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USA & CANADA

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada, Toronto

Experiencing Limitless Possibilities: Retreat On Emptiness

Requirement: Open to Public
Date: 12 – 14 June 2015

By understanding the true nature of phenomena, we begin to realize the limitless possibilities this wisdom reveals. The rare teachings and meditations presented in this retreat will make this wisdom practical and accessible to all. This will allow us to transcend our actual state of limitation and actualize our own limitless potential.

For more information, visit http://kadampa.ca/coursesevents/retreats/

Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada, Toronto

Guru Yoga Mandala Offerings Retreat

Requirement: Open to Public
Date: 18 – 22 June 2015

Engaging in the practice of Guru Yoga together with making mandala offerings creates a vast collection of merit through which we can receive the powerful blessings of our Spiritual Guide and fulfil our spiritual wishes.

For more information, visit http://kadampa.ca/coursesevents/retreats/

EUROPE

Albagnano Healing Meditation Centre

Short Commentary of Guhyasamaja Tantra

Requirement: For HYT Practitioners only
Date: 30th May – 2nd June 2015

Short commentary of Guhyasamaja Tantra: Crystal Massage Method to Create the Pure Energy Form of Light and Nectar

The Guhyasamaja Tantra is one of the most important highest yoga tantras. Originally taught by Buddha Vajradhara to Mahasiddha Indrabhuti (the elder brother of Mahasiddha Laksminkara, a previous incarnation of Lama Gangchen) this lineage was the heart practice of Lama Tsongkhapa and many of his close disciples. Lama Tsongkhapa attained the gyulu – the deathless body of light at the time of his death as a result of this practice, and it is also the basis of the body mandala of the guru in the Lama Choepa guru yoga and the mandala of the World Peace Protector. Although the explanation of this tantra is very profound and extensive, we will try to summarise the most important practical points for those who wish to engage in the retreat in August, or who just wish to practice it.

For more information, visit http://ahmc.ngalso.net/events/short-commentary-of-guhyasamaja-tantra-crystal-massage-method-to-create-the-pure-energy-form-of-light-and-nectar/?lang=en

Albagnano Healing Meditation Centre

Black Manjushri Residential Retreat

Requirement: Call for more information
Date: 5th – 7th June 2015

Black Manjushri is the wrathful healing form of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom. This practice helps us to heal our deep inner negative emotions and the mental sufferings that arise due to problems or sickness; it is also a powerful antidote against the harm and disturbances caused by negative astrological influences.

There are numerous benefits to this meditative practice because above all, it supports us both mentally and physically, those suffering from so-called “incurable” diseases such as aids and cancer. It helps us to confront and deal with the negative emotions such as anger, depression, fear and denial that arise when we are challenged by serious health problems or when we are confronted with problems in our daily life.

The practice of Black Manjushri can also be used to purify the negative consequences that can be created, for example, when we perform a marriage ceremony, hold a cremation or cut down trees on astrologically inauspicious days. This practice gives us the opportunity to stop our energy flowing into the wrong path due to astrological influences.

For more information, visit http://ahmc.ngalso.net/events/black-manjushri-residential-retreat/?lang=en

Albagnano Healing Meditation Centre

White Heruka of Long Life Initiation and Practice

Requirement: Call for more information
Date: 13th – 14th June 2015

This is a very special long life practice which combines the blessings of Heruka with NgalSo Self Healing and a special method to gather around us the essence energy of the five elements. Receiving the Empowerment from Lama Ganchen, we will do a short retreat to develop familiarity with the practice.

Fundamentally this practice consists of:

1. Repossessing lost life energy
2. Regenerating degenerated life energy using pranayana to absorb the essence of the five elements, increasing our positive karma and renewing our vows.
3. Increasing our longevity by means of special long life pills.
4. Other very secret methods for a long life which will be revealed at the time.

