Stupa | Tibetan Buddhist Altar

Incalculable Blessings for All

December 27, 2017 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

Today I thought to share with you the Prayer Wheels of KPC. Having seen them in India I fell in love with Stupas and Prayer Wheels and determined to contact a Lama who is a specialist in the necessary steps. My students became well trained in compiling and stuffing them.

These Prayer Wheels are well kept, and filled with every conceivable Vajrayana mantra. All Lamas there blessed and sealed them. Hooray!

Here they are! Glorious.

There is method here, no ordinary artist can make one. They are to spin clockwise, and circumambulated clockwise (this is me demonstrating.) As many thousands have done over the years:

We have many testimonies that the Prayer Wheels and Stupas have healed so many. Many blessings. I invite all people suffering from illness, including cancer, mental illness, HIV-Aids to make a pilgrimage here to heal and receive blessings, as well as joining our 27 year, unbroken Prayer Vigil.

Here is the main Stupa, we have several here in Poolesville, Maryland and two in Sedona which are much loved by the community:

I am happy to have offered this blessing to the people of the world, and all worlds.

Opportunity and Responsibility

March 22, 2017 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

When we go to another country and we see they are poor, maybe they have no prayer, we shouldn’t think, “Oh, I’m high and you’re low. Therefore I will teach you.” We should think like this: Lord Buddha has taught me that you are the same as me. You are Buddha but you have forgotten. Let’s remember together. This is the way. Let’s wake up together.

I promise you I will not abandon samsara so long as there is one student with one connection, however small, and difficult to return for. But I also promise you that you must do your part. You must practice Dharma every day. You must awaken to the true nature of your mind. You must create the space in your life to awaken. This is the way of happiness; this is the way of benefit. And this is what our perfect teacher has taught us.

I’m telling you these things in American words, in American ways, because I’m speaking to you. Therefore, I’m offering you the opportunity and the responsibility of hearing. So please listen and please practice, And please accept the entire banquet, not just the crumbs under the table, not just the dessert—as though you can take the dessert and not the rest of the banquet. Don’t fool yourself. Practice. Practice. Practice. Change your mind. You are here to be changed. You are here to be changed. Dharma is meant to change our ordinary minds.

In Asian cultures, that’s an accepted idea, but here we resist. And so I beg you to reconsider your habitual tendencies and to go within and to practice self-honesty. You will have to look at your unfortunate qualities. But when you look at them, don’t look at them like “I’m bad. I hate myself. I hate somebody else. I hate something.” Just look at them and say, “Oh, that’s that habit again. I see that habit. Yuck.” Remember the kids rolling over in their beds. You want to roll over in your bed, but you’re saying, “You know, that’s my habit. I think I’ll go check around and see if there’s anything wrong. Just go check around.” In other words, you’re growing a new habit.

Expect to change. Expect to be uncomfortable at times. Expect to deal with the issues of individuality and democracy. Because in America we love individuality and democracy. But not here. This is Dharma. And in Dharma, we have to trust our teachers. We have to trust the Three Precious Jewels. We assume that our teacher has crossed the ocean of suffering and can show us the way. Therefore, practice. Don’t be foolish, taking the attitudes and posturing like Dharma but not practicing Dharma. Because what you’re doing is looking at a feast of delicious food but choosing to eat the imitation plastic stuff from K-Mart that little kids play with—little pretend food. That’s what you’re eating.

Instead, practice Dharma. And if you are filled with concern for yourself and your own path, remind yourself that all beings are equal. If you are raising yourself up to Buddhahood, thinking that you can do it without raising others up to Buddhahood, well you’re wrong. It’s foolish because there is no separation. To get lost in your own little Dharma world, in your own little practice, in your own little thing is only more self-absorption. Sure, you’re practicing a little Dharma, but you’re also practicing a lot of self-absorption. And so the way is to benefit others, to reach others, to benefit others, to test your limits. Unfold your wings. Help others to break through and to achieve some virtue, some merit, whether they are Buddhist or not. Be a real practitioner. Let everything you do, everything you think and everything you say be something that contributes. Have respect for others—animals, humans, even those beings that cannot be seen. You can assume that they are there, and you pray for them too.

These are the recommendations that I am making to you. And I’m asking you, practice sincerely. We’ll see each other a lot more if you reach for the enlightenment that is your nature. If you reach for the Three Precious Jewels, they will respond. But you must reach. This is the removal of obstacles between the student and the teacher. You must call out. You must reach.

