Terma from Tibet
I'm posting this over the lunch break from a program in which Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche's nephew, Karma Senge Rinpoche, has been presenting a terma (treasure) teaching that CTR received in Tibet in 1958. KarSeng Rinpoche arrived about 10 days ago from the Surmang area of East Tibet. This is Trungpa Rinpoche's birthplace and the site of his Tibetan monastery. This is his nephew's third or fourth visit to the West. I learned today that he's learned at least one English word: "okay?" He asked us that during the program.
The story goes that the dharma protector Ekajati, a fierce woman with one tourquoise lock of hair, one eye, one fang and one breast, appeared to Chogyam Trungpa in a vision and presented him with a casket that had been hidden by Padmasambhava, the crazy wisdom teacher who helped bring Buddhism to Tibet. He left many such treasures for the future ages. This casket spontaneously opened to reveal letters written in dakini script, which Trungpa Rinpoche decoded within a few days. From this sprang a dzogchen Avalokiteshvara text. This is what we were receiving in the shrine room in Halifax. If that is not totally decoded for you -- well, this is a text about compassion, openness and the space of mind, which Chogyam Trungpa envisioned in Tibet.
For many years, Karma Senge--who never met his uncle--has travelled all over the Surmang area, locating students of Trungpa Rinpoche who kept copies of the texts they had received from CTR and studied as his students. KarSeng Rinpoche got the transmissions for all of these texts, gathered them, and now is bringing them to the West, presenting them slowly to Western disciples with a connection to Chogyam Trungpa.
Understandably, the Chogyam Trungpa Legacy Project is delighted to participate in planning these programs and publicizing them.
The abhisheka brought 300 of us to the Halifax Shambhala Centre. The more than capacity crowd seemed very happy to be together in such tight quarters. Karma Senge gave us three hours of preliminary instruction last night, followed by about 4 1/2 hours today. At the end of the empowerment, he said that unfortunately he hadn't been able to give us the long, complete version but that at least we had received the medium level version. He apologized for how long it took, and also mentioned that this program/empowerment was in part being offered to mark the 20th anniversary of the death, or parinirvana, of Chogyam Trungpa.
This abhisheka is available to all vajrayana students who have received vajrayana transmission from Chogyam Trungpa, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, the Vajra Regent Osel Tendzin, or at the Vajradhatu Seminary. KarSeng Rinpoche plans to present the empowerment in June in the United States, in Philadelphia, Boulder, and Berkeley.
I'm heading back now to learn the practice. Tomorrow, we have a tri, or talk, by Karma Senge Rinpoche and in the afternoon a feast. For more coverage of Karma Senge Rinpoche's visit to North America, check out the Chronicles website: www.chronicleproject.com
The story goes that the dharma protector Ekajati, a fierce woman with one tourquoise lock of hair, one eye, one fang and one breast, appeared to Chogyam Trungpa in a vision and presented him with a casket that had been hidden by Padmasambhava, the crazy wisdom teacher who helped bring Buddhism to Tibet. He left many such treasures for the future ages. This casket spontaneously opened to reveal letters written in dakini script, which Trungpa Rinpoche decoded within a few days. From this sprang a dzogchen Avalokiteshvara text. This is what we were receiving in the shrine room in Halifax. If that is not totally decoded for you -- well, this is a text about compassion, openness and the space of mind, which Chogyam Trungpa envisioned in Tibet.
For many years, Karma Senge--who never met his uncle--has travelled all over the Surmang area, locating students of Trungpa Rinpoche who kept copies of the texts they had received from CTR and studied as his students. KarSeng Rinpoche got the transmissions for all of these texts, gathered them, and now is bringing them to the West, presenting them slowly to Western disciples with a connection to Chogyam Trungpa.
Understandably, the Chogyam Trungpa Legacy Project is delighted to participate in planning these programs and publicizing them.
The abhisheka brought 300 of us to the Halifax Shambhala Centre. The more than capacity crowd seemed very happy to be together in such tight quarters. Karma Senge gave us three hours of preliminary instruction last night, followed by about 4 1/2 hours today. At the end of the empowerment, he said that unfortunately he hadn't been able to give us the long, complete version but that at least we had received the medium level version. He apologized for how long it took, and also mentioned that this program/empowerment was in part being offered to mark the 20th anniversary of the death, or parinirvana, of Chogyam Trungpa.
This abhisheka is available to all vajrayana students who have received vajrayana transmission from Chogyam Trungpa, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, the Vajra Regent Osel Tendzin, or at the Vajradhatu Seminary. KarSeng Rinpoche plans to present the empowerment in June in the United States, in Philadelphia, Boulder, and Berkeley.
I'm heading back now to learn the practice. Tomorrow, we have a tri, or talk, by Karma Senge Rinpoche and in the afternoon a feast. For more coverage of Karma Senge Rinpoche's visit to North America, check out the Chronicles website: www.chronicleproject.com
posted by Carolyn Gimian at 10:27 AM
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