Written by May Lein Ho, Coordinator of the Friends of KTD, Sept 2, 2012

This year we celebrated Ven. Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s 89th birthday. I enjoyed very much looking at the beautiful pictures posted on the Internet – Rinpoche’s smile, the grand cake, the group of happy sangha members gathering around Khenpo Rinpoche, etc. I wondered what could be done even better than this party to pay tribute to our beloved spiritual teacher when he reaches 90 years old next year! I shouldn’t have worried – Rinpoche himself has already “planned” it for us.

A few weeks ago I visited Karme Ling Retreat Center with friends. We recited two prayers to request the swift return of Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche when we did group White Tara practices.

The time staying at Karme Ling with Rinpoche gave me a chance to deeply contemplate on how fortunate I am to have a great teacher like Rinpoche – the best thing that has ever happened to my life. Then an idea came to my mind – it’s about time for me to initiate a third grand Buddha statue offering project – this time for the 2014 KTD annual Amitabha retreat. (It will be the 15th annual Amitabha retreat since the first one took place in 1999/2000.)

In the past, we had offered on two separate occasions at least 108 Amitabha Buddha statues at the Amitabha retreat (the first time in year 1999/2000; the second time in year 2009/2010) to serve as a grand offering to the Buddha and our Rinpoche. The KTD shrine room simply looked so magnificent with so many shining statues in it. So I went to Rinpoche to ask for permission to do the same for the 2013/2014 Amitabha retreat, since it will take at least two years to make an offering of this size happen. I also asked him what Buddha statue we should make this time. I thought, “well, this can’t be a “surprise” birthdate gift to Rinpoche since he will need to fill and bless all the statues before they are ready – and it will take him more than 5-6 months to fill more than 108 statues!! I better make sure Rinpoche can do this for us.”

In response to my request, Rinpoche said he would be committed to fill all the statues, but I should not wait to the end of 2013 to make the offering. Instead, the 108 Buddha statue offering can be done at his 90th birthday party, which Rinpoche had previously said would take place during the 2013 Ten-Day Teaching.

Instead of making Amitabha statues, Rinpoche said I should find the best craftsman to make the finest White Tara statues to create a White Tara shine for the three-day White Tara retreat, which will be part of the Ten-Day Teaching gathering. At the end of the retreat, Rinpoche will consecrate all the statues so that all the blessing will go to people who attend the ceremony and to individual sponsors who will take their statues home. This is the plan Rinpoche has laid out for his 90th birthday “party.” I was delighted! What else can be better than this to celebrate Rinpoche’s 90th birthday and express our sincere respect and gratitude to him?

This is a rare once-in-the-life-time opportunity to obtain a very beautiful White Tara statue at Rinpoche’s 90th year birthday, dedicated to his and all lineage gurus’ longevity and also for our own longevity so we will gain more precious time to practice.

All the statues will be decorated with precious stones and will be handcrafted with beauty and care. The quality of the statues will be supreme. Reserve your statue(s) as soon as possible since they will go fast. Please also recite the White Tara mantras whenever you can to pray for our guru’s longevity.

The mantra is OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SO HA. (The short White Tara Mantra is the same as the Green Tara Mantra.)

Please support this project as much as you can, and help us create the most magnificent White Tara shrine at KTD, His Holiness Karmapa’s temple, to celebrate Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s 90th birthday. Collectively, we will all accumulate a lot of merit for participating in this project.

Karmapa Chenno!!

HOW TO ORDER YOUR STATUE

If you are mailing your donation check, please fill out the White Tara Statue Request Form and include the form with your check to the following address:

STBSG/KKR Loving Kindness & Compassion, P.O. Box 10556 New Brunswick, NJ 08906

If you use PayPal to submit your donation, please fill out the White Tara Statue Request Form below and email the form to the following email address:

friendsofktd@gmail.com

You will receive a confirmation if a statue is available for you to reserve. Otherwise, we will return your check. Please submit your request ASAP. An installment plan is available if needed. Please contact friendsofktd@gmail.com.

White Tara Statue Request Form

(A) ___ I would like to donate toward the special 24” fully gold plated White Tara statue to be presented to Ven. Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche in 2013 as his birthday present.

My donation is: ______________

(B) The partially or fully gold plated White Tara statues you can sponsor come in three sizes: 6”, 8” or 12”.

Please indicate which you would like to order:

(1) _____ $1200 – 6” partially gold plated

(2) _____ $1500 – 6” fully gold plated

(3) _____ $1800 – 8” partially gold plated

(4) _____ $2100 – 8” fully gold plated

(5) _____ $3000 -12” partially gold plated

(6) _____ $3500 -12” fully gold plated

Do you need the statue you have ordered to be shipped to your address? Yes ___ No _____

If Yes, you will be charged with the actual shipping and handling cost if you want us to ship the statue to your home address after the White Tara Puja next September (2013). We can’t estimate how much it will cost to ship; after the filling, the statue will be very heavy. So we think it will be ideal if people can carry the actual cost of shipping later on.

(C) _____ I do not need a statue for myself. But I would like to join the crowd and donate toward this project to help pay base cost and/or the shipping of the statues. Any donation is welcome. Thanks.

My donation is: _______________________

(D) _____ I would like to attend the White Tara retreat next year. Please provide me the information when it is available.

Personal information (Please write clearly):

Name: _____________________________ Phone number: ____________________

Mailing Address: _______________________________________________

Email Address: _________________________________________________

Payment information:

Please submit this request form along with your check to the following address. Write your check payable to: KKR Loving Kindness & Compassion

Mailing address:

STBSG/KKR Loving Kindness & Compassion, P.O. Box 10556 New Brunswick, NJ 08906

Email inquiry: friendsofktd@gmail.com

On-line order at: http://www.kkrinternational.org/kkr_projects_donate.html

(Click Donate under “Other” and specify the size of the statue.)

Click on the image above to see the KKR International website.

Billie Luque Arias stands in the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra entranceway.

Before the 2010 Monlam, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche called KTD “the Bodhgaya of America,” and said it was a holy place of pilgrimage we could visit right here in the USA. Billie Luque Arias visited us from Caracas, Venezuela, where she is a member of  KTC Caracas.

Khenpo Ugyen Tenzin; photo by Billie Luque Arias

My visit to the KTD monastery in Woodstock was a joyful experience. I received many meditations and daily practices and the teaching on the Heart Sutra & Emptiness by Lama Dudjom Dorjee. I was welcomed with warm hearts by all the KTD team… Thank you to everyone, especially to Ven.  Khenpo Ugyen Tenzin at KTD who made my visit so full of Dharma. For me this sacred blessed monastery is one of the most special pilgrimage sites in the world. .…Karmapa Chenno!

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Billie with KTD Director of Operations Linda Patrik.

Mi visita al monasterio KTD en Woodstock fue una experiencia maravillosa. Realizamos muchas meditaciones y prácticas diarias de Tara, Mahakala y Chenrezig y la enseñanza del Sutra del Corazón y el Vacío por parte de Lama Dudjom Dorjee. Me recibieron con cálidos corazones por parte de todo el equipo KTD … ¡Gracias a todos, especialmente a Ven. Khenpo Tenzin Ugyen en el KTD,  quienes hicieron que mi visita estuviese tan plena de Dharma. Este sagrado y bendito monasterio, es uno de los más especiales sitios de peregrinación. …Karmapa Chenno!

– Billie Luque Arias

Here is Billie’s slideshow of her visit.

Check out the Dharma offerings available in South America with Ani Damcho at facebuda.org.

Check out your South American Dharma friends and activities at Comunidad Dharmadatta on Facebook.

We had a wonderful weekend with Tulku Damchö’s first teaching at KTD, and we very much hope it won’t be the last. “My job description is doing what Thrangu Rinpoche tells me,” he said as we begged him to return at the end of the teachings. “If he becomes aware that it is beneficial for me to come here, I will return.”

We were all astounded by the strength, beauty and power of this young tulku’s teachings, and it comforted us that, even with the loss of great masters like Traleg Rinpoche and Tenga Rinpoche, the future of the great Kagyu lineage is secure.

