new year's address from H.H. Karmapa

Hello everyone,
Daia here.
Losar Tashi Delek!
Yesterday at Nalandabodhi New York we had a beautiful Year of the Fire Pig celebration, and part of our festivities included the reading of a new year's address recently spoken by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa in Bodhgaya. The transcript was sent to us by one of our members who was and still is over there. It got such a great response from people that we at NBNY thought it might be nice to share it with others. I'd include it as an attachment, but I don't think that's possible, so here it is in full (about 2 single-space pages):

When I was little and living in the monastery, on New Year's eve I would be anxious with anticipation waiting for the New Year to arrive. I could barely sleep, perhaps because of the possibilities of new hopes and aspirations. So for this New Year, I also have hope and aspiration. It's a new hope with the coming of this New Year that I might be able to walk on the same soil, the western continent—walk through the same landscape, and open the door to this intimacy. That is my hope for the New Year.

Looking back at this past year, we can recall experiences that have been painful and difficult. There are also joyful and happy experiences that we can recall. Different experiences, be they difficult and challenging or joyful and pleasant—they are landscapes, tapestries in our lives—something to do with attributes, significance in our lives. It's important to recall these joys and sorrows that have marked this last year. The point is, the difficulties one has faced, painful experiences, shouldn’t be left by themselves, put aside, or ignored as too painful. The difficulties and challenges should be attributes in molding and shaping the contours of one’s life and be put to meaningful use.

Personally, I have faced particular difficulties especially in the years1999 and 2000 [his escape from Tibet], as many of you know. The difficulties and challenges I have faced have become the adornments of my life. Had I not, maybe I would be anonymous—but some kind of recognition can be attributed to those times. Every difficulty can be embraced as a blessing in disguise. They can adorn one’s life. Beneficial results can be found. What would be most preferable is to be able to use whatever problems one has faced for greater development for the coming year. So they become attributes, human dignity, repleteness, fullness—decorated by being able to learn. That would be the most precious thing to do. If one can’t do that, then at least one must put aside, let go. Don’t bring a trail of baggage into the New Year. Come with new life into the New Year.

In 2006, I have come through many challenges, in particular having taken up the responsibility of steering the Kagyu Monlam. It is quite a lot of responsibility, difficulty and considerations. But this eve, all of those challenges, however difficult have been worth it because they have been done for your sake. So why get stuck with those? So I’ve left them behind. Tonight I come to you crystal fresh. I hope that you too can come fresh—decorate and dignify your human life and at least don’t bring a trail of baggage into the your present life. One needs room, so don’t bring a trail of baggage from the past. Say good-bye to last year.

So what we need to consider is that we don’t view that "time" is controlling us—that custom is controlling us. Time is not going to dictate change or custom doesn’t have control, but our willingness does. Feel inspired, motivated to change. We use the occasion of New Year to voluntarily serve as the vehicle of change. We can change anytime we want because it’s not dictated by time or custom. So the principle purpose of Buddhism is to see our conditioned habitual view—fanatical fixation of whatever view of reality that we are holding. The teachings of Buddhism help us to undo those fixations. Help us to understand fixation, rigidity—to not develop another view as we go further on the path—but gradually going beyond any view whatsoever.

When we apply Dharma in our spiritual lives and everyday activities, our attitude is free of extreme fixation. When we live our lives, face challenges and difficulties, there is enough room for movement, for activities to just occur. There’s no need to be stuck, rather, beginning to see room for hope, for possibility, for confidence.

So, on this very night it’s important for us to know that we’re not trying to particularly promote this or that view. We already have enough opinions. What we need is genuine experience of peace of mind, stability of mind, development of depth of capacity for wisdom—not dependent on counting how long one has done such and such, but on a daily basis looking at what’s going on in one’s life. What outlook is one developing from day to day, week to week, month to month.

We could use loving kindness, compassion—we can ask what further enhancement have we been able to develop? What have we cultivated in our daily life for that to occur? One needs two things:
1) Proper guidance; and
2) Examples of what is wholesome to adopt and what is unwholesome to abandon—recognizing by oneself what is unwholesome and giving it up and recognizing what to adopt. Self-help. Help yourself to appreciate, help yourself to develop, not by being dependent upon another to show you, but by embracing the guidelines that you need to follow. In terms of self-help, what do we need to do? We feed ourselves three times a day. Three times or not, we still have the notion to take care of the body. There is this notion of “I” who owns the body. This lingering experience—there is no fixed reference, not a reference to body or entity. Yet there’s some dependency, perhaps consciousness, mind, alertness that we experience. If so, perhaps we need to help that, feed that three times a day. Feed the mind in order to be strong, to be confident, to have a mature mind, like mental vitamins.
To catch a physical cold is uncomfortable, but a mind-cold is even worse. Maybe we should care for our mind more than our body.

