Special Photo Exhibition Commemorates Kyabje Kulu Rinpoche and Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche

December 28, 2014, 10:48 pm

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Monlam Pavilion

20 – 26 December, 2014-12-28

A major theme of the 32^nd Monlam is remembering with gratitude the lives of these two great teachers of the Kagyu lineage, Kalu Rinpoche (1905 – 1989) and Bokar Rinpoche (1940-2004), both of whom were masters within the Shangpa tradition of the Karma Kagyu.

As His Holiness explained: 

We made a plan to have a remembrance of Kyabje Kalu Rinpoche and Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, and we decided that since they were primarily interested in practice and meditation it would be best to give an offering of the dharma. So therefore the reason for giving these empowerments of “Knowing One Frees All” is to commemorate the anniversaries of these two masters passing away, as well as to make an offering to them of practice and meditation.”

But in addition to offering the six-day initiation series of the Chikshey Kundrol, the Gyalwang Karmapa commissioned a special exhibition of photographs which is being held in a specially created exhibition area near the entrance to the Monlam Pavilion.

His Holiness inaugurated the exhibition on the morning of 20^th December, 2014. He arrived at 9.00am with Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche and Gyaltsab Rinpoche, and they were joined by His Holiness Sakya Trizin’s two sons, Ratna Vajra Rinpoche and Gyana Vajra Rinpoche.

Two women in exquisite turquoise silk brocade chubas held a large red ribbon across the entrance.  Donning his golden brocade ceremonial hat, the Karmapa recited prayers and scattered rice and metok tsampaka [magnolia michelia seeds] in a  short blessing  (rab-ney)and inauguration ceremony. Then he cut the ribbon and went inside.  Ms Ja Jen Wu, who is responsible for organising the exhibition, gave His Holiness a guided tour of the images, explaining in some detail the stories behind them.  The Karmapa showed particular interest in some of the older photographs from Tibet, and other rare glimpses of these two Rinpoches who were responsible for establishing the Kagyu Monlam in India.

There were poignant moments as they stopped to look at photographs of Bokar Rinpoche in Tibet with a nine-years-old Karmapa playing with a radio-controlled helicopter, specially purchased by Rinpoche in Hong Kong. Another shows Rinpoche standing tall, no sign of ill-health, and beaming; this photograph was taken the day before he died of a heart attack at the age of 65.  The 17^th Karmapa and Bokar Rinpoche were very close, both in Tibet and later, after the Karmapa came to India. At that time, when the fourteen year-old arrived unexpectedly in Dharamsala in January 2000, Bokar Rinpoche was one of his most important tutors, as witnessed by a photo of His Holiness the Dalai Lama flanked by Bokar Rinpoche and an adolescent Karmapa.  During many months spent at Gyuto Monastery, the Karmapa’s residence near Dharamsala, Bokar Rinpoche taught the young Karmapa Gampopa’s ‘Jewel Ornament of Liberation’, Maitreya’s ‘Uttaratantra’, the Hevajra Tantra, and many other important texts.

In contrast, the 17^th Gyalwang Karmapa never met the previous Kalu Rinpoche, but Kalu Rinpoche was one of the tutors of the Sixteenth Karmapa. Rinpoche began his studies as a monk at Palpung Monastery in Tibet, the seat of the Tai Situpas. From an early age he was noted for his intelligence and he studied under the 15^th Karmapa Khakyab Dorje, and the 11^th Tai Situpa, amongst others.  He then spent 15 years as a wandering yogi in Kham, and, on his return to Palpung, Drupon Norbu Dondrup entrusted him with the rare transmission of the teachings of the Shangpa Kagyu tradition. Kalu Rinpoche was highly regarded as a master of meditation. As well as the Sixteenth Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, his students included Reting Rinpoche, the Regent of Tibet. After the upheaval in Tibet, at the end of the 1950s, he came to India and re-established his monastery at Sonada in Darjeeling.  From there, he travelled to the West and, like the 16^th Karmapa and the 14^th Dalai Lama, was integral in the spread of Tibetan Buddhism in Europe and North America.

The history of the photographs is interesting. The majority come from Bokar Rinpoche’s own private collection. A year before he died, Rinpoche handed over three boxes of photographs to two of his students from Bokar Asia in Taiwan, a Himalayan nun Ani Sonam and Ja Jen Wu, and asked them to keep them safely. That was in 2003.  Then suddenly, a few months ago, out of the blue, the Gyalwang Karmapa contacted them and asked them to produce the exhibition and two commemorative books. “How did he know we had those photos?” asked Ja Jen.

The remainder of the photographs in the exhibition were contributed by the 17^th Karmapa himself. He also confirmed the choice of photographs for the exhibition.

Two elegant souvenir albums are also available as part of the tribute. The first, in a blue cloth cover, contains photographs and a biography of Kalu Rinpoche, composed by Khenpo Lodro Donyo Rinpoche. The second, in a brown cloth cover, contains photographs and a little-known autobiography entitled “A Bouquet of White Lotuses”, which ends a few months before his death.

http://www.kagyumonlam.org/English/News/Report/Report_20141220_3.html

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A New Edition of the Monlam Prayer Books

December 29, 2014, 3:50 am

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This year will see revised editions of the Monlam Prayer Books in eight languages: English, Chinese, Polish, French, Spanish, German, Russian, and Korean.  All the books now share the same formatting and also the same cover design though in different colors. One of the main reasons for a third version of the text is that previously, the prayers were divided into two books, a main Monlam Prayer Book and a Supplement. A great advantage of the new edition is that one single volume contains all the texts plus corrections and additions.

In the books from all the eight languages, His Holiness has universally added: the twenty verses that were missing from Tsangpa Gyare's Aspiration for the Seven Spiritual Trainings; A Prayer to the Bodhisattva Lineage by the Seventh Karmapa Chodrak Gyatso (from the original Twenty-Branch Monlam he himself compiled); and a new praise from the Martsang Kagyu (sMar tshang), one of the eight younger lineages. (This one should not be confused with that of Marpa the Translator, which is spelled differently, Mar pa). The new praise was written by Marpa Sherap Yeshe and called The Wish-Fulfilling Jewel. With this addition, the Monlam Book now contains praises from all the four elder and eight younger lineages of the Kagyu.

For the benefit of those who have not memorized some of the basic prayers, the new books also include The Seven-Line Prayer to Guru Rinpoche; the two Short Prayers for Rebirth in Dewachen; The Aspiration of He Who Accomplishes the Truth (a compilation of verses by the Seventh and Eighth Karmapas); and the mandala offerings as they are done at the Monlam with the various endings, such as requests for teachings, empowerments, and long life.

These new books are on sale at Monlam this year. In the listing of page references for the chanting, pages in both the new and old books are given, so it is possible to use the previous editions, however, they will lack the new prayers found in the recent one. These new editions will also be available in some of the home countries of these languages, especially those where the international Kagyu Monlams are held.

In the second edition of the Kagyu Monlam Book, the Karmapa wrote eloquently about the purpose of the chanting during Monlam:

Central to the Monlam―what gives it power and plants the seeds of future results―is the recitation of aspirations and prayers…. Recitation is a deeply cherished Tibetan tradition, for it is believed that reciting the words of the Dharma has the power to refine one's visualization and train one's mind. This is why in most Tibetan monasteries the monks practice chanting and reciting all day long….

I make the aspiration that when you recite during the Monlam, each word may first arise in your heart and then emerge from your mouth. I pray that every letter and syllable become a golden image and that every word fill the entire world. May all the sounds of lament and war as well as the poisonous winds in the environment be dispelled. May these words of love and compassion blend with the innate goodness of every single being and coalesce into one powerful force. Like the light of the sun, moon, and stars, may love, compassion, and wisdom shine forth.

http://www.kagyumonlam.org/English/News/Report/Report_20141228.html

YOU ARE ALWAYS WITH YOUR PRACTICE

December 30, 2014, 7:14 pm

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By His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa Ranjugn Rigpe Dorje.
In 1980 in West. ( The one year before he passed away). 

The third thing that I would like to say is that people definitely have to work and support themselves. When you have the enlightened attitude you have have a responsibility to the people around you, to your country. You care about them. You are always with your practice. You are inseparable from it. You seize opportunities to benefit others and you will benefit others in whatever way you can.

You have been in this country. You were born in this country. Many people who will read this, are from families that have been here for generations. This country has been an important place for you. You have to offer respect for your grandparents and you must live a descent life, a dignified life that upholds the traditions of your ancestors, that meets the approval of society, your parents and yourself. If you are really going to serve this country and help its people, this seems like a reasonable way, rather than belonging to this party and that party, and getting involved in this competition and that competition, and all kinds of politics. As practitioners of the Dharma we don't have to deny politics and reject politics, but we don't have to play those games, either. It is not necessary. It is not important. It is not needed.

If you are working, may be in a hospital, you can see how you might have the opportunity and responsibility to help people. In the same way, what ever work you have taken, there are definitely people that you can benefit. So you should serve your people, serve your country, not expecting your country to serve you. And that's the part of the practice of the Dharma. Not working is not taking responsibility.

If you are practitioner of the Mahayana teachings, that means you have something to be proud of, something to be worthy of, something to be descent for. But many people go around like some kind of outcast, in rags, with long hair, unwashed, as if you are drug addict or something. This is not the proper way to present yourself. You are not maintaining your respect, you are not respecting Dharma that you are practicing, and you are not creating the proper outlook that the excellent Dharma is worthy of.

This is the message to the practitioners of Dharma that they must be dignified internally as well as externally, and their internal dignity is must reflect outwardly also. We are not some drug addicts. Wearing the descent clothes, and being a descent human being, and serving your country, your people, serving the Dharma, and also yourself, being a self-respectful person is the Dharma path. How are you to benefit beings by looking as if you are completely discarded from the society?

By exposing that appearance, you are not taking the responsibility or you are not reflecting the enlightened attitude. If you are practicing the enlightened attitude, you should naturally be able to attract people so that when people see you, they might think, "Yes, these people definitely seem to be descent people, I think I could relate to them, and could ask something of these people. They might even be able to help me." So in this way, you appear capable of giving help, or, at least capable of giving some directions to them for the help.

We are proud of ourselves as examples of the Dharma. If you are going around in rags, not taking care of your body, and going in the world like a misfit, it makes a very bad impression of that Dharma Center that you are involved with, and also as a person of this country, which means that you bring disrespect and a bad impression to this country and it's people.

These are certain points that before I leave, I would like to offer to people so that they can use it. I hope that whoever hears these words, whether you are a Dharma practitioner or not, or whether you have entered into Buddhism or not, I hope that it will make some sense to you. It comes sincerely and truly, not with any put-on, or masquerade or diplomacy, but truly-straight and clean.

With integrity and sincerity you can serve beings, and as you work in the Dharma, you will serve many beings. And that is the greatness of the Mahayana teachings and practice. You don't have to be a drop out from the country, the society or family. You are not. Cause, you have dignity. 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4289878845783&set=a.1592090122751.2080185.1250827350&type=1&theater

Day 2 Session 1: Teachings on The Torch of True Meaning - Restoring Broken Samaya

December 31, 2014, 5:19 pm

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Monlam Pavilion,

27 December, 2014

The Gyalwang Karmapa explained that he needed to finish the oral transmission of the section of instructions on the Vajrasattva practice before giving further information on the visualisations for the practice.  He then read the section from “Light radiates out from the HUM (page 48) to “You must meditate until you cannot sit still and are disconsolate” (page 51) [The Torch of True Meaning by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, translated by David Karma Choephel, KTD Publications and Kagyu Monlam, 2014]

Yesterday, he said, he had discussed how the light radiates and performs the two benefits.  In the text, this is followed by a discussion of the complete visualisation of Vajrasattva. The light returns and is reabsorbed into the vajra and the HUM, which are transformed into Vajrasattva who is inseparable from your root guru. His Holiness reiterated that in the lower classes of tantra there is no tradition of visualising melting into light; instead the vajra and the HUM immediately transform into Vajrasattva. In this case, the Dorje and the HUM become Vajrasattva instantly. If you can visualise Vajrasattva, in his full form, immediately, that is best. However, beginners often find this difficult and find a gradual visualisation easier.

