Photos of Lerab Ling in Autumn

Lerab Ling Temple

Stupa outside the temple

(Photos courtesy of Bart de Natris)

Anniversary of the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa

(Photo courtesy of Kagyu Samye Ling)

Today is the anniversary of Karmapa Rangjung Rigpé Dorje, the sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa (1924-1981). Head of one of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the Kagyü, the Karmapa was born in Denkhok of the Derge province in east Tibet.

He was enthroned at a young age at Tsurphu monastery, the main Karmapa seat in Tibet, by Tai Situ Rinpoche, one of his main teachers.

He left Tibet in 1959, establishing his main seat in exile at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim.

Rinpoche taught at the Rigpa centre in London in November 1977, together with Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche.

The Karma Kagyü website has a full biography of the 16th Karmapa if you would like to know more.

Glimpse After Glimpse: Sogyal Rinpoche's Daily Reflections on Living and Dying

Here is today's Glimpse of the Day, from Sogyal Rinpoche's book, Glimpse After Glimpse - Daily Reflections on Living and Dying

It has often intrigued me how some Buddhist masters I know ask one simple question of people who approach them for teaching: "Do you believe in a life after this one?" They are not being asked whether they believe in it as a philosophical proposition but whether they feel it deeply in their hearts. The master knows that if a man believes in a life after this one, his whole outlook on life will be different, and he will have a distinct sense of personal responsibility and morality. What the masters must suspect is that there is a danger that people who have no strong belief in a life after this one will create a society fixated on short-term results, without much thought for the consequences of their actions.

Could this be the major reason why we have created a world like the one we are now living in, a world with hardly any real compassion?

Glimpse After Glimpse, by Sogyal Rinpoche, published by Harper San Francisco, offers daily inspirational readings based on The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Both books are available from the Zam Shop.

To receive a daily email of the Glimpse for each day of the year, sign up here.

(Photo courtesy of Jeroen Top)

International Day of Climate Action

Lerab Ling Temple

Even those of us here at Lerab Ling, Rigpa's main retreat centre in the remote Larzac plateau of France, know that today is the International Day of Climate Action.

Everywhere in the world, people are gathering today to call for strong action and bold leadership on the climate crisis, in what is being called the "most widespread day of environmental action in the planet's history". Images from the more than 5,200 events planned for today will be collected and delivered to the world's media, and to world leaders who will be gathering for the crucial United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.

You can follow all these actions, learn about climate change and the issues at stake at Copenhagen on http://www.350.org

The Time to Act is Now: A Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change

The worldwide Buddhist community is also active in pressing for real action on climate change.

Sogyal Rinpoche signed the Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change, along with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa (who recently hosted his 2nd Conference on Environmental Protection) and Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, many other Buddhist masters and 5,000 others.

Signatories to the declaration, which will be presented to the world leaders gathered in Copenhagen:

...acknowledge the urgent challenge of climate change, join with the Dalai Lama in endorsing the 350 ppm target and, in accordance with Buddhist teachings, accept our individual and collective responsibility to do whatever we can to meet this target.

What is the "350 ppm target"?
The Declaration explains:

For human civilization to be sustainable, the safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is no more than 350 parts per million (ppm)... Our current situation is particularly worrisome in that the present level is already 387 ppm, and has been rising at 2 ppm per year. We are challenged not only to reduce carbon emissions, but also to remove large quantities of carbon gas already present in the atmosphere.

You can read the full text of the Declaration here.

Lerab Ling Adopts Environmental Principles
Recognising our interdependence and the need to actively develop our sense of universal and personal responsibility, the Lerab Ling community is developing principles to guide its decision making. These draft principles are:

The Lerab Ling Community is committed to protecting our environment and responding to climate change by following these five principles.

1. Integrating environmental sustainability and climate change responses in all our policy making;
2. Adopting energy efficiency measures and maximising the use or renewable energy;
3. Switching, where possible, to environmentally friendly products and materials;
4. Protecting Lerab Ling's special environment - its air, water, land, flora and fauna; and
5. Implementing best waste management - the 3R's: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Stay tuned for more developments from Lerab Ling.

Anniversary of Rigdzin Jikme Lingpa (1729-1798)

Today is the anniversary of Rigdzin Jikmé Lingpa (1729-1798), regarded as one of the most important figures in the Nyingma lineage.

Also known as Khyentsé Özer (Rays of Compassion and Wisdom), he was a great scholar and visionary. He revealed the Longchen Nyingtik cycle of teachings and practice through a series of visions from the great fourteenth century master, Longchenpa.

Milarepa, Songs of Realisation, sung by Michaela Lucas

Milarepa, famous Tibetan Buddhist saint of the eleventh century, is considered to be the founder of the Kagyü school of Tibetan Buddhism.

His life story is one of the most popular and enduring narratives in Tibetan culture.

Milarepa was also a poet, spontaneously composing 100,000 songs of realisation. Michaela Lucas, a student of Sogyal Rinpoche, has taken a number of Milarepa's songs and set them to music. She sings them on the CD, The Actual Mind.

Sogyal Rinpoche said "the songs are quite incredible".

The CD, which is the first project of the Dharma Art Studio, is available for sale from the Zam shop.

All proceeds go towards completing and maintaining the decoration of the temple at Lerab Ling, and to support the Lerab Ling monastic sangha and other dedicated practitioners.




To listen to some of the songs from this album, please go to www.reverbnation.com/michaelalucas.

Anniversary of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, 1990, Prapoutel, France

Today is the anniversary of Kyabjé Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, one of the greatest Dzogchen masters of the twentieth century, and the teacher of many of the important lamas of today, including Sogyal Rinpoche.

Born in 1910 in the Derge region of Kham, Eastern Tibet, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was recognized as the mind emanation of the first Khyentse Rinpoche, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, and was one of the closest disciples of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö (1896-1959).

He was one of the last great masters to complete his entire training in Tibet, at Shechen Monastery, studying there for many years. From the age of fifteen to twenty-eight he lived in silent retreat, in remote hermitages and caves. He left Tibet and went into exile in the 1950's settling in Bhutan,where he passed away in 1991.
























In his introduction to Brilliant Moon, An Autobiography of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Sogyal Rinpoche wrote:

Who could ever forget Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche if they had ever seen him? Both in his spiritual realization and in his physical appearance and build, he was larger than life. In every sense there was something universal, even superhuman, about him, so much so that at one stage the young incarnate lamas he looked after with such infinite and tender care would playfully call him ‘Mr Universe’...

On one hand, Khyentse Rinpoche’s enlightened qualities were so self-evident that no one could miss them, and on the other, he was forever humble, because he had tamed his mind and his whole being. He was always the same, stable and unchanging, his equanimity as steadfast as a mountain, his wisdom as endless as the sky, and his enlightened qualities as vast as an ocean.

Next year marks the 100th anniversary of Khyenste Rinpoche's birth. As part of the celebrations, Dilgo Khyentse's incarnation, Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche will visit Lerab Ling from 12-17 July. Details of his visit will be available closer to the date on www.rigpa.org

Teachings on Longchenpa's Advice from the Heart

Khenpo Pema Sherab taught on "Thirty Pieces of Advice from the Heart" in Lerab Ling during the All-Mandala retreat from 23-25 August 2009.

The complete teaching is now available for free download here. The recordings contain the teaching in Tibetan with English translation.