Anyone been here before?

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Distorted
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Anyone been here before?

Post by Distorted »

Anyone here been to this place or have any input on this place? I am thinking of going here soon as I am still looking for a place to learn more outside of the internet and books.

Palpung Lungtok Choeling, the main seat of the 12th Tai Situpa in North America located in San José, California.

http://www.palpung.com/home.php
"Sona, before you became a monk you were a musician". Sona said that was true. So the Buddha said, "As a musician which string of the lute produces a pleasant and harmonious sound. The over-tight string?" "No," said Sona, "The over-tight string produces an unpleasant sound and is moreover likely to break at any moment." "The string that is too loose?" Again, "No, the string that is too loose does not produce a tuneful sound. The string that produces a tuneful sound is the string that is not too tight and not too loose."
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Distorted
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Re: Anyone been here before?

Post by Distorted »

I think what I am really asking is if Kagyu is so much different than Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. I am not so clear on why there is so many different schools. I am sure the place I posted above is great, though I have only been to a Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism establishment atleast I think so.
"Sona, before you became a monk you were a musician". Sona said that was true. So the Buddha said, "As a musician which string of the lute produces a pleasant and harmonious sound. The over-tight string?" "No," said Sona, "The over-tight string produces an unpleasant sound and is moreover likely to break at any moment." "The string that is too loose?" Again, "No, the string that is too loose does not produce a tuneful sound. The string that produces a tuneful sound is the string that is not too tight and not too loose."
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PadmaVonSamba
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Re: Anyone been here before?

Post by PadmaVonSamba »

It is a good place.
.
..
...
EMPTIFUL.
An inward outlook produces outward insight.
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Konchog1
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Re: Anyone been here before?

Post by Konchog1 »

Distorted wrote:I think what I am really asking is if Kagyu is so much different than Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. I am not so clear on why there is so many different schools. I am sure the place I posted above is great, though I have only been to a Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism establishment atleast I think so.
Different founders. More focus on Padmasambhava in Nyingma. Nyingmapa have Dzogchen, Kaygupa have Mahamudra. so on and so on. Ultimately, it's the same. Don't worry about it.
Equanimity is the ground. Love is the moisture. Compassion is the seed. Bodhicitta is the result.

-Paraphrase of Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Tsephel citing the Guhyasamaja Tantra

"All memories and thoughts are the union of emptiness and knowing, the Mind.
Without attachment, self-liberating, like a snake in a knot.
Through the qualities of meditating in that way,
Mental obscurations are purified and the dharmakaya is attained."

-Ra Lotsawa, All-pervading Melodious Drumbeats
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Lingpupa
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Re: Anyone been here before?

Post by Lingpupa »

Konchog1 wrote:Don't worry about it.
Quite. There are not a few lamas who have a foot in both camps.
All best wishes

"The profundity of your devotion to your lama is not measured by your ability to turn a blind eye."
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conebeckham
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Re: Anyone been here before?

Post by conebeckham »

Palpung Luntok Choling is a great place, I'm there a few times a year.


The reason there are different Tibetan lineages is because there were different transmissions (mainly from India)--different people travelled to India (or, in some cases, esp. the Nyingma, the Indians travelled to Tibet)-received transmissions, and then returned to Tibet and started their own centers, lineages, etc. Jamgon Kongtrul categorized all these into "8 chariots" --Nyingma, Kadam (and thus, Geluk), Sakya, Marpa Kagyu, Shangpa Kagyu, Shije/Chod, Urgyen Dorje Sumgyi Nyendrup, and the Jordruk(a lineage of practice based on Kalachakra Tantra, and being the foundation for Jonang lineage originally, I think....)

Over time, though, many of these transmissions spread and became intertwined, in a way--though they're kept seperate, for the most part, in practice, it's not uncommon for a given Lama to maintain practices, and to give teachings, from more than one of these "8 chariots."
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")
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Distorted
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Re: Anyone been here before?

