Relying on the Spiritual Teacher

Did this research paper as part of my final exam in holy retreat at Kopan; because Venerable Course Teacher + German so demanding.  He liked it.  Gave “100% + 10 points”.  Ha ha ha.

I wrote this as a first-year-naive dharma girl student.   Jangchup Lamrim in South India, HH The Dalai Lama warned us several times:  “Choose your teachers carefully.  Up to 12 years.  Before you practice guru devotion.”  I became newly aware:  this concept is not for beginners.

HH the Dalai Lama gives one of the best teachings on this Tibetan Buddhist path in Chapter Three:  “Relying on a Spiritual Teacher”  from Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment (Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive 2002) .

Enjoy the photos from my hometown province – Beautiful British Columbia – 39 outdoor murals from the old logging town of Chemainus; First Nations totem art at the Museum of Anthropology; beach creatures at Ucluelet; summer blooms at Capilano Suspension Bridge .

You, Sleeping in Class?

“Everyone’s Teacher”.   Khensur Lama Lhundrup Rigsel.  Kopan Monastery.  

Sera Je Lharma Geshe.  Master Debater.  Father.  Walks around holy campus.  

Talks to every new student.   Mischief manages our turbulent emotions.  Emotionally regulates things.   Says,   “Be kind.  Patient.  Courageous.  Oh yeah.”

Happy Saka Dawa – Day 13 + the awakening of a funny-happy-old memory.

Kopan Monastery – September 2007.   Two weeks remaining to cram-study for our Basic Program Year 1 “Big Final Exam,” Our Highly-demanding + German Venerable Course Teacher had decided all his students would also write a graduation essay on a lam-rim topic we would each randomly select from folded slips of paper inside a Tibetan singing bowl.  

He said, “600-word essay, please.”

That 2895-word Dharma Research Paper

Venerable Course Teacher.  Brilliant Scholar.  Geshe-in-training.  Good teacher.  Does translations.  Happy Monks Publication .   Buddha’s Sales Rep.  Very German Traditional.   Workaholic.  Button Pusher.   Middle-Aged Moody.   

Happy Saka Dawa – Day 12 + the awakening of a funny old memory.


When you wrote that 2895-word research paper:  “Relying on the Spiritual Teacher” , two monks appeared on the path to give you special attention.  

Draft-Paper Stage:  Khensur Lama Lhundrup.   Paper-Submission:  Course Teacher.   

Who do you choose?  The Perfect Teacher to rely on?

The Ch’an Teachings of the Sixth Patriarch Hui-Neng 六主惠能

My old university research paper about the Buddhist teachings of a famous ancient Chinese monk from the 7th century.  Funny how I wrote this 20 years ago, as an undergraduate student in year four, for a course “History of Chinese Thought”, long before I became a “dharma girl” (in the Tibetan tradition).  

I didn’t know anything about anything but the professor did say to me:

“Final exam, you wrote the best answer, better than my graduate students, on the emptiness question – on the definition of nothingness.  ”

Ha ha:  I was that girl who got good grades in school.  And now, in this our Dog-eat-doggy 21st century, I still haven’t learned all the tricks to “empty” my two mental obscurations – afflictive and knowledge – directly.

Like The Elephant Man, I fight for my human dignity, I cry,

“I have afflictions, but I am not an affliction:  I am a human being.  

With feelings.  Therefore, I am not an object of abandonment.”

This our troubled times, I fight for the dignity of all SSBs,

“You are not an affliction:  you are a suffering sentient being.

Therefore, you are also not an object of abandonment.”

我是有情 、雖然「我」有煩惱、我並不是「煩惱」所以、我不是「拋棄之物 」妳們也不是 。

Lama says, “We are all in jail, our minds, in jail.   Samsara Jail .  You, must get out of jail, samsara jail.  Study and practice the Buddha-dharma.  Your mind, get out of jail.”

First Basic Program at Kopan 2007 - 2011

FPMT Basic Program – Year 1 at Kopan Monastery – July to October 2007 (3 months)

Focus:  “Lam rim – the Graded Path to Enlightenment – 3 Scopes”

Graduation Day.  Basic Program Class of 2007 with our precious course teachers = Late Great Abbot Khensur Lama Lhudrup Rigsel + Venerable Fedor Stracke, Kopan Monastery .

Lama Tsong Khapa:  Middle Length Lam-Rim.  Additional Outlines by Trijang Rinpcoche.  Translated by Philip Quarcoo.

