Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Bring G20 On-notice about desperate state in Tibet

"The oppression continues in Tibet and the Tibetans are becoming more and more desparate. Since March 2011 nine young Tibetans, almost all of them monks, have lit themselves on fire. Please help bring their voices to the G-20 Summit in Cannes, France, 3-4 November 2011 by signing the petition found on the website http://standupfortibet.org." - Ven. Joan Nicell


Campain for Tibet also have a petition up at the White House site, and need to collect 25,000 signatures by 11. November.  


https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/%21/petition/calls-upon-peoples-republic-china-put-end-its-repression-tibet-demonstrated-ongoing-unrest/bYLzXZ60?utm_source=wh.gov&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_campaign=shorturl


His Holiness the Dalai Lama joins in prayers in sympathy for those who have died and others who have been injured in recent protests in Tibet at the Main Tibetan temple in Dharamsala, India, on October 19, 2011.
http://dalailama.com/gallery/album/0/198




Why You Should Stand Up For Tibet from International Tibet Network on Vimeo.
You are not bound by what you experience, but by your clinging to it.
- Tilopa to his student, Naropa

Friday, August 19, 2011

HHDL live webcast teaching tonight from Helsinki

HH Dalai Lama will be teaching in Helsinki on lojong (thought transformation/mind training), on The Eight Verses of Thought Transformation, something he teaches on frequently.  It will be webcast live, but at 12AM Pacific Standard Time tomorrow morning ("tonight", midnight).   This may be of interest to those attending next week's day long retreat my brother-in-robes Ven. Chophel will be leading, or who have attended the teaching and meditation I led on this a few weeks ago.

http://dalailama2011.fi/in-english/


Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind


As long as our minds oscillate compulsively between agitation and dullness, wavering from one attentional imbalance to another, we may never discover the depths of human consciousness. Can the mind be irreversibly freed from its emotional afflictions, such as craving, hostility, depression, envy, and pride? Are there limits to our love and compassion? Is awareness finite and immutable? We know that the mind has powers of healing, which are sometimes attributed to the "placebo effect", and that it has the capacity to make us ill as well. What other powers lie dormant within human consciousness, and how can they be tapped? These questions have been posed by contemplatives throughout history, and focused attention has been a crucial tool in exploring them.
- Alan Wallace,
"The Attention Revolution: Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind"

Thursday, August 11, 2011

HH Dalai Lama webcast teachings this weekend from France

Teaching in Toulouse, France on August 13 & 14: His Holiness will give teachings on Kamalashila's The Middling States of Meditation (gomrim barpa) at the Zenith de Toulouse organized by Chemins de Sagesse - Toulouse 2011. Contact Website:www.dalailama-toulouse2011.fr


Time zone information here:


http://www.dalailama-toulouse2011.fr/EN/timezone_tables.htm#session1

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Kyabje (Pari) Dagri Rinpoche's Lam-Rim teachings this week

Freshly uploaded!  Kyabje (Pari) Dagri Rinpoche's teachings this week on the Lam-Rim from Kurukulla Center in Boston.


Je Tsongkhapa's "The Foundation of All Good Qualities" is a concise lam-rim text that teaches the entire breadth of the path to enlightenment, from the small scope to tantra, in just 14 verses. We are honored to host Dagri Rinpoche to give commentary on this important teaching.

Dagri Rinpoche is the reincarnation of Pari Dorje Chang, one of the great Lhasa geshes and teacher to many, including Lama Yeshe. After escaping from Tibet in 1982 he completed his studies and received his Geshe Lharampa degree. Thubten Damchow translates.



Day 1 - Tuesday 26. July 2011



Day 2 - Wednesday 27. July 2011


Tuesday, July 19, 2011

HH Karmapa Live Webcast from NY


Livestreaming from KTD – Updated 18 July

July 15, 2011
Live streaming of  His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa’s  teachings and empowerment at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra will be available at their website on Monday and Tuesday July 18th and 19th.
Each morning session will start at 10:00am EST and end at 12 noon EST.  Afternoon sessions start at 2:00 pm and end at 4:00 pm.
Along with the live streamedcontent is additional information and audio stream translation in Chinese.