Post by Distorted »

PadmaVonSamba wrote:It is a good place.
.
..
...
Thanks.
.
..
...
Konchog1 wrote:
Distorted wrote:I think what I am really asking is if Kagyu is so much different than Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. I am not so clear on why there is so many different schools. I am sure the place I posted above is great, though I have only been to a Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism establishment atleast I think so.
Different founders. More focus on Padmasambhava in Nyingma. Nyingmapa have Dzogchen, Kaygupa have Mahamudra. so on and so on. Ultimately, it's the same. Don't worry about it.
Excellent, I will have to read more on their history of these school's to feed my curiousity.
Lingpupa wrote:
Konchog1 wrote:Don't worry about it.
Quite. There are not a few lamas who have a foot in both camps.
Is there intermingling between the camps ever?
conebeckham wrote:Palpung Luntok Choling is a great place, I'm there a few times a year.


The reason there are different Tibetan lineages is because there were different transmissions (mainly from India)--different people travelled to India (or, in some cases, esp. the Nyingma, the Indians travelled to Tibet)-received transmissions, and then returned to Tibet and started their own centers, lineages, etc. Jamgon Kongtrul categorized all these into "8 chariots" --Nyingma, Kadam (and thus, Geluk), Sakya, Marpa Kagyu, Shangpa Kagyu, Shije/Chod, Urgyen Dorje Sumgyi Nyendrup, and the Jordruk(a lineage of practice based on Kalachakra Tantra, and being the foundation for Jonang lineage originally, I think....)

Over time, though, many of these transmissions spread and became intertwined, in a way--though they're kept seperate, for the most part, in practice, it's not uncommon for a given Lama to maintain practices, and to give teachings, from more than one of these "8 chariots."
This makes a lot of sense, I will have to spend a few minutes out of the day and read a bit of each one as it does spark my interest. I definitely would like a clear understanding and this has helped alot. Thank You Very Much!! :twothumbsup: These things I was a bit confused about when visiting the different places.
"Sona, before you became a monk you were a musician". Sona said that was true. So the Buddha said, "As a musician which string of the lute produces a pleasant and harmonious sound. The over-tight string?" "No," said Sona, "The over-tight string produces an unpleasant sound and is moreover likely to break at any moment." "The string that is too loose?" Again, "No, the string that is too loose does not produce a tuneful sound. The string that produces a tuneful sound is the string that is not too tight and not too loose."
skillful klesha
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Re: Anyone been here before?

Post by skillful klesha »

Nyingma
Is there intermingling between the camps ever?
Kagyu
I know of one:
The 17th Drikungpa of Drikung Kagyu, Terton Gyalwang Rinchen Puntsok in the ninth month of 1538 discovered the terma known as the Gongpa Yangzab on dakini day the 25th.
Dzogchen became traditionally taught alongside Mahamudra in Drikung Kagyu after this corruption I mean blessing or neither or both or empty forms becoming skillfull means thanks to a master yeah thats it! :twothumbsup:
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Konchog1
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Re: Anyone been here before?

Post by Konchog1 »

Distorted wrote:Is there intermingling between the camps ever?
Off the top of my head, Bardor Rinpoche is a Karma Kagyupa who's the reincarnation of a Nyingma lama. The Drikung also has been strongly influenced by the Nyingma as has been said. Many lamas have gurus from different sects. Some like Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro proclaim the equality of all sects and had mastered most of them (yes really), but keep them separate in teaching and practice.
Equanimity is the ground. Love is the moisture. Compassion is the seed. Bodhicitta is the result.

-Paraphrase of Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Tsephel citing the Guhyasamaja Tantra

"All memories and thoughts are the union of emptiness and knowing, the Mind.
Without attachment, self-liberating, like a snake in a knot.
Through the qualities of meditating in that way,
Mental obscurations are purified and the dharmakaya is attained."

-Ra Lotsawa, All-pervading Melodious Drumbeats
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heart
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Re: Anyone been here before?

Post by heart »

Distorted wrote: Is there intermingling between the camps ever?
A lot. The different schools are about upholding certain Dharma teachings, often the Dharma upheld is overlapping while the emphasis of a particular school is what is differing.

/magnus
"We are all here to help each other go through this thing, whatever it is."
~Kurt Vonnegut

"The principal practice is Guruyoga. But we need to understand that any secondary practice combined with Guruyoga becomes a principal practice." ChNNR (Teachings on Thun and Ganapuja)
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