Friends of Karmapa Center 16, we wish you a very happy summer, the season in which both the 16th and 17th Karmapa were born. In honor of their summertime births, we would like to share a special prayer by His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, “Toward the Supreme Illumination.” It’s our aspiration that His words fill your every breath and your every step of every day.
Kindness is contagious in the very best sense of the word. It spreads warmth and joy, inspires generosity towards others and helps us open to our own innate kindness. You can help spread kindness across the globe this summer and the possibility for others to connect with His Holiness by:
• Sharing our posts on social media with the hashtag #GoKind • Submitting your images and videos of kindness to the KC16 bot via: m.me/KarmapaCenter16
The Karmapa Center 16 thanks you and the worldwide Sangha for all your support — no matter the form or action it has taken and continues to manifest.
This lunar month is the time when we celebrate Saga Dawa, the birth, enlightenment and parinirvana of the Shakyamuni Buddha.
It is also a somber time for many, as we grapple with the death of black American citizen George Floyd, which sparked protest in cities across the United States for two weeks. This, combined with COVID-19 ever present in our lives globally, has left many feeling afraid, angry and disillusioned.
During his life, the Shakyamuni Buddha foretold a prophecy, found in the Samadhi Raja Sūtra, which can give us courage for our lives now:
Two thousand years after I have passed, The teachings will arise in the land of the red-faced men. They will become disciples of Avalokita. In that degenerate time for dharma, The bodhisattva, Lion’s Roar, Will appear and be known as Karmapa. He will attain the samādhi empowerment and tame beings, Establishing them in well-being through sight, hearing, recollection, and touch.
And so it is, just as the Shakyamuni Buddha predicted. We have had the great good fortune to encounter His Holiness the 16th Karmapa’s teachings on love, kindness and compassion in this life — just when we and the world need them them the most.
Today we share with you Liberation Upon Seeing, produced by the Karmapa Picture Project. May all beings viewing these images of His Holiness be liberated instantly! Click on the photo below to view the video.
In the forward to the book Dharma King, a quote by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa speaks to the relevance of this video — with its collection of images of the 16th Karmapa’s life — and its immeasurable benefit to us now:
[The 16th Gyalwang Karmapa] seldom gave Dharma teachings through words, but taught intensively through physical gestures and tamed beings through his mere presence… one of his major activities was to liberate all those who saw him, as he did when donning the Black Crown, so there is undoubtedly great value in any visual connection made with him.
Following the example of His Holiness — by embodying loving-kindness and acting thoughtfully — we too can work to help others. It is said that any good deed performed during the month of Saga Dawa is multiplied as many as one hundred million times, so it is an especially auspicious time to perform positive actions!
One simple action to help create more widespread kindness and offer a chance for others to connect with His Holiness through images would be to: • Share our posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #GoKind • Submit your acts of kindness to the KC16 bot via: m.me/KarmapaCenter16
With deepest appreciation to all who continue to support The Karmapa Center 16 in all its endeavors.
Click on the photo below to view the video Liberation upon Seeing. Karmapa Khyenno!
His Holiness the 16th Karmapa in America. Photo courtesy of Shambhala Archives.
Our world continues to suffer in a multitude of ways from the coronavirus. Reported cases surpassed three million and deaths are over three hundred thousand. People are struggling with anxiety, fear and isolation.
WHAT CAN WE DO? As dharma practitioners, we have the tools to take inspiration from the vast loving-kindness of His Holiness The Sixteenth Karmapa, and be in touch with our own soft hearts. By doing that, we can radiate love and peace within ourselves, outwardly to specific beings we know are suffering and boundlessly throughout the globe to dissolve the energy of despair and unease.
In accordance with the One Million Positive Actions campaign, we invite you to touch in with your kind heart and participate in The Kindness Rocks Project which encourages painting an uplifting message on a rock and leaving it somewhere visible to others – such as under a tree, by a sidewalk or in a park, while taking note of Leave No Trace guidelines in consideration of our environment. The project is rooted in the belief that: “One message at just the right moment can change someone’s day, outlook, life!”
