第十六世噶瑪巴涅槃靈塔之未來家園
It is with heartfelt sorrow that we received the news of the passing into parinirvāṇa of the great Kagyü master, His Eminence Chöje Ayang Rinpoche. His absence will be deeply felt by many within our community and beyond.
In this time of mourning, our resident Lamas at Karmapa Center 16 are offering butter lamps and prayers to support everyone affected by this loss. We invite all to join us in honoring Rinpoche’s memory and legacy.
In heartfelt support, may the Dharma guide us.
Karmapa Center 16
Acharya Lhakpa warmly welcomed everyone, including those who were newly joining, to our third session in the series, Meditation for All: 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva. After our usual opening chants, our resident teacher provided brief instructions regarding our physical posture in the practice of śamatha, or calm-abiding meditation. He also pointed out that whenever our minds wander, or we get distracted, we need to bring our attention back to the movement of our breath, in and out, and continue our meditation practice.
The previous Sunday, Acharya Lhakpa posed the question: “How can we make our human birth meaningful?” He stated that the first verse of Ngulchu Tokmé’s text The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva provides the answer. This verse teaches us how to prepare for becoming Mahayana practitioners who intend to liberate ourselves and all sentient beings from samsara, or the bewilderment of ignorance. We do this through the practices of listening, contemplation, and meditation.
The preparation for a bodhisattva can be likened to learning how to swim in order to help someone who is drowning — if you don’t know how to swim, then you are not able to help a drowning person. Thus, the need to master listening, contemplation, and meditation represents our first swimming lesson. With that understanding, we then turned towards the second verse.
The second verse reads as follows:
“Attachment toward our close ones stirs us up like water.
Aggression toward our enemies burns us like fire.
Dark with ignorance, we forget what to adopt or reject.
To abandon one’s homeland is the practice of a bodhisattva.” (2)
– from: A Guide to the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, translated by Christopher Stagg)
Acharya Lhakpa reminded us that on the path of the Mahayana, compassion is indispensable. It is the foundation of all practices and is taught in the Sūtras to be like a seed, in the beginning. While we endeavour to benefit all sentient beings, including ourselves, we first need to protect the sprouting seed well. Our intention is great, but our ability is limited because the seed of loving-kindness and compassion is just sprouting, and therefore is very fragile.
Failing to protect the new growth would become an obstacle to achieving liberation and omniscience, or complete buddhahood. When the sprout has fully grown and starts to bear fruit, we no longer need to worry. Yet, until that point, we need to safeguard the sprout of loving-kindness and compassion. How to do so? That is what this verse teaches.
The verse speaks of abandoning one’s homeland as the practice of a bodhisattva. When we think of “homeland,” Acharya shared, we can consider the place where we grow up. With time, we develop an attachment to our house, the places where we play, our family, and so forth. Attachment to these will stir us up like water, constantly moving toward things, places, and beings close to us.
Interdependent with this, we have people, places, and things we don’t like. Towards those, we develop aggression or anger. This, in turn, will burn the virtue we have accumulated and whatever merit follows future virtuous activities. It will burn the sprout of compassion.
So, why does Ngulchu Tokmé write about abandoning one’s homeland? Attachment and aggression will lead us to forget what is virtuous and non-virtuous; what to accept and what to reject. Forgetting this, we will fall into the darkness of ignorance. We won’t know where to go and where not to go. To prevent this and to nourish the sprout of compassion so it can become stronger, we must abandon our homeland.
Acharya Lhakpa pointed out that “homeland” serves as an example. There is no guarantee that you are free of attachment and aggression by just abandoning your homeland. Rather, it points to any place or environment that causes us to forget what to adopt and what to reject. Places that give rise to attachment and aggression are what a bodhisattva must abandon or distance themselves from.
To illustrate this, our resident teacher shared an expression: “Not abandoning the objects giving rise to attachment and aggression in our mind-stream is like the tail of an elephant that gets stuck in the door, when the elephant walks through it.” We may move away from our physical homeland, but we have not abandoned the hidden homeland within ourselves. To free ourselves from attachment and aggression is like freeing the tail of the elephant from being stuck in the door.
What is the hidden homeland Ngulchu Tokmé is pointing to? Contemplating deeper, we can see that the real homeland is self-attachment, self-cherishing, or grasping at a self. What do we mean by this? Sometimes, Acharya taught, we have thoughts like, “I am good. I am special.” At other times, we may think, “I am not good. I am weak.” Whether we have good or bad thoughts about ourselves, both are a sign of having self-fixation.