For more information, visit http://ahmc.ngalso.net/events/white-heruka-of-long-life-initation-and-pratice/?lang=en

Albagnano Healing Meditation Centre

Tara NgalSo Chulen: A Powerful Cleansing Practice for Body and Mind

Requirement: Call for more information
Date: 26th – 28th June 2015

During these days we shall purify body and mind by abstaining from gross food and nourishing ourselves with “the essence” pills made with flower petals and Himalayan minerals with a strong protein value and the capacity to regenerate body cells, as well as seasonal fruit juices. With this ancient method of Tibetan yogic and medical tradition, we purify ourselves of toxins accumulated through incorrect diet, chemically treated, refined or genetically modified food, excessive alcohol, tobacco etc. thus regaining the natural equilibrium of body and mind.

Through this physical purification, our mind becomes free of impure energy. As a result, uncontrolled negative emotions like excessive desire, anger, anxiety, stress and frustrations calm down and we feel a state of well-being and joy.

For more information, visit http://ahmc.ngalso.net/events/tara-ngalso-chulen/?lang=en

ASIA

Kadampa Meditation Centre Hong Kong

Blessing Empowerment of Green Tara & Commentary

Requirement: Open to Public
Date: 19 – 21 June 2015

Blessing Empowerment of Green Tara & Commentary to the Practice of The Transference of Consciousness (Powa) Practice of Arya Tara with Gen Kelsang Tonglam

Tara is our Spiritual mother. When we are young we turn to our worldly mother for help. She protects us, cares for us and teaches us worldly skills. In the same way, during our spiritual growth, we need to turn to Holy Mother Tara. Renowned as the swiftest of the Buddhas, Tara will protect us from all outer and inner fears during our spiritual journey. In particular, during this course, Gen Tonglam will share with us the instructions of Powa Practice of Arya Tara.

Through this simple but extremely profound practice, Mother Tara will guide us away from the sufferings or ordinary appearance of this life to a Buddha’s Pureland without having to abandon this present body. This is a practical method that we can apply in our daily life and at the time of death in order to attain the Pureland of Dharmakaya.

For more information, visit http://www.meditation.hk/en/courses/East-Asian-Dharma-Celebration-2015

Particularly in the early days of exile, a number of claims were made about the centrality of the practice of Dorje Shugden in Geluk practice, in particular, that the deity was the main protector of the Geluk.

This claim seems to be strongly linked to a doctrine connected with the 19th and 20th century charismatic Geluk teacher Phabongkha Rinpoche Dechen Nyingpo, and quite possibly his main teacher Tagphu Dorje Chang who emphasised “one lama, one personal meditation deity, and one protector” as being the essence of Geluk practice. It will therefore be looked at in that context.

One Protector

Quite clearly, as the Geluk tradition was founded by Je Tsongkhapa in the early 15th century and the non-canonical protector deity Dorje Shugden did not manifest until 1657, that deity’s practice could not have been the main protector practice of the Geluk for the first 250 years of the tradition.

The main protectors of the tradition until then, and the plural is important here, seem to have been the following:

• The canonical supramundane protector Karmaraja, locatable in the Yamantaka tantra cycle of the ‘father’ subdivision of the peerless yoga tantras and within that in the practices of Vajrabhairava;
• The canonical supramundane protector Six-Armed Mahakala, locatable in the ‘Vajra Tent’ tantra text in the Heruka cycle of the ‘mother’ subdivision of the peerless yoga tantra division;
• The canonical supramundane deity Vaishravana in the aspect of riding a lion and holding an umbrella in his right hand and a jewel spitting mongoose in his left.
• Later, but still before the appearance of the deity Dorje Shugden, the canonical supramundane deity Palden Lhamo Magzor Gyalmo became a protector of the Geluk. A clear date for this has not yet been established but may well turn out to be after the vision of the 2nd Dalai Lama, where Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava instructed him to take Palden Lhamo as a personal protector. Certainly by the late 17th and early 18th century, her practice was well established across the Geluk. What is important to note here is that all these are supramundane and that they are shared in common with the other Sarma traditions of Sakya and Kagyu.

