"It is said that there is no more effective practice than Vajrakilaya for overcoming obstacles and protecting ourselves from hindrances to practice." Over the last couple of days, including yesterday, the Dharma Protector day, the monastic sangha at Palchen Chosling monastery have been performing the Mahakala Cham (Dance) at HE 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche's Palchen Choling… Continue reading NEW MOON VAJRAKĪLAYA BLESSINGS: Goshri 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche performs the Red Vajra Crown ceremony, and Chogyur Lingpa’s Vajrakīlaya empowerment in Sikkim
Month: November 2024
THREE ‘LIVING’ PANCHEN LAMAS? One tenth and two eleventh Panchen Lamas, the natural ‘karmic’ result of a politically motivated (and violently imposed) Tibetan tulku lineage?
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”. So who's really the insane ones in this situation?" --Albert Einstein While I was in Lijiang, Yunnan recently I noted there were many photos of the Chinese recognized 11th Panchen Lama, Chokyi Gyalpo in all the monasteries, including… Continue reading THREE ‘LIVING’ PANCHEN LAMAS? One tenth and two eleventh Panchen Lamas, the natural ‘karmic’ result of a politically motivated (and violently imposed) Tibetan tulku lineage?
“SEEING THE FACE OF GURU PADMA”: SONGS OF DETERMINATION AND DEVOTION BY YESHE TSOGYEL: New translation (with Tibetan and phonetics) of songs by Yeshe Tsogyel
“The method for attaining Buddhahood in one lifetime is to definitely generate great bliss. In a place of mindfulness, recite: Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Pema Siddhi Hum. It is said to be liberation upon sight and touch.” --Guru Padmasambhava to Yeshe Tsogyel ཚེ་གཅིག་ཏུ་སངས་རྒྱས་པའི་ཐབས༔ བདེ་ཆེན་ངེས་པར་སྐྱེ་བ་གཅིག་ཡིན་ནས༔ དྲན་པའི་གནས་སུ༔ ཨཱོྃ་ཨཱཿཧཱུྃབཛྲ་གུ་རུ་པདྨ་སིདྡྷི་ཧཱུྃ༔ ཞེས་བཟླས་ནས༔ མཐོང་གྲོལ་རེག་གྲོལ་ཡིན་གསུངས༔ “Other women merely speak of longing… Continue reading “SEEING THE FACE OF GURU PADMA”: SONGS OF DETERMINATION AND DEVOTION BY YESHE TSOGYEL: New translation (with Tibetan and phonetics) of songs by Yeshe Tsogyel
“TULKU TEACHERS SHOULD NOT BE CHOSEN FOR POLITICAL OR WORLDLY REASONS”: The 17th Karmapa’s short speech for the 2nd Bokar Rinpoche, “Illuminator of the teachings of Dagpo and Shangpa Kagyu” enthronement ceremony in Mirik, Sikkim
"Recognising tulku incarnations merely for the sake of quickly attaining high positions is not suitable. Nor is recognizing tulkus for political gain. Similarly, it is not appropriate to recognize tulkus for personal reasons, such as for wealth and riches. What is the unmistaken main aim of identifying tulkus? It is to benefit and be helpful… Continue reading “TULKU TEACHERS SHOULD NOT BE CHOSEN FOR POLITICAL OR WORLDLY REASONS”: The 17th Karmapa’s short speech for the 2nd Bokar Rinpoche, “Illuminator of the teachings of Dagpo and Shangpa Kagyu” enthronement ceremony in Mirik, Sikkim
DALAT (Đà Lạt), THE MOUNTAINOUS VIETNAMESE “PARIS” OF ETERNAL SPRING: Zen Buddhist temples, cable car views, mountains, mini Eiffel Tower, Buddha statues and lakes (Vietnamese pilgrimage IV)
My next pilgrimage trip in Vietnam was to Da Lat from Saigon. It is the capital of Lâm Đồng Province and the largest city of the Central Highlands region in Vietnam. The city is located 1,500 m (4,900 ft) above sea level on the Langbian Plateau. I had never been here before but someone I… Continue reading DALAT (Đà Lạt), THE MOUNTAINOUS VIETNAMESE “PARIS” OF ETERNAL SPRING: Zen Buddhist temples, cable car views, mountains, mini Eiffel Tower, Buddha statues and lakes (Vietnamese pilgrimage IV)
REMEMBERING THE DAY BUDDHA DESCENDED FROM THE HEAVENLY REALMS (LHA-BAB DUCHEN): Buddha’s mother, Queen Māya and his devoted student, Utpalavarṇā
“From women…buddhas come into this world…." “You who have been born from my womb so many times, have now rendered me a recompense. In one birth, from being a slave I became the wife of the king of Benares, but that exaltation was not equal to the privilege I now receive. From the time of… Continue reading REMEMBERING THE DAY BUDDHA DESCENDED FROM THE HEAVENLY REALMS (LHA-BAB DUCHEN): Buddha’s mother, Queen Māya and his devoted student, Utpalavarṇā
VINAYA-BREAKING POP CONCERTS AND LAYWOMEN AT KARMA KAGYU EVENTS: The London 2017, Kagyu Monlam 2018 pop concert events and the “pretty” laywomen centre-stage: what happened?
