Summer 2015

Kagyu Thegchen Ling Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Center 26 Gartley Place Honolulu, Hawai'i 96817 (808 595-8989) www.ktlhonolulu.org

The Empty MirrorThe Empty Mirror

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A Teaching by Lama Karma Rinchen

Late in the morning on Friday, March 13, 2015 His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa vis-ited Kagyu Thegchen Ling.Alerted the day before, about one hundred mem-bers of the sangha were on hand to join Lama Karma Rinchen and Lama Tempa Gyeltshen, and Lama Gyaltsen of the Maui Dharma Cen-ter, to welcome His Holiness, his sister Jet-sunma Ngodop Pelzom, and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche.After His Holiness took his place at the north

wall of the puja room, Lama Rinchen made a brief introduction. His Holiness, relaxed and attentive, spoke quietly for a few minutes, saying he had been resting and recovering from jet lag after traveling to Hawai’i from India. He concluded by saying he had nothing special to say that day, but “since I am here, it would have been weird if I didn’t visit the center.”His Holiness then rose and standing near his seat, he greeted members of the sangha one by one. He then met privately with the lamas, and after twenty minutes or so, His Holiness left the center. Although the visit to Kagyu Thegchen Ling was brief, it was His Holiness’ first appearance of a two-month tour of the United States. Several times in the past, His Holiness had said he would like to spend two months each year in the US. During this first extended stay, along with visits to Kagyu centers and Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, His seat in North America, the Karmapa visited major American universities such as Stanford, Princeton, Harvard and Yale to give talks, receive honorary degrees, take classes and engage young people.

Detailed articles about His Holiness’ activities during his visit to the United States, as well as videos and photos, can be viewed at His official website: http://kagyuoffice.org/

His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa at Kagyu Thegchen Ling

l-r: Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, HH 17th Karmapa, Lama Karma Rinchen

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In 2007 at Tilokpur Nunnery in northern India, His Holiness the 17th Karmapa gave a series of teachings on “The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva,” Ngulchu Thogme Zangpo’s distillation of Tibetan Buddhist practice. In this issue of “The Empty Mirror” are His Holiness’ preliminary remarks to the teach-ings. His teachings on Ngulchu Thogme Zangpo’s verses will follow in subsequent issues.

A Few Words on Buddhism

Over the last three thousand years, many different spiritual traditions have appeared, and they can be divided into two types. One type has established tenets, a system of philosophy, while the other does not have a clearly developed philosophical system but does have a strong structure of belief. This can involve, for example, worshipping something in the natural world like the sun or the moon. Buddhism is a religion with clear philosophical tenets, based on examination and investigation, and established through reasoning. Within Buddhism, we have two broad schools. One of these depends mostly on devotion to the Buddha or placing confidence in his teachings and scriptures, while the other school places greater emphasis on reasoning and analysis. Tibetan Buddhism is part of this second system. It has four lineages, which are based on a gradual path of investigation and not just on following the teachings as they are inherited. The step-by-step process taught by these four lineages is based on a profound examination that looks from many dif-ferent angles in order to discover the way things really are. The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva belongs to the Mahayana (the Great Vehicle) tradition and is based on the Madhyamaka (the Middle Way) school of philosophy, which advocates the use of analysis to attain clear understanding and omniscient wisdom. It also encourages the practice of the six paramitas, or perfections: generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditative concentration, and deeper knowing or superior intelligence. So that the first five of these perfections come into their own, they must be embraced by the sixth, deeper know-ing. The teachings contained in The Thirty-Seven Practices are based on the teachings of the Buddha and also on teachings and commentaries given by the great masters of India. The Buddha’s teachings (Kangyur in Tibetan) can be divided in many ways. One way is to divide them into three collections of scripture known as the Tripitaka—the vinaya (monastic discipline), sutra (discourse), and abhidharma (higher knowledge or phenomenology). Or they could be thought of as the four levels of tantra, and so forth. The Tibetan collection of commentaries on the Buddha’s teachings is called the Tengyur. Although translations into Tibetan started very early, even now we find that many teachings of the Buddha have not yet been translated. Buddhist scriptures and the authoritative texts of the great masters in India were mainly written in San-skrit or Pali. Later, countless commentaries and important works were written by many great masters in China, Tibet and other countries. Within Buddhism, there are three principle paths or vehicles—the Theravada (the Way of the Elders), the Mahayana (the Great Vehicle), and the Vajrayana (the Vajra or Adamantine Vehicle). Even in ancient India, many disputes and discussions arose about the differences among these paths. For instance, there were bebates about whether the Mahayana teachings were actually taught by the Buddha. Much of the early literature sought to estab-lish that the Mahayana teachings did indeed originate in Buddha’s own words. These statements were supported by citing scripture as well as establishing its view through reasoning. Likewise, there have been doubts about whether the Vajrayana teachings belong to what the Buddha himself taught. These doubts are not without reason. For example, there are words in the Vajrayana teachings that do not mean exactly what they seem to mean, but express something beyond their usual connotations. Some aspects of the Vajrayana are profound and complex and are not meant for everyone. For this reason, people have recom-mended that such teachings be kept secret from those who are not suited for the practice. It is important to un-derstand that different types of people are able to receive different levels of teachings. When people are attracted to Buddhist teachings, they should determine which ones are appropriate for them. It is not necessary for every Buddhist practitioner to completely understand all three levels of teachings. However, when actually studying and meditating on the Vajrayana, we should understand its true meaning and deeper significance. In Tibet, we study and practice within this tradition of the Vajrayana. In the past, many great masters practiced at the two great Buddhist universities in India, Nalanda and