As a consequence of this grasping at a self, the notion of ‘other’ arises. The other, in turn, gets separated into friends and enemies and leads to attachment and aggression, respectively. Thus, as Ngulchu Tokmé points out, “Attachment toward our close ones stirs us up like water. Aggression toward our enemies burns us like fire.” Therefore, abandoning our physical homeland does not help to abandon the root or basis; it is the inner homeland of self-clinging that we need to abandon.
How to do so? Acharya explained that while we all have the thought that there is a self, if we investigate closely, there is no self to be found. Realizing there is ultimately no self means we abandon our homeland from the very base or root. If we have abandoned it completely, it no longer matters where we go and stay. There is no homeland anymore to abandon. In fact, there was no homeland from the start.
So, abandoning our homeland, in the sense of an outer, physical homeland, is very important in the beginning. Yet, ultimately, we need to abandon this inner or hidden homeland of grasping at a self. This is the second practice of a bodhisattva.
The third verse is closely related to the second yet points towards its opposite. The verse reads as follows:
“When we abandon negative places, the afflictions gradually diminish.
In the absence of any distraction, virtuous activity naturally increases.
Through clear awareness, certainty in the dharma arises.
To keep to solitary places is the practice of a bodhisattva.”
If the three mental afflictions of attachment, aggression, and ignorance are present in our mind-stream, then they will form an obstacle for engaging in virtuous activity. This being so, they are known as the three poisons. Acharya commented that these are not easy to abandon or purify overnight. Yet, since not doing so would poison the sprout of compassion, we understand that on the path of a bodhisattva, we must abandon our homeland to diminish our afflictions and give up our self-cherishing attitude, which we typically focus upon one-pointedly.
Leaving behind our outer and inner homeland means we distance ourselves from mental afflictions like attachment and aggression. No longer finding ourselves in negative places, our afflictive emotions decrease. Likewise, without distractions, virtuous activity naturally increases. This will benefit or support the flourishing of the sprout of compassion.
The virtuous activity in the context of the path of the bodhisattvas, Acharya explained, refers to the six pāramitās (perfections): generosity, moral conduct/discipline, patience, joyful diligence, meditative concentration, and insight or wisdom.
If, as the text teaches, we keep to solitary places, virtuous activity increases. In contrast to what happens when we grow dark with ignorance, “through clear awareness, certainty in the dharma arises.”
So, what does it mean to “keep to solitary places”? Similar to there being an outer and inner homeland, “solitary place” can be understood in two ways. Usually, we think of a solitary place as being far removed from our homeland, in the sense of physical distance. Yet here, solitary place means being free of the distractions of samsara, wherever we are. The three poisons are what we really need to distance ourselves from and to leave behind. Being free of attachment, aggression, and ignorance, is the genuine solitary place.
Acharya then commented that in our 21st century, relying on solitary places in the physical sense is very difficult. “Wherever we go,” he said, “there is a connection with the world through the internet, our phone, and so on. To find real solitary places, like in the old days, is very difficult.” So, how to find this real solitary place? By pausing, by allowing a gap, which provides the opportunity to make a choice to free ourselves from the distractions of the afflictive emotions.
In short, bodhisattvas strive or endeavour to liberate themselves and others from samara. To be able to do that, what is their practice? To keep to solitary places. What is the real solitary place? To turn away from the samsaric distractions of our mental afflictions. Leaving behind samsaric distractions, together with abandoning our homeland of self-clinging, Acharya concludes, is the practice of a bodhisattva.
At the beginning of our second Meditation for All: Thirty-Seven Practice of a Bodhisattva session, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering kindly requested everyone to give rise to the heart of awakening – bodhicitta – and sit in śamatha (calm-abiding) meditation.
Following the practice of śamatha and before continuing our discussion of Ngulchu Tokmé’s text The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, our resident teacher reminded us that this text outlines the Mahāyāna path. Engaging in this practice means seeking full awakening or complete buddhahood to liberate ourselves and all sentient beings.
