标签归档： His Holiness the 16th Karmapa

43rd Parinirvana Anniversary of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa

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.

May we always honor the radiant compassion and enlightened activities of His Holiness. 
Schedule
Registration

Schedule

Tuesday, November 5, 2024 (at Karmapa Center 16 and online)

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
7:00–8:00aTara
9:00–10:30aGuru Yoga (composed by Tai Situ Rinpoche)
11:00a–12:30pGuru Yoga (composed by Tai Situ Rinpoche)
2:00–3:30pGuru Yoga (composed by Tai Situ Rinpoche)
4:00–5:30pMahakala
Schedule for KC16 pujas onsite in Wadsworth, IL, USA on November 5, 2024
Click here to see the start time in your local time zone.

Please click to see the tentative schedule for His Holiness the 16th Karmapa’s Guru Yoga Teaching Retreat (Taiwan).

Registration

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.

An Aspiration for the World at KC16 during Nalandabodhi’s ninth 2024 Tārā Drupchen

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! 

Ullambana Festival Puja 2024

We feel extremely fortunate to announce there will be a Ullambana Festival Puja this year with our precious Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche on August 16 and 17 (Chicago Time).

The origins of this festival can be found in the Ullambana Sutra and is traditionally celebrated throughout the centuries in Asia during the 7th month of the lunar calendar. It relates to the story of Buddha’s disciple Maudgalyāyana wanting to repay his mother’s kindness. Therefore, this month focus on generosity to accumulate merit in general and the dedication of our practice for the benefit of our parents and ancestors.

Please find the schedule of teachings and practices below, how you can join us online, and make auspicious offerings during this special puja.

Schedule

Starts Live at 8PM (Chicago Time, CT)
DAY 1 (August 16) – Oral teachings & Essential teachings; Namchö, The Sky Dharma Maha Sukhavati Sadhana
(Tibetan/Chinese)

DAY 2 (August 17) – Namchö, The Sky Dharma Maha Sukhavati Sadhana (Tibetan/Chinese), Tsok Offering

How to join?

Please join us online using the following link:
https://zoom.us/j/91651714117 ID: 916 5171 4117

https://www.facebook.com/kc16taiwan/live or Zoom, and follow our Facebook for the latest updates.

You can also join live or watch the recordings on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KC16

If you encounter any trouble or have any questions, please email info@karmapacenter16.org.

How to make an auspicious offering?

On the occasion of this special Ullambana Festival Puja, you can make auspicious offerings. Find below the various options for donations and fill in the form to donate.

Learn more here about the auspicious offering options.
  • Sage Millennium Buddha Offering. Supporting the Relic Hall – For 1,550 USD, you can permanently sponsor a Buddha statue in the Nirvana Holy Land Relic Hall
    • (All donations will be used for the construction of the Relic Hall; installment payments are available; donation receipts can be issued for tax deduction).
  • Tsatsa Offering. Supporting the Relic Hall – For 2,062 USD, you can connect with a Tsa Tsa stupa prayer shrine.
    • Deceased – Option 1. Friends and relatives can place the most meaningful items of the deceased, such as clothes, jewelry, photos, rosaries, etc., in the Nirvana Holy Land. The sangha lamas will make a Tsa Tsa clay stupa and enshrine it together with the memorial items of the deceased as a source of blessings.
    • Deceased – Option 2. Regardless of how long the deceased has passed away, a portion of their ashes can be handed over to the Nirvana Holy Land, where the lamas will make a Tsa Tsa clay stupa to be permanently enshrined in the Nirvana Holy Land.
    • Pre-Reservation. It is also possible to pre-reserve a Tsa Tsa clay stupa shrine during one’s lifetime.
    • (All donations will be used for the construction of the Relic Hall; installment payments are available; the Karmapa 16th Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States; donations to the Karmapa 16th Center are tax-deductible according to U.S. law; the names of donors will be permanently kept in the Relic Hall of His Holiness and will be blessed and prayed for eternally).

The 40th Anniversary of His Holiness Karmapa’s Parinirvana

On the 4oth anniversary of the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje’s parinirvana, the Karmapa Center 16 held a five-day commemoration joined by Tibetan Buddhist masters with a special connection to His Holiness, such as His Eminence Tai Situ Rinpoche, His Eminence Goshir Gyaltsap Rinpoche, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Khandro Rinpoche, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, Ayang Rinpoche and Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche.

These special events included two days of prayers to Medicine Buddha and three days of practice on the Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje Guru Yoga. Tai Situ Rinpoche and Goshir Gyaltsap Rinpoche each composed a Guru Yoga for Rangjung Rigpe Dorje. Both of these are practiced in alternation at the Karmapa Center 16, annually. This year’s 40th anniversary coincided with the turn of the Guru Yoga composed by Goshir Gyaltsap Rinpoche. The events were joined in person by 13 members of the sangha, several lay practitioners and many more followers over the internet.