Traveling the Path of Compassion: A Series of Teachings by His Holiness the 17th Karmapa

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Vikramashila. These masters were very learned and highly realized, and they promulgated the genuine teach-ings of the Vajrayana by composing practices and giving oral instructions. For instance, Nagarjuna, the founder of the Madhyamaka philosophy, wrote numerous practices, commentaries, and special instructions on a variety of tantras and Vajrayana teachings. His students Aryadeva and Chandrakirti followed his example, composing both analytical and tantric texts. Like other scholars at Nalanda, the great master Naropa also prac-ticed and taught the Vajrayana. In sum, when we look into history, we find that those masters who practiced and taught the Vajrayana were, beyond any dispute, considered Buddhist. The history of scholarship shows that Buddhism is not just a belief system based on faith. In practic-ing the Dharma, we develop wisdom through using our intelligence and the power of reasoning. By listening, reflecting, and meditating, we clear away doubts and develop our ability to analyze with reasoning. First, we listen and study in order to learn the various presentations of the Dharma. Then, through reflecting we turn questions over in our mind and use many types of reasoning to develop certainty. Finally, through meditation we blend our mind together with the certainty in the view that we have established. When we decide to practice bodhicitta—the intention to attain awakening for the sake of all living beings—we are not just trying to understand the meaning of the word. Studying and reflecting are not enough. Whether it is love and compassion, or whether it is bodhicitta, just to say, “Love means this,” and “Bodhicitta means that,” is not enough. We have to experience what bodhicitta means so clearly and so strongly that it becomes one with our mind and blends with our way of being. If that does not happen, we will only have a conceptual understanding rather than something we have experienced ourselves. When we study and reflect on a teaching, we should choose a text that provides a broad understanding of the Buddha’s teaching as a whole. The great master Atisha said that within all the sciences there is so much to know that one lifetime would not suffice. We do not have the time to study every one of the teachings of the Buddha, and life is too short to go through every commentary or root text. Therefore, we choose a text that al-lows us to know everything by studying a single one; like the rising sun, it can illuminate all things. A famous statement runs: Knowing one, you know all. Studying a particular text in depth, we can cut through all doubts,

so there is a great benefit to narrowing our focus in this way. The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bo-dhisattva is this kind of text. It is mainly a teaching on mind training from the Kadampa tradition. In Tibet, many great masters from all the lineages have stud-ied, reflected, and meditated on this text, and they have also written commentaries and taught it. The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva is considered both deep and broad, comprehensive and concise. It includes all the necessary points for under-standing the practices of a bodhisattva. Before we begin with the actual text, however, it is important to know something about the author, Ngulchu Thogme Zangpo. If we do not say something about him, it might seem as if his teaching just fell from the sky. It will help to make a connec-tion with his words if we know they were written by someone who is made of flesh and bones like us and also experience both happiness and suffering.

