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His Holiness the 17th
Gyalwa Karmapa
Urgyen Trinley Drodul Dorje
In the tradition of the
Karmapas His Holiness Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa had
predicted his own successor by writing a sacred letter disclosing his incarnation.
He specified the time and circumstances of his birth, the names of his
future parents and the location where he could be found. After the cremation
ceremonies of the 16th Karmapa it was discovered that he had left two footprints
in the ashes and they faced north to Tibet. The 17th Karmapa was born on
June 26, 1985, the wood ox year, as described in the prediction letter.
000
The 17th Karmapa His Holiness Urgyen
Trinley Drodul Dorje is the present golden throne holder of the Glorious
Karma Kamtsang Kagyu Order of Tibetan Buddhism.
Read Bio of the
Karmapas.
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Venerable 9th Khenchen
Thrangu Rinpoche
000
When The 7th Gyalwa Karmapa Chodrak
Gyatso (1454-1506), visited the region of Thrangu in Tibet, he established
Thrangu Monastery and enthroned Sherap Gyaltsen as the first Thrangu Rinpoche,
recognizing him as the re-established emanation of Shuwu Palgyi Senge,
one of the twenty-five great siddha disciples of Guru Padmasambhava.
000
The present, ninth incarnation
of Thrangu Rinpoche is an eminent scholar. Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche was
born in Tibet in 1933. When he was four, H.H. The 16th Gyalwa Karmapa and
Palpung Situ Rinpoche recognized him as the incarnation of Thrangu Tulku
by prophesying the names of his parents and the place of his birth.
000
The Vajra-Vidya Centre (VVC) is
formed by a group of devoted Buddhist practitioners with the purpose to
receive Dharma teachings from Rinpoche who is also the spiritual advisor
of VVC.
Read
Complete Bio here.
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Brief Introduction to
Deities in Vajrayana Buddhism.
It is of utmost importance
for Buddhist of different traditions to understand the basic principle
of Vajrayana transmission of this tantric deities and empowerments are
often difficult to understand. For those just a *very* short explanation:
All these deities should be understood as spontaneous emanations of our
enlightened mind, evoked by sound (seed syllable), which then transforms
into formless light (in the color of the according element) and having
the potential to manifest into a special rainbow- or dreambody-like form
(deity) by speaking a special mantra (sound composition). By identifying
with the body, speech and mind of those magical forms of our higher 'self'
one is able to increase the special qualities of those wisdom-emanations
to speed up the process of enlightenment. They don't represent the ultimate
goal of Buddhahood but have to be understood as precious vehicles towards
the nondualistic mahamudra state of mind. Tantric Buddhism states that
there is no final enlightenment possible without overcoming our inner magical
universe of powerful illusions without temporary magical protection and
wisdom transmission of the higher mind deities. A bit confusing, but logical,
as soon as you exept the magical nature of your 'self', being composed
of a vast amount of magic forces, fighting against there relativation and
depolarization of the spiritual seekers mind. In principle all this is
similar to astrology where we also deal with deities (Jupiter, Mars etc.),
zodiacal forces etc., trying to channel their archaic energies using our
wisdom and will power. In Tibetan tantrism those wisdom powers just have
a specified name, a sound, a form etc. Just to add, that, like in
astrology, also tantra understands the microcosmos as a mirror of the macrocosmos
and vice versa. So it is possible to envoke or experience certain deities
(or energies) also in the outside. Both methods are common practice in
Buddhist tantra, even though the advanced practitioner works more on harmonizing
his inner magical reality and as a result of synchronicity he experiences
the outer reality according to his inner realizations. So if he developed
inner harmony he will experience automatically the outer world as being
in complete harmony and beauty too. If he realized the nature of emptiness
of all phenomena, he will experience also the outer world as empty and
illusionary...and so on.
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Red Avalokiteshvara Deity
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Mahakala Deity
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To overcome our so-called
evil forces or karmic hindrances it needs corresponding, extremely powerful
antidotes to magically transform those hindrances and that's why in tantric
Buddhism you find various wrathful deities like Yamantaka, Vajrapani etc.
which offer their powers, wisdom and magical 'know-how' to help the spiritual
seeker. So even looking devilish and terrifying their motivation is based
on love and compassion. Peaceful deities have the function to stabilize
the inner pureness and harmony etc. So the Buddhist pantheon is like a
huge pharmacy shop, giving the practitioner the choice to select his special
deities, custom-tailored to his individual karmic reality. The pharmacist
is the according teacher or yogi. That's how the tantric 'psycho-therapy'
or 'karma-therapy' works. During an empowerment you not just get the recipe
and allowance to handle the tantric 'medicine' but also the magical transmission
of the teacher resp. the initial treatment. To make all this work, a mutual
trust between teacher and student (doctor and patient) is essential. -
There is another thing one should understand. Even though it is fundamentally
possible to reach Buddhahood in one life-span, it is more the exception.
But by practicing a special deity yoga like Yamantaka or White Tara and
making progress on this path one could reach a rebirth in their higher
magical realms (or realms of our own mind) which allows a quicker realization
in just a couple of lifes. So an initiation is always just a start or possibility
for a better karmic career. It depends complete on the motivation of the
student if and how he handles this chance by using the magical medicine
on a regular basis. If not, a magical transmission can't harm and can be
understood as a blessing, initiating a seed into the mind stream, which
can show a result in a much later life-form. Tantra goes even so far to
postulate, that just seeing a deity or Buddha image will have some positive
results in a later life.
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Complete Biographies of
Karmapa
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DEDICATION
Dedicated
to the impeccable perpetuation of the glorious Kagyu lineage and to the
success of its leaders and followers in accomplishing their commitment
to bring all sentient beings to the state of enlightened awareness.
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THE FOUR LIMITLESS
THOUGHTS
May
all mother sentient beings, boundless as the space, have happiness and
the causes of happiness.
May
they be liberated from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May
they never be separated from the happiness which is free from sorrow.
May
they rest in equanimity, free from attachment and aversion.
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