Future Home of the 16th Karmapa’s Parinirvana Stupa
Before the change of the Lunar New Year, it is traditional to engage in practices to clear out any remaining negativity lingering from the previous year. Before the beginning of the Year of the Iron Ox, Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche and the lamas at KC16 held pre-Losar Mahakala pujas with abundant offerings to clear the way for hard work, steady progress, and abounding auspiciousness.
On this auspicious day of the Parinirvana of Düsum Khyenpa (1110-1193), the First Karmapa, KC16 Rinpoche and Lamas perform extended practices.
Historically, in Tibet, there were three “seats” of the Karmapas correlating with the sacred abodes of body, speech and mind of the Glorious Chakrasamvara. Kampo Nenang is the lower seat of “body”, Karma Gön is “middle seat” of speech and Tsurphu is the “upper seat” of the heart, or mind. Tsurphu became the main seat of all the Karmapas. Düsum Khyenpa attained Parinirvana at Tsurphu. We can see that the place of attainment of Parinirvana is important, and again remember what a special circumstance it is that His Holiness the 16th Karmapa attained Parinirvana in Zion, Illinois.
KC16 celebrates the day His Holiness the 16th Karmapa attained Parinirvana according to the Western calendar. Therefore, November 5 is the day!
Each year a long guru yoga puja is conducted in alternating years of a composition by Chamgon Tai Situ Rinpoche and one by Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche. This year KC16 will be performing the guru yoga by Chamgon Kenting Tai Situ Rinpoche.
Please join us in commemorating this auspicious day by dedicating your practice to His Holiness.
May all things be auspicious!
KC16 raised “Lungta” prayer flags, or wind horse flags, and recited a long life smoke puja composed by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa on Friday, October 30, 2020.
This upcoming lunar year – the year of the ox – is an obstacle year for HHK17. Therefore, beginning today, October 24, 2020, Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche and KC16 Lamas will preform Tara feast offering puja on every 10th of the lunar month, Mahakala feast offering puja on every 29th of lunar month and recite Amitayus sutra every day to clear away obstacles for HHK17 for this particular year.
In a recent post, we learned that one of the main practices of the 16th Karmapa was Tara, but did you know that White Tara was His Holiness the 16th Karmapa’s’ yidam? We practice Tara for three main reasons: She is powerful, her blessings are fast, and she is immeasurably kind.
White Tara is practiced by all four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism and is the main deity of other Buddhist practitioners and scholars, including the great master Atisha. She played an important role helping Buddhism flourish once again in Tibet, following some great obstacles, when Atisha was invited to Tibet to reestablish the teachings. Wondering whether he should go or not, Atisha supplicated the White Tara statue in Bodhgaya. She appeared to him in a pure vision and said his journey would be a complete success, that it would benefit many sentient beings, but it would lessen the years of his life.
Due to his great bodhicitta, Atisha went ahead to Tibet and, as prophesied by Tara, accomplished the enormous task of revitalizing and reforming the teachings, and founding Kadampa Buddhism. With good reason, Tara has since been one of the four main yidams of the Kadampa lineage.
Tara is also an important deity in the Kagyu lineage that began when Milarepa’s student Gampopa integrated the Mahamudra teachings of Milarepa with the Kadampa teachings of Atisha, including the practice of Tara. Green Tara symbolizes the fearless and compassionate energy of our mind’s true nature and the resolve to dispel suffering and fear, while White Tara is associated with longevity and healing practice.
KC16 will join Nalandabodhi International for its fifth annual Tara Drupchen to be held online from September 24 to 27, 2020, offering prayers and smoke pujas in Tibetan.
As a precursor to the Tara Drupchen, please enjoy this special audio file of Tara practice in Tibetan recorded in the shrine room at KC16:
We hope you will join us for the Drupchen! The event is free and everyone is welcome to participate by joining practices online, making prayer requests, aspirations, and offerings, and choosing to #gokind in thought, word, and deed. For information and registration please email: communications@nalandabodhi.org.
The Karmapa Center 16 is pleased to be joining Nalandabodhi International (NBI) and Nalanda West for NBI’s fifth annual Tara Drupchen to be held online from September 24 to 27.
Most of you know the Tara Sadana is a daily practice at KC16, but did you know that it was the main daily practice of the 16th Karmapa? According to his personal secretary, Zhanag Dzogpa Tenzin Namgyal, His Holiness practiced Tara every morning. (This and other stories about His Holiness can be found here.)
Since the beginning of the pandemic, KC16 has performed the Tara Sadhana more extensively than usual to call upon Tara to help alleviate the associated suffering as well as other specific and general fears and obstacles.
This September, we have the opportunity to join NBI in virtually sharing this powerful practice. We invite you to participate with us in the Drupchen to help spread much needed peace and joy for ourselves, our loved ones and every being around the globe.
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:
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.
Karmapa Khyenno!
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.