Tibet: "My Reincarnation" (Rebirth)

My Reincarnation - Official Trailer from Zohe Films on Vimeo

Filmed over 20 years by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Jennifer Fox (Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman), "My Reincarnation" chronicles the epic story of the high Tibetan Buddhist master Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and his Western-born son, Yeshi.

• Now playing at Laemmle's, Los Angeles
  

The film follows Namkhai Norbu’s rise to greatness as a Buddhist teacher in the West, while Yeshi, recognized at birth as the reincarnation or rebirth of a famous spiritual master (a tulku), breaks away from his father’s tradition to embrace the modern world.

Can the father convince his son to keep the family’s threatened spiritual legacy alive? Never before has a high Tibetan master allowed such complete access to his private life, and it is doubtful that another ever will.

With her intimate entry to both family and icons including the Dalai Lama, Fox expertly distills a decades-long drama into a universal story about love, transformation, and destiny.

This is an epic father-son drama spanning two decades and three generations. It is about Buddhism, cultural survival, identity, inheritance, family, growing old, growing up, faith, meditation, religion, magic, dreaming, spirituality, Dzogchen -- and past and future lives.

The film follows the renowned reincarnate Tibetan spiritual master Chögyal Namkhai Norbu as he struggles to save his spiritual tradition and his Italian-born son, Yeshi, who stubbornly refuses to follow in his father’s footsteps. More

(Oscopelabs) "Rebirth"

Collective Collapse and the End of Time

2012 AND BEYOND
Never before have so many peoples, cultures, religions (and their monuments and messages) been brought together in a chorus of wisdom, enlightenment, and ascension. Aztecs, Buddhists (Morton claims to have lived and trained with Nepalese Buddhists in the Tibetan Vajrayana tradition), Egyptians, Mayans, and the Bible all converge in a grand concordance of information. Their collective message speaks of “fantastic and amazing changes” in the way(s) we think and live. As we move through a “stargate” in this “Age of Wonders,” there is peril and potential.

Comets, Crop Circles, Collective Collapse, and the End of Time

Sean David Morton's message (Wisdom Quarterly)
We are hurtling into the winds of a perfect storm. Astronomical [and astrological], economic, cometary, and Mayan calendar alignments could either doom us all or elevate us into a fabulous new way of living.

But the super technology of a small global elite (a Shadow Government composed of bankers, industry, corporate entities, paid scientists, and secret military that rules over our elected government) has triggered massive Earth changes.

• Strange Universe (AmericanFreedomRadio.com)
  

This shadowy force has altered the physical and magnetic poles of the Earth. Given its choice (and taking into consideration the unrecognized effects of exopolitics), will we be saved from certain doom or reduced in number to 500 million people?

The world financial crisis is not accidental.

We must explore predictions about solar cycles, Elenin, the Red Star Kachina, and stunning new discoveries relating to the 2012 alignment of the Great Pyramids of Giza. More comets are coming at us. Crop circles have predictions embedded in them.

NO PREDICTION HAS TO COME TRUE. "Prediction" (or "prophecy" in the sense Gregg Braden uses it) is about potential events and doing something to choose another way.

Exopolitics deals with the biggest secret of all.

The end of TIME is not the end of the world, just the world as we know it. We soon come to the end of an age. We may already be there. Social and cultural change do not happen overnight.

• The way we live our lives depends on us. More greed, hatred/fear, delusion? Or mutual caring, peace, and wisdom?

Sean David Morton is a seer, researcher, and author. His stunning predictions brought him international recognition as America's premiere futurist. A pioneer in remote viewing, referred to by Art Bell as "America's Prophet,” he is an award-winning independent filmmaker. He has appeared on countless TV and radio shows. His startling visions, intensity of presentation, and sense of humor make him a popular speaker. He is tireless in his quest to bring light and media attention to the paranormal and to help bring about the ascension of humankind. He is the author of Veil of the Anti-Christ and Sands of Time.

UFOs, whatever they may be, play a role.

The Native Americans of Tibet (Summer Pasture)

Wisdom Quarterly

(SGIntlFilmFest, September, 2011)

"Summer Pasture" -- or "Nomad's Life" -- portrays the story of a Tibetan family at a crossroads.

Husband Locha and wife Yama question their future as nomads as they spend their summer in eastern Tibet's Zachukha grasslands. It is an area known as Wu-Zui or "Five-Most," the highest, coldest, poorest, and most remote county in Sichuan Province, China.

