Ringu Tulku Rinpoche's New Year message.

The signs of degenerate times are even clearer. Effects of war and pandemic continue to torture the whole world. Extreme weather screams of environmental tragedies. The future does not look good for this world of ours. And yet this is no time for us to weaken. The real solution lies in each of us. Let us turn the hatred into kindness. Let us open our eyes to interdependence and realise the futility of disunity and greed. Let each of us light a lamp of wisdom and compassion in our hearts. And turn this world of ours into a paradise of kindness and harmony. No one else - only each one of us can do this. Wishing you all a Happy New Year of healing, harmony and helping each other with courage, confidence and clarity. Ringu Tulku Gangtok

 

A NEW UPCOMING LIVE ONLINE TEACHING

Vivid Awareness -  Khenpo Gangshar’s guidance on using difficulties as the path of Dharma practice. Monday 13th - Saturday 18th September 2021  DATES AND TIMES Monday, September 13 to Friday, September 17: from 7:00 to 8:00 pm (CEST) each day Saturday, September 18: from 10:00 to 11:00 am and 7:00 to 8:00 pm (CEST) click on the link below  for more details  Register Here

A RECENT VISIT TO DUBLIN OF TSERING PALDRON FROM PORTUGAL

Over the weekend of 23th – 25^th February, Annie welcomed a dozen or so of us into her cosy front room to hear Tsering Paldron give a teaching on Patrul Rinpoche’s text entitled ‘The Nine Considerations and Criteria for Helping Sentient Beings’, referring also extensively to Ringu Tulku Rinpoche’s teaching commentary on the text, given at the Purelands Retreat Centre at Samye Ling in 2007.

Tsering’s style was open and inviting, and our little group responded readily to her invitation to interrupt, ask questions, make comments, and there was an easy to and fro among participants.

The text is aimed at bodhisattvas, but Tsering assured us that we were all potentially bodhisattvas, whatever we thought of our attainment level! The text is directed therefore towards us.

As is suggested in its title, the ‘Nine Considerations…’ are rooted in action, and the choices we have to make in order to be most effective in the samsaric realm in which we operate.

The first of the ‘Considerations’ therefore directs us to examine ourselves. We must accept that we are ‘trainee bodhisattvas’, not even yet at the stage of the ‘First Bhumi’, and protect ourselves as one might protect a tender plant, from over-ambitious notions of ‘helping others’. Thus, if an action might be good for others but not good for ourselves, we should refrain, as in our frail state we might well not be able to withstand the consequences.

The second Consideration concerns the status of beings. The implications of this were a surprise to many of us, imbued as we are with notions of the absolute equality of all beings. But no, in the traditional view of these teachings, we are told to privilege ‘higher beings’, so that if an action would harm these but benefit lower ones (their life-span also comes into play here) we should not act. Humans versus mosquitoes and bed-bugs.

Several of the Considerations presented a real conundrum to a Western way of thinking. How do we know that an action will benefit (or not) ourselves or others in the next life? The ‘Consideration of vows and non-virtue’ sets us out on the lonely road of deciding for ourselves whether a certain negative action (stealing, killing, sexual misconduct, uttering falsehoods, for example) can be justified in the name of the higher interest of benefiting other beings. The scope for simply feeding the ego and self-deception is obviously very great.

Likewise, generosity is not as simple as giving away what one has. We should always be asking ourselves how, or even if, this is going to benefit other beings. A further complication is the question of long- or short-term. If we give to a drug-fuelled beggar in the street, might we not simply be putting off the day when the addiction will be squarely faced?

And so on and so forth. It soon became obvious in the course of the weekend that this apparently simple text was strewn with pitfalls and that, most especially, what it was doing was confronting us with our responsibilities in the sphere of action. Buddha never told us what we should do in such-and-such a situation; he knew in his infinite wisdom that the cultivation of a pure and compassionate heart was the key to right action. There are no ‘Commandments’ in Buddhism, no ‘Thou shalt’, ‘Thou shalt not’. Every act is unique, and draws on reserves of discrimination and ethical thinking cultivated over numerous lifetimes. It is for us to use these reserves, even though we are not at the level of seeing that is informed by Emptiness. At the same time, every being is unique, and each must learn to know him- or herself before ethical conduct is possible.