Excerpt from “Traveling the Path of Compassion,"Densal Magazine, Volume 19, Number 2. Printed with permission.

Chenrezig, Bodhisattva of Compassion

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At the invitation of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, His Holiness the Dalai Lama visited Woodstock, New York, on September 21, 2006, the day designated by the U.N. as the International Day of Peace. During the visit, His Holiness spoke to residents of the town at Andy Lee Field.Hello! Tashi Delek! It’s a beautiful, sunny day, and we are sitting in a field surrounded by a beautiful forest and small, tidy houses. It’s really very beautiful, very tidy. Over there, in the cemetery next to this field, is our final destination. Before reaching there, we have a lifespan of about a hundred years at most, and I believe that period should be utilized to live a meaningful life. A mean-ingful life means that you are happy yourself and that you bring happiness to other people and create a happier, peaceful environment. That is what I think is meaningful. Therefore, wherever I go there are two things that I always share with others. Number one, we are all sentient human beings, and we all have every right to have a successful, happy life. Particularly in the West, where society is more affluent, people generally consider a successful life to mean more prosperity, more money, more fame. They think that material facilities are the means to success.However, if that were the case, then individuals who already have material facilities – money, friends, fame, power – should be a hundred percent happy. But that’s not the case. I have rich friends in Europe and here in America, and in Japan and India as well. They may be rich, but as persons they are sometimes very unhappy. Sometimes they have a lonely feeling, sometimes suspicion and doubt. Always there is something else that we want, there is some restless feeling. This clearly shows that a truly happy and peaceful mind does not depend entirely on external or material things.On the other hand, among people who have just a few material facilities but no luxuries, there are some who are really happy. They worry very little, and even when something happens, they face their difficulties more easily. This shows that it is a mistake to place too much trust in external means, and to allow our hopes and ex-pectations to rely on material goods. We should never forget or neglect our inner values. By inner value I mean feelings of closeness or human affection, in other words, human compassion. Human compassion is the main component of our inner value, and this is the second point that I always share with people.I call these things human values because they come not from religious faith or civil laws or education, but by birth. We are born with these qualities already present, and in fact, without feelings of affection and closeness we cannot survive. For example, just after you are born you see another person. You have no idea who that per-son is, but biologically you must completely rely on the person who is caring for you, and that is usually your mother. From the mother’s side comes a tremendous sense of caring and concern, and a feeling of closeness. That person, our mother, treats us as even more precious than her own life. The more nurturing and warm feelings that the child receives from its mother, the more the child grows up well and healthy.We can observe that children are much happier when they come from a warm family full of love and affection, and they are physically healthier as well. Mentally they are fresher; they show interest in many things and because of that they learn quickly and in a variety of ways. Proper development on both physical and mental levels is more difficult for children who grow up in a family that is cold, with little love and affection, and it is even worse when