Vajrasattva is visualised as white in colour, with one face and two arms, holding a five point vajra in his right hand and a bell in his left. He is visualised as white as the interdependent connection for purifying our misdeeds and obscurations.  White symbolises cleanliness and purity.  To symbolise method and wisdom he is holding the vajra and the bell. His right leg is extended and his left is bent in the position of a sattva.

His right leg is extended so that the big toe of his right foot touches the fontanelle at the crown of your head, and nectar flows into your body. This form of the visualisation makes it easier to imagine the nectar flowing into one’s body.  Vajrasattva’s hair is bound in a top-knot and the rest falls down his back. He also wears jewelled ornaments and robes.

As Vajrasattva is usually visualised with consort, what is the origin in tantra for this single male form? His Holiness cited three sources from Indian texts. This form of Vajrasattva is taught in a yoga tantra, theCompilation of Thusness. It is taught in the Sambhota tantra, which is an explanatory tantra about Chakrasamvara and Hevajra. Finally, it is found in the Secret Ornament of the Essence by the Indianmahasiddha, Jamphel Drakpa. In addition, in the Tengyur there is a saddhana for this form of Vajrasattva, also from an Indian source.

The Gyalwang Karmapa then made an important statement about the necessity to do the Vajrasattva practice as a means of restoring broken samaya, the need to take a wider perspective on certain issues, and the need for understanding and forgiveness within the Karma Kamtsang.

In any case, it is particular important to do the Vajrasattva practice this year. As I mentioned earlier, we are all practitioners of the secret mantra.

With the samaya of the secret mantra, it is said that conceiving of something such as a jug as ordinary and grasping at it as being real—being unable to conceive of it as illusory—is a violation of samaya. But that is really difficult, isn’t it? This is why the violations of secret mantra are so intimidating. Thus we must try to purify our downfalls every single day.

Lord Atisha carried a wooden stupa of enlightenment wherever he went, and every day he would confess and purify his downfalls. They said none of his transgressions was not accompanied by a confession. Whatever transgressions occurred, he would immediately purify them before the end of the session. He wouldn’t ever leave the transgressions from one day to be purified on the next. If someone such as Lord Atisha did it in that way, we probably need to confess and purify every minute, don’t we? But confessing every minute would be difficult.

The masters of the past would do their practice in four sessions—this is important. They would do practice in four or six sessions. This is because when any transgression is purified by applying the antidote before the end of a session, it becomes very easy and we can feel comfortable. This is why it is so important.

In addition to that, almost all of us gathered here uphold the Karma Kamtsang lineage. From Dusum Khyenpa to Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, there was never any blemish on the samaya between masters and disciples—the lineage was stainless like a chain of gold. However, in the last few years there have been many situations that have never arisen before. We have had many unfortunate situations that have previously been unheard of, and there have been great obstacles for our lineage, the Karma Kamtsang.

The main reason this has occurred is that we have not kept the samaya of master and disciple properly. We have not remembered that the lord of our family, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, is present—we have forgotten it. Likewise we have not been able to develop a vast attitude towards Buddhism and sentient beings. We have considered some minor, temporary issues as more important than they are, and the fact that this has happened is the reason why our samaya between master and disciple and between dharma friends has not been good.

For that reason, when doing the Vajrasattva practice now, we need to do it to the best of our ability. We need to see our wrongs as wrongs and meditate on Vajrasattva. In particular, Kyabje Shamar Rinpoche passed away this year. He did many different things during his life. But those are all in the past. From one perspective, if you look at it in this way it helps—it helps me–from the omniscient First Shamarpa Drakpa Senge onwards, many incarnations of the Shamar Rinpoche have done great things for Buddhism in general and have been particularly kind to the Karma Kamtsang lineage. For that reason, if we think about their deeds and example, even if we see the deeds of the current Shamar Rinpoche as slightly inappropriate, it is important to be understanding. If we think about the vast deeds and kindness of the previous Shamars, we need to be understanding of and forgive his acts. If we are unable to do so, there is no point in pretending to be a Dharma practitioner.

Thus we have many downfalls and transgressions to purify, and we should all think fervently that they have been purified.

It is important that everyone pray that in the future, just as during the times of the great masters of the past, there may be no blemishes in our samaya and that the precious lineage be undiminished and never wane, remaining till the end of time. The teachings of the Practice Lineage—the teachings of the Kagyu lineage—are a lineage of devotion. If our devotion is not firm, in actuality it is just the same as if the teachings had disappeared and the transmission were broken. So it is important for everyone to understand this.

The great master Drukpa said, “If the students do not get wrong views no matter what the guru does, they have received the blessings.” No matter what deeds or example the guru displays, once you have started serving him as a guru, a student must not adopt wrong views. We need to take what we need, just as bees sipping nectar. When bees take nectar from a flower, they only take what they need—they don’t take everything. So we need to take only what we need, and if we do that, we will receive the blessings.

Even among Dharma friends, if you accept the blame yourself, you have not broken samaya. When some situation occurs among you, you should say, “It’s my fault, I was wrong,” and be able to bring your own faults out into the open. You might think that you have no faults but actually you do have faults. If you can bring them out into the open, it is said that you have not broken your samaya. I think it is very important for everyone to understand this

 [Translated by David Karma Choephel]

Day 2 Session 2: Teachings on The Torch of True Meaning - Meditation is Too Easy

December 31, 2014, 5:34 pm

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Monlam Pavilion

27 December 2014

After lunch the Gyalwang Karmapa returns to the stage for the final teaching session—which is also the final pre-Monlam activity. Six huge bouquets of flowers adorn the edges, in deep crimson and gold, the colours perfectly complementing the sea of monastic robes permeating the vast hall.

In this final session the Gyalwang Karmapa gives clear and direct instructions on the completion of the Vajrasattva practice, the nature of mind, and how easy meditation actually is.

He first completes the reading transmission of the instructions on the 100-syllable mantra and Vajrasattva visualisation, reaching the end of Chapter 2 (p. 56) (The Torch of True Meaning by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, translated by David Karma Choephel, KTD Publications and Kagyu Monlam, 2014)

He then continues describing the visualisation, first repeating and expanding the descriptions he gave in the previous sessions, and then focusing on the supplication to purify our misdeeds and obscurations.

We begin by visualising ourselves surrounded by our parents, friends, enemies, and all sentient beings. We then prostrate with our body, speech, and mind to Vajrasattva, who is the essence of all the buddhas. The Gyalwang Karmapa explains,

In particular here you recite the supplication where you regret your past misdeeds as intensely as if you had drunk poison. If you swallow poison you regret it really intensely, and so you have the resolve that even at the risk of your own life, you’ll never do such misdeeds again.

We imagine that we lead all sentient beings in reciting the supplication to purify misdeeds. Wisdom nectar begins to flow from Vajrasattva’s body and enters us through the crown of our head, completely filling our body. As it fills our body, we visualise that all our misdeeds, obscurations, and illnesses are carried out of our body in the form of soot, sludge, pus, blood, and parasites. There’s a big flood of them leaving our body, exiting through our pores and lower orifices and then dissolving into the powerful golden earth below. We visualise that we’ve been fully cleansed and purified.

The Gyalwang Karmapa’s complete and detailed Vajrasattva visualisation instructions are available on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_gsa8ux8Uo] for those wishing to learn the visualisation in more detail.

Next the Gyalwang Karmapa offers profound and clear teachings on the nature of mind, describing the essential sameness of buddhas and sentient beings.

There is no distinction in terms of good and bad, or high and low, between the natures of the body, speech, and mind of a buddha and the natures of the body, speech, and mind of sentient beings. The pure nature of the Buddha is just the same as the pure nature of our own body, speech, and mind.We visualise that they mix like pouring water into water, knowing that this is the nature.

He explains the uncontrived, ‘ordinary’ nature of mind:

In the Kagyu tradition we have our own particular terminology. We say ‘the ordinary mind’, and if we don’t know how to understand that properly it can sound like a very strange term. Usually we might think that all the coarse thoughts and cognitions we have in our mind are ordinary mind, but that’s not what we mean here.

Here the ordinary mind means that you don’t alter the mind, you don’t change or adulterate it in any way. It is the unadulterated nature of the mind, not the coarse thoughts and cognitions. What it means is that we rest without changing it, without adulterating or contriving it in any way. We try to get as close to this as we can. And then we rest within this for a short while. If you do this, I think it becomes a practice of emptiness – this is good.

The reason we don’t know how to meditate, His Holiness explains next, is not because it’s too difficult. Actually, it’s because meditation is far too easy… if only we know how to relax.

We ordinary beings do too much in our minds. We contrive too many things in our minds. For that reason, when we don’t know how to meditate is this because meditation is too difficult? Or is it because meditation is too easy?

It’s not because meditation is too difficult. The great masters of the past have said it’s because meditation is far too easy. And yet we ordinary sentient beings contrive too many things—we try to change and alter things in our minds. We are always exaggerating or denying things. When we’re told to just sit and be loose, we’re not able to do it.

Someone says to us, ‘relax’. Then we immediately get tighter. When we’re about to have an injection, the doctor will say, “Just relax.” And then what happens? We immediately become more tense. It’s like that.

After sharing his profound wisdom on the nature of mind, next the Gyalwang Karmapa leads the huge gathering through their final, powerful group practice session.

A perceptible sense of stillness and peace pervades the Monlam Pavilion as 12,000 people unite in body, speech, and mind in the presence of the Gyalwang Karmapa, and together do the practice and recitation of Vajrasattva. Many of those present recite the mantra quietly, while others settle into spontaneous meditation, sitting in tranquil stillness amidst the huge crowd.

The meditation and recitation session lasts for over half an hour, the Gyalwang Karmapa himself reciting the Vajrasattva mantra while seated on his throne, with eyes partially closed, back straight, a look of deep peace pervading his features, in perfect but relaxed meditation posture.

Thousands of voices murmuring the 100-syllable Vajrasattva mantra mingle and merge into a single focused intent. The potency of the mantra of purification is greatly magnified when recited by so many people simultaneously, and in the presence of great masters.

This is an incredibly precious and rare opportunity to meditate for an extended period of time together with Gyalwang Karmapa, supreme head of the practice lineage. Many of those present experience a profound quietening in their minds, and a natural deepening in their practice.

 He ends the session, and the teachings, by urging us to love, respect, and care for one another. The love within our hearts is like a moon, the Karmapa says, but now it’s only a partial, crescent moon. “In this sacred place I’m encouraging you all to make efforts together, and try to make the love within our hearts into a perfect, complete, round, and full moon.”

http://www.kagyumonlam.org/English/News/Report/Report_20141227_1.html

The Gift of Pure Intention: Gyalwang Karmapa Thanks the Guru Sevakas

December 31, 2014, 5:44 pm

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Tergar Monastery, Bodhgaya

28 December, 2014

As the Monlam expands into a major festival, the infrastructure grows with it. This year there are twelve thousand people attending from fifty countries. Currently four hundred volunteers are divided into twenty teams to provide the infrastructure:  cleaning, serving tea, preparing food, arranging seating, registering attendees and members, preparing tormas etc. There are technicians for the webcast, writers for the website, photographers videographers and translators.  Considering the number and diversity of workers, the shrine room at Tergar Monastery for the meeting with His Holiness was unusually quiet. Each work team occupied a separate aisle and sat waiting patiently for the arrival of the Guru, while chanting mantras.

