Marpa
“Lord Marpa, on the verge of passing into nirvana, transformed his consort Dagmema into a sphere of light and dissolved her into his heart center. Straightening his body, he said, “Sons, if you do Phowa, do it like this!” Then a sphere of five-coloured light the size of an egg ascended into the sky from a crack at the crown of his head.”
– Tsele Natsok Rangdrol, Mirror of Mindfulness (Rangjung Yeshe, 1987)
3rd Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche (1954-1992)
“The physical posture is most important for one’s meditation to go well. There are seven points to take into consideration, called the sevenfold posture of Vairocana. He is the central Buddha in the Mandala of all Buddhas. The seven points of Vairocana are:
This TV interview with H.H. the 16th Karmapa took place in the USA in 1976. The show was called “Vermont Report”, a half-hour Public Television news program from Vermont. In the studio there are other important figures in the Karma Kagyu school such as the 3rd Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche and Lama Jigme Rinpoche. The footage is from the “extras” disc which features with the documentary film “Recalling a Buddha” (2009) by Greg Eller. The DVD is available to purchase online at http://www.karmapaxvi.com/
Matt Balara during the February 2011 visit of H.H. 17th Karmapa Trinley They Dorje. They’re fantastic, we’re sure you’ll agree!
Trungram Gyaltrul Rinpoche
This is an excerpt from a teaching held on the United Trugram Buddhist Fellowship website of Trungram Gyaltrul Rinpoche.
This set of three stunning 19th Century Tibetan thangka paintings (click on each to enlarge) was just posted to the Himalayan Art Resource website. The three composition painting set depicts the Karma Kagyu Great Seal (Skt. Mahamudra) Lineage ending with the 14th Gyalwa Karmapa, Thegchog Dorje (1798-1868).
In Lama Ole Nydahl‘s lectures, including those given in London and Brighton last September, he mentions that sometimes we know who is calling before we lift up the receiver, to demonstrate that “space is information”. Read the rest of this entry »
Sekhar Guthok - Milarepa's Tower
This is Sekhar Guthok, “nine-storey son’s house”, the legendary tower Marpa (1012-1097) ordered Milarepa (1040-1123) to build for his son. The site is situated in Lhodrak district of Southern Tibet (click here for Google map), north of the Bhutanese border.
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