Mandala

Geshe Jampa Tegchok describes Lama Yeshe’s intensive education before meeting his first Western disciples.

From Wisdom #2 – 1984.

After Lama Yeshe died in March 1984, Lama Zopa Rinpoche became the sole spiritual head of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition. In order to firmly establish the connection between Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche for its audience, Wisdom #2 – 1984 shared Rinpoche’s memories about first meeting Lama Yeshe in India.

From Wisdom #2 – 1984.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche talks briefly to the people attending Lama Yeshe’s funeral on March 7,1984 at Vajrapani Institute, California. Rinpoche makes some interesting comments on the reasons for Lama’s death and how students can generate the causes for Lama’s quick return.

From Wisdom #2 – 1984.

Jon Landaw wrote this brief tribute to Lama Yeshe after his death in 1984. It includes the story of Jon’s first encounter with Lama Yeshe and is demonstrative of how Lama effortlessly hooked his students and empowered them to let go of their unhappiness and seek their higher potential.

From Wisdom #2 – 1984.

Geshe Sopa Rinpoche gave this advice at Lama Yeshe’s cremation at Vajrapani Institute, California in 1984.

From Wisdom #2 – 1984.

Lama Lhundrup has been taking care of Kopan Monastery, and anyone who comes near it, for almost forty years. In 1995, Ven. Fran Mohoupt asked him about his typical day.

From Mandala September, 1995.

Washington D.C., USA– July 16, 2011

From Michael Jolliffe:

For His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s long life puja, I wore a tie. It’s a nice tie. In fact, because it is so nice, I think that my closest French friend must have given it to me because I would never have bought something that people actually compliment by myself. (I’m not being down on myself, I’m just stating a fact.) Anyway, I don’t really understand ties. They are, after all, just a collection of threads that you fasten around your neck and will eventually cause discomfort. And last I checked, that was pretty close to the description of a noose.

Today, His Holiness bestowed a White Tara initiation and transmitted several important mantras. And in return and appreciation, we offered His Holiness a long life puja. Long life pujas are elaborate ceremonies where the disciples make offerings and requests for the lama to remain as long as possible on Earth and continuously teach for the benefit of all beings. I didn’t understand a word of the puja because the entire thing was chanted in Tibetan, but it doesn’t matter. I think it is safe to say that the wish for His Holiness to remain and teach for a very long time begins and ends in the mind; so anyone can participate in this whenever they want, for however long they want.

His Holiness had to leave for a special meeting with President Barack Obama, and so he encouraged that certain formalities be sped up, including an award ceremony recognizing the accomplishments of Katri Professor Samdhong Rinpoche by the North American Tibetan Association.

After a few hours break, His Holiness and the monks from Namgyal Monastery returned to officially dismantle the Kalachakra sand mandala that had been painstakingly constructed over several days in time for the initiation. After some prayers, His Holiness and the monks used their hands to obliterate certain parts of the mandala. After His Holiness used a long stick to cut through the mandala four ways, permission was given to start collecting the sand in glass vessels to be taken to the Potomac River. Interesting fact: The beautifully colored sand that makes up the Kalachakra mandala becomes a big pile of ash-gray sand when it’s combined together.

One fundamental teaching of Buddhism can be summarized as follows: All things that arise and live must eventually disintegrate and die, that’s an eternal and natural law. So, the amazing 11-day Kalachakra event must end; His Holiness must move on to other countries to spread his heartfelt message of peace, compassion and universal responsibility; and enthusiastic, devoted disciples must return home and decide how they will carry His Holiness’ advice and wishes forward.

Also, this tie must come off.

Oh, and this blog will stop. It is better this way; it was going to my head. I actually had the sincere thought that I should do something weird just so I could write about it later. Sigh.

Anyway, I guess you’ll want to know what I’ll do next now that I’m retiring from blogging and still have one free day in Washington, D.C. Hint: Guess which city has the longest single-span uninterrupted escalator in the Western hemisphere.

Washington D.C., USA– July 15, 2011

From Michael Jolliffe:

I just finished a 20-ounce iced chai latte. I’m in the United States, so I’ll let you guess where I bought it. Hint: it rhymes with “bar-stucks.” It was delicious. The only problem is that I haven’t been so awake and yet so simultaneously exhausted in a very long time. The older I get, the harder it seems for me manage extreme sugar and caffeine buzzes. I don’t know what tomorrow will look like, but I’m planning on asking someone for Tylenol (or a stomach pump) in the morning. I not sure what the magic number is when one realizes their limitations, but I’m hoping this is the last binge of its kind for a very, very long time. And by that I mean that I’ll try to order the 12-ounce version next time.

