Cyber Shedra

I received this email today that may be of interest to the serious student of the dharma:

Namdroling, Montana and Khenpo Tenzin Norgay Rinpoche are happy to again offer the distance learning program, Cyber Shedra.  Cyber Shedra was established by Namdroling Montana and Khenpo Norgay in 2004 in order to help serious Dharma students receive pure Buddhist teachings.

This is an exceptionally rare opportunity for students whose lives are mingled with the world and worldly responsibilities.  A uniqueness of this program is that you study from your computer when and where it is convenient for you.

Who teaches these sessions?

The teachings are given by Khenpo Tenzin Norgay Rinpoche from the Palyul Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.  Participants have the opportunity to receive teachings from and communicate questions to master Buddhist teacher Khenpo Norgay via email and the web.  Lessons, assignments, practice instructions, and written question and answer sessions are incorporated into the program.

For those who are interested, definitions of Tibetan/Sanskrit terms found in Session 1 lessons are also available. Please check our website for a biography of:  Khenpo-la.

How long is each session?

Each session progresses over an eight-month period (October to May).  The fall sessions begin anytime between today’s date and November 7, 2017.  Your start date will depend on when we receive your registration.

How do I register?

You may register any time between now and November 7, 2017.  We request that you take the sessions in sequence.  A student should take Session 1 before taking Session 2, and take Sessions 1 and 2 before taking Session 3, etc.

(If you plan to register but cannot send your fee until November 7, you may send us an email at cyshedra@namdrolingmt.org and we will begin sending your class materials in October.)

More details:

Shedra is a Tibetan word meaning “place of teaching” that refers to the traditional educational program in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and nunneries among all four schools of Buddhism.  Shedra participants may be ordained or lay  students who attend these high-level courses in the Buddhist Philosophical University and upon completion one becomes a Khenpo or professor of Buddhism.

A general curriculum that is normally offered (from wiki):

Nyingma Lineage

The shedra at Namdroling Monastery (in Bylakuppe, India) includes specific phases of study with particular texts used in each phase.  Commentaries by Ju Mipham or Khenpo Shenga may be used with each text.  The phases and texts include:

• First year
  • Training on the prātimokṣa, bodhisattva, and samaya vows using Treatise Ascertaining the Three Vows by Pema Wangyal
  • Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra by Shantideva
  • Grammar, Poetry, and History
• Second through fifth years
  • Psychology using Abhidharmakosha by Vasubandhu, Abhidharmasamuccaya by Asanga, and Pramanavarttika by Dharmakirti
  • Madhyamaka philosophy texts including Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, Chatuhshataka-shastrakarika (The Four Hundred Verses on the Middle Way) of Aryadeva, Madhyamakāvatāra, and Madhyamakalankara
• Upper phase
  • Yogacara philosophy using the five treatises of Maitreya via Asanga, including Gyulama (Mahayanottaratantrashastra or Ratnagotravibhāga), Abhisamayalankara, Mahāyāna-sūtrālamkāra-kārikā, Madhyānta-vibhāga-kārikā (Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes) and Dharma-dharmatā-vibhāga (Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being)
  • Additional study on the vows and monastic discipline
• Tantra phase for two or three years
  • Specific tantras like the Guhyagarbha tantra
  • Dzogchen commentaries like Yonten Dzod by Jigme Lingpa, Rangdrol Korsum (Trilogy of Self Liberation), and Ngelso Korsum (Trilogy of Resting)
  • Additional study on the eight precepts of practice and related topics

If you are interested…a complete description of the program and how it is run, a biography of Khenpo Tenzin Norgay, and a link to registration can be found here:

Cyber Shedra Montana

Contact Us:

For questions please contact: cyshedra@namdrolingmt.org

Tashi Delek,

Neo

Yangthang Rinpoche Parinirvana

Venerable Yangthang Tulku Rinpoche was the immediate reincarnation of Dhomang Terchen, Dorje Dechen Lingpa.  He was the revealer of many treasure practices.  As one of the inconceivable great treasure revealers from Eastern Tibet, Dhomang Terchen was highly regarded by the greatest lamas and tertons of his time.

He revealed thirteen volumes during his life, which included treasures found in the earth, in lakes, in rocks, and in space, as well as pure vision treasures.  He is well known as the emanation of the great Vimalamitra, as well as Terton Lhatsun Namkha Jigmed.  Therefore, it is no surprise that his revelations also included many astonishing secret substances and materials necessary for the future propagation of Vajrayana practice.

Biography:

From PathToBuddha website:

In 1959, when the Communist Chinese invaded Tibet, Yangthang Rinpoche fled Dhomang.  He was later captured by the Chinese and imprisoned for 22 years.  He helped many fellow prisoners who could not bear the hardship to die peacefully by performing Phowa and transferring their consciousness to the Pure Land.

Though he witnessed and experienced much torture, he bears no resentment to his captors, only compassion.  In fact, he became a spiritual advisor to some of the guards.  When people express sympathy about his imprisonment, Rinpoche says that because of Dharma, his mind was more free in prison than worldly people experience in the best of circumstances.