His Holiness the Dalai Lama Speaks to the People of Woodstock

His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama

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there is fear as a result of abuse or trauma. Such children usually exhibit more anger, hatred, and fear, and these negative emotions become dominant.I think that in order to learn the value of human goodness, you don’t need to read many books – you just need to look. We can judge from our own experience. If someone gives you an expensive present, but does so with a cold look on their face, you will not feel happy. A precious stone may make a silly person feel happy, but I think a sensible person will prefer something smaller, even a cheap gift, if it is given with warm feeling. Maybe that small gift is just a little more precious than the expensive one. Whenever we meet people who smile at us with genuine feeling, and without suspicion, we feel very happy. But we don’t like to see someone who always looks a little stern, or whose smile seems artificial. I think that not only humans, but also animals – dogs, cats, birds – respond very nicely if we feed them with sincere feeling.In 1959 when I left Tibet, I had a dog that I had to leave behind. I did not feel bad about that, because my relationship with the dog was not very good. You see, although I wanted a friendly attitude from the dog, my own attitude was sometimes kind and sometimes a little prone to disciplinary actions. As a result that dog, who was quite smart, was sometimes nice to me and sometimes not nice, and I did not think he had a very friendly attitude. At another time when I was very young, I had a small parrot. One of my attendants, an old monk, fed nuts to that bird whenever he was passing through. The parrot got excited whenever he heard the old man’s footsteps, even from a distance, and when the monk fed him he was delighted and affectionate. Then I got to thinking, “The real owner of that parrot is me, not that monk.” I wanted my parrot to have a good attitude towards me, too, so I fed him nuts a few times. He had been so nice to the monk, but when I gave him a nut, he would take it and eat it, and then peck at me aggressively. Eventually I lost my temper, and I used a little stick to punish him. In the end my relation with that small parrot worsened; it got much worse, with no hope of reconciliation. So that’s the story.The point is that those animals, poor animals, appreciate genuine affection, and they also know if a person is cheating or tricking them. They know. They have no religion, no constitution – nothing, no police – but they do appreciate genuine affection. That’s really the wonderful quality of human beings, that from birth we have this kind of warm-heartedness, this love and affection. I think that another reason for this is that a human being is basically a social animal. After all, the survival of a child entirely depends on someone else’s care. Because of that reality, there is a certain emotional element that bonds us together – that creates the bond between individuals, between mother and child, and between the community and individuals. If a person neglects these things, they will eventually suffer, and suffer a lot. It is clear that if we neglect these values in the family and in the community, then we will not have happy families or a happy society.That is the fundamental thing about a happy life, and in fact I think it is the fundamental basis of our life. You see, once genuine love and affection are there, then the spirit of forgiveness comes and tolerance also comes. Contentment, self-discipline, and not harming others do not come out of fear of the law. It’s not like that. Another person is just like me and does not want to suffer, and that is why I should not harm him. If I harm that person, then essentially I have lost a potential friend. That’s the way it is.All other values – including justice, honesty, and truthfulness – come from human warm-heartedness, and that is why I sometimes call it a universal religion. It is the universal value, so we should think about it and try to keep these inner qualities above all else. I want to share this philosophy and belief because it benefits me as well. In my life I have passed through many difficulties and many different circumstances. I am still passing through these things. I am still a refugee, and there is still a lot of sadness there. Nevertheless, my own experience tells me that these inner qualities give me inner strength.The more inner strength you have, the easier it is to face challenges. When challenges come, instead of losing hope you will become more determined and you will have more willpower. The practice of compas-sion really gives you inner strength, and as a result, you have less fear. With a more compassionate heart, it is easier to communicate with other people because your outlook towards others is positive. If their attitude becomes negative in spite of your positive attitude, then of course you have the right to judge what kind of appropriate measure is necessary. But first of all, from your own side, reach out and create a positive envi-ronment, and that will produce a happy atmosphere.

Reprinted with permission from Densal Magazine.

