. What’s in your mind matters even more. And if as you practice your path your joy increases and it smoothes out for you, you know you’re getting somewhere.

In the Buddha Dharma we do not wait. We understand that there are the Buddhas and the bodhisattvas, and we are taught that there was Shakyamuni Buddha, Vajrasattva, Amitabha, and Tara. We’ve got all these different statues, and they are symbols of the Buddhas. Do they actually exist? Yes. Can you pray to them? Sure. Are they separate from you? No. That’s the difference.

Extraordinary Technology

December 15, 2015 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

An excerpt from a teaching called How Buddhism Differs from Other Religions by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

Let’s say that a practitioner has dedicated their lives to practicing everyday for the sake of sentient beings, for the happiness of sentient beings. Maintaining their samaya or commitment practice very purely, practicing everyday for the sake of sentient beings. That’s extraordinary compassion. Even though you are doing it here on earth, the method for doing that did not come from the earth. It came from the realization and the awakening of the Buddha. If not for the Buddha’s awakening, the technology would not be here. And so it’s extraordinary compassion. And as we progress along the path, the first thing that we do is to practice ordinary and extraordinary compassion. These are the two feet of the path. This is what gives you the ability to go the distance. If all you’re concerned about is yourself and your own delusions and illusions and your own BS, and really not out there for the sake of sentient beings or doing your practice every single day for the sake of sentient beings, then you’re not there yet. And that’s why we call it practice.

Nobody comes here ready to fly. Nobody. If that were the case, you wouldn’t need to come here. But you come here with a taste. There must be some old habit in you, some karma. Something that you’ve given rise to in the past that puts you here in this moment. I beg you to take advantage of it. Because in order to get to the point where you can sit at the feet of your guru, and listen to the precious Buddha dharma, and then go to New York and hear His Holiness teach the precious Buddha dharma, you must have made so many wishing prayers, and must have done so much virtuous conduct in the past. And if your path goes smoothly, then you know that you’ve done it before. And if you give rise to the Bodhicitta, then you are not a stranger to it. And this is how we know where we’ve been, and what we were like simply by looking at ourselves.

If we’re poor, we didn’t give enough. If we’re sick, we did not see to the welfare of others or caused them harm. If we are mentally incapacitated, then we caused someone or many people mental suffering in the past. Those that die young have either killed others young or caused others to die young. So these are the things that we are looking for and these are the things that we can overcome by practicing the Buddha dharma. It can be overcome.

Recipe for Results

October 5, 2015 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

As long as the idea of self exists, self will experience other with either attraction, or repulsion. There is no other way to experience other. Whether it’s subtle or not, even if you are a proponent of New Age philosophy, and are supposed to love everybody and have unconditional positive regard towards others, if you could really examine your mind with determination, courage, innocence and willingness, you would discover that you are either attracted to or repulsed by everything you see, no matter how you gloss it over. No matter what you say, the karma is still forming. That is how the consequences of one’s life actually manifest: through that constant inter-reactive relationship, through that interplay, through attraction and repulsion, through desire. That’s how it’s possible for you to be born. That’s how it’s possible for you to do things you feel uncontrollably forced to do.

Even if we are so convinced that we know all of these teachings, don’t we still get into trouble? Don’t we find that we react to circumstances in a way that is not skillful? Don’t we, in fact, on an on-going basis make everything worse? I mean, it’s true, if we are honest with ourselves. Every time we react, we make things worse. Even when we can’t see that we’ve made things worse, I’m telling you this is the truth: we are constantly compounding the karma of our own minds. Even if in retrospect, we could see that we should have been loving, and we should have been kind and good, blah, blah, blah, blah, still, we are compulsive about it. We are what we are. We are ‘feeling junkies.’ We are hooked on sensual experience. And we react to it.