He taught on “The Precious Garland of the Supreme Path” by Gampopa, the father of the Kagyu lineage who lived from (1070 – 1153). It is truly miraculous that these teachings have survived, and been passed down in a pure form from master to student all the way to beginners like us, listening to the precise instructions that can lead us to enlightenment, from a modern master.

“It’s the best presentation of how beginners can practice,” Tulku Damchö explained. The path is precious because it is hard-to-find, and the garland refers to jewelry, like a necklace or bracelet, that only the most fortunate can wear.

“Everyone would like to wear the nicest jewelry, but you have to amass the causes and conditions,” Tulku Damchö said. “Everyone wants to practice perfectly, but few are able.”

Tulku Damchö brought a fresh feeling to teachings I have heard before, and I hope to apply them to a great tragedy.

In a few days, I will be sitting in a courtroom with the men accused of killing my dear brother, Wesley Brown, an innocent bystander shot by a stray bullet in a gang shooting at Best Buy in Tulsa, Oklahoma, July 14, 2012.

Tulku Damchö said it is hard to admit we have negative habits, or kleshas. If we admit it, it’s hard to apply the remedies. And even if we apply the remedies, it’s hard to choose the remedy over the klesha when we’re in crisis.

But I hope to sit in that courtroom with those men, who come from a world I can hardly imagine, and think, “they were my parents in a previous life. They cared for me, fed me, clothed me, protected me, and I cannot abandon my kind parents through hatred.” That is my aspiration.

“We make great aspirations at the temple, then we go back to our lives and forget,” Tulku Damchö said. “That is not good enough. Our aspirations must be constant.”

Please pray that I can fulfill my aspirations in this one small thing.

May Lein Ho continues her story -

AFTER I CAME BACK from Karme Ling with Rinpoche’s permission and blessing to start working on the White Tara Statue project, Ani Lodro called twice to relay specific wishes from Rinpoche, something that has never happened to us before in twenty years of working with Rinpoche on Dharma projects.

In the past, Rinpoche would always approve a project proposal, and that would be it. No more instructions, just do it.

Not this time.

For our White Tara Project, Rinpoche is paying very close attention, picking the specific date for our puja next year and specifying quite precisely what Buddha statues we should offer.  I even heard that he had talked about this project to his students before we announced it!

Rinpoche’s First Call – The Purpose of the White Tara Shrine
In Ani Lodro’s first call from Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, Rinpoche says that the purpose of this Shrine is to make auspiciousness, dharmic joy and happiness.  A magnificent White Tara Shrine will be created at KTD, manifested by the joyful energy of as many people as possible.  A  payment plan has been designed so that more people would be able to get a statue, and groups are encouraged to come together in order to order a statue or statues. In this way there is a way for everyone to participate in the karmic streams coming together to create Rinpoche’s White Tara Shrine, as he orchestrates the project and its manifestation.
There is a way for everyone to feel happy about the generation, the purpose, and what is achieved. It is quite special.

Rinpoche’s Second Call – Commissioning of the White Tara Statues
Ani Lodro called me back the second time when I called Rinpoche in order to ask who I should commission to make the statues – there is no way to go to a store and buy this many White Tara statues of identical style, quality and craftsmanship.  Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche told me that the quality of the statue is the most important factor.  Someone must be found who can make the very best statues available, never sacrificing quality for cost.
Of course, the more we can save on the base cost, the more resources will be available to pay back our KTD loans – but as Rinpoche repeatedly says, this is not the point here.
To Khenpo Karthar, the quality of the statues is where he wants us to focus,  quite challenging from our point of view – to find someone who can make White Tara statues of the best quality, but at the same time charge us the least!
To our joy, with the blessing of His Holiness Karmapa and Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, we have found our statue maker.
The story continues – please stay tuned; I will write you the next installment soon.

– May Lein Ho

The White Tara Statue Request Form

The White Tara Statue Installment Plan

The Story of the White Tara Statue Project, Part I

His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa

Several thousand people converged on Dorzong Monastic Institute today to hold a long-life ceremony for His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje. In attendance were deeply devoted Rinpoches, Togdens, Khenpos, monks and nuns from across the Himalayan region, as well as international disciples from over a dozen countries. Following the long-life puja offered to him by Dorzong Monastic Institute, the Gyalwang Karmapa conferred the Amitayus long-life empowerment on all those assembled.

Dorzong Monastic Institute

Dorzong Rinpoche

k

Spokespersons:

Karmapa Office of Administration
Karma Chungyalpa

Lama Tsultrim Gyaltsen is getting ready to embark on his second Chod teaching series at KTD next weekend. We spoke to the Retreat Master briefly about Chöd practice at KTD.

Lama Gyaltsen, what is your connection with the profound practice of Chöd?

My connection with the practice is that we learned it in retreat, and I find it beneficial in both the short run and the long run.  It is beneficial in the short run to deal with obstacles, and as a means of praying for others.  Of course, in the long run it can lead the realization of mahamudra.

What brought you to teaching Chöd at KTD?

Giving instruction at KTD on performing Chöd is a way that I can make a contribution to KTD and our members.  This is actually what motivated me to ask Rinpoche’s approval for giving these instructions.  Chöd instruction suits me because I am more of a hands-on person than a teacher. For the Chod program at KTD we watch videos of the teachings that Rinpoche gave in the three-year retreat.  I simply instruct on how to use the instruments and do the practice.

What is your aspiration for Chöd practice at KTD?

I would like to see Chöd done regularly at KTD, much like we do the Guru Rinpoche and Karma Pakshi Tsok — once we get enough people capable of doing it.  There are three days each lunar month (the 9th, 19th and 29th days) that are especially good for Chöd practice.  I would like to see it on one (or more) of those days each month.

_________________________________________________________

On Nov. 9-11 KTD will begin its second three-part series of teachings on the Chöd practice. We will have an unusual opportunity to learn the Chöd practice from Lama Tsultrim Gyaltsen, Retreat Master at Karme Ling.

In this first session, you will learn how to perform a short Chöd practice in preparation for learning a more elaborate version of the practice in Part 2.

Who qualifies for this first Chöd retreat, taught Nov. 9 – 11: Anyone who has taken refuge.
Chöd Part 1 – Introduces the practice.
Chöd Part 2 – Expanded instruction.
Chöd Part 3 – Chöd Part 3 is for those who have completed the Prostration and Vajrasattva portions of the Ngöndro and Chöd Parts 1 and 2, or by special permission.

Link to recent press release discussing His Holiness Karmapa’s Chöd teachings at Dorzong Monastic Institute, with Long-Life Ceremony.

During the Drupchod of Gyalwa Gyamtso (or, “Ocean of Victors” – a special practice of Red Chenrezig) the entire Red Chenrezig sadhana will be performed daily by the Karme Ling lamas.

The Gyalwa Gyamtso Drupchod  will be performed at KTD December 16 – 22, KTD Shrine Room.

Drupchods, the “practice offerings” of the major Kagyu yidams such as Vajrayogini, Chakrasamvara, and Gyalwa Gyamtso, are performed yearly at monasteries to consecrate the environment, accumulate merit, purify negativities, and benefit beings.

During the Drupchod of Gyalwa Gyamtso (or, “Ocean of Victors” – a special practice of Red Chenrezig) the entire Red Chenrezig sadhana will be performed daily by the Karme Ling lamas in two sessions, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon daily and from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

The Gyalwa Gyamtso Shrine

Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche encourages dharma students of all levels to make a connection with this powerful practice and nurture the activity of our Three-Year Retreat lamas by attending the drupchod. These dieties are called, and they actually do come, and dwell; one of the functions of a Lama is to continuously charge and keep the shrine room full of blessing energy.

Blessings and an afternoon Tsok feast will be given daily by the lamas.

Blessings and an afternoon Tsok feast will be given daily by the lamas; the blessing empowerment of Gyalwa Gyamtso will be given on the final day in the afternoon. Attendees may do their own practices, contribute toward offering lamps or food for the daily tsok feasts, and receive daily blessings.

– Lama Kathy Wesley

The Gyalwa Gyamtso Tsok feast, given each afternoon.

Michael Jones, Addison Shierry and some House Blend

35 pounds of Starbucks coffee is on the way to KTD.