•   Outline:  Up to the Calm Abiding Section of the Great Scope (February 2006)

•   Up to the Calm Abiding Section of the Great Scope (February 2006

•   Calm Abiding Section (FPMT March 2007)

•   Special Insight and Concluding Sections (FPMT April 2007)

Kopan Monastery Library Bookstore「柯盤寺圖書館書店」

“Restoration”.  Post Nepal Earthquake, the library holding a very good collection of dharma books in English, Tibetan, Chinese, French, Spanish, Italian.  Beautiful oak cabinets were first installed in 2010.  

First year retreat during Basic Program, I remember re-organizing the shelves with the help of an 10-year-old young monk who did very well in school, often best in his class, who liked to hang with me during free time, eat ice cream, and talk about his Nepalese mommy.

Geshe Nawang Thinley, Kopan Library Bookstore Manager and more.

Geshe-la kindly let me use the library computer.  This is where I typed up that 2895-word dharma research paper.   Before nearly body-crashing into Khensur Lama Lhundrup.

Graffiti on the Wall「 牆壁上的塗鴉 」

“I love my rice noodles sitting next to Ilha Formosa Taiwan.”

「我愛台灣米粉」

Projections

A glass of water is offered:

Buddhas see healing nectar of compassionate wisdom;

Humans see refreshing water to quench their thirst;

Pretas see revolting blood and pus.

Five emails are offered:

CC sees salt on his wound; she sees a girl,

Kicking his ass with compassion carefully held by wisdom.

“He studies rocks.  I save lives.  You can’t marry him.”

Are you asking me to marry you?  When will that happen?

“Don’t know.  7 years, 10, 15.   Maybe.  Don’t know.”

We met at 10 pm, talked until 4 am, you walked me to my door.

Open Your Heart

Poking, prodding, probing,

Making every girl cry, singing, 

“Karma, karma, karma,” this Dharma Chameleon.

Gladly they return for more S and M

Of which they cannot have enough:

“S is for subjugating the crazy elephant mind .

M is for manipulation via rope, hook and pillar.”

Waltzing away laughing,

Making every girl cry, singing, 

“Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice,” this Dharma Chameleon.

Heaven knows what he does to the boys?

They say, “Boys don’t cry.”

Perhaps they sing in Dorothy-like soprano:

“Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high,

There’s a land that I’ve heard of, once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly,

Birds fly over the rainbow, why oh why can’t I?” 

   

By Judy Lin for Venerable Lobsang Namgyel 2007-9

“Open Your Heart” from Dharma in Her Heart.  

© Photo: Dr Lee, “Aunt Mi’s Rose Garden – Vancouver” 

「溫歌華三舅媽的玫瑰花園」Copyright © 2012 Judy Lin

Francis of Assisi「 亞西西 」

Be Gentle with Your Self

“Afflictions arise?  Be gentle with yourself.  Like a mother to her 2-year-old child.” – Lama Zopa

Hail Mary, full of grace

Our Lord is with thee

Blessed are thou among women

And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God

Pray for us sinners

Now and at the hour of our death

Amen.

萬福瑪利亞、妳有充分的善意

我們的主陪著妳

在婦女中、妳是神聖者

妳的子宮產生的果位是神聖者、耶穌

聖母瑪利亞、天主之母

為我們罪人祈禱

現在與我們死亡的時刻、阿門

MBA: My Battle with Afflictions

The ground shook beneath me, I lost my balance:  

Demon Mara appeared to challenge me.

He wounded me, but I wounded him back:  

Blood on my trainee Manjushri light sabre.

‘I may have severed a few limbs of afflictions,

Yet, the Demon is alive, regenerating 

New limbs for his next attack.  I shall destroy

This Demon of Self-Cherishing:  he will not live!’

Demon Mara laughed like the mockingbird,  

‘You thought you could terminate her, 

The Girl Who Loved Too Much,

It was only a flesh wound, you know.’

Bloody and torn, trembling she laid, 

Her Manjushri light sabre beyond her reach.

She cried: ‘Lama, my Lama! Why?’  

The sun fired the desert sand like gold.  

Crazy Elephant Mind

Rope        Hook        Pillar

The untamed mind is like “a crazy elephant” that wrecks havoc in its living environment – like a 2-year-old gone wild – when he doesn’t get his ice cream.  

The crazy elephant mind can be manipulated and subdued with skillful means:  

ROPE – “the rope of mindfulness” that is tied to the

HOOK – “the hook of introspection” which is secured to the

PILLAR – “the pillar of Dharma” that is the foundation of all good works.

Study Lama Tsong Khapa’s Lam Rim Chen Mo – The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path of Enlightenment.  The peacock training for all engaging bodhisattvas out there.