In conclusion, I’d like to say that I’ve heard there are about 1,000 of you from abroad. So to me you are like 1,000 Buddhas, 1,000 Bodhisattvas. Actually, I don’t know what a Buddha looks like, what Buddhas are supposed to look like, but this time Buddhas have different shades of hair—blond, black, brown—short ones, tall ones. I’m so amazed at all the variety of ways that Buddhas can manifest.

That you’ve come here and sincerely participated in the Kagyu Monlam—I feel strengthened by your presence. I feel invigorated, like I want to do something. I must do more. So for this strength, I’d like to thank all of you. Thank you.

It has been in the past that my activities are dependent on others, the connection, the gathered strength of others. In the future also, the strength, the gathering of others’ inseparability, linked. And you’re all very important to me, a source of benefit to me, and maybe I’m a little bit to you. This eve I extend full-hearted good wishes for your well being and wishes that we stay connected in the coming years. If experience is happy, we’ll do it together. If experience is suffering, we’ll do it together.
With this I wish you the very best. Happy New Year.
~ H.H., the 17th Karmapa

Happy Losar!

Cheerful Year of the Fire Pig to you!

Now is a great time to make aspirations to be of benefit and develop bodhicitta every day for the coming year!

One good practice is to wake up each morning with the aspiration to be kind and open and minimize our negativity for the rest of the day. It is also good to end each day by reflecting on one's actions, learning from our mistakes and mishaps, and dedicating the merit of our beneficial actions for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Sarva Mangalam!

Ge leg phel!

Online Teaching

(c) nitartha international

Greetings to Nalandabodhi Practice Instructors (PIs),

As you may recall from our PI meeting during the 2005 sangha retreat, Rinpoche requested that all PIs become engaged in the on-line study project as part of their rota responsibilities. We are in the process of completing HIN 250 on-line with MAH 300 in development. A users guide to the on-line program is available to all instructors, and those PIs who have already participated in the on line curriculum are available for consultation.

We are now in the second phase of the project, that is developing and offering the Mahayana series to students. We have received support from many of you and we are now asking those of you who have not participated in the project, to please join us in supporting the fulfillment of Rinpoche’s vision for on-line study.

We need PIs who can develop and teach the MAH series starting with MAH 311, and including MAH 312 (there have been a few PIs who indicated willingness to teach this course), MAH 330, MAH 33, and MAH 350.

The approximate times these courses will be offered are:

MAH 311: September 2007

MAH 312: November 2007

MAH 330: January 2008

MAH 331: March 2008

MAH 350: September 2008

Please let me know the course (or a part of the course) you are interested in teaching. Once I have that information, I will send you the user’s guide and other information that will help you get started.

Thank you for your support in this inspiring-to-many-students-project

Warmest regards,

Stuart Horn
stuarthor@gmail.com

Dear Practice Instructors of Nalandabodhi,

I hope you are finding our blog a good idea. There are many questions and ideas that we could include and hopefully very soon you will find this an indispensable way to stay connected.

My tours are completed, at least for now. I had a wonderful time visiting our sangha. It is so helpful to be right there with folks and hear first hand what is going on. (This picture was taken at NB Montreal.)

I come away from these visits with a strong sense that practice (and consequently Practice Instructors) has a tremendous responsibility in furthering Nalandabodhi and the wishes of The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. There are so many aspects to our mandala such as fundraising, hosting, building buildings, designing publications, that our time is always taken up. All of these needs have tangible outcomes: either they happen or they don't. Practice is more invisible. It even sometimes feels like it is a lesser need when there are so many demands on our time. Practice cannot be quantified, it doesn't show up in any report, and at the end of the year no one panics about its deficit.

So how can practice maintain a central place at Nalandabodhi with so much activity going on? This is a PI challenge. If we PIs can't keep a place for it, how can we encourage our students to do so? If our students to not see it as a value within Nalandabodhi, how can they understand the reasons for the other activities? When I don't practice I become more full of self-interest, speedier, harsher-edged. I forget to listen. Instead I wait for the open slot so that I can insert my own agenda. We might begin now to recognize and propagate practice as a way, a manner, a do (as in zendo, or kyudo) through which these other things get accomplished in order that dharma activities don't become just more business as usual.