His Holiness completed the initiation for Kalachakra, very kindly spending extra time to bestow the fullest version for the benefit of the most advanced disciples in the audience. He stopped to explain where he thought necessary, but otherwise carried out the ceremony in an efficient clip that seems to me characteristic of how he likes to do things. At the end, His Holiness mentioned that we should all experiment with the practices for a couple years, and if we don’t see any benefit, then we can just let it go. It very touching to see him so flexible, relaxed, and undogmatic in regards to Buddhism and tantra, and I take it as a sign of how much faith he has in both.

His Holiness earlier also gave some very concrete advice about what the initiates should study, and I think that it is advice any student of His Holiness, or student of Buddhism in general, should know.

First, he said that in order to understand emptiness, it was critical and most important that students read chapters 26, 18, and 24 of Nagarjuna’s Mulamadhyamakakarika (Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way). Second, he clearly recommended that students read chapters 6 and 8 of Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara (A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life).

At the very end, His Holiness lead a very special dedication, reminding us that because of the United States’ power and commitment to democratic principles, that the initiates should all pray that the United States should continue to remain strong in order to help lead the free world to these ideals. One (very bold) man was so moved by this that he walked up the stage with a foam hat reminiscent of the top hat worn by Uncle Sam in the very well-known 1917 enlistment poster by J. M. Flagg. He was stopped by a very attentive Secret Service agent, but His Holiness intervened and allowed the hat to come on stage so that he could wear it for a few seconds!

I am sure that people will take issue with His Holiness’ confidence in the United States, but regardless of the world’s actual political situation, I think His Holiness makes an important point: The people with the most power should always view it as a tremendous responsibility and wield it for the common good. From my perspective, it is a tantric perspective of power because the only reason to bother gaining and protecting one’s power is to have it in order to benefit others in the best way; otherwise, you might as well stay powerless and get a better night’s sleep.

Washington D.C., USA– July 14, 2011

From Michael Jolliffe:

At the beginning of a series of teachings His Holiness the Dalai Lama always stresses that all people share the wish to be free from suffering, the wish to achieve happiness, and the right to have those wishes come true. He says this over and over and over, and so I think it is clear that he really wants this point to be understood, perhaps more than any other he’ll make in his lifetime. If that’s the case, then it behooves us to consider why this is so important for all of His Holiness’ students and supporters to realize. I don’t know the real answer, but I think that it must partly be about establishing the basis for a shared sense of dignity. And perhaps with a shared sense of dignity, people as a community will be willing to let go of petty, shallow differences that sometimes are used as wedges to push us apart.

Today His Holiness arranged for his friend His Eminence Donald Cardinal Wuerl Archbishop of Washington to visit the Verizon Center. His Holiness made special preparations to sit level with His Eminence as they briefly reminisced on their first meeting 25 years ago at an interreligious conference in Assissi, Italy. His Holiness remarked how the Catholic Church’s work for human welfare, particularly in the field of education, is admirable and personally presented His Eminence with a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha, stressing that His Eminence only needed to see the Buddha as a great philosopher and nothing more.

His Holiness made another arrangment today to demonstrate his committement to harmony between diverse groups of people. During one section of the Kalachakra initiation, representatives from various nationatlites went on stage to represent some of the national groups in the audience (Tibetan, Vietnamese, American, Bhutanese, Chinese and Japanese). (For the Americans who want to know, we were represented by actor Richard Gere.)

The great thing about taking the Kalachakra initiation is that when it concludes it is said that all the initiates become “vajra brothers and sisters” because they now share the same spiritual parent. Somtimes the word “vajra” is used to mean “indestructible” or “inseparable,” and although I am not sure that that is the sense meant here, I like to think of it that way: indestrucitble, inseparable brothers and sisters. Not everyone has a good relationship with their sibiling — or even has a sibiling — but everyone understands, in general, what it is like to love someone unconditionally.

So, I guess by the end of tomorrow I’ll have 15,000 more siblings to think about. I suppose I’m ready as I’ll ever be. And please excuse me if I look distracted, I’ll probably be busy having “We Are Family: A Musical Message for All” running in my head.

Washington D.C., USA– July 13, 2011

From Michael Jolliffe:

It’s been a long and lovely day.

His Holiness finished giving the introduction to Kamalashila’s Stages of Meditation and proceeded with the preliminary preparations for the initiation. You can find many of the details of what happens in this part of the ritual in Alexander Berzin’s Introduction to the Kalachakra Initiation.