The Karmapa arrived on time, sat at a low table and addressed the audience with the kind of  familiarity that indicates an old friendship .

To all of you who have come here to volunteer for Guru Sevaka, or serving the guru, on this occasion of the 32 Kagyu Monlam, I’d like to express warm greetings. As the Kagyu Monlam’s activity expands and its international presence gets bigger, there is the obvious need to support it in many different ways and you’re all supporting it, particularly with your genuine, pure intention. I’d like to express my sincere personal appreciation and gratitude for that, as well as on behalf of the Kagyu Monlam.

All of us have work to do, and we don’t have time to talk a lot. Initially I wanted to give you the printout of an image of Vajrasattva that I painted, as a token of my appreciation and gratitude.  Actually I did it some time ago and it didn’t turn out well. So I did not feel comfortable giving it away, and I had it locked up. I’ve done another painting, but with so much going on, I didn’t get a chance to get it printed.  As a token of auspiciousness, I have a hand-mala to share with all of you, as well as an image of Gesar of Ling.

The Karmapa then handed out a lustrous carnelian mala to each person in turn; and generously added a striking image he painted of Tibet's warrior king, Ling Gesar, a hero similar to King Arthur, whose prowess in magical battles forms an epic legend sung by bards since the 12th century.

http://www.kagyumonlam.org/English/News/Report/Report_20141228_1.html

The Sangha's Formal Lunch

December 31, 2014, 6:02 pm

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Tergar Monastery Shrine Hall

29 December, 2014

A yearly event at the Monlam is a traditional sangha lunch in the main Tergar shrine hall. All those who hold full ordination vows – gelong and gelongma–are invited to eat in the shrine hall at Tergar during Monlam.  Next to the fourteen long rows of yellow carpets laid out between the vermillion pillars are long strips of rich red cloth. For hours ahead of time, volunteers have been setting on this fabric,the alms bowls that rest on circular stands, and their covers placed nearby with a wooden spoon laid crosswise next to portions of vegetable tempura and the half circle of a tofu patty. The triangle of a napkin, a silvery bowl for tea, and a small carton of lassi complete the set up.The servers wait at their stations around the shrine hall. The front doors are still closed, but the side door is open as outside on the veranda sits the supply of food: huge meter-wide pots of rice (a word for rice in Tibetan is the same as that for meal, khalag) plus large containers of the six other vegetarian dishes being offered.

Suddenly, the Karmapa comes through this side door and walks the perimeter of the hall, stopping at the main aisle to face the Buddha and perhaps bless the hall for the gathering. As quickly as he had come in,he exits the side door on the far side, near the stairs to his quarters.

The sharp sound of wooden clackers breaks the silence, and the almost three hundred and fifty monks and four gelongma who will partake of the meal quietly file into the hall and take their seats.  Rice is first offered into the bowls, and as they chant The Sutra of Recollecting the Three Jewels, the monks take some of it to make an offering of the first part of their meal.The other courses are brought round and then young monks come down the rows, stopping in front of each monk to respectfully offer them their alms bowls.

As the meal draws to a close, the discipline master addresses the monks, reminding them to appreciate all the hard work that went into preparing the meal, and of their motivation of bringing  benefit to  all living beings. When he finishes, a few monks go up and down the rows with bowls to collect the first offerings of rice. Finally, tea is poured in to the silver bowls.  Clackers resound again and with dignity the monks pick up their alms bowls and place them in front of themselves. In a pulsing rhythm the Heart Sutra is chanted with its famous lines: "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Form is none other than emptiness, emptiness is none other than form." A special dedication is made for the long life and health of the many sponsors of the meal and prayers for auspiciousness to pervade the universe fill the air. The monks stand to fold their golden yellow chögus and slowly leave the hall, walking into the mid-day sun.

http://www.kagyumonlam.org/English/News/Report/Report_20141229.html

Gyalwang Karmapa Gives Two Short Teachings: The Sutra in Three Sections and King of Aspirations / The Noble Aspiration for Excellent Conduct

December 31, 2014, 6:11 pm

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Monlam Pavilion, Bodhgaya,

29 December 2014

The Sutra in Three Sections

During the first session His Holiness gave a short teaching on this prayer, before it was recited as part of the thirteenth section–Confession of Wrongdoing–of the Twenty Branch Monlam.  This prayer is used particularly for confession and purification following transgressions against vows, especially downfalls of the bodhisattva vow.  There is a story which tells how a group of monks, thirty-five in all, killed a child by accident one day, when they were on their alms round. In their horror at taking a life, they went to one of the Buddha’s close disciples, Upali, and asked him to ask the Buddha for a method to confess and purify the deed. The Buddha responded by speaking this sutra. As he did so, light radiated from his body and thirty four other buddhas appeared around him. The monks prostrated, took refuge, made offerings, confessed their misdeed and their vows were restored.

The Gyalwang Karmapa began by recounting how since beginningless time we have all taken countless births, during which time we had committed innumerable misdeeds.  In fact we commit more unvirtuous acts than virtuous ones, because of our habituation to unvirtue.  If we do not confess these misdeeds, they will increase. His Holiness used the analogy of a loan. You start by borrowing 100 rupees, but then, if you don’t pay it back immediately, the debt accumulates interest so now you have to pay back 200 rupees, then 500 rupees and so on

The heaviest misdeeds are violations of the three vows, because of the power of the vow. If you have vowed to not do something and then do it, the fault you incur is greater than if you do not hold the vow. Within the Mahayana tradition, the most powerful method for purification is reciting the Sutra in Three Sections.  This has the power to clear even heinous deeds.

When you do this practice, by reciting the Sutra in Three Sections over and over again, you must also invoke the four powers. First we have to have regret.  We can’t even remember all the misdeeds we have done in this lifetime, let alone previous lives, but the omniscient buddhas and bodhisattvas can be our witness.  We have to confess in front of them, for all time.

Secondly we need the power of resolve. Without resolve we cannot purify them. Even though we know that in the future we may make the same mistake again, at the time of confession we need a strong resolve not to commit the misdeed or downfall again. If we do repeat that misdeed, we need to confess and purify again.

King of Aspirations: The Noble Aspiration for Excellent Conduct

Also known as the Samantabhadra prayer, it comes from the Gandavyuha  Sutra and is recited in the third session on the first and second day of the Kagyu Monlam.

The Gyalwang Karmapa first reminded people how, when Kalu Rinpoche first established the Kagyu Monlam in Bodhgaya in 1983, the recitation of this prayer was the primary practice. The aim each year was to offer 100,000 recitations of the prayer.

In order to develop the path of liberation in our beings, we need to accumulate merit and remove obscurations. Without these, it is impossible to develop realisation. Both aspects are covered in the Seven Branch prayer, and The King of Aspirations, according to scholars, is the clearest source for it. As His Holiness explained, the Seven Branch Prayer is like the main body of our practice.

Although it may appear easy, that is deceptive; in fact it is  the practice of all the  bodhisattvas of the ten directions. It consists of prostrating, making offerings, requesting the Buddhas to turn the wheel of dharma, requesting them not to pass into nirvana, and gathering the two accumulations.

Confession is purification and rejoicing and dedication increase our merit.

In addition the antidotes for all of the main afflictions are contained in it:

• Prostrations are the antidote to pride.
• Offering is the antidote to lack of generosity.
• Confession is the antidote for general obscurations.
• Rejoicing is the antidote to envy.
• Dedication is the antidote to wrong views.
• The request to turn the wheel of dharma is the antidote to ignorance.

Having explained the importance of this prayer, His Holiness then warned everybody of the danger of reciting prayers and mantras automatically, a habit most people have fallen into at one time or another. All the teachers of the past, he said, have told us we need to be conscious of the meaning of the words when we recite them.

His Holiness drew on his own experience as a child:

When I was young, I hadn’t looked at many texts. Had memorised them but didn’t understand the meaning. Teachers would tell me to think about the meaning. I took an interest and thought about this. If you don't have anything to think about, think about compassion, love for others, benefit to others. That's what I thought at that time. I memorised many things, and could recite texts, but my teachers told me that I should think about it…..

If your body is sitting in the row at the puja, but your mind is thinking about going to the market, watching TV or playing football, that is not what you should be thinking about. As a consequence, the distance between what your mouth says and your Dharma practice will grow wider and wider until finally your mind will be completely separated from Dharma practice. Any Dharma activities that you carry out will be ineffective.

There are some old people, he said, referring to a common Tibetan practice, which spend the whole day reciting Om Mani Padme Hum.  But their mind is elsewhere. They recite the mantra faster and faster, and the pronunciation becomes less clear. What they are mouthing has become separated from the meaning.

 As the Tibetan saying goes:

There’s more benefit in thinking about virtue than reciting  man is without thinking.

Please everyone keep that in mind, the Karmapa urged, as the chant masters took their cue and began reciting the opening lines of The King of Aspirations.

http://www.kagyumonlam.org/English/News/Report/Report_20141229_2.html

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The 32nd International Kagyu Monlam Begins in Bodhgaya

January 1, 2015, 12:21 am

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Monlam Pavilion

29 December, 2014-12-30

Clusters of people were already making their way through the security check, when  His Holiness arrived at the  Monlam Pavilion for the first session of the 32^nd Monlam at just turned 5.00am.

A new concrete road, laid specially for the International Buddhist Conclave, held at the Monlam Pavilion in late September,  stretches from the Sujata  Bypass  past Tergar Monastery to the Monlam Pavilion.  All those who walk along it pass under the very plain Monlam entrance gate—a simple structure of cloth, painted plywood  and bamboo. The same as last year, it bears prayer flags of the dhayani mantra of Akshobhya  Buddha, which has the power to purify all those who pass beneath. The right-hand pillar is decorated with the colours associated with Buddhism and used in Buddhist flags. The six colours represent  the six colours of the aura which Buddhists believe emanated from the body of the Buddha when he attained enlightenment. Blue represents universal compassion; yellow for the Middle Way; red stands for the blessings of the Dharma; white is for purity, and orange is for wisdom.

The morning was clear, dark and chill. The temperature in the pavilion was below 5◦ C  but  His Holiness sat facing the assembly without his cloak, dressed only  in his robes and chögu , to inaugurate the 32^nd Monlam by giving the Mahayana Sojong vows.

He then welcomed everyone. 

“As the sacred place of Bodhgaya is the most important place for Buddhists, when we gather here together, we should remember the kindness of our teacher the Buddha”, he said. If we do this it will help increase our roots of virtue.

Everyone makes efforts in accumulating virtue during the year so it was good to meet together at the end of the year to dedicate that virtue and confess our misdeeds. The Monlam only lasted a few days, but during that time people should try to have a different attitude; whatever we do or think, we need to concentrate on virtue, and   put effort into Dharma otherwise there will be no results from our dharma practice.   

“We are trying to tame our mind, uproot ignorance and the afflictions”, he reminded  everyone.

It is not possible to practice Dharma without a plan, so we need a strategy. We need to have an aim for each day, and act in accord with that aim. There is no need to be overwhelmed by the task, just take it step by step.

In conclusion, His Holiness urged,  “We have people from more than 50 countries here..we have the four communities…If we make aspirations they will be accomplished quickly. This is a good opportunity that we must not let go to waste.”

As the sun rose, the fog swept in and fingers of mist stretched into the pavilion. The temperature dropped further. People’s breath steamed in front of them and condensation dripped from the iron roof onto some of the unfortunate yet most fortunate people below.   Even the combined body heat of more than twelve thousand people couldn’t dispel the cold, though a breakfast of rolls and Tibetan butter tea helped.

Once more, this year, the stage is visually stunning, rich with contrasting shapes and colours, leading the eye upwards from tier to tier until it finally rests on the central figure of the Buddha, resting serenely on the fourth tier against a painted backdrop of  Gang Rinpoche [Mount Kailash], the most sacred mountain in Tibet. The Buddha has been clothed in a new silk robe, the edges of the square golden patches delineated in a contrasting deep red.