Practice may not show up on the excel charts, but it can help a planning meeting be more than a bunch of ideas batted about. It may not bring in the big money, but it can envision elegance on a small budget. It might have little to do with the relative results, but everything to do with the path to these. I feel that we are responsible to create a sangha that listens well. As I see it, Rinpoche expects us, the PIs, to sustain a spacious container so that the construction and the computers and the dollars remain in their proper perspectives.

I look forward to working on this project together with you and I invite your wisdom, comments and inspirational ways and means to enrich this blog and to make a meaningful practice environment for us all.

Happy Losar! Auspiciousness abounds!

Lee

Inspiration on Discipline, Paramita for the month of February:

In Sanskrit it is: sila
In Tibetan it is: tshul khrims (Pro. "tsul trim")
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ethical Conduct

Discipline or Ethics does not mean blindly adhering to a strict code of right and wrong. In fact, on the Mahayana path, it may very well be the most compassionate and skillful means to sometimes engage in unconventional methods that would not generally be accepted, as long as they are done with the pure intention of bodhicitta, or awakened mind.

Here, it is more of an ongoing practice of vigilance or attentiveness to not only one's actions of body, speech, and mind, but also the motivating intention behind them. The bodhisattva's is a gradual path of awakening and opening their heart and mind, and thus, we need to have a certain degree of gentleness and loving kindness (maitri) for ourselves, and of course, others.
As Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche sings,

Erring and erring, I walk the unerring path.

Aspiring bodhisattvas must be open and forgiving of mistakes, both their own and others'. They must also learn from them, and engage in regret when needs be (as opposed to egotistical guilt, which is only self-destructive). We must practice the middle way: not too tight, and not too loose. For instance, in meditation practice, not too tight might mean not just allowing the mind to go wherever it wants, but remembering the object of mindfulness and returning to it when one recognizes one has become distracted. Not too loose might mean that one is simply aware of what is happening in their experience, and not judging, indulging in or condemning it.

An example of this is how a typical Tibetan nomad herds their yaks: they just watch them. They don't try to force them to do something or other. This example can be applied to our lives both in formal meditation and post-meditation.

The Sanskrit word sila can be translated as "cool," like sitting in the refreshing shade of a tree on a hot summer day. This can mean that engaging in sila, or more precisely the Ten Virtuous Actions (not killing, not stealing, not engaging in sexual misconduct, speaking the truth, not using divisive speech, speaking gently, not idly gossiping, not to be covetous, not to be malicious, to have correct views), cools us, refreshes us, creatives positive karma, and serves to protect the wellbeing and stability of our mind, much like a glass chimney protecting a candle flame from the wind. As bodhisattvas, we can train ourselves to view the difficulties we encounter not as enemies to be destroyed or escaped, but rather as friends and indeed ornaments that can serve to beautify our dignity as human beings.

The perfection of Discipline or Ethics is to realize Three-Fold Purity, that is, the emptiness of the actor, the acted upon, and the action between the two. Transcendental Discipline or Ethics is non-conceptual, effortless action in harmony with shunyata, prajnaparamita, or tathagatagarbha; our inherent and indestructible basic goodness or Buddhanature.

From Atisha's Training the Mind (Tib. blo sbyong, Pro. "lo jong"):

Relative bodhicitta slogans relating to the paramita of Discipline:

* Sending and taking should be practiced alternately. These two should ride the breath.
* Three objects (friends, enemies, neutral people), three poisons (passion, aggression, delusion), three seeds of virtue (realizing the emptiness of any of these is virtuous).
* In all activities, train with slogans.
* Begin the sequence of sending and taking with yourself.

Contradictions to the paramita of Discipline:

Contradictions Mainly to Benefitting Others:
* Rejecting those who do not keep their discipline.
* Not developing learning, which inspires others' faith.
* Making little effort for the benefit of sentient beings.
* Not performing evil actions even though it is permitted when one has compassion and there is need.

Contradictions Mainly to Benefitting Oneself:
* Willingly taking up any of the five kinds of wrong livelihood.
* Mindlessly indulging.
* Due to desire and attachment, remaining in samsara.

Contradictions to Benefitting Both Onself and Others:
* Not preventing getting a bad reputation.
* Not controlling the kleshas.