PLEASE PUT A NOTE IN YOUR DIARY -      

 

         IT WILL NOT BE THE SAME WITHOUT YOU

Recently we had a visit from Khensur Lobsang Tenzin Rinpoche which was very successful.  The teachings were very well attended.  Khensur Rinpoche was very pleased to see that so many people are interested in coming to classes and wanting to practise Dharma sincerely.
 
As always I say this, and deeply feel it ...there are very few Tibetan teachers like Khensur Rinpoche. Very few. Not just in the Gelug tradition, but in all the traditions. Great practitioners   who are also great scholars and who have such dedication, wanting to share with others who also have a great wish to study Dharma. Khensur Rinpoche is very kind to us, coming year after year to teach, regardless of hardships such as getting the correct papers, all the visas, and then travelling from one continent to another.
 
Nowadays we can fly to and from India, to the States and back again. But we take many things for granted. When we go to the airport in these places, we generally speak the language and understand the customs and how that country does things. And we have documents which are easily recognised by the officials. People like Khensur Rinpoche, this Tibetan great master, even though he did not have simple things like a passport and papers to travel easily, nevertheless he came this year, and gave such amazing teachings. The Centre and I personally invited him to come back and teach us in the coming years, and he kindly accepted. We requested him to come next year, and he said yes!
 
We must start preparing for this visit, and other centres in Europe will also be interested in him visiting and giving teachings. The teachings will be on the sutrayana system, how to cultivate love and compassion (bodhichitta) and on understanding emptiness. We always request him and all the great teachers to teach those subjects, not just give initiations.
 
My approach is that it is equally important to receive teachings from these great masters on general Buddhist teachings. There may be difficulties, as they don't know the western cultures, western mentalities and 21st century attractions. Nevertheless when we listen to teachings by these great teachers, although they teach in a very traditional way, there are great authentic Buddhist teachings and practices that we can learn about from these great teachers. From my own experience, living in the west and trying to learn about western culture and 21st century attractions, I am often reluctant to say important things so as not to be misunderstood. These great masters don't know about western cultures but their understanding of Buddhist practices is very authentic, deep and profound. Listening day after day, we will see the benefits of listening to those great traditional teachers.
 
So next year, for the main teaching, I have requested him is to teach and give the initiation of Vajrayogini. And to give the commentary of the Vajrayogini practice. Not just the initiation but also the commentary.on the Vajrayogini sadhana. 
 
There are 2 reasons that I have requested this initiation and teachings. The first reason is ... Up to now our main focus, with some, but not very great success, my first priority was the highest yoga tantra practice of Guhyasamaja. Khensur Rinpoche kindly gave the initiations twice over three years and finished the commentaries over these three years on the generation and completion stages of the Guhyasamaja practice. Although it might not have benefited huge numbers of people, the people who put their energy and time to study and to receive the teachings, those people have received great benefits from doing this. This year we requested Khensur Rinpoche to teach on Yamantaka (Solitary hero Vajrabhairava) and he kindly gave us the initiation and the commentary on how to do the generation stage practice on the sadhana based on one popular commentary. These two tantras are father tantras, and that is why I thought it was time we had an initiation and commentary on a mother tantra. Ideally it would be good to have Heruka Chakrasamvara, but for some reason we have chosen Vajrayogini. The main reason is to have complete father and mother tantric practices available at the Centre.
 
The other reason is this. Over the years, in some people's case over 30 years ago, they  received Vajrayogini initiations and commentaries from great teachers like Kyabje Song Rinpoche, when they visited the West and gave many teachings. Particularly mother tantra initiations, including Vajrayogini and Heruka and so forth. In order to benefit those senior western practitioners, to refresh their understanding and to also receive the teachings again from a great master like Khensur Rinpoche - a great practitioner, a great scholar, who has  studied the practice himself. He also led a great, important Buddhist Tantric institution like Gyume Monastic University. He was the abbot for 6 years. So my feeling is, for those people who have received initiations and commentaries from Kyabje Song Rinpoche and other great Buddhist teachers, that it is now time to make it more available, particularly in the Gelug tradition. Vajrayogini teachings and practices are closely associated with the lineage of Kyabe Trijang Rinpoche and Kyabje Song Rinpoche, and earlier, Pabonka Rinpoche.
 
