Harry Potter and the Tale of Gesar of LIng

Well, between writing these posts and carrying on with my staff job as "Head of the Marketplace" I haven't been making all the talks. Today is the last day, so I'm going to make a particular effort to get to everything. But yesterday, I blew in about lunch time. I set up my booth and went to get some lunch. I sat down next to Katherine Zeigler and asked her what was talked about that morning.
She said, "Oh you know, the horse race."
"What horse race?"
"In the story of Gesar of Ling."
"Oh."
Then she said that her husband, Bob, had decided after he heard about Gesar riding the broomstick that with complete confidence in his insight, that Harry Potter must be a manifestation of Gesar of Ling.
"What broomstick?"
"Oh, not a broomstick, just a stick. When Gesar was about 12, he used to play at horseback riding by riding a stick, and then one time he flew off on it."
"Ah, I see, Quidditch."
I saw Bob, so I asked him if this was true. He said, "yes." He really liked Harry Potter and had been reading the stories to his children since they were about 6 and 9, though he was still reading to them and they were now about 14 and 16. Thus began my education on the Tale of Gesar of Ling.

I tried to ask a few people if they'd taken notes, but couldn't find anyone, then, while waiting for the blessing of the space to finish for the afternoon abhisheka on the magnetizing aspect of Gesar, I asked Jim Hoagland if he could tell me a bit about the story and he waxed eloquently on about how it would make a splendid video game, with all kinds of obstacles and action. We got a little distracted with a discussion about how the Vidyadhara would have liked that as he'd talked about having someone do a computer animation of our vajrayogini visualization practice (I heard that myself back in Boulder).

I did finally find Meg Vigerstad who was very kindly willing to lend me her notes on the topic. There are many pages of them, however, and of course, there are whole books on this subject, like the one by Alexandra David Neel -- and more than 17,000 listings on the web for "Gesar of Ling" (and more than 900 for Gesar Mukpo).

I think it's too long to detail here, so I'm just going to list a few highlights. Gesar was born in 1038 in the Earth Tiger Year -- Milarepa was born two years later. It reads as though there was a distinct plot to have Gesar born in particular involving a search for a mother (Gesar's father was already married to a Chinese woman). This involved visiting a Naga King (nagas are water beings), asking for a wish-fulfilling riding crop, a daughter, a cow, and a tent. Evidently, the Chinese wife got jealous and was evicted and given a tent, a cow, a horse, and a dog. Hmm. They lived between two rivers and two villages. One day, Gesar's mother was sad and had a dream wherein Guru Rinoche appeared and gave her a bowl of yogurt. Hmm. Her father rose out of the water and said that something could happen soon, so don't be sad. A yellow man in golden armour appeared and Gesar was conceived. Presumably about nine months later, as the sun was about to rise, Gesar sang a song to his mother asking about the state of Ling and the various ministers and is now a good time to be born? She said, "Things are well and now's good." The earth shook, there were rainbows and gods and goddesses sang and made offerings and Gesar was born as a three-year-old without any pain. Guru Rinpoche gave him his name. He had both a human father and a non-human father (the fellow with the golden armour), who gave him his first clothes. Magyal Pomra appeared and gave the child some beer.

Many other auspicious things happened involving his "aggressive" uncle, who, for example, one time sent 9 blackbirds to kill Gesar. Gesar asked him mother to make him a bow and arrow.He then sat in his mother's lap and shot the birds; then transferred their consciousness's to a pure realm. When Gesa was 6, his mother was expelled from Ling for "alleged bad behaviour." Hmm. He then decided he needed a horse. This is where the horse race comes in. The winner was to be awarded a kingdom, a bride, and treasure. Long tales are involved in how Gesar and his horse, named Dorje kyang-go Perpo (source: Ting, alpha translator) found each other. Needless to say, he won the race after many trials and tribulations, which as Mr. Hoagland said, would make an excellent video game. This race was largely the subject of yesterday morning's talk by His Eminence. I think I will stop this topic here and encourage you to read further from better sources than second-hand notes.

I was however present at the afternoon abhisheka for the magnetizing aspect of Gesar of Ling. There was a period where there was definite feeling of mind transmission such that my mind was gently, but firmly grabbed from its wandering ways and made to pay attention, such that one sits up and the fog clears away, however temporarily, reminiscent to me of the Vidyadhara.