None is exclusive to the Geluk. From the surviving collected writings of great teachers in the Geluk tradition, there is documentary evidence of continued interest in the practice of all these deities as dharma protectors right up until the present day.

Some of them also have functions as institutional protectors. For example, Palden Lhamo is the chief protector deity for Ganden Jangtse college and the practice of Palden Lhamo is a chief practice of the protector chapel for Drepung Lhachi, i.e. the totality of that monastery.

Apart from a few, often oblique references criticising the practice by certain lamas, the first surviving documentary evidence we have of the widespread worship of Dorje Shugden in the Geluk comes from the first half of the 20th century and seems due to the activities of Phabongkha Rinpoche Dechen Nyingpo.

The 3rd Trijang Rinpoche was collating material in his Labrang before exile, and managed to reconstitute some of his collection in exile, where he wrote quite extensively on the practice of Dorje Shugden. It may be that in the library of his Labrang in Ganden there are original dateable documents from before Phabongkhapa.

Much of the 3rd Trijang’s interesting work on Dorje Shugden is the collation of oral tradition around the practice of the deity. The weight of evidence so far available suggests that the practice of Dorje Shugden as either a worldly oath-bound protector or as an emanation of a fully enlightened being was mainly a private protector practice, with few institutions in the Geluk monasteries doing this as a regular practice.

One obvious example until very recently was the Bomra regional house of Sera Mey college. There were Dorje Shugden shrines in both Sera and Ganden monasteries in old Tibet and in exile, it seems that a three dimensional model of his mandala house had been built at Ganden.

But such is the loss of documentation due to the ravages of the cultural revolution that it is not at all clear how long Dorje Shugden shrines had been established in those monasteries in old Tibet or how well patronised they were in terms of numbers. Both clearly had wealthy sponsors but that does not necessarily equate to numbers.

The evidence that the practice of Dorje Shugden was the main protector of the Geluk simply does not stack up. It seems that for the Geluk as a whole and as an institution, the three then four canonical supramundane deities from the early days have remained the main dharma protectors of the tradition.

One Personal Deity

The one personal deity claimed as central for the Geluk is the practice of the aspect of Vajrayogini that comes through Naropa, known as ‘Naro Khacho’. The practice of Vajrayogini cannot be accessed except through an initiation into a Heruka deity.

Nowadays in Tibetan Buddhism, this seems mainly to be through the system of the five deity Heruka mandala in the tradition of Tilbupa. Looking at the tantra masters in the prayers to the lineage masters of this Vajrayogini lineage produced in the 19th and 20th centuries before coming into exile, Je Tsongkhapa is noticeable by his absence and it would seem that the practice came into the Geluk from the Sakya not through Tsongkhapa.

The issue of who does and who does not get included in lineage prayers is in itself a topic of great interest as until recently it was extremely unlikely that any given tantra practitioner of note really only had one master in the practice. 

More likely he would have studied different aspects of the practice and received different transmissions and oral instructions connected with the practice from a number of tantra masters. This scattering of transmission lineages between teachers is often deliberate, being one way to ensure that transmissions are not severed by untimely death of the only holder.

If we look at the surviving documentary evidence of Tsonghapa’s collected works, it would seem that Je Tsongkhapa had a deep interest in the 32 deity Akshobhyavajra Guhyasamaja tantra system, the 13 deity Vajrabhairava system and the 62 deity Heruka Cakrasamvara system and made these three practices the core of Geluk tantra practice.

Again the plural is significant. It was of these three mandalas that Tsongkhapa had three dimensional models made in a special temple in Ganden, the seat of his tradition. It is these three practices that constitute the core of the ritual training in the two surviving tantra colleges of Gyu Toh and Gyu Med and constituted the core of the tradition at Sey Gyu dratsang at Sey in the Tsang province of old Tibet.

