Statue of the mahasiddha Saraha
“The cross-eyed fool sees one lamp as two; The vision and the viewer are one”
– Saraha (8th Century CE)
From “Saraha’s Dohakosa: The Royal Song” (translated by Keith Dowman)
Saraha is known as the chief of the Indian Mahasiddhas or “Great Accomplishers”, a prominent master of the Great Seal (Skt. Mahamudra) teachings, and a former incarnation of the Karmapa.
This video is from H.H. 17th Karmapa’s visit to London on 30 June 2009, when he gave the empowerment of Marpa in the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Hall of the Southbank Centre. In his speech before the empowerment, Gyalwa Karmapa explained the significance of Marpa to the Kagyu Lineage.
Hannah Nydahl (17 April 1946 – 1 April 2007)
Three years ago today Hannah Nydahl left for the pure lands. Deeply respected for her work, devotion and accomplishments as a Buddhist practitioner, her life was dedicated to establishing Diamond Way Buddhism in the West and protecting the Karma Kagyu Lineage. Her wisdom, kindness and compassion is timeless, beyond coming and going and continuously blesses our work and practice.
This quote is from the Third Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche (1954-1992)
Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche
“What is free from birth, dwelling and cessation? It is the nature of mind. However, as long as one doesn’t recognise the nature of mind, one experiences samsara; if one does recognise it, one experiences nirvana. In other words, the way phenomena manifest depends on awareness. Nirvana is not obtained by overcoming samsara or putting an end to disturbing emotions in order to develop something else. On the contrary, one should look at the actual nature of the disturbing emotion and thus ‘self-liberate’ it and recognise its true nature. By holding this supreme view, one can understand reality, the suchness of all phenomena. If one achieves this realisation and fully recognises the basic nature of all phenomena, without struggling to give up samsara or attain nirvana, then everything becomes ultimate reality. Conceptual mind dissolves, along with Read the rest of this entry »
Outside our Brighton Buddhist Centre
Brighton Buddhist centre: On Saturday 20th March 2010 our new centre opened its doors to the public. A converted shop in Baker Street is now home to the new Buddhist centre. It is located in an up-and-coming area of Brighton. In order to celebrate the move to the new premises the members of our Brighton Buddhist centre organised an open day for the locals to meet their new neighbours.
On the day, many interested local people came along for a chat and a cup of tea. Some also took part in guided Read the rest of this entry »
This is an excerpt from a teaching by Shamar Rinpoche entitled “Enlightenment is Within You”, originally printed in a 1995 edition of Kagyu Life International.
Shamar Rinpoche
The common problem is that people think, “I must achieve the results quickly, I cannot wait more than 5 or 6 years. Otherwise, I don’t like it.” But otherwise, after 6 years what do you have in life? You have nothing else. You cannot achieve the results of the Dharma practice within 6 years. You simply cannot. But still you are doing something meaningful. After 6 years, if you have another goal which you could achieve, then forget the Dharma and chose the other one. But the sentient beings’ life has no other goal besides enlightenment. I am not trying to discourage you from being human, but there is no other thing to do in life. You can try to get rich, but then what? Suppose you can be a successful politician, become a president or something like that, but then what? The problem is Read the rest of this entry »
See how two of the world’s most fruitful traditions for understanding the nature of reality and promoting human well-being modern science and Buddhism – come together. Lama Ole Nydhal provides an insight about the revolution which is taking place through modern physics, as well as philosophy. He shows how Buddhism, as a religion of experience, can extend our knowledge and integrates the diverse dimensions of our world.
Modern physics and life sciences have developed enormously in the last years. The natural meeting ground between science and Buddhism is thus at one of the most active research frontiers today; bridging the gap between external and internal descriptions.
8th Karmapa
In this blog entry on Karma Kagyu Buddhist iconography, we present a famous Buddha statue of the Eighth Karmapa Mikyo Dorje. The Eighth Karmapa (1507-1554) is of particular significance in Diamond Way Buddhism. An important Karma Kagyu Lineage master, through his spiritual genius and profound understanding of mind, he composed the particularly powerful meditation practice Guru Yoga in Four Sessions (Tib. tun shi lami naljor). Known simply as the 8th Karmapa Meditation, it is commonly practised by Diamond Way Buddhists who have completed the Four Foundational Practices (Tib. Ngondro) of Tibetan Buddhism.
The picture and text below are taken from the book “Karmapa, the Black Hat Lama of Tibet” by Nik Douglas and Read the rest of this entry »
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