Tsering negotiated this forest of sometimes apparently impenetrable complications with skill, knowledge and unfailing good humour. We thank her warmly for sparing the time in her busy schedule to come and give us this profound yet eminently practical and rooted teaching, while regretting for her sake the snow episode that closed down Dublin Airport and prevented her from returning for her next engagement! We thank also, and equally warmly, Annie, for her hospitality and indeed for making the visit happen.

Pat Little

Arklow, 02/03/2018

Tsering will be teaching next weekend in the UK, to celebrate the 5th anniversary of  Bodhicharya Kent on 22nd April, at the Heugenot Museum, Rochester.

Living and Dying in Peace

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A lifetime is like a flash of lightening in the sky.

Monday 31st October 2016 celebrated the launch of a new website for Bodhicharya.   'Living and Dying in Peace'  has come about through the  inspiration, tenacity and determination of Margaret Richardson.
To consider old age and death is the second contemplation of 'The Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind to Dharma'  and according to the teachings of Buddha, provides the impetus for living our life in a fulfilling and inclusive way.   Awareness of impermanence and death can stimulate an alertness to our everyday experience and interactions with others, as we recognise the preciousness of our own life.  Despite our best hopes, life is finite: we'll be gone soon enough, so how we face the final departure depends not only on how we live our life, but also requires practical measures and thinking not only of ourselves, but also of our families, friends, material belongings: what we will be leaving behind (which put another way, means everything we can't take with us).
Here we are offered a fresh perspective to all these things, and also asked that we pay attention to how we can meet death as Buddhists,  how we can prepare ourselves in  mind, body and spirit.
The information shared on the Living and Dying in Peace website overflows with advice on all these matters, practical and spiritual: on one page Rinpoche answers common and uncommon questions about death and dying and he talks about the tendency we have in the west especially, to imagine we are immortal - doing our best to avoid the topic.  We are given an opportunity to venture tentatively into the likelihood  of our own mortality and start to figure out how we might attend to it.  There are suggestions for ritual and prayer; helpful notes for relatives; advice for nurses and doctors who may not be familiar with the Buddhist approach to death; and on making a will or setting up power of attorney. There are suggestions for books to read and links to support services.   Most of the spiritual content originates from teachings on the topic by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, there's a talk from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and  contributions from Tsering Paldron from Bodhicharya Portugal, who also designed the website.

For a number of years until her recent retirement Margaret has been instrumental in developing the work of Rigul Trust, a charity originally set up by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche with Margaret Ford  in the mid 1990s.   Rigul Monastery is Rinpoche's seat in Tibet. As Abbot of Rigul, Rinpoche takes responsibility -in absentia- for its upkeep,  through the Rigul Trust, that raises funds to  feed, educate and also care for the medical needs of the monastery residents. It also helps the shedra, medical clinic, the monks, nuns, adults and children and their associate families.


See also  an inspired article on the hospice work of Kerry Egan recommended by New York Chaplain Justin Von Bujdoss of the Goshir Dharma Centre in Brooklyn.

Rinpoche Accompanies Karmapa's European visit 2016

Pierfranco Alloa with Ringu Tulku Rinpoche in Paris.
Updating His Holiness Karmapa on KFE work.        
photo: Francois Henrard/KFE

Since the 21st May 2016 Ringu Tulku has for three weeks accompanied His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, on visits to Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland, and to Paris, France, on the Karmapa's 3rd visit to Europe. As with previous visits, the schedule was tightly packed with public teachings on each of the three weekends,   interspersed with visits to various dharma centres and sightseeing locations in the days between. He was invited to  tour  a Tibetan medicine laboratory, Padma Company Wetzikon, just outside Zurich and to the headquarters of Rokpa in Zurich. Rokpa is the charity founded in 1980 by Akong Rinpoche with Lea Wyler, originally to feed and care for local communities  struggling to survive in poverty stricken  Kathmandu, Nepal, but the work was later extended to Tibet and Africa, as well as on a smaller scale to local European countries.  

At all places he visited this time His Holiness Karmapa took pains to ensure that everyone belonging to the extensive Tibetan communities in Switzerland and France were given special attention and it was clear that he was very happy to connect with them, as well as  old and new western dharma students and friends.  Despite describing  himself as a little under the weather after such a rigorous fortnight preceding the final weekend in Paris, His Holiness' teachings shone in their simplicity and profundity, and can all be accessed as webcasts and written reports here.
Also in Paris a number of Karmapa Foundation Europe members were able to enjoy a brief audience with His Holiness when the General Secretary Pierfranco Alloa appraised him of recent KFE activities. The Karmapa was asked if he has any current projects that KFE can be involved with, and he re-emphasised  that the full ordination of nuns  is currently his priority, and that he sincerely hopes it will happen early in 2017.  His Holiness also heard that 34,000,000 mantra recitations have been pledged by students from around the globe,  as an offering for his long life and continuing activities.
The Karmapa's last words to the Paris audience were that he prays and hopes to see everyone again in the future.