Guru Yoga shrine

The teachings and addresses offered by the various Buddhist masters centered, in general, on their experience with His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, and in particular, the teachings they received from him.

Karmapa Center 16 celebrated the extraordinary, enlightened activities of the 16th Karmapa on the occasion of his 40th parinirvana anniversary.

27th Story Update — Gerry Wiener: Tibetan translator, driver for His Holiness

Gerry Wiener, who first began is Buddhist studies with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1971, recently joined the Karmapa Center 16 Board of Directors and will oversee the center’s information technology.

Gerry Wiener with Karmapa Center 16’s advisor, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, at Nitartha Summer Institute (2014).

A software engineer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, Gerry is also a Tibetan translator. After the parinirvana of his teacher, Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1987, Gerry continued his studies under Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and, with his guidance, has focused on the development of the Nitartha Digital Library.

Gerry first met His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa in Boulder, in 1974, when Trungpa Rinpoche hosted His Holiness. Gerry received many teachings and witnessed several Black Crown ceremonies during His Holiness’s 1974 and 1980 visits to the United States. Recalling a memory from 1974, when as a member of Trungpa Rinpoche’s Vajra Guards he was asked to drive the Black Crown from Stapleton Airport in Denver to Boulder, Gerry said, “The crown was next to me, sitting on the lap of one of His Holiness’s monks. I remembered thinking, ‘I need to be so careful and not get into an accident!’”

Continuing to serve in his role as Vajra Guard, Gerry traveled to Los Angeles and stayed in the same house with the Karmapa, where he had a momentary but powerful experience. He was woken early one morning, around 5 a.m., to help His Holiness attend his birds in the backyard. “I helped His Holiness up the stairs,” Gerry said, “and he put his hand on my hands for support. I had the feeling of not being in this realm anymore, for the briefest amount of time. I felt he is in this realm, but he is not part of the samsaric realm that we abide in.”

Gerry attributes much of his good fortune in meeting the 16th Karmapa to “tashi tendrel” or karmic connection or coincidence. “We’ve been taught, and I feel this to be the case, that lineage is important,” he said. “Without teachers like the Buddha, and lineage masters like Tilopa, Marpa, etc., we really don’t have a lineage that actually goes through the 16th Karmapa and then to my first teacher, Trungpa Rinpoche, without whom I would not be (on this path) today. I want to express great gratitude to Trungpa Rinpoche, who opened the door and cared for me in a very distinct way and also, without His Holiness, there would be no Trungpa Rinpoche whom I would know, so there is some kind of tashi tendrel or karmic connection or karmic coincidence, some fortuitous karma going on that allowed me to become a Buddhist, to study with Trungpa Rinpoche, who was recognized by His Holiness and eventually to meet His Holiness.”

Along those same lines, Gerry said, he received a Praise to His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa written by Trungpa Rinpoche and had the good fortune to translate it. Below is an excerpt from the translation. The full translation will eventually reside at Karmapa Center 16.

Gerry seated in the translators’ section at Nitartha Summer Insitute (2015)

IN PRAISE OF HIS HOLINESS THE 16TH GYALWANG KARMAPA
By Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Translated from Tibetan into English
by Gerry Wiener

In the mandala of profound brilliant Vajradhatu, you are the Supreme Guru of the simplicity of samsara and nirvana. Vajra luminosity, the delight that transcends words, the great bliss Heruka, holder of wisdom, the single and changing nirmanakaya, Rigpe Dorje, seeing your activities — how wondrous. You do not abide in any specific place. You are not contrived by anyone. Your activities continue without interruption. Karma Ka, I always pay homage to you. Not observed having a beginning or end, you possess the profound and vast dharma. Eternal form of Dorje Chang, you are Vajradhara in person.

Listen to Gerry read the translation:

If you’d like to share your memories or photos of His Holiness with us, please send them to: media@karmapacenter16.org.

26th Story Update — Acharya Lhakpa Tshering: monk, scholar, accomplished meditator

Karmapa Center 16 is delighted to welcome Acharya Lhakpa Tshering to its Board of Directors. He will oversee fundraising for the center.

Lhakpa Tshering was born in a remote village in Dagapela in southern Bhutan. One of nine siblings, he and his family lived in an “environmentally friendly house” with no electricity or running water. 

At the age of five, he remembers his father offering a butter lamp every evening of the full and new moon in front of a black and white photograph on a shelf in a corner of the house. Growing up with no electricity, Acharya said the memory of a butter lamp in the dark is still very vivid in his mind.

