Celebration of rebirth of Penor Rinpoche in Boudha Kathmandu

Celebrating the recognition of the 'new' Penor rinpoche, many lama's, monks, nuns and lay people gathered around the big stupa of boudha for three days of practice and aspiration prayers. Everyday a big tsok was held, led by Namkha Rinpoche, practising the Rigdzin Dupa from the Longchen Nyingtik cycle.

Below from left to right, starting with the lama in orange; unknown, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, Tsona (?) Rinpoche.

Below From left to right; Tsona Rinpoche, Namkha Rinpoche, Chokling Rinpoche, three unknown lama's and at the end of the row Khenchen Namdrol Rinpoche

The last day a few nuns offered songs during the tsok:

The great translator Xuanzang

If you find it difficult to go to Nepal and India and study Tibetan these days, perhaps you can find some inspiration in the life and liberation of the great Chinese translator Xuanzang. Concerned with the misinterpretation and errors in the Buddhist tradition at the time in China, he decided to travel to India and search for answers. These days it takes around two days to get in India from Europa, but it took Xuanzang eight years to get to Nalanda. He travelled for about 17 years, and when he arrived back in China he took about 650 sanskrit books with him. He translated more then 70 sutra's and shastra's. A list of them can be found here . 

I'm writing all this is because I've had the fortune to come across a 

Chinese production, with english subs, of a 6 hours long documentary-film and re-enactment of Xuanzang's life and journey. The re-enactment is done marvellously, and we travel along with Xuanzang from China through the Gobi dessert, Kyrgyzstan, the lands of the Western Turks, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Odiyana, Samarkand, and in India the Punjab, Bihar and so on. One of the best re-enacted parts is when he arrives in Nalanda, and the Abbot of Nalanda, Silabhadra, teaches him and many monks the massive Yogācārabhūmi śāstra by Maitreya. 

The documentary seems to be available on Youtube here, so enjoy!

Real Milk

Have you ever drunk real milk?

Not skimmed, not homogenized, not with added calcium, not removed the lactose, not packaged and from a biological farm where they don't inject their cows with antibiotics?

In India it is actually not so difficult to get, however in our 'civilised' world it seems to be a rarity. I've recently had the fortune to acquire some. It smelled like cow. I can imagine the average consumer would not like the taste of it, since in general we're not really used to real food any more.

Ayurveda recommends never to drink cold milk, but to boil it just for a moment and to add some spices to aid digestion. The best is to use a pinch of cardamom, cinnamon and turmeric. When the milk has cooled down to drinking temperature, add some honey (never cook honey).

Milk is a complex product and it is best drunk alone. Especially don't combine milk with bananas, cherries, sour fruits, bread containing yeast, fish, kitchari (rice with beans), meat or yoghurt (source: Dr. Vasant Lad)

Homage to all the cows who so generously give us their milk!

Second year at Dzongsar Shedra

In the second year the main texts studied at Dzongsar Shedra are the Madyamakavatara, or Entrance to the middle way by Chandrakirti and the 400 verses by Aryadeva. Because I came from the Rigpa shedra in Nepal, where I attended the classes on Mipham Rinpoche’s Khenjug, or Entrance to the gateway of the wise, I arrived a few weeks late. Fortunately I arrived just in time for the famous 6^th chapter on transcendent wisdom from the Madyamakavatara.

Although I can still barely  understand what Khenpo Trinlepa is saying, nevertheless the teachings are quite amazing. The main commentary’s used are from the great Dzogchen Khenpo Shenga and Gorampa, but the Khenpo also teaches from a commentary by Khenpo chodrak, and recently we have also been using the uma chidon, which is something like a general commentary on the middle way, also by Gorampa. The main commentary by Gorampa, tawa ngensel or Removing wrong views, is quite elaborate. For example we are covering all the details of the differences between the Svatantrika Madyamika and the Prasangika Madyamika, in the ground , path fruition, and also within  a logical argument, for example in terms of the subject, the reason, the thesis, the example and so on. The whole chapter is based on the famous verse from Nagarjuna’s Root verses on the middle way:

བདག་ལས་མ་ཡིན་གཞན་ལས་མིན། །

གཉིས་ལས་མ་ཡིན་རྒྱུ་མེད་མིན། །

དངོས་པོ་གང་དག་གང་ན་ཡང་། །

སྐྱེ་བ་ནམ་ཡང་ཡོད་མ་ཡིན། །

Not from itself, nor from another,

Not from both, nor without a cause,

Does anything anywhere ever arise.