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche now continues his own travel schedule in the UK, to arrive in Ireland on Monday 20th June, when he will be at Dublin Kagyu Samye Dzong for four nights, and will continue to teach on the final chapters of The Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones by Patrul Rinpoche, with commentary by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.  He then travels to Dzogchen Beara for the weekend 24th -26th June. The topic there is Dealing with the Emotions, by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche - in his own words!
Bookings
KSD Dublin: info@buddhism.ie  Tel: 01 453 7427
Dzogchenbeara: info@dzogchenbeara.org  Tel: 027 73032

Sowa Rigpa is formally recognised as a medical system in India

The following is an article sent by Margaret Richardson of Rigul Trust, after Rinpoche forwarded news of the recent recognition and legalising of Sowa Rigpa as a system of natural healthcare in India, the development of which is one of his visions for his Meditation and Retreat Centre near Rumtek.

Calcutta Telegraph, 14th Sept 2009:

"Cabinet approves recognition of ancient Sowa-Rigpa medical system

New Delhi, Sep 10 (ANI): The Union Cabinet today approved the Indian Medicine Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2009 for amending the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970.


"Sowa-Rigpa" commonly known as ‘Amchi’ is one of the oldest surviving system of medicine in the world, popular in the Himalayan region of India. In India this system is practiced in Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Darjeeling (West Bengal), Lahoul and Spiti (Himachal Pradesh) and Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.

The theory and practices of "Sowa-Rigpa" are similar to Ayurveda, and also include few principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The fundamental text book rgyud-bzi of "Sowa-Rigpa" is believed to have been taught by Buddha himself and is closely linked with Buddhist philosophy. he Government of India has received representations from various quarters to grant recognition to the System of "Sowa-Rigpa" to enable it get a legal status.

To confer legal status to "Sowa-Rigpa" amendments to section 2,3,8,9 and 17 of the Indian Medicine Central Council Act 1970, need to be carried out.

The proposed amendments shall give effect to the inclusion of "Sowa-Rigpa" under sections 2,3,8,9 and 17 of the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970 thereby recognizing this system legally.

It is expected that the legal recognition of "Sowa-Rigpa" will lead to the protection and preservation of this ancient system of medicine and will help in its propagation and development. This will also open new vistas leading to collaborative research and scientific validation of the "Sowa-Rigpa" system, besides conservation and protection of the medicinal plants/minerals used in the system.

The recognition of "Sowa-Rigpa" will also lead to the setting up of a mechanism to regulate the education and practice of "Sowa-Rigpa". (ANI)" end.

However in the UK and accross Europe a new law is in the pipeline, the 'Codex Alimentarius' restricting the use of herbal supplements, vitamins and mineral food supplements to 'prescription only', using guidelines from the WHO and UN, and thus rendering them inaccessible without the approval of a GP.
Click to see the petition which is now closed but regular updates are available.
See also Rahima's article below on the Sowa Rigpa project in Sikkim.

News from Rinpoche's Monastery in Rigul.

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche is the Abbot of Rigul Monastery, in Eastern Tibet. He has just heard news of the new Shedra (studies programme) from Khenpo Wangpel, of Rigul.
Rinpoche writes:
"The Shedra of Rigul has now started. There was a big inauguration with Dulmo Choje Rinpoche as the Chief Guest. Over 800 monks and nuns attended the opening ceremony including high Rinpoches, Khenpos and Lamas. Thousands of people came for the teachings and blessings. The shedra buildings are complete with a hall which can accomodate around 1500 people. The old Temple is also fully renovated and both were inuagurated and blessed.
photo, Khenpo Dulmo Chöje Rinpoche who visited Samye Ling and Holy Island in 2006 and led the Guru Rinpoche Drupchen.

'Khenpo Zopa will be the main Khenpo, he is a learned Geshe from Kirti Monastery. The Shedra has started with 54 students. They have constituted a Shedra Committee with 15 monks. There will be a common kitchen and all students will be offered free food, lodging and education. They have started a shop to help finance the Shedra.
'This is fulfilling one of my dreams for a long time. We will soon receive some photos from Karsing and Lama Desing. Lama Desing is an old monk of Rigul Monastery who lives in Dehradun and Karsing is my uncle who has been visiting Rigul during this time.
We hope they will return safely".

