March 9, 2020
Today, on Chötrul Düchen, we celebrate the Buddha’s performance of miracles. It is said that the Buddha displayed a different miracle each day to spur devotion and to increase the merit of his current and future disciples. Nowdays, this is an opportunity to appreciate Buddha Shakyamuni, whose wisdom lives on in the minds and hearts of our kind teachers, and in all practitioners wishing to discover their genuine heart of compassion.
What an auspicious day to announce that we have been blessed with an astonishing kick-start to our crowdfunding campaign to raise $1 million to build a Parinirvana Stupa and retreat center for His Holiness the 16th Karmapa Gyalwang Karmapa in Wadsworth, Illinois.
Since the campaign kicked-off last Sunday, we’ve raised over $122,000 USD from 130+ donors and 600+ campaign shares on social media!
In this first campaign update, we hear from Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, who shared a few of his recollections and feelings on His Holiness the 16th Karmapa in this teaching:
Living proof
(Adapted from the teaching Parting from the Four Attachments, given by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche at the International Buddhist Academy, Nepal in 2009: Day 8, Part 2.)
His Holiness the Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa, Rigpe Dorje, through his sheer presence, was living proof that the Buddhadharma works. Tibetan intellectuals can be very critical, and some criticized the Sixteenth Karmapa for not being highly literate and well-versed in philosophical discourse and liturgical detail. People can say what they want, but none can deny that when the 16th Karmapa suddenly appeared on the throne, he would transform the environment and the people in it on the spot. He was very majestic. He was like a king – just perfect.
I was so fortunate to receive many teachings from the Sixteenth Karmapa, and even as a young boy to follow him when he circumambulated the Great Stupa at Boudhanath at 2.30 in the morning. He often did this at night because he had so much to do during the daytime.
But it’s only now that I am beginning to appreciate that the Buddhist teachings don’t have to be verbal or philosophical. In those early days I think I was too young to grasp that fully. Now I see that the simple presence of the 16th Karmapa, the Buddhas and the great masters, was enough to transmit the essence of the Buddhadharma. Many others who saw the 16th Karmapa share this view, including in the west, where thedharma was just beginning to be heard in those days. Even the most intellectually stubborn academics and egomaniacs from different universities, without receiving any teachings, would feel something inside them change and open up when they saw His Holiness the Karmapa.
Khenpos, intellectuals, scholars, and people like me try to teach so much over so many years. Maybe all our logic and explanation will convince one person in the room for one morning, but even then anything you learn is gone the moment you leave the room. Nothing remains. But if you walk into the presence of someone like HH Karmapa, he does something to you that will remain with you much longer than all our ‘verbal diarrhoea’.
So it is really the presence and being of the buddhas and bodhisattvas that matters most. They don’t actually have to do much because of who they are and how they exist. How they manifest is living proof of the dharma. This is particularly important at times like this when wrong views are so prevalent. Those wrong views are very difficult if not impossible to defeat by logic alone. On the contrary the better your logic, the more likely you may be to end up with a wrong view that you become even sharper at promoting. So it’s the physical presence of someone like HH the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa that actually provides the best evidence of the right view and that can give us the greatest inspiration.
To this day, I consider myself so fortunate even to be referred to as one of the 16th Karmapa’s meagre disciples. And we are all fortunate that there is this new book about his life.
We are so grateful to Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche for supporting this noble cause. Thank you everyone for your generosity and for continuing to spread the news of our campaign.
Stay tuned for another story about His Holiness the 16th Karmapa from one of our teachers next week!