Due to the growing pressures of modernization, the couple has to now face the challenge and have their lifestyle reshaped. Directed by Lynn True, Nelson Walker III, Tsering Perlo.

What do Tibetan nomads have to do with Native Americans? They are the same people, who thousands of years ago crossed the Bering Straits to seed the Eskimos and other indigenous Americans.

The planet and human life on it are far older than conventional anthropology concedes. But this field is contradicted by archeology, common sense, spiritual records, and mythology.

The similarities between Native Tibetans and Native Americans are so striking as to be painfully obvious. A trip to Ladakh, India or among the Hmong, Karen, and other native mountain tribes of Asia makes it perfectly clear.

"Summer Pasture" puts on display shocking "coincidences" or clear parallels rooted in a common historical family? The usual answer, however unlikely, is that sometimes similar circumstances lead to similar independent solutions. That may be. The consistent shamanistic traditions of people around the world furthermore suggest the reality of spirit worlds.

• Review: Summer Pasture (Variety)
• Summer Pasture Review (laweekly.com)
  

(thefederationoflight.ning.com)

Why the Dalai Lama worries about rebirth

Why the Dalai Lama worries about rebirth

The Dalai Lama, leader of Tibet, with Nelson Mandela in Africa (AP)

BEIJING, China (Xinhua) - The 14th Dalai Lama said Saturday he will decide whether to be incarnated [reborn] when he is "about 90" and that China should have no say in the matter.

If he is to be reincarnated, he will leave clear written instructions about the process, the Dalai Lama said in a statement after a meeting with leaders of the four Tibetan sects.

"Apart from the reincarnation recognized through such legitimate methods, no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in the People's Republic of China," he said.

The Dalai Lama has brought up the same issue of his reincarnation on many occasions in the last two years. More

• South Africa denies Chinese pressure on Dalai Lama visa
  
• Dalai Lama missing in new Nobel laureate letter to Harper
• South Africa can block the Dalai Lama's visa, but not his...
• Rush claims Obama "plagiarized" him; it was Dalai Lama

Samsara is a flood of rebirth and dukkha

The Singing Buddhist Nun of Nepal (video)

(NTDTV)

Anna Chan, News Anchor: Rather than just relying on prayer, a Buddhist nun is using her voice to help needy Nepalis in one of the world's poorest countries. The nun is funding her school for orphans by singing her way into the international charts.

"Buddha Boy" of Nepal (Daily Show)

Ani Choying Dolma, a 37-year-old Tibetan-Nepali known as Nepal's "singing nun," has soared to global fame with her eight albums of Tibetan and Sanskrit meditation songs. She has performed more than 50 concerts in Europe, Asia, and the United States, and more are lined up for 2008 in Germany.

Sanskrit Ganesha Mantra

[Ani Choying Dolma, Singing Nun]: "The singing part comes just somehow. I did not really plan for it, but somehow it came up. It happened and then once I realized the benefit of using my own skill or whatever I'm blessed with and to be able to use it for the benefit of others. So I feel more productive."

Arya Tara School activities (choying.com)

The income from her CD sales has helped Dolma build the Arya Tara School, which has 58 students drawn from poor Nepali families, including some from neighboring India and Tibet. They study Buddhist philosophy, Tibetan language, English, and mathematics. Young nuns also learn the art of Thangka wall painting.

Dolma was later encouraged to sing by an American musician who was impressed when he heard her humming. But since her debut in 1998, Dolma has never turned back. Her CDs included "Cho," "Dancing Dakini," "Choying," "Moments of Bliss," "Selwa," "Smile," and her most recent, "Inner Peace." Some of her songs have also featured in the well-known "Buddha Bar" collection.

Ani Dolma walking through Kathmandu (choying.com)

[Ani Choying Dolma, Singing Nun]: "That CD actually established me in the international music field. I should say, as a Buddhist nun, as a singer. 'The singing nun,' as they call me."

All of the proceeds from Dolma's record sales and performances go directly into the Nuns Welfare Foundation.

Dolma also longs for peace in Nepal, which is just emerging from a decade-long Maoist civil war and years of political unrest.

