Continuation of lectures on Mahayanasutra-lankara-tika.

This series of lectures describes the path of Vajrayana practice and its essential meaning.

http://www.kagyunews.com.hk/

During his recent visit to Hong Kong, Shamar Rimpoche transmitted the commentary titled “The King of Aspiration Prayers, the Aspiration for Noble Conduct.”

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This commentary, taken from a text called “Collection of all commentaries” written by Drakpa Gyaltsen, a student of the first Jamyang Khyentse, explain in a concise way the deeper meaning of the Samantabhadra Prayer.

Shamar Rimpoche insisted on the importance of regular practice of this wishing prayer, especially for lay practitioners, who cannot afford to practice as Milarepa, leaving everything behind and practicing in a cave.

Numerous devotees of the Hong Kong center received the transmission and also the Loung for the text. Refuge vows were also given. On October 27th, a birthday celebration was held to honor Sharma Rinpoche’s birthday.

To see some pictures, click here

A myth until now about reincarnation and recognition in Buddhism has taken place during this very century. A Tibetan Ngagpa, Lama Tsering Ngodup, married an American woman, Andrea Strimling, in the year 2002, and they were living in Boston. Both of them are very devoted to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and His Holiness Shamar Rimpoche.

Lama Tsering and Andrea wanted to have a child, but had not yet conceived. Tsering has two older children, Dinah and Dorje, who live in Germany, and Andrea loves them, but Tsering and Andrea also wanted to have a child together. During the fall of 2005 when Shamar Rimpoche visited Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, Lama Tsering and Andrea went to visit Shamar Rimpoche. At that time they requested Rimpoche’ blessings to have a child. Rimpoche told them that he would make a special wishing prayer in order to fulfill their wish to have a child.

Early in 2006 Andrea learned she was pregnant. As is customary in Tibetan tradition, Lama Tsering and his wife requested Shamar Rimpoche to give a name for the baby. Since they had decided not to learn of the gender by ultrasound, they asked Rimpoche for two names, one for a boy and one for a girl. Shamar Rimpoche predicted that the baby would be a boy, and he gave the name Karma Yeshe Dorje. In July 2006, Shamar Rimpoche asked Lama Tsering and Andrea if they had checked the gender of the baby. They told Rimpoche that they had not, and that they would wait for the baby to be born. Shamar Rimpoche once again told them that the baby would be a boy. This time he also told them the child would be the reincarnate of one bodhisattva among the 21 bodhisattva abbots in the line of Shamarpas in Yangpachen during the 1600s. Shamar Rimpoche then told the couple to share the news with their families that their baby had been recognized in the womb as a reincarnate lama.

On October 14 of 2006, Tsering’s and Andrea’s son was born as predicted, and his parents named the boy Karma Yeshe Dorje Strimling Yodsampa, with Karma indicating the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Lama Tsering called Shamar Rinpoche on October 15 in Kalimpong to share the news. Shamar Rimpoche congratulated the new parents and told them that he would, on a special occasion, let them know which of the 21 bodhisatvas the Karma Yeshe Dorje is. Among the 21 bodhisattvas, Shamar Rimpoche has already recognized four, including Karma Yeshe Dorje.

Recognition of reincarnate lamas until now has been done when children are already born. The recognition of a reincarnated lama in the womb has not been done since the 19th century.

Philippe Jedar, spokesperson for IKKBO

Shamar Rimpoche arrived on Friday morning, September 15, at Geneva airport, where Venerable Lama Mönlam Gyatso and devotees welcomed him. He was accompanied to one of the centers nearby Geneva at Anières, where he stayed during the four days. On the day of his arrival, the sky was auspicious: a very soft rain fell on the region and a colorful double rainbow appeared.

On the weekend, Shamar Rimpoche gave three teaching sessions in downtown Geneva on "The four foundations of mindfulness", conferred the Amitabha empowerment and gave the refuge vow.

Numerous followers from Switzerland, from the neighboring countries France, Germany, Italy and Austria, as well as from many other parts of Europe, such as Ireland, Spain, Hungary or the Czech Republic, gathered in Geneva to attend the teaching, which was given by Shamar Rimpoche in English and translated into French and German.