As Buddha Shakyamuni taught in the Sūtras, the only method leading to this state is through loving-kindness and compassion. These form the sole foundation before practicing anything else. What is the genuine heart of compassion? Acharya referred to his teacher, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, who says “it is a genuine concern and willingness to give anything of ourselves that is necessary to alleviate the sufferings of sentient beings.” (Quoted from: https://www.shambhala.com/snowlion_articles/entering-the-trainings-in-compassion/)
This altruistic heart is indispensable foundation for those on the bodhisattva path. Following the two opening verses discussed last week, we turned to the verse that expresses the first practice: seizing the opportunity offered by a precious human existence.
The verse that points out the first practice of a bodhisattva is about our precious human birth as a rare opportunity, as indicated by the first two lines:
“Now we have this great vessel of freedoms and resources, so difficult to obtain.
So that we may liberate ourselves and others from the ocean of samsara.”
– from: A Guide to the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, translated by Christopher Stagg)
Acharya Lhakpa explained that just being born as a human being, according to this text, is not fully considered to be precious. It becomes precious when it offers the potential or abilility to free oneself and many other sentient beings from the ocean of samsara. This relates to the ‘freedoms and resources’ mentioned in the text which Gampopa has extensively taught in Ornament of Precious Liberation. For now, Acharya said we can understand this as an opportunity to practice the Dharma — not only to cross the ocean of samsara ourselves but also, as indicated by the example of a ‘great vessel,’ to accommodate many others.
Understanding our precious human life as an opportunity to free ourselves and many others from sufferin means that we must seize it. Why? Because this opportunity is difficult to obtain and easy to lose. Who knows when we might have it again? So, for someone with a genuine heart of compassion —bodhicitta— the question now becomes: How do we seize this opportunity?
Acharya Lhakpa explained that the two last lines of this verse show us how to seize this rare opportunity to free ourselves and all beings from the ocean of samsara:
“Day and night, without distraction,
To listen, contemplate, and meditate is the practice of a bodhisattva.”
– from: A Guide to the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, translated by Christopher Stagg
In his comments, our resident teacher shared that ‘without distraction’ refers to a form of samsaric laziness. While this could indicate doing nothing, it could also mean getting attached to nonvirtuous actions of body, speech, and mind. When making this samsaric distraction a habit, we risk falling into the lower realms or miserable states of being. If we do fall into those states, we will remain there for a very long time without being able to obtain the freedoms and resources that constitute a precious human existence. “That means,” Acharya said, “the opportunity knocked only once and we missed the opportunity.”
The text says to practice without distraction ‘day and night.’ Does this mean we don’t rest at all? Acharya shared that he thought it probably doesn’t mean that; instead, it suggest that we should make a continuous effort.
So, to fulfill our intention to liberate ourselves and other sentient beings from the ocean of samsara, what should a bodhisattva do? Ngulchu Tokmé teaches us clealry in this text that we need to listen, contemplate, and meditate. This, Acharya emphasized, is very important.
First of all, we listen or study the teachings of the Buddha as taught in the Sūtras, together with the commentaries and treatises of the great masters, enabling us to eliminate the darkness of not knowing. Yet, we don’t just leave it with that. As taught by Buddha Shakyamuni, we analyze the teachings like a goldsmith accepts gold as true only through heating, cutting, and rubbing. Through contemplating and thoroughly investigating the teachings, we dispel any doubts and things that were not yet clear to us.
Finally, we practice meditation. Acharya shared that we often hear that it is important to meditate. While this is true, it is essential to understand the main point of meditation: to bring whatever we understand through hearing and contemplating into practice. “To internalize whatever we have studied or practiced, that is meditation.”
In sum, Acharya commented that to liberate ourselves and others from the ocean of samsara—a great responsibility—we need to engage in listening, contemplation, and meditation to fulfill it. This is the practice of a bodhisattva.
Sometimes we ask questions about the meaning or purpose of life. This verse, Acharya Lhakpa said, offers an answer to such questions. Rather than asking ‘what is the meaning of life?’ or ‘what is its purpose?,’ we could ask ‘How to make life meaningful and give it a purpose?’. This is the question answered by this verse: Through listen, contemplate, and meditate upon the teachings of the Dharma and engage in the practice of the bodhisattvas—the path of the Mahāyāna.
The freedom and resources mentioned earlier refer to the eight freedoms and ten resources. These include references to various types of rebirth in the desire realm, from the hell beings up to the devas. [include a footnote to mention all of them] While we have identified planets like Mars and Saturn, we haven’t found any hell realms, hungry ghost realm, et cetera. Consequently, many people have ask Acharya where these realms, if they indeed exist.