HOW Step one: Practice Meditate on the presence of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa. Acknowledge any fear, anxiety or pain you have. Take some time for the blessings to flow throughout you and dissolve your own suffering. When you have an experience of His Holiness’s enlightened presence, connect with the suffering of someone you know personally. Inhale their suffering and exhale the loving-kindness inside of you to alleviate the suffering of that being. Practice for a while to gain an experience of that being filled with the radiance of genuine love and peace. Then, finally, open your awareness to include all beings’ suffering as far as you can imagine. Inhale all that tension and unease, connect with your blessing-full, loving heart. Exhale all your positivity to dissolve all beings fear and suffering. Relax.
Step Two: Paint In your state of connection to loving kindness and compassion, on a stone paint or draw your message of love, hope and kindness, such as the rock below:
Step Three: Connect with One Million Positive Actions Take a photo of your message rock and share it with the KC16 bot via m.me/karmapacenter16 or social media and use the hashtags #KindnessRocks and #GoKind.
Step Four: Share your practice imbued message rock Place your message rock in any place of your choosing.
Step Five: Dedicate the merit Take a moment to dedicate the merit in your favorite way. Karmapa Khyenno!
Furthermore, please help us create more widespread kindness by:
Sharing our posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Encouraging family, friends, neighbors and community leaders to participate.
Asking any artists you know to create and post their own message stones (don’t forget to ask them to use #KindnessRocks and #GoKind in their posts!).
A deeply heartfelt thank you to all who continue to support The Karmapa Center 16 with all your capacity. May you be healthy, safe, and at peace.
This week, KC16 is inviting Dharma practitioners worldwide to find refuge in, to reflect upon, and to receive direct inspiration from His Holiness the 16th Karmapa through his declaration, “A Reminder to Myself” translated into English by Tyler Dewar.
“With your supreme intelligence, you realized the intention of the unsurpassable vehicle, the tradition of Padmakara. Guru of unequalled kindness, I remember you from my heart. I supplicate you—bless me with your compassion. I, Pema Trinley Palzang, a performer of three activities, From now on, will take control of my own discipline in thought and deed.”Read more…
May his vow be of benefit to one’s self and others and serve as a reminder that His Holiness is always with us in thought and action. There is no better time than the present to put the words of His Holiness into action in our own practice.
Many thanks to all of you — our dedicated global network — who continue to support, share, and contribute to The Karmapa Center 16 Stupa Project!
This week we’re fortunate to share Prayers for the Pandemic to Subside, the seven days of live-streamed prayers and teachings given by His Holiness The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje’s, one week of prayers to help us and everyone struggling with the coronavirus.
He kindly reminds us to consider our holistic health: “So when we are confronted by such great impermanence as now, we must do what we can not to panic and instead look inside ourselves.”
His Holiness the 17th Karmapa also shared “A Prayer for Pacifying the Fear of the Disease” by Thangtong Gyalpo, which is said to have stopped an epidemic at the great monastery of the Glorious Sakya tradition. It became renowned as the vajra speech radiating cloud-like blessings. Please join us in reciting this prayer. May its abundant blessings be with us always!
We welcome you to continue to share your photos and videos of kind actions with the KC16 Messenger Bot here: m.me/karmapacenter16 or using the #GoKind hashtag on social media platforms. Now more than ever is the time to radiate kindness!
Thank you to everyone who continues to follow, share and contribute to The Karmapa Center 16 Stupa Project in any capacity. Please don’t be hesitant to reach out to us if we may be of any assistance.
His Holiness the 17th Karmapa conducting puja at The Karmapa Center 16 in May 2015. Photo by Scott Pownall.
As COVID-19 continues to keep families at home, millions of children around the world are countering anxiety and fear by spreading hope through artwork.
This global campaign began last month when children in Italy began hanging drawings of rainbows with the phrase “Andrà tutto bene” (“Everything will be alright”) in their windows. Now children (and people of all ages) everywhere are participating.