Sanskrit Mantra of Great Compassion

Buddhist monks to bring peace on 9/11

Tibetan monks visit Pacific Asia Museum, Los Angeles

The Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena (Los Angeles County) is hosting a major event for the 9/11/11 tenth anniversary commemoration weekend:

Sand Mandala by the Gaden Jangtse Monks

The Gaden Jangtse Buddhist monks will spend five days at Pacific Asia Museum creating a sand mandala in the museum's Focus Gallery and a butter sculpture (floral form) in the courtyard garden.

The sand mandala is an ancient art form that is unique to Tibetan Buddhism. The artwork is made by placing fine sand, grain by grain, into an intricate design of the world in its divine form. Upon completion, the mandala is blessed a final time, and the sand is swept into a pile -- erasing the beautiful work of art.

Some of the sand is given to those present as a small blessing for their home, and the remainder is poured into the moving water of the ocean where it can carry prayers and blessings throughout the world. Visit over and over during the course of the five days to see the progression of the artwork and learn more about this ancient art form.

Magic Mandala of Los Angeles (audio)

LISTEN: Buddhist monks spend a week in Pomona creating peace-and-compassion mandala sand painting

Daily Bulletin

A whisper of a breeze blew gently into the room at the Land of Enlightened Wisdom Buddhist Center in Pomona, fluttering over closed eyes of those breathing quietly and waiting for a sacred ceremony to begin.

The silence lifted as seven Tibetan monks from the Gaden Jangste Monastery in India began to chant a mantra (prayer). The low rumbling resonance of their voices penetrated the quiet as the monks prepared themselves and purified a simple space so peace prevails.







No one physically touched another, but the minds and spirits of the monks quickly and non-dramatically linked with others present.

The monks, led by renowned physician and revered teacher (geshe) Dorji Wangchuk, slipped into deep meditation as their chants harkened Avalokiteshavara -- the [bodhisattva of compassion] -- and sought his blessings on the peace-and-compassion mandala sand painting they would create at the Pomona center located at 1317 N. Park Ave.

(hairyprincess blog)

Although they spoke no words, the melodic harmony of their chanting voices lyrically blended together. Sunlight streaming through the windows caught crimson and gold colors in the monks' robes and cast light and shadow on the intricately carved ancient Tibetan trumpets, drums, cymbals, and percussion played. More

Heavy Metal Buddhism?

Wisdom Quarterly

Buddhist/comedian Jim Carrey loved Cannibal Corpse so much that he asked them to perform their megahit "Hammer Smashed Face" in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

My girlfriend and I were miserable in samsara. She was at the University of Hawaii and more miserable than I, asking: "When will the suffering end?" "We'll go East in search of enlightenment," I would answer. "You better finish school first and body surf more. Or we can go to a concert?"



In the meantime, we soothed ourselves with the idea of starting a wholesome grindcore band. I look Tibetan (like Gomo Tulku), and she is Scandinavian (like Alissa White-Gluz), and we were vegans. (I still am).



With our crazy mops, we were either going to be called Zen Zero or Decorticated Disenchanted Strands (DDS), because we wanted to cut our long sun kissed hair down to the skin with revulsion or grow very long yogi dreadlocks like the guys in Carcass (see below).

What I had in mind for Zen Zero/DDS (The Agonist)

Devi and dragon (angel and titan), we would jointly sing the lyrics she wrote in a special notebook in class along the lines of Carcass (classic British vegan grindcore) coroner jargon, girl bands, Cannibal Corpse (a comedic, carnivorous American band made famous by their appearance in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective), Cradle of Filth (dark British death metal), Dimmu Borgir (reptilian Norwegian black metal and our first concert experience), Deicide (darker American metal), Kittie, Dead Kennedys (San Francisco punk rock), and smaller wannabee bands of ALL kinds in Los Angeles.



If Carcass and other vegans could sing that meat eating is as gross as cannibalism with no one noticing, surely we could certainly extol the Dharma without anyone caring. And we'd feel good about it.



There's a way to rage at the universe with themes of disgust, dukkha, mindfulness of death, craving for liberation from samsara, and corporeality in general. Dress Goth, date around, and have music soothe the savage breast.



Sometimes renunciation grows to a fever pitch and becomes aversion (dosa) wanting nothing more than magical powers (abhinna) and enlightening everyone that things are empty and repulsive.