Once in while, his father would take down the photo and wipe off the soot that had collected on it with a piece of cloth. Later, when he was in second grade, Acharya was able to read the caption below the picture: “HH the Sixteenth Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorji.” It was a photograph that his father had cropped from a Bhutanese monthly newspaper.

His father had the good fortune of meeting His Holiness, and Acharya kindly shared the story with us.

My Father’s Meeting with His Holiness

By Acharya Lhakpa

In 1966, at the age of 32, my father, Dawa Sherpa, traveled to Sikkim with two other companions from his village to make an offering to His Holiness the 16th Karmapa in Rumtek, on behalf of his late maternal uncle for his rebirth in higher realm. Traveling by foot and vehicle for a week, they arrived in Rumtek on the 15th day of the lunar month, a full moon day. Soon after their arrival at the monastery, His Holiness was scheduled to give a Black Crown ceremony. My father and his friends considered it auspicious that upon emerging from an audience with His Holiness, they were able to receive the blessings of the black crown. After the ceremony, my father made an offering to His Holiness and requested prayers for his uncle. His Holiness responded with gracious smile. For the sake of tendrel (making a spiritual connection), my father requested His Holiness to give him the transmission of Avalokiteshvara’s six syllable mantra. Today my father still has a vivid memory of the young, majestic Sixteenth Karmapa.

Though he never met His Holiness in person, from an early age, Acharya felt a connection to him through his father.
In 1993, Acharya enrolled at Rumtek Monastery’s Karma Shri Nalanda Institute in Sikkim, India, where he served as an assistant teacher and member of the student welfare committee.
During his time at Rumtek, he received many teachings and empowerments from His Eminence Gyaltsab Rinpoche, regent of the Karmapa lineage, who in turn had received the teachings directly from the 16th Karmapa. Acharya strongly feels that his mindstream has been blessed by the lineage and that through his own engagement on the Buddhist path, his precious human life has become meaningful.
Acharya completed his post-graduate or acharya degree in Buddhist Studies in 2002. He then served as co-librarian with Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche, taught at Karma Shri Nalanda Institute and acted as an editor for Nitartha international in Kathmandu, Nepal.
In 2006, at the request of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, he moved to Nalanda West in Seattle, Washington, USA, where he supports students as a resident teacher. He is also a visiting teacher at Nalandabodhi centers throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and Latin America.

If you’d like to share your memories or photos of His Holiness with us, please send them to: media@karmapacenter16.org.

As always, we offer our heartfelt thanks for your continued interest and support of KC16. May the Center be of great benefit to all beings!

24th Story Update: A Glimpse of Avalokiteśvara

What I saw […] was not His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa but radiant and resplendent Avalokiteśvara. It was totally overwhelming and breathtaking to witness other-worldly compassionate activity taking place in this human realm.

— Steve Roth, personal driver of His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa

There are many remarkable stories recounted about His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa by those lucky enough to have seen him, received his blessings, been his student or served him in a myriad of ways.

Steve Roth, an early student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, became the Karmapa’s personal driver during two of his visits to North America. In the story below, Steve describes his own extraordinary experience witnessing His Holiness perform the Black Hat Ceremony in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The story, “A Glimpse of Avalokiteśvara,” is excerpted from the recently released book, Radiant Compassion, The Life of the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje Volume 2, by Gerd Bausch.

His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa with his personal driver, Steve Roth, in San Francisco, 1974

A Glimpse of Avalokiteśvara

By Steve Roth

During the 16th Karmapa’s 1980 third and final tour of North America, he visited Santa Fe, New Mexico and performed the Black Crown Ceremony. On November 3rd, I traveled in a VW bus from Boulder to Santa Fe with four other dharma practitioners, including Pema Chödrön. Upon arrival, we went to the local convention center where His Holiness was performing the Black Crown Ceremony. We had no idea which part of the ceremony would be taking place. We just wanted to see him.

We entered the convention center, and took the elevator up a few floors. It led to one of the portals that opened directly into a large indoor amphitheater. We were well above the amphitheater’s ground floor where fifty or so people were each receiving blessings from His Holiness after the Black Crown Ceremony. What I saw the instant we emerged from this portal into the amphitheater was not His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa but radiant and resplendent Avalokiteśvara. He was luminous white with many arms which were simultaneously blessing everyone. His hands were moving so rapidly bestowing potent and limitless blessings in so many different directions—this is quite challenging to describe. It was totally overwhelming and breathtaking to witness other-worldly compassionate activity taking place in this human realm. Avalokiteśvara’s transparent body was complete with crown, jewel ornaments, rainbow colored raiment, exactly as painted in countless thangkas. Then I blinked and saw His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa seated blessing people one-by-one. I don’t know what else to say, other than this knowingness that Avalokiteśvara thangkas are literally painted exactly as he appears in the Saṃbhogakāya. This experience resulted in a radically enhanced view of the sacredness and fathomless power of thangkas as well as increased devotion towards the Karmapa.

