"The Buddha gave this advice to the fully ordained monks: "Do not consider the poetic meter/melody to be the most important thing [when reciting the teachings]. My intent is that the meaning does not degenerate. Please speak them in the individual languages that are in accordance with beings and individual traditions of their areas." Today… Continue reading THE IMPORTANCE OF MAGADHA: The Developmental History of the Texts and Languages of Early/Original Buddhism and the ‘baskets’ of Vinaya and Sutra (17th Karmapa’s online Summer teachings 2024, Day One and Two)
Month: July 2024
‘SEEING’ THE WHITE PEAK OF KHAWA KARPO (ཁ་བ་དཀར་པོ་) MOUNTAIN: Visiting Khawa Karpo the highest mountain range in Dechen, Tibetan region, overview of the ‘opening’ of the Tibetan pilgrimage site by the Karmapas, the 3rd Karmapa’s Praises to it as a Chakrasamvara mandala and personal experience (Shangri-La pilgrimage, Part 5)
“This Khawa Karpo, the tsen of the Rong [country], is the palace of both, mundane and transcendental deities. There is even a pilgrimage guide (lam yig) of [Mount] Khawa Karpo, the tsen of the Rong [country]. རོང་བཙན་ཁ་བ་དཀར་པོ་གངས་རི་དེ།་ཡེ་ཤེས་པ་དནས་འཇིག་རྟེན་པ་རྣམས་ཡི་ཞལ་ཡས་ཁང་དང་ཕོ་བྲང་ཡིན་བར་འདུས།་རོང་བཙན་ཁ་བ་དཀར་པོའི་ལམ་ཡིག་གཅིག་ཀྱང་ཡོད།”“When you don’t know everything is in mind. Places – outside and in – aren’t much use.” ཐམས་ཅད་སེམས་སུ་མ་ཤེས་ན། ཕྱི་སྣང་བའི་ཡུལ་གིས་དགོས་པ་ཆུང།--excerpts… Continue reading ‘SEEING’ THE WHITE PEAK OF KHAWA KARPO (ཁ་བ་དཀར་པོ་) MOUNTAIN: Visiting Khawa Karpo the highest mountain range in Dechen, Tibetan region, overview of the ‘opening’ of the Tibetan pilgrimage site by the Karmapas, the 3rd Karmapa’s Praises to it as a Chakrasamvara mandala and personal experience (Shangri-La pilgrimage, Part 5)
THE STATE OF “SHANGRI-LA” AND “LITTLE POTALA” (GANDEN SUMTSEN LING): A Visit to Shangri-La, Dechen, Tibet, the 5th Dalai Lama’s ‘Little Potala”, Big Buddha monastery, Cultural Museum and Huge Prayer Wheel (Shangri-La pilgrimage, Part 4)
"Shakabpa writes of the era of Phagmo Dru rule of Tibet under Tai Situ, Changchub Gyaltsen: "During his time, the country was so secure that it was said that an old woman carrying a sackful of gold could pass without fear from one end of Tibet to the other; thus, this period of internal security… Continue reading THE STATE OF “SHANGRI-LA” AND “LITTLE POTALA” (GANDEN SUMTSEN LING): A Visit to Shangri-La, Dechen, Tibet, the 5th Dalai Lama’s ‘Little Potala”, Big Buddha monastery, Cultural Museum and Huge Prayer Wheel (Shangri-La pilgrimage, Part 4)
VISITING TASHI CHOPHEL LING MONASTERY (Yufeng Si 玉峰寺) AS A LONE FEMALE PILGRIM: One of the five main Karma Kagyu monasteries in Lijiang. Original artworks by 10th Karmapa, Choying Dorje and a 500 year-old tree said to have been planted by 8th Karmapa (On the Road to Shangri-la (Part 3))
Introduction The oldest Buddhist temple in Lijiang is said to be Dabaojigong temple, with its fabulous wall murals located in the former capital of Baisha ancient town has been documented to some extent in terms of its artworks in particular, by the art curator and Tibetologist, Karl Debreczeny (see previous bibliography in Part 1). One… Continue reading VISITING TASHI CHOPHEL LING MONASTERY (Yufeng Si 玉峰寺) AS A LONE FEMALE PILGRIM: One of the five main Karma Kagyu monasteries in Lijiang. Original artworks by 10th Karmapa, Choying Dorje and a 500 year-old tree said to have been planted by 8th Karmapa (On the Road to Shangri-la (Part 3))