His Eminence spoke about three kinds of faith -- of attraction, irreversible faith, and the faith of conviction -- and told a famous story about an old lady who had a son who travelled a lot to places in Tibet, like Lhasa. She lived in a remote part of the country, and one time begged him to bring back a relic for her shrine. He went off on his journey, came back, having forgotten to bring her a relic. She was very disappointed and begged him a second time. A second time he went off on a trip and forgot until he was almost all the way home. He didn't know what to give her. He then came across a dead dog in the road. He pulled out a tooth and wrapped it up in a piece of brocade. When he got home, he told her it was an eyetooth from the Buddha. She was so happy. She put it on her shrine and prayed to it with total conviction and total faith, and in the fullness of time attained Buddhahood. It didn't matter that the tooth wasn't from Shayamuni Buddha, but because she thought it was, that was sufficient to awaken her. Though, just to be a bit irreverent, perhaps she did realize it and that's what woke her up.

I decided that perhaps I could review my opinion about the feminine principle. As you all know, we've been finely honed in the river of cynicism, particularly encouraged when Trungpa Rinpoche first began teaching us and wanted us to be wary of becoming Tibetophiles, wearing malas around our necks and chubas on our bodies and learning Tibetan, which was why he learned English and had our texts translated at great effort. I was sitting next to Petra Mudie while waiting for the blessing line and we talked a bit about all the potential thoughts that perhaps His Eminence's views on women were somewhat sexist, at least chauvinist (though that has its merits at times). I, of course, had missed Arawana Hayashi's talk. Petra told me that she had met with Khandro Tseying for most of a day and had been surprised when Khandro said at one point in some consternation, "What you don't speak kindly about each other?" Arawana stressed the quality of innocence and compassion in her outlook and that it was completely genuine. His Eminence of course had mentioned that the day before when he was talking about his daughters, in particular Khandro Tseying, and also how they are very learned and assist more than I think they actually teach per se, for example Tsemo Palmo has been assisting the translator, much to the amusement of everyone, because evidently His Eminence speaks quite quickly, doesn't separate his words much, and is rather colloquial in his phrasing.

So, in thinking about that, I decided that perhaps I could give straightforward innocence, compassion, and joy a break and not always have to look for the cynical take.

That's about it for now. We have a talk by the Sakyong this morning I think (if the schedule hasn't changed, a feast this afternoon, and I will get to sing bass with with Shambhala choir this evening at the reception. Heh.

yrs in the Dharma, Fearless Wildflower (aka Carol Johnstone), correspondent for the Chronicles.

Yeshe Tsogyal and the Feminine Principle

The day began rather overcast, but warmish for all that. Most arrived by about 9 am or shortly after and waited until somewhat after 10:30 for His Eminence to finish preparing the Yeshe Tsogyal mandala for our entrance. As is often the case when the sangha has leisure to dwell in unscheduled space, it uses the opportunity to gossip and tell more or less enlightened tales of the guru.


Some unattributed not-exactly-verbatim exemplars are:

"You know I saw Shibata Sensei last June at the Kyudo Intensive. He was being pushed in his wheelchair by Carolyn Olsen Green. When I'd seen him three years ago, he looked close to death.
I leaned down and said "Sensei, you look great! What have you been up to?"
He smiled and said, "She's my lover" (meaning Ms. Olsen Green).
I said, "Sensei, you're shameless."
He said, "I am shameless!"
It was obvious to the informant that they were totally in love.

Another involved a rather long tale about connections between our sangha and the Ripa lineage. It seems a sangha member in Berkeley had a close encounter with His Eminence Namkha Drimed Rinpoche several years before the Sakyong and Khandro Tseyang met. He'd been told by a friend that he really should go to the airport and meet this great teacher. Being a lazy being as we all are, he said to himself, no way. He went to bed Saturday night as usual after partying hearty, looking forward to his day of rest and coffee on Sunday. He woke suddenly in the middle of the night after a particularly intense dream, with an imperative conviction that he had to get dressed and leave NOW for the airport. He got there and spotting His Eminence, spontaneously and immediately fell on the floor in prostration. He said, "Rinpoche, what are your connections between the Mukpo family and the Ripa?" Without a pause, His Eminence replied, there are three . . . -- I'm sorry to report, I can't quite remember what these were precisely, though one was the Gesar connection. This fellow became a student of His Emincnce as well as remained in the Shambhala sangha.

Seeing Gerry Haase-Dubosc and Nancy Wallace, I was reminded of his telling me at the kasung mess about how happy he was to be married again at age 65 to such a wonderful person and that they were following in the Sakyong's footsteps by having three honeymoons, one in India, one in France, and now one in Halifax.

After discovering the "Fair Trade" coffee vendor and getting a tuna sandwich, I went back upstairs to the foyer where people were filing in to the shrine room.

