NEW TRANSLATION: Milarepa’s Song on the Ten Pāramitās

"Great Kind, Lord Marpa Translator, Please be a refuge for sentient beings of degenerate times. May your dharma blessing pacify jealousy. Listen, Darlo, you teacher who seek fame: Thinking one is immortal, Obsessing over words that connect or contradict, Thirty-two years wasted without sensing it, If you practice now, that would be best." --Excerpt from… Continue reading NEW TRANSLATION: Milarepa’s Song on the Ten Pāramitās

3rd Jamgon Kongtrul, Rumtek Monastery Parinirvāṇa ritual and Kālacakra

For Dakini Day today, I offer a short post on the 3rd Jamgon Kongtrul, one of the main lineage holders of Karma Kagyu and the Non-Sectarian movement in Tibet (Rimey), heart-son of 16th Karmapa and Kālacakra master (who passed away suddenly in a car crash in 1992). Rumtek Monastery Parinirvana anniversary puja Yesterday, Rumtek monastery… Continue reading 3rd Jamgon Kongtrul, Rumtek Monastery Parinirvāṇa ritual and Kālacakra

GURU PADMASAMBHAVA’S RETURN (2424 AD): Hero King of Shambhala, Rudra Cakri (Wrathful Chakra-Holder), Conqueror of Barbarians

Rudra Cakri/Guru Padmasambhava, atop a white snow lion, going into battle as King of Shambhala "The emanations will appear to kill the barbarians, pacifying their arrogance and having brought them to the true path, the emanations will return. Then will start the Kṛida age (yuga). Cakrī will have two sons, Brahmā and Sureśvara. In the… Continue reading GURU PADMASAMBHAVA’S RETURN (2424 AD): Hero King of Shambhala, Rudra Cakri (Wrathful Chakra-Holder), Conqueror of Barbarians

THE ‘SINGLE-SITTING’ VEGETARIAN PRACTICE: Sakya Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo’s vegetarianism; Kālacakra master, Śākyaśrī and the four monastic communities (Joden Tshogpa Zhi); the Gedun Gangpa’s monastic ordination of the 4th-8th Karmapas

Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo, 15th Century Tibetan thangka (1382-1456) (see Teacher (Lama) - Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo (Himalayan Art)) Hey! Followers of mine, give up the impure lifestyle of consuming meat, alcohol, and the like! Being the sole basis of all marvelous qualities, cherish the precious discipline more than your life! --Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo, An Epistle Benefitting… Continue reading THE ‘SINGLE-SITTING’ VEGETARIAN PRACTICE: Sakya Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo’s vegetarianism; Kālacakra master, Śākyaśrī and the four monastic communities (Joden Tshogpa Zhi); the Gedun Gangpa’s monastic ordination of the 4th-8th Karmapas

4th Shamarpa, Yangchenpa Monastery and his ‘Praises to Dolpopa’

Omniscient Dolpopa (1292-1361) Today is the paranirvana of Omniscient (Kun mkhyen) Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan) (1292–1361) one of the most extraordinary Tibetan Buddhist masters, and key advocates and founders of the Empty-of-Other (gzhan stong) philosophy school and a highly realized practitioner of tantra, in particular Kālacakra. He is one… Continue reading 4th Shamarpa, Yangchenpa Monastery and his ‘Praises to Dolpopa’

NEW TRANSLATION: ‘Homage to the Magnificent Source of Kālacakra Six Vajra-Yogas’: Chapter One of ‘A Hundred Blazing Lights’ by Jetsun Tāranātha

For this full moon today, am happy to publish the first English language translation of Chapter One – A Hundred Blazing Lights by Jetsun Tāranātha. Below is a reproduction of my detailed Introduction/Summary. For more information about the text, its editions and origin etc., see here. The full translation of Chapter One can be downloaded… Continue reading NEW TRANSLATION: ‘Homage to the Magnificent Source of Kālacakra Six Vajra-Yogas’: Chapter One of ‘A Hundred Blazing Lights’ by Jetsun Tāranātha

NEW TRANSLATION: 16TH KARMAPA’S TRANSMISSION RECORD: Second Volume of ‘Collected Works’ and Kālacakra lineages

16th Karmapa, Rigpe Dorje (image from Volume II of his Collected Works) Recently, I have been doing some research on the 15th Karmapa’s lineage of Immortal Life-essence Bindu, and whom he passed it onto (if anyone). In 2016, the Tsurphu Labrang together with Tashi Tsering of Amnye Institute in Dharamsala, India published three volumes of… Continue reading NEW TRANSLATION: 16TH KARMAPA’S TRANSMISSION RECORD: Second Volume of ‘Collected Works’ and Kālacakra lineages

‘A Hundred Blazing Lights: Supplementary Commentary on ‘Meaningful to See” by Jetsun Tāranātha

This is to announce the online launch of  the first English-language translation and publication of A Hundred Blazing Lights: A Supplementary Commentary on Meaningful to See, the Profound Path of the Vajra-yogas [i] , one of the most important instruction texts [khrid yig], in the Dro Kālacakra lineages (such as Jonang and Karma Kagyu). Composed… Continue reading ‘A Hundred Blazing Lights: Supplementary Commentary on ‘Meaningful to See” by Jetsun Tāranātha

NEW TRANSLATION: The ‘Red Hat Karmapa’, 4th Shamarpa’s ‘Supplication to the Kālacakra Six Vajra-Yogas Lineage’ and his teacher, Kālacakra lineage master, Go Lotsawa Kālacakra

For Mahakala day today and the solstice, this new translation and article includes a brief introduction to the life of the 4th Sharmapa (one of the four main heart-disciples of the Karmapas) and his connection to Kālacakra and Kālacakra master, Go Lotsawa Zhonu Pal and a new translation of texts he composed about the Kālacakra… Continue reading NEW TRANSLATION: The ‘Red Hat Karmapa’, 4th Shamarpa’s ‘Supplication to the Kālacakra Six Vajra-Yogas Lineage’ and his teacher, Kālacakra lineage master, Go Lotsawa Kālacakra

‘A Hundred Blazing Lights’: Tāranātha on the meaning of ‘profound’ and ‘exceptional devotion’ in the ‘profound path of vajra-yogas’

Jetsun Tāranātha As part of the new publication of Tāranātha's root text 'Meaningful to See: Guiding Instructions on the Profound Path of the Vajra-yogas' (and the annotations within it from his longer supplementary commentary, 'A Hundred Blazing Lights' (HBL)), this  post shares his explanation of the term 'profound' (zab mo) and why it is used… Continue reading ‘A Hundred Blazing Lights’: Tāranātha on the meaning of ‘profound’ and ‘exceptional devotion’ in the ‘profound path of vajra-yogas’