What then is the answer? If all of this is true, and desire is the foundation of all suffering, then what if the Buddha is right? What if all of suffering comes from the belief in self-nature? Will it do to pacify our minds with positive thinking? Will it do to walk around with the idea or the New Age philosophy saying, “Oh, I’m already enlightened because I understand I am the creator, or one.” I’d have to say you’re talking about two selves there. You’re talking about ‘creator’ and ‘I,’ and so long as there is distinction, so long as there is the belief in self-nature, you still have desire. You still have attraction and repulsion. You still have hope and fear. You haven’t gone yet into a deep and profound understanding of the emptiness of self-nature. Of course, we have to do that through meditation. There is no ordinary language or ordinary experience that will teach us that profound understanding.

The best thing to do, actually, is to find a qualified teacher who can begin to help you, not only in terms of giving you the words – the verbal teachings – but also some kind of virtuous or valuable energy transmission. On the Vajrayana path, that is done through the transmission of the lineage. The teachings on the nature of emptiness, the teachings on the generation-stage practices, all of the different teachings that we receive here, are passed down through a lineage. That lineage originates in the mind of enlightenment, in the primordial state. It then is transmitted to us. It doesn’t stop there. The minute we receive an empowerment, we’re not going to instantly become enlightened. I wish it were that easy, but it is not. At that point, we are qualified to practice, and it is through the practice and our meditation – with the help of the transmission of the lineage – that we will achieve results.

Practicing Recognition

September 3, 2015 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

An excerpt from the Mindfulness workshop given by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo in 1999

As a teacher, sometimes I’ve had the opportunity to bring a student to task, to say, “Look, you’re all spaced out. You’re working hard, you’re going through the motions, but you’re not practicing. There’s no inner practice happening here.” The first thing that the student will do is get defensive, and the reason why they’ll get defensive is because they’re dancing as fast as they can. A student will look at me and say, “Well, what the hell do you want? I’m dancing as fast as I can. In the way that I understand, I’m working real hard.” I won’t argue that with you, not for a minute. You’re right. You’re dancing as fast as you can; you’re working really hard; but the difference is you are not practicing recognition. Even if you spend two hours a day practicing and then you leave it to go live the rest of your life, that is still a state of non-recognition, and you are not truly practicing.

What is required here is a deeper understanding, a deeper awareness, and a more profound grasp of the realities that we are facing. Once again, our habitual pattern is to say, “Oh, this person is doing this and that person is doing that and that makes this person like this and that person like that.” but the way to practice is to understand that these things we see are the all-pervasive faults of cyclic existence; this person that you’re seeing is like a bee in a jar, just hitting the glass, boom-boom-boom-boom-boom. Does the bee know what’s going on? The bee is trying to fly. The bee is trying to do what bees know how to do, but being in a glass jar, like samsara, all it can do is bash its head against the glass. There’s no way for that bee to figure its way out. That is the condition of samsaric beings, and awakening to that recognition is really the only way that we can give rise to the bodhicitta, give rise to compassion. Otherwise we are simply acting compassionate, which means, “I am the star of the show.” We are still in that deeply deluded state. We’re just acting differently, but acting is still acting.

Force and Energy of the Buddhas

January 1, 2015 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching offered by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo during a Phowa retreat:

The wrathful deities are the same pure, holy, primordial wisdom nature that is your nature. They’re fully awakened. They are just as terrific as the guys that sit around looking fancy in their robes. But these deities, when you see them, will look terrifying, because what you are seeing is a visual display, or a visual indication of the quality that they are displaying. That is the quality that they are displaying registering in your eyes. That and none other—it is your eyes that do the interpreting. Now when we see them artfully drawn for our purposes, we see them in a way that we can interpret. We see them with skull necklaces and we see them with animal skins on them. We see them with a mala or necklace of dead skulls, and then we see some of them with necklaces of freshly severed heads. I mean, really, what an outfit! Myself, I wouldn’t mix gold and silver, and I wouldn’t mix dead heads with fresh heads, just seems inappropriate to me. But anyway, that’s different! Anybody listening? Or is it thunder outside, huh? So, they appear to us in a form that we can understand. We are to understand, for instance, that the mala of freshly killed heads indicates the death of ego. I mean, he didn’t run around and chop off heads and make a necklace. This is an indication of the death of ego, you see. So a functional display is what that is.