— from Radiant Compassion, The Life of the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje Volume 2

If you’d like to share your memories or photos of His Holiness with us, please send them to: media@karmapacenter16.org.

As always, we offer our heartfelt thanks for your continued interest and support of KC16. May the Center be of great benefit to all beings!

23rd Story Update: A Lifetime of Beneficial Activity

It has been said that Karmapa Center 16 founding board member, Damayonti Sengupta, is a daughter of the Karma Kagyu lineage, of which the Gyalwang Karmapa has always been the spiritual leader. While our hearts are filled with loving grief due to Damayonti’s passing on January 26, at age 51, we remember with joy and gratitude the numerous beneficial activities of her lifetime, including locating and helping to secure the site of Karmapa Center 16 in Wadsworth, Illinois.

In 2014, in addition to her role as Manager of Nalanda West in Seattle, Damayonti took on the task of finding a suitable property near Zion, Illinois, where His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa attained parinirvana in 1981. 

It was the wish of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche to establish a center to commemorate his guru, the 16th Karmapa, with a stupa, memorial, meditation hall, retreat center, and place to learn and study about the history of Buddhism and the Karma Kagyu lineage. Through devotion to her guru, Dzogchen Ponlop, Damayonti set the wheels in motion to accomplish his wish, with guidance and direction from founding member and President Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche and founding member and Vice President Lama Phuntsok.

Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche (center), Damayonti Sengupta (left), and Tyler Dear (right) at Karmapa Center 16 Parinirvana Day Celebration in 2017.

Sophie Gordon, Karmapa Center 16 office supervisor, recalls watching Damayonti “navigate many obstacles with skill and grace. She embodied many of the excellent qualities to which bodhisattvas aspire, but in my experience, her equanimity was especially amazing! For me, she was equanimity in action fueled by unwavering devotion to her gurus, the lineage and all that the dharma has to offer. Her example was a vivid teaching. There are no words for how grateful I feel and how much I already miss her.”

Damayonti’s 49th day is March 15. If you would like to pray for Damayonti to support her journey through the bardo, it is suggested to first recite the Heart Sutra, followed by any type of nature-of-mind meditation practice, then finish by dedicating your practice to Damayonti and all sentient beings. 

If you would like to offer a gift in honor of Damayonti’s life and to help manifest her aspiration to complete the Stupa Project, you may do so by clicking on the button below.

Stupa Donation in Memory of Damayonti Sengupta

22nd Story Update: A world of gentleness, kindness

Greetings dear friends of KC 16,

As we learned in the previous email, His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, taught extensively and intensively with physical gestures and by his mere presence. In the video below, Don Winchell describes how he also created the environment around him and the way it brought about unexpected transformations. 

A student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Winchell served on the support team for the 16th Karmapa’s 1976 visit to North America.

Don Winchell reflects on the environment around His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa.

Through this delightful example of the enlightened activity of His Holiness, may we all aspire to create a world of gentleness and kindness!

We have received wonderful responses to the stories we’ve posted, and some included a personal experience with the 16th Karmapa. If you’d like to share your memories or photos of His Holiness with us, please send them to: media@karmapacenter16.org.

As always, we offer our heartfelt thanks for your continued interest and support of KC16. May the Center be of great benefit to all beings.

Twenty-first Story Update: Wherever the flag is flown, the Dharma Will Flourish

Greetings dear friends of KC 16,

Many of us have seen the yellow and blue Dream Flag or Namchen Banner of the 16th Karmapa, but not many of us may know the story behind it. We had the good fortune to speak to the person who, at the request of His Holiness, sewed the original flag — Deborah Luscomb. 

Deborah is a longtime student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and a professional seamstress. At the request of her teacher, she oversaw the national textile production — from wall coverings, bedspreads and chair upholstery to banners, shrines and thrones — for the 16th Karmapa’s third visit to North America. The first special request from His Holiness of Deborah was to make a new brocade cover for the Black Crown hatbox. The second special request was to make the Dream Flag, which was raised on Midsummer’s Day 1980, at Marpa House in Boulder, CO. In this video, Deborah recalls what happened:

Several inches of snow whiten the grounds at the Karmapa Center 16, while in front of the main house the yellow and blue Dream Flag flies despite the weather, and dharma indeed does flourish. 

With best wishes for a peaceful and joyous 2021, we send you our heartfelt thanks for your continued interest and support of KC16.