It might look like Nagarjuna is making four assertions here, but as you might know, the Prasangika Madyamika’s do not make any assertions of their own. As it says in Gorampa’s uma chidon, there are four wrong views regarding birth, from four different schools of thought, and thus Nagarjuna is merely saying this to refute their wrong views. The Hindu Samkhya’s say things arise from themselves, the Cittamatrin’s or mind only school of our own Buddhist tradition believe in things truly being born from others, the Jains believe things arise from both and the Charvaka’s believe things arise without a cause.

Besides the morning class at Dzongsar Shedra, I’m also attending some minor classes at the Nyingma Shedra. The Nyingma Shedra is  a branch of Namdroling, and thus they follow the same curriculum. In the second year they study Mipham’s Adornment of theMiddle way and the Entrance to the gateway of the wise as the main texts. The minor subjects are a text on the science of mind, or blo rigs, grammar, some part of Dudjom Rinpoche’s History and a text on tenet systems by Mipham Rinpoche, which is a condensation of Longchenpa’s Wish Fulfilling Treasury.

Besides the shedra’s, Chokling monastery has just finished a Thugdrub Barche Kunsel Drupchen, and also Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche taught for three days on the wisdom chapter of the Bodhicaryavatara at Deerpark. And last but not least, the weather is very nice at the moment in Bir, not to cold and not (yet) too hot!

On the picture a gathering of some western mtshan nyid pa’s, which means people who study definitions, which is a name for people studying at Shedra’s, from Dzongsar Shedra, Sherab Ling, and the tsenyi lobtra in Dharamsala, gathered during Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche’s teachings at Deerpark.

What do they study at shedras and academic curriculums of Namdroling, Dzongsar, Mindroling and Sherab ling Shedras?

For those interested in the various subjects that are being studied at the great monastic universities of Tibetan Buddhism, it might be nice to take a look at some of their curriculums. These universities are called 'shedra'. As the Rigpa Wiki says, "the Tibetan word shedra (bshad grwa) literally means a ‘centre for teaching’. In traditional monastic centres, the shedra is the school where monks and nuns study the most important Buddhist scriptures, based on the explanations of their teacher, or khenpo."

Over the years I've collected the curriculums of several of the most important shedras in India. A good introduction to what kind of texts are being studied at present day shedras is written by our friends from Berotsana: Tibetan Buddhist Scholastic Education . Also you might want to read about Khenpo Zhenga at the rigpa wiki, who is one of the most important figures in the creation of Shedras some time ago. He is the author of commentaries to the thirteen great texts, which form the basis for most present day shedras, like Namdroling and Dzongsar Shedra.

Another incredible resource is Andreas Kretschmars pdf's, which can be downloaded from http://www.kunpal.com/ . In the first chapter you will find included an Introduction by Dzogchen Khenpo Chöga and Tsoknyi Rinpoche, The History of Dzongsar Shedra in East Tibet, Life Story of Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk, and Interviews with Khenpo Ape, Kyabje Khenpo Trashi Palden, Khenpo Pema Sherab and Khenpo Namdrol Rinpoche's.

Curriculums:

Namdroling Shedra Curriculum
Dzongsar Shedra syllabus (Tibetan only! Scanned syllabus, the actual curriculum starts on page 5)
Mindroling course of study & actual curriculum (taken from website some years ago, but I cannot find it on their current website)
SherabLing

Buddhist jokes cartoons collection

From the Buddha Patch up to the zen GPS, and from the Buddhist reality show up to the zenemies. All gathering here for your entertainment.

