Archive for the ‘Living Chöd’ Category

What’s A Nyensa Anyway?

I was chatting with a dharma practitioner the other day, and she mentioned that she and her friends regularly met on the internet to do Chöd together, via Skype. I immediately said “What does that do to the Nyensa?” She replied: “What’s a Nyensa?”  I wanted to say, “A Nyensa is the thing you really need to know about before you do Chöd on the internet!” But I decided to blog about it instead.

A Nyensa by Any Other Name

Because Nyensa is, in all cases, an essential understanding of Chöd. Chöd is the most “location-oriented” of any dharma practice. Actually, it is meant to be done in the wild, outside one’s know territory, one’ comfort zone, one’s normal parameters. In the traditional Tibetan literature of Chöd, whole texts are devoted to the characteristics of the Nyensa. Those kinds of details are fully discussed in the context of the School of Tibetan Healing Chö (www.tibetancho.com), and in my forthcoming book (Tibetan Chö: Cutting Through to Freedom). But here, the core point is that a progressive training is needed.

Stranger in a Strange Land

One goes to a peaceful, non-threatening, safe place—like one’s home, dharma center, or in a group setting. Here one practices only the White Feast, offering to the Higher Guests. Once the student becomes more mature in their practice, with various meditative experiences and small realizations under their belt, they progress towards less comfortable sites. Even then, it is suggested that one go “semi-wrathful,” before taking it to the ultimate level of the wrathful Nyensa.

Enter the Nyensa

This is a haunted area, whose vibe is threatening, spooky, and downright scary. It is unpleasant and malevolent; We have a natural revulsion to even sitting there. Traditionally, this might be an abandoned house, under a solitary tree, near the water’s edge, or anywhere that seems anomalous and distorted. Many urban landscapes come to mind, as well as parks, areas of human excavation and disruption. In fact, it is hard to go a block anywhere, without seeing somewhere that is not a little sketchy. Here real demons, disembodied spirits, and our own deepest fears and rigidity lives. The practitioner engages in the Red Feast, with its vivid and violent meditations. Uprising come about, that must be processed—processed in the crucible of the yogi’s grasp of the fundamental nature of self and other.

Electric Lady Land

So what about the internet? What lives there? Are we safe from “cosmic spam?” Or is this the greatest repository of demonic forces, malicious entities, human madness, emotional toxins, pain and excess, confused ideas, psychospiritual impurities, karmic stains and evil spirits this world has ever seen? It may well be. And so Chöpas everywhere, rejoice! No more going to haunted cemeteries and places of sickness and death. No more trudging through the cold night with the thin sliver of the moon the only light to keep the demons at bay. We can just stay home on the wifi, open up Facebook, Google, Skype and Hotmail, and off we go, kangling in hand.

To Everything a Season

But friends, maybe before one embarks on such a journey, caution is necessary. Before we say “come and eat me, release all karma, you vicious demons, rolling like a red fog up the side of my desktop,” we might want to be prepared for what we call up. As Shenpen Dawa Rinpoche said, “Chöd is not for the faint-hearted.” Well, on further reflection, maybe I will just stick to chatting and making friends over the invisible airwaves, instead of leaving the doors wide open all night, waiting to see who shows up next morning. Until I am ready.
www.machikcholing.com

The word wisdom is a bit intimidating. It sounds like some far-off, lofty goal. Or something that only belongs to sages, the “fool on the hill.” It’s the oldster, sitting on the rocking chair, looking out across the distant horizon, and uttering (after a long silence) some profound truth, that the real hero of the story must heed. This is the image that is in our head, that is repeated endlessly in literature, song and movies. But fortunately it is also usually there at the end of the story, where the hero or heroine actually learns something about their own humanity, some truth about us all that gains them a small piece of wisdom. Then we can leave the theatre, happily crunching our popcorn, glad that the day is saved and all is well with the world.