Kagyu.org


Update:  Mobile device links added for imobile devices as well as well as audio stream translation in Spanish on Live Streaming Page

Monday, May 9, 2011

HH Dalai Lama's talk at UC Irvine with the Center for Living Peace

Watch live streaming video from livingpeace at livestream.com

His Holiness the Dalai Lama's talk at the University of California Irvine with the Center for Living Peace this past Wednesday. My friends Yungchen Lhamo, Nawang Khechog and my brothers-in-robes all perform at the beginning.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

My friend Yungchen Lhamo - "Happiness Is"




My friend the exquisite and incomparable Yungchen Lhamo with whom I was happy to see and spend some time with this week as she performed opening for His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Irving, California.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

The Melody of Great Bliss: A Supplication to the Wisdom Dakini Sukhasiddhi by Jamgon Kongtrul


The Melody of Great Bliss: A Supplication to the Wisdom Dakini Sukhasiddhi
by Jamgon Kongtrul

Bestower of uncontaminated, coemergent bliss;
Radiant with the full splendor of sixteen-year-old youth;
Leader of every assembly of dakinis in the three locations—
Venerable Accomplishment of Bliss [Sukhasiddhi], to you I pray.

You manifested in a pauper's home in Kashmir
And trained in realization on the path.
Having completed the force of faith and great compassion,
You diligently gave gifts without attachment; to you I pray.

Millions of eons ago, you perfected the cultivation of merit and wisdom
And the result of your training manifested.
The awakening of your karmic connections
Made you renounce home life; to you I pray.

In the land of Oddiyana, source of great mysteries, 
Men were spiritual warriors; women, female warriors.
Just by your reaching the center of that gathering,
The power of your enlightened potential awakened; to you I pray.

You demonstrated the skillful means of illusory conduct as a vendor of delicious alcohol.
You gave twice-strained rice alcohol to a female adept.
This created a connection through faith
With a tantric practitioner in the forest; to you I pray.

Noble Virupa accepted you as his disciple
And gave you the full four empowerments into secret practice.
Instantly, your ripened karmic body of sixty-one years
Became that of a sixteen-year-old maiden; to you I pray.

Taking the inner path, you truly traversed in a single moment
The major vajra stages of awakening,
And you appeared in an uncontaminated, vajra rainbow body.
Powerful one of the celestial realms, to you I pray.

You became the manifest form of coemergent wisdom, Buddha Selfless One,
To remain until the end of cyclic existence.
You watch over the three realms' beings during the six periods of day and night.
Honored female buddha, to you I pray.

You manifestly bless those who pray to you
And lovingly watch over your children who preserve your lineage, never parting from them.
You bestow common and supreme accomplishment in a matter of months or years.
Powerful one of great compassion, to you I pray.

Vajra Yogini, perfection of transcendent knowledge,
You appear to help beings in a body that has form.
The exquisite flower of your body, which one never tires of seeing,
Blooms with the marks and signs of physical perfection; to you I pray.

In the Teaching's infinite gates, which have the nature of emptiness,
You speak according to beings' dispositions.
Your speech, invincible sweet sound in every situation,
Flows imbued with the sixty tones of Brahma's voice; to you I pray.

Inseparable bliss and emptiness, the true vajra of space,
Pervades all animate and inanimate life.
Your sublime enlightened mind of luminous Great Seal
Is coemergent and uncontaminated; to you I pray.

Epitome of the qualities of freedom and maturity,
You have an inconceivable life.
Just hearing your voice inspires uncontaminated bliss.
Sublime wish-fulfilling jewel, to you I pray.

You unite in pleasure with all victors and bodhisattvas.
Your emanations reach the four elements' limits.
Like an excellent vase, a gem, or a wish-fulfilling tree,
Your enlightened activity is spontaneously present; to you I pray.

Your compassion knows no distance and embraces all equally.
You guide fortunate persons on the path to the celestial realms.
Your loving face wears the conscientious smile of compassion.
Friend to all beings, to you I pray.

To your child who preserves the lineage and who prays to you,
Show your loving face and joyfully grant me your supreme prophecy.
Bestow the empowerment of great vajra wisdom,
And bless me that I merge inseparably with you.
Excerpted from Timeless Rapture, by Ngawang Zangpo.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Overdue update and projects with Gaden Shartse

Lots has happened since my last post in July.  I moved to Vajrapani Institute in Northern California to be the resident monastic there.  That was a fantastic experience, one of the greatest in my life.  That alone warrants further posts upon reflection.


www.vajrapani.org

I've since moved up to Oregon for the time being after the conclusion of my guru Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche's teachings in Northern California all last month.  I'm Oregon now working on a documentary with BlueDot Productions in conjunction with Gaden Shartse monastery.  Filming will conclude during His Holiness The Dalai Lama's teachings in Los Angeles at the end of the month, then compiling the footage, editing and final production are next.  The working title is "For All Sentient Beings."  A preview teaser can be found here:



Gaden Shartse Monastic Tour: Introduction from BlueDot Productions on Vimeo.