Now you will see the wrathful deities in the bardo also with a similar functional display; and it may look exactly the way the thangkas look, or it may look slightly different according to your individual interpretation. But guaranteed, when you see the wrathful deities, the first tendency will be to run and be frightened because you are looking at the activity of the Buddhas. If we were to jump up and down in our ordinary bodies and make as much noise as we possibly could, we would still be only gathering together samsaric powers. You see what I’m saying? We’d only be using what we have right now to use, and that’s not even all of our brains, let alone all of our nature. We’re not even awake to our nature. So we’d only be able to use this kind of power. And yet we could make a fearsome din if we really tried, couldn’t we? Well, think about, then, the wrathful deities. They are expounding all of the forcefulness of the Buddha nature as it transforms ignorance into bliss, and it’s being displayed. Well, it’s going to be noisy, it’s going to be really dramatic, it’s going to be impressive, it’s going to be colorful, and it’s going to be unusual as hell! Because there is nothing usual or ordinary that we have ever seen that can, in fact, pop us from ignorance into bliss. So you must prepare yourself for the seeing of the wrathful deities.

Those of you who practice Vajrakilaya and have taken the time to purify your minds through the actual visualization of Vajrakilaya, will then become familiar, even if you do not recognize Vajrakilaya per se, which may happen, because in the bardo state one of the things that you’re fighting is the same thing you’re fighting when you’re sleepy in practice. To the degree that you are able to overcome sleepiness in practice and while you are receiving teachings, to that degree you will have clarity in the bardo. Doesn’t that scare you! To the degree that you have the dullness and the lethargy and the inability to stay awake during class and the inability to stay awake during practice, you have in the bardo a funny kind of… Y know how it is when you’re either practicing or just waking up during the practice, when you try to remember what the visualization is and your mind kind of slides off of it? You know what I’m talking about? You sort of get the visualization and suddenly it’s almost like you fell off. It’s slippery almost, and you find yourself someplace else. Well, you’re kind of half in and out of the bardo of dreaming there, believe it or not; not too well in the bardo of concentration or meditation. You’re kind of half in the bardo of dreaming, and the mind has this slip-slidey kind of funniness, a jelly-like quality that sort of runs everywhere. Well it’s the same thing in the bardo. So you may look at Vajrakilaya and if your practice has not been that good you may not actually truly recognize Vajrakilaya and what that is. But you may be able to center on one small object, like, let’s say, the phurba that Vajrakilaya holds. That may key you and you just recognize the hand implement. All you have to do is take refuge in the hand implement. That is the first step, and it will lead to liberation in the bardo. Recognizing the meaning of the hand implement, thinking to yourself, “That is the very phurba that will pierce the ignorance of my mind. I see that, I want that.” The devotion comes up, like ‘that is the phurba that will pierce the veil.’ You look at that phurba and with the force of your own inner awareness that you still have in the bardo state, you will go toward that phurba. And that is liberation through recognition.

That is the kind of thing that happens with the blessing of generation stage practice, but, remember, you have to be prepared and forewarned for the movement, dynamism, the dramatic display of the wrathful deities. They are the force and activity of the Buddhas. What do you think that’s going to look like! That’s a big deal. That’s a big deal. That is equal to the force that it takes to liberate all sentient beings. It’s got to be more forceful then Hiroshima, any bomb that we have ever seen, the biggest bombs that we can imagine. It must be more forceful than that. Therefore, prepare yourself to recognize the blessing of the wrathful energy of the Buddhas.