To left and right the altars stretch towards the wings of the stage, each laden with two huge butter sculptures and cylindrical arrangements of fruit and sweets, in Korean style.

Below, on the third tier is the wooden pagoda style shrine which contains an image of the infant Buddha, circled by garlands of fresh flowers. On the second tier stand two massive butter lamps, donated this year, but instead of oil, circles of smokeless candles burn brightly in them. His Holiness considered this a more environmental friendly option than the usual oil.

There is a change in the seating arrangements this year. Either side of the shrine, and  on the deep steps below, sit three rows of Gelongs, facing inwards towards the shrine.  During the second session, the teachings from “Freedom from the Four Attachments”, they turned and faced forwards instead, in the direction of Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche.

Finally, on a slightly raised seat centre-stage on the first tier, is the heart of the Monlam, His Holiness the 17^th Gyalwang Karmapa. To his left sits Gyaltsab Rinpoche, and Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche to his right. Behind them sit the other Rinpoches, tulkus, senior khenpos and gelongs.

As always, the flower arrangers have produced magnificent bouquets of huge yellow, white and mauve blooms which grace the lower reaches of the stage.

His Holiness, as is customary, took the role of ritual master during the first part of the morning’s rituals, the Twenty Branches. Following the Refuge and Bodhichitta prayers, His Holiness walked up to the pagoda shrine,  donned his ceremonial red and gold hat, and performed the offering rituals which accompany the first nine stages of the Twenty-Branch Monlam, offering incense, bathing the infant Buddha with perfumed water, drying, offering robes, and anointing. Having completed the task, he returned to his seat. The two new state-of-the-art video screens mounted on stands either side at the front of the pavilion enabled everyone in the vast auditorium to watch.

This year’s Kagyu Monlam is the largest gathering so far at a Kagyu Monlam in Bodhgaya, and, for the first time, laypeople outnumber monks and nuns.  4600 monks and nuns have registered, 3400 laypeople from across the Himalayan region, and 3690 foreigners. This brings the total registered to 11,690.

Another first, was inviting the head of another tradition, His Holiness the Sakya Trizin, to give an important empowerment. In addition, this year H.E. Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche will assume more responsibility when he delivers the teachings on “Freedom from the Four Attachments” during the second session of the Monlam each day for the first four days.

All the events so far have been webcast. On the first day of the Monlam there were 4,000 unique viewers from approximately 76 countries during the webcast. At any one time there were about 500 viewers. This is of course a count of the computers in use at that time, and does not give an accurate head count.  For example, people watching in a dharma centre would only count as one.

This year’s Monlam also includes several services to the community:

• A Free Veterinary Camp: For the first time this will include a team assigned to Gaya Town for a day, a village outreach programme and a training programme for local vets.
• Free Medical Camps: For the first time this will include clinics in two local villages and a three-day specialist clinic.
• Soup Kitchen
• Campaign to stop the trade in caged birds

http://www.kagyumonlam.org/English/News/Report/Report_20141229_1.html

Day 2: Teachings on The Four Freedoms from Attachment - Contemplating the Sufferings of Samsara is the Antidote to Attachment

December 29, 2014, 8:43 pm

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Monlam Pavilion, Bodhgaya

30 December, 2014

Once more, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche is led in procession to the carved wooden throne, the second session of a four-part teaching. He prostrates three times, and ascends the throne. In an authoritative but gentle voice, he asks everyone to stand. To the beat of a wooden bell, the sangha prostrates three times in unison, like rising and falling waves of yellow ochre and maroon. Then the chant masters lead everyone in three repetitions of the refuge prayer.

The mandala offering requesting the teachings follows. While the chant masters recite the 37-Feature Mandala Offering, Osel Nyingpo, the Gyalwang Karmapa’s ritual master, puts on his red ceremonial hat and heaps piles of saffron-scented rice onto the mandala plate. The young Rinpoche looks on nervously at the seemingly endless line of people bearing offerings coming towards him. In the Monlam Pavilion, twelve thousand pairs of eyes are watching him, let alone the thousands world-wide watching the webcast.

It’s turned nine o’clock but the morning is still cold and the sangha huddle into their heavy winter cloaks. Today, as well as butter tea, the servers come round ladling out steaming hot porridge into their rich brown bowls, given to each monk and nun at the beginning of the Monlam.  Finally, the ceremonies are over and the teaching can begin.

First Rinpoche reminds everyone of the correct motivation for listening to Dharma:

Think to yourself it’s in order to bring all sentient beings as limitless as space to the unified state of Vajradhara that we must listen to the Dharma today. Thinking in this way, “We must have a pure motivation and pure action,” as you listen.

Then he resumes his discourse on Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen’s text. Today’s focus will be on the second of the four slogans: if you are attached to samsara you don’t have renunciation.  But first, Rinpoche wants to add to what he said yesterday on the first slogan: if you are attached to t his life you are not a dharma practitioner.

Dharma practitioners, he explains, are classified according to their capacity into one of three categories, the lesser, medium and greater individual. However, a defining characteristic of the lesser individual is that they are concentrating on future lives and have given up attachment to this life. Hence, giving up attachment to this life is the very basic qualification for someone to be called a dharma practitioner.

So in order to be even a lesser person you must have full revulsion for this life. If you still have attachment and fixation on this life, you are not even included in the three categories of dharma practitioner.

Rinpoche also has a word of warning for the monks and nuns. At the stupa he has noticed ‘monastic’s’ who recite mantras when people are watching, but when no one’s there to watch either they’re sleeping or talking or counting their money. We might like to think that we’re not like them, he cautioned, but actually there may not be a great difference; it’s hard to tell who is really practising!  Only by honest self-examination can we know. “It’s important to realize although we say we are dharma practitioners, if we are attached to this life we’re not true dharma practitioners.  We are imposters. “

Returning to the text, he began reading from the ‘Song of Experience’ which accompanies the four slogans. It clearly states that in order to attain nirvana, we have to develop renunciation, and the way to do this is by reflecting on the sufferings of samsara.

Wherever we are in samsara, from the depths of the incessant hell to the peak of existence, there’s not a bit of happiness anywhere. Everything is suffering by nature.

First there is the suffering of suffering which divides into two:

• The suffering arising from having the 5 aggregates, due to the force of karma and the afflictions;
• Additional suffering such as heat, cold.

Contemplating the suffering of the lower realms can be very frightening, but, we continue to collect more non-virtues. This is really pitiful. The text says:

…by failing to practise the virtue of restraint,

You keep on tilling the fields of the lower realms,

And there, wherever you find yourself, how dreadful it will be! 

The result of non-virtue is the experience of suffering, and this is certain because it is impossible for karma to fail.

Second is the suffering of change. The Jewel Ornament of Liberation states that all of the happiness in samsara no matter what, will in the end turn into suffering. One can fall from the higher to lower realms.  

As it is said, many people fall from higher realms to lower realms. Those who do so are as numerous as atoms in the earth. Those who go from lower to higher realms are as numerous as atoms in a pea.

We can see evidence of this all around us. Someone might be rich, strong, powerful and influential in the early part of their life, but in the second part of their life they have neither power nor influence – these situations are common among humans, Rinpoche commented.  A family may have lots of members but in the end only one is left.

Third comes the suffering of formation or conditioned existence. According to the Jewel Ornament of Liberation, this suffering arises simply from taking the five aggregates of grasping.  As the text reads:

To contemplate the suffering of conditioning,

See how there is never an end of things to do,

And suffering is found among the many and the few,

Among the well-off and the starving alike.

Our whole human life is spent preparing,

And in the midst of our preparing, we are swept away by death;

But not even in death is there any end to preparation,

As once again we begin making ready for the next life.

How perverse they are who keep clinging

To this heap of misery that is samsara!

For that reason if we are attached to samsara it brings us no benefit and causes many difficulties. However, we ordinary people have difficulty appreciating that the suffering of formation is suffering, in contrast to the Noble Ones for whom it is great suffering. We perceive the pervasive suffering of formation like a hair in the palm of the hand, but for the Noble Ones it is like a hair in the eye, a painful irritation.

We experience so much suffering because we do not acknowledge karma cause and effect, what we should do and what we should give up. There are three different types of karma: virtuous, non-virtuous and neutral.  Keeping the ten virtues without mixing them with the afflictions produces virtuous karma. Non-virtuous actions or those with impure motivation, fuelled by the three poisons of greed, hatred and delusion, produce non-virtuous karma. Finally, we should do all we can to turn neutral actions into virtuous ones.

The session ends with a one-minute resting meditation, followed by a four minute meditation on the sufferings of samsara and the role of karma, cause and effect, to reinforce what has been said during the teachings.

http://kagyumonlam.org/English/News/Report/Report_20141230.html

You Play an Important Role: Kagyu Monlam Members’ Audience with the Gyalwang Karmapa

December 30, 2014, 12:30 am

≫ Next: Day 3:Teachings on The Four Freedoms from Attachment - What is bodhicitta?

≪ Previous: Day 2: Teachings on The Four Freedoms from Attachment - Contemplating the Sufferings of Samsara is the Antidote to Attachment

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Tergar Shrine Hall

30 December, 2014

An hour before the scheduled audience time of 4.30pm, during the final session on Day 2 of the Kagyu Monlam, the queue of Kagyu Monlam Members already wraps itself entirely around the Tergar gompa like a human kora chain, past the side gate and part way down the road.

Once inside the gompa, the rows of members are tightly packed together; when all the available space is filled, yet more impromptu seats are created. As the crowd waits for the Gyalwang Karmapa to arrive, a spontaneous chant of Karmapa Khyenno breaks out in one corner of the room. Within moments the familiar chant swirls and eddies around the room like a wave, sweeping up all those present, and the Tergar shrine resounds with the sound of all the Kagyu Monlam Members calling their guru from afar.

The Gyalwang Karmapa is a half-hour late; a few floors above the waiting crowd, in his audience room on the roof of Tergar Monastery, he is still busily greeting, blessing, and guiding the endless stream of individuals and smaller groups who have a private audience with him. There are many, many people from all corners of the world waiting to see him, and time doesn’t seem to stretch far enough.

While waiting for the Gyalwang Karmapa to arrive, Lama Chödrak, the CEO of the Kagyu Monlam, addresses the waiting Members. “I want to thank you all very much for supporting the Kagyu Monlam as Members,” he tells them, before reminding them that an ‘annual membership’ is also available as a skillful way to continuously connect with and support the Kagyu Monlam, regardless of whether or not they can physically attend in person each year.

This year there are 12,000 participants at the Kagyu Monlam—the largest number ever—and of those, 1,400 are Members. Membership costs Rs9,500 ($150 or €120) and benefits include: dedicated seating inside the Monlam Pavilion; 3 meals daily, offered at the Mahayana Hotel close to the Mahabodhi Stupa; chartered private busses between the Mahayana Hotel and Tergar Pavilion throughout the day; and of course the much-anticipated private Members’ group audience with Gyalwang Karmapa. But the biggest benefit of membership is the satisfaction and merit of helping to support the Kagyu Monlam.

An expectant hush fills the room as the Gyalwang Karmapa finally arrives—without fanfare, he enters quietly through a side door and strides over to the throne.

He greets all the gathered Members and reflects on how greatly the Monlam has grown over the years. “Now with people from so many different nationalities and languages joining the Kagyu Monlam, it has become a very important spiritual event,” he tells them.

Even though the name is Kagyu Monlam Chenmo, in essence it is a Rime or non-sectarian prayer gathering. It includes prayers done in all Tibetan Buddhist traditions. People of all nationalities and many languages are gathered together. When people collectively put out their pure intentions, this is bound to bear consistent and very powerful results.

