Digital Tibetan Buddhist Altar

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo: Learn the Difference

2009-07-15T08:41:00.006+08:00

Above is a photograph of a real Jetsunma -- enthroned as such by His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa, 16 February 2008. This is Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, who spent 14 years meditating alone in a cave in the Himalayas, and who bears every evidence of actual accomplishment.

I urge everyone to read His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa's moving remarks on this occasion, published here. I also urge everyone to note that he wastes no time setting the record straight on Alyce Zeoli and her antics:

A great deal of smoke and mirrors have been invested in an attempt to divert public attention in the West away from Tenzin Palmo's sterling achievement. However, you really owe it to yourself to read what His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa has to say -- and learn to tell the difference between empty credentials and authentic presence.

Is the Gyalwang Drukpa himself conducting a "dark war against the Dharma?" Really, the people in Poolesville need to keep it real. They are making Buddhism in the West an object of scorn all over the world.

There is a story about a soldier who was marching out of step in a parade. As he passed by his mother, she exclaimed, "Look at that! They're all marching out of step but my son!" As stated elsewhere, Alyce Zeoli's self-awarded use of the honorific "Jetsunma" is deeply offensive to many in the Tibetan Buddhist community, and a clear indication that she is out of step.

Alyce Zeoli, commenting on Penor Rinpoche

This is something she already knows. This is something she was already told, by Penor Rinpoche himself.

The story of Tenzin Palmo is a story of success. The story of Alyce Zeoli is a tragedy. A tragedy not only for her, but for Buddhism in the West. I feel the impact of this tragedy so keenly that it brings me to tears. I have seen firsthand the damage she has done to herself and the damage she has done to others.

Regardless of whether one is a recognized or unrecognized tulku, the tulku status means less than dogshit in the absence of recognizing one's own face. There is no substitute for measurable accomplishment. The tulku status is not a license to steal, have sex with your students, or indulge yourself at the expense of your mission. It is not a benefice with no duties attached. Tulkus do not normally drop from the sky, fully enlightened. If even the Karmapa studies, somebody else doesn't need to study? If even the Karmapa obeys teachers, somebody else doesn't need to obey teachers? Somebody else doesn't need to practice dharma in accordance with dharma?

We realize the nature of emptiness, but we practice compassion anyway. That is uniting emptiness and compassion. We don't have any doubt in the dharma, because it comes to us from the Buddha. We abandon all hesitations and doubts. There also comes the time when we stop following words and illusory experiences and permit awareness to arise as it will. We abandon pride, and we remedy the fault of accepting and rejecting virtue. We then abandon worldly dharmas, stop acting out of anger, or jealousy, or rivalry, and act for the welfare of others. It has been ever thus. Does this need improvement? Does this need to be "culturally adapted?" If even the Dalai Lama follows a particular course and progression of steps, then somebody else doesn't need to follow that course and progression?

Are we taking empty titles as a replacement for authentic presence? Have credentials replaced accomplishment? Is the process of maturation within the context of the authentic teachings no longer necessary because "somebody said so?" A tramp can say, "I am a king!" Mere proclamation does not make it true.

Tempest In A Teapot: Updated

2009-07-15T04:54:00.016+08:00

Seems that some readers took exception with two of our recent posts: Spy vs Spy and Nazi Sangha. Seems that now they've got a hired gun in a Phoenix law firm looking to throw mud. I am truly sorry to see this. While I wonder what earthly good it does to go back and forth, I am so saddened by the deluded character of the response, I feel compelled to set the record straight.

(1) Penor Rinpoche never conferred the honorific "Jetsunma" on Alyce Zeoli. Her continued use of this honorific -- to which she is not entitled -- is deeply offensive to many Tibetans, not the least of whom are those for whom the honorific is historically reserved, such as the Sakya princesses. If you want to use "Jetsunma" the way Madonna uses "Madonna," that is quite another matter, but all it does is feed a self-destructive god complex.

(2) In KPC's own literature, Alyce is referred to as a "Living Buddha," a matter about which Penor Rinpoche made himself abundantly clear:

(3) It is to the compelling issue of her students going to Vajra Hell that my interest is directed. This is not a "dark war against the Dharma." This is a rescue mission.

(4) The admission of this incident is disingenuous, and certainly does not reflect the facts as they were presented to me by the involved parties, at the time.

(5) Quite simply untrue, as the screen captures of correspondence here will readily demonstrate. Alyce Zeoli, communicating to me by telephone and through her attendant, actually suggested a "special op" to remove any record of her automobile from the police reports.

UPDATED: I do not wish to imply that there is anything wrong with loving or caring for one's teacher. I do not wish to imply that unconventional behavior is impossible in the context of the teacher-student relationship. What I specifically wish to state is that uncritical acceptance of status in the absence of authentic presence is dangerous. Ever been fooled by a skilled magician?

Wish-Granting Jewel

2009-07-15T00:02:00.001+08:00

I purchased one of these truly delightful books as a gift for a friend of mine, who is a stainless nun of exemplary qualities, and rare courage. I thought it might be meaningful to her as it contains not only Ngulchu Gyalsey Thogme Sangpo's Thirty Seven Practices, but also a collection of opening prayers, concluding prayers, and the complete text of Penor Rinpoche's Commentary on the Prayer for Excellent Conduct. There are also prayers by Dungse Thinley Norbu Rinpoche and Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche.

The book is really marvelous -- a fine production by Gyatrul Rinpoche, Bhakha Tulku, and Sangye Khandro, all done with a flexible, gold-stamped leatherette cover, place-holder ribbon, gilt edged pages, Tibetan, transliterated Tibetan, and English throughout, color plates, and so forth. You know how you sometimes see those lovingly produced prayer books, and you think, "Why don't Buddhists have something like that?" Well, now we do. You can carry this one with you everywhere.

