Fearless Lilac Lady
Of boundless generosity
Complete joyous exertion
How we miss you.
Fuchsia lensed wangmo
So often in our thoughts
Big eyes, Big glasses, Big view.
Purple teapots spouting generosity.
Liquid love.
Puffy pink shoes
Fun spiky hair
Curious bright eyes
Teacher - Molding - Practice
My beautiful friend
Be brave and go -
We will carry on.
Spontaneous poem composed with deep love by a group of dharma brother and sisters
for Kevin Finnegan whose Shambhala name was Divine Lake soon after her untimely death
For those who were unable to attend the Kasung class last month, I wanted to offer my purely personal - uninstructed - impressions of the event.
I was surprised at every turn. I was amazed to learn how accessible the Dorje Kasung is, how quickly and simply one can begin the practice. And I was astonished at the gentleness of the energy of Kasung, which seems so otherwise in its outward appearance, until you know.
The class was held on the second Tuesday of the month, as it will be for a few months to come. It was open to all, and held in the community room. Ceremonial armchairs held the Kasung warriors, while we drew around on couches and chairs. The setting was cozy and warm, soft and gently humorous, filled with anecdote. The presence of Trungpa flooded the room.
Kasung is a practice, we learned, not a thing that gets done. It is ancient protector principle, with awakened regard for space and spaciousness - the gift of which, my teacher has told me, is the greatest we can give to any sentient being.
Kasung as a practice has its ground and its path, and a fruition of skillful non-aggression, victory over ego’s fear. The Dorje Kasung, as we learned, is not a drill ground of bodyguards and drivers, but simply people of the sangha who have volunteered to stand at the edge of the container, held amidst their own fears in unconditional awakeness, discovering the strength that comes from guarding the sacred.
We can all do this. We are all welcome. The Dorje Kasung is open to all. Matt Stephens said he’d stick a pin on us and teach us enough to pull a shift at a public sit or a teacher talk, any time we wanted.
So the class unfolded, and as they told their stories of the glories and the days, and as we examined the variety of pins they handed around, and reviewed the slogans and the symbols, the uniforms and duties, the chains of command, it seemed to me that all the while a great wave of feminine principle was breaking over us, washing us soft again, drawing us forward with silent space into sacred awe.
And now ever since this first class when I look at Kasung I seem to see past all the trappings of the black suits, and the rigor, and the alertness. I really now can only feel the tremendous gentleness and loving kindness, the energy of those who protect the gentle Vajra Kingdom.
This is just a little essay on mindfulness practice and a warrior’s seat, which is not necessarily the first lesson one learns but it is the second.
De feet
Just some thoughts on windhorse and a warrior’s seat.
I think that one of the most important things is to increase one’s awareness of one’s head and shoulders, and then one’s upper body in general.
But after that, one can direct attention to the lower body. I think it is essentially like walking meditation practice.
The upper body represents openness, transparency, openness to energy, not being plugged up or blocked, energy, movement, generosity, surrender.
Always remember a light touch and that, generally speaking, we do not center ourselves in the body but just rest our minds in space. Touch and go, as we say.
The sufis (and also the buddhists) say pay attention to your feet.
Good practitioners are always aware of their feet.
If your feet are relaxed, you are happy. It they are tense, you cannot be happy. It works like that.
So my prayer is to take care of your feet.
Your lower body is your warrior’s seat. It is your stability. It is your strength, endurance, composure. It is like the flagpole, grounding the energy. When we open up we find that there is a lot of energy.
Sometimes when we open up, we think the next thing to happen is a big pat on the back. Honestly, probably not. It’s probably a lesson about how we do not yet possess a warrior’s seat.
The Sakyong will travel to Orissa, India, to receive the Rinchen Terdzo empowerments and instructions from His Eminence Namkha Drimed Rinpoche. The empowerment, being offered at the request of the Sakyong, will take place in the new Ripa monastery “Rigon Thupten Mindrolling” starting 5 December 2008 and last some two and a half months. The Rinchen Terdzo is a unique part of our lineage and is regularly bestowed by masters of both the Nyingma and the Kagyu schools. This is only the second time his His Eminence has given this sacred transmission which he received from the Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. The Vidyadhara regarded the Rinchen Terdzo as being “of utmost importance.”
