This year (2024) marked the 43rd parinirvāṇa anniversary of His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje. Preceding our annual pujas and prayers on November 5th, the day of His Holiness’ passing, we hosted our first extensive 16th Karmapa Guru Yoga Teaching Retreat onsite in Taiwan and online from November 1 to 3. We felt humbled and honored by the hundreds of people who joined us from around the world, and especially for His Holiness the 17th Karmapa to give a special teaching during this retreat. Below is an impression of the teachings and practices and how to make guru yoga a lifelong remembrance of the inspiring life and enlightened presence of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa.
Day 1: Guru Yoga and lung of the Rainfall of Nectar
Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche opened our 16th Karmapa’s Guru Yoga Teaching Retreat by brief explanations about the meaning and practice of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa’s Guru Yoga called “Rainfall of Nectar” and his personal connection with this practice. He noted that this was one of the very first Dharma teachings he received as a small child from His Holiness.
Later, the sixteenth Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, instructed Rinpoche to offer reading transmissions or lungs of this Guru Yoga “Rainfall of Nectar” as one of his responsibilities. After receiving it himself from His Eminence the 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche, he supplicated Gyaltsab Rinpoche to explain how to do this practice and compose a commentary, which he did. Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche’s teachings of the first evening of our Guru Yoga Teachings were based on this.
One of the aspects Rinpoche pointed out is how the guru is equal to the Buddhas in terms of excellent qualities, yet excels the Buddha in terms of kindness. He is someone who can directly guide someone to move away from negative qualities and cultivate positive qualities in terms of body, speech, and mind.
Sharing about His Holiness the 16th Karmapa’s qualities and activities, Rinpoche mentioned that His Holiness was able to liberate the mindstream of others with his enlightened speech. Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche shared various stories to illustrate this. He also pointed out how the great love and compassion for animals were evident from His Holiness’ actions.
In his teachings, explanation of the practice, and reading transmission/lung of the 16th Karmapa’s “Rainfall of Nectar” Guru Yoga practice, Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche also shared how he doesn’t have the prajna of hearing, experience of meditation, or the power of giving blessings himself, but through offering these during this Guru Yoga Teaching Retreat that the compassion and blessings of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa would be transferred to all present. Along these lines, we concluded this evening with the following prayer: “May everyone attain the state of the enlightened body, speech, and mind of the guru.”
Day 2: Devotion and special teaching by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa
On the second day of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa’s Guru Yoga Teaching Retreat, we started practicing HH16K’s “Rainfall of Nectar” under the guidance of Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche.
Later in the morning, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche gave his first teaching during this retreat. He shared that “we are very fortunate to have this opportunity to be together and remember such an enlightened master [the sixteenth Karmapa], and having this opportunity to connect with the heart of the Karmapa-lineage through the heart of the guru.” He taught that practicing is the key emphasis of this lineage and, therefore, this lineage is called the practice lineage. He also shared how His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, in countless ways, was the very embodiment of this lineage, which he passed on to others, and how his presence showed the meaning of being a genuine guru, the Buddha in person.
In the afternoon, following another Guru Yoga Practice Session, Acharya Jampa offered more instructions about how we find a guru and, once we do, that our practice is not only something we do on the cushion. We have to put it into action in everyday life and, like the great masters, benefit all sentient beings. By doing so, we can be the enlightened activity of the Karmapa. This is, Acharya Jampa-la said, what His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, always encourages us to be.
In the evening, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa kindly offered a special teaching. He pointed out that the main point of guru yoga is devotion. Since having devotion towards someone you have never seen or met is not that easy, His Holiness said it would be good to hear stories about the sixteenth Karmapa from those who were familiar with him. This way we can know his activities and qualities. So, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa passed on some of the stories as told by people close to the sixteenth Karmapa, and his personal feelings, which concluded our second day.
Day 3: Genuine Practice
Both Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche expressed how fortunate and blessed they felt by receiving teachings and hear stories about the sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, from His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje. What else was there to say on this third day of this year’s Guru Yoga Teaching Retreat to commemorate His Holiness the 16th Karmapa’s Parinirvāṇa Anniversary?
Yet, alongside His Holiness the 16th Karmapa’s Guru Yoga “Rainfall of Nectar”, songs and other practices, both Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche kindly shared some of their own experiences and offered further instructions on how to practice dharma and deepen our inner experience in general, and how to rely on a genuine guru with a heart of devotion in particular.
Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche pointed out how the experience of illness can deepen our experience and understanding of the teachings, like the nine ways of the genuine ones, and putting them into practice. He also kindly offered some time for questions.