THE NAXI MU KINGS OF JANG, TIBETAN BUDDHISM AND THE KARMAPAS: Lijiang, the Naxi Mu Kings and the Karmapas, Mu’s Mansion, a 500 year old tree, the original Lijiang Kangyur and Black Dragon Lake park (Shangri-La pilgrimage, Part 2)
"While the kings of Jang had close contact with the Kagyu order since at least the early fifteenth century, the development of significant relations are traditionally marked by both Tibetan and Chinese sources with the visit of the first hierarch who personally interacted with Lijiang, the Eighth Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje who visited in 1516, when… Continue reading THE NAXI MU KINGS OF JANG, TIBETAN BUDDHISM AND THE KARMAPAS: Lijiang, the Naxi Mu Kings and the Karmapas, Mu’s Mansion, a 500 year old tree, the original Lijiang Kangyur and Black Dragon Lake park (Shangri-La pilgrimage, Part 2)
ON THE ROAD TO SHANGRI-LA: Following in the footsteps of the 10th Karmapa and Karma Kagyu in Lijiang, Shangri-la, Dechen Tibetan region and seeing the great Khawa Karpo Tibetan mountain (Part 1: Highlights and research review))
Introduction: the 10th Karmapa and Karma Kagyu in Lijiang (Jang), Yunnan This is the first in a new set of original research articles about my recent two-week pilgrimage to Yunnan, South China to visit Lijiang, Shangri-la (Gyalthang) and Dechen Tibetan Autonomous region, and the famed Tibetan mountain there, Kawa Karpo. For a while now, I… Continue reading ON THE ROAD TO SHANGRI-LA: Following in the footsteps of the 10th Karmapa and Karma Kagyu in Lijiang, Shangri-la, Dechen Tibetan region and seeing the great Khawa Karpo Tibetan mountain (Part 1: Highlights and research review))
CHOKHOR DUCHEN BLESSINGS FROM THE LAND OF SNOWY PEAKS
On this sacred day of Chokhor Duchen (the day the Buddha first turned the wheel of Dharma), am delighted to send greetings and blessings from the land of snow mountains, Tibet! More to come on this continuing solo Buddhist pilgrimage and research trip of a lifetime! May the Buddha's teachings and activities flourish far and… Continue reading CHOKHOR DUCHEN BLESSINGS FROM THE LAND OF SNOWY PEAKS
Sign The Petition: Support Karmapa’s Return To Sikkim
The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje is recognised by the vast majority of Karma Kagyu teachers, monastics, laypeople in Tibet and in exile. Yet, despite the 17th Karmapa taking the hazardous risk of leaving in year 2000 the Karmapa's main seat, Tsurphu Monastery, Tibet (where he was enthroned by the two main Karma Kagyu… Continue reading Sign The Petition: Support Karmapa’s Return To Sikkim
“THE EYES OF TĀRĀ” BY JONANG AND RIMEY MASTER, NGAWANG LODRO DRAGPA: Dedicated to Karma Dendup and those with deteriorating sight
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart."--Helen Keller "Good looks outshine good figures, Beautiful eyes outshine good looks, The beauty of soul outshines beautiful eyes." ---Naxi people proverb I am on the road solo travelling again to sacred, inspiring… Continue reading “THE EYES OF TĀRĀ” BY JONANG AND RIMEY MASTER, NGAWANG LODRO DRAGPA: Dedicated to Karma Dendup and those with deteriorating sight