"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."— George Santayana "That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach." --Aldous Huxley "Do not lose view to conduct, or you might take things as real. Do not… Continue reading HOW DID THE DALAI LAMAS COME TO RULE TIBET POLITICALLY AND RELIGIOUSLY? A Buddhist history lesson in Gelugpa-Mongolian sectarian violence, destruction, suppression, and foreign military influence in Tibet, Bhutan and Ladkah
Tag: 10th Karmapa
“MOONSTONE MALA” 8TH TAI SITUPA’S “MEANINGFUL YET DIFFICULT TO SWALLOW” KAGYU HISTORIES: Seeking and reading 8th Tai Situpa, Chokyi Jungne’s Diaries/Autobiographies and Collected Works (Part I)
སྒྲུབ་པ་པོ་རྣམས་གྲུབ་པའི་རྗེས་སུ་སྙེག མཁས་འདོད་རྣམས་ནི་མཁས་ལ་གཅིག་ཏུ་འདུན། ། བླུན་པོ་རྣམས་ཀྱང་གྲགས་པ་ལ་འཆེལ་བས།། གཏམ་གྱི་སྦྱོར་བས་ཐམས་ཅད་འདྲིད་བྱེད་ཀྱང། ། Practitioners, who chase after accomplishments, Those with scholarly ambitions, who are solely focused on learning, Even fools who are obsessed with being famous. Are all lured/pulled in[i] by artful stories. རིན་ཆེན་རིན་ཐང་མེད་པའི་ཁ་བྱང་བཞིན། ། བདེན་གཏམ་དག་ཀྱང་གློ་བར་ཆུད་དཀའ་བས། ། ཐོས་པས་དོན་ལྡན་ངེས་པར་མི་བསླུ་བའི། ། དམ་པའི་རྣམ་ཐར་ཤས་ཙམ་གླེང་བར་བྱ། "Like a priceless treasure without a map/address, True stories are also difficult… Continue reading “MOONSTONE MALA” 8TH TAI SITUPA’S “MEANINGFUL YET DIFFICULT TO SWALLOW” KAGYU HISTORIES: Seeking and reading 8th Tai Situpa, Chokyi Jungne’s Diaries/Autobiographies and Collected Works (Part I)
KILLING ORDINARY BEINGS IN THE NAME OF AVALOKITESHVARA? Exposing the Fifth Dalai Lama’s obsession with studying and practising thu (མཐུ་) violent tantric “killing rituals” from the Nyingma lineage (such as Zhigpo Lingpa’s texts) for political and war purposes, and re-writing the false narrative of a “Mongolian invasion” of Tibet and the Dalai Lama institution as the compassionate unifier of “war-torn” Tibet
"Most Gedenpa (Gelugpas) shun alcohol and the like, making them excellent models of the teachings. Yet, most Gedenpa see no faults in those who seek to kill and maim. Such anger and hostility is a huge enemy, be careful!" --Mipham Rinpoche དགེ་ལྡན་པ་ཕལ་ཆེར་ཆང་ནག་སོགས་འཛེམ་པས་བསྟན་པའི་མིག་ལྟོས་ལེགས་ཀྱང༌། ཕལ་ཆེར་གསོད་གཅོད་ལྷུར་ལེན་པ་ལ་སྐྱོན་དུ་མི་ལྟ་བས། ཞེ་སྡང་འདི་དགྲ་ཆེ་བས་གཟབ་ དགེ་ལྡན་པ་ཕལ་ཆེར་ཆང་ནག་སོགས་འཛེམ་པས་བསྟན་པའི་མིག་ལྟོས་ལེགས་ཀྱང༌། ཕལ་ཆེར་གསོད་གཅོད་ལྷུར་ལེན་པ་ལ་སྐྱོན་དུ་མི་ལྟ་བས། ཞེ་སྡང་འདི་དགྲ་ཆེ་བས་གཟབ་འཚལ། "Leaving nothing behind but a name" མིང་གི་ལྷག་མ་ཙམ་དུ་གྱུར་ --Tibetan… Continue reading KILLING ORDINARY BEINGS IN THE NAME OF AVALOKITESHVARA? Exposing the Fifth Dalai Lama’s obsession with studying and practising thu (མཐུ་) violent tantric “killing rituals” from the Nyingma lineage (such as Zhigpo Lingpa’s texts) for political and war purposes, and re-writing the false narrative of a “Mongolian invasion” of Tibet and the Dalai Lama institution as the compassionate unifier of “war-torn” Tibet
WHERE ARE THE WOMEN AND NO MUTUAL NON-SECTARIAN RESPECT: Noble Tārā statues but no actual “wisdom” women and no prostrations offered to 12th Tai Situpa by Gelugpa monks
It was saddening (but not surprising) to see video and photos released yesterday, spread widely among the Tibetan media outlets, of the great 12th Khentin Tai Situpa (who is also elderly and suffering from various physical ailments) offering three "unnaturally" long prostrations on his knees for an all-male long-life offering ceremony to the 14th Dalai… Continue reading WHERE ARE THE WOMEN AND NO MUTUAL NON-SECTARIAN RESPECT: Noble Tārā statues but no actual “wisdom” women and no prostrations offered to 12th Tai Situpa by Gelugpa monks
THE ARTWORK “NATURALLY-ARISING QUEEN” (RANGJUNG GYALMO) BY TIBET’S GREATEST ARTIST, 10TH KARMAPA: presentation at international conference in Chengdu, China, brief conversation on Gelugpa sectarianism with Jeff Watt (HAR), and observations on the absence of factual commentary on the origin and ownership of the Karmapas’ and Karma Kagyu artworks and objects after the Gelugpa sectarian takeover of Tibet
"This image of Palden Lhamo, Rangjung Gyalmo, which punishes enemies of the Dharma and severs/subdues evil ones, was offered by Jetsun Choying Dorje [10th Karmapa] at the end of the Dog Year in the place of Jang [Lijiang] at the essential drop/mandala ground of Gyal-thang for consecration, as requested by heart son, Kuntu Zangpo."--inscription on… Continue reading THE ARTWORK “NATURALLY-ARISING QUEEN” (RANGJUNG GYALMO) BY TIBET’S GREATEST ARTIST, 10TH KARMAPA: presentation at international conference in Chengdu, China, brief conversation on Gelugpa sectarianism with Jeff Watt (HAR), and observations on the absence of factual commentary on the origin and ownership of the Karmapas’ and Karma Kagyu artworks and objects after the Gelugpa sectarian takeover of Tibet
