"A solitary body is not solitude. Being [mentally] solitary, away from the mental references and concepts: this is the supreme solitude. Even though you were settled in a meditative trance for twelve years , you cannot sever this crude reference, the concept of radishes, so what good will come of going to the mountains?”—-Radish-Curry Cook… Continue reading DAKINI DAY OFFERING: Making the invisible female roots and flowers visible, full-colour Kagyu female-inclusive lineage thangka artwork
Tag: tilopa
“EARRINGS OF THE INDIAN MAHĀSIDDHAS”: 7th KARMAPA’S ASTONISHING LEGACY OF INDIAN MAHĀMUDRĀ TEXTS. The 7th Karmapa’s handwritten, ‘dictated from memory’ vast collection of Indian Mahāmudrā texts (Chag Chen Gya Zhung): An overview of its publication, contents, and newly translated catalogue (English, Sanskrit Tibetan)
“The one who compiled these volumes, which are well known in the Snowland [of Tibet], [this] precious jewel of the precious Kagyu [lineage] called ‘Indian mahāmudrā works,’ was the incarnation of Lokeśvara, the seventh Karmapa Rangjung Tsokye Dorje, also known as Chodrag Gyatso."—Karma Tashi Chophel in his Introduction to the 19th Century Pelpung edition, Earrings… Continue reading “EARRINGS OF THE INDIAN MAHĀSIDDHAS”: 7th KARMAPA’S ASTONISHING LEGACY OF INDIAN MAHĀMUDRĀ TEXTS. The 7th Karmapa’s handwritten, ‘dictated from memory’ vast collection of Indian Mahāmudrā texts (Chag Chen Gya Zhung): An overview of its publication, contents, and newly translated catalogue (English, Sanskrit Tibetan)
HEARING ‘HER-STORY’ (III): ENVISIONING AND CREATING THE FEMALE LINEAGE TREE. Making the invisible roots and flowers of the lineage tree visible, original artwork visually portraying the Kagyu ‘foremothers’
“Men may have been the fruit of the Tantric vine, but women were the root, stalk, leaves, and flowers…. Although historians have glorified the men of Tantric Buddhism and effaced the women, Tantric Buddhism in India was characterized by the close association and cooperation of women and men who travelled, meditated, and explored the religious life together as esteemed peers. Women… Continue reading HEARING ‘HER-STORY’ (III): ENVISIONING AND CREATING THE FEMALE LINEAGE TREE. Making the invisible roots and flowers of the lineage tree visible, original artwork visually portraying the Kagyu ‘foremothers’
GRINDING SESAME SEEDS TO EXTRACT THE ESSENCE: THE SACRED SPACE OF CHAKRASAMVARA, MAHASIDDHA TILOPA. New translation of Tilopa and Dharima’s ‘Vajra Song on Sesame Oil’, his cave in India and wooden sesame-seed grinder.
“The abiding sesame oil is its essence,Although the dull-minded know it is in the sesame seed, If they do not know how its constituents are combined,It is not possible for the sesame oil essence to emerge.Likewise, the co-emergent innate primordial awareness, Although present in the hearts of all beings,Is impossible to realize unless it is… Continue reading GRINDING SESAME SEEDS TO EXTRACT THE ESSENCE: THE SACRED SPACE OF CHAKRASAMVARA, MAHASIDDHA TILOPA. New translation of Tilopa and Dharima’s ‘Vajra Song on Sesame Oil’, his cave in India and wooden sesame-seed grinder.
‘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
‘DAKINI IS TRUTH!’ TILOPA’S ‘OVERLOOKED’ FEMALE TEACHERS AND ENTERING ‘UNCONVENTIONAL’ CONDUCT (TUL-ZHUG)
"Now you must meditate continuously on the very essence of suchness and the nature of phenomena and mind. To do this you must find some kind of activity to engage in. Previously you were a king, so you have some vestige of class arrogance and this must be destroyed."---Female Mātaṅgī’s instruction to Tilopa to act… Continue reading ‘DAKINI IS TRUTH!’ TILOPA’S ‘OVERLOOKED’ FEMALE TEACHERS AND ENTERING ‘UNCONVENTIONAL’ CONDUCT (TUL-ZHUG)
THE ‘FOUR FLOWING DESCENTS’ SOURCE OF KAGYU: MARPA’S SONG ON THE FOUR TRANSMISSIONS. 16th Karmapa’s 40th Paranirvana (Part II).
Even though the sacred oral instructions can become extremely milky nectar flowing down,Without the blessings of lineage, they are the same as a ‘hot spring’.གསུངས་པ་གདམས་པ་བདུད་རྩི་ཤིན་ཏུ་འོ་མ་མར་མང་གྱུར་ཀྱང། ་བྱིན་རླབས་བརྒྱུད་པ་མེད་ན་བཀོད་མའི་ཆུ་དང་མཚུངས། ---Marpa in his introduction to the Oral Descents of the Blessings Lineage[1] That called ‘Kagyu’ is no different from the previous teachings of the Perfect Bhagavan Buddha’s oral transmission,… Continue reading THE ‘FOUR FLOWING DESCENTS’ SOURCE OF KAGYU: MARPA’S SONG ON THE FOUR TRANSMISSIONS. 16th Karmapa’s 40th Paranirvana (Part II).
BIOGRAPHIES OF MAHASIDDHA TILOPA: Catalogue of Biographies and ‘Ḍākinī’s Instruction to Tilopa on the Bardo’
Statue of Tilopa carved out of Rhinoceros horn by the 10th Karmapa, Choying Dorje. Preserved in Rumtek Monastery, Sikkim, India. Like space gazing at space, both the 'gazer' and the ‘gazed at’, are naturally dissolved in purity. from 'Wisdom Ḍākinī's Oral Instructions on the Bardo to Tilopa ' For Ḍākinī day today, I offer a… Continue reading BIOGRAPHIES OF MAHASIDDHA TILOPA: Catalogue of Biographies and ‘Ḍākinī’s Instruction to Tilopa on the Bardo’
NEW TRANSLATION: Tilopa’s Gangama Mahāmudrā Instructions
I completed a new translation in one day of these precious verses as an offering, on Dakini Day, 2nd December 2018. I am grateful to the prior English translation of these verses, by David Molk (Tilopa’s Māhamudrā Updesha, Snow Lion (2014)) and Lama Yeshe Gyamtso (Shenphen Osel, Vol.3, No.3, 1999), and the published commentaries available in… Continue reading NEW TRANSLATION: Tilopa’s Gangama Mahāmudrā Instructions