Another important part of the Monlam is even though we come from different countries or live in different parts of the world, when it comes to participating in the Kagyu Monlam we express unity. There is unanimity in our intentions—we realize that the common wish of all sentient beings is to be free from suffering and to experience happiness. We realize that the hopes and aspirations of all people are the same, regardless of where they come from.

I understand that you faced many difficulties in coming here. But still you came, and I’m very happy about that. The principal focus of the Kagyu Monlam is to bring about peace in the world, as well as remembering the inconceivable kindness of the Buddha. You’re an integral part in accomplishing these two. You have an important role to play.

Speaking directly in English, His Holiness then sets the audience laughing when he suddenly reminds everyone that he too is a Kagyu Monlam Member. “This time I made sure that they didn’t forget to give me a card. But I didn’t pay any sort of membership fee and I’m not a good example, so don’t look at me okay!”

 After spending a beautiful and joyous half-hour with the Members His Holiness then departs, already well behind schedule for his next appointment. Each Member receives a gift as they make their way out of the Tergar shrine – an exquisite colourimage of Gesar of Ling, painted by His Holiness.On their way to the door many devotees spontaneously stop at his throne, some bowing to touch their heads reverently to his seat, and many leaving their khatas and offerings, so that within moments the entire throne disappears under a sea of auspicious white silken scarves. Others mingle in the gompa long after the Gyalwang Karmapa has left, basking in the radiance of his blessings, reluctant to step back into the rest of the world outside.

http://www.kagyumonlam.org/English/News/Report/Report_20141230_1.html

Day 3:Teachings on The Four Freedoms from Attachment - What is bodhicitta?

December 30, 2014, 10:15 pm

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Monlam Pavilion, Bodhgaya

31 December, 2014

This morning Jamgön Rinpoche entered the Pavilion casting a smile at Gyaltsap Rinpoche, as they walked together along the path that curves around to the center of the stage. When Jamgön Rinpoche was seated on his throne, as during the last two days, this morning there was a long line of offerings for his long life.This time it was led by Bokar Rinpoche's monastery while the sangha recited The Aspiration of the Bodhisattva. The head discipline master then read the list of donors interleaved with poetic expressions of their wishes for Jamgön Kongtrul’s well-being and the flourishing of the lineage, its teachers and teachings. Afterward, speaking in a clear and resonant voice that was very reminiscent of his previous incarnation, Jamgön Rinpoche began his explanation of the third of the Four Freedoms from Attachment.

3. Parting from Attachment to Our Self-Interest

Liberating myselfalone does not bring any benefit to

All my mothers and fathers, the beings in the three realms.

How terrible to leave my parents withtheir suffering

While only focusing on myown happiness.

May the suffering of the three realms ripen in me;

May all my merit be carried off by living beings;

And through the blessings of that merit,

May they all come to full awakening.

He began by saying that we should think that we are listening to the Dharma this morning for the benefit of all beings limitless as space; for their sake, we must achieve the state of completely perfect buddhahood, the unified state of Vajradhara. With this pure attitude and motivation, we should listen to the Dharma.

The third of the Four Freedoms reads:

If you are attached to your own self-interest, you have no bodhichitta.

The commentary on the root text continues:

When free of attachment, you pass into nirvana.

When you pass into nirvana, you find happiness.

But the melody of experience, parting from the four attachments,

Has no benefit if it liberates just you.

When we attain true nirvana, we attain ultimate happiness, the melody of experience, the freedom from attachment. It is said that those practicing in the foundational vehicle, the listeners and the self-realized buddhas, seek liberation and peace mostly for themselves. However, as practitioners of the mahayana, we take the path of the greater individual. Atisha describes such a person in his Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment:

          Through knowing their own suffering,

          They are filled with the wish to extinguish

          The suffering of themselves and others―

          Such is the great individual.

Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye (the First Jamgön Kongtrul) writes in his Treasury of Knowledge: "Under the sway of great compassion, they become fully awakened in order to efface the suffering of all living beings."

Jamgön Rinpoche then continues quoting the main text:

Liberating myself alone does not bring any benefit to

All my mothers and fathers, the beings in the three realms.

How terrible to leave my parents with their suffering

While only focusing on myown happiness.

As Buddhists, we accept karma with its cause and effect, so we must also say that all sentient beings in the three realms, not one left out, have been our parents. Due to birth and death, sometimes we have seen them as friends and sometimes as enemies. Yet,as our parents, they have cared for us with great kindness.The Prajnaparamita Sutra in 8000 Linesstates that they gave birth to us, cared for us, raised us, and protected us.If we were to turn our backs on their suffering and immerse ourselves in searching only for personal happiness, that would be dreadful.

The text continues:

May the suffering of the three realms ripen in me;

May all my merit be carried off by living beings;

And through the blessings of that merit,

May they all come to full awakening.

To paraphrase the first two lines: "May I take all loss and defeat upon myself. To all living beings, may I give away all my own merit, all my virtues and all the good things that I have from this life and lives from beginningless times. By the blessings of this merit, may every living beingcome to full awakening."Merely thinking this brings incredible merit in itself.

Explicit in this passage is the result of practice, being able to exchange oneself for others; implicit here is the cause, meditation on love and compassion. "Love" here means wishing to bring all beings into happiness. In his Garland of Jewels, Gampopa explains that gods and humans who have love are protected from all poisons and weapons, are able to accomplish every goal they set, and can be reborn in the realms of Brahma.

"Compassion"means wishing to free all sentient beings from suffering and its causes. It has inconceivable benefits as revealed in the Realization of Avalokiteshvara. If we have just this one quality, it will bring all the Dharma into the palm of our hand. What is this one thing? Great compassion.

If we meditate intensively on love and compassion, we will naturally develop bodhicitta and there are two types: aspirational bodhicitta and engaged bodhicitta. The primary practice of engaged bodhicitta is to exchange self with others. In Maitreya’s Ornament of Clear Realization, bodhicitta is described as wishing to achieve perfect enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.

In general, bodhicitta can be classified in three ways: in terms of examples, stages of the path, and characteristics. Maitreya's text mentioned above gives twenty-two examples, which include the ground, a boat, a treasure, the wish-fulfilling jewel, an elephant, and clouds.

In terms of paths and levels, there are four types: (1) the bodhicitta related to our aspiration or intention; (2) pure intention;(3) ripening; and (4) purifying obscurations.

In terms of characteristics, there are two types: ultimate and relative bodhicitta.The essence of ultimate bodhicitta can be described by three attributes: it has the essence of emptiness and compassion; it never moves from its ground; and it is free of all conceptual complexity. A sutra explains that ultimate bodhicitta is: beyond the mundane world, free of conceptual proliferation, extremely clear, the object of ultimate truth, stainless, and unmoving, like a lamp not stirred by the wind.

And relative bodhicitta is as described above―the wish to attain full awakening in order to benefit all sentient beings―and there are two types, aspirational and engaged, which can be explained in different ways. According to Gampopa's Ornament of Precious Liberation, one tradition comes through Manjushri to Nagarjuna and on to Shantideva, while another comes from Maitreya to Asanga and then Serlingpa.

In the first tradition, aspirational bodhicitta is the wish to go somewhere, i.e., full awakening, whereas engaged bodhicitta is actually going there, actually engaging in practices that bring us to enlightenment. The second tradition holds that aspirational bodhicitta is to think, "For the sake of all sentient beings, I shall achieve buddhahood."It is a commitment to the result. Engaged bodhicitta is the commitment to the cause, the practice of the six paramitas that lead to full awakening.

Developing bodhicitta in these ways is essential. It is said that the distinction between the childish and the noble ones is bodhicitta, so it truly is the gateway into the mahayana. In The Levels of the Bodhisattva, Asanga describes four causes of bodhicitta:(1) belonging to the family, or having the aptitude of the mahayana; (2) being accepted by the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and a spiritual friend; (3) compassion for all living beings limitless in number; (4) having no fear when thinking of the suffering in samsara and of all the difficulties one must undergo plus the willingness to accept obstacles. We should make all the effort we can to create these causes.

After the recitation of The Aspiration for Mind Training, Jamgön Rinpoche gave brief meditation instructions. The first was to sit in the seven-point posture of Vairocana and settle our minds for a while. Then he asked us to contemplate how horrendous it is to leave sentient beings, all of whom have been our kind mother, caged in suffering and seek happiness only for ourselves. Then we should think that we will commit to achieving complete and perfect awakening, doing everything we can to achieve this goal. Rest in equipoise meditating on this, he concluded.

After the meditation, Jamgön Rinpoche read the prayers for the living and deceased. He asked that as he recited the dedication, people especially remember those who perished in the Air Asia flight. Though not originally phrased as an instruction, it was a clear teaching on bringing bodhicitta into our daily lives.

The world also seems to have appreciated the teachings on this Guru Rinpoche day as a bright rainbow touched down next to the Bodhgaya stupa.

http://www.kagyumonlam.org/English/News/Report/Report_20141231.html

The Seventeenth Karmapa In India (2014)