Honor the Three Precious Jewels. On the inside this temple is clean, but on the outside it’s falling apart. The Stupas were falling apart until we started fixing them. What respect is that? What loving kindness, what care for sentient beings is that? Even His Holiness house is simply falling apart. I’d like to see one of you be a real sucker, a real dope. Out of just pure compassion and devotion, I’d like to see you take a toothbrush and start cleaning that house. What a sap, you’d be telling yourself. Here I am on my knees with a toothbrush, cleaning that house. Who could be stupider than me? That’s what your ordinary mind would be telling you. But on the inside, your heart is going, “Yes, yes. This may look stupid. But I am practicing Dharma.”

Accepting the Offering of the Buddhas

March 8, 2017 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “The Lama Never Leaves”

I have seen amazing things. My own students do amazing things. When they weren’t healthy or when they weren’t fit they would do amazing things and they would benefit the stupa and create the causes for continued accomplishment. I’ve seen them do amazing things. I saw once one nun who was determined to get to one of my teachings. Her knees were so bad she couldn’t walk. I saw her crawling, crawling. And I immediately dedicated that merit to her swift enlightenment. And you know, I didn’t think to myself, “Oh, look at that, she’s crawling to see me.” I thought to myself, “Eh ma ho. How beautiful. How beautiful.”

So we have to stop thinking in such an ordinary way. We have to start thinking in the way of Dharma, in the way of practitioners. You can’t wear robes and live an ordinary life. You have to do for the sentient beings. You have to maintain this garden of refuge across the street for their sake as well as your own. You have to do for the Sangha. It’s just as much merit to do for the Sangha, to make offerings to the stupas, to make offerings to the Lamas. This is extraordinary. To make offerings even to the Sangha. I know the wonderful Chang family has been offering food for myself and also for the Sangha here. What a tremendous, tremendous gathering of virtue that is. What an awesome family. What values to teach your children. My goodness. What an extraordinary wealth to pass on to your young. Sure you could pass on a few dollars, but what is that? To pass on the wealth of how to be happy… My goodness.

Yet we just kind of trudge around in our habitual tendencies without seeing the beauty of it all, the wonder of it all—that here in this place lives Lord Buddha himself, Guru Rinpoche himself, without doubt in Nirmanakaya form, and we can always go to pray. You know, we might say, “Oh, I can’t practice right now, because my practice is not going very well.” Well, that’s when you practice. That’s when you crawl across the street to the stupa if you have to and you recite prayers to the stupa. You say, “Please, I’m begging you with tears in my eyes. Help me in my practice. Come to me as wisdom. Clear my self-absorption so that I can benefit sentient beings and before I die let me do something meaningful other than to hang out with my own distorted phenomena. Let me make this world a place with less suffering. Please, I’ll do anything.”

You lay down your pride, you lay down your thoughts, you lay down your body, you lay down your efforts, you lay down your offerings and you rise up a practitioner. The way of Dharma is to turn our minds from ordinary things—those things that are so relentlessly stupid as to take up all of our time and all of our effort and give us zero, zilch, nothing in return—and to pick up and accept and cherish that which is here for us, that which holds out its arms to us, like our own primordial mother, and says “Come, I’m here for you. Bring the others. I’m here.”

Do not turn a blind eye to these offerings that I and other lamas have given you. They are for you. These stupas, what we have here, is only for you. And so I ask you to accept once again. I ask you not to be beggars under the table lapping up crumbs, but to come to the feast. Come to the feast at last.

That’s our Dharma talk for today. I hope it is of some benefit to you. And I really sincerely mean for this to result in activity.

Let me make one more mention. We talk about creating the causes for bringing the lama back, so we maintain the house for the lama. If the lama has a habit of putting a wrap on their legs when they’re by their chair, the wrap should be by the chair. The lama’s slippers should be by his bed. The lama’s favorite cup should be out on the counter. The lama’s altar should be opened every day. If you really want to create the causes for the lama’s return, that’s how you do it. The lama never leaves.

When the lama is not here, the lama’s picture should be on the throne. And we should think like that. The lama has never left. And that’s our practice. That’s our guru yoga. And we have the visible means of support using the stupas that way as well.