A PALACE FIT FOR KINGS AND ARMIES: The “shady” and murderous political foundations and Ladakhi-style aspirations of the Potala Palace(s) in Tibet under Mongolian-Gelug military rule
"After a Tsang uprising against the foreign invaders, an incensed Mongolian leader, Gushri Khan gave orders to execute the [already imprisoned] Tibetan Tsang King, Karma Tenkyong together with his ministers Dronyer Bongong and Gangzukpa. The King was administered the capital punishment ko-thumgyab-pa, which in Tibet is "reserved for upper class offenders". He was put in… Continue reading A PALACE FIT FOR KINGS AND ARMIES: The “shady” and murderous political foundations and Ladakhi-style aspirations of the Potala Palace(s) in Tibet under Mongolian-Gelug military rule
VISITING PHUNTSOG DARGYE LING (PUJI SI 普濟寺) AND RE-VISITING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF THE 8TH KENTING TAI SITUPA: A historical and pilgrim’s account of the 18th Century Phuntsog Dargye Ling (Puji Si) monastery, the ongoing persecution of Karma Kagyu monasteries in Lijiang by violent Mongol-Gelug forces, personal pilgrimage observations (China/Tibet pilgrimage part 9)
"The principle of self-defence, even involving weapons and bloodshed, has never been condemned, even by Gandhi." - Martin Luther King, Jr. "Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defence against a homicidal maniac." --George Orwell "One need not destroy one's enemy. One… Continue reading VISITING PHUNTSOG DARGYE LING (PUJI SI 普濟寺) AND RE-VISITING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF THE 8TH KENTING TAI SITUPA: A historical and pilgrim’s account of the 18th Century Phuntsog Dargye Ling (Puji Si) monastery, the ongoing persecution of Karma Kagyu monasteries in Lijiang by violent Mongol-Gelug forces, personal pilgrimage observations (China/Tibet pilgrimage part 9)
SACRED ‘NATURALLY-ARISEN’ LETTERS CAVE, ROCK HANDPRINT OF 2ND KARMAPA, AND INCREDIBLE ARTWORKS AND STATUES AT KARMA TASHI NAMGYEL LING (Zhiyun Si 指云寺): Visiting Karma Kagyu monastery, Karma Tashi Namgyel Ling (Zhiyun Si), the role of the Mu Kings and 10th Karmapa in the founding of Tibetan Buddhist temples in the Lijiang/Yunnan area, and personal observations and photos of the monastery (China/Tibet Pilgrimage Part 7)
"After Mu Wang, the greatest patron of Tibetan Buddhism in that [Lijiang] region was King Mu Zeng (1598-1646), known in Tibetan accounts as Karma Mipham Tsewang Sonam Rabten. Mu Zeng constructed the greatest number of temples of any of his predecessors or successors. He also expanded Lijiang's territory the most with military campaigns. However, at… Continue reading SACRED ‘NATURALLY-ARISEN’ LETTERS CAVE, ROCK HANDPRINT OF 2ND KARMAPA, AND INCREDIBLE ARTWORKS AND STATUES AT KARMA TASHI NAMGYEL LING (Zhiyun Si 指云寺): Visiting Karma Kagyu monastery, Karma Tashi Namgyel Ling (Zhiyun Si), the role of the Mu Kings and 10th Karmapa in the founding of Tibetan Buddhist temples in the Lijiang/Yunnan area, and personal observations and photos of the monastery (China/Tibet Pilgrimage Part 7)
THE NATURALLY-ARISEN VAJRAVARAHI AND CAVE AT ‘JOYFUL LAND OF SECRET-MANTRA’ (WENFENG SI 文峰寺): Visiting another of the five main Karma Kagyu temples, Sang-ngag Gatsal Ling (Wenfeng Si), the three-year retreat centre, Vajravarahi cave, naturally-arisen Varahi and stunning Kagyu statues and artworks
"The Tenth Karmapa took shelter in Jang for approximately twenty-five years (c. 1646/7-1672) in the wake of Gushri Khan’s entry into at the behest of the Fifth Dalai Lama’s (1617–1682) regent in 1642. This Mongol onslaught resulted in the destruction of the entire Karmapa encampment; the Karmapa barely escaped and fled to Jang with only… Continue reading THE NATURALLY-ARISEN VAJRAVARAHI AND CAVE AT ‘JOYFUL LAND OF SECRET-MANTRA’ (WENFENG SI 文峰寺): Visiting another of the five main Karma Kagyu temples, Sang-ngag Gatsal Ling (Wenfeng Si), the three-year retreat centre, Vajravarahi cave, naturally-arisen Varahi and stunning Kagyu statues and artworks
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)