"In any case, the only lama whom Tibetans call Jowo Je is Atisha, there is no-one else. This shows how close Tibetans felt to Jowo Je, and how much gratitude they have for his kindness. Tibetans have a different feeling for Jowo Je than any other lama from the very depths of their hearts. So,… Continue reading ‘EVERY SIX DAYS LEAVING THE MONASTERY TO PRACTICE SECRET MANTRA’: THE STUDIES AND MAIN TEACHERS OF THE ‘GREAT YOGI PANDITA’ MONK ATISHA: Atisha’s names, monastic ordination, his main teachers and historical background to his being invited to Tibet (Life and Liberation of Atisha by 17th Karmapa Day Two)
Tag: Atisha
‘YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF TANTRAS IS LIKE A HORSE-HAIR IN THIS WORLD!’: NOBLE TĀRĀ’S ADVICE TO YOUNG, HANDSOME TANTRIC YOGI, ATISHA: Jowo Atisha’s early life, studies of tantras, secret mantra unconventional conduct with Indian mahasiddhas, ‘pride-smashing’ direct instructions from Tārā and Ḍākinīs, and upholder of Mind-Only view. (Life and Liberation of Atisha by 17th Karmapa (Day One))
"In the excellent land of Za-hor [Bengal] in the east,Is a great city, Vikramanipura. In its center is a royal residence,A palace extremely vast, Called the "Golden Banner."Its resources, might, and fortune, Were like that of the eastern emperor of China. ཤར་ཕྱོགས་ཟ་ཧོར་ཡུལ་མཆོག་ན། །དེ་ན་གྲོང་ཁྱེར་ཆེན་པོ་ཡོད། ། བི་ཀྲ་མ་ནི་པཱུ་ར་ཡིན། །དེ་ཡི་དབུས་ན་རྒྱལ་པོའི་ཁབ། ། ཕོ་བྲང་ཤིན་ཏུ་ཡངས་པ་ཡོད། །གསེར་གྱི་རྒྱལ་མཚན་ཅན་ཞེས་བྱ། ། ལོངས་སྤྱོད་མངའ་ཐང་འབྱོར་བ་ནི། །རྒྱ་ནག་སྟོང་ཁུན་རྒྱལ་བོ་འདྲ། །" ---description of… Continue reading ‘YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF TANTRAS IS LIKE A HORSE-HAIR IN THIS WORLD!’: NOBLE TĀRĀ’S ADVICE TO YOUNG, HANDSOME TANTRIC YOGI, ATISHA: Jowo Atisha’s early life, studies of tantras, secret mantra unconventional conduct with Indian mahasiddhas, ‘pride-smashing’ direct instructions from Tārā and Ḍākinīs, and upholder of Mind-Only view. (Life and Liberation of Atisha by 17th Karmapa (Day One))
PRAISES TO TĀRĀ! TWENTY-ONE TĀRĀ BLESSINGS IN BODH GAYA FOR NEW YEAR’S EVE. Empowerment by HH 14th Dalai Lama, introduction to the four main traditions of twenty-one Tārās and ‘The Explicit and Secret Aspects’ of Tārā commentary by Jetsun Tāranātha
Introduction As an offering for the Twenty-one Tarā (jenang) permission empowerment given today by HH 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso (video here), in the place where Shakyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment, (which I was fortunate to attend in person), I offer first a brief introduction to the four main traditions of the Twenty-One Tārās (two from… Continue reading PRAISES TO TĀRĀ! TWENTY-ONE TĀRĀ BLESSINGS IN BODH GAYA FOR NEW YEAR’S EVE. Empowerment by HH 14th Dalai Lama, introduction to the four main traditions of twenty-one Tārās and ‘The Explicit and Secret Aspects’ of Tārā commentary by Jetsun Tāranātha
GOING BACK TO THE ROOTS OF VAJRAYĀNA: A 21st Century review of the female and yogic roots of Vajrayāna, monastic vows and tantric practice, and the invisible, silent female consort
“My female messengers are everywhere; They bestow all the spiritual attainments By gazing, touching, kissing, and embracing. The most excellent place for yogis is Wherever there is a gathering of yoginis; There all the magical powers will be attained By all those blissful ones.” --Cakrasaṁvaratantra “As The Great Tantra of the Primordial Buddha emphatically forbids… Continue reading GOING BACK TO THE ROOTS OF VAJRAYĀNA: A 21st Century review of the female and yogic roots of Vajrayāna, monastic vows and tantric practice, and the invisible, silent female consort
‘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)
"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)
MOTHER TĀRĀ AND PADMASAMBHAVA GURU OF ALL LINEAGES: ‘Aspirations to End Adversity’ with 17th Karmapa (Part VI)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q7qFQefjCE On the sixth day of the ‘Aspirations to End Adversity’ with 17th Karmapa, there was a recitation of the Praises of the Twenty-One Tārās and two supplications to Guru Rinpoche, Clearing the Path of Obstacles and Spontaneous Fulfillment of Wishes together. Here is a transcript of the teaching on the recited texts compiled with… Continue reading MOTHER TĀRĀ AND PADMASAMBHAVA GURU OF ALL LINEAGES: ‘Aspirations to End Adversity’ with 17th Karmapa (Part VI)
NEW PUBLICATION: ‘The Explicit and Hidden Aspects of Tārā: A Commentary on the Twenty-One Tārās’ by Jetsun Tāranātha
On the the Kālacakra New Year, the full moon of the third lunar month (Nagpa Dawa), I am happy to announce the first English translation (and publication) of the Commentary on the Praises to the Twenty-One Tāras (Phyag 'tshal nyer gcig gi bstod pa'i rnam par bshad pa), The Explicit and Hidden Aspects of Tāra, composed… Continue reading NEW PUBLICATION: ‘The Explicit and Hidden Aspects of Tārā: A Commentary on the Twenty-One Tārās’ by Jetsun Tāranātha
Visiting Vikramashila-Bihar, Nepal: the forgotten and neglected Kālacakra pilgrimage site of Kālacakra lineage holder and Indian master, Vibhūticandra
While in Nepal, I was intrigued to visit a place in there that one of the major Kālacakra lineage holders and Indian masters of the 12th Century, Vibhūticandra (1170-1230) rNal byor zla ba) not only taught and studied at, but where he is said to have directly received the teachings on Kālacakra and the six… Continue reading Visiting Vikramashila-Bihar, Nepal: the forgotten and neglected Kālacakra pilgrimage site of Kālacakra lineage holder and Indian master, Vibhūticandra
Dakini Translations and Publications མཁའ་འགྲོ་མའི་ལོ་ཙཱ་བའི་འགྱུར་དང་འགྲེམས་སྤེལ། 