Rinpoche adds: "The school and Clinic are both running very well. 14 students from the school joined the Shedra. Of 54 students, 32 are from Rigul Monastery and the rest are from nearby monasteries including the Sakya Monastery across from Rigul."

I send my best wishes and love and prayers,
RT

For more information and photographs on Rigul Monastery, click here.
If you would like to make an offering for the monks, the students and the monastary to help commemorate this UK taxpayers may have their donation gift aidedauspicious occasion please feel free to make a payment through Rigul Trust
For this, please contact David, the treasurer, at info@rigultrust.org

Bodhicharya Summercamp 2009

The 4th International Bodhicharya Summercamp took place last week at La Petite Pierre, near Strasbourg, hosted by Bodhicharya France. During two sessions each day, Rinpoche completed his commentary on 'Pointing out the Dharmakaya', a short text on Mahamudra by Wangchuk Dorje, the 9th Karmapa, this year he taught on the 'pointing out instructions'.

click on the photos to enlarge them

This deeply serious topic provoked a lot of laughter as we teased out with Rinpoche,
'what it is not', as well as what it is: 'too easy, too good, too close, too deep'.

Lama Tsering Paldron from Portugal tanslated brilliantly for the french speakers.

Rinpoche taught for four hours each day, to an audience of 130 students from France, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, UK, Belgium, Holland, Portugal, Italy, USA.

We enjoyed hot sunshine for most of the week, early morning meditation, evening chenrezig practice, long walks and live music, as well as the twice daily teachings.

At the end of the week participants presented Rinpoche with a dramatic offering of a 'human mandala'. (above) Lama Tsultrim of Bodhicharya France, Ringu Tulku, and Lama Soga watching on.

The Mighty General with 64 Special Accomplishments

The completed Mandala.

Ringu Tulku blesses participants before leaving for Brussels.

News from the Sowa Rigpa Institute in Sikkim

above photo: Gangtok from the 'ropeway'.

Rahima Sayer has spent the last 8 months helping to establish a herbal garden at Ringu Tulku's retreat centre in Sikkim. This is an abreviated version of the long letter she sent from Gangtok in June and the project sounds fascinating.
Some added news is that as of this week, Bodhicharya Ireland members have sponsored two machines to help Dr Tashi Namgyal to make pills and powders from the herbs grown at the centre. We look forward to some photographs.



SOWA RIGPA INSTITUTE OF SIKKIM

Planting the Medicine garden at the Bodhicharya Retreat Centre

This garden is the vision of Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, with the collaboration of Dr Tashi Namgyal of Gangtok. It is a conservation project, a reaction to a very real crisis in the supply of traditional medicinal plants in these beautiful Indian Himalayas. Traditionally there was respect for the plants, and the local doctors knew the appropriate time to harvest and the exact amount to harvest to allow for re-growth. There was a natural relationship between the plant and the healer, thus capturing extraordinary benefits from the herbs.

Now it is a very different picture, with many herb collectors out in the mountains with little or no knowledge if the exact taxonomy of the herbs and little understanding of their growth pattern. As a result there is overexploitation, and herbs are taken with no chance of re-growth for the following year’s harvest. It is not only Tibetan medicine that is suffering, but also Ayurvedic medicine and many local traditional healing practices. A very sad picture indeed.

The investigation that I am conducting is aimed at the sustainable cultivation of these plants that are disappearing from the wild.

The situation has not gone unnoticed, however, and in my search for sustainably cultivated plants I have met some very dedicated and inspiring people, whose wish is to protect these wonderful herb species that have been used for such a very long time within the pharmacopeia of traditional medicine. The Indian Government is also taking steps to try and preserve these medicines, by giving permits only to certain herb collectors. However, this does not stop the black market business.