The book will arrive at your door in less than a week upon clicking here.

Among the riches, within and without, that this book holds in store, is a wish-granting jewel by Gyatrul Rinpoche, entitled Bodhisattva Prayer, which includes the following:

"Even if all other qualities are fully endowed,
without bodhicitta there can be
no true good fortune."

All of us, myself definitely included, always seem to forget that part. I got this book for my friend because she always seems to remember.

My suggestion is simple: most of us know a monk or a nun somewhere in this far-flung universe, and this book makes such a beautiful gift -- something they will always treasure -- that it seems selfish not to order one up and have it sent as a surprise. This is also a wonderful gift for your children or grandchildren, or loved ones who may be uniform. In brief? Here is the solution on what gift to give a Buddhist you may know.

-- -- --

Gyatrul Rinpoche, Compiler. Path of the Bodhisattva: A Collection of the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva and Related Prayers. Ashland: Vimala Publishing, 2008. 151 pp, illus., $24.95

Daily Tibetan Astrology: July 15, 2009

2009-07-15T00:01:00.002+08:00

Chinese 23rd, M-T-K 23rd. Horse, Kham, Black 2. This is the day to get out and make things happen. A positive, upbeat day when you can be assured of success. Keep things friendly and cooperative. The catch is to get everything done before nightfall, and then stay in for the rest of the night. Keep away from mourning, crying, lawsuits or old troubles, and stay focused on progress. This is a VERY strong week on many levels, and today is one of the strongest days.

Published every day at 00:01 香港時間 but written in advance and auto-posted. See our Introduction to Daily Tibetan Astrology for background information. If you know the symbolic animal of your birth year, you can get information about your positive and negative days by clicking here. For specific information about the astrology of 2009, inclusive of elements, earth spirits, and so forth, please consult our extended discussion by clicking here. The baden senpo (bad days to raise prayer flags) this year are: July 2, 14, 28; August 10, 24; September 5, 19; October 1, 2, 13, 28; November 23; December 5, 20.

Remembering Kushok Bakula Rinpoche

2009-07-14T00:03:00.003+08:00

For some reason, the late Honorable Bakula Rinpoche (21 May 1917 - 4 November 2003), former Indian Ambassador to Mongolia, came strongly into my thoughts today.

I think he is the main reason that Buddhism is enjoying a revival in Mongolia, as to my mind at least -- and probably everyone would agree -- he was the destined spiritual catalyst to release Mongolia from communism. He was recognized by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama as a direct incarnation of one of the Sixteen Arhats, and to meet him in person left no room for doubt.

Arhat Bakula

I first met him in the 1970s, in company with another lama who was a good friend of mine. They were in the midst of some business, and I was in the midst of some business, but I offered to drive them all somewhere they wished to go. There were five of them, so three got in the back, and Bakula Rinpoche got in the front passenger's seat.

As I drove, they rapidly chatted back and forth, and I did not pay them any mind. After a time, my friend said, "Rinpoche wishes to know how many names you have." I responded that I have three names, upon which Rinpoche himself very quickly and directly said, "The truth is, you have four."

Actually, that is true, but I never use one of them. I confess that I was astonished he could know this. He then looked at me with a blank expression, and deliberately drew a Tibetan letter with his finger on the windshield of the automobile. It was the first letter of my fourth name.

There is considerably more to the story, but it doesn't serve any useful purpose. People have called him a saint, and that is certainly my impression as well. In today's Mongolia, he is well remembered and deeply revered. There is a Bakula Rinpoche temple in Ulaanbaatar, where his ashes are interred inside a golden stupa. If you click that link, you will get a much-expanded story.

Bakula Rinpoche was born again on 24 November 2005, again in Ladakh, and recognized by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama on 26 February 2008.

What About Me?

2009-07-14T00:02:00.000+08:00

A marvelous video from Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. I note from the YouTube site that it has been viewed approximately 216,000 times. If the statistical model applies, that means around 216 people were brought to the Dharma, and of those, maybe 21 or 22 are actually practicing. Of those 21 or 22, maybe 2 are practicing regularly. I don't necessarily think it works exactly this way, but it is interesting to think about. We would have to pull the demographics and do a cut-down to know with any precision. Projects like this don't hurt anything or anybody, and I think he should do more of them.

Daily Tibetan Astrology: July 14, 2009

2009-07-14T00:01:00.003+08:00

Chinese 22nd, M-T-K 22nd. Snake, Khen, White 1. Happy Bastille Day to all our friends in France, and particularly to our special friend who is running around the hills, extracting the essences. Whatever you do, don't hang any prayer flags today and stay away from the nagas! Today is baden, as well as Bastille. Let me see: good day for travel, good day to take a bath, good day for meeting important people. So, I guess the sequence is get up, take a shower, jump in the car, go somewhere, and meet somebody important.

Published every day at 00:01 香港時間 but written in advance and auto-posted. See our Introduction to Daily Tibetan Astrology for background information. If you know the symbolic animal of your birth year, you can get information about your positive and negative days by clicking here. For specific information about the astrology of 2009, inclusive of elements, earth spirits, and so forth, please consult our extended discussion by clicking here. The baden senpo (bad days to raise prayer flags) this year are: July 2, 14, 28; August 10, 24; September 5, 19; October 1, 2, 13, 28; November 23; December 5, 20.

Refuge Without Borders, Revisited

2009-07-13T00:02:00.001+08:00

So, the vehicle moves, yet I still sit in one place.

You all remember that old thing about the flag. The teacher points to the flag and asks, "What moves? The flag or the wind?" The answer, of course, is neither one: what moves is your mind.

