Precious Gems from Domo Geshe Rinpoche
The Newsletter of White Conch Dharma Center
Feb 6, 2010
In This Issue
Follow Rinpoche on FaceBook
World Peace Prayers & Lay Vows
Follow Rinpoche on FaceBook

Domo Geshe Rinpoche with hands folded

You can receive your daily dose of precious dharma gems from Domo Geshe Rinpoche by following her on FaceBook.
You can also follow Rinpoche's Blog, Satisfied Buddhist. Don't miss your daily dose of wisdom and humor!!
Listen to Dharma Radio with Dolma.  Dolma has a weekly radio show on Tuesday mornings in Occidental, CA. Now available streaming on the internet.

Join White Conch on the first Sunday of every month for the practice of Ganden Lhagyama, The Hundred Deities of the Land of Joy. Via conference call.  Next occurring on
Feb 7, 2010.

Grand Transitions Institute on FaceBook

White Conch on FaceBook

Joyful Path Healing Center on FaceBook

HHDL

"Buddhism is more about human emotions. In the course of that exploration, it will become obvious that most disturbances are stimulated, not by external causes, but by such internal events as the arising of disturbing emotions. The best antidote to these sources of disruption will come about through enhancing our ability to handle these emotions ourselves. Eventually we need to develop an awareness that provides the ways and means to overcome negative, disturbing emotions ourselves,"
His Holiness, the Dalai lama
Jan 15, 2010


Central image of Buddha

What we are is the result of what we have thought, is built by our thoughts, is made up of our thoughts. If one speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows one like a shadow that never leaves.

"They insulted me; they hurt me; they defeated me; they cheated me." In those who harbor such thoughts, hate will never cease.
Rinpoche in Hawai'i

Rinpoche welcomed with lei

On our first teaching visit to Hawai'i, Rinpoche was welcomed by a Hawaiian Kumu. See this brief video of the sacred dance of hula.
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How to be Happy,

Selection 1

If your mother had her way, she would tell you, "Oh, my children, you just be happy," and you would have instantly understood your mother's wishes and complied with them perfectly. You would have never suffered. She never intended to bear children to experience the least amount of unhappiness, isn't that so? There is something magic, I hear, although I do not have children, that happens when people want to have children. They visualize that nothing bad and no unhappiness will ever come to visit them.

From a teaching given Apr 17, 2008.
Available as DVD, CD and MP3
How to be Happy,
Selection 2

In fact, your mother may have been right because happiness in the natural state of the mind. Therefore, unhappiness must be the unnatural state of the mind, unnatural meaning unbalanced, meaning not poised, meaning out of equilibrium, and I say bulging with an agenda that is weighing down the mind. In this unbalanced state of the unhappy mind, a cascade effect happens, and the first thing you do is you produce a state of blaming - trying to figure out how it got there and whose fault it was. This blame arising in you gives rise to a dysfunctional perceptual circus. The actual delusion is the practice of blame, feeling disrespected, and then further noticing how that feeling feels. This is the perceptual machinery associated with the unhappy mind.


Upcoming Events:
Feb 12-22, 2010 Teaching visit in Northern California
Rinpoche will be teaching in Livermore, Oakland, Marin County, and Sebastopol, CA. Details here.

This yea
fireworksr, Losar (the Tibetan New Year) falls on Valentine's Day in the west, and also during the Medicine Buddha retreat in Livermore. Although Rinpoche will be in retreat, we wish everyone a Happy Losar and Happy Valentine's Day.

