"Sexist patriarchy dressed up as feminism, is like a butch man in a woman's dress. Obviously fake and generally ugly." --Adele Tomlin "You don't have to be pretty. You don’t owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don’t owe it to… Continue reading UPDATE: In the interests of equality, three “young and handsome” male MCs for Karma Kagyu Marme Monlam 2025?
Author: Dakini Translations
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING “CLEAN, LOVING, TRUSTWORTHY AND TRUE” IN BUDDHIST ETHICS: The third and fourth main Buddhist precepts: No lying/false speech (musāvādā) and no sexual misconduct (kāmesumicchācāra)
"I undertake the training-precept to abstain from false speech." (Musāvādā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.) "I undertake the training-precept to abstain from sexual misconduct." (Kāmesumicchācāra veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.) My latest reels on the five main Buddhist precepts, discuss the third and fourth main precepts. Monastics are generally expected to keep at least the five precepts, including no… Continue reading THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING “CLEAN, LOVING, TRUSTWORTHY AND TRUE” IN BUDDHIST ETHICS: The third and fourth main Buddhist precepts: No lying/false speech (musāvādā) and no sexual misconduct (kāmesumicchācāra)
MOUNTAIN WALLS, RIVER ROADS AND CAVE PALACES: VISITING BAI DINH PAGODA AND TRANG AN: 500 Arhats corridor, Thousand-armed and eyed Mother of Compassion, Largest Shakyamuni Buddha statue, and the stunning craggy mountains, caves and riverways of Trang An and Mua Mountain (Vietnam pilgrimage V)
The final instalment in my Vietnamese Buddhist pilgrimage this year, was to Bái Đính Pagoda (Chùa Bái Đính, 沛嵿寺) a complex of Buddhist temples on Bái Đính Mountain in Ninh Bình Province, Vietnam. The compound consists of the original old temple and a newly created larger temple. It is considered the largest complex of Buddhist… Continue reading MOUNTAIN WALLS, RIVER ROADS AND CAVE PALACES: VISITING BAI DINH PAGODA AND TRANG AN: 500 Arhats corridor, Thousand-armed and eyed Mother of Compassion, Largest Shakyamuni Buddha statue, and the stunning craggy mountains, caves and riverways of Trang An and Mua Mountain (Vietnam pilgrimage V)
NEW MOON VAJRAKĪLAYA BLESSINGS: Goshri 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche performs the Red Vajra Crown ceremony, and Chogyur Lingpa’s Vajrakīlaya empowerment in Sikkim
"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
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?