Seventh year begins

School has been in session for just more than a week now.  My first subject this year is Luminous Presence (spyi don 'od gsal snyingpo) - Mipham's overview of the Guhyagarbha Tantra based on Longchenpa's Dispelling Darkness in the Ten Directions (phyogs bcu mun sel).

Before I started shedra - I looked at the curriculum and wished that I didn't have to wait six years to study tantra.  Many people I've met have expressed similar views.   I think this sort of view  reflects how very little we know about the causal vehicle of the sutras.  Now that I've spent the last six years with the Mahayana commentaries I feel like they are dear friends and when it comes to practice - indispensable.  Of course I don't have to stop studying them, ever, but now I've been thrust into a new community - the three inner tantras.  I've only been studying inner tantra for a short time and I cannot imagine trying to study it without a background in Madhyamaka and Uttaratantra (which in fact we see as belonging to the sutra side of things despite having tantra in the name).

This year marks a new phase in my schooling degree wise - the graduate degree.  You see, the first four years of study are towards an Associates Degree, the next two towards a Bachelors, and the last three towards a Masters.  The graduate of all nine years receives the title of "Lopon".

What about the title "Khenpo" you ask?  Often compared to a Ph.D (perhaps erroneously) Khenpos are selected from within the ranks of Lopons.   To become a Khenpo one must fulfill certain criteria: 1. have scored in the first divison on the final exams for fourth, sixth, and ninth years   2. have taught as a kyorpon   3. have taught for at least three years after graduating   4. be a fully ordained monk in good standing.

So there you have it.  If anyone is wondering why Namdroling doesn't have any Khenmos or Ani Khenpos - see point number four.   So thus, the reinstatement of the full ordination lineage for nuns in the Tibetan tradition impacts us.  In the meantime, we have Ani Lopons, and that is just fine.

Personally, I'm totally satisfied just to receive the teachings, write the exams, and (in just three short years) graduate.  Titles are... well... problematic.  I am far more concerned with learning the Dharma and practicing it.

This year I have some fun new resources for studying Guhyagarbha.  A few bold individuals have written their PhD theses on the Tibetan commentaries to this tantra.  These are great to read as they have wonderful back ground information and include full or partial translations of the commentaries.  I also have searchable Tibetan versions of both Mipham and Longchenpa's commentaries which are proving to be useful indeed.  I wish I had searchable versions of gsang bdag zhal lung and gsang snying mdzod lde, two other key commentaries to the tantra.  So if you have such things, and are reading this- please get in touch.  Not that anyone actually reads my blog... but hey, it is worth a try right?

I am happy to say I survived this last week.  It was really something - four speaking engagements and two parties. It started at the Unitarian Universalist Center with a talk on Buddhist Mind Training last Sunday.  Then I gave an introduction to Buddhism at the Avenue Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity.  (I basically gave the same talk at both places. ) On Thursday, I met with a group of chaplaincy students at St. Paul's Hospital.  Finally, yesterday, I met with the Unitarian youth group, again at the U.U. Center. So it has been a busy week.   I also held a birthday party for my mother on Saturday, and, since yesterday was the lunar new year, I attended a Losar party.

The Losar party was special because I had the chance to spend some time with Ilse Guenther, wife of Buddhist studies pioneer Herbert Guenther.  At ninety years old Mrs. Guenther is healthy and active.  She's currently engaged in translating some of her husbands published works from English to German.   This party also included the entire Tibetan population of Saskatoon - all three of them.

I was a bit sad not to be at Namdroling for Losar.  It has always been my favorite place to celebrate the new year.  This year though, it would have been heartbreaking to be there on the first new year after the passing of our Lama.  It would have been lonely too, since a large part of our monastery population is still in Bodhgaya receiving the Kama empowerments.

Howarts vs. Namdroling Monastery

Hogwarts is a castle.

Namdroling is comprised of a few dozen buildings, centered around four temples - which are somewhat castle-like.

Hogwarts is divided into Houses.

Namdroling's charter forbids the formation of organizations based on race, views, because these could lead to schisms in the Sangha... like the rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor.

Hogwarts has Harry Potter, the Chosen One.

Namdroling has dozens of chosen ones, ie. reincarnate lamas.

Hogwarts educates young witches and wizards.

Namdroling educates monks and nuns, most of whom have no magical powers.

Hogwarts gets attacked by Lord Voldermort.

Namdroling gets attacked by... excessive hot weather? bus loads of tourists? bees?

Hogwarts' professors are masters of various types of magic.

Namdroling's lamas are masters of the various methods of attaining enlightenment.

Hogwarts students learn how to perform magic.

Namdroling students learn to cut through illusion with wisdom.

Hogwarts exists in the imagination of the world.

Namdroling exists in the world which exists in the imagination.