In an extremely clear and comprehensible way, Shamar Rimpoche led the audience through the four foundations of mindfulness, explaining how to place mindfulness on body, sensations, mind and phenomena so as to attain freedom from obscurations, and from the conditioned state of existence. During the teaching sessions, the meditation instructions were put directly into practice under the guidance of Shamarpa, who encouraged the practitioners to report their experience to him and answered their questions.

A large crowd of people assembled on August 8, 2006 in order to welcome Shamar Rimpoche to Dhagpo Kagyu Ling. Numerous followers from many different countries came to listen to his three day teaching on “The Four Pillars Of Mindfulness”.

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The audience was headed by a large group of monastics. The organizers expressed their thanks to the translators for the English, French, Spanish, German and Czechoslovakian language – all of whom made it possible for the international spiritual community to receive this transmission. Shamar Rimpoche taught in the original language, Tibetan.

The teachings, very dense and demanding, were further elucidated by workshops held in the afternoon, during which the meditation instructions were put directly into practice and practitioners could address their questions to a lama.

The text which Shamar Rimpoche transmitted during the three days is to be found in the Tengyur, the compilation of commentaries on Buddha’s word. It explains how to practice meditation by being mindful of the body, the sensations, the mind and phenomena.

As an introduction, Shamar Rimpoche reminded the audience to be aware of the favorable conditions of modern life, including our extended life spans, thanks to medical research, thereby giving us more time to learn and to study. The Buddha’s teaching is becoming very popular, and it is spread throughout the world, greatly alleviating difficult conditions for people in all kinds of situations.

However, practitioners nowadays run the risk of wasting their opportunities, because of the manifold distractions everyday life situations provide. Pride is an additional obstacle: the belief to have already understood the Dharma and therefore the unwillingness to put it into practice.

In former times ethics and discipline were important values common to all, whereas nowadays personal freedom is the highest value on the scale, and it is left up to the individual to determine what is wholesome behavior and what isn’t. Each individual has to invest a lot of personal effort on the spiritual path.

Shamar Rimpoche then went on to give precise instructions according to the sutra tradition on how to place your mindfulness on the body. He enumerated the thirty-five ways of grasping the idea of a body, not in a physical, biological sense, but in a philosophical sense of identifying the body with a self. The body exists only as the idea which we attach to it – be it one’s own body or the body of others. The body doesn’t exist of its own accord.

Take, for example, the idea of the dimension of a body: A buffalo is huge compared to a mouse, but small compared to an elephant. In other words, whether a buffalo is big or small depends solely on which point of view is taken.

The sutras present the traditional approach to spiritual attainment through the progression of study, reflexion and meditation. The procedure may be compared to a river: The studies form the riverbed which gives the river its direction. Water represents the reflexion, the thorough analysis that is based on the knowledge acquired through studying. Meditation is the ocean into which the river will eventually lead.

This same progression will be applied to all four “pillars”, the body, sensations, mind and phenomena.

To put into practice the instructions of this text, “The Four Pillars Of Mindfulness”, will result in the practitioner’s capacity to eliminate his grasping at a self. This is called the attainment of the fruit. It includes the elimination of the wrong concept of the body being ever-lasting, being pure, being a source of well-being and having an inherent existence. It includes the elimination of attachment towards pleasing sensations and the idea that the body is its provider. And it includes the elimination of any erroneous ideas concerning mind or phenomena.

The attainment of the fruit means that the practitioner develops a profound understanding of the Four Noble Truths.

By placing mindfulness on the body, the truth of suffering is realized: The body is the basis for experiencing pain.

By placing mindfulness on sensations, the truth of the origin of suffering is understood: Sensations are the basis for categorizing experience into pleasant or unpleasant.

By placing mindfulness on the mind, the truth of the cessation of suffering is grasped: The mind is realized as being empty.

Being mindful of phenomena connects the meditator with the truth of the path: What leads to an obscured mind is seen properly, and the workings of antidotes as well.

