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NEW VIDEO: “Concise Long-Life Aspiration to the Upholders of the Karma Kagyu” by 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje (video clip Tibetan with English subtitles)
“The final, third verse is about individuals who preserve and spread the teachings of the Buddha, they are not necessarily people who sit on high thrones. They are people who have genuine altruistic feelings towards the teachings and who serve the teachings. And from that they become holders of the teachings who uphold and expand…
Concise Long-Life Aspiration for Master-Disciples Upholders of the Karma Kagyu teachings, by 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje: An oral transmission and commentary, with English translation
“This concise prayer for the holders of the Kamtsang lineage has three verses. Of the three, regarding the first verse, one day in 2020, I had a dream and I saw something written on a text. So, when I woke up, I remembered it clearly. I then wrote it down and kept it. At that…
CRUEL MONKS (I): A PATTERN OF COWARDICE, CRUELTY, ABUSE AND UNACCOUNTABILITY IN PALPUNG BUDDHIST CENTRES. The case of Palpung Thubten Choling and Lama Norlha, and Ongoing Unresolved Allegations, No Contact, Refusal to Investigate, and Vexatious Harassing Court cases involving Senior Monk teachers
“Palpung Thubten Choling monastery, formerly known as Kagyu Thubten Choling (KTC), faced allegations of a four-decade pattern of sexual assault by Lama Norlha Rinpoche. Lama Norlha, who founded KTC in Wappingers Falls, New York State, died in 2018. The lawsuit, filed in federal court by three women in 2023, highlights a series of alleged abuses…
“THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THORNS AND ROOTS ON A GREAT BANYAN TREE”, “DISGUISED MONKS”, THE MEANING OF NIKĀYA: Southern/Sri Lankan traditions explanations of the Original Split of the Buddhist community into two schools, criticism of the largest school, the Third Council, Difference between Black Ashoka and Maurya Ashoka (17th Karmapa, Day 5, Mar-Ngog teachings (2026)
“The genuine Arhat/Elders’ School is like a great “banyan tree” (Mahānigrodha) with a strong root and spread leaves, while the other seventeen schools that branched out from the Elders’ School or the Great School are like “thorns” (Kantaka) that grew from the tree trunk.” “Today, when we talk about a school (Nikāya), we may mean…
A FIVE-STAGE CHRONOLOGY OF THE SPLIT INTO SCHOOLS AND A DIFFERENT NARRATIVE OF MAHĀDEVA’S ROLE IN IT: A Detailed Analysis of the Original Split into Two Main Buddhist Schools and re-assessing Mahādeva’s Five Points as being the cause of the split, Northern and Southern Accounts considered (17th Karmapa, Day Four, Summer 2026)
“The claim that the original split occurred because of Mahādeva’s Five Points does not appear to be entirely correct. The reason is that the Five Points associated with Mahādeva may have developed within the Caitika or Caitika-related traditions, which were later sub-schools of the Mahāsāṃghikas. If that is so, the controversy concerning the Five Points…
“GIVE BACK GENTLE FLOWERS FOR BRUTE DEMONIC WEAPONS”: Dordrag Tulku (Gedun Chophel)’s incendiary refutation of Gelugpa philosophical reasoning on Nāgarjuna’s “intent” and new translation of opening verses
“To the brute weapons of demons, give soft, gentle flowers in return. ༄༅། །བདུད་ཀྱི་མཚོན་ཆ་རྩུབ་མོ་དག་ལ་འཇམ་མཉེན་མེ་ཏོག་ལན་དུ་སྦྱིན །” –Gedun Chophel (1950) Translator’s Introduction: A symbolic and politically significant text of brilliant reasoning, rebellion of a brave, maverick Tibetan: The quote above is the first opening verse to Adornment to Nagarjuna’s Intent (Ludrub Gong Gyen: ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་དགོང་རྒྱན། ) an important…
A FRIEND’S TRIBUTE: “For Claire, and for the Buddhist voice that said sorry”
“Claire was not someone I, or those who knew her, would ever have imagined would take her own life. I saw her at Samye Ling just a few days before she went to the retreat on Holy Isle.” “After everything that has happened, it has felt extraordinary to me that the Buddhist response I had…
Explanations of the Four Main Groups (Tsog De Zhi) in Original Buddhism: Geography, characteristics and Tibetan translations of the source texts (17th Karmapa, Day Three, Summer 2026)
“In the past, there was only one, the Sarvāstivāda, but after the Bhagavān Buddha’s parinirvāṇa, other schools arose, and since they were based on this, it became the foundation, and it was called the Sarvastivada, the ‘all-that-exists’ school’ is explained. This shows that there was originally only one Sarvāstivāda (All-That-Exists) school. Later, after the death…
THE IMPORTANCE OF CARE, COMMON SENSE AND COMPASSION: The tragic suicide of British “wellness” teacher due to intense pain, experienced during and after Tibetan Buddhist “purification” practice and retreat at Holy Isle, Scotland. Coroner’s report published that “not a preventable death” but lacking “common sense”
“We speak for the dead to protect the living.” –Judge Peter Thornton QC on the purpose of coroner’s reports (2012) “Mr Middleton [the coroner] said he did not believe the retreat had directly caused her fibromyalgia, but agreed trauma, prostrations and disturbed sleep could have contributed, adding “common sense will say it is possible those…
WHAT DEFINES A “SCHISM” AND “A SCHOOL” IN THE BUDDHIST MONASTIC COMMUNITY? The origins and division of the eighteen schools of Buddhism, the four factions that emerged, definitive historical texts of the Northern and Southern Traditions, and the Chinese translation by Xuanzang (17th Karmapa, Day Two, Summer 2026)
“The first consideration concerns the Vinaya definition of a schism in the Saṅgha. A schism occurs when members of a monastic community can no longer remain together or carry out the formal activities of the Saṅgha as a single body. The Vinaya gives a precise definition. When monastics living within the same ecclesiastical boundary fall…
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