Feb 27, 2010 Conscious End-of-Life Training Program
Hospice Level 1, Modules 1-3
 at Joyful path Healing Centerin Blue Mounds, WI

Mar 6-7, 2010: 24 Hour Mahayana Vows: A Joyful Path Event

Save the Date: Sat Mar 6- Sun, Mar 7, 2010
Red Lotus Buddhist Wisdom cover Give the Gift of Dharma
Red Lotus Buddhist Wisdom: Nice for a small coffee table book. Many people have already purchased as Christmas gifts We hope these inspirational and thought provoking quotations by the 9th Domo Geshe Rinpoche, accompanied by dramatic portraits of lotuses, will awaken your natural joy as they have for her many students over the years.
Although Buddhism is ancient, it remains fresh and contemporary.
Known for purity, peace, and tranquility, the teachings of Buddhism also instill strength and determination in us to rise from the mud of ordinary life and gain enlightenment, just as the lotus emerges triumphantly. Quotations by Domo Geshe Rinpoche are presented in
graphics word art also created by Domo Geshe to emphasize the Buddhist concepts that can be used as meditations. Click on the picture (above) to order.
Price: $18.95 plus Shipping & Handling

Mystery of Emptiness & LoveMystery of Emptiness & Love: "There are Buddhist centers in nearly every town and city, yet most people who are interested in spiritual development never walk into one. You are probably like them, researching on your own for many years before deciding to enter a group setting. Perhaps you will never meet Buddhists face to face but will choose to read and contemplate deep questions at your own pace. Whether you are studying on your own or under the guidance of a mentor, this book will assist you in uncovering answers to some of the deepest questions of philosophers and sincere thinkers about the nature of reality (i.e., what is real). Based on common sense, in easy language and with correct Buddhist reasoning, this guide will guide and encourage you to put into practice the analysis of reality, rather than simply acquire more knowledge. This book will also act as an guide to many important points regarding the core of Buddhist philosophy concerning compassion combined with the nature of reality, what is called �emptiness�. Click on the picture (above) to order.
Price: $16.95 plus Shipping & Handling
How to be Happy,
Selection 3
The view that you have been traditionally taught about how to find happiness, generally speaking, is about as nourishing as sweet-n-low artificial sugar substitute. Even though they say that this is valuable, and this will give you the good taste, and this is going to bring you the happiness, there is nothing there! There is no nutrition there. In truth, being happy does not depend upon having successes or having our needs met in the way we want them to be met. Sometimes, people get the thing they want, but it was not done the way they wanted it to be done, so then it becomes an unhappiness. Getting a raise happiness, getting a new car happiness, or getting the final tin soldier in your antique collection set happiness, are not the criteria of happiness.  Our perceptions of what is happiness and what is not happiness form our opinions of what we seek and how we mold our goals. This mature individual cannot take a short-term gain in happiness and a long-term loss as a method. It would be like a farmer who eats the seed corn instead of planting it. What comes very strongly nowadays is the environment, using our environment only for our own pleasure and not thinking about future generations. This is the short-term gain and long-term loss.  A satisfied mind brings happiness.
" Another method of being happy is to be in the present moment. Life is only lived in the present moment. Please wake up to the living energies that surround you and interpenetrate you. Do not be afraid to be here and be alive! Yes, life is illusory, but the lessons are real! Allow yourself to touch life and be part of the living stream of learning and growth that is only possible if you are actually here.

Work toward arising bodhichitta, the precious mind of enlightenment that changes you from a high maintenance being to a benefit being. Working for the benefit of sentient beings is true happiness because it is in alignment with the nature of higher being. That nature of higher being is in alignment toward perfection, the actual goal of all living beings.
"


~ Domo Geshe Rinpoche ~   
The Dharma is Free

The programs of White Conch require ongoing funding. Please support  White Conch  programs, including the important hospice project. We are also establishing a scholarship fund for those whose financial struggles make it difficult to attend retreats and trainings. White Conch is a 501c3 organization, and all contributions are tax-deductible in the US.

Donations may be mailed to:

White Conch Dharma Center
PO Box 14372
West Allis, WI 53214

or donate online via credit card through PayPal.

The powerful messages of the dharma speak for themselves. Share the dharma by forwarding these Precious Gems to your friends and family. 

May there be a rain of dharma
 
Ngawang Thekchen
White Conch Dharma Center