I sit in the front seat and the terrain swims around me: the cars, the roadside, the flatlands, the mountains... a road trip from this desert, to that desert, to some other desert. I sit in 2007 (and now, in the blink of an eye, 2009) and the ages swim around me: this civilization, that civilization... an academic stretch from one hypothetical time, to another hypothetical time, to some other hypothetical time. I sit in front of someone I love and the alternatives swim around me: I exchange one memory for another memory, re-coding the emotions, replacing learned responses with the spontaneous presence of actual being.

Now, I think it is an auspicious opportunity for everyone to recover from his or her malaise. Just take the magic we have raised on the fortunate winds and run with it to the top of your highest hill. These things that arise as obstacles are perfect in their own ways; maybe they don't need prevention, correction, or management. Maybe they don't need acceptance or rejection. Maybe they rise and fall of their own weight. Maybe they are just footprints in the snow.

Someday, the helicopter that comes won't fly us out the other side with a story to tell. Someday, the helicopter won't come at all. Someday, we'll just be a whisper or a choked-back sob, and if by chance a helicopter flies overhead nobody will even notice. Nobody will care. Someday, all of the memories will fade and the miles will belong to other wanderers. When that day comes, who will sail this ocean of tears? Who will take up this palette of misery, worry, doubt, and despair? These things others seem to do to us; these things we seem to do to others. What will become of these things we do to ourselves?

All compounded things are impermanent, and how we feel about these things--or more precisely, the emotional connection we imagine we have with these compounded things--brings us what can certainly be described as a kind of ever-present suffering. Then, too, is the very real proposition that these deserts, civilizations, memories, miles, tears, and wanderers simply don't exist apart from what we feel about them. They are, quite simply, empty in the way echoes are empty.

So, fundamentally, it seems we are suffering for no good reason. While that in itself should bring us a certain comfort and joy, we often distort even this happy news to bring ourselves still more suffering. We start thinking about something we call "enlightenment," or "nirvana," or "heaven." We bring all the suitcases that we live from on our suffering vacation and come up with this notion of a not-suffering permanence.... and then we try to move in, as it were. We try to set up housekeeping in a house with no walls.

The historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, was certainly enlightened but he still had a rotten relative and he still died from something like food poisoning. Milarepa was no slouch, but he still had an envious jerk with a bad, bad mouth to contend with, and he still drank poison from the hand of a serving girl who said she loved him.

Refuge is only a border in the presence of a dialectic.

Actually, refuge is identical with space.

So, we become refuge when refuge is no longer required.

Just like travelers who move, yet still sit in one place.

(Originally posted on 22 November 2007, 13:17 hrs -- but moved here to show you that life is fleeting.)

Daily Tibetan Astrology: July 13, 2009

2009-07-13T00:01:00.000+08:00

Chinese 21st, M-T-K 21st. Dragon, Dwa, Red 9. If you set your mind to it, this will be an incredibly active and productive week for most people. Whatever it is you have to do of a beneficial nature, strongly do it, and in such a way that it brings no regret. I have a feeling that for most of you, obstacles will dissolve like breath on a mirror.

Now, we have this to contend with:

"Bonjour: j'ai un questin cruciale pour vous. j'ai construit un petit stupa et il me faut refaire la partie superieure. je vous serais tres reconnaissante de me dire s'il serait benefique de le faire le jour de la prochaine eclipse lunaire en sacant que le jur 6 du prochain mois n'est peut-etre pas ideale pour le faire. merci infiniment pour cette information si vous reussissez a me faire parvenir cette precieuse reponse. j"

What is an auspicious day to "redo" the spire of a stupa? If one contemplates repairing, repainting, or renovating a stupa, or indeed, any other virtuous act, then look forward to July 25th: Chokhor Duchen, when the effects will be multiplied 10 million times.

Befhel ist Befhel: the Nazi Sangha

2009-07-12T00:05:00.005+08:00

"If you love something, set it free.

If it doesn't come back to you, hunt it down and kill it."

Ours is supposed to be the religion of loving kindness and compassion. Each and every action we take is supposed to be motivated by our concern for the welfare of all sentient beings. Most, if not all, of our religion's greatest masters agree on one point: you can equivocate on virtually every aspect of Buddhism save the foundation -- you cannot equivocate on the issue of kindness. In the absence of loving kindness, compassion, and concern for the welfare of all sentient beings, nothing you do in the context of Buddhism means a thing.

Not a thing.

Ours is not supposed to be a religion of hatred, revenge, or jihad. We are not supposed to be bigots, xenophobes, or militants. We are supposed to practice the ultimate form of "turn the other cheek," which is "turn the other mind." Yet, somehow -- and I cannot pretend to know or even guess where or when -- these basic messages got lost for some of us. When they did, it set free a demon that is threatening to destroy -- yes, destroy -- Buddhism in the United States.

I gave that demon a name -- I call it the Nazi Sangha.

-- -- -- -- --

Nowhere in Buddhism is it written that you have to participate in burning an effigy of your "spiritual director's" ex-husband.

Nowhere in Buddhism is it written that you have to steal medical records of people who criticize you -- I think Nixon did that with Ellsberg, didn't he?

Nowhere in Buddhism is it written that you mount public smear campaigns against individuals who, for whatever reason, have decided to leave and seek teaching elsewhere.

Nowhere in Buddhism is it written that you have to take turns slapping a member of your organization who has experienced a personal crisis.

Nowhere in Buddhism is it written that you have to take psychiatric medication simply because your "spiritual director" takes psychiatric medication.

But you... you, the Nazi Sangha... you have done all of these things and more.

The annual summer retreat at KPC, Poolesville, Maryland. As the above records indicate, well over an hour of the opening session was devoted to visiting here.

