THE CHILDHOOD AND UNIQUE LINEAGES OF FIRST KARMAPA: Dusum Khyenpa’s childhood and key dates, important teacher the ‘mercurial’ Vairochanavajra, and Lineage Holder of Palden Lhamo and five-deity Tara direct from Atisha (17th Karmapa teaching, December 2023)

3rd Jan 20244th Jan 2024 Dakini TranslationsLeave a comment

“It is probably fine to say the teachings of Palden Lhamo are both the ancestral heritage as well as the paternal family lineage of the Karma Kamtsang.” --17th Karmapa (December 2023) “Those who uphold the precious Dagpo Kagyu lineage supplicate you the venerable one. Master of the Daglho Gampo monastery,` return to your home.” –Jigten… Continue reading THE CHILDHOOD AND UNIQUE LINEAGES OF FIRST KARMAPA: Dusum Khyenpa’s childhood and key dates, important teacher the ‘mercurial’ Vairochanavajra, and Lineage Holder of Palden Lhamo and five-deity Tara direct from Atisha (17th Karmapa teaching, December 2023)

‘KNOWER OF THE THREE TIMES’ MASTER WITH THE MIDNIGHT-BLUE DAKINI HAT: New artwork and poetic verse released for the anniversary of the 1st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa

27th Dec 202214th Dec 2023 Dakini TranslationsLeave a comment

Yesterday, was the anniversary of the First Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa (karma pa 01 dus gsum mkhyen pa chos kyi grags pa, 1110-1193). The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje released an exquisitely beautiful painting of the renowned master together with an accompanying poetic praise. The First Karmapa's name Dusum Khyenpa means 'knower of the three… Continue reading ‘KNOWER OF THE THREE TIMES’ MASTER WITH THE MIDNIGHT-BLUE DAKINI HAT: New artwork and poetic verse released for the anniversary of the 1st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa

GREEN TĀRĀ OF THE ACACIA FOREST (Sengdeng Nagki) AND THE FIVE-DEITY TĀRĀ MANDALA OF FIRST KARMAPA: Overview of Green Tārā origin and lineage and new translation of Five Deity Green Tārā short daily practice from 1st Karmapa’s ‘Five sets of Five’

7th Jun 202214th Dec 2023 Dakini Translations4 Comments

"Many desire enlightenment in a man’s body, while not even a single [person] strives for the benefit of sentient beings in a woman’s body. Therefore, I shall work for the benefit of sentient beings in a woman’s form as long as saṃsāra has not been emptied." --Noble Tārā's statement (as Princess Jñānacandrā) to sexist monks… Continue reading GREEN TĀRĀ OF THE ACACIA FOREST (Sengdeng Nagki) AND THE FIVE-DEITY TĀRĀ MANDALA OF FIRST KARMAPA: Overview of Green Tārā origin and lineage and new translation of Five Deity Green Tārā short daily practice from 1st Karmapa’s ‘Five sets of Five’

‘WAKING UP FROM THE SLUMBER OF IGNORANCE’: THE ‘KA-NYING’ CONNECTION. Reasons why the 8th Karmapa did not write Nyingma refutations and why people assumed he did, and the profound connection of the Karmapas and Nyingma Dharma, 3rd Karmapa as main disseminator of Dzogchen in Tibet, (17th Karmapa Spring teachings, Day 6)

9th Apr 202214th Dec 2023 Dakini TranslationsLeave a comment

"There are also many famous tertons who were disciples of the Karmapas. In fact, it is traditionally said that the person who had to determine whether a terton was authentic or not was the Karmapa. During the time of the Tai Situ Chokyi Junge, the terma practice spread widely in the Kamtsang, and many of… Continue reading ‘WAKING UP FROM THE SLUMBER OF IGNORANCE’: THE ‘KA-NYING’ CONNECTION. Reasons why the 8th Karmapa did not write Nyingma refutations and why people assumed he did, and the profound connection of the Karmapas and Nyingma Dharma, 3rd Karmapa as main disseminator of Dzogchen in Tibet, (17th Karmapa Spring teachings, Day 6)

GARLAND OF PLAY: PRAISES TO VAJRAYOGINI BY LORD ATISHA AND FIRST KARMAPA

3rd Aug 202114th Dec 2023 Dakini Translations4 Comments

INTRODUCTION Today for Dākinī Day, I publish two new translations of Praises to Vajrayoginī (with Tibetan and phonetics) [i] by the Kadamapa master, Atisha (Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna (982-1055)) and my translation of Garland of Playful Display: Praises to Vajravārāhı[ii] by 1st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa (1110 – 1193). Both are downloadable as pdf files (see end… Continue reading GARLAND OF PLAY: PRAISES TO VAJRAYOGINI BY LORD ATISHA AND FIRST KARMAPA