December 31, 2014, 7:30 am

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2014/1/1		Gyalwang Karmapa Begins the New Year
2014/1/2		Youthful Protectors of the Teachings
2014/1/2		''The Buddha's Blessing Cannot be Destroyed by a Bomb''
2014/1/2		“A Spiritual Job” - Gyalwang Karmapa’s Advice to the Guru Sevakas
2014/1/3		His Holiness Tests His Sangha
2014/1/3		The Torch of Certainty, Session 1
2014/1/3		The Torch of Certainty, Session 2
2014/1/4		The Torch of Certainty, Session 3
2014/1/4		The Torch of Certainty, Session 4
2014/1/4		Torma Series: Offerings to the Protectors - Special Mahakala Practice and Torma Offerings
2014/1/5		【Video Clip】The Gyalwang Karmapa Speaks About Garchen Tsechu
2014/1/5		Entering into the Gyalwang Karmapa’s Mandala: Konchok Chidu Empowerment
2014/1/5		Torma Series: Sublime Offerings to Guru Rinpoche: The Tsechu Tormas and Altar
2014/1/5		Preparing the Palace: Transforming the Monlam Pavilion for the Tsechu
2014/1/6		The Seven-Line Supplication to Guru Rinpoche
2014/1/6		Compassion in Action: Gyalwang Karmapa Inaugurates Medical Camp
2014/1/6		The Gyalwang Karmapa Bestows the Empowerment of Lama Sangwa Dupa: Guru Rinpoche Appears Again
2014/1/7		Torma Series: The Four Major Tormas for the 31st Kagyu Monlam
2014/1		Vajra Lama Dance Revealed: An Introduction to the Garchen Tse Chu Cham
2014/1		Extending Compassion: The First Kagyu Monlam Animal Camp
2014/1/7-10		Guru Rinpoche comes to the Kagyu Monlam Part I: An Introduction to the Tsechu Practice
2014/1/7-10		Guru Rinpoche comes to the Kagyu Monlam Part II: The Practice
2014/1/8		Setting the Stage for Guru Rinpoche
2014/1/10		Gyalwang Karmapa's Introduction to the Tsechu Lama Dance
2014/1/10		The Benefits of the Tsechu Lama Dance
2014/1		A Rain of Blessing from the Copper Coloured Mountain
2014/1		【Video Clip】The Gyalwang Karmapa Speaks About The First Arya Kshema Winter Dharma Gathering for Kagyu Nuns
2014/1		【Video Clip】The Gyalwang Karmapa Speaks About The Medical Camps
2014/1/10		【Video Clip】The Gyalwang Karmapa Performs in the Tsechu Lama Dance
2014/1/10		【Video Clip】Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche and Gyaltsab Rinpoche Perform Tsechu Lama Dance
2014/1/10		【Video Clip】The Golden Procession and Dances of Two Wrathful Manifestations of Guru Rinpoche
2014/1/10		【Video Clip】An Historical First: Nuns Perform in Tse Chu Lama Dance
2014/1/11		The Bodhisattva and the Fully Ordained Sangha: Gyalwang Karmapa Has Lunch With His Sangha
2014/1/11		The 31st Kagyu Monlam Begins
2014/1/11		Eight Verses of Mind Training, Session 1
2014/1/12		Eight Verses of Mind Training, Session 2
2014/1/12		“Like a lamp spreading throughout the world”: Audience with‘Friends of the Kagyu Monlam’
2014/1/13		Returning the Buddha's Words to the Source: Kangyur Procession
2014/1/14		Invoking the Blessings of the 16 Arhats: the Alms Procession Takes a New Form
2014/1/14		Overcoming Negativity: The Akshobhya Ritual Cycle
2014/1/15		In Praise of the Gurus
2014/1/15		Closing the Mandala
2014/1/15-16		Dance and Song as Meditation: Rehearsals for Marme Monlam 2014
2014/1/16		Musical Offerings to the Buddha: The Marme Monlam
2014/1/16		Message from Gyalwang Karmapa to Benchen Monastery
2014/1/16		The Kagyu Monlam Soup Kitchen 2014: Supporting the Local Community with a Nutritious Lunchtime Meal
2014/1/20		Another Step Forward for the Nuns of the Karma Kamtsang: The Opening Ceremony of the 1st Annual Arya Kshema Winter Dharma Gathering
2014/1/21-24		Gyalwang Karmapa’s Teaching During the 1st Arya Kshema Nuns’ Gathering – Why Bhikshuni Ordination is Important
2014/1/21-28		Teachings on the Jewel Ornament of Liberation
2014/1/22		Gyalwang Karmapa Opens the Animal Camp
2014/1/24		A Mandala That Brings Happiness and Benefit to Animals: Inauguration of Extended Veterinarian Camp Programme in Bodhgaya
2014/1/24		Gyalwang Karmapa’s Speech at the InaugurationA Extended Veterinarian Camp Programme in Bodhgaya
2014/1/26		Celebrating Republic Day 2014
2014/1/26		Gyalwang Karmapa Attends Bhutanese Cham Dance
2014/1/29		Chöd Puja: Celebrating the Essence of Enlightened Female Wisdom
2014/1/30		A Special Ritual for the Nuns’ Dharma to Flourish
2014/1/31		Gyalwang Karmapa Celebrates Tsurluk Losar in Bodhgaya
2014/2/1		Gyalwang Karmapa Hosts a Losar Feast for All
2014/2/2		Mahamudra Arises Spontaneously
2014/2/2		A Special Emphasis on Nuns 2014: A Retrospective
2014/2/2		Gyalwang Karmapa’s Speech (A Special Emphasis on Nuns 2014: A Retrospective)
2014/2/3		The First Kagyu Monlam Animal Camp Declared a Great Success
2014/2/4		The Gyalwang Karmapa Joins Bihar Chief Minister in Celebration of Bodh Mahotsava 2014.
2014/2/5		The Gyalwang Karmapa visits Nyigma Monlam
2014/2/9		Gyalwang Karmapa Offers Medicine Buddha Empowerment and Teachings to Tibetans and Himalayan Region People in Delhi
2014/2/22		The Gyalwang Karmapa Confers Long Life Empowerment
2014/2/26		Inaugural Meeting of the Karma Kamtsang Directors of Publications
2014/3/2		Happy Losar
2014/3/6		Spring Teaching
2014/3/9		Celebration of Kyabje Jamgon Tai Situ Rinpoche’s 60th Birthday at Vajra Vidya
2014/3/12		The Gyalwang Karmapa Holds Candlelight Vigil for MH370
2014/3/15		Gyalwang Karmapa Presides Over Milarepa Puja
2014/3/16-20		Long Life Ceremonies for the Gyalwang Karmapa
2014/4/4		The Gyalwang Karmapa Imparts the Essence of Milarepa’s Life Story
2014/4/6		Gyalwang Karmapa Returns to Gyuto Monastery
2014/5/5-7		Gyalwang Karmapa Visits Tilokpur Nunnery
		Message of His Holiness the 17th Karmapa
2014/5/27		The Future Has Begun
2014/2/58		Karmapa meets the Press and local Tibetans
2014/5/28		His Holiness the Karmapa returns to his European seat
2014/5/28		The Pure Transmission of Dharma
2014/5/29		Interpreting the Buddha Dharma for the 21st century
2014/5/29		Interdependence and responsibility
2014/5/29		The Way of Guru Yoga
2014/5/30		Karmapa’s heart advice on Dharma practice
2014/5/30		The heart of Dharma practice: the three trainings
2014/5/30		The Empowerment of the Eighty-Four Mahasiddhas
2014/5/30		Gyalwang Karmapa meeting Benchen board members
2014/5/31		Purifying our negative actions: Vajrasattva Empowerment
2014/5/31		The Healing Continues: The Medicine Buddha Empowerment
2014/5/31		Conclusion – The Karmapa Concludes his Teachings with Thanks to Supporters
2014/6/1		Source of peace and blessings: His Holiness inaugurates the stupa at Kamalashila
2014/6/1		A gift for the future: The 17th Karmapa plants a tree at Kamalashila
2014/6/1		The Karmapa Meets the Villagers of Lagenfeld
2014/6/1		The Karmapa and the Villagers Entertain Each Other
2014/6/2		Kamalashila Institute bids farewell to the 17th Karmapa
2014/6/4		Karmapa Arrives in Berlin on First European Tour
2014/6/4		The Gyalwang Karmapa Arrives in Berlin
2014/6/4		Sogya Rinpoche Welcoming Speech to the Gyalwang Karmapa
2014/6/5		The 17th Karmapa’s heart advice for a meaningful life
2014/6/6		His Holiness the 17th Karmapa Visits Bodhicharya Berlin
2014/6/6		Escaping from the prison of self-centredness
2014/6/6		Buddhism and the Environment: Living in Harmony with the Planet
2014/6/7		Changing the World from the Inside Out: Love and Compassion for a Globalised World.
2014/6/7		Developing Inner Peace
2014/6/8		The Gyalwang Karmapa Gives a Karma Pakshi Empowerment
2014/6/8		The Karmapa’s Farewell and Wish to Return
2014/6/8		Encounter with Europe’s Youth Concludes Karmapa’s German Tour
2014/6		Thankfulness from the Bottom of my Heart – An Acknowledgement of Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
2014/6/12		The European Visit 2014 comes to a close.
2014/6		Teachings from HH Karmapa’s visit to Europe 2014
2014/6/12		Official Announcement Regarding the Passing Away of Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche from the Gyalwang Karmapa
2014/6/13		The Gyalwang Karmapa led Guru Yoga Puja (Phakshi Ladrup) for Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche’s Mahaparinirvana.
2014/6/30		The Gyalwang Karmapa Meets Sikyong Lobsang Sangay at the Kashag.
2014/7		Schedule for the 32nd Kagyu Monlam
2014/7		Schedule for the 18th Kagyu Gunchö
2014/7		Announcement - Second Annual Arya Kshema Winter Dharma Gathering
2014/7		32nd Kagyu Monlam Special Program - The Initiations of“Knowing One Frees All” and Vajrasattva Initiation
2014/8/8		The Gyalwang Karmapa Inaugurates the Exhibition of Buddhist Bhoti and Islamic Calligraphy
2014/8		Karmapa Completes Two Weeks Of Teachings for European Youth
2014/9/20 -21		Karmapa Joins Meeting of India’s Spiritual Leaders Convened by Dalai Lama
2014/9/25		Kindness and Love, a teaching by the Karmapa upon his visit to the Suja School.
2014/9/30		Gyalwang Karmapa Visits Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo’s Drukpa Kagyu Nunnery
2014/10/1		Gyalwang Karmapa Grants Teachings, Initiation At Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo’s Nunnery
2014/10/13		Karmapa Speaks to University Students On Environment, Art, Conflict Resolution
2014/10/15		Women’s Empowerment NGO Sends Delegation to Meet Karmapa
2014/10/18		Strengthening Ties to Tibetan Youth, Karmapa Presides over School Event
2014/10/19		Karmapa Receives Tilokpur Nuns Upon Completion of Three-Day Training
2014/10/27		At Special IBC Event, Karmapa Teaches On Milarepa’s Songs of Awakening
2014/11/5		Gyalwang Karmapa Pays Homage at Mahabodhi Stupa
2014/11/9		Gyalwang Karmapa Meets with Ratna Vajra Rinpoche and Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
2014/11/9		Gyalwang Karmapa presents a copy of the Nag-gyal-phag-sum to Khöndong Ratna Vajra Rinpoche
2014/11/9		The Akshobhya Retreat Begins
2014/11/12		Leading the Way: Street Cleaning and Pitching Tents
2014/11/12		The Garchen Takes Shape
2014/11/20		The Eighteenth Kagyu Gunchö is Under Way
2014/11/22		Day One - Karmapa Teaches On the Art of Happiness
2014/11/23		Day Two - Lojong Teachings at Dalai Lama’s Foundation in Delhi
2014/11/28		The Gyalwang Karmapa Commences Kagyu Gunchö Teachings
2014/11/29		The Blessings of the Lamas and This Precious Human Life Day 2: Teachings on One Hundred Short Instructions
2014/12/1		There is Not a Moment to Lose Day 3: Teachings on One Hundred Short Instructions
2014/12/2		Bringing Benefit to Beings: Gyalwang Karmapa Inaugurates the 2nd Kagyu Monlam Animal Camp
2014/12/2		Relieving the suffering of animals: the Gyalwang Karmapa Instigates a Second Animal Camp in Bodhgaya
2014/12/2		The Time of Death is Uncertain So Practice Now! Day 4: Teachings on One Hundred Short Instructions
2014/12/3		Commemorating World Disability Day
2014/12/3		The Law of Karma Cause and Effect is Inescapable – Day 5: Teachings on One Hundred Short Instructions
2014/12/6		The Common Preliminaries are the Foundation of Dharma Practice – Day 6: Teachings on One Hundred Short Instructions
2014/12/7-8		Generating Bodhichitta— Day 7 and 8: Teachings on One Hundred Short Instructions
2014/12/9		Enhancing Bodhichitta— Day 9: Teachings on One Hundred Short Instructions
2014/12/10		Kagyu Monlam supports campaign to Save Wild Birds
2014/12/11		Conclusion of the Gyalwang Karmapa’s Gunchö Teachings Day 10: Teachings on One Hundred Short Instructions
2014/12/11		Gyalwang Karmapa Teaches Daily During The Annual Winter Debates
2014/12/14		The Gyalwang Karmapa Introduces Adarsha, a New Software Program along with an Electronic Version of the Jang Kangyur
		SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: His Holiness the Sakya Trizin will bestow the Muni Tri-Samaya-Vyuha Empowerment
2014/12/18		A Royal Welcome for HH Sakya Trizin
2014/12/19		The Great Examination of Monastic Forms
2014/12/20-26		Special Photo Exhibition Commemorates Kyabje Kulu Rinpoche and Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche
2014/12/20		HH the Sakya Trizin Bestows the Muni Trisamaya Vyuha Empowerment
2014/12/20-25		The Gyalwang Karmapa Bestows Initiations from "Knowing One Frees All"
2014/12/20		The Gyalwang Karmapa Bestows the First Initiation of "Knowing One Frees All" - White Tara
2014/12/21		Day Two: The Initiations of ‘Knowing One Frees All’ - The Many Forms of Tara
2014/12/22		Day Three: The Initiations of ‘Knowing One Frees All’ - An Offering of Meditation and Practice to Kalu Rinpoche and Bokar Rinpoche
2014/12/23		Day Four: The Initiations of ‘Knowing One Frees All’ - Seize the Day
2014/12/24		Day Five: The Initiations of ‘Knowing One Frees All’ - Wisdom and Compassion: Manjushri and Avalokiteshvara
2014/12/24		A Rain of Blessings: the Anniversary of Dusum Khyenpa's Parinirvana
2014/12		New English Translations of The Torch of True Meaning and The Chariot That Travels the Noble Path
2014/12		A New Edition of the Monlam Prayer Books
2014/12/25		Day Six: The Initiations of ‘Knowing One Frees All’ - Gyalwang Karmapa Blesses More Than 10,000 people
2014/12/25		From Heart Son to Master – Gyaltsab Rinpoche Offers the Vajrasattva Empowerment
2014/12/26		Day 1 Session 1: Teachings on The Torch of True Meaning - Vows in a New Light
2014/12/26		Day 1 Session 2: Teachings on The Torch of True Meaning - Vajrasattva Infinity
2014/12/27		Day 2 Session 1: Teachings on The Torch of True Meaning - Restoring Broken Samaya
2014/12/27		Day 2 Session 2: Teachings on The Torch of True Meaning - Meditation is Too Easy
2014/12/28		The Gift of Pure Intention: Gyalwang Karmapa Thanks the Guru Sevakas
2014/12/29		The 32nd International Kagyu Monlam Begins in Bodhgaya
2014/12/29		Day 1: Teachings on The Four Freedoms from Attachment - If You Are Attached to this Life, You Are Not a Dharma Practitioner
2014/12/29		The Sangha's Formal Lunch
2014/12/29		Gyalwang Karmapa Gives Two Short Teachings: The Sutra in Three Sections and King of Aspirations / The Noble Aspiration for Excellent Conduct
2014/12/29 -2015/1/1		A Tour of the Tormas and the Altar for the 32nd Kagyu Monlam Chenmo
2014/12/30		Day 2: Teachings on The Four Freedoms from Attachment - Contemplating the Sufferings of Samsara is the Antidote to Attachment
2014/12/30		You Play an Important Role: Kagyu Monlam Members’ Audience with the Gyalwang Karmapa
2014/12/31		Day 3:Teachings on The Four Freedoms from Attachment - What is bodhicitta?

