News
Last updated on 2022-10-11
H.E. Garchen Rinpoche's Zoom event on the Three Anatidotal Deities Oct. 29
Shravasti Meditation Retreat with Khenmo Drolma, Nov. 10-14
Khenpo Tamphel Teaches Arya Nagarjuna's Bodhicittavivarana, Jan. 6 - 8, 2023
Yamantaka Retreat with Drubpon Tsering, April 6 - 10, 2023
Book Release: The Four Dharmas of Gampopa as Taught by Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche
News from Drikung Kagyu Institute in Dehra Dun, India
Abridged Prayers of Refuge, Bodhicitta and Dedication of the Glorious Drigung Kagyü
Kyabjé Garchen Rinpoché has asked that all Drigung Kagyü centers and
practitioners be made aware of an English translation of the complete
Drigung Kagyü prayers of refuge, bodhicitta, dedication and
long-life. This arrangement of prayers accords with the Common Book of
Daily Prayers, whose recitation is standard throughout Drigung
monasteries in Tibet, Nepal and India. The 32-page prayer booklet includes
Tibetan, transliterated Tibetan and an English translation suitable for
chant. As is common in Asia, the prayers may be recited in their entirety or
in abbreviated forms, according to the circumstances.
With regard to
the text Garchen Rinpoché has said, “I wish to offer many thanks to Drupön
Trinley Ningpo for initially having commissioned this English verse
translation. By so doing, he has been immeasurably kind. Until now the
Drigung refuge and bodhicitta prayers have not been available in
translation in their entirety. Now that they are complete, we should be put
them to use, as when the prayers are read in their entirety, the path of
awakening is made whole.
The complete text may be downloaded here: http://www.gartrust.org/verse.html.
Recordings of the verses are available here: http://www.gartrust.org/audiovideo.html
.Please direct questions about the text or translation to: gar.choding.trust@gmail.com
.Sincerely,
The Garchen
Institute on behalf of Kyabjé Garchen Rinpoché
From my conversations with Khenchen Rinpoche, he indicated that he
wouldn’t mind staying and continuing to teach there for as many years as he
could if conditions permit. His reason being he is 70 years old now, he has
become less capable of flying in and out there frequently and also the
Chinese laws may change in the future. He felt that there are many qualified
teachers who can freely travel anywhere in the world, except China,
therefore he has chosen to fill this gap.
I’m writing to share my
personal observations of Rinpoche that he has a big heart and compassion to
share his knowledge with monks and nuns there even with his health
conditions. He is concerned that while many are very devoted to Buddha
Dharma, the practice has slowly become more ritualistic – something he
wished to contribute and change the best he could with teachings of “Gong
Chig”, “The Heart Essence of Mahayana”, “Jewel Ornament of Liberation”, and
‘Five Fold Path of Mahamudra”. His greatest concern and focus is on Dharma
Education. He has strongly emphasized that Education, Meditation and
Practice must be in balance, and only then will Buddhist Dharma flourish to
benefit all beings. I know nothing makes Rinpoche happier than giving
teachings.
Written by
Message from HE Garchen Rinpoche regarding the Rise of Environmental Challenges in the World (2015.06.25)
This is a
message to all the Buddhists in the world.
In general, anyone who practices a religion, any religion, needs love and
compassion. This love and compassion is to be directed towards all sentient
beings: “May all sentient beings have happiness and may they be free from
suffering.” Therefore, when people anywhere suffer from heat and cold, you
should pray to the one in whom you take refuge. Pray for the benefit of all
countries in the world, for example, “May those without rain have rain;may
those without water have water; may the fire that injures some be
extinguished,” and so forth. You should make prayers that accord with your
own tradition. As Buddhists we can recite the Prayer for World Peace or
single-pointedly supplicate to Tara. This is the responsibility of every
religious practitioner, even if you are the only one in the house. Such
prayers will surely be of benefit.
Even if only one or two people pray, it will surely bring benefit. We should
all pray together for the well-being of all countries. This will also
benefit us. If we close ourselves up and only care about our own well-being,
then of course, that will not be of much benefit. But if you pray with the
intention to benefit the entire world, that will actually benefit yourself
the most, and it will also benefit the world.
This is called “accomplishing the benefit of others and
oneself.” So everyone should supplicate his or her own source of refuge.
Buddhists, for example, can supplicate Jetsun Tara, Chenrezig, and so forth;
recite Mani mantras; perform purification rituals before stupas, or even
small statues; be generous to animals, and so forth.
All
these practices will benefit the world. Otherwise, hatred and jealousy will
increase in this world, and love will decline. This will lead to an increase
of heat in the world, and in the end the world will go up in flames. Thus,
it would be good if everyone would consider this. We should all pray and
take this to heart with great concern. If we remain unconcerned about the
suffering of others as long as it doesn't affect us personally, we are just
paying lip service to our prayer, “May all sentient beings have happiness
and may they be free from suffering.”
The single
cause of all the misery in this world, such as floods on the outer level and
conflicts on the inner level, is the ill will arising from the hatred and
jealousy of the people inhabiting this planet. Instead of helping one
another, people harm each other: countries go to war, people and religious
groups fight with each other. In brief, love—the harmony of the inner
elements—affects the harmony of the outer elements. The five mental
afflictions and the five outer elements are profoundly related. Therefore,
our efforts to give rise to love and compassion will be fruitful by virtue
of three powers: first, the power of one's own pure intention—one's own good
heart ;second, the power of the Tatagathas—all the buddhas of the three
times have made aspiration prayers, but in addition, we must supplicate
them. Just as with a wish-fulfilling jewel, unless one expresses the wish,
it will not be fulfilled. If we supplicate, then we will receive the power
of all the buddhas; this is the power of the Tataghatas. And third, the
power of Dharmadhatu—samsara and nirvana have a single basis.
