Most Venerable
Khenchen Rinpoché, Konchog Gyaltshen
Channel-knots are untied by this
treasury of confident intelligence that
Excellently clarifies the instructions, mindset, treatises, textual
tradition, and
Life-essence of the Triple Gem [Konchog]
Teaching --
May the life of this great Lamp of the Teachings be stable and long!
You meaningfully promulgate the
Teachings everywhere;
You raise aloft the Victory Banner [Gyaltshen]
of the non-setting Teachings;
Your fearless roar annihilates wrong views -- May the life of this
Maintainer of the Unerring Victor's Teaching Treasury be stable and
long!
- from "Flower of Faith and Good
Fortune," a long-life prayer for Khenchen Rinpoché
offered by the 14th Dru-tshe-bhum Chen-nga Rinpoché.
On this page we hope to post regular
updates on the whereabouts of Khenchen Rinpoché,
his Dharma-activities, his health and messages from Rinpoché.
Recent Letter (Fall 2011) from Khenchen
Rinpoche to the
Sangha:
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 Sanga 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 is
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 Sanga
and keep the moral ethics. This makes the person pure and a
subject of respect. And then, having kept the moral ethics well,
for ones 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 the 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. The Dharma has also great method and skill to tackle
all these causes of suffering.
To purify these obscurations and mental delusions, the Vajrayanna
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 other 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
Photos from Khenchen Rinpoché's most recent visit to Eastern Tibet (summer
2007)
Palmé Gon Monastery in
Nangchen (Qinghai province). Khenchen Rinpoché
taught The Heart-Essence of the
Mahayana (Ten-Nying) to
Lho Kunsang Rinpoché's monks
here. During this trip, Khenchen Rinpoché stayed here the longest and gave many other
transmissions to students of the monastic college here.
With retreatants at Gar Monastery in
Nangchen. The retreatants requested teachings and transmission of the Six Dharmas of Naropa from Khenchen
Rinpoché.
Drupgyu Monastery - currently
probably the Drikung Kagyu monastery with the most monks (over 700).
Khenchen Rinpoché taught the Serkhangma (The Golden Chapel Prayer by Kyobpa
Jikten Sumgön) here.
Click here for more pictures of Khenchen
Rinpoché's activities.
|