Addison Shierry took refuge last weekend. She lives in Dallas, and works at Starbucks.

Her boyfriend and fellow KTC Member Michael Jones mentioned that coffee is the most expensive item purchased for KTD food service.

Put all these facts together, and this is what happens: Addison works with her Starbucks manager, Tara Whippie, and is able to have 35 pounds of premium coffee donated to KTD.

35 pounds of Starbucks beans are being shipped to KTD as we speak, courtesy KTC Member Tom Jaco.

KTD Director David Kaczynski mentioned that the Chef/Kitchen Director would be very excited to receive the coffee.

When there is a desire to benefit, that desire manifests.

This desire is manifesting in a form that many people will appreciate and will save KTD money. Salute, Karmapa Chenno, and Blessings!

This story starts with Anne Hulett, who along with Nancy Schaeffer runs the KTD office and handles registration.

Not too long ago, Anne had a conversation with Linda Patrik, KTD’s new Director of Operations.

“ Linda and I spoke about the people who were asking to volunteer and wanted to be a part of what is happening at KTD and the needs of the Monastery,” Anne says.  “We wanted to reframe our Volunteer Program  and really open it up to people in a bigger way.”

It was determined that KTD needed a Volunteer Coordinator, which was a good fit for Anne, who has a background in project and event management.

When a much-needed KTD membership mailing needed to be done on a short timeline a few weeks ago, an idea surfaced – what about asking the people assembled for Tulku Damchö’s first teaching if they could help with the mailing during the lunch break?

Anne spoke to the group assembled in the shrine room prior to Tulku Damchö’s first teaching of the day.

“I shared about how I started at KTD,”  Anne says. “I spoke about initially being intimidated by the teachings, but I really wanted to be there. I would arrive, pay for my room, and go help Amrita in Fundraising, or Maureen in the kitchen, or do a bit of housekeeping with Susan in the different shrines at KTD.  I love to get involved and I wanted to spend time here. It was a great thing, and so much fun.  The staff made it possible and was welcoming and fun to work with.”

Anne then asked if people wanted to volunteer with the mailing, and immediately ten hands shot up to help, the perfect number to accomplish the mailing task at hand. Meeting after the teaching, the assembled group proceeded to handle the mailing with great good nature and skill.

Then Amy McCracken spoke. A benefactor and volunteer in the Front Office and Finance at the Monastery, Amy had volunteered, out of the blue, to collect donations from the attendees of Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s Ten-Day Teaching last year, raising $11,000 for the monastery.  Inspired, people approached Amy afterward to ask about getting involved.

“The accomplishment of the mailing made it real,” Anne says. “This is where the whole volunteer initiative came together. We want people to feel a part of KTD, and this is a way to be involved. It’s not just Karma Yoga – the work essential as part of a retreat at KTD – but the true volunteering where you become part of the fold. Being part of something bigger than yourself, and you can feel it.”

Anne’s next step, which she is in the process of completing now with the help of Jonathan Vallejo, Volunteer with Non-profit management experience, is the first draft of a KTD volunteer handbook that will help to orient and give helpful guidelines for volunteering at the monastery.

“Facilitation is so important,” she says. “when you come into a place to help, not only do you need to feel welcomed, but also guided and prepared with what you need to know.”

After that beginning, Anne says, quite often the volunteers know best. “People who come to KTD have rich backgrounds,” Anne says. “Our job is to tell them what they need to know to do a job and let them go do it, and we often get great input from them.”

Call Anne Hulett, Volunteer Manager, if you’d like to be part of KTD’s volunteer team. Her number is (845) 679-5906 ext. 1071 and e-mail: annehulett@kagyu.org. If she’s not there, please leave a message and your contact information.

Anne says she will work with each person to help them find a place on KTD’s volunteer teams. “We’ll find a fit for you, what works with your skill set and what you enjoy,” she says. “Great things are definitely opening up here and it’s very exciting, with an expanding sense of both connection and community.”

Khenpo Gangshar

Dear Dharma Friends:

Greetings! We hope all of you are well and enjoying the autumn holidays.

Soon winter will be upon us, and with it the turning of the New Year in January. We at KTD are feeling grateful to all of you for being our friends and supporters during this past year.

In gratitude, we want to give you a small gift.

Three times a year, KTD puts out its program brochure. It arrives by US Mail, and, like a present, we open it with anticipation, curious to know what programs we may wish to attend in the coming months.

Today for you, our friends, we present a special gift – an advance copy of our Spring 2013 brochure.

Brochure cover and teacher listings
Brochure schedule

We want to draw special attention to Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s May 17-19, 2013 teaching on  “Naturally Liberating Whatever You Meet.” This may be the only time Khenpo Rinpoche shares this teaching at KTD, and we want you to know how special it is.

The reason this teaching is so unique is that Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche is among the few people still alive today who actually heard this powerful teaching – a Mind Teaching that combines Mahamudra and Dzogchen – from its author, the incomparable Khenpo Gangshar.

Those who have read Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s autobiography, “Born in Tibet” will recognize Khenpo Gangshar as the teacher whose influence changed Trungpa Rinpoche’s life. And this teaching, which explains in simple language how to weather any physical or emotional storm through recognizing the inner nature of the mind, is a gem that will benefit your mind for years to come.

Those attending will receive not just a teaching, but the reading transmission of Khenpo Gangshar’s root text and a transmission of the meaning of those words.

Cost of the program will be $96 for members; $120 for non-members.

A limited number of overnight accommodations are available.

To attend, click here to place your reservation.

Meanwhile, we want to wish you all the best for the coming holiday season, and to remind you that we are here for you if you need us – for prayer, for dharma teachings, and as a source of support in your practice. Let us know how we can serve you.

Please keep us in your prayers and meditation; we will keep you in ours.

With all good wishes,
Your Dharma Family at KTD

The Tashi Gomang Stupa

The benefits of stupas (also known as “choten,” or “dharma support” in Tibetan) are well-known. They are symbolic representations of the body, speech, and mind of a Buddha; they contain relics of awakened beings, providing a place for dharma students to pray, make offerings, and accumulate merit; and they have the power to transmit the essence of awakened mind, on the spot, to anyone ready to receive it.

Stupas were built in India after the death of Buddha Shakyamuni to house his relics, and have been built in every nation and on every continent where Buddhism has journeyed.

In the 1970s, the first Tibetan Buddhist stupas were constructed in the United States. A fair number of stupas – nearly a dozen – were built in the Southwest. This includes stupas in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Taos, Questa, as well as Red Feather Lakes Colorado and Crestone, Colorado.

The Karma Thegsum Tashi Gomang Stupa at Crestone is of special interest to students of His Holiness Karmapa. It was built at the direction of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa for the purpose of blessing and protecting America and taming its energies with the dharma.

We have all admired these stupas from afar for years. This year, for the first time, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra will host a Stupa Pilgrimage of the Southwest.

Scheduled from June 1-4, 2013, the pilgrimage will include visits to the four stupas in the Crestone Valley, as well as a visit to the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya near Red Feather Lakes, CO.

Lama Kathy Wesley will lead the pilgrimage, which will include fire offering pujas and prayers at all stupa sites, circumambulation rituals, and mantra accumulation practices.

The $555 fee for participation will include three nights’ lodging and meals at inns near the stupa sites; a stupa prayer text designed by Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche; and bus transit (from Denver International Airport to Crestone; from Crestone to Red Feather Lakes; and from Red Feather Lakes back to Denver International Airport). Participants will need to provide their own transportation to Denver.

Registration will open after Losar (Feb. 11, 2013). There will be a limit of 30 participants; those who cannot attend will be given an opportunity to “tag along” through a low-cost sponsorship program.

Interested? Contact Stupa Pilgrimage Organizer Jeannie Faulkner here.

Read about the Karma Thegsum Tashi Gomang stupa here.

Read about the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya here.

The Tashi Gomang Stupa

From the KTTG website:
The Tashi Gomang Stupa embodies His Holiness the XVIth Gyalwa Karmapa. In the words of H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche: “Within the stupa the teacher remains unchanging. The Buddha said that whoever sees the stupa will be liberated by the sight of it. Feeling the breeze around the stupa liberates by its touch. Having thus seen or experienced the stupa, by thinking of one’s experience of it, one is liberated through recollection.”