Day 4: Teachings on The Four Freedoms from Attachment - The Highest View

January 2, 2015, 10:21 pm

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Monlam Pavilion

1 January 2015

In a New Year’s treat for the 12,000 participants, this morning the Gyalwang Karmapa begins the year 2015 by returning to the Monlam Pavilion, in time for the fourth and final session of Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche’s teachings.

During the morning tea break before the teaching session begins, the Gyalwang Karmapa suddenly heads over to the far edge of the pavilion and mingles with his translators, webcast team, reporters, and TV crews. He unexpectedly gifts a sangha alms bowl to his radiant Vietnamese interpreter, who has recently built the very first Karma Kagyu temple in Vietnam. Next he drops into the media room set aside for the popular Taiwanese dharma TV station, Life TV, who are broadcasting the entire Kagyu Monlam live throughout Taiwan and surrounding countries. There he chats for a few minutes with the crew ,and asks the director for an impromptu lesson on how to use the brand-new control console.

Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche begins his teaching by wishing everybody a Happy New Year. “My prayer this New Year is that all sentient beings who are as limitless as space may develop bodhicitta in their beings. May they be free of malicious intentions and conduct, and bring great benefit and happiness to each other,” he says, to spontaneous applause from the crowd.

He then turns to the fourth of the four attachments in Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen’s ‘Four Freedoms from Attachment’: if there is grasping, it is not the view.

The first three attachments primarily discussed the aspect of means, however the aspect of wisdom—the view—which is explained in the fourth attachment, is also indispensible.

If you grasp at things as being things, then naturally you develop hopes and fears about them and you are overcome by thoughts. If you grasp at things not existing, you’ll not be reborn in higher realms.

The text then traverses through the lower views of the exposition, sutra, and mind only philosophical schools, before arriving at the highest view of the middle way school.

Appearances have the nature of an illusion, and this nature arises interdependently. So all of the phenomena that we see are appearances that have the nature of dreams or illusions. All phenomena arise from the assembly of causes and conditions.

For this reason it is said: there’s no dharma at all that is not interdependent; there’s no dharma at all that is not emptiness.

We should meditate that all appearances are mind and that these appearances are illusory. We need to determine that they lack nature, are interdependent, and are indescribable.

Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche then leads the entire gathering through a short meditation on the unified, non-dual, interdependent nature of phenomena. A profound stillness encompasses the vast hall as first the gathering settles their minds for a minute, and then turns the focus onto emptiness.

In this final meditation session, they are once again offered the very rare and exceedingly precious opportunity to meditate on emptiness in the presence of not only the Gyalwang Karmapa, but also two of the heart sons of the Karma Kagyu lineage. Each member of this trio is, in his own right, an outstanding master and ultimate source of spiritual power and awakening: combined, the intensity of their blessings becomes ineffable.

Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche ends the teachings on The Four Freedoms from Attachment with some golden words of aspiration and advice:

Finally, for us as practitioners it’s very important to strive to make sure our minds become the dharma, the dharma becomes the path, the path dispels confusion, and that confusion may dawn as wisdom.

May His Holiness the Dalai Lama and His Holiness Gyalwang Karmapa and all masters who uphold the teaching have long lives that will last for eons, and may all their wishes be accomplished spontaneously and without effort.

http://www.kagyumonlam.org/English/News/Report/Report_20150101.html

The Seventeenth Karmapa In India (2015)

January 3, 2015, 5:29 am

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2015/1/1		Day 4: Teachings on The Four Freedoms from Attachment - The Highest View
2015/1/2		Honouring the Words of the Buddha:The Kangyur Procession and Reading

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Karmapa blesses multi-speciality medical camp for poor in Gaya (Phayul)

January 3, 2015, 6:04 pm

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Phayul[Saturday, January 03, 2015 22:08]

DHARAMSHALA, January 3: The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje today blessed the launch of a three-day multi speciality health camp for the residents of Bodhgaya where over 12000 devotees from various countries have gathered for the 32nd Kagyu Monlam (great prayer festival) for world peace. 

Kagyupa International Monlam Trust, started in 2004 by the young Buddhist leader, has collaborated with the Max India Foundation, which is the corporate social responsibility of Max India. 

R K Khandelwal, Divisional Commissioner of Maghadh district, Ms. Mohini Daljeet Singh, CEO of Max India Foundation attended the inaugural function to launch the camp that is aimed to provide quality healthcare service to the poor. 

Doctors and specialists in internal medicine, gynaecology, dermatology and paediatrics today saw over 800 patients from outlying districts of Gaya today on the first day. 

In addition to the prayer gathering, the Kagyupa International Monlam Trust under the leadership of Karmapa carries out other charitable activities, including an annual health camp for the local residents, a soup kitchen for the poor, distribution of blankets for the needy, and an animal health camp. 

“Further, based on the principle of interdependence and interconnectedness, the Karmapa strongly advocates personal responsibility in caring for those around us and in caring for the environment,” said Kunsang Chungyalpa of the Karmapa’s office.

Over the years, the Kagyu prayer gathering has grown both in size and scope, with over 10,000 people traveling to Bodhgaya annually to engage in prayers for world peace and other charitable works. 

http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?article=Karmapa+blesses+multi-speciality+medical+camp+for+poor+in+Gaya&id=35639

Honouring the Words of the Buddha:The Kangyur Procession and Reading

January 4, 2015, 2:38 am

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Monlam Pavilion and Mahabodhi Stupa, Bodhgaya,

2 January, 2015

[This year, because of heavy rain, the morning’s programme was rearranged and the Kangyur reading ceremony was held at the Pavilion prior to the Kangyur Procession at the Mahabodhi Stupa.Pages from the Kangyur were distributed amongst the congregation to all, monks, nuns and laypeople, who were able to read Tibetan. Then an announcement called the gelongs to assemble and they were bussed to the Mahabodhi stupa for the Kangyur Procession.]

The Kangyur procession is the only part of the Monlam that takes place at the Mahabodhi stupa and not in the Pavilion at Tergar Monastery. For that special event we go from a cathedral-like space where every program is planned like a theatre performance, out into the street life of Bodhgaya.

But ever since the bombs on the Mahabodhi stupa site a few years ago, the sprawling street life has been confined to the street. The lengthy stretch of plaza leading to the stupa is now enclosed by a high wall and cleared of beggars, tea stalls and shops.  A security scanner with police checks blocks the open avenue to the main gate.

In the misty early morning just after dawn, queues start to form in spite of heavy rainfall, in front of the new security lane.  After it was declared a World Heritage site in 2002 the diamond seat of enlightenment at the bodhi tree began to attract tourists as well as pilgrims of all religions including Hindus, and even Muslims.

Child flower sellers are awake this morning and ready for the Buddhists. They load platefuls of delectable lotus blossoms framed by rose petals and marigolds into eager hands stretched out across the dividing wall.  By mid morning the outer kora is lined three deep with a live mandala of joyful offering goddesses from distant lands, holding silk katags and plates of flowers. Tibetans, Chinese, Westerners - all have radiant faces as they wait for blessings from the Buddha, dharma and sangha.

The Kangyur procession is a traditional way to honour the words of the Buddha.  Earlier that morning, in the first session at the Monlam Pavilion, the Karmapa talked about the significance of the Buddha's words.

Generally we say we go for refuge to the buddha, dharma and sangha. We don't really know what the word  buddha means. We think the statue is the buddha. Of course the statue is not the genuine or authentic buddha. When we say true dharma, we point to the texts, the translated treatises. So we don't understand what the true dharma is. When we talk about dharma, it is really the truth of the cessation and path. However for us beginners, or ordinary beings, the collection of words of the Buddha written in ink on paper is beneficial and because of this we can achieve the truth of cessation and path. If we didn't have these words we would be blind and wouldn't know what to do and what not to do. We would have no direction. We'd have no tourist guide or map. We would not know where we're supposed to go. For us beginners the Buddha is the only protector and refuge that we have.

The Kangyur and Tengyur are books that we leave on the shelves to gather dust. We don't think they're the source, the foundation of what we do. In the past the Dalai Lama gave advice on this. We recite the 7 branch prayers. We ask to turn the wheel of dharma. There are 84, 000 wheels of dharma and over 100 sutras, yet we don't read them or practice them. It's boastful to ask them to turn the wheel of dharma again. You should have some feeling when you read it, I think.

The sound of sirens in the distance heralds the approach of the Karmapa.

When the procession begins at 10:30 the sky clears, and the sun dissolves winter into summer at a stroke. The ritual begins with the sound of gyalins and the blowing of two whorled conch shells, so massive and otherworldly they could have fallen from the sky. A sweeper clears the ground in front of every step. Gyaltsap Rinpoche, and Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche walk in rising hierarchical order in front of the Karmapa in a procession of one hundred and three gelongs, including five gelongma who pace themselves at a short distance from each other and look straight ahead as they carry the precious volumes on the left shoulder supported by the right hand. The three flaps at the end of the text where the title is written are visible. Their lips move in barely audible mantras. The procession moves in one body, down the steps circling the inner kora, then upwards to the outer kora, slow, dignified, and respectful.

''Those in the procession'', instructed the Karmapa during rehearsal, '' should recite mantra and visualize that the Dharma is pervading the whole universe. They should carry themselves in a way that inspires respect in those who see them.''