Three Questions: The Door to Our True NatureA Teaching by Lama Karma Rinchen

Our true nature is a pure and limitless awareness, empty of the habitual patterns that cause the prob-lems and unhappiness in our lives. The true nature of our own mind is well worth working hard to discover, particularly if we would truly like to find a lasting happiness. There is much more to our mind than our ability to follow our wander-ing thoughts and develop concepts as we normally do. The ultimate nature of our mind is independent of all causes and conditions. Because of this freedom from causes and conditions, we cannot understand our ulti-mate mind by analyzing it with our thoughts. We have to calm down our thoughts, and see directly how our mind is functioning. When we use our mind in a relative way, we depend on causes and conditions, and we have no prob-lem understanding what we mean by the words “I,” “you,” or “me.” Can we be intellectually sure of what is beyond the meaning of those words? We can study for years, searching in many libraries, but finding “I,” and proving that “I” exists somewhere, is something that no one has yet been able to do. We only have “I” in a relative sense because it is dependent on something that we feel in our body, perhaps in our brain. In the ultimate sense “I” is just a word that is useful for communication. We are mostly unaware that we have a nature that is beyond the thoughts arising in our mind. Dis-covery of our nature beyond thought is the goal of the path of spiritual development. We have unknowingly given complete power to our wandering thoughts and, and incorrectly believe that our thoughts are our true nature. This is where our sense of “I” arises. Our sense of “I” is not there in an ultimate sense because our sense of “I” is dependent on past and future thoughts and actions. Our sense of “I” is something that has arisen

from past and current conditions and is not an innate quality of mind. However, an awareness of the true nature of our mind is very close to us in the aware-ness we are experiencing right now. Even though it is close, we are not in touch with it because our mental consciousness has attached our awareness to the flow of thoughts arising in our mind at this very moment. Whenever we talk about a relative mind and an ultimate mind, we must not think that we have two minds. We have only one mind. The things that arise in the ultimate nature of our mind are called the absolute truth. The things that arise in our rela-tive mind are called the relative truth. Within the Dharma teachings, the relative truth and the ultimate truth are called the Two Truths. Before being able to understand the ultimate truth, we must first develop a good understanding of the relative truth. We must understand that in the relative nature of our mind everything is always dependent upon something else. When we have that understanding as a true in-ner realization, we are in a position to begin to have short glimpses of the ultimate truth. At this point it is important to understand that all of the teachings of the Buddha fall within the relative truth, and we need to be careful that we do not mistakenly give the teachings of the Buddha a view in our mind that they are permanent. Rather Lama Karma Rinchen

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than thinking of them as permanent and final, it is best to look at the Buddha’s teachings as somewhat like a road map, something to help us move from one place to another. To gain a relative understanding of our mind is why meditation and mind-training begins by observing our thoughts. It is hard to find a close analogy for the way that our relative mind functions, but since I often hear people refer to their mind as their computer, maybe there is something there that connects to the manner in which our mind operates. I do not know much about computers, but people say, as they tap their head with their finger, “I’ll put that thought in my computer.” Thoughts enter the natural purity of our mind in a way similar to a program on a computer disc or the information on a flash-drive that installs a program or inputs information into our computer. When a computer and its program are running smoothly, it is easy to forget that we are actually using a program that has been in-stalled in our computer. We begin to think that the computer and the program are the same thing, or one unit. No matter how we put the relationship of a computer and its programs together in our mind, the computer programs are still only computer programs that are telling the computer what to do. In a similar way, the latent imprints have entered our relative mind just like the flash-drive informa-tion has entered our computer. It is easy to then develop a misunderstanding that the thoughts arising from our latent imprints are who we are, giving us our sense of self. Our computer and its programs, our mind and its imprints, both depend on something else, and that dependence is what gives our wandering thoughts a relative nature rather than an ultimate nature. The general analysis of Western psychology tells us that we have become the person we are because of the combination of our inherited genetic traits, the influences we have gotten from the people who raised us, the experiences we have had in this life, all coupled together with our particular cultural traditions. That view has some merit, but it is not complete, because it does not take into account the imprints left on our mind from the experiences of our past lives. Nor does the Western psychological perspective consider the potential for full enlightenment that is inherent in every mind. If we completely follow only the principles of traditional Western psychology, we have a good rea-son to think that the difficulties that we experience are mostly the fault of others. That thinking misleads us. When our mind is following our wandering thoughts, are main concern is responding to the needs of “I want.” Because of our strong focus and attachment to “I want,” we are not in direct contact with the natural state of our mind, and we do not experience the wonderful possibilities of our true nature. It is easy to develop all kinds of reasons for not wanting to make changes in our present perceptions of reality because we usually feel very comfortable with our perceptions. To help us begin to look at our own mind, the Buddha presented three very skillful and easy questions for us to ask our mind. Asking these three questions is a method for getting around the power that our sense of self holds over our awareness. The three questions are:How long will the thought that is in my mind right now remain there?When that thought is gone, where did it go?When the next thought comes, where did it come from?