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche taught about the five things we need to know regarding guru yoga practice – based on the oral lineage of Patrul Rinpoche and his disciples. He emphasized that “the method of relying on the guru is devotion, not protocol.” It is a matter of the heart, not our heads. Through our hearts, we can see the excellent qualities of the guru, have the realization of wisdom arise in our mind-stream, and do everything we can to benefit sentient beings.
This concluded our 16th Karmapa’s Guru Yoga Teaching Retreat this year.
November 5: 43rd Parinirvāṇa Anniversary
In commemorating the 43rd anniversary of the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa’s parinirvāṇa, we held our annual pujas and prayers on November 5th.
This year, after our Guru Yoga Teaching Retreat last weekend, we recited the supplication to the Dagpo Kagyü, practiced His Holiness the 16th Karmapa’s Guru Yoga, sang songs, did Mahakala practice, made offerings and dedications at Nalandabodhi Taichung’s dharma center, Namkha Ösal – presided by Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche.
Towards the end, Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche shared a little bit about the history behind Karmapa Center 16. One thing he pointed out, is that the place of the passing of a great master, in this case His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, is traditionally considered a sacred area, full of blessings. Therefore, building his Holiness’s Parinirvāṇa Stūpa and the entire Stūpa Project is a way to honor the great dharma king, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, and also offer a place for pilgrimage, study, and practice of the dharma in general, the Kagyü in particular, and especially the lineage of the Karmapas.
Under the guidance of our resident teacher, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering, kindly joined by Lama Tashi Gawa and many dharma friends onsite and online, our annual parinirvāṇa pujas and guru yoga practices were also held (in Tibetan) at Karmapa Center 16 itself. A beautiful mandala was created with a special statue of His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa for today’s practice and Acharya expressed his gratitude to everyone for helping make this possible.
With these practices, we fully concluded this year’s 43rd Parinirvāṇa Anniversary of His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje.
Words of Gratitude
Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche noted at the conclusion of our Guru Yoga Teaching Retreat and completion of our pujas on Tuesday, November 5th, that we veel very fortunate that we were able to have this year’s extensive commemoration onsite in Taiwan and online, with teachings on HH16K’s Guru Yoga from His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche.
All of this was only possible thanks to everyone at Karmapa Center 16 in the United States, members of KC16’s team in Taiwan, all benefactors and sponsors, and all volunteers. While many of them have not met His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa personally, everyone has helped so greatly in appreciation of His Holiness’ kindness and enlightened activities.
Being able to gather and practice together onsite and online, with the presence of the sacred relics of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, is something we are deeply grateful for.
In the words of Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche: “I want to thank His Holiness the 17th Karmapa for his great compassion, giving us the lung (reading transmission) of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa’s Guru Yoga, and teaching us about Rangjung Rigpe Dorje’s life and enlightened qualities. I want to thank DPR for his teachings on Guru Yoga and personal advice. Finally, I want to thank all coming from far and wide for this year’s significant anniversary of the Sixteenth Karmapa. Thank you.”
We feel extremely grateful and blessed for the precious words this year by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, and wish for His Holiness to live long and continue to benefit all sentient beings.
All our activities to remember and honor the compassion and enlightened activities of the 16th Karmapa, putting the teachings of the Dharma and the lineage of the Karmapas into action for the benefit of everyone in this world as much as we can.
Karmapa Khyenno!
PHOTO GALLERY
Next year: 44th parinirvāṇa anniversary
Together with our annual pujas and prayers on November 5th, 2025, we will commemorate His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, with another guru yoga weekend retreat from October 31st till November 2nd, onsite in Hong Kong and online. Please save the date and join us again to make guru yoga a lifelong remembrance of the inspiring life and enlightened presence of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa.
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.
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
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.
His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje. Photo Courtesy of Karma Lekshey Ling Institute
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.
(From right to left) Soil, mold for the statues, statues made of blessed earth, and finally statues painted in gold
Last week, soil samples from deep within the land at KC16 were taken as the next step for our engineers and architects to move forward with foundation plans. The contractors gave us the surplus soil, which Drupon Rinpoche and the Lamas on site have been using to construct small Guru Rinpoche statues from the blessed land. They say the soil is so good that nothing extra was needed to hold it together or be strong enough to create the statues. Due to the blessings of the land as the Parinirvana site of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, and being blessed by the 17th Karmapa, this earth is saturated with blessings!
Blessed earth and gold statues
Abundance of Guru Rinpoche statues!
Reminder! KC16 is co-hosting Tara Drupchen with Nalandabodhi International/Nalandabodhi Seattle and Nalanda West from September 24-27. The Tara Drupchen will be especially dedicated to overcoming the current pandemic, to all beings suffering directly or indirectly from it, and to dispelling fear in our world. For registration information email: communications@nalandabodhi.org.
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.