In the footsteps of the Buddha. That is the feeling it inspired.

http://www.kagyumonlam.org/English/News/Report/Report_20150102.html

A Tour of the Tormas and the Altar for the 32nd Kagyu Monlam Chenmo

January 4, 2015, 4:19 am

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Monlam Pavilion,

29 December, 2014 – 4 January, 2015

Four main tormas were created this year. Two each rest on either side of the altar, next to the Buddha in his yellow and red patterned robe, the clear jewel in his forehead gleaming rays of light. The pinnacles of the four tormas rise up the snowy sides of Mt Kailash, the backdrop of the Pavilion stage. The figures in the tormas this year are fewer in number than before, but the surrounding ornamentation has become more beautiful. In general, these tormas are envisioned as the Wish-Fulfilling Tree, and this year delicately veined, soft green leaves overlap to form a support under the lotus seat of the main figures. At the level of the second row, two trees on either side have their trunks laced with curving flower garlands while their green-leaved canopies support four flower buds resembling the traditional norbu or jewels. The flowers have also changed according to the wishes of the Karmapa, who showed the torma makers a photo of the design he liked. Instead of the flatter flowers with curling petals that appeared previously (known as "ear flowers"), this year the petals stand more upright, curving toward the center in a dense array, the color deepening toward the core cluster in a rich, deep hue.

There are twelve figures in the tormas this year. At the top of the torma on the far left is Naropa (10th to 11th c.), the great scholar and siddha, known in the practice lineage for the Six Yogas of Naropa. There is a similar practice from his relation, Niguma, who was an important teacher of Khyungpa Naljor. We do not know much about her, but her teachings remain. One well-known verse reads:

     When you realize that your thoughts of anger and desire,
     Which churn the ocean of samsara,
     Are devoid of any self-nature,
     Everything becomes a land of gold, my child.

Khyungpo Naljor's other female teacher, Sukhasiddhi, resides at the top of the second torma. Dressed in jeweled ornaments, she sits with her left knee slightly lifted; her right hand holds a skullcup to her heart, while her left arm is raised with her index finger pointing skyward. Sukhasiddhi was born to a poor family in Western Kashmir, became a wife with six children and was locally famous for her generosity and kindness. Once when her family was out begging for food, she gave away the last morsel in the house to someone more destitute. When her family returned without food and found nothing in the house, they chased her out, so she went to the country of Uddiyana, where she begged for her food. Once she received a bag of rice and began to make beer. A yogini came regularly to buy it, and when Sukhasiddhi discovered it was for a great yogi living in the forest, she offered her best beer without accepting any money. When the yogi Virupa (not to be confused with the Sakya master) learned of this, he sent for her and gave Sukhasiddhi the complete empowerments for four main yogic practices and also the secret practices of the generation and completion phases.Just after receiving the empowerments, Sukhasiddhi became a wisdom dakini, and her body was transformed into a rainbow.

The figure on top of the third torma is Jamgön Kongtrul Lodro Thaye with a pandita's hat and his hands in the teaching mudra. From each hand extends a lotus stem: one blossoms above his right shoulder with a sword and the other above his left with a text, showing the two symbols of Manjushri. This year, the monk who created this image based it on a photograph from a previous Monlam torma, so in this way, torma tradition is gradually being shaped. In terms of the Shangpa Kagyu lineage, the first Jamgön Kongtrul is the only lineage holder, yet his other incarnations have maintained a close connection with the lineage. Regarding the Jamgön Rinpoches' connection to the Shangpa tradition, though only Jamgön Kongtrul Lodro Thaye appears in the lineage-lama supplications as a primary holder of the teachings, both the second and third Jamgön Rinpoches deeply practiced and widely propagated the Shangpa teachings.

The top of the fourth torma is home to Khyungpo Naljor, whose name means "the Yogi of the Garuda clan." At birth, it was prophesized that he would go to India and receive profound transmissions. His extraordinary qualities were already manifesting when he was very young. At the age of five, he spoke of his past lives and predicted future ones, and by ten he shone in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Two years later, he studied Bon teachings and then went on to practice dzogchen and mahamudra. As predicted, he did go to India, making seven trips and enduring many hardships to study with one hundred and fifty gurus. Of these, six were paramount: the wisdom dakinis Niguma and Sukhasiddhi, and also the masters Maitripa, Rahula, and Vajrasanapa. It is the teachings of these five that to this day form the core of the Shangpa transmissions. Records speak of the amazing miracles Khyungpo Naljor performed and that he passed away at the age of one hundred and fifty.

The central level of figures in the tormas, which are always peaceful, begins with the Buddha, who smiles gently and sits in the earth-touching posture, surrounded by a golden ring studded in jewels. His backdrop is a light blue open space with dancing clouds, recalling the end of the well-known Twelve Deeds of the Buddha: "Your mind is like space."Below him, the offerings are the seven types of jewels. The next figure is Amitabha, the buddha of long life, popular throughout Asia. He has a triple-layered halo around his head, shading from orange-red to light peach, and three sets of intensely colored flowers set around him. The offerings below him are the representations of the five sense pleasures.

In the third torma, Akshobhya is adorned in monks' robes and holds his emblem, a vajra, upright on his left hand resting in meditation, while the right is in the earth-touching mudra. Akshobhya has become an important deity for the Monlam as a yearly retreat is performed beforehand by a group of specially selected people who receive direct teachings from the Karmapa. In the torma, the offerings to Akshobhya are the thirteen requisites for a fully ordained monk. Finally, it is a peaceful Vajrapani who is depicted in the middle of the fourth torma. In a landscape resembling the surrounding of Bodhgaya, he sits under a tree with his left leg extended to touch the ground and his right bent inward. His right arm is turned upward so that the palm supports his emblem, the vajra, while his left palm rests on the ground just behind him. Wearing his hair in a topknot, earrings, a jeweled necklace, and gold-patterned cloths casually draped around his upper and lower body, Vajrapani exudes the air of a siddha relaxing in the nature of his mind. The offerings to him are the well-known eight auspicious symbols.

The last and third level of figures in the tormas are the four great kings, who protect the four directions: in the east is Dhritarastra; in the south, Virudhaka; in the west, Virupaksha; and in the north, Vaishravana.  This year, they are all depicted in the Indian style.

Between the four large tormas are eight smaller ones decorated with the eight auspicious symbols and the eight auspicious substances. Below the tormas, on the next layer of the altar are placed tall, geometrically arranged offerings that are the sweets and the fruits of the earth: on the left are red apples, golden apples, green grapes, oranges, pomegranates, black grapes, green apples; on the right are molasses candy, Indian confections, cashews, orange marigolds, biscuits, dried apricots, saffron cake, yellow marigolds, cookies, and red candy.

In a central line descending from the Buddha statue meditating between the four tormas, there is a Medicine Buddha mandala, its outline of scallops lined with red flowers above and sprays of white flowers below, all of which are offered to the Medicine Buddha statue in the mandala's center. Directly below it, flanked by meter-high, ornate butter lamps, is the carved wood pavilion, its four pillars wrapped in purple-blue orchids, that shelters an image of the new-born Buddha. His right hand is raised high as he declares, "In this world I am supreme." It is here each morning that offerings are made of bathing the Buddha, drying his body, giving him robes and ointments.

Below this, on the five descending circular layers of the stage sit six and then five monks, evenly spaced on either side of the stage. Turned to face the center, the curved outline of their maroon robed figures creates an archetypal image, magnified against the white marble of the stage. In front of each monk is a small table of blond wood, holding a new edition of the texts for the Monlam, An Arrangement of the Texts to Be Recited at the Great Kagyu Monlam (sMon lam chen mo'i zhal 'don phyogs sgrig).They are bound as a notebook with four large rings running through the pages making them easy to turn. The letters are clear and elegant, the design flourishes elegant, and the paper an off-white that is easy on the eyes.

From the stunning visuals when seen from a distance down to the smallest detail of the altar, this year's offerings are as rich and diverse as the Monlam itself, which began with empowerments from Knowing One Frees All, followed by teachings on the Parting from the Four Attachments, chanting texts from all the Kagyu traditions, the alms and Kangyur processions, and the generous offerings of support  in many forms by twelve thousand members of the ordained and lay sangha arriving from fifty countries around the world. It truly has been virtuous in the beginning, middle, and end.

http://www.kagyumonlam.org/English/News/Report/Report_20141229_4.html

Webcast Announcement - 2nd Arya Kshema Winter Debates

January 23, 2015, 10:37 pm

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2nd Arya Kshema Winter Debates

8^th – 24^th January, 2015

Tergar Monastery

2nd Arya Kshema Opening Ceremony

January 8

10:00 am (Indian Time)

Webcast Link:

http://kagyuoffice.org/webcast/

Jewel Ornament of Liberation (Indian Time)
January 8 - 24	Teaching Session	TBD IST

Announcement - Second Annual Arya Kshema Winter Dharma Gathering

The Soup Kitchen at the 32nd Kagyu Monlam

January 6, 2015, 7:50 am

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All India Bhikku Centre

28 December, 2014 – 5 January, 2015

When arriving in Bodhgaya for the Kagyu Monlam, it is impossible not to be moved by the difficult life circumstances of the local people.  This is particularly so for those of us who come from countries where health and well-being are more or less taken for granted.  Even though we may wish to do something to alleviate the suffering we see all around us, it is difficult to know where to start and what might be the most effective way to help.

His Holiness the 17^th Gyalwang Karmapa has expressed his wish that we should not simply be content to feel compassion when we are making prayers but we should begin to find ways to actually put compassion into action.  Following this guidance, projects that embrace this vision are now becoming an intrinsic part of the activity of the Kagyu Monlam.

For the last 10 years, students of the late Akong Tulku Rinpoche have been giving food to local people during the Kagyu Monlam.  This started with small scale projects based at the Mahayana Hotel with the kind support of Trinley the manager there.  Later on they helped the Gyalwang Karmapa’s sister to organise a food camp at the Kalachakra Ground   which offered food to over 800 people a day as part of her wish to support His Holiness’s long life and activity.  More recently, at the suggestion of Lama Chodrak, the Soup Kitchen has worked in partnership with the Monlam Medical Camp and this partnership continues to flourish with even more ambitious plans envisaged for future Kagyu Monlams.

The wisdom and compassion of His Holiness Gyalwang Karmapa and the great Kagyu Lamas who support his activity through their devotion to Him create remarkable opportunities for ordinary beings to benefit themselves and others.

Over the years working at the Monlam Soup Kitchen so many volunteers from all over the world have worked together joyfully to serve others and found that expressing their own natural kindness by putting compassion into action has brought blessings and connection to others that we could not have envisaged.  Of course the life of those whom we have served remains unimaginably difficult; but just because we cannot solve all of their problems does not mean that offering food and kindness is a waste of time.  In the simple act of giving, if only for a brief moment, something shifts as people who are accustomed to experiencing rejection and unsatisfied wanting are able to receive acceptance, respect and the satisfaction of eating good hot food.  This in itself feels worthwhile and who knows what seeds have been planted.

This year the Soup Kitchen supported the medical team by giving fruit and healthy snacks when we travelled to surrounding villages for 2 days.  After that, for 5 days we have served around 500 hot meals and fruit every lunchtime to those attending the general Medical Camp as well as to others (including cycle rickshaw drivers and the local snake charmer!) who benefitted from good quality rice, dahl and vegetables all cooked by the wonderful Tergar kitchen team.  For the final 3 days of the Monlam we will support the specialist medical team from Max India Foundation as a new partnership begins which we hope will develop further the aspiration to provide well-being for all.

When Akong Rinpoche was escaping from Tibet he almost died of starvation and at that time he made a promise that if he survived, he would always do whatever he could to make sure that no-one was hungry.  The Soup Kitchens that he established in various countries always followed the same principles: to offer food to anyone who asks, to give with kindness and compassion, to treat others as equals and to give without any expectations. He was never able to attend the International Kagyu Monlam. However, on the 3^rd January 2015, His Holiness Gyalwang Karmapa found time in his busy schedule to visit the Soup Kitchen, which this year has been dedicated to the swift return of Akong Tulku Rinpoche.

http://www.kagyumonlam.org/English/News/Report/Report_20141228_2.html