“Because of Dharma, my mind was more free in prison than worldly people experience in the best of circumstances.” — Yangthang Rinpoche

Following the death of Mao Tse Tung he was released.  He returned to Dhomang to find his monastery completely dismantled.  He then obtained permission to go to Sikkim.  As a simple yogi he traveled back and forth to Nepal and Bhutan, receiving transmissions and empowerments from His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and His Holiness Dodrupchen Rinpoche.

Parinirvana:

Yangthang passed into parinirvana last year on October 15th, 2016*.  So, as part of Vajrayana tradition, students and close disciples plan on doing tsok (ganachakra feasts) on the 14th day of the eighth month of the Tibetan Lunar Calendar.  The parinirvana date for this year falls on: October 30th

• 2017: October 4th
• 2018: September 23rd
• 2019: September 12th
• 2020: September 30th

*Note: there was a double-month in the Lunar Calendar back in 2016

Stupa:

From Yangthang’s FB page:

The “sung-jug” for the two Relic Stupas of Yangthang Rinpoche has been completed smoothly today, the auspicious Guru Rinpoche Day, at Yangthang Rinpoche’s residence in Yuksom, Sikkim.

The sacred relic of Yangthang Rinpoche, along with his bone relics, and many other holy substance have been successfully offered inside Yangthang Rinpoche’s Relic Stupa (Kutung Chorten).

Benefits:

It is said that performing the Ganachakra feast on the anniversary of the Guru’s parinirvana day will bring immeasurable benefits and negative karma accumulated over many aeons will be extinguished. 

The Tantra of the Protector Crow states:

“One who holds ceremonies during the anniversaries of the lama’s passing will attain the irreversible state and after death will be reborn in the realm of Khachod dakinis.”

Tasihi Delek,
Neo

a zen teaching

Huáng Po is perhaps one of Zen Buddhism’s most brilliant Zen masters.  One of the sample teachings (below) from Huang Po’s dialogues brings to light Zen Buddhism’s most esoteric theme concerning Buddha Mind.  Much more vast than the Western concept of mind, Huang Po reveals the transcendent nature of Buddha Mind which traditional Zen Buddhists believe is the source of all things.

Brief Bio:

Huáng Po (d. 850) was noted for his outlandish manner of teaching, which incorporating hitting and shouting to awaken his students.  There are a number of instances in the record of Huáng Po slapping students.

One time, the future emperor of China, hiding in the Chan community as a novice monk, received many slaps from Huáng Po for questioning why Huáng Po was bowing to an image of the Buddha.

Another instance was when Linji Yixuan was directed by the head monk to question Huáng Po on the meaning of Buddhism after he had been practicing hard in the monastery for three years without an interview. Three times Linji went to Huáng Po and three times the only answer he got was a slap.

Classic Text:

From “The Zen Teachings of Huang Po”:

“Now we are getting towards the end of the third period of five hundred years since the time of the Buddha, and most students of zen cling to all sorts of sounds and forms.  Why do they not copy me by letting each thought go as though it were nothing, or as though it were a piece of rotten wood, a stone, or the cold ashes of a dead fire?  Or else, by just making whatever slight response is suited to each occasion?

If you do not act thus, when you reach the end of your days here, you will be tortured by Yama.  You must get away from the doctrines of existence and non-existence, for Mind is like the sun, forever in the void, shining spontaneously, shining without intending to shine.  This is not something which you can accomplish without effort, but when you reach the point of clinging to nothing whatever, you will be acting as the Buddhas act.

This will indeed be acting in accordance with the saying: ‘Develop a mind which rests on no thing whatever.’  For this is your pure Dharmakaya, which is called supreme perfect Enlightenment.

If you cannot understand this, though you gain profound knowledge from your studies, though you make the most painful efforts and practice the most stringent austerities, you will still fail to know your own mind.  All your effort will have been misdirected and you will certainly join the family of Mara.  What advantage can you gain from this sort of practice?”

many blessings!
Neo

Happy New Year

Now that the new year is in, we have a chance to make things right.  If we believe in karma and a higher power then all of our many goals and aspirations can be heard by these realized beings through our prayer.

Since we never know when we are going to pass away, it is important to create some sort of virtue and merit so that wisdom may dawn in our mind-stream before it is too late.

…here is an email I got today from the Jnanasukha sangha.  With such perfect words, from one of the most highly realized masters of the last century, it certainly strikes the essential point:

 

Now that your spiritual connection has been forged,
Achieve your eternal goals.

Strive on the sole path of all the victorious ones’ heirs:
Generate compassion and the mind of awakening.

The view is the great emptiness of samsara and enlightenment.
Concluding that your own awareness is the unformulated dharmakaya is the sovereign view.

Meditation is to settle unconcerned
Within unfabricated present awareness,

Unfettered by grasping,
Take as the supreme kind of conduct
Not to fall under the negative influence of carelessness
But to have your acts accord with the Dharma.

