ordination

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mettafou
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ordination

Post by mettafou »

how possible is it for a white american to ordain within the kagyu lineage?
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Josef
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Re: ordination

Post by Josef »

mettafou wrote:how possible is it for a white american to ordain within the kagyu lineage?
very possible.
"All phenomena of samsara depend on the mind, so when the essence of mind is purified, samsara is purified. Since the phenomena of nirvana depend on the pristine consciousness of vidyā, because one remains in the immediacy of vidyā, buddhahood arises on its own. All critical points are summarized with those two." - Longchenpa
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Luke
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Re: ordination

Post by Luke »

I once read an interview which seemed to imply that there were some American Shangpa Kagyu monks and nuns in San Francisco doing retreats, but I could be mistaken...

Also, I know that there was a Drikung Kagyu nun named something like Ven. Ani Choling who used to post on E-Sangha. She would probably know about Kagyu monastic centers in the US as well.

Of course there's also KTD in New York. The website says it's a monastery, but I couldn't find out if there are actually any western monks or nuns living there.

Here's a good page about Ven. Pema Chodron's Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia, Canada:
http://www.gampoabbey.org/life/monastic.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
mettafou
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Re: ordination

Post by mettafou »

thank you. how about outside the trungpa lineage?
Chaz
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Re: ordination

Post by Chaz »

mettafou wrote:thank you. how about outside the trungpa lineage?

Wouldn't KTD be considered outside the Vidyadhara's lineage?
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Josef
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Re: ordination

Post by Josef »

Chaz wrote:
mettafou wrote:thank you. how about outside the trungpa lineage?

Wouldn't KTD be considered outside the Vidyadhara's lineage?
Not necessarily.
Trungpa's ordination lineage is from Zurmang Monastery.
Zurmang is a Kagyu monastery founded by a student of the fifth Karmapa.
"All phenomena of samsara depend on the mind, so when the essence of mind is purified, samsara is purified. Since the phenomena of nirvana depend on the pristine consciousness of vidyā, because one remains in the immediacy of vidyā, buddhahood arises on its own. All critical points are summarized with those two." - Longchenpa
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conebeckham
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Re: ordination

Post by conebeckham »

I am certain that one can ordained in the Karma Kagyu lineage.

But this is not something to be taken lightly.

It's also true that, in Kalu Rinpoche's centers, so-called "Shangpa Kagyu" three year retreatants take vows for the duration of the retreat, --on a daily basis--but these aren't complete "monastic vows."

Taking Novice Vows is possible. This is usually the first step in ordination. There may also be options to take the full Monastic Vows. Again, these are not given lightly, and are not to be taken lightly. I know many "novices" who gave their vows back, and there are, of course, cases of those who have broken them.

My advice, FWIW, is to obtain, and take, sojong vows, and then re-take these daily for a period, even before one requests Novice vows. Find a Lama who does Nyung Nes, and discuss this with them.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
arisaema81
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Re: ordination

Post by arisaema81 »

I would suggest that KTD is probably the place to go. They held the first North American Monlam there this year with Ven. Thrangu Rinpoche, who is probably one of the most highly regarded masters of the modern Karma Kagyu and a main teacher to the present Karmapa.

If you cant get ordained there then they will certainly be able to help you and you can be sure that the lineage and teachers are valid.

Yep, agree with the above that it is a very serious matter and a process which will take several years in all likelihood.

All the best with the aspiration for "Going Forth"...... :namaste:
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Yonten Nyima
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Re: ordination

Post by Yonten Nyima »

Luke wrote:I once read an interview which seemed to imply that there were some American Shangpa Kagyu monks and nuns in San Francisco doing retreats, but I could be mistaken...

Also, I know that there was a Drikung Kagyu nun named something like Ven. Ani Choling who used to post on E-Sangha. She would probably know about Kagyu monastic centers in the US as well.

Of course there's also KTD in New York. The website says it's a monastery, but I couldn't find out if there are actually any western monks or nuns living there.

Here's a good page about Ven. Pema Chodron's Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia, Canada:
http://www.gampoabbey.org/life/monastic.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You are not mistaken, the place you are thinking of is Veberable Lama Lodru's retreat center in the Mendacino Co. (The KDK)
where closed retreats are offered in the Karma and Shangpa Kagyu lineages. Most of those who attend these retreats end up being Shangpa and Karma Kagyu Lamas, though still some choose the path of a monastic.
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