His Eminence gave a wonderful exposition on the dakini principle and told us the history of Yeshe Tsogyal and then gave the abhisheka.

A short recap: Yeshe Tsygyal is the real-life consort of Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava. She is considered the embodiment of all the dakinis, of which there are three levels: Dharmakaya (Samantabhadra); Sambhogakaya (Vajravarahi, Vajrayogini, White Tara, Green Tara, Mamaki, etc); and Nirmanakaya (Yeshe Tsogyal).

In her hagiography, it is said that when she was born, the earth shook turning a nearby small lake into a large one, hence her name Tso (meaning lake) gyal. She then put her hands together and said three times: "Guru Rinpoche, know me, think of me." Guru Rinpoche later made her his consort and gave her all the outer, inner, and secret empowerments. She went through many hardships along the lines of Milarepa, practicing in the high reaches wearing nothing but a cotton robe, then only her ornaments, and then finally wearing nothing at all in the bitter cold. Her special deities were Vajra Kumara and Vajra Kiliya. She lived to the age of 210 years. She had two primary students, Kala Siddhi and Tashi Chodron), who when Yeshe Tsogyal died dissolved into her two breasts. She tend dissolved into a rainbow body and went to the land of Kumara. She later appeared as Machi Lapdron and transmitted the Chod practice.

Most of the 128 great terton who have been emanations of Guru Rinpoche have had consorts who were manifestations of Yeshe Tsogyal. These consorts serve to maintain the long life of the lama and are beneficial and compassionate to his students.

If your lineage is transmitted through a family line, it is imperative that you have a Khandro (or highly realized female being). His Eminence then traced his lineage through mothers and wives down to Khandro Shime Dorkar, mother of his children. She is an emanation of Dorje Palmo (the enriching guardian of the mandala) and Red Tara. In Gesar's time she was the wife of Gesar's elder brother (if you remember from yesterday's post, His Eminence was this person in a previous life). His Eminence stressed the importance of a great mother to the quality of their children and was very happy about the union between his family and the Sakyong's and looks forward to meeting their progeny. At first I felt that there was possibly a slightly chauvinistic hit to all this, but the feminine side of things seems to be based on the very powerful nature of wisdom and compassion and just plain kindness. "What, you don't always speak kindly of each other?" was a comment heard.

Then last, but not entirely least, most of us repaired to the Kalapa Court to enjoy a garden party, though I think many took the opportunity to take a bit of a rest. A surprisingly tasty ruby grapefruit and rose petal punch was served while we strolled in the sunshine and shared news and views. Another lhasang was led off by the Mukpo and Ripa families, who, after about 5 or 6 turns around the smoky fire were ready to let the rest of us enjoy the blessings.

Sam West performed a Shihobari and then all dissolved back into clumps, to eat pieces from two cakes shaped and frosted in the colours of the Shambhala flag. I was totally exhausted with picture taking and left before the singing began, but heard it went well.

Well, I definitely must be off to my booth at the Marketplace where perhaps I will sell one of my photographs, or at least a few cards. Drop by eh?

For more on the Ripas, go to: http://www.ripaladrang.org/teachers.htm

The Fesitval Begins

Yesterday morning, Acharya Simon Luna died suddenly from a heart attack. Unfortunately, I was not at the Festival last afternoon, and didn't personally hear about it until later from Debbie Coats. There is a beautiful tribute and description in the Shambhala News Service that describes the events and tells about Acharya Luna's remarkable life. Walter Fordham is working on a longer tribute for the Chronicles.

I'm now going to backtrack two rather long days ago to where the Festival opened with a traditional lhasang. The juniper poured into the sky in billowing white clouds as we chanted the long offering in English, followed by an even longer one lead by His Eminence Namkha Drimed Rinpoche in Tibetan. All together, I'd say the lhasang itself lasted over an hour. Long enough that we could open up to the sky and practice and come back to ground and the beginning.

After the lhasang, we all filed in to the chapel, now shrine room, and listened to the Sakyong speak His Holiness Penor Rinpoche's worrisome illness and his commitment to coming next year to bestow the Sakyong Wangmo empowerment on Khandro Tsemo Tseyang. The Sakyong also spoke on the focus on the joining together of family that this festival represents -- not only the two amazingly intimate connection of the Mukpo and Ripa families, but the joining of our the Ripa family with our wild and wonderful sangha through the practices of Gesar of Ling.

In the afternoon, translator Mark Nowakowski gave a short explanation of our new practice, in which we begin by arising as White Tara providing a context of compassion from which to call upon Protector Gesar. We maintain that container of compassion throughout the practice. So I guess you could say it's a joining of the feminine space of compassion with the masculine skillful means of Gesar. Well, you had to have been there for any details.

