Karmapa teaching Tsongkhapa's Lamrim Nov. 1-2, 2013

[Palzang Jangchub]

His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa (Ogyen Trinley Dorjé) will be teaching on Jé Tsongkhapa's Three Principal Aspects of the Path starting tomorrow in India.

Each day will have 2 sessions of teachings, and on Nov 2nd he will also be conferring Amitabha empowerment.

We are fortunate that these teachings are being streamed live via the skillful means of webcast, and thus are available to all who have an internet connection and the desire to attend (just as the Kagyu Mönlam has been for the last several years)!

The webcast can be viewed here: http://karmapalama.org/KMC-JML/index.ph ... video-page

All times given are in India Standard Time (IST), but there is a link to show more time zones and thereby check when it will be happening for you.

[KonchokZoepa]

do you know if the Amitabha empowerment will be possible to receive via webcast? its a bit early in the morning something like 4-5 am but i will be there if its open in webcast

[conebeckham]

I recall that the Karmapa has indicated you can't receive "empowerments" (Jenangs, Wangkurs, JinBebs, or Lungs I think as well....) via WebCast. Teachings, yes........but Vajrayana transmission, no.

[KonchokZoepa]

i try to wake up for the teachings. early wake up

[Palzang Jangchub]

No idea, to be honest. It's mentioned on the webcast background pic, so it's possible. But from what I've seen with certain Karma Kamtsang lamas they tend to be strict about empowerment and transmissions (i.e. not being able to receive them via webcast). However, Drikung lamas are a different story. Garchen Rinpoche is quite open with giving wang & lung if your aspiration is pure. Guess we'll have to wait and see...

[Palzang Jangchub]

I recall that the Karmapa has indicated you can't receive "empowerments" (Jenangs, Wangkurs, JinBebs, or Lungs I think as well....) via WebCast. Teachings, yes........but Vajrayana transmission, no.

I can only confirm that Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche won't give lung via webcast. He said there "isn't precedence for it in our lineage" when asked recently to give transmission of 17th Karmapa's short ngondro, and suggested I get it from a lama in person.

[Palzang Jangchub]

Looks like there are technical difficulties with the webcast, folks. Guess our collective karma is ripening as loss of internet on the Indian side of the equation.



Please accumulate the Karkhyen mantra and be patient. The webcast team is trying to do all they can. If nothing else, the teachings are being recorded and will be uploaded to YouTube later. I'll make sure to post the links to them here for those unable to wait (as well as those unable to attend in the first place).

ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོ། ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོ། ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོ།

[KonchokZoepa]

please send the youtube links, i missed the first and couldnt attend the second..

[Palzang Jangchub]

Here's the first of the YouTube videos, which was posted by the Tsurphu Labrang (Gyalwang Karmapa's office) to his official YouTube. It's an hour and twenty minutes long, and likely includes only the first session. There may or may not be HD recordings posted later under a different heading. For now, enjoy!

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[Palzang Jangchub]

Day 1 of the teachings; a total of 3 hours and 40 minutes of Lamrim goodness:

phpBB [video]

From the video description:

At the invitation of the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, on 1 November 2013 the Gyalwang Karmapa began two-day teachings at the Habitat Centre, New Delhi.

The Gyalwang Karmapa offers these teachings annually to a small group of students, comprised mostly of his local Indian devotees. Teaching this year on Je Tsongkhapa's Lamrim text 'The Three Principal Aspects of the Path,' he guided those gathered through the essential aspects of the Mahayana path to enlightenment -- renunciation, bodhicitta, and wisdom.

With almost 300 people in attendance at the Silver Oak room, many of whom were seated on soft cushions at the Gyalwang Karmapa's feet, the close and intimate atmosphere of the teachings resembled a gathering of family and friends. Registration to attend was booked out weeks in advance with a long wait-list, so this year the teachings were also broadcast live via webcast. Over 1300 viewers from across the world tuned into the live webcast, which was also offered with Spanish and Chinese translation.

As he taught the first two of the principal aspects of the path to enlightenment, renunciation and bodhicitta, the Gyalwang Karmapa explored how our apathy towards suffering damages the world.

"Apathy is a state that we give rise to when we witness the suffering of others and know about it, but we simply don't care," he said. "Scientists tell us that compassion is actually hard-wired in our brains, that compassion is innate within us. The problem however is that we learn how to switch it off. As we become familiar with and then jaded toward the sight of others' suffering, we learn how to simply turn our compassion off and not feel it."

"What enables the gross suffering that is present in this world to continue is our apathy—our ability to turn off our compassion. Apathy is a world-killer. We think of world-killers as epidemic diseases like malaria and so on. But in fact the worst world-killer is apathy, the absence of love and compassion, which is something that we see in the world around us."

The Gyalwang Karmapa then likened the first two aspects of the path, renunciation and bodhicitta, to being two sides of the same coin of compassion. The desire for our own personal freedom from samsara -- or renunciation -- is compassion facing inwards, while the desire that all other beings become free from samsara -- or bodhicitta -- is compassion facing outwards.

"Compassion is much more than mere empathy or sympathy," he emphasized. "Real compassion is literally putting yourself in another's place, pouring your self, your whole body, brains and all, into their entire situation, and feeling as intensely about their wellbeing as they do. Real compassion is when you want others' happiness as intensely as they want their own happiness."