The Tashi Gomang Stupa

The benefits of stupas (also known as “choten,” or “dharma support” in Tibetan) are well-known. They are symbolic representations of the body, speech, and mind of a Buddha; they contain relics of awakened beings, providing a place for dharma students to pray, make offerings, and accumulate merit; and they have the power to transmit the essence of awakened mind, on the spot, to anyone ready to receive it.

Stupas were built in India after the death of Buddha Shakyamuni to house his relics, and have been built in every nation and on every continent where Buddhism has journeyed.

In the 1970s, the first Tibetan Buddhist stupas were constructed in the United States. A fair number of stupas – nearly a dozen – were built in the Southwest. This includes stupas in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Taos, Questa, as well as Red Feather Lakes Colorado and Crestone, Colorado.

The Karma Thegsum Tashi Gomang Stupa at Crestone is of special interest to students of His Holiness Karmapa. It was built at the direction of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa for the purpose of blessing and protecting America and taming its energies with the dharma.

We have all admired these stupas from afar for years. This year, for the first time, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra will host a Stupa Pilgrimage of the Southwest.

Scheduled from June 4-7, 2013, the pilgrimage will include visits to the four stupas in the Crestone Valley, as well as a visit to the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya near Red Feather Lakes, CO.

Lama Kathy Wesley will lead the pilgrimage, which will include fire offering pujas and prayers at all stupa sites, circumambulation rituals, and mantra accumulation practices.

The $555 fee for participation will include three nights’ lodging and meals at inns near the stupa sites; a stupa prayer text designed by Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche; and bus transit (from Denver International Airport to Crestone; from Crestone to Red Feather Lakes; and from Red Feather Lakes back to Denver International Airport). Participants will need to provide their own transportation to Denver.

Registration will open after Losar (Feb. 11, 2013). There will be a limit of 30 participants; those who cannot attend will be given an opportunity to “tag along” through a low-cost sponsorship program.

Interested? Contact Stupa Pilgrimage Organizer Jeannie Faulkner here.

Read about the Karma Thegsum Tashi Gomang stupa here.

Read about the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya here.

The Tashi Gomang Stupa

From the KTTG website:
The Tashi Gomang Stupa embodies His Holiness the XVIth Gyalwa Karmapa. In the words of H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche: “Within the stupa the teacher remains unchanging. The Buddha said that whoever sees the stupa will be liberated by the sight of it. Feeling the breeze around the stupa liberates by its touch. Having thus seen or experienced the stupa, by thinking of one’s experience of it, one is liberated through recollection.”

The group from KTD that traveled to the 2012-2013 Kagyu Monlam had an audience with His Holiness on December 25^th.

From Left: Amy McCracken, Ani Jangchup, His Holiness Karmapa, Lama Zopa, Amy Schwartz

Sitting: Karen Lucic, Susan Thompson, Yeshe Wangmo

The torma artists are the unsung heroes of the Kagyu Monlam. Every year they labor long hours in relative obscurity, tucked away in a private space far removed from Tergar Monastery and the bustle of other pre-Monlam preparations and activities. This year there were 64 monks and nuns working from dawn to dusk on the butter sculptures and offering tormas (Tib. shalzes) for the 30^th Kagyu Monlam.

Arriving at least a month before the monlam begins, the artists make many of their own tools and spend the first couple of days preparing their colorful wax-butter palette. The wax butter is made from a combination of paraffin, Dalda (a brand of Indian margarine), imported pastry margarine, and oil paint. The shalzes or “food offerings for the deities” are made out of a mixture of flour and melted Dalda that has been kneaded for a very long time. Then they are shaped by hand, carved with a knife, smoothed with the convex surface of a spoon, and finally coated with melted ghee.  They stand about 20-inches  high and are decorated with varying combinations of the eight auspicious symbols and the seven articles of royalty that have been sculpted from wax butter and mounted on wooden discs.

The torma artists began on November 16 this year and finished about three and a half weeks later. Every year the senior artists get faster and are able to produce two or three large statues apiece. The junior artists work on smaller statues, or create the decorative motifs that are mounted on the wooden plaques (Tib. gyentras) between and around the statues. Some of the less experienced artists make the decorations (Tib. gyens) for the shalzes. Karma Kagyu monasteries and nunneries throughout India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sikkim send an average of two people each year to participate in the torma-making process. This year, many of them were seasoned professionals with a lot of experience from previous  years but some were new and had to be trained on the spot. The Gyalwang Karmapa is the mastermind behind the designs; he comes up with a different scheme every year and closely monitors the works in progress to make sure they are shaping up according to his instructions.

There are six senior artists who return annually to supervise the process and teach the newest recruits. Lama Sangye, the torma master,  lives at Ralang Monastery in Sikkim, and has completed a three-year-retreat at Pullahari in Nepal. As a youth, he studied statue-making for many years with the two most highly-regarded sculptors in Bhutan. Lama Gelek also completed a three-year retreat and serves as the shrine master (Tib. chöpon) at Bokar Rinpoche’s monastery in Mirik. He is a trained thangka and mural artist. Özer Nyingpo, the Karmapa’s personal shrine master is a very talented sculptor. Karma Samten is also an exquisite sculptor and a thangka painter in his own right. Karma Wangchuk is a great natural artist. As a child he taught himself to draw and as a young adult he learned to sculpt exceptionally well. Besides sculpting statues each year, he also paints the extra flourishes on the finished figures, such as coloring the lips and “opening the eyes” of the Buddhas, lineage masters, and assorted deities. Tashi Tsering has also evolved into one of the most talented sculptors and returns every year.

This year there were twelve large tormas and 32 shalzes. Four tormas were displayed on the two altars in the Monlam Pavlion and eight tormas were set up at the Mahabodhi stupa on December 24^th for the last three days of the Kagyu Monlam.

The altars at the Monlam Pavilion were on the uppermost tier of the stage, placed on either side of the large golden Buddha statue. Each shrine featured two gyentras, with shalzes and flower arrangements placed to the left and right and Korean style offerings in cylindrical containers below.

The four tormas at the Pavilion represented the four main transmissions of the sutras and the tantras. In these tormas, there is a connection between the figure on the top and the figure in the middle. The figure on the bottom section of each of the four is a dharma protector whose activity loosely relates to that of other two figures.

So from left to right, in the first torma, Saraha is on the top, the first Karmapa Dusum Khyenpa is in the middle, and Tseringma of the Five Sisters is on the bottom. There is a close connection between the Karmapa lineage and Saraha because the first Karmapa is considered to be an emanation of Saraha, who was one of the greatest Indian Mahasiddhas.

The second torma features Buddha Sakyamuni on top, Ananda in the middle, and Dzambhala on the bottom. Ananda, the middle figure, received all of the teachings that Buddha Sakyamuni ever gave.

In the third torma, Padmasambhava is on the top, the translator Vairotsana is in the middle, and the protectress Ngak Sum Ekajati is on the bottom. Padmasambhava and Vairotsana are connected in that Vairotsana lived during the time of Padmasambhava, King Trisong Deutsen, and Shantarakshita in Tibet. Besides being one of the greatest Tibetan translators, Vairotsana was one of the three main masters to bring the Dzogchen teachings to Tibet. His emanations have been important tertons and Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye is considered to be one of his emanations.

In the fourth torma, the noble Nagarjuna is on the top, Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye is in the middle, and Gyu Gön, the protector of the tantras is on the bottom. As for the connection between the top and middle figures, Nagarjuna is considered to be the second Buddha and the holder of the sutric and tantric traditions. And Lodro Thaye is similar to Nagarjuna because in his famous “Five Treasuries” he brought together and preserved a huge array of teachings. So in the sense of the breadth and depth of the teachings he collected, Lodro Thaye is comparable to Nagarjuna. This torma has a special significance because 2013 will mark the 200^th anniversary of Jamgon Kongtrul’s birth and his lineage is being commemorated at this year’s Kagyu Monlam.