The international youth empowerment organization, Global Dignity, is promoting this initiative to youth, parents and teachers in 80 countries around the world, with a simple way for sharing that anybody can follow (see details below).
Karmapa Center 16 is inviting everyone to #SpreadHope this week by inviting their children (or anybody who enjoys painting or drawing) to draw a rainbow and put it in their window as part of this campaign.
Just follow or share these easy steps to participate:
On a piece of paper, draw or paint a rainbow.
Add “Everything will be alright” (in your language) below your rainbow, along with any other hopeful messages you’d like.
Take a photo of your rainbow and share it with the KC16 bot via m.me/karmapacenter16 or post it to social media (make sure you use #SpreadHope, #GoKind and #GlobalDignity).
Hang your rainbow in a window to spread hope to your neighbors!
Please help us spread this idea even further by:
Sharing our posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Encouraging teachers, principals, community leaders, or others you know to have their students take part.
Asking any artists you know to create and post their own rainbow (don’t forget to ask them to use #GoKind #SpreadHope #GlobalDignity in their posts!).
It’s a simple way for children—or people of any age—to support their neighbors, uplift spirits and help calm fears.
“Karmapa” literally means “He who engages in Enlightened Activity” or “the one who carries out buddha-activity.” For more than eight centuries, the Karmapa lineage has done just that — spontaneously and compassionately taken action to benefit beings, in whatever way conditions permitted.
In honor of the vast positive activity of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, we’re inviting each of you to take part in One Million Positive Actions to benefit others particularly in this collectively difficult time. It could be anything, such as virtually helping a friend, donating food to those in need, thanking a neighbor who is a health care worker, posting an uplifting sign in your window facing outwards, planting a tree, or sowing seeds in a garden, etc. While in seclusion, there are still many opportunities for us to be kind — and we can make it creative and fun!
At KC16, for the benefit of the entire world in general, and Illinois specifically, the Lamas offered a special fire puja at the conclusion of a week practice. This fire puja called, “The Victorious Drum of the Clouds of Mahabrahma” was composed by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa. Reciting prayers and mantras and performing sadhana practices is said to pacify illness.
To support this kindness effort, today we’re launching a simple Facebook Messenger chatbot designed to widely share positive actions anyone can do from home, and we’d love for you to join us by contributing a photo or video of your kind action!
Contributing to the One Million Positive Actions campaign is easy: just share a photo or video of your kind action at m.me/karmapacenter16 or on social media with the hashtag #GoKind.
Each action you share will be part of the Karmapa Center 16 social media campaign — galvanizing others through your positive action, while showcasing our collective impact on a map (coming soon!).
Thank you for continuing to share this effort with your networks. See you next week.
“The 16th Gyalwang Karmapa seldom gave Dharma teachings through words but taught intensively through physical gestures and tamed beings through his mere presence. One of his major activities was to liberate all those who saw him … so there is undoubtedly great value in any visual connection made with him.”*
— His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa
During this difficult time of the global coronavirus pandemic, we can find solace and inspiration by seeing images, watching videos, and perhaps recalling one’s own experience of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa. His spontaneous and joyous actions benefited beings wherever and in whatever way conditions permitted, despite any obstacles.
We are pleased to present a way to visually connect with the 16th Karmapa by sharing photographs and videos about him. Contemplating his life and the lives of other lineage masters can benefit our mind stream and help us find the courage to open our hearts as we move through distressing times. When we benefit ourselves in this way, we are better equipped to support others both directly and indirectly.
We hope these offerings about His Holiness are indeed uplifting and an inspiration for yourself, your family, friends, colleagues and communities. We will soon include new ways to share acts of kindness so that those positive actions may ripple outward to be felt far and wide.
