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Precious Gems from Domo Geshe Rinpoche
Extracts from our First Four Issues
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Welcome to our inaugural issue of Precious Gems from Domo Geshe Rinpoche.
This project arose out of a session on building community that occurred
at the summer retreat. Rinpoche's wisdom is inspiring. Punctuated by
frequent humor, it lifts and reminds us what is really important in
life. Every week or two, you will find an inspiring precious gem in
your e-mail. Expect to see format improvements as we move forward. If
you wish to suggest your favorite quote from Rinpoche for a future "Precious Gem", please submit the quote, and the teaching it came from to: Ngawang Thekchen.
Click on links to order the teachings extracted in Precious Gems.
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First Issue: Sep 5, 2007
We
are gathered here at my home, which is the retreat facility for White
Conch. And this is the inaugural session, first session, first
afternoon, first retreat ...on the new land. So before we begin, I
would like to have a round of applause for the construction workers,
for the thangka hangers, for the paper and packet makers, and all of
the work (applause) ...Good afternoon, good afternoon, we are gathered
here, and I'm just, I'm so pleased, I hardly have words. Really! Our
beautiful dharma hall! Isn't it wonderful?! And so
respectfully done and so careful! And so much love and attention went
into it. Now we have a lot of work to do. Now we have to work! In
addition to the outer dharma hall, now we need to decorate your inner
dharma halls, like that. Are you ready?
Domo Geshe Rinpoche
July 28, 2007 Learning your most important lesson on retreat
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Special Issue: Sep 10, 2007
Tibetans hold their living Buddhas to their society.
It was always one where they said, "You must
not go! You not abandon us! You
must must always come to Tibet.
Be with us; Be with us; Be with us."
At a certain point, I heard them beating
the drum, after I had been gone. It started almost right away, but definitely
around the anniversary of my passing I could feel and I could hear them beating
the drum. "Come, come, return to us, return to us, return to us!"And they are
calling Domo Geshe on the inside, "Come, come, come (to be reborn)." I could
feel myself nearly ready to go there. I did tell a couple of my (new) students, and
like that, they started beating the drum for me to stay.
Because of the unique
nature of the incarnation, where they wanted a baby to be born, but I was
already here, it meant that I (would have to) depart from here in order to arise there. I was in quite an internal dilemma, because
these were people who were known to me who were calling me, "We miss you,
Rinpoche. Come and be reborn, and you must come, come, come!" It's very, very
compelling.
I went into retreat in order to stabilize and retain my presence in
my new being. I thought that I might die on the outside. I felt like I was
going to have to pass away in order to fulfill their (strong calling.) I said
to a few of my students, "Now might be a very good time for you to hang on, on
the inside, so that I don't pass away." I'm surprised I'm saying it, but here I
am saying it.
The long life prayer is traditionally done at the
end of an initiation in order to overcome any obstacles to the life of the
initiating lama that might have occurred to the lama due to the karma of the
students being revealed and working with it in that way. At the end of a
teaching cycle or at the end of a long teaching or especially at the end of an
initiation is the student not only wishing well but- you don't understand what
it means to hold lamas, which is why it is not going to be easy to stay here at
the end of my life - however long I live. You need to figure out a method so
that I come here and not elsewhere. That's right. I'm permitted to say that. I
have no intention of passing away any time soon. However, the skill and the
abilities of the students to hold the teacher, to hold the lama, to hold the
guru, means, Will you be able to hold? Can you hold? Most American students
can't. They can't hold the guru. They can't hold the guru and so the guru goes
almost automatically to the place where they are called, where they are needed.
We go where we are needed.
What are they (Tibetans) saying? "We need you; we need you; we
you!"
And American culture says, "Well, Rinpoche, if you really want to go, then I'll understand." Like that.
Not in this case!!! Do you understand what I'm saying? Culturally they (Tibetans)
are saying, "Me. Me.
Me. Come to Me, Come to Me."
Like that, they literally are beating the drum. Americans, with the same
motivation will say, "Well, whatever makes you happy Rinpoche. If you want to
go there, go ahead." And that's not
what you should be doing. You need to develop strength of your own interior
process where you can hold the guru.
For a very long time, guru will come and say, "I'm
here." Good and we talk and these kinds of things. Now, will it be a process
just for a few, for a short time? Or will it be something that will be here for
others in the future? I'm not talking from my human component here. I'm talking
about a bigger picture than that.
Do you want the guru available in the future?
Like that, you develop something in you that says, "STAY!"
"Why?"
"Because I need
you!"
And that is the pulling power of the students. And
when that no longer exists in this world, the gurus will no longer come to
your world. Many of you have the ability already, but you thought it was greedy
to do. And now I told you that its not. That is an important part of the
practice. It also allows your Inner Guru to teach you unobstructed.