The altar arrangement at the Mahabodhi Stupa was vast and beautiful, spanning the width of the entire front area beneath the Bodhi tree. Besides the usual shrines for the butter sculptures, offering tormas,  flowers, candles, and Korean-style offerings of candies, nuts, dried fruits, and platters of fresh fruit, there was a smaller shrine placed in-between, featuring a large framed photo of Kyabje Tenga Rinpoche, in honor of his passing earlier this year.

The two shrines on either side of the Bodhi tree held four gyentras each. Facing the Mahabodhi Stupa, the main theme of the tormas on the left side were the four great deeds of the Buddha. On the right side, the Kagyu Lineage masters as well as the four main lineages of Tibet were featured.

Regarding the tormas on the left, each gyentra featured a deity on top, a representation of one of the Buddha’s four great deeds in the middle, and an offering goddess underneath. In the first torma from left to right, Buddha Sakyamuni is on the top, the deed “Demonstrating Miracles” is underneath, and the White Goddess of the Eternal Knot named “the One with the Lotus” is on the bottom.

In the second torma from the left, Chenrezig is on  top, the deed of “Becoming Enlightened” is in the middle and a white goddess carrying a wheel named “She Who Creates Fear” is on the bottom.

In the third torma from the left, the protector Achala, blue holding a sword is on top, the deed of “Turning the Wheel of the Dharma” is in the middle and a blue offering goddess holding a lotus, named “The One of Light,” is on the bottom.

In the fourth torma, Tara, the deity who eliminates obstacles is on top, in the middle is the deed, “Buddha Descending from Tushita Heaven,” and on the bottom is the blue goddess holding a victory banner called “the Victorious One.”

The upper section of each torma on the right hand side shows one of the four main lineages of Tibet; the middle sections contain the great masters of the Kagyu Lineage, and the bottom sections contain four more offering goddesses.

So in the first torma on the right, in the upper section is Sakya Pandita, representing the Sakya Lineage, in the middle section is Marpa Lotsawa, and on the bottom is a red offering goddess holding an umbrella, called Dangchenma, “the One of Radiance.”

In second torma, in the uppermost section is Longchenpa, representing the Nyingma Lineage, in the middle is Jetsun Milarepa, and on the bottom is a light red offering goddess holding a vase called, “the One with the White Skirt.” She is called this because she wears a diaphanous white skirt.

In the third torma, Je Tsongkhapa is on top, representing the Gelukpa, Lord Gampopa is in the middle and on the bottom is a green goddess holding a conch shell called “the Stainless One.”

In the fourth torma, Dolpo Sherab Gyaltsen is on the top representing the Jonangpa  lineage. The Jonangpa is not usually considered to be one of the four main lineages, but here, instead of putting a Kagyu Lineage master, they have put the founder of the Jonang Lineage. Incidentally, Dolpopo Sherab Gyaltsen lived at the same time as the third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje and the two masters shared a dharma connection. It was said that before Dolpopo became famous, Rangjung Dorje prophesized, “You will have a very special [philosophical] view,” indicating that he would develop the Shentong view.

The middle section shows Pakmo Drukpa, and on the bottom of this torma there is another green offering goddess called ‘the Supremely Attractive One’, who holds two golden fish. Pakmo Drupa is featured here because he was Gampopa’s main student and the younger Dagpo Kagyu lineages descend from him.

In these four tormas, there is no  particular relationship between the figures on  top and the ones in the middle, but by including the Jonangpa, Dolpopo and  Pakmo Drupo, all of the elder and younger lineages of Tibetan Buddhism are represented in the tormas of the 30^th Kagyu Monlam.

The torma artists are the unsung heroes of the Kagyu Monlam. Every year they labor long hours in relative obscurity, tucked away in a private space far removed from Tergar Monastery and the bustle of other pre-Monlam preparations and activities. This year there were 64 monks and nuns working from dawn to dusk on the butter sculptures and offering tormas (Tib. shalzes) for the 30^th Kagyu Monlam.

Arriving at least a month before the monlam begins, the artists make many of their own tools and spend the first couple of days preparing their colorful wax-butter palette. The wax butter is made from a combination of paraffin, Dalda (a brand of Indian margarine), imported pastry margarine, and oil paint. The shalzes or “food offerings for the deities” are made out of a mixture of flour and melted Dalda that has been kneaded for a very long time. Then they are shaped by hand, carved with a knife, smoothed with the convex surface of a spoon, and finally coated with melted ghee.  They stand about 20-inches  high and are decorated with varying combinations of the eight auspicious symbols and the seven articles of royalty that have been sculpted from wax butter and mounted on wooden discs.

The torma artists began on November 16 this year and finished about three and a half weeks later. Every year the senior artists get faster and are able to produce two or three large statues apiece. The junior artists work on smaller statues, or create the decorative motifs that are mounted on the wooden plaques (Tib. gyentras) between and around the statues. Some of the less experienced artists make the decorations (Tib. gyens) for the shalzes. Karma Kagyu monasteries and nunneries throughout India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sikkim send an average of two people each year to participate in the torma-making process. This year, many of them were seasoned professionals with a lot of experience from previous  years but some were new and had to be trained on the spot. The Gyalwang Karmapa is the mastermind behind the designs; he comes up with a different scheme every year and closely monitors the works in progress to make sure they are shaping up according to his instructions.

There are six senior artists who return annually to supervise the process and teach the newest recruits. Lama Sangye, the torma master,  lives at Ralang Monastery in Sikkim, and has completed a three-year-retreat at Pullahari in Nepal. As a youth, he studied statue-making for many years with the two most highly-regarded sculptors in Bhutan. Lama Gelek also completed a three-year retreat and serves as the shrine master (Tib. chöpon) at Bokar Rinpoche’s monastery in Mirik. He is a trained thangka and mural artist. Özer Nyingpo, the Karmapa’s personal shrine master is a very talented sculptor. Karma Samten is also an exquisite sculptor and a thangka painter in his own right. Karma Wangchuk is a great natural artist. As a child he taught himself to draw and as a young adult he learned to sculpt exceptionally well. Besides sculpting statues each year, he also paints the extra flourishes on the finished figures, such as coloring the lips and “opening the eyes” of the Buddhas, lineage masters, and assorted deities. Tashi Tsering has also evolved into one of the most talented sculptors and returns every year.

This year there were twelve large tormas and 32 shalzes. Four tormas were displayed on the two altars in the Monlam Pavlion and eight tormas were set up at the Mahabodhi stupa on December 24^th for the last three days of the Kagyu Monlam.

The altars at the Monlam Pavilion were on the uppermost tier of the stage, placed on either side of the large golden Buddha statue. Each shrine featured two gyentras, with shalzes and flower arrangements placed to the left and right and Korean style offerings in cylindrical containers below.

The four tormas at the Pavilion represented the four main transmissions of the sutras and the tantras. In these tormas, there is a connection between the figure on the top and the figure in the middle. The figure on the bottom section of each of the four is a dharma protector whose activity loosely relates to that of other two figures.

So from left to right, in the first torma, Saraha is on the top, the first Karmapa Dusum Khyenpa is in the middle, and Tseringma of the Five Sisters is on the bottom. There is a close connection between the Karmapa lineage and Saraha because the first Karmapa is considered to be an emanation of Saraha, who was one of the greatest Indian Mahasiddhas.

The second torma features Buddha Sakyamuni on top, Ananda in the middle, and Dzambhala on the bottom. Ananda, the middle figure, received all of the teachings that Buddha Sakyamuni ever gave.

In the third torma, Padmasambhava is on the top, the translator Vairotsana is in the middle, and the protectress Ngak Sum Ekajati is on the bottom. Padmasambhava and Vairotsana are connected in that Vairotsana lived during the time of Padmasambhava, King Trisong Deutsen, and Shantarakshita in Tibet. Besides being one of the greatest Tibetan translators, Vairotsana was one of the three main masters to bring the Dzogchen teachings to Tibet. His emanations have been important tertons and Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye is considered to be one of his emanations.