This is the attainment of freedom from obscurations, and from the conditioned state of existence.

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First series of teachings by Shamar Rimpoche at the Bodhi Path Center, Renchen Ulm.

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History of the house:
Shamar Rimpoche told me to look for a suitable house near Strasbourg, on the German side of the border. He was quite determined as far as the area was concerned. I was wondering why it was so important to look around in that particular area. Somehow I got the impression that Rimpoche had already seen the house before but meanwhile “forgot” the exact location of it. Without any further precise details I decided to conduct the search in my own way through local brokers. Then it happened 5 weeks later, on 28th October 2005, that I learnt about a building in Renchen-Ulm, which was previously used as a hotel and restaurant. I had a look at the house and was immediately very interested in it. On the other hand I thought it would be much too good and expensive for us. Still I phoned Shamar Rimpoche in America and just started to informed him about the details of the project, when he interrupted me and shocked me with his reply that this building was exactly the house he was “thinking” about. He instructed me , to go ahead with the purchase without any hesitation and, of course, also without his prior personal inspection or visit to Renchen-Ulm.

Shamar Rimpoche subsequently quickly decided regarding the future use of the existing facilities of the house as follows:
1. There are 5 comfortable, newly decorated hotel-rooms, each with an attached bathroom. They remain unchanged for the accommodation of visiting Dharma-Guests. These rooms can be rented also for longer periods of time.
2. The restaurant and the professional kitchen remain unchanged as well and will serve our guests in future before and after teachings. The kitchen will serve not only the restaurant but also visitors who prefer to sit outside on the spacious, open terrace in front of the building.
3. The bar will be used in future as well, but, of course, after all alcoholic drinks were removed. From now onwards the bar will exclusively serve our guests with juices, snacks, coffee and tea and lots of other healthy refreshments. It will be a place where our guests can enjoy their visit in a relaxed and comfortable athmosphere.
4. However, the large existing bowling-alley was converted into a splendid teaching hall, which is overlooking the beautiful garden. The teaching-hall can accomodate up to 100 persons at times of need.

At the same time there is a big public community-hall which can be rented for very special events. This was already done during this summer when Shamar Rimpoche gave his first teachings for us in this area. There were so many visitors that it was appropriate to rent the community-hall, which can be easily reached on foot from the centre.

Renchen-Ulm is not a big town, but we have discovered that there are many nice and clean private guesthouses (Bed & Breakfast) where visitors can stay overnight at very reasonable rates. This area is well-known for it’s outstanding service, good wine and food and it’s hospitality. Our Dharma- centre is happy to make the requested bookings, if requested, on behalf of those visitors who wish to make use of these facilities.

After we moved into the new centre, we quickly found out that the area is nearly perfect for us. Only a few minutes away from the centre there is a wonderful park with lots of green trees, lawns and a fast flowing fresh-water-stream, where the residents and visitors can enjoy a peaceful and tranquil day. It is a place for holiday-makers and people who are able to enjoy nature in a quiet environment.

Sabine Teuber
(Secretary of Bodhipath Centre Renchen-Ulm)

To see some pictures, click here

The new Bodhi Path Centre at Renchen Ulm on the Franco German border held its first large course over four week ends in July 2006

Jigme Rinpoche visited the prospective new centre in October 2005 and decided it would be a propitious place to open a new Bodhi Path Center in Germany, and the first residents moved into the house, a lovely building, originally constructed as a hotel in the 1970’s, in early 2006.

Lama Jigme Rinpoche gave an introductory teaching on the subject of Buddhist meditation in Strasbourg, 30 km from the center, on the 6th of July. The official program began on the 7th July, and over the first two weekends, Shamar Rimpoche gave a complete and thorough teaching on Samanthabhadra’s wishing prayers. He explained that all the great Bodhisattvas in India and Tibet have practice this prayer each morning and evening. Rinpoche stressed that following the wishes of Sa
manthabhadra is the greatest cause to participate in the Nirvana’s of Buddha’s life after life.