Befhel ist Befhel, literally, "order is order," is the underlying concept of the Nuremberg Defense: "only following orders." Every chance it gets, society has condemned the defense on both moral and legal grounds. Indeed, Nuremberg Principle IV states: "The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him."

So, my question today is simple albeit rhetorical: is the Nuremberg Defense no less reprehensible when applied to a renegade "sangha," as it is when applied to war crimes?

Over the course of the past few months -- if not the past two or three years -- I have received several letters from members of western "sanghas," all to the same general effect. They have, for whatever reason, decided to leave their milieu and take up interests elsewhere. In response, they have been stalked, abused, pilloried, and cursed by their former comrades. They write with doubts and many, many questions that boil down to one question: is this Buddhism?

Is this Buddhism, indeed.

That's Alyce Zeoli ("Jetsunma") properly medicated.
The sweatshirts read: "Gringo Rinpoche's Lonely Hearts Club."
Her place, Arizona, November 2007.

I used to take these letters with a grain of salt, until I witnessed the Nazi Sangha in action, Although some of this has already been exposed in various other forums, I do not have the stomach to go through the catalog of outrageous behavior here -- it is quite simply too offensive to the human heart.

When called to task, those responsible for perpetrating these offensive outrages have offered one uniform defense for their conduct: we are only following our teacher's orders. Our teacher is grand and glorious. We are grand and glorious.

I'm sorry, but I don't see grand and glorious.

I see bullshit bullies who traded brownshirt for burgandy.

A comment from one of the victims, to a post back in 2008,
reminding us of events in 1996 -- yet a decade later and
the Nazi Sangha is up to its old tricks

- - -

If you, or someone you love, are trapped in a Nazi Sangha, here is some Tibetan for you, done phonetically, so it will be easy to say:

GEK DANG LOK DREN BAR CHED DUL WA DANG
May hindrances, obstacles and mistaken guides be tamed!

Say it three times, click the heels of the ruby slippers, then pack your bags and go find a Tibetan Buddhist teacher who actually teaches Tibetan Buddhism. As the ex-husband of the lady in the photograph, above, so eloquently explains on his web site, she isn't teaching Tibetan Buddhism. As the ex-attendant of the lady in the photograph, above, so eloquently explains on her web site, you are being swindled to support a lifestyle. If you want to stay in a cult, then stay in a cult... only, please... please do not contaminate Buddhism by calling yourself a Buddhist.

It isn't the damage you do to Buddhism that is the issue here... it is the damage you do to yourself. By following a mistaken guide, you are being led into the depths. You need to understand that you have a moral choice available at all times.

You can choose to stop confusing intrigue and constant turmoil with actual sitting-on-the-stone practice. While your hearts are corrupted and brittle with anger and hatred, of what use are a million prayers? Ten million prayers?

- - -

And you think you can't be deceived by magical appearances?
Invited back, February 2008.

I am not a teacher. I don't take students because I don't know anything to teach. So please, don't think of me as someone who wants or needs the driftwood of the Nazi Sangha to land on his beach.

I am just a guy who has made every mistake it is possible to make on the long road of bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West... and an even greater number of mistakes on the even longer road of being human.

I just have this tendency of wishing others might profit from my mistakes.

-- -- -- --

"In my present life and in all my births in beginningless and limitless samsara, in all the places that I have taken birth, I have performed negative and destructive karma, I have helped others to perform it, and I have rejoiced in others’ performing of it.

"I have stolen the possessions of stupas, the possessions of the Sangha, that of the Sangha of the ten directions, I have helped others in stealing it, and I have rejoiced in the stealing of it.

"I have performed the five grave actions of limitless consquence, I have helped others in performing them, and I have rejoiced in the performing of them.

"I have entered into the totally taking up of the path of the ten non-virtuous actions, I have helped others to enter into it, and I have rejoiced in others’ entering of it.

"Through whatever karmic obscurations I have, through their obscuring power, I will go the sentient beings’ hells, I will go to the abodes of the animals, I will go to the land of the hungry ghosts, I will be born in a remote border region, I will be born as a primitive, I will be born as a long-lived god, I will be born with sense-faculties incomplete, and I will be born as a holder of wrong views.

"All of those that there are, whatever karmic obscurations there may be, from such things as not offering service during the arising of a buddha, before the Buddhas, the Transcendent and Accomplished Conquerors, who have timeless awareness, who have deeper vision, who have power, who have valid cognition, and who see through their transcendent knowledge, before their divine eyes, I openly admit them! I confess them! I do not conceal them! I do not hide them!"

That's Erick Sherab Zangpo's translation of the Bodhisattva's Confession of Downfalls: The Arya Three Heaps Sutra, by Shakyamuni Buddha.

It doesn't mean that you recite this, mindlessly, and then go right out and start crap all over again. What it means is that one considers things very deeply -- a fearless self-appraisal, as they say -- and then one resolves to throttle down the head-long dash to Hell.

Don't come here.

Go to the source.

Because there comes a point in time when your teacher -- as damaged as she is -- is no longer the problem.

You are the ones who are only following orders.

World Peace Vase Program

2009-07-12T00:04:00.000+08:00

It troubles me that many people still do not know about the late Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche's World Peace Vase Program, now administered out of Delhi by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche's Siddhartha's Intent organization. This really is one of the great stories of late 20th and early 21st century Buddhism!

Clicking the link, above, will give you the whole story much better than I can explain. However, the brief version is that some 6,200 vases were made and consecrated by His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse, as one of the last acts of his life. The intention was to place these all over the world, and even in space, to heal the planet, and offset the damage done by wars, and environmental disasters. The vases are placed in rivers, lakes, oceans, mountaintops, and a host of other locations well described on the web site. Some 4,000 are already in place, with roughly 2,000 more to go.

