"In the excellent land of Za-hor [Bengal] in the east,Is a great city, Vikramanipura. In its center is a royal residence,A palace extremely vast, Called the "Golden Banner."Its resources, might, and fortune, Were like that of the eastern emperor of China. ཤར་ཕྱོགས་ཟ་ཧོར་ཡུལ་མཆོག་ན། །དེ་ན་གྲོང་ཁྱེར་ཆེན་པོ་ཡོད། ། བི་ཀྲ་མ་ནི་པཱུ་ར་ཡིན། །དེ་ཡི་དབུས་ན་རྒྱལ་པོའི་ཁབ། ། ཕོ་བྲང་ཤིན་ཏུ་ཡངས་པ་ཡོད། །གསེར་གྱི་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ཅན་ཞེས་བྱ། ། ལོངས་སྤྱོད་མངའ་ཐང་འབྱོར་བ་ནི། །རྒྱ་ནག་སྟོང་ཁུན་རྒྱལ་བོ་འདྲ། །" ---description of… Continue reading ‘YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF TANTRAS IS LIKE A HORSE-HAIR IN THIS WORLD!’: NOBLE TĀRĀ’S ADVICE TO YOUNG, HANDSOME TANTRIC YOGI, ATISHA: Jowo Atisha’s early life, studies of tantras, secret mantra unconventional conduct with Indian mahasiddhas, ‘pride-smashing’ direct instructions from Tārā and Ḍākinīs, and upholder of Mind-Only view. (Life and Liberation of Atisha by 17th Karmapa (Day One))
Month: Jan 2023
GREEN TĀRĀ OF THE ACACIA FOREST (Sengdeng Nagki) AND THE FIVE-DEITY TĀRĀ PRACTICE OF FIRST KARMAPA : Overview of the Green Tārā origin and lineage and new translation of Five-Deity Tārā short practice from 1st Karmapa’s ‘Five sets of Five’, and transcribed teachings on Green Tārā by 17th Karmapa
"Many desire enlightenment in a man’s body, while not even a single [person] strives for the benefit of sentient beings in a woman’s body. Therefore, I shall work for the benefit of sentient beings in a woman’s form as long as saṃsāra has not been emptied." --Noble Tārā's statement (as Princess Jñānacandrā) to sexist monks… Continue reading GREEN TĀRĀ OF THE ACACIA FOREST (Sengdeng Nagki) AND THE FIVE-DEITY TĀRĀ PRACTICE OF FIRST KARMAPA : Overview of the Green Tārā origin and lineage and new translation of Five-Deity Tārā short practice from 1st Karmapa’s ‘Five sets of Five’, and transcribed teachings on Green Tārā by 17th Karmapa
FROM MASSES OF ABLE AND WILLING DHARMA TRANSLATORS TO AN ELITE ‘SELECT FEW’: The ‘translation-school ‘ methods of the ancient Buddha Dharma translators during the four main eras of the 900-year period of intensive translation in China (17th Karmapa January 2023, Day Two)
"In the olden days, merely being able to speak and read the language was not enough to translate it. The translator was required to have a great and deep understanding of the meaning of the text to be translated. They had to have that sort of person. In particular, the translator had to be learned… Continue reading FROM MASSES OF ABLE AND WILLING DHARMA TRANSLATORS TO AN ELITE ‘SELECT FEW’: The ‘translation-school ‘ methods of the ancient Buddha Dharma translators during the four main eras of the 900-year period of intensive translation in China (17th Karmapa January 2023, Day Two)
‘PROVING MIND-ONLY’ (成唯識論; Chéng Wéishì Lùn), Xuanzang’s translation and commentary of Vasubhandu’s ‘Thirty Verses’ and its ten great Indian Commentaries (17th Karmapa’s teaching, January 2023, Day One)
The mind is like an artist; The mind makes the aggregates. All these worlds that there are In the universe are painted by mind. --from the Avataṃsaka Sutra "The purpose of my journey is not to obtain personal offerings. It is because I regretted, in my country, the Buddhist doctrine was imperfect and the scriptures… Continue reading ‘PROVING MIND-ONLY’ (成唯識論; Chéng Wéishì Lùn), Xuanzang’s translation and commentary of Vasubhandu’s ‘Thirty Verses’ and its ten great Indian Commentaries (17th Karmapa’s teaching, January 2023, Day One)
THE SAKYA JEWEL-HOLDERS: LION-FACED DAKINI, ONE HUNDRED SADHANAS OF BARI, LAMDRE AND PARTING FROM THE FOUR ATTACHMENTS. The connection and transmissions of Bari Lotsāwa and his student Sachen Kunga Nyingpo 2nd Sakya Trizin, Bari Lotsāwa and his student 3rd Sakya Trizin, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo’s connection and transmissions