Female death metal singing lessons (Angela Gossow)

Carcass taught us that things "reek of putrefaction" in a "jigsaw quandary," and it seemed so Buddhist/tantric/yogic to cover their song "Carneous Cacoffiny." That's a song from their hyperintelligent album/medical tome "Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious." We had a really good sense of humor back then. I guess I was a bad influence on her. But she won complete freedom, so it all worked out. And they were her lyrics after all.

CARCASS: Sometimes it's fun to scream Zen-style.

Carneous Cacoffiny

Carcass

...Striking up my discordant underture

A carnal cacophony perversely penned

Transposed...and decomposed...



But don't hold your breath

As you wait for your god or the void

Or the abyss of nothingness



Your usefulness isn't through

Your productivity I resume...



My sordid, soiled handicrafts

Will be your afterlife's handicap....



My corrupt crescendos...

Will leave you out on a limbo...

Your disposition I unleash...

You will rest in my piece...



With deadly dynamics

You're dead, buried, and barred

Your remains dampened and fingered

Your mortal coil is barbed



The death-bells are peeling

Ringing out as you flake

Shrieking out their recitals

A celebration of your wake...



Enter my funereality

My world two meters under

A curious habitat

Your muddy trench I plunder

Pass on to ethereality



Churned out under the sextant's blade

You live your life in wretchedness

And death is no escape

And death is no escape

And death is no escape

• DarkLyrics.com
• A girl's nose ring and Indian death metal

The Zen of Screaming (Melissa Cross)

A None-more-metal Dharma-Burger

TheWorstHorse

The latest entry from the ever-expanding realm of metal/Buddhism crossovers is the cover and title of the new EP by the great doom/drone band, Queen Elephantine:

The Tibetan-thangka-style art is one thing, but it doesn’t really get more metal than “Garland of Skulls,” does it?* (Queen Elphantine has dabbled in imagery from world religions and cultures, what with album titles like Surya and Kailash, and song titles like “Search for the Deathless State.” And you can download their record, Yatra (as in the Hindu term for “pilgrimage”) for free here.)

Hear the slow, dirgy, powerful track, “Potency,” from Garland of Skulls, here.

(See here for another recent — and recommended — Buddhism/metal crossover.)

• *Note: I have dibs on the band name SkülCüp.

Metal for Buddhists? Buddhism for metalheads? Who cares? It rocks.

For a while now I’ve wondered about the band Yob. (Their name refers to a classic Warner Brothers cartoon; I distinctly remember being a teenager in bands and seeing the cartoon and thinking, Good band name.)...

The last words in the shorter version of the sutra are “Gaté Gaté Paragaté Parasamgaté Bodhi Svaha!” The basic translation, as I understand it, is “gone (or ferried) with everyone to the other shore right now!”

A little more Googling about Yob and Buddhism turns up a quick reference in a Rebel Extravaganza interview with vocalist and guitarist Mike Scheidt, in which he responds to the interviewer’s question about the use of the word bardo in the song “Ball of Molten Lead” from 2004’s The Illusion of Motion LP:

I’m surprised that one jumped out at you, man! A bardo is a term used in Buddhism. A bardo is a segment of life. The Tibetan Book Of The Dead goes into it, the bardos of life… the stages of life and death. More in depth, when you get into the places where the book deals with learning how to die. We go through time periods of trying to understand and remember who we are outside of this life.

And the band has a track called “Asleep in Samsara” on 2002’s “Elaborations of Carbon.” Is all this a coincidence? And more important: does it matter?

I’m not saying that Scheidt is a Buddhist or that YOB is in some way a “Buddhist band.” (And either way, they get points for clearly not trying to cash in on Buddhism’s cultural cachet. They’re hardly hitting us over the head with the references here.) They probably wouldn’t want to be identified as a Buddhist band, even if they were. And I’m not saying they are. All I am saying is this:

1) Metal can be a lot smarter than some would ever think.

2) Buddhism can be way more metal-confluent than some would ever think. (It can also be way more punk- or hip-hop- or baseball- or business- or whatever-confluent than some would ever think, too.)

3) It’s refreshing... More

Via NPR: “Gomo Tulku, the Rapping Lama”

The Worst Horse (Music, hip-hop, Tibet)

“[T]here’s been a detour in [Lama] Gomo Tulku’s spiritual journey,” reports NPR. “He’s about to release his first rap recording.”

Now, comments on the piece, so far, don’t seem to be in the Rapping Lama’s favor. But listen and see what you think.