There are a number of pre-selected sites for placement, and the program also entertains suggestions that meet His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse's stated criteria. You can see the global mapping associated with this by clicking here.

I want to say, candidly, that this is "big magic." If you volunteer to place a vase, you really have to do so from pure intention, and then you have to actually go and place the vase, no matter what sort of hardship or expense that entails. You can't go weaseling a vase out of the program to selfishly keep for yourself, just because you think it might bring you luck. But, if you absolutely, genuinely want to help the planet -- and I know a lot of you do -- and you have the ability to finish what you start, then this really is the project for you.

We "children of the 'sixties" love this one on the whole random acts of kindness theory of operations. Admittedly, there is also that edge of the envelope appeal.

If crossing hot borders into denied areas, only to secretly bury a peace vase on some long silent battleground is your idea of fun -- if going to some of the most dangerous places in the world to do the deed Dilgo Khyentse wanted done is your idea of worthwhile risk -- if you can do this using your own initiative, anonymously and alone, without demanding recognition, acclaim or support from headquarters -- then you may be headed to a rewarding career in the Buddhist Foreign Service.

(As always, if you are caught or captured, the Secretary will disavow all knowledge of your actions.)

The American Jowo

2009-07-12T00:03:00.000+08:00

A little over a year ago, what is known as the "United States" Jowo Rinpoche statue was installed at the Drikung Meditation Center, in Arlington, Massachusetts. You can read the story of this enterprise by clicking here. The statue is essentially a replica of the original, which miraculously, still survives in Tibet (seen here, below).

I think projects like this are very useful to everyone involved. The Drikung people now want to build a pilgrimage site to house the statue, somewhere in the Boston area, and are asking for help. To finance the venture, they have produced a series of treasure vases, which you can purchase for your home or center by clicking here. It is so amusing -- they call this "shopping for all sentient beings."

Lovely Morning

2009-07-12T00:02:00.000+08:00

Many things are competing for your attention, but what is your attention competing for?

Daily Tibetan Astrology: July 12, 2009

2009-07-12T00:01:00.001+08:00

Chinese 20th, M-T-K 20th. Rabbit, Khon, White 8. In the San Francisco Bay Area we have dueling Hayagriva empowerments this weekend (Lama Lodru in the City, Namkha Drimed in Alameda), and that pretty much sums up today's message: everywhere you turn, there is an open possibility available to you. If you don't seize these opportunities today, you'll have only yourself to blame.

P.S.
Why, if this is Tibetan astrology, do I use Chinese characters? Why don't I use Tibetan letters? Well, it is because (1) I don't have any cool graphics, and (2) research shows that the majority of users of this feature come from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and the autonomous Chinese-held independent trading territories of Former California.

Sonam Topgay Kazi, 1925-2009

2009-07-11T11:16:00.003+08:00

Sikkimese linguist Sonam T. Kazi quietly passed away last month, reportedly from complications associated with Alzheimer's (although I have been unable to confirm this). He was a long-time political operative, who once served as the Dalai Lama's interpreter on behalf of the Government of India. His avocation was scholastic study of Dzogchen, and in this he became rather celebrated.

In the 1960s, a contractual relationship as a linguist with the U.S. government enabled Mr. Kazi to relocate to the United States. After traveling around a bit, he settled with his wife and daughter in New York City, and when his government contract dissolved, established himself as something of a teacher. Throughout the late 1960s and into the 1970s, he became known for taking on students who had been deemed unsuitable by lineage-holding masters, and developed a small following which regularly met in his apartment on the West Side, overlooking Central Park.

Some considerable controversy visited Kazi after a succession of female students accused him of pressuring them into sexual assignations. Amid allegations that he had infected a student with a sexually transmitted disease, his marriage faltered, and his wife and daughter took up separate residence elsewhere.

Tragically, this long-running scandal deeply scarred and overshadowed his accomplishments as an interpreter and translator, which were considerable. In a posting in a public forum, his longtime sponsor, Allan Ehrlich, explained that Mr. Kazi's students had requested Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche to organize a Vajrasattva Drupa, "to clear up, and clean any misunderstandings, and mistakes that occurred in this life."

I met Mr. Kazi in 1968, when he visited Tarthang Rinpoche in Berkeley, California, and saw him again in New York, in 1971. I can say from personal observation that he had a genuine love of the literature of Dzogchen.

Mantra, Music, and the Age of Corruption

2009-07-11T00:03:00.002+08:00

A reader made comment yesterday, setting off the whole "ought mantra be set to music" thing yet again. Or, maybe it should be the whole "ought mantra be set to bad music" thing. These seem to be two different subjects. Yet if memory serves, it is Hesse, in Magister Ludi, who makes the point that a degenerate age produces degenerate music. So, maybe this is one subject after all: "ought mantra in the degenerate age be set to degenerate music in order to make it palatable to degenerates."

I have dealt with this subject in the past (here, here, and here), never to my own or anyone else's satisfaction.

However, our reader was commenting in the context of our little spy vs spy item, and offered this opinion:

"I think all this might be happening because of this corrupt idea to make mantras into music, whether pop or whatever. I don't know who started it, but they say now it's hard to move about in Bodha or Da'sa without hearing the constant drone of mantras with instrumental accompaniment through way-too-loud loudspeakers. Buddha never taught to broadcast your mantras, received in Vajrayana ("Secret Mantra" I believe it's called in Tibetan) to the whole public with a beat to dance to. Scusi moi, my Francaise, but really, Au contraire, mon cher."