Conservation Projects I visited

Sikkim

i) I first located through the internet the Kanchendzonga Conservation Committee, who invited me to Yuksam where they are based (some six hours’ drive along very steep and winding mountain roads), promising me seeds and plants. A breakthrough! Their initial thrust was to encourage local people to conserve the plants, but seeing that this was insufficient protection, they decided to grow a few medicinal plants, creating the Tunga Nursery in a beautiful spot above Yuksam. I was given both plants and seeds of swertia chirata (tikta in Tibetan), which Rinpoche and Dr Tashi Namgyal were particularly anxious to have in the garden. Dr Namgyal was delighted when I gave him the seeds, and amazed that they had been cultivated rather than grown in the wild. This was therefore a very successful visit, with the Conservation Committee suggesting that The Sowa Rigpa Institute might like to be involved in a joint project for growing at high altitude.

ii) In Gangtok, I also met the General Secretary of the Forest Department. They are actively cultivating medicinal plants in eight gardens throughout Sikkim, although I understand these are more for conservation than actual medicinal supplies.

Himachal Pradesh

i) I first travelled to Palumpur, in the Western Himalayas, to meet some of the scientists working at the Himalayan Biotech Resource Institute. The Director, Dr Ahuja, and his colleagues are doing trials in cultivating medicinal plants at both low and high altitudes, and offer courses in growing aromatic and medicinal plants. They are also very committed to distillation of essential oils such as rose and lavender.

ii) I next visited the Ayurvedic Hospital in Joginder Nager, and met Dr Raj Yog Shamar, researcher in medicinal plants, who was very interested in our project. They have three gardens covering 125 acres, full of different shrubs and medicinal trees and located at different altitudes according to the needs of the plants. These gardens provide almost all the herbs the hospital requires, and will be able to supply us with seeds in future. Dr Shamar, however, gave me there and then a handful of the manu seeds I had been looking for specially!
iii) I also located Biolaya Organics (www.biolaya.com), a small company who manage several farms and grow high altitude medicinal herbs. They also provide services and products related to organic agriculture and sustainable management of medicinal plants in the Indian Himalayas. I was invited to do the three-hour walk up from the road to see the farm in the Shang Valley, located at 2500m in an exceptionally pure environment, amidst beautiful forests of cedar and juniper, with carpets of wild irises just about to bloom. It was very moving to see how lovingly and carefully these plants are being tended. The growers themselves do not know exactly how viable it is; it is certainly not financially lucrative; nevertheless they continue to try and keep these species in our world. The Biolaya people are exceptional organic farmers, working for the last seven or eight years promoting organic farming, training in compost making, and conducting trials of traditional grains. They are happy to share their knowledge and expertise, and will be able to supply us with seeds of inula racemosa (manu in Tibetan) in May when the snow melts in the high passes. At the moment we are working together on Anti-Bacterial Spray with wild Himalayan Oregano oil and Flower Essences to be used in hospitals and nursing homes. I am also receiving training in how to revitalise the soil and grow some of these endangered medicinal plants.

So I am currently in this incredibly beautiful environment, surrounded by snowy mountains running with pure mountain streams. Today I bought ten kilos of saussaurea costus from a certified herb collector down the valley for our doctor in Gangtok. It comes from Lahaul Valley and is cultivated. We will have to see what the quality is like!

My experience in Himachal Pradesh is seeing people’s growing awareness of diminishing wild medicinal herb stocks. One consultancy has had resource assessment officers working in the mountains for the last few years, and the overall picture is not good. Unauthorised herb collectors are rapidly diminishing the stocks of herbs in such a way that there is no time for them to recover. Hence the need to cultivate is growing ever more urgent. Small community projects are being initiated to this end: for example, in Mandi District, Dr Lal Singh, of the Himalayan Research Group, has initiated 500 households in growing swertai chirata, with more projects planned.

Of course the cost of cultivation is far higher than the price demanded by herb collectors roaming the mountains and selling on the market. The face of traditional medicine is changing, resulting inevitably in higher costs for the patient.

But it is with great inspiration that I will return to the Sowa Rigpa Garden at the Retreat Centre, knowing that what we are trying to do is possible, and having learned more about the great value of growing these wonderful healers, the medicine plants. Our vision of a beautiful garden full of all kinds of healing plants and trees, medicine for the body and spirit, is being realised: a garden full of roses and jasmine, fine crops of salads and vegetables, medicinal plants and grains to eat, a wonder to behold!

Now we have to plant the seeds! In fact, before leaving Sikkim at the beginning of my researches, I experimented with a bag of saussaurea costus seeds already three years old, from Ladakh. With the help of girls from the village, we fine dug the ground and put in manure to try and revitalise the very poor soil. Then the seeds were planted. To our great delight, and my astonishment, they sprouted within ten days!

Thank you to all of you who are so interested and helpful with the making of this garden.

May all beings be happy.