Of course, there’s nothing new about the Buddhism/hip-hop crossover. And like anything, the results have been all over the map. Find some gems — and otherwise — in the Horse’s archives...

• VIDEO: "Thank You Pain" (The Agonist, Alissa White-Gluz)
  
  
• VIDEO: How to piss off your girlfriend: Canadian death metal
• A death metal band in India
• Do I have potential for a (death) metal band? (girl)?‎ - Jul 13, 2011
• Give me your opinion on dating a death metal girl...‎ - Dec 1, 2009
• Would a girl rather listen to heavy death metal or French pop
• Is there anything wrong with being a girl and liking death metal...‎

Dalai Lama's Intro to Buddhism (video)

The beloved 14th Dalai Lama gives an introductory lecture on Buddhism at EmoryUniversity on October 21, 2007. For more information, visit dalailama.emory.edu.



(dalailama.com)

The amazing Shinzen Young (live)

The Science of Enlightenment (ebook3000.com)

• Shinzen Young
  
• Saturday, July 23, 7:00 pm-9:00 pm
• Against the Stream
• 1001a Colorado Ave, Santa Monica, 90401

AGS is hosting famous Western science/meditation master Shinzen Young for an evening in Santa Monica, California. There will be meditation, a talk, and conversation with the lay sangha. No registration needed. By donation only. This will be followed by an all-day intensive on Sunday.

What is the best path? Shinzen answers.

SHINZEN YOUNG became fascinated with Asian culture as a teenager in Los Angeles. Later he enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Buddhist Studies at the University of Wisconsin. He eventually went to Asia and did extensive monastic training in all three of the major Buddhist meditative traditions: Tibetan (Vajrayana), Zen (Mahayana), and Vipassana (Theravada). His specialty is linking Eastern internal science and Western technological science.

• shinzen.org
• basicmindfulness.org
• VIDEOS: Shinzen Young

Dalai Lama in Washington, DC (Kalachakra)

Dalailama.com


Kalachakra for World Peace

Washington, DC: Last week, during the first three days of the Kalachakra (July 6-8), the Dalai Lama and the monks from Namgyal Monastery and senior lamas conducted rituals to prepare and consecrate the venue. These included chanting of prayers, the creation of a sand mandala [as shown below], and other rituals.

Creating a sand mandala symbolizing the universe

• WEBCAST
  

From July 9-11, he gave preliminary teachings on Gyalsey Thokme Sangpo's 37 Practices of a Boddhisattva (laklen sodunma) and Kamalashila's The Middling States of Meditation (gomrim barpa). On July 12, the Kalachakra Ritual Dance was performed by the Namgyal Monastery monks.

Then from July 13-15, the Dalai Lama conferred the Kalachakra Initiation. Today, July 16, a long life empowerment (tsewang) and a ceremony offering prayers for the long life of the Dalai Lama will be performed. Kalachakra 2011 is organized by the Capital Area Tibetan Association (kalachakra2011.com).

Public Talk in Chicago, Illinois on July 17: The 14th Dalai Lama will give a public talk on "Bridging the Faith Divide" in the afternoon at the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC) Pavilion organized by The Theosophical Society in America (dalailamachicago.com).

Discussion in Chicago on July 18: He will participate in a conversation with religious leaders on "Building Bridges" in the morning at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance organized by The Theosophical Society in America. More

• Kalachakra for World Peace 2011
• Kalachakra tickets
• Famous Faces at Kalachakra
• Obama to meet Dalai Lama at White House (AP)
• Obama urged to cancel meeting with Dalai Lama (UPI)
• China warns U.S. officials not to meet Dalai Lama (Reuters)
  
• AUDIO: A Ritual for World Peace (NPR)
• Danny Fischer welcomes Kalachakra
• July Eurozone Debt Summit (should be hint to DC)
  

Building the World's Largest Buddha (Bhutan)

Wisdom Quarterly
(michaelfoleyphotography/flickr.com)

The largest Buddha in antiquity was perhaps in Afghanistan, at Bamiyan. It was destroyed by Taliban vandals. Other enormous statues of the Buddha, possibly larger and in the supine position, were also discovered in Afghanistan. Ancient artisans of the area (Central Asia), where Siddhartha may have grown up far from Nepal, often portray the Buddha-to-come, Maitreya, rather than the historical Buddha Gautama welcoming him with great monuments. Maitreya is a favorite of Vajrayana and Mahayana Buddhism. The new Bhutanese Buddha in the capital of Thimphu rivals the great rock-hewn statue at Leshan, Sichuan, China and other enormous statuary.