The Path to a Joyful Mind

November 10, 2014 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Take Control of Your Life”

On the Vajrayana Path, the teacher will say, “I will beat you to death if you don’t straighten up. I will just take a stick to you.” You know, His Holiness [Penor Rinpoche] is famous for doing that. He once had a Tulku who was dying and this Tulku was someone that His Holiness had a lot of hopes in. Obviously there was some obstacle to his life. What was it? We don’t know. But His Holiness realized the Tulku was dying. So he went in to see the Tulku, and the Tulku must have said something that brought up His Holiness’ awareness of this obstacle. His Holiness took off his mala and starting beating him with his mala, just beating him and beating him. And the next day, the Tulku was completely well.

Sometimes the lamas are wrathful in order to remove obstacles. Sometimes the lamas are so wrathful that they are more wrathful than any parent we’ve ever had and we see that. Or we love the lama so much that the wrathfulness of the lama seems like a big stick and we can hardly bear it. Or the disappointment of our lama seems like a big stick and we can hardly bear that. Then sometimes the lama says, “You are such a special being. You are so intrinsically special, even your karma is special. You are special to me. I love you so much. Come here. Come on.” And the lama says, “I love you.” And the lama says, “I know you.” And the lama says, “I see your heart. Feel that?” And the lama says, “I have great gifts to give you. Dharma is beautiful. It’s a joy to practice. It’s everything the Buddha has offered. I’ll set this immense banquet in front of you and you can eat the food of Dharma. How beautiful.”

Of course the lama neglects to mention that Dharma is difficult, that the path is hard, that the things that we have to face about ourselves are horrible and ugly and the things that we have to change about ourselves are very hard work. It’s very hard to change that ego-cherishing into pure generosity and bodhichitta. It’s so hard. The lama may invite you to have some tea. But if you have real potential, the lama’s going to smack you upside the head and say, “Straighten out, buddy. That’s not the way to practice Dharma.” And that’s the part that we should be grateful for. Not only should we not get mad because that would be a big mistake; but instead we should say, this is the very nectar of the Buddha’s teachings. The Buddha has instructed us how to ‘wake-up’ and now we must do the work of waking up. When we practice Dharma, Dharma is something that we practice 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. There’s no Sunday in Dharma. We’re just practicing the habits of our culture [having teachings on Sunday] and we know that you work. Otherwise, there’s no Sunday in Dharma. Dharma is every day. We shouldn’t come here to see an altar; there should be an altar in our homes. To come here and practice is wonderful. We welcome you with open hearts and open arms; but this should not be the only place you practice. You should maintain your practice every day.

This is the way to be happy. Because if you create the habit of practicing and doing some Dharma, making prayers and offerings, practicing say, Ngöndro every day, or even just reciting Seven Line Prayer every day, the mind begins to change. It’s less inflamed, less needy, less concerned with what you want, less concerned with bad habits. The mind begins to change in such a way that it’s less inflamed, more relaxed. And a more relaxed and spacious mind is the prescription for a more joyful mind.

Pick Up the Shovel

November 5, 2014 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Take Control of Your Life”

When we create a close relationship with our teacher on the path of Vajrayana—once we have examined the teacher’s qualities and have decided for ourselves that this is indeed the root guru—then we must follow. If the root guru can teach us Buddhism, they have to have something of that same capacity [as the Buddha]. Now maybe the root guru can see what it is that’s brought us here—the suffering that’s brought us here, and the accomplishment. The root guru looks at you and sees you are Buddha, and yet you suffer. So the root guru says, “I wish to teach you how to live, how to practice, so that your suffering ends and so that you can benefit others.” Nowhere else is one taught that way: understanding the true nature, one’s appearance and one’s nature that is empty. Therefore only the Buddha is the appropriate guide.

The Buddha teaches us that everything is about karma. It’s about choices; it’s about cause and effect; it’s about realizing one’s nature and remaining stable in the bliss of emptiness. If we remain stable in that, we are free to examine any part of our lives. And most of all, first and foremost, we should examine our minds.