Be diligent in undistracted practice.

Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche’s Heart Advice.
Snow Lion Publications 2005.

Light & Love
Neo

Principles of health

MH, at the Ask Barefoot Herbalist forum, always says that few people are willing to self-experiment with herbs and juice fasting.  I would say it is even harder to discern properly what true health really is.  In 2005, following the Dr. Hay protocol, I completed the 21 day Orange Juice fast and lost a pound a day in the process.  It is no easy task to accomplish.  However, to complete such a fast is the only way to obtain a proper BASIS for what is healthy for the body and what is not.

Many years later I fell off the path and started eating meat again.  I got bored and didn’t even feel like drinking distilled water anymore so I decided to do the Wiley Brooks challenge.  The diet would consist of eating one McDonald’s quarter pounder with cheese and a large diet coke on a daily basis for seven days.  This was quite crazy to consider and I do NOT advise anyone to just do it.  But for me, it was a lesson in discernment through Crazy Wisdom.

The Buddha taught the middle path and it makes sense since being a raw foodist was one extreme and the other was eating meat every day.

Like many philosophers say, you have to follow the PRINCIPLES of life to obtain excellence.  Even Josh Waitzkin, the famous Chessmaster, is one of the rare few who can easily explain how to play chess properly by following the exact principles to it.  Likewise, when following the Buddha dharma one must know, understand, and observe the ethical principles (precepts) to achieve the proper results.

So when I did the Wiley Brooks diet, over time, I would come to discern the differences and similarities between these two health protocols.  Unfortunately, the hair growth and strong feeling while on his diet was not enough to produce any incredible long-term results.  Not to mention the harmful side effects such as the tightening up of the channels and drying up of the lymph nodes would eventually lead to kidney pain.  A short time later a full detox would get me back to normal.  The Wiley protocol was a dead-end.

But the real measure of health came later when taking MH’s 2010 Longevity Spices for Life.

The three signs that the body is rejuvenating properly are the skin becomes clearer, the hair grows in thicker and darker and the teeth become whiter.  This is very important to understand.

On the right path toward rejuvenating the body, the nails will begin to feel stronger and take on a clear sheen to them and will not look cloudy.  The hair will become thicker and filled with life-force and appear wet and not dry.  And lastly, the teeth will become pearly white and not look sickly yellow.

With this known, you have a tool to gauge where you are at.  You just need to study the PRINCIPLES of health in detail.  I advise anyone to start reading MH’s 108 Pages booklet and the Dr. Hay book, Health via Food to get started.

Understanding the way food combining works, advocated by Dr. Hay, is the correct PRINCIPLE for obtaining healthy blood and therefore a healthy body which is more alkaline in nature.  For some, food combining is one of the hardest things to maintain but the rewards are great.  Others have had problems keeping track of the rules so they are encouraged to follow a mono diet.

The mono diet is the surest way to get back to health without making any mistakes!  What is a mono diet?  You eat only one type of food per meal and eat as much of that as you want till you are full.

Your first meal may be a fruit such as strawberries and you eat all the strawberries your heart desires.  The next meal may be almonds and you can eat all the almonds you want till you get full.  The reason for getting back to basics this way is your body won’t turn acidic on a mono diet.  The stomach now has a chance to be restored to its original healthy state.  The fault of incorrect food combination is: when you combine protein and carbs your stomach turns acidic.  This in turn, causes the lymph nodes to activate and the toxins go up and out the head rather than down and out the body in the correct way.  Since the stomach is overwhelmed and can’t handle the excess acids to digest foods properly… weight-gain and disease settles in.

So, the first step is researching the PRINCIPLES to good health.  Next, learn the proper rules to food combining.  Then, get educated on why juice fasting is important to rid yourself of environmental toxins from the air we breathe and the harmful chemicals and metals we have ingested over the years.

Once you accomplish a juice fast – whether it is for 7 days or 14 days this alone will help you discern the BASIS of what is normal health for you and nobody else.

Others have gone on to accomplish 21, 40 and even 108 days with ease because it is not a strict water fast that leaves your muscles atrophied.  The almonds eaten on the fast supply the body with enough protein so the muscles get what they need.  Lastly, find a middle path that works for you.  Even if that means on occasion you eat meat or junk food, now you have a suitable method to get back on track.  If you get sick…a three day OJ fast is part of your tool-bag to achieve health quickly.

The body is specially designed.  When you live by the laws of nature you experience health much faster than if you go against nature.  As you live in harmony with Nature you will begin to see how strong, resilient and efficient the body works.  These are the inner workings of true health that people have forgotten to pass down from one generation to the next.

Others suggest that this information has been suppressed time and time again.  Of course, one shouldn’t place too much importance on the body in exclusion to mind and energy work.  But when you master the body, it is much easier to forget about it and focus on the more important task at hand – enlightenment itself.

UPDATE:  The Master Herbalist has a new forum to play on and answer questions: The Barefoot Way Forum

Good luck!
Neo