Introduction For the new moon of the 11th Tibetan month (21st January 2023), the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Water-Rabbit year, and the anniversary of Sakya lineage master, the 37th Sakya Trizin, Kunga Nyingpo Samphel Norbu (1850-1899), as an offering to the Sakya lineage, here is a short piece on another Kungpa Nyingpo, together… Continue reading THE SAKYA JEWEL-HOLDERS: LION-FACED DAKINI, ONE HUNDRED SADHANAS OF BARI, LAMDRE AND PARTING FROM THE FOUR ATTACHMENTS. The connection and transmissions of Bari Lotsāwa and his student Sachen Kunga Nyingpo 2nd Sakya Trizin, Bari Lotsāwa and his student 3rd Sakya Trizin, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo’s connection and transmissions
CLEAR REALISATION OF THE FIVE-DEITY HAYAGRĪVA (TAMDRIN) from the ‘Five Sets of Five’ of the First Karmapa: An Introduction and translation of short, daily practice text
Introduction For ḍākinī day today, I offer a brief research introduction and brand-new translation of a dailt practice text on Hayagrīva (Tamdrin) by the 1st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa. On 14th January, HH 17th Gyalwang Karmapa began the Kagyu Guncho teachings, (A Teaching on Vasubandu's Thirty Verses • Day 1 - YouTube) continuing from last year’s… Continue reading CLEAR REALISATION OF THE FIVE-DEITY HAYAGRĪVA (TAMDRIN) from the ‘Five Sets of Five’ of the First Karmapa: An Introduction and translation of short, daily practice text
THE WISDOM OF MANJUSHRI AND THE HOLLOW FRUITY PLEASURES OF SAMSARA. Sakya master Lama Dampa Gyeltsen’s Letter to Student, taught by Avikrita Vajra Rinpoche
"All the most important teachings, all the most important practices, all of them of the Sakya tradition, come through him. Like the Lamdre, Vajrayogini, Vajrakila and so on. So, his writings are highly regarded for elucidating the teachings of the Sakya founding masters." "That's why we also call seeming peak moments dukkha too. Because although… Continue reading THE WISDOM OF MANJUSHRI AND THE HOLLOW FRUITY PLEASURES OF SAMSARA. Sakya master Lama Dampa Gyeltsen’s Letter to Student, taught by Avikrita Vajra Rinpoche
THE GREAT WISDOM MOTHER (YUM CHENMO) NEW ART, BOOK EDITION AND WEBSITE: TĀRANĀTHA’S COMMENTARY ON THE HEART SŪTRA. Second edition of book with original Tibetan calligraphy artwork and new project/website dedicated to Tāranātha’s Life and Works
"Empty does not mean completely empty, but primordial awareness empty of dualistic appearances.""[The Heart Sūtra] teaches that the ultimate perfectly established [nature] is empty of apparent saṁsara and nirvana. The primordial awareness of the perfectly established ultimate nature pervades all of saṁsara and nirvana but is not contaminated by either saṁsara or nirvana. Since it… Continue reading THE GREAT WISDOM MOTHER (YUM CHENMO) NEW ART, BOOK EDITION AND WEBSITE: TĀRANĀTHA’S COMMENTARY ON THE HEART SŪTRA. Second edition of book with original Tibetan calligraphy artwork and new project/website dedicated to Tāranātha’s Life and Works
THE MOTHER OF ALL TATHĀGATAS: THE SOUND OF ĀH. Vulture’s Peak, its surrounding caves, the place where the Buddha taught the Heart Sūtra and Prajñāpāramitā (Bodh Gaya pilgrimage: Part II)
“Merely to praise those supreme places in whichThe Bhagavān resided yields boundless merit.”So it is said, and, in accordance with this,I praise this site of his sacred Dharma teaching. It was here that Buddha's excellent speech was compiledA place as even as a palm, and abundantly auspicious. In the centre, surrounded by lesser hills,Is this… Continue reading THE MOTHER OF ALL TATHĀGATAS: THE SOUND OF ĀH. Vulture’s Peak, its surrounding caves, the place where the Buddha taught the Heart Sūtra and Prajñāpāramitā (Bodh Gaya pilgrimage: Part II)
THE LANTERNS OF LIGHT FESTIVAL SENDING AWAY THE DARK PAST: Festival of Lights (Loy Kratong) and the Two Day Full Moon festival (Yi-Peng): A Magical Celebration of Light, Water and Sending Goodbye to Darkness (Scenes from Chiang Mai, IV)
I was fortunate to be in Chiang Mai for two major festivals connected to lanterns/light, which both occur at the same on the full moon day of the twelfth Thai Lunar month, this year on the 27th-28th November 2023. Both these festivals are known for creating beautiful displays of lights and take place on the… Continue reading THE LANTERNS OF LIGHT FESTIVAL SENDING AWAY THE DARK PAST: Festival of Lights (Loy Kratong) and the Two Day Full Moon festival (Yi-Peng): A Magical Celebration of Light, Water and Sending Goodbye to Darkness (Scenes from Chiang Mai, IV)
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