The Buddha has taught us that first, and most importantly, we should establish our motivation,. And our motivation is based on the first teaching of Lord Buddha—that all beings are equal in their nature. All beings. That they are all suffering and yet what they all have in common is that they all equally wish to be happy. The smallest worm, anything with consciousness in its own way, in its own language, is striving to be happy. Then the Buddha teaches us the pristine message—the message of hope and the one that allows us to practice at last. The Buddha says, “All beings are suffering, but there is an end to suffering, and that end is called enlightenment.”

Beyond that, Lord Buddha says we must examine our minds, our intention. This is profound work; this is deep work. You can’t practice a little Dharma over here and commit a little adultery over here. You can’t practice a little Dharma over here and have someone in your life whom you know doesn’t have a bite to eat and not help them. You can’t practice a little Dharma over here and have no respect for the Sangha or the temple or the teacher. In other words, Dharma’s not like a pretty little high church package. Even though we have bunches of fancy things around here, it isn’t like you walk into a giant temple and go, “Oh, I’m moved emotionally, and it’s Sunday. I did it. I’m a good Buddhist.” No. That’s not Dharma. “I came on Sunday, I sang some songs and I’m impressed with the church. Now I’m going home.” No, that’s not Dharma.

Dharma is different. When we see these objects that are beautiful and magical and we see the brocade and we see the statues, yes, it thrills our hearts and we recognize on some level that something very precious and beautiful is here. But the Buddha didn’t tell us to sit around and think about how things are precious and beautiful in the temple. The Buddha taught us that Dharma isn’t like a beautiful package of golden brocade. Dharma is a knife, and it’s meant to cut. It has a sharp edge, and it’s not always painless. Dharma teaches us that the honest truth is that non-virtuous activity and habitual patterns will only lead us to more unhappiness. That means we have to go in there with a shovel and a pick axe and start changing our minds.

Vairocana

December 24, 2014March 25, 2014 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo offered during a Phowa retreat:

On the first day, it is Vairochana Buddha that will appear. He either manifests in the form of a Buddha, according to our beliefs, should we have the capacity to recognize, or he will manifest in the form of dazzling blue lights and geometric shapes. These dazzling blue lights are just that—they are dazzling. They are unlike anything we have ever seen on the physical level. They will knock you for a loop. Literally knock you for a loop. It will be unlike anything you have ever seen. The ultimate light show, friends. And it will be different than you have ever seen it. So one needs to practice in order to be able to recognize the nature that is Vairochana Buddha.

At the same time that this almost violent, dazzling, ultra-dazzling blue light will appear, another softer white light will appear. The softer and white light will be more welcoming, but this softer white light corresponds to the world of the gods. Do not follow. Go to that light which is dazzling, perhaps more unfamiliar, perhaps more frightening. Call out to the Buddha. Try not to take the easiest way out, but ask yourself, require yourself to recognize the Buddha. If the person seeing this has no idea of what is happening, the sheer brightness of the light of the Buddha is somehow terrifying. If they haven’t practiced, you see, they are unused to it, so it is terrifying; and one will be more inclined to follow the light of the worlds of the gods, as it is soft and pleasing. So beware of that.

Here are the two correct attitudes, according to this lama, that are very helpful to adopt in order to face the situation. The first one consists of becoming conscious that the blinding blue light manifests the presence of Vairochana Buddha. So we pray every day from now until the time of our death, and especially around the time of our death, that he will dispel the suffering and phenomena of the bardo. And particularly when we see him, when we see this very bright blue light or when we recognize that the Buddha is present, we pray to him and ask him to dispel the delusion and make the way clear for us. The second method requires more profound knowledge than the first one. The first one, you only have to have heard; literally, you now have enough to do that. You have heard, and through the force of your caring about this hearing and wanting to internalize it, it is that force that will make you remember that you have heard that Vairochana will appear at this time. Now you know that. You are expecting to be in the bardo; you are expecting to see light that you are uncomfortable with. You are expecting to see things you do not recognize or feel familiar with, and you will know not to be afraid. That’s the first way, you see.