The duality of samsara and nirvana is only a temporary
appearance due to various karma and afflictions.
As a result
of actions committed with an afflicted mind, we now witness a lot of
suffering in this world. So how can we purify these afflictions? All
afflictions arise from self-grasping, and the antidote to self-grasping is
the altruistic mind. Altruism will benefit one in all circumstances: in this
life, in the next life, and in the bardo. Everyone needs altruism.
Even a tiny creature will experience happiness relative to the level of its
altruism. Thus we pray, “May beings possess happiness and the causes of
happiness.” The cause of happiness is love.
And, “May beings be free
from suffering and the causes of suffering.” The cause of suffering is
self-grasping. There is no other Dharma than that. The heart-essence of the
Dharma is love and compassion. Apart from love and compassion, no other
Dharma exists. What we call “the Buddha” is the wisdom-mind, the perfection
of wisdom. The subtle wisdom of buddha-nature is the underlying basis of
samsara and nirvana. Therefore, if one has love and compassion, wisdom will
increase. If you understand this, you will discover the method to bring
about happiness and liberation from suffering. Thus, we should engender
excellent aspirations. Since the world is currently in such a perilous
state, I request everyone to pray well.
Translated by
Ina Dhargye and edited by Kay Candler.
Audio
recording from Garchen Rinpoche：https://goo.gl/BHJDVo
Garchen Dharma Institute, Taiwan (www.garchen.tw)
Latest Message from the most Venerable Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche
To all the members and friends of Ratnashri Meditation Center.
The Center has regular program for dharma study and meditation practice every week. Dharma is always useful and practical application when we face difficulties, specially in our mind. So dharma study and practice means how to bring inner peace and joy for oneself and others. It is wisdom and insight to choose the right cause for happiness for this life and next.
Many greetings for the New Year and hope to see you all sometime in this year.
Many prayers.
Sincerely, Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen
Most Venerable Khenchen Rinpoche on Reminding Dharma
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I hope and pray that
you are well. I think of you in my meditations. We are very fortunate
having this precious human life and taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma
and Sangha and following the path. You have been writing me off and on
for the last couple of years and I'm grateful you are keeping in
contact and I cherish this opportunity. Usually I can't write long
letters because I don't know how to type but today I have a good
secretary so I'm taking the opportunity to say a few things.
Without the Dharma, our life in samsara is only suffering or a condition of suffering and we create more causes of suffering. We are also very smart creating the causes of suffering. Since we have the Dharma in our life it gives us wisdom to penetrate the reality nature of the causes of suffering and causes of peace and happiness in this life and eventually for complete enlightenment. So it is for our own benefit and for others as well that we utilize this precious human life as best as possible. This precious human life is a venue to do all the good things. First, take a deep breath and release all the tension both physically and mentally and then contemplate all phenomena which are composite: The nature of impermanence and the nature of disintegration, including our human body. So by contemplating this, purify all attachment and anger. Second, this samsara is a state of suffering. Either suffering of suffering, suffering of change or in the condition of suffering. So contemplate this carefully and those who are suffering in the world, physically or mentally, including our enemies. Develop sincere compassion wishing them to be free from suffering and to achieve complete enlightenment. Third, these manifestations, happiness and suffering within impermanence, are based on causes and conditions. Nothing functions independently. All are in the constitution of causes and conditions. And all the causes and conditions are infallible. So it is to our own benefit using our empirical wisdom, avoiding and purifying all the causes of suffering and creating and accumulating all the causes of peace and happiness. As an example, avoiding the ten non virtues and practicing the ten virtues. With this understanding, we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and keep the moral ethics. This makes the person pure and a subject of respect. And then, having kept the moral ethics well, for one's own benefit to free from samsara, cultivate bodhicitta, the mind of enlightenment for all others, based on sincere loving kindness and compassion. Remind yourself of this practice every day and every moment when you are working or sitting. This will give us wisdom and courage to do good things in our daily life and for others. This altruistic thought inspired all the Buddhas of the past and the present. They adopted this mind, the universal mind of bodhicitta, and they applied and practiced it in their lives and they attained Buddhahood and benefited countless sentient beings. We can also take that example and inspire ourselves and follow the path. So when we do these practices, our main focus is to purify all the mental afflictions. For example ignorance, anger, attachment, pride, jealousy and so forth. They are called the three poisons or five poisons and so forth. They are the root cause of all our suffering and conflict for the individual and for society. Without touching base on this no matter how much we try, real peace and happiness is impossible to attain. This kind of experience is shared by all sentient beings. So Dharma gives us this wisdom to understand the reality nature of suffering and happiness. Dharma has also great method and skill to tackle all these causes of suffering. To purify these obscurations and mental delusions, the Vajrayana teaching gives great skill. Through this method, one gets the opportunity to manifest into the form of the deities which is called Yidam practice, inseparable of appearance and emptiness. With this we repeatedly manifest into the Yidam deity and dissolve into emptiness based on ultimate bodhicitta that is supported by moral ethics. Here I mention a few words of the purpose of the practice. There are many books translated as a reference on how to practice. I want you to have real peace and happiness and to be free from confusion and ignorance which are the root cause of suffering. I will say prayers for your good health and successful meditation practice. If you'd like you may place this letter on your Facebook or web page. Sincerely, Khenchen K. Gyaltshen
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Dedication
With a wish to free all beings, |