The transmission lineage of this last practice has been badly damaged and it is not clear whether it can be reestablished fully either in exile or in Tibet. But the other two tantric colleges have been successfully reestablished and continue to ensure the survival of these key tantra practices within the Geluk.

In the Geluk it is the recitation of these practices by the tantric monks from these two colleges that is considered the best way to consecrate a temple. Of the three tantras traditionally Guhyasamaja is held as the main practice, Vajrabhairava as a preliminary and obstacle removing practice and the 62 deity Chakrasamvara as an enhancing practice.

Vajrayogini in the form of Naro Khacho is a branch practice off the Cakrasamvara cycle of practices. The tradition holds that if the number of core tantric practices of Je Tsongkhapa is taken as four then the practice of Kalacakra should be taken as the fourth. If it expanded to five then the practice of Mahacakra Guhya(ka)adipati should be added as the fifth.

Again the weight of the evidence seems to show that Naro Khacho Vajrayogini never was the core or sole tantric practice of the Geluk, though much admired and taken up by some individuals as their main personal meditational deity. It seems that from very early on, the main or core personal meditation deity practices of the Geluk were 32 deity Akshobhyavajra Guhyasamaja, 13 deity Vajrabhairava and 62 deity Heruka Cakrasamvara.

His Holiness Kyabje Denma Gonsa Rinpoche

Denma Gonsa Rinpoche is a great senior lama and student of both Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and Pabongkha Dechen Nyingpo. He transmitted the pure teachings to his district people and 600 monks of his monastery.

This great Monastery houses a 12 story high main image of Je Tsongkapa and has a beautiful Chapel to Dorje Shugden. Dorje Shugden is the main Dharma protector of this vast Monastery in Kham.

The current Kyabje Pabongkha Choktrul Rinpoche incarnation travelled often to this Monastery to receive rare teachings, practices and commentaries from Kyabje Denma Gonsa Rinpoche.

Kyabje Denma Gonsa Rinpoche passed away last year. He told his main attendents before passing away that a few boys will claim to be his incarnation. But the real incarnation will recognize himself. He will recite the Root tantra of Guhyasamaja from memory perfectly. Only enthrone this boy as my real incarnation.

This picture was taken a few years ago, showing the main white building before the Dorje Shugden chapel is built

Left (white) houses the Largest Tsongkapa statue in the world being 31 meters or 101ft. The newly built building ( yellow) to the right houses the largest Dorje Shugden statue in the world. It is a Dorje Shugden chapel with a Dorje Shugden statue which is 6 meters or 18 feet tall

The 6 meter (18 feet) Dorje Shugden statue, read more about this magnificent statue here: /?p=3

Completed 18-ft magnificent Dorje Shugden statue

The beautiful stupa that enshrines the remains of Denma Gonsa Rinpoche. This powerful tulku has already taken rebirth and will be recognized soon. He will be recognized in a place that will be in Tibet and safe

Watch these excellent videos on Dorje Shugden produced by Denma Gonsa Rinpoche’s Monastery showing beautiful thangkhas and footages in the monastery.

English Subtitles:

View video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeoA01K8Ekc

In Tibetan language:

View video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCYnUunXUnc

Chinese Language:

View video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yfY0VNFTlQ

Vajrayogini and Gyalchen Dorje Shugden,
Blessed transformative yidam and protector of the nuclear age

The Three Roots: Guru, Yidam and Protector

How relying sincerely on all “three roots” forms the basis of our spiritual practice

“The practice of analytic meditation should begin with the topic of how to serve a spiritual teacher.”

“If you contemplate skillfully for about seven days the benefits of serving a teacher and for about seven days also the faults of failing to serve a teacher, you will produce a mental transformation.”

“You must bring forth the realization which perceives that your Guru is truly a Buddha. And since this very topic is much more crucial than all the others, devote yourself to it with great effort”

-H.H. Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo DECHEN NYINGPO

During the earthly life of Guru Buddha Shakyamuni, it was relatively easy to gain attainments; at times, thousands attained arhatship simultaneously while attending the Blessed One’s discourses.