These three questions give us an easy place to start learning about the relative nature of our mind. The beauty of this method is that it can be done at any time, at any place, under any conditions. This method is up to us to monitor; nobody else is hovering over us, watching us, judging us, or criticizing what we are doing. This method is an exercise of our control of the freedom of our own mind. A good intial mind-practice is to examine and research these three questions, using our own mind as a reference library, looking no place other than our own mind for answers. No harm can come to our mind, our way of life, by exploring these three simple questions. If we do this simple examination of the relative mature of our mind, we hold in our hands a key for opening the door to the discovery of the true nature of our own mind. If we do nothing other than this basic inquiry of our mind, we will at least have learned some interest-ing things about our own nature.

Excerpt from, “I can see the flea on your nose, but not the yak on my own,” the biography of Lama Karma Rinchen as told to Phillip C. Dutcher. It is available for purchase at the KTL bookstore. For shipping information, please email: joyisimportant@yahoo.com

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On Confidence in the Dharma: His Holiness the16th Gyalwa Karmapa

One early morning in 1980, His Holiness the Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa generously granted an interview to the readers of Densal. What follows is the text of that interview, word for word, as translated by Ngodup Tsering Burkhar. In it, His Holiness touches on many important aspects of spiritual practice, the Kagyu lineage, and life in the world today for the Dharma practitioner. It is a timely and most valuable teaching for Buddhist and non-Buddhists alike.

Densal: This is your third tour to America. Do you have any observations you would like to share about it, and about the growth of the Dharma in the United States?

H.H.: The responsibility of the teacher is to always give the teachings. It doesn't matter that only a short time has passed, or a long time has passed; what matters is that the teachings are continuously given. Sometimes it may seem to be more appropriate to teach because most people are at leisure and have a lot of time, and it appears to be a good time to give teachings. Maybe at other times it may appear that the teachings should not be given be-cause people are busy and perhaps they are not interested. It is important not to discriminate in this way as to time or to place, but to make the teachings constantly available. If only one person is interested, the teaching must be made available. Whether there are just a few people, hundreds of people, or even millions of people interested, the Dharma teaching must go on without any sense of satis-faction or discouragement. The Dharma teach-ing must continue at all times, transcending the appearances of the time. Another situation that might arise is that because of time or what we may have done or accomplished, we feel that maybe now we should stop practicing or listening to teachings. This is not the Dharma path. You keep going. That is the bodhisattva's way. As long as it benefits even one being you have to, without any sense of discouragement, go on. If you have 100 percent dedication and confidence in the teachings, then every living situation can be a part of the practice. You can be living the practice instead of just doing it. Regarding the establishment of the Dharma any-where, it happens as a result of what takes place on an individual basis; it is the practitioner's responsibility. It is understanding the Dharma properly, respecting the truth of Karma, the truth of cause and effect. One respects the truth of the teachings and knows that this is something that one must live up to and preserve. But if beings fail to respect the truth of the teachings, or the

His Holiness the XVI Gyalwa Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje

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truth of cause and effect, which is also the truth of the teachings, then that would not further the establishment of the Dharma.

Densal: More than anything I think one problem Westerners in the Dharma face is the desire to achieve ulti-mate spiritual realization in this life, coupled with the fact that they must work full-time in the world at various time-consuming careers. How can one handle this life situation and travel the Mahamudra path effectively? It has been said that action can also be meditation. Could you please clarify this?

