spontaneously burst from the ‘spring’ of longing,
soar out of the dark, blinding forest of hopes and fears,
into the open space nest of our
‘evergreen’ heart….” –excerpt from ‘Lone Songbird’s Warbling Lament’
Today, the 7th June is being commemorated as the birthday (according to the Tibetan calendar, the first day of the fifth lunar month) of HH 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, by many Karma Kagyu monasteries in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet, including Tsurphu Labrang (the main seat of the Karmapa in Tibet) with praises and ceremonies.
The Tsurphu Labrang FB page posted this lovely praise in Tibetan, which I have translated here. It was accompanied with a very recent photo of the 17th Karmapa (which seems to have been taken when he recently met Tsewang Rinpoche).
The 17th Karmapa himself has not given any personal public statement about his birthday, nor about the recent passing of hie beloved father, two weeks ago. Thus, it seems slightly odd to be ‘celebrating’ his birthday in his ‘absence’.
From my own side, it goes without saying, I respectfully and devotedly offer my body, speech, mind, work, translations, transcriptions, gratitude, devotion and respect for the main root guru who changed my life and pulled me back/away from a meaningless existence of careerism and consumption, to one of meaning, Dharma, merit, translation and genuine purpose and well-being.
To see the original work I have done so far on the 17th Karmapa’s life, compositions, teachings, art and more, see the dedicated page on the website here. Last year, I also wrote this article about the 17th Karmapa’s incredible polymath and genius abilities and progressive and original vast activities here.
Like the 7th and 8th Karmapas before him, the 17th Karmapa is an avid and passionate advocate for animal rights, environmental conservation and protection and thus declared himself to be a strict vegetarian shortly after he came into India (2006 and 7 in Bodh Gaya), and encouraged all followers of himself and Karma Kagyu to do the same. He even stated that it would affect his health and long-life. Here is my downloadable compilation of the 17th Karmapa’s recent and extensive teachings on that topic.
New poem offering: A Lone Songbird’s Warbling Lament
I composed a poem The Guru’s Hands, two years ago, dedicated to the 17th Karmapa. For today’s commemoration, as many are still wondering where the 17th Karmapa is, and if and when he will ever be able to travel or teach publicly in person again (in India or anywhere else), here is a new short poem I composed today to express the ‘heart’s voice’. It is accompanied with some stunning artworks of birds by the 17th Karmapa, following in the footsteps of the 16th Karmapa’s great love of birds. Also, to keep some humour there, the colloquial slang word for ‘woman’ is ‘bird’ 🙂 Here is a reel of my orally reading the poem.
Dedicated to the long-life, health, happiness and well-being and activities of the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa. May we never be separated in the heart through all our lifetimes, and see you there again and again until full awakening!
Music? Long-Life Prayer for 17th Karmapa. For that undying guru devotion and unconditional love, and the 16th Karmapa’s love of birds, as well as contemporary song references in the poem, Close To You by the Carpenters, Songbird by Fleetwood Mac, Evergreen by Barbara Streisand and Blackbird by the Beatles.
Written and compiled by Adele Tomlin, 7th June 2024 (17th Karmapa’s birthday, 2024).
Dakini Translations and Publications མཁའ་འགྲོ་མའི་ལོ་ཙཱ་བའི་འགྱུར་དང་འགྲེམས་སྤེལ། 