Many times I have been asked by people wishing to leave the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT), who have received the Vajrayogini initiation from NKT teachers, and who are confused about whether they can continue the Vajrayogini practice without continuing the Dolgyel (Shugden) practice, because they were taught to do the Dolgyel (Shugden) practice in collaboration with the Vajrayogini practice. People have been a little misled to believe that if they want to practise Vajrayogini, then they have to also do the Dolgyel (Shugden) practice. So, to clarify any such confusion that may exist in the West, I have requested this Vajrayogini initiation and teachings from Khensur Rinpoche, so it can be done without any trace of Dolgyel (Shugden). To give people the opportunity to continue to practise Vajrayogini without Dolgyel (Shugden).
 
Another reason I am telling you all this now, is so that people know about this coming opportunity. My guess is that Khensur Rinpoche will come to give these teachings in September/October 2009. I am informing you at the earliest time so you can arrange to book these teachings in advance, so you will be able to put the dates in your diaries.
 
At this time, this is my main message in Gentle Voice. I wish to say thank you to Khensur Rinpoche and all the people who were involved in bringing him over to Jamyang and the other centres in Europe, and for the future, so people will know how important these visits are. In 10-15 years time these great teachers will not be here. These teachers from whom we receive these amazing teachings. That is very clear. As I said at the beginning, there are very few great teachers left on this planet.
 
I would like to say thank you to the people who attended the teachings, and at the same time, I want to encourage you to come to teachings from great masters like Khensur Rinpoche.
 

The 16 Guidelines: - humility, patience, contentment, delight, kindness, honesty, generosity, right speech, respect, gratitude, loyalty, principles, aspiration, service, and courage - and their opposites,  are aspects of how we live our life: how we
think, how we act, how we relate to others, and how we find meaning.
 
Because they are aspects, we can't help but take on one or more of these guidelines or their opposites in every situation we find ourselves in.
 
What difference does it make to us whether we take on the aspect of gratitude or its opposite: ingratitude? Obviously, if we choose gratitude rather than ingratitude it will very likely open us up to the world and make us happier. Furthermore, our choice has a great impact on those around us and the society we live in. So much so that if we want to bring about change in our society, we can effectively start with ourselves.
 
It seems so straightforward and yet for some reason it is not. Why is this? The important thing to realise is that these guidelines are not a list of 'shoulds' and their opposites a list of 'shouldn'ts'. They offer a journey of exploration that takes us beyond fear into fearlessness.
 
At Jamyang, on this Friday and for the following six Fridays we will explore, experience, and share the impact these guidelines make. For the first four weeks we will look at four guidelines in detail. In the next two weeks, we will explore some of the challenges we face in following them, and develop tools for keeping them in our lives. Finally, on the last Friday we will have a 16 Guidelines party and bring together everything we have talked about.
 
More information about the Guidelines can be found on www.16guidelines.org, and the 16 Guidelines book is available at a special price from the Jamyang bookstore.

The 16 Guidelines have been developed by the Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom, an educational non-profit set up under the guidance of Lama Zopa Rinpoche to take forward the late Lama Thubten Yeshe's vision for a new kind of universal education. See www.essential-education.org
 

Dear FPMT friends and colleagues,
 
Last year I received a strong written admonition from our precious guru, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, that we quickly publish more teachings from the FPMT lineage, basically Lama Yeshe's and his own (although Rinpoche was typically a bit low key on his own teachings). Some of the points Rinpoche made were:
 

It is definitely a big loss that more material is not being published; this is a big loss in regards to the activities of the whole organization. Every day this doesn't happen it is a big loss for the organization.