So Long, Best wishes...

Out of the blue as this sounds, I think it is time to leave Xanga!I enjoyed my writing experience and enjoyed reading all my subscriptions, it goes to prove there are beyond amazing people out there expressing their creativity, spirituality, BUT I just cannot keep up with you all. Hope you all have a safe journey in life, and NAMO SANGHAYA To all the practitioners of the Dharma, May all your aspirations be fulfilled, may all be auspicious, and so forth and so forth and so forth.

Good Night Bodh Gaya!

Self-Grasping...

Dharma sometimes is treated like an intellectual piece, it can be, however, it can give rise to the ego. We can get wrapped in our texts, and books and think, "Ah hah, this is the reality to all existence." Then I've seen it in myself and others we go into this pitfall of talking over each other, listening to what we only have to say, I guess this is one of the reasons for Debating courtyards in Monasteries, you can see your flaws, and watch yourself continually self-grasp at your view, and seeing it higher above others, Self-grasping sometimes is a problem I have, I realize it until after a conversation. Maybe it's time to just shuttup and listen, and only say it if I am certainly sure that it holds wisdom to it. I once heard a way to get rid of that self-grasping is to insult yourself from my friend who is a monk.

A couple of months ago, I was being taught with about 15 other students with Karma Chakme Rinpoche. He was a 30 year old reincarnate Lama of Nagarjuna (one of many emanations.) His more famous incarnation was that of the 4th Chakme Rinpoche I believe who composed, "The Mountain Dharma Retreat Manual" which he was teaching on...

Some of the students were a little suprised and seeds of doubt planted in their minds when they heard from his mouth...

"I am not sure if I am the reincarnation of this individual, Chakme Rinpoche, however, I have been given the responsibility to teach this particular text to numbers of students."

   "I lack love and compassion at most, it is one of the things I have difficulty with, and is now a focus of my practice."

 "I am not the best teacher by any means, I am sitting before you making sure I teach you properly, I am not even that good of a teacher or student at that matter."\

After he taught I realized that he was actually being an example. He knew perfectly who he was, what his qualities are as a teacher, However, being a Rinpoche leaves space to be adored by many, so the medicine for him was to insult himself, on a subtle level or more as his practice, so that if he was faced with someone slandering him to his face, he wouldnt be grasping to, "How dare you, I am Rinpoche." 

In thanksgiving to the the Mother of All Buddhas, Arya Tara

I prostrate to the Mind of Arya Tara, unfabricated and pure, The Dharmakaya, vast as space, arises, the seed syllable "TAM" the seed of Compassionate Activities. Upon the lotus, symbolizing the ultimate attainment of Enlightenment, arises the seed of Enlightenment.

I prostrate to the Speech of Arya Tara, arising in her majestic form, radiating light to the four directions, bestowing unfathomable Love and Compassion for her children. Just as a parent picks up their newborn for the first time, her love is like this, unconditional, overwhelming, This is the Love of the Buddhas of Past, Present and Future.

I prostrate to the Body of Arya Tara, emanating herself through many known and unknown emanations, planting the seeds of compassion and bodhicitta in the mindstreams of sentient beings, this is the action of her compassion, I offer my body, my speech, my mind to the noble Arya Tara, I offer my possessions without hindrance. Thus, I offer the root mantra of the twenty-one Taras.

                 OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SVAHA

Mind, A Sky without clouds  Speech, Rainbow Body  Body, Gartrul- Emanation of Tara

Mother of all sentient beings, please guide us, now, in the future and in the Bardo, May our minds be moistened by love and compassion, bodhicitta, and the knowledge of reality. Encourage and keep with those with a little dust in their eyes, May they be Awakened. May the Teachings of the Dharma flourish in the hearts who take refuge in the Sutras, Tantras and Treatises as spoken by The Lord Buddha Shakyamuni and the Conquerors before him and after him.

May All Beings find genuine happiness, free from sorrow, may they abide in the equanimity which does not divide us. Lift the veil of dualistic view, Lift the veil of ignorance of Samsara, Lift the veil of wrong view or dogmatic view, Lift the veil of negative intent, and as the lift veils allow those beings to see Mahamudra, the luminous mind, free from extreme, unfabricated, Your Mind, Our Mind - In union.

From primordial times, You Noble Mother, the Janasattva and I, the Samayasattva have been one, I thus offer this praise, this prayer to the Supreme Nature of My Mind, and Others, the Mind of the Buddha, The State of Mahamudra.

Is the Time Appropriate, Ananda?

When The Buddha reached his early eighties, still maintaining the same appearance as he did when he was thirty, he was in the grove with the Venerable Ananda, his cousin and disciple.

Ananda was confronted with probably one of the most difficult situations. The Buddha said to  him, if Ananda wishes so, The Buddha would continue to live, but he must say so now. Ananda did not reply, the sangha knowing this became unhappy with Ananda for not saying of course, yes. The sangha's unhappiness towards Ananda drove him to beseech The Buddha to continue to live,  The Buddha smiled and simply said. "Too Late." The irreversable process had begun from the moment he did not reply.

    Scene of The Buddha's passing - Parinirvana

Ananda sometimes is portrayed in the Sutras as a flaky student, However, I think Ananda was one of the strongest figures. Ananda, was the individual who persisted that The Buddha allow women to be ordained (This does not mean that The Buddha was sexist), so therefore, Ananda when he was faced with this question, probably thought it was a test teaching, as others do when they are asked difficult questions from the Teacher. I also think Ananda, as an Arhat knows the nature of impermanence, and knew that The Buddha's passing, or death of the body would be a Teaching unto itself, and this was proven to be so, The Buddha's last words were, "All composite phenomena are empty of inherent nature." This reflected his natural process of life in Samsara. The Buddha was able to live continuously, but the passing of the Teacher, like Jesus also, contained a message and teaching within it.

Homage to Avalokitesvara as His Holiness, The Fourteenth Dalai Lama...

Homage to our supreme teacher and protector, Avalokitesvara, We beseech you to not pass into Nirvana but stay with us, for the benefit of all sentient beings.       

                    OM MANI PADME HUNG HRI

In this realm....

                Encircled by snow-covered mountains,

You are the source of benefit and happiness without exception,

        Tenzin Gyatso, Powerful Chenrezig

May you remain stead fast until....until the end of cyclic existence