The second way requires more knowledge than the first way, and it involves recognizing that the light which appears that is Vairochana has no external existence separate from oneself. That it is the manifestation of one of the five Buddhas present within our own mind. And he says here that, “Their manifested aspects are externally expressed, but in truth their light has no intrinsic external existence.” This blue is actually the luminosity of our own minds; yet we cannot recognize it because we have not become familiar with our own minds. And so the second method, in order to get through this particular aspect of the bardo, is to recognize that this has no inherent existence outside of ourselves. That this is, in fact, a display of our own inherent Buddha nature, and in that way, to become familiar with it and non-dual. Remaining fully aware that the light and the mind are one will free us from the suffering of the bardo. On the other hand, if we are enticed by the white light of the god realm, we will be seduced to be reborn as a long life god—the god that lives a long time and smells good and looks good, feels good, but then eventually, pffft., A bad end to that vacation. So we do not wish to be reborn in the god realm. Do not go for instant gratification in this case. Trust me on this one.

The Seven Line Prayer as Practice

September 15, 2013 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “The Guru Is Your Diamond”

Likewise, when the student accepts the teacher, they must honor that vow and they must make a similar vow in their own way. That vow is contained in The Seven Line Prayer. “Following you, I will practice.” Even though the prayer is directly to Guru Rinpoche, the prayer has an inner, outer and secret level of meaning. So we recite it thinking of Guru Rinpoche on a lotus and having the intention, hopefully, to understand that even though this appears as Guru Rinpoche on the lotus, it is inseparable from our own root gurus—same nature, same taste, same essence, same uncontrived primordial essence. And so, every time we recite the prayer to Guru Rinpoche, The Seven Line Prayer, we reconfirm that entire process: recognizing that Guru Rinpoche was the one who came from Orgyen; that he was born on a lotus in an extraordinary way. This is like our saying, ‘I understand that this is not ordinary. I understand that this did not happen as ordinary births, as ordinary conditions happen. And so having understood, I also promise to follow and to practice.’ And then we ask for the Guru’s blessing, Guru Pedma Siddhi Hung. Guru Pedma, grant me your blessings.

There is so much condensed into the power of that little prayer that I make you say again and again and again. There’s so much. One can go so deeply with just that one prayer. One can move through the stages of recognition to a depth that we didn’t think we could ever reach. One can create that connection by reciting again and again and again, “Following you I will practice. Following you I will practice.” And so those meaningful words, even though they are simple, we can understand them more deeply and more deeply and more deeply. “Following you I will practice.” What does it even mean? Does it mean I dress like Guru Rinpoche, or act like Guru Rinpoche, or do I wear some of his funny earrings, or what do I do? (I’ve got some funny earrings on, by the way.)

That’s not it. “Following you I will practice.” First, we practice the way Guru Rinpoche practiced, for the sake of sentient beings. That’s how Guru Rinpoche practiced. He came and was born into the world for no reason other than to benefit beings. He didn’t have to come and learn; he didn’t have to come and hang out. Like Lord Buddha himself, he didn’t have to come and learn or hang out. And yet he came for the benefit of sentient beings. And so that’s the way in which we promise to practice. Not only throughout this prayer, throughout this hour that I am practicing, but throughout this day, throughout this week, throughout this month, throughout this year, throughout all my lifetimes, may I follow the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and liberate beings. We’re talking here about liberating beings from suffering. This is what Guru Rinpoche did. Yes, he taught. Yes, he hid termas. Yes, he gave us the means, the method. But the intention was about liberating sentient beings. Following you therefore I will practice.

And so that’s our commitment. We take on this tremendous commitment, this tremendous opportunity to liberate beings from the clutches and the ravages of samsara. And that means we’ll live the week like that, the month like that, the year like that, the decade like that, our lives like that. And at the time of our death, we will make prayers to be reborn following Guru Rinpoche. And in our next life, we are reborn again to continue and to benefit beings. This is the method. This is the way. This is the powerhouse. We rely on this promise, this blessing.

Link to The Seven Line Prayer with audio files for practice accumulations.

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.