Utilizing the Antidote

March 7, 2017 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “The Lama Never Leaves”

Now it’s also said that the stupa has a mandala of enlightened activity around it the same as a living Buddha does. That is to say, that a stupa that is powerfully consecrated with relics, and consecrated by an enlightened lama who has accomplished the mantra, has a radius of about 100 miles of influence. Isn’t that amazing?

Yet, we are not keeping that strength going, that fire going. The power of the stupas will be, by definition of mind, diminished because our minds are not with them. So it’s a terrible, terrible frightful waste. It’s really like having all the lamas of the lineage across the street. Oh, we pride ourselves that we have robes and we can go places and we can do practices. Some of us even have the more advanced practices. We can stare at bindus and stuff like that. But if we don’t walk across the street and take care of the stupas, you can say we have no practice. You could say that. Because it’s like the lamas of the lineage are there, and no one is honoring them. We call them to our practice. We pray to the lamas of the lineage. We visualize them gathering in front of us, but we abandon them. And so what is this cartoon in the sky in front, when we have abandoned the actual Nirmanakaya form?

They say that the lama and also the stupas have this 100 mile radius, approximately, of activity. I built these stupas here because I was hoping that they would influence our government, but I don’t think that has happened as yet,. I could be wrong, but I don’t see it. So I’m wondering if I could prevail upon each and every one of you to take these stupas into your heart, to think of them as your guides, your objects of refuge and to honor them in the way that they should be honored so that the lamas through these magnificent stupas can carry out their enlightened activity. Because these stupas are an extension and an appearance of the Buddha’s enlightened activity.

It’s up to us to plant that firmly in the world, to make the roots deep and to keep the causes pure and untainted for future accomplishment and future happiness. There are so many stories in Buddhist teachings about particular practitioners that came to their own fruition through some slight, almost mindless, deed in the past concerning a stupa. I’m a terrible Buddhist storyteller because I forget the details and I get the punch lines wrong, but I’ll try. I’ll try to tell you a little bit of what I remember.

There is this one story, for instance, about a pig who was being chased by a dog. And the pig was a pig. He had been wallowing in mud, and he was all dirty. He had a muddy body and a muddy face and a muddy tail. And the dog thought, “Oh, I’m gonna’ get me some pork chops,” and started chasing the pig. And round and round this stupa they went. After they went round the stupa a few times, the pig smashed into the stupa accidentally and the mud from his body fixed a little crack in the stupa. That [pig] was reborn in Dewachen, or some enlightened paradise, because of that cause and immediately received teachings and the ability of accomplishment. He was reborn as a bodhisattva, and was given every means to accomplish; and accomplishment was gained. A pig! Accidentally! These stories are told to us as an indication of what you’re missing, of how amazing the merit is of caring for the body of the Buddha.

Conversely, we are told that to leave a stupa in decay and to not honor the stupa properly will bring nothing but obstacles. And we’ve had lots of obstacles here. We’ve had obstacles to seeing the teacher, and that’s me. I’ve tried very hard to get here many times and yet there are obstacles. And I believe in my heart that these obstacles are because when I left, the stupas were not like this. I’ve returned to this, and this is the body of the Buddha.

Now I’m not saying this to make myself seem like a high up person or anything like that. Normally in monasteries, the Khenpos get to tell these stories about their lamas. I wish we had that condition, but we don’t. So, allow me to just commit the non-virtue of telling you what the other lamas have said about me. They’ve said that if you don’t see this teacher very much because of who she is, you should understand that this is because your own merit is diminishing, not because she’s not here to serve you, not because she doesn’t want to serve you. It’s strictly cause and result here. Because of the nature of this teacher—and because of the nature of my teacher and because of the nature of the other teachers of this lineage—their merit is such and their accomplishment is such that we must always create the causes of continuing to meet with them. They’re just not a collection of Tibetan jimokes that do their thing over there and then come and do it over here. These are beings who have accomplished Dharma and who have returned solely to benefit sentient beings. Their only wish is to bring benefit., and yet we are not creating the causes for that.

Now that I know what the stupas look like, I will wait before I ask His Holiiness to return here until they are better. I would not break his heart like that. And I’m not saying I’m a good mama and you’re bad kids. It’s not like that. I’m telling you that this is your practice. I want you to be happy. I want you to be free of obstacles. I want you to attain that pure awakened state where you know what to accept and what to reject. I say to you, “Reject your own phenomena that tells you I don’t wanna. I’d rather have fun. Reject your own phenomena that says I can’t because I’m sick, I’ve got a headache, I blah blah blah. Reject your own phenomena and accomplish Dharma instead.”