After Mark spoke, His Eminence entered in a procession with the Sakyong, Sakyong-Wangmo-in-Waiting, and the Ripa family lead by Sopa Choling monks sounding the Tibetan horns.

His Eminence had a huge smile on, as he discoursed on the connections between the Mukpo and Ripa clans with Gesar of ling. He began by describing his first visions at the age of eight (Tibetan years) of a deity who accompanied him like a shadow -- with white skin and white clothes. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche later told him that this was Aka Werma (phonetic spelling), who is no different from Shiwa Okar, who we are familiar with in our Werma practice.

His Eminence requested of Trungpa Rinpoche that he write a Gesar of Ling practice, which he did and is the one we will be practicing in the days to come. I won't go into all the details here as it's part of a transmission that you had to have been there to have heard.

One very interesting part, however, which I think I can share (thought not spell, so I won't use the given names) is that the connection between the Mukpo family and Ripa's actually goes all the way back to the time of Gesar of Ling, when in previous lives, His Eminence was Gesar's elder brother, Trungpa Rinpoche was that brother's son (i.e., Gesar's nephew), and the Sakyong was Gesar's advisor and war chief, Denma.

Another connection between then and now, was between His Eminence's grandfather, (Shakya Shrii) and Mipham the Great, who was, as His Holiness, Penor Rinpoche said, the rebirth of Denma, and, as we know, the previous incarnation of our Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.

Well, after all that -- and more, His Eminence gave us the lung for the practice and then introduced us to a new longevity supplication of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche requested by Tseyang Palmo (the Sakyong's new wife) at

"the especially sacred place where Padmakara and his consort accomplished the deathless vajrakaya, at a large gathering of dharma brothers and sisters headed by myself, the fifth holder of the Ripa Ladrang, Namkha Drimed Rabjam, and Sakyhong Mipham Rinpoche, at a break during a long-life practice."

Well, that's probably enough boggling of the mind for this post. I now must get ready for today's events: the abhisheka for the practice of Yeshe Tsogyal (Padmasambhava's real life consort) and what will no doubt be a wonderful garden party at the Kalapa Court this afternoon.

Yrs in the dharma,

Fearless Wildflower, correspondent for the Chronicles

Day 1: Check In Day

(Not that I didn't start this blog on day minus one, when the "BMW Basher" Heaven branch arrived at the door to the chapel at St. Mary's University in Halifax for use in the main ikebana offering.)

This festival seems to be fraught with tendrel, or auspicious chaos, I mean coincidence. As you all probably know by now, the Sakyong Wangmo empowerment is off until next year. The Festival is still in a feminine container, so to speak, with an abhisheka for Yeshe Tsogyal, the real live human being consort of Padmasambhava, to be bestowed by H.E. Namkha Drimed Rinpoche, our Sakyong Wangmo-in-Waiting's father, followed by a garden party at the Kalapa Court for 500 participants, friends, and neighbours.

And, as is appropriate to start where you are, His Eminence will lead us in a long life practice for His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, the Sakyong, and one would assume Lady Diana Mukpo, who I'm pleased to have heard is doing well after her surgery.

Check-in Day seemed to go well -- as of yesterday, at least 480 sangha pre-registered from all over the world. All six tables I'd reserved for the marketplace were in use as well as the large long table, which was filled with myriad texts for all the Khenpo Gyamtso texts in print for those who will be receiving the reading lungs for their study, organized by the inimitable Sylvie Stevenson. On the table as well were copies of the Ocean of the Play of Enlightened Activity, A Daily Offering to Warrior Gesar, Great Being Dondrup, King of Werma, Tamer of Enemies, written by Vidyadhara the Venerable Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, which we will be using during the programme.

The kasung, in khaki manifestation, were roaming the periphery signing up for shifts of all kinds. A mess, held at the Halifax Shambhala Centre, was attended by more than 50 or so kasung -- many from "away," with a cast of 25 commanders of all kinds, led by our able Garsung, Faye Halpern Rupon. The chilli, salad, and hors d'ouvres were tastily prepared by Desung Commander Mr. Tim Walker.

Well, I'm writing this in the quiet gap following a serenade of ravens, which heralded the crack of dawn, and am going to try and go back to sleep, so I can be ready for the lhasang to come in just a few hours.

Yrs in the Dharma,

Fearless Wildflower, Carol Johnstone reporting from the Sea Port of Lord Halifax in the Kingdom of Shambhala