Domo Geshe Rinpoche
June 27, 2004 Ganden Lhagyama commentary MP3 or CD
This special issue of Precious Gems from Rinpoche
commemorates this significant day in the life of our guru. We now have
the opportunity to hold the guru for ourselves and for future
generations. What a unique opportunity for westerners! Every year on
this date, it is especially auspicious to remember our special and
sacred duty to those who will come in the future.
We
welcome you, as sharers and senior students, to join us the The
Wonderful Golden Rosary for the long and joyful life of our precious
teacher, the female Domo Geshe Rinpoche. May she remain among us for
many years, and may she always return to this land!
May there be a rain of dharma
Your Precious Gems team: Ngawang Thekchen & Jim Clark
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Sep 18, 2007
After
having received initiation, one ceases being a spiritual seeker, and
that's good. There is an aspect of sensuality that is very appealing in
spiritual seeking. One seeks to feel good; you are dissatisfied with
how you feel. You feel bad and you want to change, and therefore, you
take steps to feel good. This is preliminary to finding a path to
follow. Your desire to feel good, or conversely, your desire to stop
feeling bad, causes you to enter into all kinds of strange and
interesting studies. Looking here, reading this and doing that, trying
this and trying that. And then something uncomfortable comes along, and
you shift again. Like this, ordinary spiritual seekers are in a
constant turmoil of discovering that although they are in a constant
state of thinking about spiritual process, that they are still not
satisfied in their happiness factor. Many times they leave a spiritual
process because they are not happy or they haven't found happiness,
instead of understanding that they are expected to find a place where
they can work.
Spiritual
process is work, not seeking sensual gratification. If you are a
sensualist, and you are seeking for another way to be happy without
having to do any work, then you will continuously go from one thing to
another, until you figure out that it is the work that
will eventually transform you into the one who is capable of being
happy. The work we are doing in mind training, and the work you are
doing in your green light practice, gives you an opportunity to make
the necessary changes in order to transform into the being who is
capable, of not just being happy, but (of being) valuable. You forgot
that you were supposed to become valuable, and not just become another
kind of high-maintenance experiencer of total happiness. The fact is,
as you grow and change, a byproduct of that activity is that from time
to time, you actually might feel happy.
You'd
better like the taste of honesty, because you are being honest with
yourself and you are working on your delusions. Mind training is not
for sensualists. This type of thinking, "It's about me, and its about my practice, and its about my
happiness ratio" (will not help you.) You need to have strong
determination to transform and you need strong determination to find a
path that lets you work. Mind training gives you the exact dialogue
with yourself, to take yourself in hand, and to demand that you begin
to behave in ways that are in accordance with dharma. You no longer
find justifications for your own bad behavior which is producing the
suffering that you don't like. You begin to enjoy the work.
Domo Geshe Rinpoche
July 31, 2007 Seven Point Mind Training MP3 or CD
Part 1: Who is the foe?
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Sep 23, 2007Although
it is good to be interested in very esoteric and complicated subjects, the
most important subject that you have (to learn) is the very next thing that you
need to know. And each one of you will be presented inside, during meditation
and nighttime activity, very important, each one of you, I promise from my
side, will be presented with what you need to know, and the opportunity to
learn it.
From
your side, you must be receptive to learning it. And this is not like "What is
the next number after 3?" Not like that. It is something that is part of your
being that needs to change. It is the part of your being - you know like a
lady wearing a beautiful chiffon dress, who does the fancy
dancing? And the man wears the bow tie and they (are in) competition wearing the
numbers on their back. (Do) you know what I (am) talking about? Okay, there she
is out there, and she swirls past so beautifully, and she catches her dress on
a nail (screeching sound). If she (is) smart, like that she stops in her
tracks. This beautiful lady (is) like you inside; this potential for beauty.
You
want to be free - you want to be happy - you want to be unimpeded. But there you
are, in all your glory - stuck on a nail. No matter how pretty your costume is,
how beautiful, how easy it is to move, when you're stuck, you cannot do
anything. This is the thing that is your problem. And this is the thing that
stops your beauty. In the same way as though you were swirling and came across
this nail, and suddenly, you could not go on. That is where you are at right now.
There is something that prevents you from going on. And don't be afraid! You
have to work in order to loose that nail. That nail is stuck in your energy
system. Can you feel? There it is - stuck. And that is the place it needs to
come out of.Domo Geshe Rinpoche
July 28, 2007 Learning your most important lesson on retreat
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May there be a rain of dharma!
PO Box 14372
West Allis, Wisconsin 53214
262-370-5974
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