Clear Light Lotus: A Dedication to Our Dharma Master

Oh magnificent one, you disregard the eight worldly concerns with the understanding that mundane preoccupations are empty of inherent existence. 

Stumbling blindly down an unmarked road paved with karma, positive and negative deeds catch up with us, creating incessant suffering fueled by ignorance, insatiable craving, aversion, and attachment. 

By sharing your vast knowledge of the Dharma with kindness, patience, and practicality, you train a platoon, these impressionable soldiers of peace, to place the needs of others before self. 

As the Lord of Death knocks on our door with utmost certainty, and we circle endlessly and needlessly in samsara, you teach us that the middle way is a better way and the only way to spend this rare and precious human rebirth mindfully. 

For two and a half decades, you immersed yourself in the scriptures of the Nalanda Masters with utmost concentration, dedication, and diligence. 

When you reference great Dharma Masters like Pabongka, Tsongkhapa, Atisha, and Nagarjuna, who spread the teachings of Lord Buddha, King of the Shakya Clan, with proper motivation, interpretation, and insight, you inspire us continuously to embrace the teachings with purpose and without interruption. 

Regardless of our diverse needs and dispositions, you never give up on schooling us on the Graded Stages on the Path to Enlightenment, teaching us small, medium, and great, renunciation, bodhicitta, and the wisdom of emptiness as if we are receiving the transmission from Losang Dragpa himself. 

May you live long, may we never be separated from you , and may you continue to spread the Dharma in places near and fat to those who exhibit the capacity to listen and learn. 

Immeasurable thanks for keeping us on this limitless spiritual path, tirelessly motivating us to learn, and strengthening our faith in the three jewels. 

In these degenerate times plagued by war, famine, natural disasters, and epidemics, your rebirth in this lifetime is cause for celebration, and a spectacular opportunity to rejoice! 

For eons upon eons upon eons, oh splendid and precious root guru, as a result of you virtuous deeds, may you be showered with internal, external, and secret offerings equaling those offered by Samantabhadra and as vast and voluminous as space.

This poem was written during Lama Rim End of Year Retreat on December 27, 2011 as a dedication to Venerable Geshe Ngawang Phende in Atlanta, GA by his disciple Paran Pordell on behalf of the Drepung Sangha

Lineage of a Good Heart

This morning,  via the wonderful internet, I watched the ceremony at Lerab Ling (France) for Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche to celebrate the centennial of the birth of H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.  It also served as the first public address by the young tulku in the West.  As I watched the young man, I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him as he appeared extremely uncomfortable in the overwhelming setting.  With over 1000 in the audience and the HUGE Buddha statue behind him, Yangsi Rincpoche spoke on "The Lineage of a Good Heart"; He's an expert on that subject.

I can't imagine what it's like to have the expectations of thousands thrust upon you from birth.  I reminisced back to myself as a 12 year old at my grandfather's church.  It was small, only about 150 members and we all had a position.  My was Sunday School Music Director.  I would lead the small congregation in a couple of songs and ask someone to pray prior to being dismissed for classes.  It didn't matter that I couldn't carry a note in a wheelbarrow much less a bucket,  I was the preacher's grandson so I could handle it.  I was so nervous every Sunday I couldn't stand it.  My younger cousin had it worse.  He was actually good at public speaking and teaching and over time basically the congregation expected him to pick up the mantle of my grandpa and preach.  He has decided its not for him.

What happens if the young Rinpoche just doesn't like speaking?  Dilgo Khyentse spent nearly half his long life in solitary retreat.  His young tulku might have rather been there today.  I'm sure that as he finishes his education and continues to travel, he will become much more accustomed to crowds and his wisdom will inspire thousands as his previous incarnation's did.  He remarks were not remarkable but they didn't need to be.  He simply needed to be there, to teach by example the lineage of a good heart. Today, I saw a nervous young man balancing the weight of the world on his shoulders,  a boy growing into a lama,  a child becoming a guru, a great teacher's lineage returning to continue his work.