New Years Greetings 2013

With Hurricane Sandy, the Mayan Doomsday, the spate of horrific shootings, the economic woes, and the fiscal cliff, many of us feel anxious and think the world is against us. Survival instincts may cause us to withdraw into our emotional bunkers and shut out those around us.

This is not a healthy way to live. Instead, we should follow the advice of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche and other spiritual teachers who advise us to meditate on the lam rim – the path to Enlightenment. The lam rim helps us understand how we’ve ended up in our current predicament and how we can ensure that our future is brighter. We should alternate between contemplation on the lam rim and practicing calm abiding. Through daily meditation on the breath, we remain centered regardless of our surroundings.

Now is the time to deeply reflect on the meaning of taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha and to seek the protection of our gurus from the bottom of our hearts. We pray that His Holiness the Dalai Lama and all our spiritual teachers will live long and preserve the Dharma teachings for years to come. By putting the teachings into practice in accordance with our gurus’ instructions, we can change the world and permanently free ourselves from suffering.

Long Life Prayer for H.H. the Dalai Lama

In the land encircled by snow mountains,
You are the source of all happiness and good,
All powerful Chenrezig, Tenzin Gyatso,
Please remain until samsara ends.

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Splendid Lam Rim Quotes and Free Texts

Carefully selected quotes from the Lam Rim texts that His Holiness will be using for his upcoming teaching in India, all available courtesy of the Janghup Lamrim teachings organizing committee.

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Translations of several texts are available as well on the website.

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His Holiness the Dalai Lama: Jangchub Lam Rim Teachings in India

According to the official website,  His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama will bestow teachings on 18 Treatises on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment – Jangchup Lamrim.

These rare and precious teachings, requested by His Eminence Ling Rinpoche, will take place at Gaden, Drepung and Sera, the three great Tibetan Monastic Universities.

This series of teachings will occur:

• 30 November to 13 December 2012 at Gaden Monastery and Drepung Monastery, in Mundgod, Karnataka, south India
• continuing in 2013 at Sera Monastery, in Bylakuppe, Karnataka, south India.

On the very auspicious occasion of the 610th Anniversary of Lama Tsongkhapa’s composition of his masterpiece Lam-rim Chen-mo (The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment) and the 600th Anniversary of Lama Tsongkhapa’s teaching of this text at Gaden Monastery for the first time, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will bestow teachings and transmissions on eighteen classic Lam-rim commentaries at the request of His Eminence Ling Rinpoche. (source: FPMT)

The complete list of 18 commentaries is available on the event website.  The site also has an introduction to the authors of the commentaries, and an explanation of the Lam Rim tradition and lineage. In addition, registration and travel information have already been posted.

A webcast of the teachings will be available on the event website.

FPMT recently announced an opportunity to sponsor the teachings. As part of FPMT’s mission to preserve the Mahayana tradition, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has offered for FPMT to help support these rare and precious teachings in various ways, including:

• Offering vegetarian food to all of the 12,000-15,000 monks in attendance.
• Sponsoring the travel of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and entourage.
• Funding a sound system for the event.
• Printing 50,000 copies of five different texts needed for the teaching event.

Please donate today. (Note: the event website also has instructions on how to donate. It is, however, much more convenient to donate through FPMT).

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Putting the teachings into practice

…once you have received the teachings, you have to take the medicine; you have to meditate and practice. If you understand the teachings but do not put them into practice through meditation, then you cannot gain direct realization. It is direct experiential realization that actually eliminates the mental afflictions. So if you do not actually take the medicine by practicing the teachings, how can you gain the ultimate cure — nirvana — the state which is beyond sorrow?

~ Geshe Lhundhup Sopa in Steps on the Path to Enlightenment, volume 1

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