One participant I was sitting with remarked about how relaxed His Holiness seems now that he has retired from his political role. She pointed out how he had more time and inclination to use English while teaching, a fact that she took as a sign of an increased ability to become more personal with his many disciples. In fact, it seems pretty clear now that His Holiness would prefer to spend the rest of his life pursuing spiritual goals. Perhaps it was yesterday when he mentioned that given the time he could definitely make some real progress in his own spiritual pursuit and how much he would like that.

At the end of the preliminary preparations, two pieces of kusha grass and a blessing string are passed out to the initiates. Usually this is a fairly smooth process, but because of size of the audience, their zeal, and some poor organizing, it seemed to me to be huge (but inspiring) mess. People rushed, shoved, pushed and generally got in others’ ways for these things. I didn’t see anyone get physically hurt, but I heard a hilarious muttering or two from some pretty sour-faced individuals. It was particularly amusing to me because not five minutes before everyone was blissing out in the arena. I tried sort of halfheartedly to get my own share of blessed goodies, but I eventually gave up when I realized I had been queueing for five minutes but didn’t actually know where the line was going. My roommate broke off a bit of his grass for me to have for tonight (you use it to help determine the quality of your dreams the night before the actual initiation begins) and I guess I’ll try to find a blessing string later when the devotion of others wanes a little.

I and several others were invited to have dinner with Geshe Sopa Rinpoche, Jangtse Chöje Lobsang Tenzin Rinpoche, Geshe Tenzin Dorje, and Yangsi Rinpoche in a very nice hotel downtown (it was a potluck!). You should know that I don’t dress very nice (and don’t particularly like to) and so I really stuck out when I walked in this five-star establishment unshaved, in a bright yellow t-shirt, and with a confused grin on my face. I felt like an ugly (albeit charming) duckling waddling into a swan’s gala.

It’s always a little frustrating that I don’t know any Tibetan and can’t speak to any of these great teachers (with the exception of Yangsi Rinpoche who speaks English), but I really felt very lucky to be in the presence of these wonderful men. And I’m also surprised about how once you meet these figures, they seem to show up in your life again and again, even if you don’t plan it that way. I was particularly taken with Geshe Sopa Rinpoche, who on the surface appears quite frail, but still fills a room with his presence and makes me feel teary-eyed and gushy whenever I am close to him. I should have said it to his face when I had the chance (I was too embarrassed), but I hope that one day very soon I can have even just a drop of whatever it is that makes him so inexplicably special.

Washington D.C., USA– July 12, 2011

From Michael Jolliffe:

No formal teachings were scheduled for today, so I went to the Verizon Center incredibly relaxed, fully expecting to watch some ritual dancing at 2:30 p.m. and maybe visit something famous and touristy before the evening teaching with Her Eminence Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche. Journeys, maybe like most things, have their own cycles. I started to think today I had finally moved out of the adolescent stage, when the highs and lows of my experience parallel how stupid or clumsy I am acting, and into young adulthood, when things more or less settle down because of a little more experience and I start to feel cool for looking like a grown up. It can quickly lead to a neurotic sense of entitlement and privilege: “Don’t people realize if they are going to stand on the escalator that they need to move to the right so others can rush down it to their train? Why don’t people take their fare cards out of their wallets before they reach the gate? Why don’t people already know how to use that ridiculously complex ticket machine?” So you should be proud of me that I got to the Verizon Center all by myself, keeping my thoughts inside my head. But you should know two things before the first bottle of champagne is popped: 1) the dancing was at 1:00 p.m. and it is only because I was getting bored in my dorm room that I was even at the venue early at all and, 2) Her Eminence teaches tomorrow night. Sigh.

Before the ritual dancing began, I took some time to circumambulate the entire arena by means of the circular hallway inside the building, hoping to make spiritual use of the recently completed Kalachakra sand mandala, the enormous thangkas that hang behind His Holiness’ teaching throne, the scores of ordained Sangha milling about, and however many holy people that are there that may not be easy to recognize. I tried to walk slowly so that I could spy on everyone and eavesdrop whenever possible. You see so many amusing things at these events: people of every shape and color, lots of shiny and expensive looking clothes, nuns and monks, and teens texting as they walk. My favorite sight was the man whose hat had a silver-colored pinnacle on it, making him look like fat, rosy-cheeked stupa.

It is so important to realize that, for the Tibetans, being in the presence of His Holiness is probably the single most important and significant thing in their lives and I don’t exaggerate that for many of them, just seeing His Holiness in person means that they can die without regret. As a spiritual figure, he represents Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion, and the patron and protector of Tibet. (I think that Lama Zopa Rinpoche captures this sentiment the best in his newest prayer, Remembering the Kindness of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan People.) And because of his political work, which he is retiring from, he also literally represents Tibet’s hope of gaining some degree of autonomy from China.