The Ornament of Precious Liberation and Abdhidharmakosa teach in great detail where these realms are located. However, Acharya said, trying to find these as physical realms somewhere would be missing the point. These texts all say that we are born in a particular realm due to particular kleśa (afflictive emotions/mental disturbances). Due to strong anger, for example, we fall into one of the hell realms. “We don’t have to be born in the hell realm to understand it. Whenever we encounter this kind of kleśa like strong anger, the hell realm is right there, within ourselves.” Not only will this burn ourselves, so to speak, but also others; thus, we need not look elsewhere for these realms—they exist within our own experiences.
Acharya Lhakpa continued his commentary on this by stressing that we must understand that the teaching of the Buddha is to tame and train our mind. This means that we should not be looking for a hell realm, hungry spirit realm, and so forth, outside. If we carefully consider this notion of the various realms, it is about working with our afflictive emotions or disturbed states of mind. All the teachings about this are methods to tame and train our mind. That is the most important, essential point.
By way of conclusion, Acharya mentioned again that the verse of this second session is about the precious human birth. How to make this life meaningful? Through listening, contemplating, and meditating the Dharma. As taught by Gampopa, this is not something we do stage by stage, while that is also good, but in an integrated matter. We constantly move back and forth between these three practices of a bodhisattva.
Acharya then led us in our dedication of merit: whatever merit or virtue we have gained through this practice and session, we dedicate it to all sentient beings.
“The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva presents an alternative way of thinking, of relating to the outer and inner worlds of everyday living. It is a refreshing, revolutionary, and radical approach to a life that is worth living.” — Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Foreword to A Guide to The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, translated by Christopher Stagg.
Warmly welcoming everyone onsite and online to Karmapa Center 16’s Meditation for All, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering, briefly shared about the history and purpose of KC16. Our vast aspiration is to establish a place for pilgrimage, meditation, retreat, study, and refuge, in honor of His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, who passed into parinirvāṇa in Zion, Illinois. Since the location of the passing into parinirvāṇa is considered sacred and full of blessings, Karmapa Center 16 was established in Wadsworth, Illinois.
Before starting his commentary on The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, the text that Acharya Lhakpa will be teaching about in this new series of Meditation for All, he guided us in a brief śamatha (calm-abiding) meditation session. Acharya emphasized the importance of simply being aware.
Following our practice of śamatha meditation together, Acharya began his teaching on The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva by introducing the author of the root text, a great scholar and practitioner, Ngulchu Tokmé (ca. 1295 – ca. 1369).
There are many stories, Acharya shared, that speak about Ngulchu Tokmé being very compassionate at a very young age. For example, one time, during Losar (Tibetan New Year), a special occasion in Tibet, Tokmé was dressed up and his mother sent him out to play with other kids. After some time, he returned without clothes. His mother asked him: “Where are your clothes?” The young boy replied that he had used his garment to cover an ant colony to protect them from the cold.
After studying, contemplating, and practicing the teachings of the Buddha, Ngulchu Tokmé came to be called and widely known as Gyalse Tokmé. The name “Gyalse” (in Tibetan: རྒྱལ་སྲས།) means “son (or child) of the Victorious Ones,” referring to the Buddhas.
The previous weekend, Acharya shared a litte bit about the paths of the śrāvakas (hearers) and pratyekabuddhas (solitary realizers) in comparison to the way of the bodhisattvas (literally “awakening hero”), the Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna, respectively. Whereas the Hīnayāna teachings emphasize individual liberation, the Mahāyāna teachings stress practicing in order to liberate all sentient beings. The latter is therefore said to be the great vehicle.
From this traditional framework of the Mahāyāna, our root text encapsulates the heroic path of compassion in 37 key practices. Compassion, Acharya pointed out, is like a seed at the beginning; in the middle, it is like water providing moisture for that seed to grow. At the end of our practice, it culminates in the attainment of awakening and benefiting other beings. To be a practitioner of the Mahāyāna means to practice compassion. This is the heroic path—the path of a bodhisattva.
Before explaining how to follow the heroic path of the bodhisattvas verse by verse, Ngulchu Tokmé begins his text with two opening verses: the homage or verse of offering and his statement of purpose or intention behind this text.
