For the New Moon today, am happy to share and announce the creation and launch of another Dharma translations and research website dedicated solely to the Collected Works of the Karmapas. As I have already done a significant amount of translation, research and transcripts on the 1st-17th Karmapas, I decided it would be beneficial to… Continue reading THE COLLECTED WORKS OF THE KARMAPAS: New website resource of Collected Works of Karmapas (Part 1): First Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa
Tag: karmapas
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’
"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 "Generally,… 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’
LADY WITH THE FLOWER: NOBLE TĀRĀ AND THE GYALWANG KARMAPAS. Overview of Karmapas’ works on Tārā and first translation of Tārā Supplication by 16th Karmapa
For Dākinī Day today, I offer the first overview of works on Tārā composed by the Karmapas. In addition, the first translation of brief Tārā supplication by the 16th Karmapa, Rigpe Dorje from the third volume of his Collected Works. For a translated outline of this third volume, see here. First, a little background… Continue reading LADY WITH THE FLOWER: NOBLE TĀRĀ AND THE GYALWANG KARMAPAS. Overview of Karmapas’ works on Tārā and first translation of Tārā Supplication by 16th Karmapa
INDESTRUCTIBLE MIND MANDALA OF THE KARMAPAS, TSURPHU MONASTERY: Origin, history, rebuilding and ‘Praises to Tsurphu’ by 3rd and 16th Karmapas
Introduction "When you listen to the sound of our river, you hear the mantra of Chakrasmavara. It's power is secret and the river holds it forever." --Drupon Dechen Rinpoche about Tsurphu Monastery's river "In the centre of that, the Monastery of Tsurphu,Where the meadows are like Metog Drampa [AvakIr Nakusuma name of a future Buddha]A… Continue reading INDESTRUCTIBLE MIND MANDALA OF THE KARMAPAS, TSURPHU MONASTERY: Origin, history, rebuilding and ‘Praises to Tsurphu’ by 3rd and 16th Karmapas
CHOD LINEAGES AND MACHIG LABDRON: Indic-Tibetan Sources, Contemporary Works, The Karmapas and ‘The Long Lineage Supplication to Machig” by Bengar Jampel Zangpo
Girl, expose your hidden faults, Trample down grudges, Lift up the powerless, Sever obscurations, Behold craving, Wander in scary places! Knowing that all beings are like space, In dangerous places, seek the Buddha within yourself. In the future, your teachings will be as bright as the sun rising in the sky! བུ་མོ་ཁྱོད་མཚང་ཡུལ་ནས་འདོན་། མི་ཕོད་པ་རྫིས་་མི་ནུབ་པ་བསྐུར་། འཁྲིབ་ཆོད་།་ཞེན་པ་མཐོང་། གཉནས་འགྲིམ་།སེམས་ཅན་ནམ་མཁའ་ལྟར་ཤེས་པར་གྱིས་ལ་།… Continue reading CHOD LINEAGES AND MACHIG LABDRON: Indic-Tibetan Sources, Contemporary Works, The Karmapas and ‘The Long Lineage Supplication to Machig” by Bengar Jampel Zangpo
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 Chinese and the Karmapas: Historical survey from the 2nd to 19th Karmapas
"Marvellous indeed is the play which comes to its end before a large audience. The duty of a monk is to go wherever a peaceful place is to be found and to help spread the doctrines through compassion to all beings." –4th Karmapa, Rolpe Dorje to Chinese Emperor and Ministers Tibet has always had a strong… Continue reading The Chinese and the Karmapas: Historical survey from the 2nd to 19th Karmapas
NEW TRANSLATION: Karmapa’s Midnight-Blue ‘ Dākinī Hair’ Crown: Praise, Source and Benefits by 8th Karmapa and 1st Jamgon Kongtrul
Today, on ḍākinī day, I offer new research and translation about the Karmapas’ black crowns (zhwa nag), that includes first-time published translations of original Tibetan texts by 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje, (1507-1554), Praise to the Source of the Gyalwang Karmapa’s Black Crown, and Summary of the Benefits of the Black Crown by 1st Jamgon Kongtrul… Continue reading NEW TRANSLATION: Karmapa’s Midnight-Blue ‘ Dākinī Hair’ Crown: Praise, Source and Benefits by 8th Karmapa and 1st Jamgon Kongtrul
VAJRAYOGINI AND THE KARMAPAS: Catalogue of Karmapas’ Works and ‘Praise to White Vajravarahi’ by Third Karmapa
Source Himalayan Art The Karmapas are lineage holders of the practice of Vajrayogini as passed down from Nāropa to Marpa to Milarepa to the 1st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa onwards. As I wrote about here, it is not correct to say that Nāropa did not pass the lineage to Marpa, although some online sources do. What… Continue reading VAJRAYOGINI AND THE KARMAPAS: Catalogue of Karmapas’ Works and ‘Praise to White Vajravarahi’ by Third Karmapa
Tibetan script of Guru Padmasambhava’s prophecy on 15th to 21st Karmapas, as revealed by Chogyur Lingpa
Recently, I wrote about the 15th Karmapa and how his incarnation was predicted by Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) as revealed to terton Chogyur Lingpa (1829-1870). Although there are a few online accounts of this revelation and what Guru Rinpoche prophesised, I had not see the original 19th Century Tibetan script of it. So, here today, am… Continue reading Tibetan script of Guru Padmasambhava’s prophecy on 15th to 21st Karmapas, as revealed by Chogyur Lingpa