Tomorrow is the first day of the actual Kalachakra initiation and so tonight’s evening lecture was an introduction to the cosmology and symbolism found within the Kalachakra tantra by Alexander Berzin, Vesna Wallace and Sofia Stril-Rever, all Western scholars (and probably practitioners). There was far too little time for each person to give a proper talk, but it was evident that each was knowledgable and passionate about Kalachakra. And Sofia Stril-Rever even sang a verse out of the original tantra in Sanskrit! Much of what they spoke about was too abstruse for me, but I think they were trying to make the point that from the perspective of this tantra everything is connected. The planets and stars are connected to your body; your body is connected to your mind. In her talk Sofia Stril-Rever mentioned the time when she realized that, according to Kalachakra, everything she did shaped everything around her and how terrifying, and at the same time, hopeful that was. I couldn’t agree more.

Washington D.C., USA– July 11, 2011

From Michael Jolliffe:

On my floor in the dorm where I am staying there are three showers. I find it poetic that the midmost one is the best. The first, to the far left, has a broken head and only a single stream pours out, like pouring tea from a pot. For someone as big and dirty as me, it’s like trying to wash a muddy car with a straw. The third, to the far right, has a detachable hand-held fixture designed for people with disabilities and I’m too clumsy (and lazy) to fuss with the flexible hose which always seems to twist in my hand. I was very tired when I first tried this one and when I realized that the shower wall was getting more water time than me, I gave up and scurried nakedly to the middle one in hopes of more success. Don’t get me wrong, this shower is merely the best of the three; it’s by no means a spa. In fact, the hottest it gets is on the edge of fairly warm and it sort of leaves me frustrated. I find this poetic too.

The last three days of His Holiness’ teaching have been in preparation for receiving the Kalachakra initiation. It is customary to do this because Buddhist tantra contains imagery and elements that are so radically different from the historically oldest forms of Buddhist practice that people can easily become confused. Our concepts of tantra are usually too heavily influenced by popular culture and it is easy to start believing that tantra is more sexy than it is. It seems to me that His Holiness is going through the 37 Practices of the Bodhisattva to make the very serious point that Buddhist tantra is based on two things alone: the infinitely compassionate heart and the wisdom that frees one from disturbing emotions.

After today’s teachings, I was able to attend a talk by Ven. Thubten Chodron, a fully ordained Buddhist nun, the abbess of Sravasti Abbey in Washington State, and a long-time student of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. From what I have observed, Ven. Thubten Chodron (and her students) are extremely devoted to Buddha’s teachings and monasticism, seeking ways to create the space for Westerners to engage authentically with the Buddhist monastic tradition in an unsympathetic environment. Another thing you’ll notice about her and her students is that they are, at least in my opinion, oatmeal-raisin-cookie wholesome and refreshingly unpretentious.

What Ven. Thubten Chodron seemed to be saying during her talk was that our spiritual problems (and even our everyday problems) are essentially the result of a crisis of identity: we identify ourselves in a certain way and, because “we are the centers of the universe,” expect that people will treat us accordingly. And of course, when people inevitably don’t treat us how we expect, we become angry and frustrated. Ven. Thubten Chodron stressed that by using Buddhist philosophy to shatter the solid identities we’ve already constructed and then using Buddhist tantra to reinvent ourselves as compassionate and wise beings, we have a real opportunity to sincerely open our hearts to others and to learn to benefit them perfectly.

Someone in the audience asked how minorities should understand her points if they are actually oppressed and suffering because of their identities. I thought her answer was brilliant. She told the story of how as a young nun she would become angry that monks were always tasked with distributing consecrated food at certain ceremonies and never the nuns. She said that as she was thinking this, she suddenly realized that if the nuns had been given the task instead, she would have become angry that the monks were allowed to sit without doing any work! Her point is that she saw how she had adopted an identity as an oppressed woman and how this was shaping her entire perspective in such a way that only she ended up miserable. Her advice was to find a way to recognize that one suffered from oppression but never to assume an oppressed identity because it would only limit one’s ability to progress spiritually. You can fight to change how things are, she seemed to suggest, but you never have to suffer emotionally or mentally while you do so.

When I think of Washington, D.C. as being the place where the Suffragist and Civil Rights Movements had some of their greatest successes and triumphs, I cannot help but think how impressed the leaders of those movements might have been to hear her words.