‘SIMULTANEOUSLY-ARISEN’, LIKE SUN AND SUNLIGHT: Dagpo Gampopa on the meaning of ‘simultaneously-arisen’, ‘white panacea’ and Dzogchen in the context of Mahāmudrā

24th Jul 202114th Dec 2023 Dakini TranslationsLeave a comment

Simultaneously-arisen ‘mind-itself’[1] is dharmakāya.Simultaneously-arisen appearances are the light of dharmakāya.Simultaneously-arisen ‘mind-itself’ is the nature or essence.Simultaneously-arisen appearances are thoughts that arise from [that].Like the sun and rays of the sun, or sandalwood and scent of sandalwood[2]. སེམས་ཉིད་ལྷན་ཅིག་སྐྱེས་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྐུ༎ སྣང་བ་ལྷན་ཅིག་སྐྱེས་པ་ཆོས་སྐུའི་འོད༎ སེམས་ཉིད་ལྷན་ཅིག་སྐྱེས་པ་ནི༎ སེམས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་ནམ་ངོ་བོ་དེ་ཡིན༎ སྣང་བ་ལྷན་ཅིག་སྐྱེས་པ་ནི༎ དེ་ལས་བྱུང་བའི་རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་པ་དེ་ཡིན༎ དེ་ཡང་ཉི་མ་དང་ཉི་མའི་འོད་བཞིན་ནམ༎ ཙན་དན་དང་ཙན་དན་གྱི་དྲི་ལྟ་བུ་ཡིན༎ “Once, when Milarepa was in the company of many people, I… Continue reading ‘SIMULTANEOUSLY-ARISEN’, LIKE SUN AND SUNLIGHT: Dagpo Gampopa on the meaning of ‘simultaneously-arisen’, ‘white panacea’ and Dzogchen in the context of Mahāmudrā

THE BRAVE ‘KAGYU FOX’: Meaning and origin of the name ‘Karmapa’, the ‘midnight-blue crown’ and ‘Karmapa Khyenno’ mantra: ‘Good Deeds of 8th Karmapa’ by 17th Karmapa (Day One)

16th Feb 202114th Dec 2023 Dakini Translations4 Comments

“All qualified lamas that accomplish the activity of all the Buddhas can be called Karmapa” -–17th Karmapa, Orgyen Trinley Dorje “When there is a debate between the tigers and lions of Sakya and Gelug scholars, the foxes of the Kagyu meditators should be very careful!” ---5th Dalai Lama The renowned Karmapa's midnight-blue crown On the… Continue reading THE BRAVE ‘KAGYU FOX’: Meaning and origin of the name ‘Karmapa’, the ‘midnight-blue crown’ and ‘Karmapa Khyenno’ mantra: ‘Good Deeds of 8th Karmapa’ by 17th Karmapa (Day One)

LION-FACED DAKINI (Siṃhamukhā): Barī Lotsawa, Vanaratna, and Terma revealed by 1st Karmapa: ‘Aspirations to End Adversity’ with 17th Karmapa (Day VIII: part 2)

6th Feb 202114th Dec 2023 Dakini Translations2 Comments

For ḍākinī day today I am delighted to offer this short post on Lion-Faced Ḍākinī (Siṃhamukhā). On the eighth day of the 'Aspirations to End Adversity' with 17th Karmapa, Orgyen Trinley Dorje, one of the texts recited was that of Lion-Faced Ḍākinī by the 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje. This text (with the official English translation)… Continue reading LION-FACED DAKINI (Siṃhamukhā): Barī Lotsawa, Vanaratna, and Terma revealed by 1st Karmapa: ‘Aspirations to End Adversity’ with 17th Karmapa (Day VIII: part 2)

NEW TRANSLATION: ‘Supplication to the Life of 1st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa’ by 8th Karmapa

21st Dec 202014th Dec 2023 Dakini TranslationsLeave a comment

A few days ago, Karma Kagyu monastic centres commemorated the paranirvana of the 1st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa (dus gsum mkhyen pa, 1110-1193), who is the founder of the Karma Kagyu lineage (passed down from Gampopa) and said to be the first Tibetan teacher to start the official ‘tulku’ system, by predicting where and when he… Continue reading NEW TRANSLATION: ‘Supplication to the Life of 1st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa’ by 8th Karmapa

Vajrayogini and the 1st Karmapa

10th Nov 202014th Dec 2023 Dakini Translations2 Comments

Five Deity Vajravārāhı mandala (Naropa Karma Kagyu tradition) For Ḍākinī Day today, I am delighted to publish a post (and three new translations) on the 1st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa (Dus gsum mkhyen pa, 1110–1193) and his connection to Vajrayogini, the texts and their content. Vajravārāhı is one of the main yidams of the Karmapas and… Continue reading Vajrayogini and the 1st Karmapa