She (or he) has a point:

"When the concealed secret substances, deities, mantras, tormas and so forth are openly shown, the dances and magical mantras and all the essences are changed. The Word of the Buddha and the oral instructions of the lamas saying that mantrayana should be kept secret, if broken, in this life there will be inauspiciousness, our family lineages will be broken, wealth will decrease and there will be enemies and anger. In the next life we will fall into Hell."

Other, rather more severe injunctions are found in numerous places throughout the literature, but this (from Mani Kabum) is the one which jumps immediately to mind.

The operative word, above, is "changed." It is quite clear that when we set a mantra to music, we have changed something. As an example: I learned the Vajra Guru mantra from my teacher. He learned it from his teacher, so on and so forth, back to the time of Padmasambhava himself. There is an obvious continuity. However, since learning the Vajra Guru mantra from my teacher, I have heard it set to music, done completely differently in order to accomodate said music. Where is the continuity?

Take another example -- and this, I think, is right to the bone: when you take the speech empowerment from the deity, you repeat the mantra. This establishes continuity (among other things), yet, were you to change the received mantra by setting it to music, I believe you would lose that continuity (among other things).

I absolutely admit to being very conflicted about this. I do so enjoy hearing Lama Gyurme's rendition of the Medicine Buddha mantra. I think the distinction is that they have set the music to the mantra, rather than the mantra to the music. Still, I cannot say that this is appropriate.

I am here speaking of mantra, as distinct from sutra, or prayer, but in the latter category -- that of prayer -- we have the example of the Seven Line Prayer. I have heard the Seven Line prayer done several different ways -- usually by caterwauling harpies -- yet, in the termas, it is specifically addressed as a secret teaching.

What are we to make of this?

People who engage in this practice will jump up and say, "this or that great lama approved," but that doesn't impress me. There are all sorts of examples of famous lamas with fancy titles running around, acting like idiots, dragging their students to hell. There are also some extraordinarily clever demons about:

"Guru Rinpoche says that in these degenerate times demonic forces (demons, negative spirits, and harmful entities) are intentionally manifesting, sending forth deceptive emanations of themselves in the form of spiritual teachers, appearing as great scholars and realized ones, honorable and disciplined on the outside yet actually harmful entities on the inside. They are intentionally trying to lead sentient beings into lower realms."

This is something we hear about all the time:

"Guru Rinpoche also said that during these degenerate times there are many demons and spirits who will say they are deities when they are not. Specifically, there are nine types that will come into human realms to lead beings astray on the spiritual path in these times. These negative spirits will manifest deceptive displays, making it appear that they have reached the first, second and third bhumis when in fact they haven't. They will display magical signs to cause you to believe they have. They will even appear as bodhisattvas when they are not. They will manifest different signs and miraculous displays, through body, speech, and mind, so inconceivable that they will take your mind away. Seeing these deceptive displays of power, beings with weak merit and karma will experience the arising of faith in their minds and will focus all their devotion on these negative beings."

These are quotations from a commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche, and I believe he should know, because he has had direct experience with such matters. His commentary is one thing, but I think we also need to go straight to the primary source, which in this case would usefully be considered the Shurangama Sutra. I did a little piece on this recently, and you can find the links there. I firmly believe -- to the level of moral certainty -- that such a demon has indeed manifested and deceived all sorts of lamas who really should have known better. The damage done by this demon is still being calculated. I find it probative that the demon in question is one of the most vocal proponents of "musical mantra."

However, we really don't have the luxury to fool around with this, do we? As vajrayana practitioners, like a snake in bamboo, we can only go two directions: up or down.

Try as I might, I can't remember Dudjom Rinpoche gettin' jiggy with it. I can't remember Kalu Rinpoche snapping his fingers and shuffling his feet. I can't remember the 16th Karmapa kickin' it with the homies and beating out solos on his damaru. My own teachers didn't whistle while they worked, and these are the only people I feel I can completely trust.

There is also the issue of ordained listening to music... but that's another diatribe for another day.

I gotta go upgrade my iPod.

Back in the Saddle

2009-07-11T00:02:00.001+08:00

Dawn in the desert quickly dispels the dark cloud in the East

We have winged our way West. How nice to be back in Arizona, which certainly ranks as our most mysterious state. I am just passing through -- putting the finishing touches on a lovely surprise for some dear, dear friends of mine.

I'm also working on some other writing projects, after which my host is taking me riding, so this is just a brief hello, with a photograph of today's gentle sunrise.

Daily Tibetan Astrology: July 11, 2009

2009-07-11T00:01:00.000+08:00

Chinese 19th, M-T-K 19th. Tiger, Li, Red 7. All things in moderation today, particularly in the food department. No cookouts today -- definitely a bad idea to conjoin red meat and fire. Avoid belligerence.

The Master and the Thief

2009-07-10T00:02:00.002+08:00

One evening, Zen master Shichiri Kojun was reciting sutras when a thief entered his house with a sword, demanding "your money or your life!"

Without any fear, Shichiri said, "Don't disturb me! Help yourself with the money, it's over there in the drawer." He then resumed his recitation.

The thief was startled by this unexpected reaction, but he proceeded with his business anyway. While he was helping himself to the money, the master stopped and called, "Don't take all of it. Leave me some to pay my taxes tomorrow."

The thief left some money behind and prepared to leave. Just before he left, the master suddenly shouted at him, "You took my money and you didn't even thank me?! That's not polite!"

This time, the thief was really shocked at such fearlessness. He thanked the master and ran away. The thief later told his friends that he had never been so frightened in his life.

A few days later, the thief was caught and confessed his theft at Shichiri's house. However, when the master was called as a witness, he said, "No, this man did not steal anything from me. I gave him the money. He even thanked me for it."

--- --- ---

So, unbelievable as it may be, seems I have a stalker on the loose. Why I should have one is beyond me, but it seems that I have. He has done all the things that stalkers do, including drive-bys, several "fan" sites, letters sent hither and yon, and some awfully naughty vitriol directed to those who he thinks are close to me.