Go to the stupa and if you can bend a little bit, you can bend to offer. If you can bend a little bit, you can bend to clean. I tell you if you are sick to death and worried for your life, you should crawl to the Migyur Dorje stupa saying prayers all the way, because that’s what a smart Tibetan would do. That’s what I would do. If you can’t walk, get there anyhow.

The Nature of Stupas

March 5, 2017March 4, 2017 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “The Lama Never Leaves”

Today, I would like to talk about what we have here. Not only the objects of support that I’ve talked about, but we have the stupas. I would like to explain to you the nature of the stupas. I would like to explain to you a little bit about the treasures that we have here. To say that there is nothing like this in America sounds prideful. Yet, I am not the one saying it, really. I’m telling you what other teachers who have come here and who have been around America have said—that there’s nothing else like this, that this is quite remarkable. And I say, “Well, we’re just getting started. I hope it’s good.” We have here these extraordinary stupas that have been built according to the ancient Palyul tradition by a number of lamas—His Holiness, and then Tulka Rigzin Pema Rinpoche who is a renowned stupa builder. The stupas have been blessed by every lama that has come here; but they have been properly consecrated, about that there is no doubt.

The stupas have different levels and ultimately when they are born, that is to say, after they are completely built and the lama actually generates the entire mandala of the deities and all the objects of refuge, , and descends that entire mandala into the stupa, the stupa becomes then a living presence. The stupa becomes like the Buddha in Nirmanakaya form, that is to say in the physical form.

On the bottom of the Stupa, there are many objects there that indicate the things of the world to be overcome, such as objects of violence like knives and guns and weapons, and they are buried underneath. There are prayers and objects and images of suppression, including symbols of death, that go on top of that and they suppress the things of the world that are harmful., At the time of the filling of the Enlightenment Stupa, His Holiness said, “Well, it would be good if we had the skull of a wolf to put down underneath there.” I went, “The skull of a wolf? In Maryland???” So we were rushing around thinking, “How in the world does one get the skull of a wolf?” trying to figure it out. And then we had the great good fortune, I guess… A fox up the road got run over and we had an intact fox skull. So we brought the poor little fox skull to His Holiness and said, “Would this do?” And he went, “This is pathetic. Look how small it is. Well, if that’s what you call wolf in America, this will have to do!” So it turns out, the fox gets in there asthe symbol of death. We have symbols of old age, of sickness, of death, of all kinds of suffering, and the suppression of that.

Above that, there are different layers. There are the practices: beginning stage practice, generation stage practice, completion stage practice, accomplishment. Then there are the objects and prayers and mantras that are associated with all these different levels wrapped in a very succinct way, arranged perfectly like the mandala of the deities. It has to be arranged very perfectly, and it’s all very secret and careful. Nobody can look in there unless they’ve been on the stupa diet, which is no animal flesh, no alcohol, no sexual activity and no ordinary stuff of any kind while you’re building the stupa. And the many many gizillions—I don’t even know how many—of mantras , with saffron water sprayed on them that are rolled so tight, some done by machine, because we could get them rolled tighter, and some of them done by students who themselves were reciting mantra at the same time they were rolling them very tightly and sticking to the stupa diet. So everything very carefully arranged, everything very perfect. You can’t leave a drop of sweat or a bit of DNA in the stupa unless you have achieved enlightenment. So nobody gets to really climb in there without being clothed up and very very careful.

When the lama then brings the stupa to fruition, there is of course the vestibule in which the deity sits, and the deity itself is completely consecrated like the deities on the altar, and they themselves have all the accomplishment figures in them. And then the relics are at the top. Some of them are wrapped up to the spine, that is a very large piece of wood with mantra written all over it going down the middle. Some of them are wrapped body, speech, and mind mantras of enlightenment. So then when the lama descends the deities into the stupa, the stupa is completely able to receive every blessing that the lama is capable of conferring. All the materials are blessed, purified and perfect. All the needs have been met.

The lama that actually empowers the stupa is always a lama of accomplishment. That is to say, Tulku Rigzin Pema Rinpoche is known as a stupa lama and maintains the stupa diet always. He maintains retreat a lot of the time in order to keep the stupa-related accomplishments fresh in his mind as though they were like fresh bread, just right there at the tip of his tongue or the tip of his mind—however you would put it—able to be conferred. Then of course His Holiness Penor Rinpoche who empowered the Enlightenment Stupa is a living Buddha and is known worldwide as a living Buddha. In Tibet, people gather the dirt that he walks on and save it and put it on their altars. His foot-print even. He never is not practicing. I’ve seen the way his mind works. He is like… Well, he is a living Buddha. There is no other thing to say about it.