In the fourth torma, the noble Nagarjuna is on the top, Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye is in the middle, and Gyu Gön, the protector of the tantras is on the bottom. As for the connection between the top and middle figures, Nagarjuna is considered to be the second Buddha and the holder of the sutric and tantric traditions. And Lodro Thaye is similar to Nagarjuna because in his famous “Five Treasuries” he brought together and preserved a huge array of teachings. So in the sense of the breadth and depth of the teachings he collected, Lodro Thaye is comparable to Nagarjuna. This torma has a special significance because 2013 will mark the 200^th anniversary of Jamgon Kongtrul’s birth and his lineage is being commemorated at this year’s Kagyu Monlam.

The altar arrangement at the Mahabodhi Stupa was vast and beautiful, spanning the width of the entire front area beneath the Bodhi tree. Besides the usual shrines for the butter sculptures, offering tormas,  flowers, candles, and Korean-style offerings of candies, nuts, dried fruits, and platters of fresh fruit, there was a smaller shrine placed in-between, featuring a large framed photo of Kyabje Tenga Rinpoche, in honor of his passing earlier this year.

The two shrines on either side of the Bodhi tree held four gyentras each. Facing the Mahabodhi Stupa, the main theme of the tormas on the left side were the four great deeds of the Buddha. On the right side, the Kagyu Lineage masters as well as the four main lineages of Tibet were featured.

Regarding the tormas on the left, each gyentra featured a deity on top, a representation of one of the Buddha’s four great deeds in the middle, and an offering goddess underneath. In the first torma from left to right, Buddha Sakyamuni is on the top, the deed “Demonstrating Miracles” is underneath, and the White Goddess of the Eternal Knot named “the One with the Lotus” is on the bottom.

In the second torma from the left, Chenrezig is on  top, the deed of “Becoming Enlightened” is in the middle and a white goddess carrying a wheel named “She Who Creates Fear” is on the bottom.

In the third torma from the left, the protector Achala, blue holding a sword is on top, the deed of “Turning the Wheel of the Dharma” is in the middle and a blue offering goddess holding a lotus, named “The One of Light,” is on the bottom.

In the fourth torma, Tara, the deity who eliminates obstacles is on top, in the middle is the deed, “Buddha Descending from Tushita Heaven,” and on the bottom is the blue goddess holding a victory banner called “the Victorious One.”

The upper section of each torma on the right hand side shows one of the four main lineages of Tibet; the middle sections contain the great masters of the Kagyu Lineage, and the bottom sections contain four more offering goddesses.

So in the first torma on the right, in the upper section is Sakya Pandita, representing the Sakya Lineage, in the middle section is Marpa Lotsawa, and on the bottom is a red offering goddess holding an umbrella, called Dangchenma, “the One of Radiance.”

In second torma, in the uppermost section is Longchenpa, representing the Nyingma Lineage, in the middle is Jetsun Milarepa, and on the bottom is a light red offering goddess holding a vase called, “the One with the White Skirt.” She is called this because she wears a diaphanous white skirt.

In the third torma, Je Tsongkhapa is on top, representing the Gelukpa, Lord Gampopa is in the middle and on the bottom is a green goddess holding a conch shell called “the Stainless One.”

In the fourth torma, Dolpo Sherab Gyaltsen is on the top representing the Jonangpa  lineage. The Jonangpa is not usually considered to be one of the four main lineages, but here, instead of putting a Kagyu Lineage master, they have put the founder of the Jonang Lineage. Incidentally, Dolpopo Sherab Gyaltsen lived at the same time as the third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje and the two masters shared a dharma connection. It was said that before Dolpopo became famous, Rangjung Dorje prophesized, “You will have a very special [philosophical] view,” indicating that he would develop the Shentong view.

The middle section shows Pakmo Drukpa, and on the bottom of this torma there is another green offering goddess called ‘the Supremely Attractive One’, who holds two golden fish. Pakmo Drupa is featured here because he was Gampopa’s main student and the younger Dagpo Kagyu lineages descend from him.

In these four tormas, there is no  particular relationship between the figures on  top and the ones in the middle, but by including the Jonangpa, Dolpopo and  Pakmo Drupo, all of the elder and younger lineages of Tibetan Buddhism are represented in the tormas of the 30^th Kagyu Monlam.

Article reprint courtesy 30th Kagyu Monlam.

More beautiful torma examples.

Interested in Tormas?

On the weekend of April 26 – 28, 2013, Lama Yeshe Wangmo will present a weekend workshop and teaching on ‘The Spiritual Significance of Tormas’.

Learn about their complex history, rich symbolism and important function in the practice of Tibetan Buddhism. Experiment with making simple tormas that can enhance your daily practice, and view footage from a film about butter sculpture, including torma explanations by great Kagyu masters.

Check out Torma Movie Facebook page.

On the weekend of March 1 – 3 at KTD, Khenpo Ugyen Tenzin will teach on The King of Aspiration Prayers.

“This prayer is the single most important aspiration prayer of the mahayana and was spoken by the great Bodhisattva Samantabhadra himself.

It is something that all serious practitioners need to at least know about. Otherwise one might mistakenly think that it is just some long, obscure traditional prayer that is written in ornate poetic language.

As for the teacher, most have not studied any of the numerous commentaries on this prayer that exist while Khenpo-la has and is well-versed in them. To find someone as highly qualified as Khenpo Ugyen is rare these days–especially in the West.”

– Lama Zopa

Khenpo Ugyen Teaching at Columbus KTC, 2012

More About Khenpo Ugyen Tenzin

KHENPO UGYEN TENZIN was born on the 15th of March in 1955, the Year of Wood Sheep, in the Chumey Zungney village in the Bumthang valley of central Bhutan. As his mother had passed away during his very early childhood, he was raised by his father and maternal aunt. His father sent him to a new primary school that had just opened near their village so he could receive modern education.

In 1971, when Khenpo Ugyen Tenzin was seventeen, he entered Nimalung Nyingma Monastery, which is situated closed to his home village. He received the refuge vow from His Eminence Bero Tulku Rinpoche, the father of Druk Thamche Khenpo. On July 10, 1974, during the time of summer retreat, Ugyen Tenzin received the pratimoksha novice vow from the celebrated Dzogchen Khenpo Dazer. He also received empowerments, transmissions, and teachings from many great lamas of the Nyingma lineage, such as His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Talung Tsetrul Rinpoche, Pema Norbu Rinpoche, and the most celebrated Khenpo Kunga. This completed his training in the Nyingma teachings and practices.

On February 10th 1981, Khenpo Ugyen Tenzin was enrolled as a member of the first class of Karma Shri Nalanda Institute at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, India,
with Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and Sangay Nyenpa Rinpoche. Five months later, during the summer retreat, he received the vows of bhikshu—the fully ordained monk—from His Eminence Jamgön Kongtrül Rinpoche. In the Karma Shri Nalanda Institute, the vows of ordination are always conferred during the time of summer retreat.

Nimalung Monastery, Bhutan

Khenpo Ugyen Tenzin completed his studies and received an Acharya degree (Master of Buddhist studies) from Karma Nalanda Institute and Sampurnanand Sanskrit University jointly in March 1991. On the 23rd of March of the same year, he was appointed as junior khenpo (professor) by His Eminence Jomgön Kongtrül Rinpoche and His Eminence Goshir Gyaltsap Rinpoche. Less than a month later, he was sent to Nimalung Monastery in Bhutan as a khenpo, where he taught Buddhist philosophy for six years.

In 1997, Khenpo Ugyen Tenzin returned to Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, and was appointed the senior khenpo at Nalanda Institute by His Eminence Gyaltsap Rinpoche.  He had also visited Karma Kagyu dharma centers in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand and conferred teachings to many devotees.

With His Holiness Karmapa at KTD in 2010

He resigned as khenpo from Karma Shri Nalanda Institute in 2002, and returned to Bhutan. There he was asked to teach as senior khenpo at the Nimalung Monastery. However, he chose to go into retreat at Tang Kunzang Drag Monastery, the birthplace and main seat of the great treasure-revealer, Terton Pema Lingpa. He remained in retreat until October 24, 2004.  As His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa asked Khenpo Ugyen Tenzin to help Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, he left his retreat to go to KTD Monastery, where he arrived on May 27, 2005.

On August 9th 2005, the auspicious day of Chokhor Duchen, when the Buddha first taught the Four Noble Truths (according to the General Tibetan Calendar), Khenpo Ugyen presented The Four Noble Truths as his first teaching at KTD.