(lisajanenapoli)

This is a tiny glimpse of what is purported to be the world's largest Buddha, high above Thimphu Valley, Bhutan -- which until recently was the last Himalayan Buddhist kingdom (before the king unilaterally converted to democracy), from the author of Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth.

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(Lisa Napoli)

Spiritual Makeover: Christine, Buddhist Nun

Thomas (ContemporaryNomad.com)
Raised in Alberta, Canada and a Buddhist for many years, she wanted to become a Tibetan nun, renouncing the household life, a life-altering decision made with confidence.

[Ani] Christine is only the second Western Buddhist nun I have ever met. The first nun, whom we met a couple of weeks ago at Dargye Gompa (monastery), was an ascetic, standoffish German woman who had no interest in talking to us.

Ani Christine is different. She would always have a smile on her face and say hi when we passed each other in the hostel. This was my chance to talk to her and satisfy my curiosity about who she was, so I approached her to find out.

I think she was surprised that I came up to her because many people, as she told me later, shied away from talking to her maybe out of fear of asking the wrong questions. I wasn’t afraid and asked all the wrong questions anyway:

• “What color is your underwear?”
• “Didn’t it feel weird to cut your hair off?”
• “Why did you choose THIS new career?”

She patiently answered my questions with a great deal of humor and did not seem to be insulted at all.

Ani Christine became a nun only two weeks ago. Her excitement about becoming a nun is so contagious that we can’t help but feel completely happy for her. While talking about her past, she eagerly showed us some “before pictures” of herself with long hair and Western clothes taken only a few weeks ago and admitted that she had never had short hair.

She looks totally cute, though, with her buzz cut and her red [Tibetan] nun outfit, which she recently bought in a clothes store catering to nuns and monks. More

• Western Buddhist nun's monastic life

  • Is your underwear undermining your values?

Wonderlane's amazing Buddhist journey

Wonderlane.com

Statue of the Buddha in the Earth touching mudra (Bhumisparsha), the most beautiful in the world (Wonderlane/Flickr.com)

The Buddhist photographer Wonderlane (wonderlane@gmail.com) plans to attend a third Kalachakra in Washington D.C. in July of 2011 with a plan to honor a commitment to practice.

Brief History of Sakya Monastery
Alexander Berzin (berzinarchives.com)

In the Manjushri Root Tantra, the Buddha is said to have prophesied that a Sakya Monastery would cause his teachings to flourish in the Land of Snows [Tibetan plateau]. It is said the site of this monastery was also prophesied by Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava. Several stupas [burial mounds for the relics of enlightened individuals and revered teachers] had already been built at the monastery’s future location, when Atisha (982-1053) stopped there in 1040.

He saw on the mountainside a syllable "Hrih," seven "Dhih," and one "Hung" and prophesied that an incarnation of Avalokiteshvara, seven of Manjushri, and one of Vajrapani would grace this site. In 1073, Konchog-gyelpo (1034-1102) of the Kon (‘Khon) family established the Pelden Sakya Monastery (gompa) in Tsang province in central Tibet. The monastery, and subsequently the tradition he founded, derived its name from the color of the soil of its location. "Sakya" means literally "gray earth." More

Buddha, Sakya Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism, mandala offering, throne, shrine, traditional decorations, books, Seattle, Washington, USA (Wonderlane/Flickr)

Thank you so much for your valuable prayers and donations!

-Wonderlane (Photographer Libre, Sherab Wongmo)

If we cling to this life then we are not Dharma practitioners;

If we cling to the Wheel of Rebirth then we do not possess renunciation (nekkhamma);

If we look only to our own interests then we do not possess enlightenment-mind (bodhicitta);

If clinging ensues then we do not possess right view.

-Sachen Kunga Nyingpo

Sakya Pandita

Sakya Pandita's Elegant Sayings

"Missing in Tibet" (film)

2,500 yrs later, Tibetan Buddhists on women

Michaela Haas (author and UC Santa Barbara lecturer) HuffingtonPost.com (edited by WQ)

Tibetan lamas honor the historical Buddha's relics (Choice Kurniawan/Flickr.com)

2,500 years after the Buddha, Tibetan Buddhists acknowledge women

Buddhist women are celebrating a landmark victory: In April, the renowned Institute for Buddhist Dialectical Studies (IBD) in Dharamsala, India, conferred the degree of "Geshe" -- the Tibetan equivalent of Ph.D. -- to Ven. Kelsang Wangmo, a German [Vajrayana Buddhist] nun.