Dharma S&M for the benefit of all SSBs.  Learn to use the three gadgets, rope, hook, pillar.

Water Bowl Offerings: 14-Step Instruction「水供十四步驟 」

Offering water bowls is a powerful practice for purifying obstacles and accumulating merits for a happy life, creating the causes to study and practice well the dharma.

Practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism have a happy daily morning ritual of “Offering Water Bowls” to speed one’s dharma practice along the path to E.

藏傳佛教徒、早上佛前供水的進行、供水的步驟、亦是想累積「六加行十萬杯水供修行之一」有興趣加入供水行列的人、歡迎與我們聯絡 FPMT Taiwan 經續法林 02-2577-0333 。

2015 © Photos courtesy of Ms Wu Ching-Mei at FPMT Taipei 經續法林

“If you can offer water bowls without spilling a drop, that is very auspicious,” says Geshe Lama Konchog.    

每天、若能於供水時心專注於上、而不使水溢出、已圓寂「袞卻格西 」曾開示提到「一心不亂」專注做供水亦是修定 。

Lama Zopa Rinpoche suggests:  “100,000 offerings of water bowls for 10 years without stop.  Very auspicious.”  

臺北經續法林奉行「梭巴仁波切」的指示：「每天、作百供水行之數十年、從不間斷 」。

Praise to 21 Taras

Mother Tara.  Buddha who obtained enlightenment in a woman’s body.  Protector of all SSBs.

Born from the teardrops of Buddha Avalokiteshvara.  Promised to help all who seek her help.

Good Read:  “A Commentary on Praises to the Twenty-One Taras”

Download English prayer:  “Praise to 21 Taras”

May all be happy.    May all be strong.    May all be safe.    And live with ease.

Om Tare Tutare Ture Soha

Shantideva’s Dedication Prayer

From Chapter 10 – “Dedication” in Shantideva’s A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life is HH the Dalai Lama’s favourite prayer, and one I love the best of all.

“Healing Anger:  The Power of Patience from a Buddhist Perspective”, by The Dalai Lama, translated by Thupten Jinpa (Snow Lion, 1997).

In the book, HH shows how the power of patience and tolerance can help us overcome anger and hatred.  He bases his discussion on A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, the classic work on the activities of Bodhisattvas – those who aspire to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all SSBs – suffering sentient beings.

By Shantideva

May all beings everywhere

Plagued by sufferings of body and mind

Obtain an ocean of happiness and joy

By virtue of my merits.

In Praise of Dependent Origination

1.    He who speaks on the basis of seeing, this makes him a knower and teacher unexcelled, I bow to you, O Conqueror, you who saw dependent origination and taught it.

2.    Whatever degenerations there are in the world, the root of all these is ignorance; you taught that it is dependent origination, the seeing which will undo this ignorance.

3.   So how can an intelligent person not comprehend that this path of dependent origination is the essential point of your teaching?

Golden Light Sutra for World Peace「金光明經」世界和平

In the aftermath of the April 2015 Nepal “Gorkha” Earthquake, killing more than 9,000 people and injuring more than 23,000.   The Taiwan 8 Gods Water Amusement Park Explosion  burning 500 people on 27 June 2015.   School bullying.  Date rape.  Unemployment.  Global warming.  Poverty.  Cancer.   ADHD.  HIV.  PTSD.  ISIS et al.

Benefits of “King of Glorious Sutras:  Exalted Sublime Golden Light” – Download

“King of Glorious Sutras:  Exalted Sublime Golden Light for World Peace” – Download

金光明經：「中文版一」＋「中文版二」 ＋ 譯者解文  ＋ Editor’s Notes – Download

Great Global Shift Transformative Meditation – Dekyi-Lee Oldershaw Initiative

Small Size Text for Wearing on Body – Download

Recording of Part 1 of Golden Light Sutra Oral Transmission (Lung) for chapters 1 to 7 by Lama Zopa Rinpoche from a retreat in Australia in September and October, 2014. Rinpoche has agreed that the full oral transmission of this Sutra can be received from listening to all three parts of this recording. 

“Our heartfelt gratitude 24/7.   Sooooo kind to all SSBs.  We love you, Rinpoche.”

梭巴仁波切在 2014 年 9 月 10 月、在澳洲閉關、給於「金色光佛經口傳」、錄製的第一二三部分「第 1 至 21 章」  。仁波切已同意：「此經典「全口頭傳播」聽者、可以收到這段錄音的所有三個部分」。 感恩上師的大愛與慈悲心 。