Lama Jigme Rinpoche also gave explanation teachings and answered questions.

During the third weekend Shamar Rimpoche gave instructions on and explained the 35 Buddha’s Sutra completely. Both of these two subjects are very important in the Bodhi Path curriculum.

Over the last weekend Shamar Rimpoche began teaching the philosophical curriculum with a teaching on the 5 skandhas.

Shamar Rimpoche announced that he will give further teachings from the Bodhi Path curriculum in the summer of 2007.

The center is able to accommodate about 35 guests, and good quality reasonably priced rooms are available in the area. There are a number of excellent restaurants nearby, and being in the black forest, the area is outstandingly beautiful.

The teachings were held in a wonderful modern hall near the center, with space for several hundred people.

Don’t miss next year’s teachings!

Program (2006):

Conference with Jigme Rinpoche in Strasbourg, July 6 at 8:00 pm. Topic – Meditation: How to Apply it in Daily Life.
Place – Salle Henade de Landseberg (Parking Austerlitz)
Address to contact for more information:
Maison des Associations
1 A Place des Orphelins
67000 Strasbourg
Web site : www.mdas.org

Teachings of Shamar Rimpoche at the Center near Strasbourg

Place: Bodhi Path – Buddhistisches Karma Kagyu Zentrum e.v
77871 Renchen-Ulm, Kaierstr. 18
Telephone: 07843-7232
Email: info@bodhipath-renchen-ulm.de
Web: http://www.bodhipath-renchen-ulm.de

The course will be four weekends in July 2006:

Friday, 7 July – Sunday, 9 July:
The King of Wishing Prayers (Samantabhadra), Part I

Friday, 14 July – Sunday, 16 July:
The King of Wishing Prayers (Samantabhadra) Part II

Friday, 21 July – Sunday, 23 July:
The Triskandhasutra and The Practice of the 35 Buddhas, Part I and II

Friday, 28 July – Sunday, 30 July:
Overview of the five skandhas, the three first in details :
1) form
2) feeling
3) perception

The teaching from Shamar Rimpoche on “The King of the Wishing Prayers” is based on the text The Treasury of Wishing Prayers, Sang Cheu Monlam.

The schedule for the four weekends will be as follows:
Fridays: Teaching with Jigme Rinpoche 4:00 pm and
Shamar Rimpoche 8:00 pm.
Saturdays: Teaching with Shamar Rimpoche 10:00 am and
Jigme Rinpoche 4:00 pm.
Sundays: Shamar Rimpoche will teach in the morning from 10:00 – 12:00.

Price: 55 euros per person for the 3 days of each weekend.

Food and Lodging:
There is no lodging available at the center, but there are many bed and breakfasts or hotels nearby in Germany.
On the French side, there are possibilities to stay in Strasbourg. For those on a budget there is a Formule 1 well placed in relation to the Buddhist center at 55 Route du Rhin, RN4. Telephone: (+33)89….
There is also Gambsheim, which is the same distance from the center and has a hotel and a campground (Hotel le Passage (tel: 03-88-6…), price for rooms: 40 euros for a double room; breakfast 5 euros).
There are no meals available at the center, but you may bring food for a picnic, or there are restaurants in the neighbouring villages.

How to get to the center:
By train: Go via Paris-Strasbourg and then Strasbourg-Offenburg or Ulm.
There is the possibility to send someone to pick you up at the train station (telephone: (49)-7843-7232).

By car: Go first to Strasbourg – the center is about 30 km from there.
Exit Strasbourg by the A35 direction Nancy, Metz, Offenburg, St. Die, Colmar. Then take Exit 4 Porte Shirmek, Etoile, Meinau, Montagne Verte, Kehl, Lingolsheim. Take the N4 direction Offenburg, then the B28 and a right on the B3 direction Appenweier. Go through Appenweier direction Renchen, and go through Renchen. Take a right to Ulm. When arriving in Ulm, on the main road, take a right direction Kaier. Go about 1.8 km and then you will see a collection of houses. The cente is on the right, with a sign saying Bodhi Path Center.
(The itinerary can be found on the website http://www.viamichelin.com)

From February 17 through February 22, 2006, Shamar Rimpoche gave a series of teachings on meditation practice at Stanford University and nearby at the Menlo Park Bodhipath Buddhist Center.