Now, a stalker doesn't want money.

What a stalker wants is attention.

The police in the city where he lives -- not far from where I am sitting right now -- tell me their experts have determined this stalker fits the "escalating danger profile," and they have asked me to help them make their case... for my own safety, or so they say.

I feel that if I do this, I may give the stalker what he wants -- attention -- and of course I am tempted to give him what he wants. Isn't that the generous thing to do? Give people what they want? Isn't that what Shichiri did in our story, above?

However, a stalker doesn't want just any attention. He wants the attention -- the undivided attention -- of the one he stalks. In this case, if I give the stalker what he wants, I am left with a paradox. Were I to give him my undivided attention, would I not become his stalker?

Interesting thought, isn't it?

By satisfying the stalker, I would myself become the same.

Do you think he would be angry with me?

Of what use is it to become angry with the stalker? Through anger, whatever small merit you might have accidentally accumulated is burned in the flash of an instant -- gone forever. Through anger, you give rise to 21,000 male dons, and populate your world accordingly. Through anger, you give rise to sickness in the upper part of the body. Truly, I have learned through experience, that anger is a complete downfall unto itself.

Stalkers begin by professing their undying love and devotion. When their expectations are not fulfilled, that love and devotion turns to hatred and obsession. Some are capable of doing great violence -- some assassins, for example, begin as zealous partisans. When the police express their concern, they do so on valid grounds, for he does fit the profile: lack of achievement, inability to maintain relationships, deviant lifestyle, financial problems, status frustration -- all the palette of failures that push him to commit one final act of desperation.

But, while I understand the concern, I cannot share it. Not with this stalker, for he only stalks himself and his only destruction is self-destruction. A directionless, sad and lonely, middle-aged man on a bus, iPod in his hand, nodding his empty head to a broken beat --- committing the coward's long, slow suicide.

I think the stalker is angry at himself, and he displaces this anger toward himself by directing it toward me.

"How could I have been such a fool!" he cries. "The great Me, who cannot be deceived!"

He knows that I know the extent to which his credulity demonstrates his emptiness, and his sly notion of self does not wish to be so known.

"I was set upon by a demon!" he cries. "For only a demon could deceive the great Me!"

But, how easy it is to fool this stalker! All I have to do is put up a mirror, and he will bluster, and posture, and call out my name. Truly, it is as if, every time he looks, he sees me in that mirror -- laughing at him -- reminding him of his emptiness.

And once, he even thanked me for it!

To repent the conditions of one's generosity is to create the conditions for one's own poverty.

Slowly, slowly... catchee monkey.

Daily Tibetan Astrology: July 10, 2009

2009-07-10T00:01:00.001+08:00

Chinese 18th, M-T-K 18th. Ox, Zon, White 6. Here we have an ox day in an ox year, so if you are an ox, you had better slow down to ox speed. Very nasty ill-effects will reach you when you least expect them. Thankfully, this can all be prevented by exercising yourself away from the slaughterhouse, and over to the direction of the prayer room. As annoying as this may seem, Buddhism is meant to actually be practiced, and today is the day. Numerous empowerments and other events are taking place all over the U.S. this weekend, so spend today making preparations for tomorrow. Otherwise? Historically? The 18th lunar is a dangerous day.

Spy vs Spy

2009-07-09T14:02:00.012+08:00

This would be funny if it weren't so tragic.

Back a couple of months ago, Alyce Louise Zeoli (she calls herself "Jetsunma," and claims she is a "living Buddha") called police near her Barnesville, Maryland home to report that, "a team of intruders" were observed "stalking the perimeter." Nothing wrong with that -- can't be too careful these days.

This was, of course, breathlessly reported by a Kunzang Palyul Choling (KPC) cult monkey, with all the hyperbole that makes them so much fun to watch:

Trouble is, as the investigation progressed, we are informed that the "intruders" were subsequently identified as undercover narcotics investigators conducting a surveillance.

As previously reported elsewhere, on February 3, 2008, a personally owned vehicle registered to Alyce Louise Zeoli was stopped by police near Vega, Texas, carrying a quantity of narcotics from the KPC center in Sedona, Arizona to the KPC center in Poolesville, Maryland. Two arrests were made.

Although both Alyce Zeoli and her organization, Kunzang Palyul Choling (KPC) made attempts to sweep this one under the rug, the incident somehow came to the attention of narcotics intelligence officers in the Washington, D.C. area.

Gee... do you think?

Maybe we should write our own ending for this one.

"The interest of officers intensified when it was learned Jetsunma, a struggling amateur singer-songwriter, maintains a hidden recording studio in her barn. After all, drugs and musicians go together like white and rice, correct? However, the portly part-time guru was cleared of all suspicion after officers heard her latest effort."

"No way were those people doing anything even close to good dope," said an officer who declined to be identified. "Those tracks were so bad we had to wash our ears out with a double dose of 50 Cent and L'il Wayne!"

"Jetsunma refused to be interviewed, but through a spokesperson issued a statement that she is moving to Tennessee, and believes Obama will present her with a DEA badge to use when she picks up her 'prescriptions.' She added that the world will end in 2012 unless we help her hold back the darkness by putting up some cash for the U-Haul."

No drugs, guns, or dawgs? Shee...it! Better phone this one in from Poolesville!

I don't know about you, but I feel so conflicted that somebody can (1) attend the Palyul Retreat, (2) go into town, engage in "recreational drinking," get really loaded, and (3) they will send a car for you. In the old days, you stuck a phurba in the ground and stopped the sun from rising. These johnny-come-lately western Nyingmapa make me nervous.