Precious Jewels

December 4, 2012 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

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

If someone gave you a very expensive piece of old jewelry what would you do with it? I’d build another stupa. A gift to the earth and all beings.

Why wear something so valuable when it can benefit beings? It will bless everything and anyone for atleast 100 miles in all directions. Of course we can raise money. But if this ring is real, I wish to pay for it all myself. I pray it is real so I have the privilege to help beings.

When the time comes we will ask for volunteers and I hope many will use this tremendous opportunity to gather merit and clear non-virtue.

A Brief Summary of the Benefits of Building, Circumambulating, Prostrating to, and Making Aspirations Prayers at a Stupa

October 26, 2012 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following is respectfully quoted from “Compassionate Action” by Chatral Rinpoche:

Homage to the Three Jewels!

I will briefly explain the benefits of building a Buddha stupa and the advantages for the faithful ones who prostrate before, make offerings to, and circumambulate it. By establishing here the perfect scriptures as witnesses, may those fortunate ones who can understand this teaching accept it with joy!

In the sutra The way of Distinguishing it is said:

The Buddha told the young Brahmin Naytso,
“There are eighteen benefits of building a Tathagata stupa.
What are those eighteen?
One will be born as the child of a great king.
One will have an excellent body.
One will become very beautiful and attractive.
one will develop a very sharp intellectual capacity.
One will become renowned.
One will have a great entourage of servants.
One will become a leader of people.
One will be a support to others.
[One’s greatness] will be expounded in the ten directions.
One will be able to extensively express whatever one wishes in word and verse.
One will be worshipped by gods.
One will posses many riches.
One will obtain the kingdom of a universal monarch.
One will have a long life.
One’s body will be like a collection of vajras.
One’s body will be endowed with major and minor marks [of a Buddha].
One will take rebirth in the three higher realms.
One will swiftly achieve Nirvana.

These are the eighteen benefits of building a Tathagata stupa.”

In the Manjushri Root Tantra it is said:

If you make a stupa with your own hands,
You will be able to purify your body even if you have committed the five inexpiable sins.”

If you build one hundred thousand stupas,
You will be transformed into a universal monarch of the knowledge-holders.
Completely understand all treatises
And be endowed with skillful means.
FOr the duration of an eon, when you die you will always be reborn as a king and never again go to the lower realms.
Like the sun rising in a central land,
You will be endowed with all your sense faculties.
You will be able to retain all that you learn and remember your past lives.

In the sutra called Chest of Secret Relics it is said:

The Bhagavan proclaimed,
“Vajrapani, when you write down Dharma teachings and place them inside a stupa, that stupa will become a relic of the vajra essence of all Tathagatas.
That stupa will be consecrated by the secret essence of all the mantras of the Tathagatas.
It will become a stupa of ninety-nine Tathagatas, as many as a heap of mustard seeds.
That stupa will be blessed as if it contained the yes and ushnishas of all Tathagatas.
Whoever places images of the Buddha inside a Stupa will definitely be blessed by those Tathagata images with the nature of the seven royal treatises of a universal monarch. Whoever pays reverence and honors that stupa will definitely become a non-returner and will eventually achieve the unexcelled and completely perfect state of enlightenment–actual, full Buddhahood.
Even if one offers only one prostration or makes a single circumambulation, one will be altogether freed from reaching various hell realms such as the Hell of Incessant Torture.
One will never fall back on the path to unexcelled completely perfect Enlightenment.
All Tathagatas will bless the entire area that surrounds the place the stupa has been built in.

In the Sutra of the White Lotus of the Sacred Dharma, it says:

Walls ar emade from mud and bricks
And a stupa of the Victorious One is made likewise.
Therefore, even if made by a simple heap of dust in a remote place of despair, or if a child playing games makes one from a mound of sand,
Whomever simply builds one on the account of the Victorious One
All of them will attain enlightenment.

The benefits of making offerings to a stupa are stated in the Sutra Requested by King Prasenajit:

If one applies whitewash to a Buddha stupa,
One will have a long life in the worlds of gods or humans,
One will be free of mental and physical ailments,
All suffering will be completely removed and
One will always be happy and will become wealthy with worldly riches.