Organized by Bodhipath and Stanford University Professor of Buddhist History Mark Mancall, the first main part of the transmission was given at Stanford’s Florence Moore Hall. Over one hundred people of all ages and horizons attended, from as far away as Japan and as near by as the Stanford student body.

Shamar Rinpoché taught in both English and Tibetan, translated by Trinlay Tulku Rinpoché when required. He gave instructions based on the Indian scholar Vimalamitra’s classic text, Progressive Integration of the Meaning of Meditation, giving additional examples and explanations that made the work highly accessible and timely. This text describes the three main aspects of valid meditation practice as being shamatha, or calm-abiding meditation, vipassana, or insight meditation, and bodhicitta, or awakened mind. Rinpoché gave space for questions daily, allowing both beginning and weathered students to deepen their knowledge of the Buddhist path.

First day, May 21

Shamar Rimpoche began the current series of teachings on the Indian master Vimalamitra’s classic text on stages of meditation practice on Saturday, May 21. Eagerly awaited by the monastic and lay sanghas, as well as several hundred practitioners from far and near, Rinpoche was formally welcomed by Lama Puntso, Dhagpo Kagyu Ling’s director. A mandala, symbolising the offering of the universe, and the traditional welcoming gifts representing enlightened body, speech and mind were then given.

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Rinpoche began by summing up the teachings he gave last year. In Vimalmitra’s text, emphasis is placed on developing Shamatha, Calm-Abiding Meditation; Vipassana, Insight Meditation, and Bodhicitta, Awakened Mind. Last year, Rinpoche explained the beginning of the text, which maps out the mental and physical conditions most conducive to developing Shamatha and Vipassana.
As concerns Shamatha, a quiet place, a mind which desires little and is easily contented, getting rid of unnecessary activities, ethical discipline, keeping our committments and purifying our negative tendencies are needed. For the latter, there are two approaches: relative and ultimate. Relative methods of purification include practicies such as Vajrasattva and the Confession to the Thirty-Five Buddhas; the ultimate method refers to realizing the empty nature of mind and all phenomena. Rinpoche stressed that realization of emptiness was a valid remedy only if the practitioner had a deep-rooted understanding of the law of karma. « When we have realization, we naturally avoid all negative actions because these are based on the confusion born of dualistic clinging and ignorance, » he said.

As for Vipassana, Rinpoche told us that the main condition was finding a spiritual friend who had all the requisite qualities. Then we can use that person’s guidance to deepen our understanding of the Four Noble Truths and other basic tenets of the Dharma.

Rinpoche reminded us that for our practice to have results, awareness of these conditions and diligence are the keys to success. He stressed that the essence of the teachings is not related to culture, saying that it was quite unnecessary for practitioners to try to imitate another Buddhist culture’s way of dressing, acting or communicating. Buddhism, he said, appreared in India and then spread to many different countries over the centuries; the Dharma has always adapted to the mores of the host country. The true essence of the teachings is the consolidation of knowledge and the development of positive qualities, he explained.

Proper meditation practice requires proper posture. Shamar Rimpoche went over this point very clearly. He then reiterated the importance of using the breath to train in stablising the mind. He told us that physical well-being is conducive to meditation practice, and that dietary discipline is a great help.

Vimalamitra’s text gives stages for a progressive approach to meditation practice. Shamar Rimpoche emphasized the importance of truly training in one stage before moving on to the next. He said, « If the teachings aren’t thoroughly integrated through practice step by step, I can explain it all to you a hundred times, but you won’t understand.

« These are the classic instructions for retreat practice, » he said, « but that in no way makes them inappropriate for meditators who are not in retreat. When we have outside activities, of course we can practice, but the sources of distraction are more plentiful. The remedy, the main tool in all circumstances, is will-power. »

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