"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’
Tag: karma kagyu
‘NEVER TAKING AN ORDINARY BREATH’: ASPIRING BODHICITTA AND EXCHANGING SELF WITH OTHERS. The unbearable compassion of the boy 8th Karmapa who slept with a calf and the extraordinary life of Kadampa mind-training master, Geshe Langri Thangpa (Day Two, Spring Teachings, 17th Karmapa)
"Benefiting others depends at root on giving awayYour happiness to others and taking their pains upon yourself" ---from 8th Karmapa's 'Good Deeds' (Verse Ten) "If you cannot even get your mind around people (including those you do not like) having good fortune in this lifetime, but at the same time think ‘oh I will give… Continue reading ‘NEVER TAKING AN ORDINARY BREATH’: ASPIRING BODHICITTA AND EXCHANGING SELF WITH OTHERS. The unbearable compassion of the boy 8th Karmapa who slept with a calf and the extraordinary life of Kadampa mind-training master, Geshe Langri Thangpa (Day Two, Spring Teachings, 17th Karmapa)
APPROACHING VAJRAYOGINI: THE NECESSITY OF FOUNDATIONAL PRACTICE AND EMPOWERMENT AND NEW TRANSLATION OF DAILY VAJRAYOGINI TEXT BY 6TH ZHARMAPA (INCLUDED IN THE NINTH KARMAPA’S NGONDRO TEXT)
"Without empowerment there's no accomplishment; You can't get oil from pressing sand." --Patrul Rinpoche in Words of My Perfect Teacher "Vajravarahi is the mother who begat all Buddhas. She is essentially Mahamudra, appearing in the form of Sahaja. She belongs to a family of yoginis who are especially warm-hearted toward sentient beings. Hence, through her,… Continue reading APPROACHING VAJRAYOGINI: THE NECESSITY OF FOUNDATIONAL PRACTICE AND EMPOWERMENT AND NEW TRANSLATION OF DAILY VAJRAYOGINI TEXT BY 6TH ZHARMAPA (INCLUDED IN THE NINTH KARMAPA’S NGONDRO TEXT)
MIND-ONLY IN TIBET (PART II): FIVE DHARMAS OF MAITREYA; KAGYU, JONANG AND SAKYA ZHENTONG VIEWS AND DIFFERENCES; DOLPOPA’S ASSERTIONS ABOUT MIND-ONLY TEXTS AS ZHENTONG MIDDLE WAY; AND THE NEED FOR THE THIRD MAHAYANA SCHOOL ‘BUDDHA NATURE’ (17th Karmapa teaching, Day 8)
"Generally, when talking about the 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, he had studied and contemplated the Five Levels and many other Mind-Only texts. However, he mainly emphasized the Dharmas of Maitreya, and was the first Kagyupa, in the general and the sub-Kagyu lineages to spread the teachings of the Dharmas of Maitreya in Tibet. He left… Continue reading MIND-ONLY IN TIBET (PART II): FIVE DHARMAS OF MAITREYA; KAGYU, JONANG AND SAKYA ZHENTONG VIEWS AND DIFFERENCES; DOLPOPA’S ASSERTIONS ABOUT MIND-ONLY TEXTS AS ZHENTONG MIDDLE WAY; AND THE NEED FOR THE THIRD MAHAYANA SCHOOL ‘BUDDHA NATURE’ (17th Karmapa teaching, Day 8)
‘DAKINI IS TRUTH!’: NEW WEBSITE SECTION ON MAHASIDDHA TILOPA
མི་མནོ། - Don’t remember.མི་བསམ། - Don’t think.མི་ཤེས། - Don’t understand.མི་དཔྱོད། - Don’t act.མི་སྒོམ། - Don’t meditate.རང་སར་བཞག། Remain restful.---Tilopa’s Six Words of Advice[i] "Like space gazing at space, both the ‘gazer’ and the ‘gazed at’, are naturally dissolved in purity." 'There are no demons, the Ḍākinī is truth!' ཉེས་པ་ཟད་པ་རྫུན་གྱི་ཚིག། སྨྲ་བར་མི་འགྱུར་རྒྱུ་མེད་ཕྱིར། བདུད་མིན་མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ་རུ་བདེན།----‘Wisdom Ḍākinī’s Oral Instructions on the… Continue reading ‘DAKINI IS TRUTH!’: NEW WEBSITE SECTION ON MAHASIDDHA TILOPA
MEAT IS MURDER: ‘Tibetan Buddhist Vegetarianism: Ancient and Modern’ compiled teachings by 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje
"How devastatingly hateful this murdering beings ‘custom’!How hugely regrettable this self-deception ‘custom’!How heavy a weight this killing parents ‘custom’!How much wrong action for this stacks of meat ‘custom’!What to be done for this masses of blood ‘custom’!However hungry, this eating meat ‘custom ’!What are these mental appearances of this delusional ‘ custom ’?!Such major evil… Continue reading MEAT IS MURDER: ‘Tibetan Buddhist Vegetarianism: Ancient and Modern’ compiled teachings by 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje
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
The Kangyur and the Karmapas’ role in their publication and preservation
Tibetan woodblocks used to print Tibetan Buddhist texts According to the Tibetan calendar, the eighth day of the ninth month today marks the 39th Parinirvana Anniversary of HH 16th Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje. Yesterday, the official FB page of the Gyalwang Karmapa in the Tibetan language, Layjang, released a photo of 16th Karmapa, with some… Continue reading The Kangyur and the Karmapas’ role in their publication and preservation
Vajrayogini’s instructions on the ‘Great Compassionate One’: Tsembupa’s Lineage
Vajrayogini Today, for Ḍākinī day (and the launch of a new website section) here is a short post on Avalokiteśvara (the Great Compassionate One) in the lineage of 13th Century yogi, Tsembupa Dharma Ozer (tshem bu pa dar ma 'od zer), that came directly from the deity, Vajrayogini [i]. This post considers the origin of… Continue reading Vajrayogini’s instructions on the ‘Great Compassionate One’: Tsembupa’s Lineage
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
Dakini Translations and Publications མཁའ་འགྲོ་མའི་ལོ་ཙཱ་བའི་འགྱུར་དང་འགྲེམས་སྤེལ། 