By ringing a bell in front of a Buddha stupa,
One will speak with authority and have great fame,
One will have the pleasant voice of Brahma,
Be able to remember one’s past lives,
And obtain all kinds of adornments.

If a learned person silently recites prayers on their rosary with a faithful mind at a Buddha stupa,
They will have many golden rosaries adorned with beautiful precious jewels,
And will be foremost among the meritorious and fortunate ones.

Whoever makes a melodic music offering at a Buddha stupa
Will have an abundance of courageous eloquence in profundity and knowledge,
Their physical body will be perfect and their mind and speech pure.
Their voices will fill the world.

If any person who has a heart and body,
Hangs various banners from the stupa
Which is a stainless source of merit,
It will become a field of offerings and an object of worship for the three worlds.

If one affixes a silken crown to a Buddha stupa,
One will become a glorious ruler of gods,
Will experience great bliss, and in particular,
Will attain the crown of complete liberation.

If one cleans a Buddha stupa,
One will become very attractive and beautiful to look at,
One will have an excellent face
With the complexion of a lotus,
And one will be completely devoid
of the defects of Samsara.

Whoever cleans off the dust around a stupa
In the springtime with clean water
Will be joyfully fanned by ladies
Holding golden-handled fans.

Regarding the benefits of prostrating and circumambulating a stupa, it is said in the Avalokiteshvara Sutra:

If one respectfully prostrates before a Buddha stupa,
One will become a heroic and powerful world monarch.
Protected by the armor of gold-colored symbols
One will become an authoritative teacher who will delight the Buddhas.

In the Sutra of the White Lotus of the Sacred Dharma it is said:

Whoever joins their palms together before a stupa,
Whether with both hands or just one,
Whoever briefly bows their head
Or bows their body just once,

Whoever prostrates or merely says “Buddha” even with a distracted mind,
Whether once or a few times
Before a stupa where relics are kept,
Will attain supreme Enlightenment.

In the Decisive Verses on Circumambulating a Stupa it is said:

The excellent qualities of circumambulating
A Stupa of the Buddha, Protector of the World,
Cannot be sufficiently described with mere words.

These and other quotations from the sutra and tantra scriptures should produce great joy and confidence. I encourage all those who aspire to happiness to make the most of their human existence. Strive as much as you can to accumulate merit and purify obscurations by paying homage and making offerings, circumambulating, making prayers of aspiration and so on with a noble bodhicitta motivation, to the excellent supreme foundation (stupas), which grant very meaningful benefits through seeing, hearing and remembering them.

This was composed by the renunciant Buddha Vajra, who in this time of the rampant five degenerations gives the appearance of guiding beings through the physical embodiment of the Buddha body, speech and mind.”

Composed in the Male Fire Horse Year of the sixteenth Cycle (1966) in the ninth month on the twenty-second day. May it be auspicious!

Gratitude and Joyful Effort: Reclaiming the Peace Park

August 1, 2012 by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo

The following post was submitted by Ani Yeshi Dolma, a student of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo:

We never know how profoundly we touch the lives of so many. Kunzang Palyul Choling (KPC) has many opportunities for people (and animals!) to connect with something spiritual deep within themselves. Seekers from all walks come to KPC whether it’s for meditation, seeing the Stupas, walking the trails in the Peace Park, using the energy powers of the crystals, or simply to sit and have tea among a group of folks focused on compassion and peace in our world. Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, Spiritual Director and founder of KPC purposely created a space with a 24 hour prayer vigil that still exists today for more than 27 years dedicated to bringing about the end of suffering.

One of the many activities at KPC involves the Stupa and Peace Park, home to more than 15 stupas, prayer wheels, gardens and crystals along windy and beautiful trails that connect each of the gardens in a metaphysical formation inspiring healing energy. All of this located in Montgomery County, Maryland minutes from the Potomac River.