No Time for Happiness

2009-07-09T00:02:00.008+08:00

”Even if explanation is given, others misinterpret and will not accept it as truth.
Even if intention is beneficial, candid, and from the heart, they keep their misconceptions

Behold this age when crooked minded people see honest ones as crooked
The rope of hope and expectation must be cut, since it cannot benefit anyone.

The Victorious One said: 'All phenomena are like magic'
But what greater magic is there than the present age?
Enticing magicians are performing.
Fear the beguiling, hypnotising phantoms of the Kali Yuga.

The Victorious One said: 'All speech is like an echo,'
But now a much greater echo
is hypocritical speech.
Shun these luring words.

Whoever is seen are not human beings, they are deceivers,
Whoever speaks, this is not speech, it is just luring words,
Now there is no longer anyone to trust,
So remain content alone.

If bodily action is in accordance with Dharma, then most people object.
If speech is honest, then most people get angry.
If pure from the heart, then most people consider it a fault.

Now it is time to hide the self-nature.

Hide body and stay in a solitary place.
Hide speech and disengage from conversation.
Hide mind and only watch your own faults.
Therefore be called a hidden yogi.

No one can be trusted, so have aversion.
Nothing has essence so be sorrowful.
Whatever is wished for, there isn’t time to accomplish, so stop wishing.
To be a companion of these three is most beneficial.

Now happiness is exhausted, there is no time for happiness.
Not desiring sorrow, end the age of sorrow by practicing Dharma.
Whether happy or unhappy, know that it comes from karmic force.
Now, have no doubt or expectation in anyone.

Hoping in others with false smiles,
the self pretends with expectation,
doing this and that with hopes and doubts,
Now , when this occurs, do nothing”.

from Patrul Rinpoche’s The Practice of the Essence of the Sublime Heart Jewel: View, Meditation and Action.

Daily Tibetan Astrology: July 9, 2009

2009-07-09T00:01:00.000+08:00

Chinese 17th (doubled), M-T-K 17th. Mouse, Zin, Yellow 5. Today is a doubled day (in Chinese expression), so go back and read yesterday. Note that our days are now back in synch. Anybody who doubts that the fire and earth elements are running wild should click this link.

Humidity, Poetry, and Secret Towers

2009-07-08T00:02:00.004+08:00

"Come up here and get me!"
"No.. you come down here!"

I'm in Washington, D.C. today, where I once upon a time used to work (Hill) and live (Maryland Avenue), and from which I fled so long ago, that I clean forgot how awful this place is in the summertime. If there is a Hell, it is humid and full of politicians.

Anyway, I like poetry, and D.C. boasts one of the nation's best bookstores for people who like poetry, and that would be Bridge Street Books in the 2800 block of Penn. Since the air conditioning is nice there, I like to hang around. While hanging around somebody said, "check this out," and although it wasn't poetry, it was interesting: Secret Towers of the Himalayas, by Frederique Darragon (154 pp, illus., USD $30.00).

That the towers aren't necessarily secret -- they have been standing for 1,000 years -- has not deterred Ms. Darragon, who has "discovered" them, and now rides her discovery with the obligatory book, documentary film, and do-good foundation -- named (hold on to your organic cotton teddy), the Sichuan University Unicorn Heritage Foundation, or SUUH for short.

If you've ever been to Sedona, you get the idea, except this one is in Sichuan. Local officials there are wearing out their electronic dictionaries trying to find the Pinyin for "vortex," so they can tell Beijing the wonderful news that white ghosts are soon coming for tourism and cultural misunderstanding.

I only pretend to be cynical. Everybody knows I wear tie-dyed socks and listen to Karla Bonoff -- the Restless Nights album, no less.

So, to each his own.

Mde. Darragon (center) with Chinese Ambassador and his wife, at
opening of Secret Towers exhibit at U.N. Headquarters, 2004.

Sichuan Unicorn notwithstanding (be sure to order the spicy sauce on the side), Mde. Darragon has done the world a service by heightening awareness of these archaeological (and architectural) wonders, which appear to date from the 8th century at the earliest to the 15th century at the latest. She has done the first field census of these structures, whacked off pieces, and sent them out for carbon dating. Beats sitting around Sedona waiting for the Mothership.

I like people who actually get out and do something, and I like Frederique Tarragon. Her book has inspired me to visit the towers, and pet the unicorns.

Daily Tibetan Astrology: July 8, 2009

2009-07-08T00:01:00.007+08:00

Chinese 17th, M-T-K 16th. Mouse, Zin, Yellow 5. If you're in Thailand, today marks the beginning of the Rains retreat, and it is infinitely more humid in Thailand than it is in Washington, D.C., so I should count my blessings. Counting one's blessings is entirely appropriate for this mouse day.

Today we are still feeling the vibes from the illusion of yesterday, so I would avoid disturbing the earth element. What could this mean? Well, don't mow the lawn, work in the garden, or pound stakes in the ground.

Today is particularly good for presenting requests to authorities, getting engaged, or entering into alliances. Generally speaking, today is very good for important steps.

While we're on the subject of retreats, this is as good a time as any to mention that the Palyul will begin their annual New York State retreat the day after tomorrow. It seems that for those on the stagnant fringe, who think listening to bad music is part of ngondro, there is also some sort of nonsense in Maryland. So, you have Broadway, and then you have Summer Playhouse.

A third alternative is a cave in the hills, but I guess that is now considered old-fashioned, what with no broadband or wireless.

"Dear Mom and Dad -- Yep, its me! Still here in (ugh) three year retreat. My guru emailed me last night to say all sentient beings are my parents, but guess what? You're special! Uhh... can you send me some Rocky Road? Only, please don't tell anybody. And, can you please remember to tape 'L Word' for me? "