Since that time he has continued to teach at KTD as well as at many of the KTCs and KKSGs from such texts as Jamgon Kongrul Lodro Thaye’s Treasury of Knowledge, Jamgon Mipham’s Gateway to Knowledge, Acharya Shura’s Wish-Fulfilling Vine, Totsun Trupje’s Praises to the Especially Exalted, Nagarjuna’s Letter to a Friend, Shantideva’s Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva, Ngulchu Thokme Zangpo’s Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas, Gampopa’s Jewel Ornament of Liberation, Lord Rangjung Dorje’s Aspiration of the Definitive Meaning, Mahamudra, Jiktral Yeshe Dorje’s Instructions on the Interval States, and King Songtsen Gampo’s Mani Kabum, among others.

Photo Credits, from top: Poster for Teaching, Beth Keenan; Photo of Khenpo Ugyen at Columbus KTC, Tanya Bissig Schroeder; photo of Nimalung Monastery, School for Field Studies; photos from His Holiness Karmapa's 2010 visit, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra.

There are some common misunderstandings of what a khenpo is and why they are so highly regarded: not everyone who graduates from a shedra is appointed as a khenpo.

Those who are appointed have excelled in their studies and usually are gifted teachers. But being a khenpo is much more than being learned: they must possess three qualities:  learning, nobility of conduct (how purely they keep the vows), and an excellent altruistic intention and the ability to help others (khay-tsun-zang sum). Just being learned but behaving improperly with a worldly motivation does not make a khenpo. All three qualities must be complete. Otherwise, an ordinary householder with a Phd in Buddhist studies would be a khenpo.

H.E. Tai Situ Rinpoche and Kyabje Thrangu Rinpoche, January 2013 in Delhi, India – photo, Thrangu Tara Abbey

There are also distinctions among khenpos. The senior khenpos of the large shedras are more highly regarded than junior or assistant khenpos. Some great khenpo are the holders of various explanatory lineages such as Kyabje Thrangu Rinpoche who holds the teaching lineage of Ngok Choku Dorje and Mipham Rinpoche. They are the most venerated.

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Khenpo Ugyen Tenzin, on a recent visit to Columbus KTC; photo, Tanya Bissig Shroeder

Since Khenpo Ugyen Tenzin was a senior khenpo at Rumtek, the seat of the Gyalwang Karmapa, he is highly regarded. Because he has been a pure gelong (fully ordained monk) for many years, he is greatly respected as a vinaya holder.

This is another meaning of khenpo: a monastic preceptor or abbot who is the senior monk in a monastery. Often these two usages of khenpo overlap. For example, Kyabje Thrangu Rinpoche is the seniormost monastic preceptor and teaching khenpo (khenchen or “great khenpo”) in our lineage.

Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche; photo, Stephanie Colvey

Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche is a Choje lama and the senior khenpo/monk of the Karmapa’s seat of KTD. The Bokar Khenpo, Lodro Donyo Rinpoche is the regent of Bokar Rinpoche, the senior teaching khenpo of the Shangpa Kagyu, and a senior monastic preceptor.

I hope that is helpful.

Ven. Khenpo Lodo Donyo Rinpoche; photo, Mirik Monastery

– Lama Zopa

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Lama Zopa first studied in the Shambhala tradition, and in1992 became a student of Kyabje Thrangu Rinpoche. Lama Zopa studied Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan language under Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche at Pullahari Monastery. He completed two three-year retreats under the guidance of Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche at Karma Ling. Lama Zopa is currently the resident lama at the Albany KTC. (Copy from kagyu.org)

From left: Amy Schwartz, Charles Dawes, Susan Thompson, Amy McCracken, and author Karen Lucic in the Monlam Tent.

“How did we get so lucky?”  This question arose again and again for those of us from KTD who had the good fortune to be with His Holiness Karmapa in Bodh Gaya for the Kagyu Monlam.  I traveled from the U.S. with my dear Dharma sisters Amy McCracken and Susan Thompson, and we soon met up with other KTD friends already in India, including Charles Dawes, Amy Schwartz, Lama Zopa, and PC Chen.  Along with approximately 10,000 other participants, we gathered daily for almost two weeks to watch the varied activities of Yi Zhin Norbu (Wish-Fulfilling Jewel), which ranged from incomparable Vajra Master to skillful and accessible Dharma Teacher.  Having been to all of the North American Monlams in the last four years, I was familiar with the chants, especially the transformative effect of the umze leading us through the aspirational prayers.  What I did not expect were so many opportunities to be in close proximity to His Holiness at meetings for the public, for members of the Friends for Kagyu Monlam, and in a small group audience in Karmapa’s quarters (kindly organized by Lama Zopa for KTD members).

From Left: Amy McCracken, Ani Jangchup, His Holiness Karmapa, Lama Zopa, Amy Schwartz. Sitting: Karen Lucic, Susan Thompson, Yeshe Wangmo.

In these settings, we looked into his eyes and he returned our gaze, he gave us blessed objects with his own hands, and he astonished us with his magnificent presence.  What luck indeed to see a living Buddha at close range.

Surely the blessings of Kagyu Monlam will continue to affect me long after my departure from Bodh Gaya.  As will the way India worked me over physically and psychologically.   Although I’ve visited twice before, the country immediately challenged a long list of “must haves” that I carry around with me:  must have a warm room (it was the coldest winter in 40 years in a country where indoor heating is almost non-existent), clean sheets, hot water on demand, electricity 24/7, fresh fruits, veggies and whole grains, unpolluted air, and an inviolable zone of personal space around me.  With reality constantly demolishing my imagined “needs,” the only options were: 1) to suffer, or 2) to be open to whatever arises.

Lama Zopa, Susan Thompson, Amy McCracken at the Tergar Monastery Shrine Room.

Khenpo Rinpoche wisely predicted before I left that there will be difficulties, but he advised never to forget what is really important–bodhichitta.  I can’t say that my behavior was always equal to his advice, but I did feel that he and Karmapa were orchestrating everything—from the most difficult trials to the most sublime events—as a way to encourage spiritual growth.  What to do after receiving such protection and inspiration?  What else but listen to His Holiness’s recurrent message during his teachings:  Do something, this very minute, to benefit beings.

–Karen Lucic

Amy Schwartz at the Mahabodhi Temple

Currently, I have the amazing good fortune of a six-month leave from my job as a history teacher in New Hampshire. I’ve been traveling in Nepal and India, going to holy places and teachings and the Kagyu Monlam, meeting wonderful teachers and fellow practitioners, and practicing more than I can in my usual busy life at home.

Available at any time from http://www.namsebangdzo.com

When I planned this trip, little did I know that the great 19th century master, Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, would come along. But thank goodness he has.

The Ten-Day Teaching with Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra last August initiated my journey with Lodro Thaye.  Not only did Rinpoche choose to teach from Lodro Thaye’s classic work, “The Torch of Certainty,” but Lama Kathy Wesley also recommended that I purchase and read Lodro Thaye’s “Great Path of Awakening,” a teaching on Lojong (Mind Training) that has since become the root text for most subsequent commentaries.

It had dawned on me during the Question and Answer period one afternoon during the Ten-Day that I needed to emphasize Lojong more in my practice, and Lama Kathy responded enthusiastically to my request for help, going over her notes and highlighting some key passages in the book despite her ridiculously busy schedule. I gratefully brought the book with me on the trip, with the aspiration to use it every day.

Bakhtapur – First Encounter

Thrangu Sekar Retreat Center, near Bhaktapur, Nepal – thranguhk.org

On arrival in Nepal, I got busy and somehow didn’t find the time for “Great Path” until a one-week retreat in Thrangu Rinpoche’s retreat center in Bhaktapur, Nepal in late October.

It was Dashain holiday, and I was free from my volunteer responsibilities at Thrangu Rinpoche’s boarding school in Boudhanath.  Unfortunately (or fortunately!) for me, the rest of Nepal also was free that week, and what seemed to me like a sizable portion of the small nation’s population showed up at the retreat center.