On June 2^nd of this year, Kat Johnson came out to the Stupa and Peace Park after many years of being away. She had visited KPC several years ago, prior to the winter storms of the last five or six years. Kat was devastated to see the condition of the park knowing how beautiful and pristine it had once been. On her visit in early June, she brought several friends along, meeting one of Jetsunma’s ordained, Ani Dolma, who was working on repairing one of the stupas in the park. They talked for several minutes, and Ani Dolma explained how the storms over the last several years had been really hard on the Peace Park, bringing down a lot of trees, blocking many of the trails, and vegetation overgrowth. It was hard to even see the entrance to the park. Heavy snows had been hard on the stupas as well. In short, the Stupa and Peace Park had become victim to the harshness of mother-nature, and while efforts had been made to reclaim trails, more people were needed in order to really bring back the pristine element of the park.

Kat promised Ani Dolma she wanted to come back with more people and help rebuild the park as she had remembered it, and what it had done for her. They exchanged contact information, and a friendship was formed. On June 30^th, Kat and several of her friends came out, all members of the Mid-Atlantic Hiking Group, and helped reclaim what is endearingly referred to as the Green Garden. The trail had been completely taken over by vegetation, and it had become difficult to find the garden much less get to it. After six hours of digging, pulling, chopping and hauling the Green Garden was resurrected with a clear trail, and the garden was unearthed from mounds of vegetation. Approximately 20 feet of the trail leading to the garden had eroded and it was difficult to get down into the garden safely. Kat’s crew worked with Ani Dolma and a new trail, complete with steps was erected, all made from downed trees.

The color gardens correspond to five directions (North, South, East, West and Central), and the five purifications of the five poisons. The Green Garden is associated with the direction of North, and corresponds to All-Accomplishing wisdom, purifying the poison of jealousy. Each of the five color gardens has prayer flags, prayer wheels, a crystal and small stupa. The land itself, approximately 65 acres was over-farmed and was recovering well when harsh winters set us back.

Kat and her friends had such a great day in June; she decided to contact a friend of hers, who is a primary manager and coordinator for the Mid-Atlantic Hiking Group, Kellie Carlisle. Kellie is a certified wildlife hike leader, and first aid trained. She was inspired by Kat’s commentary of the stupa and peace park, and together the two of them have organized a group of 70 – 100 volunteers who are scheduled to come out to KPC on August 5^th, and help clear trails, push back vegetation, and help revive the stupa and peace park. Ani Dolma will be on site, and is organizing a large BBQ for the evening, to show KPC’s appreciation to these two ladies, and all those who are coming out to help re-establish the KPC stupa and peace park. Stupa repairs will also be ongoing over the weekend, and throughout the remainder of the year.

We are grateful to Kat and Kellie, and their dedication to the KPC Stupa and Peace Park!

Auspicious Signs at Sedona Stupa

July 8, 2012 by anisonam

The following was submitted by Wib Middleton, a member of the KPC sangha in Sedona:

Yesterday during a two-hour Shower of Blessings tsog at the Amitabha Stupa a gentle and very brief rain fell twice during the practice.
Then a wonderful thing happened at the end of the practice.

A visitor had come and was circumambulating the Stupa and as we were preparing to leave she had stopped and was looking intently to the East. Following her gaze we saw a rainbow. What was unusual was at the base of the rainbow it looked like the rain and the rainbow had mingled and rainbow light mixed with rain was being blown by the wind and had expanded beyond the boundaries of the rainbow above.

We took it as an auspicious sign!

Please Help Save the Sedona Stupa

July 6, 2012 by anisonam

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

Please pray for and give to the Stupa project, info and links here. We may not make the deadline and the Stupa will be lost. Can t even think of it.

Instead Sedona will build condos! Palyul will not help, I have always been alone running on nothing. Still, it seems there are few heroes. Palyul has never been generous, not since Kyabje His Holiness Penor Rinpoche passed. Yet they are wealthy.

The Sedona Stupa iss meant to benefit sentient beings and stabilize the land mass there. Yet no one stands up. How awful to lose this gem!

I have no where to turn to but you. Will you be the hero? Who puts the money where the mouth is? Who will stand up for sentient beings? This land should be passed to Kyabje His Holiness Penor Rinpoche’s new incarnation to carry on. No one else.

Imagine the great Stupa fenced in by cheap commerce. Lost to greed. I am poor, have sold everything for the Stupa, even lost my house. Still no Tulku has stood up for this. Not one. I have run on a shoestring all these years with no help. Ever. Tulkus rarely share, sadly. And I am feeling I cannot go on if we lose this Stupa. It is like killing a Buddha. And it’s all on us. We have only a few days. Please, I beg, do not let this tragedy happen.

For information on how you can help: http://www.tara.org/amitabha-sacred-land-campaign/