This week’s video features James Gimian, who first became involved with Buddhism in 1972, as a student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Two years later, he held a lead role during His Holiness the 16th Karmapa’s first visit to the United States for the ten day Dharma Festival in San Francisco, in 1974. In the video interview Mr. Gimian, who is the publisher of Mindful Magazine, describes how His Holiness was a vital catalyst for introducing Buddhism to the West by facilitating “the diaspora of the teachings coming to the west.”
Knowing that His Holiness was instrumental in the blossoming of Buddhism in Western culture, Mr. Gimian also recognizes how the Stupa in Wadsworth, in the Heartland of America, will serve as “ground zero for the dharma becoming deeply rooted in North American soil.”
The story of His Holiness’ positive influences on those who cared for him at the end of his life in Illinois, reminds us of the power we all have to make a difference in the lives of others and vice versa. It made us think with tremendous gratitude and prayers for the safety of the millions of brave and selfless pandemic healthcare workers around the world. We can also follow His Holiness’ example and express gratitude, kindness, joy, generosity, and compassion in our everyday interactions regardless of challenging circumstances. We can be the positive change we all long for.
We give great thanks to everyone who has generously donated to help bring this vision to fruition by supporting our campaign for the Stupa. While the campaign will continue through June, we understand that making a donation is not possible for many at this time. Should you be able to give or feel moved to support the campaign at any point, your gift will be gratefully received.
We wish you all good health and well being, and look forward to sharing more about His Holiness with you next week.
*Excerpted from Dharma King: The Life of the 16th Karmapa in Images
James Gimian shares the significance of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa’s visits to North America. Video produced by Sam Scoggins. (Click on photo to view video)
As we reach out today, we acknowledge that there are few places that have not been touched by the coronavirus. Many countries, states, and towns have instituted shut downs and continue to publish daily safety measures. The World Health Organization gives us international information, updates and perspective.
KC16 Lamas are in strict retreat doing extended prayers for coronavirus. We’ve posted some pictures on Facebook of a fire puja, may they be beneficial! While this is not an ideal time for a fundraising campaign, we thought that hearing stories about His Holiness the 16th Karmapa is helpful for this time, so we will do our best to continue sharing stories in the next few months.
This week, we’re delighted and honored to hear His Holiness Kyabgon Gongma Trichen Rinpoche,* talk about his relationship with His Holiness, the 16th Karmapa. In this video, HH Sakya Trichen explains that building a stupa is a very meritorious action because, “by building a stupa it will emanate many blessings and benefits to all sentient beings so that everybody will have good peace and harmony throughout the world.” This merit is doubled because it is for His Holiness the 16th Karmapa.
*His Holiness Kyabgon Gongma Trichen Rinpoche, was the 41st and longest reigning Sakya Trizin.
As of this third week of the campaign, we’ve reached $132,500 USD from over 200 donors. Likewise, we’ve had the support of nearly 780 social media shares and over 200 campaign followers! We’ve made significant strides toward our fundraising goal.
Dear wonderful students, volunteers, friends, and supporters of all kinds, to be kind to ourselves and all of you and comply with local, state and federal regulations and suggestions regarding coronavirus protection, we wanted to inform you that our resident Lamas are now in strict retreat to to extra prayers for the current pandemic. We thank you for your patience (if you happen to call the center) and your own kind consideration to follow your own areas guidelines where ever in the world you are.
While we take care for the safety of those around us, it is a good time to connect with our minds of loving kindness and compassion, connect with the dharma and any and all teachers we have been fortunate to receive teachings from. Remember to be in the moment, remember our shamatha-calm abiding meditation, guru yoga and support each other in stability and peace.
Making our offering in that direction, KC16 volunteers will continue our campaign virtually because we will continue to share stories about His Holiness the 16th Karmapa through the words and voices of other teachers and students. We will be launching a way to share your own kind deeds – so stay tuned. We look forward to hearing the many acts of kindness from around the world.
To stay updated, continue to visit this news page, or opt in for any of the following:
Sign up for KC16 email by going to our home page and clicking “Subscribe” in the top left corner and inputting your email and name. For back issues of stories, contact: dsengupta@karmapacenter16.org.