Have fun

How to get to Bir and Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India

Bir is getting increasingly popular and thus it seemed time to write a few notes on how to easily get there. This is surely not the only way to get to Bir, but it will give you some hints for a pleasant journey. Information and  prices are from 2012.

First of all when you book your flight, make sure it lands in Delhi in the morning.  If you arrive in the evening you’d have to look for a hotel in the middle of the night in Delhi, and I can tell from experience that’s not the best idea. Another hint for booking flight’s is to book directly with the airline company. You can use search engines for a cheap flight, but then once you’ve found it just book directly with them instead of on these sites.

Once you get to Delhi airport, outside there will be loads of people offering you a taxi. Some look very official but don’t be deceived. Just continue walking to the official taxi stand building. There you can buy a ticket with a number for a taxi, If I remember correctly they’re yellow/green. Then you can go to any location you wish ofcourse, but I recommend to take a taxi to Majnu Katila , the Tibetan Settlement in Delhi. The Taxi should cost only about 400 rupees. This is like a little China-town but then with Tibetans. For me it’s like a safe haven in Delhi, much like Boudha is in Kathmandu.

If you get to Majnu Katila in the morning, first thing you can do is get a guesthouse, at least for the day to drop your bag and relax.  Normally there is no need to book a guesthouse in advance, there are plenty, and not very expensive either.

Half a day in Majnu Katila is usually enough for me, so after having had breakfast I get my bus Ticket to Himachal Pradesh. There are several options. One option is to book a bus to Dharamsala, these ones leave from Majnu Katila. If you want to go to Bir straight away, you have to go with a taxi to the Indian bus station (ISBT bus station), and buy a ticket to Baijnath. A taxi to the bus station should cost around 100 rupees, a motorized riksha around 70 rupees (both one way). The cheap bus is only 500 rupees, but I can highly recommend to get the AC bus for about 800 rupees. These are all night-buses, and thus you will arrive in Dharamsala or Baijnath in the morning. On the bus station, to buy the ticket for the AC bus you have to go inside the -unfinished- building, go up and look for counter 9. Currently the bus leaves at 19:45, but that might change of course. An advice is to leave on time from Majnu Katila, perhaps one hour in advance, because there might be some traffic jams around this time, and also it might take some time to find your bus in the chaos of the bus station. Currently the bus leaves somewhat at the back of the station, just around the corner. Just look for somewhat more fancy busses, and ask, ask, and ask again.

Edit: Last year there was a deluxe bus going straight to Bir from Majnu Katila. However, currently it seems to go only until Khangra.

On the one and only street in Majnu Katila, on the corner of the main exit is a good shop where you can exchange money and book buses trains, flights or whatever. Here you can buy a ticket for the bus to Dharamsala, but remember for the bus to Baijnath you have to go and buy the ticket in advance at the bus station.

Another option for the somewhat wealthier travellers would be to take the plane to Dharamsala. Once I know more about this option I will edit this post. A Taxi from Dharamsala to Bir should cost around 1500 rupees. 

One final option, is to take the train to Pathankot, and from there take a taxi to Dharamsala or Bir. For me it’s to much of a detour, but if you hate the night bus perhaps this is an option for you (but then it will be a night-train so not so much difference). 

In Majnu Katila, don’t forget to buy plenty of books from the Tibetan Books store. There are two shops , one big one and one smaller one. You cannot buy any books in Bir, only in Dharamsala you can buy books.

If you take the Bus to Baijnath, then from there you can take the taxi to Bir which should cost about 250-300 rupees. For the bus-diehards, there is also a bus going.

You can find a list with places to stay at the Deerpark website.

Also check out this new site The Bir Portal , which also has information about the new permit which you might need for Bir. Here you can find a map of Himachal Pradesh