This is a first in many ways: Traditionally, Geshe degrees are conferred on monks after 12 or more years of rigorous study in Buddhist philosophy. For the first time in history, a nun has now received the degree. Even more surprising, it was conferred on a Western woman.

Ven. Kelsang Wangmo [pictured here] was finally rewarded for mastering the strenuous course of study in higher [Tibetan] Buddhist philosophy. She had already been teaching philosophy at the Institute for more than five years.

So why is this such a big deal, and why did it take so long? In the West, the first female professorship was awarded to a woman at a European university in 1732. Almost 300 years ago scientist Laura Bassi taught physics at the University of Bologna. And more than 2,500 [now almost 2,600] years ago the Buddha allowed women into the monastic order [Sangha]. He did this by ordaining his foster mother, Maha Prajapati.

She and 500 like-minded [Shakyan] women donned saffron robes, shaved their heads, and walked 350 miles barefoot to show their unwavering determination. But it was only after Ven. Ananda intervened on their behalf that the Buddha finally granted their request -- a revolutionary decision in India at the time.

[This was a first for a world religion, but it was not a first for India. Not long before, the Buddha's contemporary Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, admitted women into a wandering ascetic order similar to Buddhism's.] More

The Dalai Lama visits Los Angeles (USC)

Hosted by Gaden Shartse Thubten Dhargye Ling

(blog.taiwan-guide.org)

The 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) speaks on:

"Secular Ethics and Meditation"

• Sunday, May 1, 2011, 2:30 PM
• Long Beach Convention Center, Terrace Theater
• General public tickets: $46.20-$104.65
• gstdl.org, (657) 229-4435, HHDL2011@gstdl.org
  

• May 3, 2011, 9:30 AM-11:00 AM and 1:45 PM-3:30 PM
  
• USC Galen Center and USC Bovard Auditorium
• University of Southern California, dalailama.usc.edu
• Tickets: $20-$125
  

Discrediting Buddhist Monks

The Weighty Karma of False Accusations

Wisdom Quarterly

China under military rule is one crazy place. Learning from US atrocities in the region, it has been engaging in an anti-Buddhist campaign (a cultural revolution) of Seven Suns proportions. It should be noted that one of the most karmically demeritorious acts one can commit is falsely accusing Buddhist monastics of defeat (parajika) offenses.

For if a fully gone forth recluse, someone who has received the higher ordination, kills, steals, has sex, or lies about attaining enlightenment or other states, that person is instantaneously no longer a monastic. It is "defeat" because it cannot be remedied, and one can not be readmitted into the Order as a fully ordained monastic for the remainder of this lifetime. (Future lives may hold that possibility, but the opportunity to ever ordain is extraordinarily rare and precious, almost inconceivably the exception).

Getting someone thrown out by falsely accusing them of offenses entailing expulsion is almost as serious as committing those offenses oneself. Has the Chinese government and its agents done just this, or does it have some basis for its allegations against Tibetan monks? (Having invaded Tibet, slaughtered monks, colonized the country, and destroyed its unique culture, sacred texts, and art objects, the Chinese Communist Party might not think too much of discrediting remaining monks in their way).

World's biggest propaganda agency "Xinhua" lies again[?]DHARAMSALA, India - A media briefing was held at the main Tibetan temple in Dharamsala on April 25, regarding China's continuing crackdown on the monks of Kirti Monastery and the Tibetans living in Ngaba, Amdo in Eastern Tibet.

"The Chinese authorities have launched a series of false allegation and groundless about the circumstances of the death of the young monk named Phuntsok, who self-immolated on March 16, as well as on the state of affairs at the Kirti monastery in general," said Ven. Lobsang Yeshi, one of two media coordinators of the Kirti monastery in exile who has responded to the recent reports made by the state controlled Chinese media "Xinhua."

"Chinese authorities trying to blame the monks, who took away Phuntsok from the hands of the police at the time of the self-immolation, for being his accomplices in planning the fatal protest action," Lobsang said during the press briefing this morning in Dharamsala. The authorities also claimed that if the monks had not taken Phuntsok away, then they might have been able to save his life. More