Acharya first read the homage as translated by our dear dharma friend, Christopher Stagg, who is dearly remembered, in A Guide to the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva:
Namo Guru Lokeśvara
Although he sees that all phenomena are free of coming and going,
He strives only for the benefit of beings.
To the protector Avalokiteśvara and the supreme guru
I continually pay homage with my three gates. (A)
The key point expressed in Ngulchu Tokmé’s homage is twofold. The first line refers to the two truths in the Mahāyāna tradition: conventional (or relative) truth and absolute (or ultimate) truth. Explaining this in an easy manner, this means that while all phenomena appearing to us constitute conventional reality, they are ultimately empty in nature – signifiying absolute reality. In other words, things seem to come and go; they can be perceived as long or short, good or bad, and so forth. However, upon closer investigation, we will find that nothing truly exists as it appears.
Acharya taught that the ultimate nature of all phenomena is emptiness, a view that can be difficult to grasp. To help us understand this, he pointed to how the great master Tsongkhapa explained emptiness by teaching about the interdependence of all phenomena. The booklet containing Christopher Stagg’s translation may seem small, but its size is relative. If there were a smaller booklet, this one would appear larger in comparison. In short, recognizing the reality of interdependence—conventional reality—is key to understanding emptiness—ultimate reality. For our practice, it is essential to see that these two truths are inseparable.
The three lines that follow the first line of the four-line verse, which comes after the Sanskrit honoring India as the birthplace of the Buddha’s teachings, express Ngulchu Tokmé’s homage to Avalokiteśvara and his root teacher, the supreme guru.
Why does he pay homage to them? Avalokiteśvara has realized emptiness and strives, as the verse indicates, for the benefit of all beings in samsara who have not yet understood that all phenomena lack inherent existence. Since his teacher embodied the compassion of Avalokiteśvara and diligently worked to liberate all beings, Ngulchu Tokmé prostrates to both of them as inseparable.
Acharya pointed out that paying homage in this way helps us realize that the enlightened qualities of Avalokiteśvara can be found within us. He shared how his own teacher, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, often illustrates this with the metaphor of a candle. While we all share the candle of compassion, it needs to be lit through our practice of paying homage as we embark on this revolutionary and heroic path. Thus, we begin by honoring both Avalokiteśvara, the embodiment of compassion, and our own spiritual friend as one.
Before closing our session, Acharya Lhakpa briefly explained the second verse:
The sources of benefit and happiness, the perfect buddhas,
Come from accomploshing the genuine dharma.
Since this depends on understanding their practices,
I will explain the practices of the bodhisattvas. (B)
This is Ngulchu Tokmé’s statement of purpose, revealing the intent behind composing this text. The practices he will explain in the next 37 verses are the practices of the bodhisattvas. We might wonder, why?
Well, our resident teacher explained that bodhisattvas become buddhas through these practices. Therefore, if we want to attain buddhahood like them, we need to practice in their ways. What are these practices? As the verse states, it is the practice of genuine dharma. What is genuine dharma? That is the practice of compassion.
The practice of compassion serves as the cause for both temporary benefits in this life and the next, helping us avoid non-virtuous actions that could lead to miserable states. Additionally, it provides the ultimate benefit of achieving awakening or realizing buddhahood.
Therefore, Acharya Lhakpa explained that without the practice of compassion, there is no way to find genuine happiness in this life, nor any chance of attaining ultimate happiness. Thus, for both our well-being and the realization of complete buddhahood, compassion is indispensable.
Acharya said he would stop here for this first session in the new series of Meditation for All, wishing that our practice and engagement with this text may serve as a cause for our own awakening. He concluded by inviting everyone to join together in the dedication of merit.
Karmapa Center 16 commemorates His Holiness the 16th Karmapa’s parinirvāṇa every year on November 5th, the day of his passing at the clinic which is now called City of Hope Cancer Treatment Center, in Zion, Illinois. Under the guidance of our resident teacher, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering, and Lama Tashi Gawa, we will be hosting a full day of pujas and practice in Tibetan. Please register below to receive the Zoom link. If you’d like to join onsite, please make sure you indicate this on the registration form.
We are also deeply honored that our friends in Taiwan will be hosting a 16th Karmapa Guru Yoga Teaching Retreat with a special teaching by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, as well as practices and teachings by our advisor, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, and our president, Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche, from November 1 to 3, and November 5. You can join online (via Zoom) or onsite. Teachings will be in English or Tibetan with translation into English and Chinese. Recordings will be made available to all registrants.
