Embodying Mind
Bringing intent, aspiration, and purpose alive
A PREEMINENT SCHOLAR-YOGIN
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyatso Rinpoche, a dear guru to us and a luminary of Mahamudra philosophy and practice in the Kagyu tradition, passed into parinirvana on June 22, 2024 in Boudhanath, Nepal.
Traditionally, the time immediately after a master has completed their enlightened intent in a given life is ripe for connecting with their blessing through guru yoga practice, listening and contemplating their teachings, and in Rinpoche’s case in particular, singing the songs he made accessible.
All of you students, whose lives have brought you here
All of you have been so kind to me
And I have also been kind to you
Equally kind we are, teacher and students
I pray we meet in True Joy's pure domain!
— from Milarepa’s Departing Aspiration Prayer
TURNING THE WHEEL OF DHARMA
Next Tuesday, July 9, 2024 is Chokor Duchen, the Great Holiday of Turning the Wheel of Dharma. This is one of four major events of the Tibetan Buddhist calendar, commemorating the Buddha’s first public teaching, following his seven weeks of silence after attaining enlightenment.
As usual on the four great feast days of the year, Prajna Fire will offer the community a free online chanting practice of the Praise of the Twelve Deeds, open to everyone. This beautiful sadhana with a haunting melody honors the twelve great deeds that all teaching buddhas are said to display in the life during which they manifest attaining enlightenment.
Prior to the practice, we will offer a brief Dharma talk about the relevance of this practice in our contemporary lives and practice.
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CURATING EXPERIENCE
One way of viewing Buddhist spiritual practice as a whole is as a process of curating our experience with a view towards aligning with the Buddha’s teachings, as opposed to the accumulated body of habits developed due to not knowing the nature of things, and the pressures of our society. Often unexamined and accepted as gospel truth, these combine to forge a view of the world out of sync with the nature of the heart-mind.
Vajrayana practice is a signal example of how we employ our body, speech, and mind to imagine an experience curated to reflect and embody the infinite excellence of buddhanature, the mind’s actual state, and our radical kinship with all that lives.
In the latest episode of the Lion’s Roar Podcast, Lama Yeshe talks to Deputy Editor Mariana Restrepo about Chenrezig practice and how using our imagination serves as a means of embody compassion, just one of mind’s intrinsic positive energies. Lama Yeshe guides a simple imaginative practice of Chenrezig, suitable for beginners and seasoned practitioners alike, to round off the episode.
You can listen to the episode on your favorite podcast player or stream directly from the Lion’s Roar podcast website.
The video is also available on YouTube. If the episode is helpful to you, be sure to like the video and voice your interest for similar content in future.
MAHAMUDRA NOW
This month, we hope you will join us for Vajradhara Lineage & Mahamudra, our first in-person multiday practice retreat since the pandemic.
HOSTED BY KAGYU MILA GURU SANGHA, EARTH JOURNEY, and THE HERMAN REDNICK TRUST
Jul 19, 2024, 5:30 to 7:30 PM USA MDT
Jul 20, 2024, 8:00 AM to 7:30 PM USA MDT (including breaks)
Jul 21, 2024, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM USA MDT
40 Lorien Rd, Questa, New Mexico 87556
Through the medium of the Vajradhara Short Lineage Prayer, a seminal chant of the Kagyu lineage, we will will steep ourselves in the Kagyu lineage and gain an overview of its signal practice, Mahamudra.
Dharma talks will be supported by guided meditations as well as individual practice instructions and silence practice during postmeditation.
Questions? Just respond to this newsletter and we will do our best to help.
In addition to the practice retreat, you will not want to miss the final installment in our series on the Four Yogas of Mahamudra, available beginning on the New Moon this Friday, July 5.
Building on our discussion of the Four Yogas of Mahamudra over the last few months, this new episode will explore who we can bring an understanding of the fruition of Mahamudra into our spiritual practice, here and now.
Feel free to revisit the relevant Prajna Sparks podcast episodes beforehand.
Wherever you listen to podcasts or click below to stream online…
Warmly,
Yeshe & Zopa