"Whereas some brahmans and contemplatives, living off food given in faith, are addicted to watching shows such as these — dancing, singing, instrumental music, plays, ballad recitations, hand-clapping, cymbals and drums, magic lantern scenes, acrobatic and conjuring tricks, elephant fights, horse fights, buffalo fights, bull fights, goat fights, ram fights, cock fights, quail fights; fighting… Continue reading VINAYA-BREAKING POP CONCERTS AND LAYWOMEN AT KARMA KAGYU EVENTS: The London 2017, Kagyu Monlam 2018 pop concert events and the “pretty” laywomen centre-stage: what happened?
SAIGON (HO CHIH MINH) CITY SIGHTS AND SOUNDS: Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas, magnificent Manjushri on a lion, the Relics temple, magical river lights and lots of amazing cafes (Vietnam pilgrimage III))
Recently, on my continuing Buddhist pilgrimage travels, I also visited the Vietnamese city of Ho Chih Minh. I have never been here before, and like my recent trip to Hanoi, and so was interested to see what the city was like, but also visit the Buddhist temples there. This article is about my experience there… Continue reading SAIGON (HO CHIH MINH) CITY SIGHTS AND SOUNDS: Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas, magnificent Manjushri on a lion, the Relics temple, magical river lights and lots of amazing cafes (Vietnam pilgrimage III))
THE “A-LA-THA-LA” SONG BY 16TH KARMAPA: New translation of Song with prediction about Tibet, Praise to Palpung Monastery and Tai Situ Rinpoche in the A-La tradition of the Gesar Epic Song
གླུ་ཨ་ལ་ཐ་ལ་རེད༎ lu ala thala ré ཨ་ལ་གླུ་ཡི་ལེན་ལུགས་རེད༎ ala lu yi len luk ré ཐ་ལ་ཚིག་གི་བརྗོད་ལུགས་རེད༎ thala tsik gi jö luk ré As my fourth and final offering for the 43rd Parinirvana of the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Rigpe Dorje (1924-1981), I saw that Nalandabodhi shared a song by the 16th Karmapa, called A-la-tha-la (originally translated over twenty years… Continue reading THE “A-LA-THA-LA” SONG BY 16TH KARMAPA: New translation of Song with prediction about Tibet, Praise to Palpung Monastery and Tai Situ Rinpoche in the A-La tradition of the Gesar Epic Song
The importance of gathering and practising as a unified and harmonious Karma Kagyu sangha: 17th Karmapa’s speech for Kagyu Monlam Nepal
"It is very important for the Kagyu monasteries to come together and practice whenever they get the opportunity to do so." For those who follow the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, here is a short summary translation of a short speech the Karmapa gave online on 8th November for the Kagyu Monlam Nepal, which took place… Continue reading The importance of gathering and practising as a unified and harmonious Karma Kagyu sangha: 17th Karmapa’s speech for Kagyu Monlam Nepal