In addition to the teachings, this special retreat includes a traditional lung (oral transmission) of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa’s Guru Yoga Sadhana (from Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche), and practicing this Guru Yoga together in the presence of sacred relics of His Holiness.
Please find a tentative schedule below. Registration includes access to both the Guru Yoga Teaching Retreat and the Parinirvana commemoration. When you register, we will share the Zoom links, how to access recordings, and other practical information. For more information and registration in Chinese, please visit KC16 Taiwan’s Facebook Page.
All times are shown in the local time zone, Central Standard Time (Chicago). Please note: Daylight Saving Time ends on November 3, 2024.
| time (US Central Time, UTC-6) | puja |
|---|---|
| 7:00–8:00a | Tara |
| 9:00–10:30a | Guru Yoga (composed by Tai Situ Rinpoche) |
| 11:00a–12:30p | Guru Yoga (composed by Tai Situ Rinpoche) |
| 2:00–3:30p | Guru Yoga (composed by Tai Situ Rinpoche) |
| 4:00–5:30p | Mahakala |
After making an offering (of any amount) below, a resource page with Zoom links and participation information for the Taiwan and KC16 Wadsworth events will be automatically emailed.
Please see the detailed schedule of pujas prior to the 43rd Parinirvāṇa Anniversary program. The Zoom link will be delivered in a confirmation email. Thank you for being part of this year’s Parinirvāṇa Activities and kind support.
Offering prayers, making aspirations, and many supplications to Tārā, KC16 joined Nalandabodhi’s ninth Annual Tārā Drupchen from our shrine room together with friends onsite and online from all around the world.
Tārā is not only one of the most popular deities in the Buddhist world and part of the Vajrayana tradition. Tārā was also one of the main practices of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, Ranjung Rigpe Dorje, and is taught to be a very powerful practice, with vast blessings, and immeasurable kindness.
We would like to express our gratitude to Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and Nalandabodhi for organizing this Tārā Drupchen, and a special thanks to our dear resident teacher, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering for his presence, practice, and guidance at KC16.
We concluded this year by chanting the Aspiration for the World, composed by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje.
In the spirit of this song, which is like a poem or doha, may we transform the world into a pure realm, a world that is equal for all, loving, warm, and where all creatures can experience peace, joy, and freedom. And, as the final words of this poem read, “filled with the many sweet scents of freedom. May we fulfill our countless and boundless wishes.”
Oṃ Tāre Tuttāre Ture Svāhā
Karmapa Khyenno!
On the occasion of His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje’s birthday, resident monastics and lay visitors made special offerings and prayers at Karmapa Center 16, presided over by our dear Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche.
ཀརྨ་པ་གསུམ་པ་རང་བྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེའི་གསུངས་འཛམ་གླིང་སྤྱི་བསང་དང་། ཀརྨ་པ་ཨོ་རྒྱན་ཕྲིན་ལས་རྡོ་རྗེའི་གསུངས་གསེར་ལྡན་རྔ་སྒྲའི་བསང་མཆོད། The universal smoke offering for the world as taught by the great third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, and the purifying offerings with fire and the sound of the drum, as taught by the precious 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje.
Karmapa Khyenno!
His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa’s father, Honorable Karma Dhondup, passed away on Buddha Purnima Day, the 15th day of the Vesak month (May 23, 2024).
According to the Tibetan calendar, Buddha Purnima is called “Düchen Sumdzom,” meeting three special occasions: the day when Buddha Sakyamuni was born, attained enlightenment and passed away into parinivana.
The resident lamas and members of Karmapa Center 16 in Wadsworth, Illinois, will be holding daily prayers and butter lamp offerings through the 49th day
According to the Tsurphu calendar, the 14th day of the first month was observed as the day of the parinirvana of Jetsün Milarepa and the 15th was the parinirvana of Marpa Lotsawa. On these two days, the Karmapa Center 16 performed Guru Yogas for both linage forefathers.
According to the Tsurphu calendar, January 31st marked the 29th day of the 12th month of the year. On this special occasion, the Karmapa Center 16 completed the Mahakala puja, performed to dissipate all obstacles before the start of a new year. The lamas also recited aspirations prayers for the long life of the Karmapa, all the teachers, and all sentient beings.
