The following are excerpts from teachings given by Shamar Rinpoche at Kagyu Ling in Manchester, England May 31–June 1, 2014.
Commentary on The 7 Points of Mind Training (Composed by the 5th Shamarpa) Read More »
The 10th Karmapa Choying Dorje (1604-1674) was a consummate bodhisattva and artist who lived in Tibet at a time of breathtaking changes, including the invasion of the Mongols, the ascendancy of the Gelupga school, and the appearance of the powerful 5th Dalai Lama. In spite of this electrifying period of Tibetan history, his life is not well known even today.
Shamar Rinpoche’s book A Golden Swan in Tur-bulent Waters: The Life and Times of the 10th Karmapa Choying Dorje tells the story of the 10th Karmapa. Shamar Rinpoche’s telling is profound in at least two aspects. First, he highlights the 10th Karmapa’s power as a bodhisattva who is not political precisely during a time of much political upheaval among Tibetan Buddhists. Second, as the 14th reincarnation of the Shamarpa, he is directly in the transmission lineage of the 6th Shamarpa, who was the teacher and guru of the 10th Karmapa.
This interview was conducted by Jonathan Bradley. Following the interview is an excerpt from the book.
A Golden Swan in Turbulent Waters (The Life and Times of the 10th Karmapa Choying Dorje) Read More »
2012 marks the fortieth year in which Lama Ole Nydahl has been teaching and working for the growth of Buddhism in the West. His wife Hannah accompanied him all these years, until her untimely death in 2007. He spent these forty years as a lay person, a yogi, and a lama.
After the Karmapa, Shamar Rinpoche is the highest lama in the Karma Kagyu lineage and is responsible for holding the Karma Kagyu lineage from when the Karmapa dies until he is reborn.
Celebrating 40 Years of Teaching in the West Read More »
This talk was given at the 2010 Kagyu Monlam in Bodh Gaya, India. It was in honor of the nine-hundredth anniversary of the birth of the 1st Karmapa Dusum Khyenpa. Monlam, also known as the Great Prayer Festival, has been a major religious festival since 1409 C.E., when the Gelugpa Monlam started. The Kagyu Monlam started much later. It is an event where groups of Tibetan Buddhists, representing the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, come together to do aspiration prayers in various holy places in India.
The first Kagyu Monlam conducted by H.H. the 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje was held in Bodh Gaya in 1996. Since 2007 it has been organized every year under the leadership of the 17th Karmapa and Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche. What follows here is a transcription of Shamar Rinpoche’s talk on the history of the Karmapas given at the 2010 Kagyu Monlam.
Q: Is there some aspect of Tibetan Buddhism that you feel is more suitable or more important for Westerners? Shamar Rinpoche: Nowadays, Tibetan, Mahayana, and Theravada Buddhists are spread everywhere and are organized very well. The Gelugpas have translated many
Buddhism East and West (Interview with the 14th Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche) Read More »
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