This is the first in a series of bulletins about the Rinchen Terdzo, its history and tertons. Everyone is welcome to participate during this time, either partially or completely. More details about the Rinchen Terdzo and its sponsorship, dates and how to participate will be presented over the coming weeks.
The Rinchen Terdzo is an 111-volume collection of termas and pure visions first collected by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye (1813 - 1899). The collection contains over a thousand abhishekas as well as instructions in mahayoga, anu and ati, the essence of the Nyingma tradition. The Vidyadhara’s root guru, Jamgon Kongtrul of Sechen received it from the tenth Trungpa.
The Vidyadhara bestowed the Rinchen Terdzo twice in his life. He bestowed the empowerment on Namkha Drimed Rinpoche at Yag Gompa in Tibet. At that time Trungpa Rinpoche was nineteen years old, and he bestowed the empowerments with such speed and intensity that the attendants were forced to work in shifts in order not to collapse.
The first time the Vidyadhara bestowed the Rinchen Terdzo he was fourteen years old. Karma Senge Rinpoche remarked that, to Tibetans, the ability to bestow so many abhishekas and instructions at such a young age made Trungpa Rinpoche particularly remarkable.
With the start of the ceremonies in early December there will be a regular bulletins about the empowerments given, along with descriptions of the teachers and lineages featured whenever possible. It is the Sakyong’s wish that we begin to learn in more detail about the teachings we have inherited. He is particularly happy that this empowerment can happen in this context, and regards it is as especially fortunate that he can receive the Rinchen Terdzo directly from Namkha Drimed Rinpoche whose transmission was conferred by the Vidyadhara.
Here’s the schedule for the next two years of Shambhala Training at the Austin Shambhala Meditation Center. This is newly updated as of October 3, 2008, and includes three programs at the San Antonio Shambhala Center.
Level I ~~~ August 22-24, 2008
Level V ~~~ September 12-14, 2008
Level II ~~~ October 10-12, 2008
(Great Eastern Sun in San Antonio ~~~ November 21-22, 2008)
A critical story in the transmission of Eastern wisdom to the West is now told in Deborah Baker’s A Blue Hand: the Beats in India (Penguin, 2008).
I don’t think the importance of their sojourns could be overstated. They went up hill and down dale as early as 1961, finding every swami in his cave and every rinpoche in his monastery (including Dudjom and the Karmapa). Allen Ginsberg at that time was more Hindu oriented, while Gary Snyder and Joanne Kyger were already Buddhists (Kyger had been with Suzuki Roshi since 1957). Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso, Peter Orlovsky and William Burroughs were in on this too at various points.
Readers might find it irksome that Baker keeps talking about their “quest for God”, but they did, so it comes to make sense in its context. Snyder, who had practiced Zen seriously in Kyoto, could still write - “In our eternal journey
In the path of infinity
Will shine the mercy of God
Giver of freedom and forgiveness”
to which Allen appended - “And I will worship him by eating bananas!”
In 1965, Allen, back from India, came to Nebraska to read. I was lucky to have a midnight dinner with him at a certain Bluebird Diner. He took wads of money from his pockets and hurled them everywhere. He gave me a copy of “Howl” and filled it with funny drawings. He wrote ALLEN all over it too.
Twenty years later he was in my New York deleg. Once, after an Indian lunch, we walked into police chasing squatters out of an East Village tenement and clubbing them in the streets. We had all been doing a gallery circuit, but got demoralized and went home.
I finally got to India in 1997, and though white people were pretty scarce, I felt more like a tourist than any kind of pioneer. However squirrelly the Beats were, we should respect them. In the way they stuck their necks out, their courage is still impressive. They were way, way ahead of the curve on this one.
Baker’s book stops before Chogyam Trungpa enters the picture, but for what it’s worth, Allen once said that, of all the people he ever knew, the two who were the most alike were Kerouac and Trungpa - “Sometimes, when I’m with Rinpoche, I feel like I’m with Jack again.” Go figure. And Trungpa, as we know, called Allen “my poetry guru.” But that’s another story from another decade.
Fearless Lilac Lady