H.H.: We have for many, many lifetimes been caught up in the samsaric existence because of fascination with our habitual patterns, and are compelled for this reason to continue the patterns in the same way that we had in the past. At this time in our lives, as a result of whatever virtuous actions that we have formerly performed, some degree of awakening has arisen. A very precious waking state has come about in our consciousness, and that is our connection with the Dharma. Once we are connected with the Dharma in such a way that we have some understanding, we also have some sense of direction as to where we are going. It is like wanting to go to California. You know that there is a particular train, and that train takes you to California. You have that understanding. Then it becomes a matter of individual realization of the need, the urgent need perhaps, to get to California. Then there is boarding the train. It is possible for one to do such a thing, to make the decision, "Yes, this is it, I am going to travel." And there is the greater possibility that you will get to California once you have boarded the train. And maybe there are certain possibilities of your not getting there, of something happening on the way. And if some-thing happens on the way, an accident or something, you know that the possibilities of getting to California are still there. You haven't yet reached it, but you have some sense of direction as far as your knowing that it is pos-sible to get there. And this is, one could say, like the blessings of the Dharma: that even though one is not able to realize enlightenment in one lifetime, the blessings of the practice and the Dharma are continuous. There is a sense of optimism about the possibilities ofgetting to California, even though you haven't arrived. That is the same situation that takes place in your Dharma life. The blessings continue, even though you could not attain the experience of enlightenment in this lifetime. If you have a proper direction, in the state of the Bardo, there occurs what is like the meeting of the mother and son. It is an opportunity to rely on your own ability to understand and to realize, and utilize the Dharma blessings at that moment in the Bardo in order to recognize the "mother," so to speak. Your experience of clear light takes place. And realization is very much possible. This has been witnessed by the teaching and is guaranteed by the teaching. It is definitely possible for people to experience that sort of thing.

Densal: Even though people find themselves caught up in a samsaric whirlwind, they can maintain their equanimity and attain the realization in Mahamudra?

H.H.: Yes, it is possible. It is a matter of confidence in the teachings. If you have 100 percent confidence in the teachings, your realization is not purely depen-dent on just formal practices. If you have 100 percent dedication and confidence in the teachings, then every living situation can be a part of the practice. You can be living the practice, instead of just doing it. But the more you lack the confidence, the more you will find yourself separated from the Dharma.

Reprinted with permission of Densal Magazine. More of the interview will appear in the next issue of The Empty Mirror.

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Mikyo Dorje, the VIII Karmapa

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"You live in illusion and in the appearance of things. There is a reality. You are the reality. If you wake up to that reality, you will know that you are nothing, and being nothing, you are everything." -Kalu Rinpoche

MEDITATION AND PUJA SCHEDULESMONTHLY PUJA SCHEDULE

May 2015Mon, May 18 Tara PujaMon, May 25 Buddha's BirthdayTue, May 26 Medicine Buddha PujaThu, May 28 Guru Rinpoche TsokJune 2015Tue, June 2 Amitabha Buddha Puja (Saga Dawa Duchen)Sun, June 7 Fire Puja after Chenrezig at 12:30Fri, June 12 Milarepa TsokTue, June 16 Tara PujaWed, June 24 Medicine Buddha PujaFri, June 26 Guru Rinpoche TsokJuly 2015Thu, July 2 Amitabha Buddha PujaSun, July 5 Fire Puja after Chenrezig at 12:30Sat, July 11 Milarepa TsokThu, July 16 Tara PujaMon, July 20 First Turning of the Wheel of DharmaFri, July 24 Medicine Buddha PujaSun, July 26 Guru Rinpoche TsokFri, July 31 Amitabha Buddha PujaAugust 2015Sun, August 2 Fire Puja after Chenrezig at 12:30Sun, August 9 Milarepa TsokFri, August 14 Tara PujaSun, August 23 Medicine Buddha PujaTue, August 25 Guru Rinpoche TsokSat, August 29 Amitabha Buddha Puja

Sun 10 am Chenrezig PujaMon 7 pm Four Thoughts; short Chenrezig, collecting manisTue 7 pm Silent MeditationThu 7 pm Basic Meditation

WEEKLY MEDITATIONDAILY MEDITATION

6:00-7:00 am Tara Puja5:30-6:00 pm Mahakala Puja