In our day, the distraction in our minds caused by unbridled greed and hatred is so overwhelming that just living an ethically sound life is a great feat. Indeed, the Buddha has said that to live as a nun or monk for a day in our era would equal an entire life of an ordained person who was his contemporary.

By that example we can see just how intensely different the odds are between then and now. It’s as if we walked from a sleepy village square straight into Las Vegas, or from convent school to an underground rave party, popping pills with mad hatters.

It is very hard not to go with the flow that is really a torrential wave of heavy karma temptation. If we can get through the day without breaking our mother’s heart it’s heroic, on the exoteric level.

Esoterically, the tantric methods of transmutation instead of avoidance or repression become more and more relevant as we progress rapidly towards the finale furioso of this Kali Yuga or Dark Age.

And thus, reliance on the ‘Three Roots’ – Guru, Yidam and Protector becomes crucial, the principal one of the three being, of course, the Guru, while Yidam and Protector are the attainment and activity aspects of the Guru’s holy mind and emanated as his blessings.

Only the tiniest fraction of today’s practitioners live in monastic surroundings or are otherwise blessed with the leisure and determination to practice the enormously complex and time-consuming sadhanas of Yamantaka, Heruka and Guyasamaja, the classic practices of the Gelukpa school.

Heruka Pabongkha Rinpoche, with perfect clairvoyance, foresight and compassion, recommended to make Vajrayogini our main Yidam, whose practice is shorter, easier to do yet as profound and increasing in power as afflictive emotions and degeneration increase in the time period we find ourselves now.

He, in direct communion with Vajrayogini, who was Manjushri Je Tsongkhapa’s secret heart Yidam, composed the condensed sadhana that we are blessed to practice today. To think about this is one way that ordinary beings like us can appreciate the unfathomable kindness and wisdom of His Holiness Pabongkhapa.

How does all this relate to Gyalchen Dorje Shugden, whom Kyabje Pabongkha recommended as our main Protector? In terms of Yidams –

Although you outwardly exhibit the haughty manner of a terrifier to conquer enemies of Lozang the Victor’s teachings, you are, in nature, that very Manjushri Yamantaka; with the supreme, unsurpassed devotion.

and

Although your aggregates, elements, spheres and limbs appear as the five families of Shugden, principal and entourage, they are actually the thirty-two deities of Guyasamaja’s body mandala.

So, together with Vajrayogini, Heruka’s consort, we have the three classical Yidams complete again.

In terms of Dharma Protectors – just like Vajrayogini is the crystallized essence of all holy Yidams, so is Dorje Shugden the Vajra Heart of all holy Guardians of the Dharma, perfectly arising in our collective awareness at this time of greatest need.

Just like Vajrayogini – who bestows great attainments upon practitioners even if one does her practice imperfectly but recites her mantra with faith and deep Guru devotion – the great King Protector likewise helps miraculously if we strive to transform our minds sincerely, based on surrendering the self-cherishing mind at the feet of our Lama.

In this video, Kyabje Denma Gonsar Dorje Chang chants the Prayers of the Lamrim Dedication.

Denma Gonsar Rinpoche is a great senior lama and student of both Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and Pabongkha Dechen Nyingpo. He transmitted the pure teachings to his district people and 600 monks of his monastery. This great monastery houses a 12-storey high main image of Je Tsongkhapa and has a beautiful Chapel to Dorje Shugden. Dorje Shugden is the main Dharma protector of this vast monastery in Kham.

The current Kyabje Pabongkha Choktrul Rinpoche incarnation travelled often to this monastery to receive rare teachings, practices and commentaries from Kyabje Denma Gonsar Rinpoche.

Kyabje Denma Gonsar Rinpoche passed away in 2005. He told his main attendants before passing away that a few boys will be claimed to be his incarnation. “But the real incarnation will recognize himself. He will recite the Root tantra of Guhyasamaja from memory perfectly. Only enthrone this boy as my real incarnation.”