Artisans were working feverishly to put the finishing touches on a magnificent Milarepa tower that Thrangu Rinpoche was planning to consecrate just after his 80th birthday in late November.  I learned later that the only way Lama Sangye, the monk responsible for completing the project, could entice all the workers to stay and work through Dashain was to allow their families to join them for the week.

I went into retreat with grand aspirations, sincere effort and devotion, and a large helping of self-importance. The building for Western retreatants was full, and since I was a short-term retreatant, I stayed in the lama house. My room fronted the only strip of green lawn on the grounds that was not otherwise occupied by the Milarepa tower’s construction.  It held the only clothesline.  It was the main play space for the workers’ children, as well as the main picnic spot for the workers during their lunch break.

Even Lama Sangye’s declaration that I was extremely fortunate to be staying in the great Khenpo Lhaibhu’s room while he was traveling in Europe could not quell my initial frustration and annoyance at the constant stream of people, noise, and interruption going on outside my screen door.

Then I opened “Great Path.”  I devoured the entire book, cover to cover, in a couple of days. Then I reread it.  Wow! I could not understand how I had never encountered it before.  I had read 2 or 3 Lojong books, but why hadn’t I ever read this?  It was lucid, pithy, deep, and terrifying.  I felt I could never possibly reach the ideal that Lodro Thaye was describing, and yet in an odd way it was comforting and inspiring, not to mention funny, and touched me deeply as other Lojong books had not.  For instance, here are a couple pithy statements that I underlined:

“If your efforts in dharma do not counteract ego-clinging, your practice is meaningless.”

“As soon as disturbing emotions arise, jump on them, round them up, isolate and crush them.”

My retreat became meaningful.  I struggled with self-righteousness, indignation, and annoyance, and I bested them for the most part.  In the end I was able to sincerely wish all the workers and their families a wonderful Dashain holiday, while also rejoicing at Thrangu Rinpoche’s vast activity and beautiful new tower.  I saw that my needs were not so critical, that my practice was not the most important thing going on – and, more importantly, that I didn’t need ideal conditions in order to practice.  I learned to practice with distraction, to apply patience, and to accept the fact that I wasn’t perfect, and neither was my retreat.

Namo Buddha – Second Encounter

Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery at Namo Buddha, Nepal -
khoryug.com

My next encounter with Lodro Thaye came when I moved to Namo Buddha, Thrangu Rinpoche’s beautiful mountaintop monastery in Nepal, for the teachings, pujas, and birthday celebration that took up most of the month of November.

The place was packed with the reunion of the sangha, including our own Lama Karma Drodhul and Lama Zopa Borodin. Soon the high lamas of Thrangu monastery, including Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, joined us with their attendants and followers. It was very tough to find accommodation there, and I felt lucky to be offered a mattress on the floor in the computer lab with two other women.

However, it turned out that one of these women was quite unhappy, and she made things pretty tough for us – so much so that the other young woman quickly bailed out when another option presented itself, leaving me to manage with Difficult Person on my own.  I spent a day feeling angry, frustrated, and resentful.  What was Difficult Person doing there, spoiling a joyous event I had looked forward to for so many months?

Luckily, Lodro Thaye stepped in.  I realized that I was putting myself at risk to waste the precious opportunity of this time in this holy place with my two beloved gurus.  This chance was never going to come again, and I had do more than just savor it – I had to try to repay the favor of their love and kindness, their teaching and practice.  I had to find a way not just to tolerate Difficult Person, but to actually be kind and loving toward her.

I spent the remaining time at Namo Buddha working on this challenge.  It wasn’t perfect, but it was far better than it might have been.  I was able, at the end, to be thankful to her for the patience she forced me to develop. I was able to sincerely pray that she be happy and well.

Bodhgaya – Third Encounter

My third Lodro Thaye encounter came at the Kagyu Monlam.  This was no surprise, since His Holiness Karmapa had dedicated this year’s monlam to the Jamgon Kongtrul lineage. I was so happy to meet His Eminence Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche! The KTD group had a wonderful visit with him; at Lama Zopa’s request, he gave us the transmission for Lodro Thaye’s White Tara practice. He also taught at the monlam on Lodro Thaye’s prayer, “Calling the Lama From Afar,” which we then sang. This was all fantastic, and I felt incredibly fortunate.

‘Homage to the Jamgon Kongtruls’ at the 30th Kagyu Monlam: H.E. Jamgon Kongtrul, His Holiness 17th Karmapa, H.E. Gyaltsab Rinpoche – Kagyu Monlam website

Nonetheless, as His Holiness Karmapa likes to remind us, it’s not all joy in the dharma – it’s work! I had just completed two weeks’ worth of challenging pilgrimage travel, surprising myself by showing patience and good humor in most situations.  But my tolerance for discomforts generated by the realities of Indian life and culture quickly evaporated when the annoyances came from my fellow practitioners.  (Here I must clarify that it was never my fellow KTD’ers who annoyed me – I adored being in their company!) At the monlam I spent the first week alternating between feelings of joy, devotion, and irritation. People pushed and cut lines, stood and blocked others’ views, moved others’ seats, talked on their cellphones in the shrine room, and in general behaved in ways I felt were beyond the pale.

Fortunately, thanks to “Great Path,” I became more irritated at my own irritation than at the irritants, and I began to write my own personal Lojong slogans to cope with the significant challenges posed by my mind. I eventually decided (admittedly a bit late in the monlam) that no matter what happened, I simply would not get irritated. And I was even able to carry this out for the remainder of the monlam, realizing that I do indeed have the ability to gain control of my mind.

Still, I seemed to need to learn this lesson again and again. By the time I reached Sarnath, India and queued for His Holiness Dalai Lama’s teaching on Shantideva’s “The Bodhisattva’s Way of Life,” I had forgotten my resolve at the monlam.  Luckily, I was with a dharma friend who possesses considerably more bodhicitta than I.  When I pointed to a couple of people behaving in a problematic manner and asked him, “What can they possibly be thinking?”  He responded, “That’s not a very useful question. A better one is, ‘How can I help?’”  Ah yes.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s four day teaching on Shantideva’s “Guide to the Bodhisattva’s way of Life” being given near the Central University for Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh, India, on January 7-10, 2013 – dalailama.com

Now I have the deep comfort of knowing that when I return to the USA in mid-March, Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye will still be traveling with me, helping me face the inevitable irritants of transitioning back to my normal life.  And I look forward eagerly to this coming year’s Ten-Day Teaching, when Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche will continue “The Torch of Certainty.”

In the meantime, may I and all other practitioners develop our qualities of patience, good conduct, and bodhicitta! May we put others in front of ourselves.  May we sincerely practice the precious teachings of the great masters, and may we swiftly follow in their footsteps.

Here are a few of my personal Lojong slogans, written at the monlam:

Amy Schwartz at the Mahabodhi Temple

Don’t interfere.

Don’t direct, don’t correct. Connect!

Nobody elected you.

Don’t be surprised.

Take it as it comes.

– Amy Schwartz

The Lojong or Mind Training teachings come from the Kadampa lineage of the great Jowo Je Atisha. These teachings were later structured into seven topics called the Seven Points of Mind Training by Chekawa Yeshe Dorje.

A special feature of these teachings is the use of pithy, elegant sayings for easy recollection. Since many of these sayings require further explanation, later Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye wrote a commentary to further elucidate their meaning. The Mind Training teachings have a unique way of explaining bodhichitta and the practice of a bodhisattva.

Lojong is also the condensed essence of all Dharma.  For that reason they have been preserved and widely disseminated by all the vajrayana lineages of Tibet. It is extremely important to study and practice these precious instructions.

Lama Pema Tsewang was born into a remarkable family of Nyingma ngakpas. At a young age he came to Thrangu Gonpa in Nepal where he became a monk with his lama, Kyabje Thrangu Rinpoche. Eagerly pursuing both practice and study, he completed a three year retreat and was appointed as a Dorje Loppon or vajra master and began guiding students.  He is now the principal lama of Thrangu Monastery in Vancouver, Canada.

Short slideshow with photos of Lama Pema Tsewang

– Lama Zopa

Lama Pema Tsewang, right, with Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche and Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche. All photos courtesy Lama Pema Tsewang’s Facebook page.