Developmental Issues

And why this persistent image of the old sage or the elder wise woman as the holder of true wisdom? Simply because we don’t expect wisdom from a child—or a young man or woman for that matter. In fact if a younger person does show some insight, we often say that they are “wise beyond their years.” And so we understand that wisdom happens over time and with experience. Not just any experience, but deep and often difficult passages of life. We become “seasoned,” or possibly a better phrase would be “cooked” by life’s challenges and opportunities. We are forged in the crucible of confronting our pain, hardship, our own limitations and faults. Note that it is the confronting of these obstacles that builds our Wisdom, not just suffering through them. So wisdom, if present, is a function of age, of time and of courageous encounters. And therein lies a key to understanding its lack. If we don’t grow up, we certainly cannot have wisdom. If we remain immature, wisdom is beyond any possibility. So what does it mean to not grow up, to remain immature? Or conversely, to accept adulthood, manhood, or womanhood as a mantle we are ready to wear.

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child…”

You don’t have to look far for the answers to this human dilemma—what could be considered the human dilemma. We find it right in front of us, as “pearls out of the mouth of babes.” You see, my little four year old grandson is an amazing being. Smart, resourceful, inquisitive, basically good-hearted, with a great sense of humor. But what is the defining difference between him and me or you? He acts in a “childish” way. He will behave completely selfishly at times, following all his wild whims and crazy notions. At those times, knows no limits, and can fight boundaries as if it were a life and death situation. He has to be monitored like a crazed criminal. For any child from age 0-2, that supervision is literally 24 hours a day. Walking with him at 18 months, it was clear that he could kill himself about once a minute, climbing on a ledge here, waltzing out in traffic there, eating some bizarre object off the ground, etc and etc! By age four, zealous and self-referential, the observing is not only for their own safety, but the safety of everyone around them! Yet, he learns. And as his wise mother guides him, he begins to understand the needs and hurts of others, apart from how it relates to himself. He starts to look through the eyes of another.

Developmental Arrest

Now think about the corruption, greed, and self-interest that fills this world. Think how stupidly humans act, without any care about consequences, seeking only self-interest. This is none other than a failure to negotiate away from childish self-regard and the entry into adulthood. It is a failure of maturity. We are a nation, a world, of immature people. An extraordinary percentage of humans have simply decided to forgo the growing up process. It is too challenging, too painful, too filled with demands and responsibilities. And besides (and this is paramount), you don’t always get what you want! So in the end, the one key monitor of human development or maturity is simply this: How well are you able to respond to the needs, the sufferings, the desires and hopes of others? To the extent that others are just to be manipulated, their weaknesses and failings exploited, is the extent of the immaturity of the person carrying such value systems. And it is the extent to which Wisdom evades such an individual, be they 40 or 80, poor or fabulously wealthy, famous or unheard of. It is an equation that is irrefutable.

Rule by Majority

Maybe wisdom is not easily won, but once it is gained, it is a permanent feature of our character; indeed it is a core feature in the landscape of that indefinable something called character. Yet the words wisdom and character have both fallen totally out of use: Where do we hear of a “person of character” anymore, when it used to be the most important measure of man or woman? What went wrong?

Maybe it is just a matter of playing the numbers. As the percentage of people who no longer valued character and wisdom became greater, the balance of power went to the immature, the childish and the fulfilment of the grandiose and megalomaniacal.  The world of commerce, advertising, politics, entertainment, became largely trivialized, but moreover infantalized, and our culture became directed towards superficial and selfish goals. In the grand scheme of things, it is impossible to trace all the threads—social, psychological, karmic, spiritual—that have lead to the eclipse of wisdom as a valued goal and guiding light in our culture, and our world.

The Return

But if it is true that wisdom is “missing in action,” it is also true that it is not dead. The world is changing in fundamental ways, more profoundly and radically than most realize. As tough as it sounds, in the coming months and years, as the world turns totally on its ears, those who have opted to remain invested in developmental arrest will suffer the consequences. Immaturity has its price, and it is a steep and painful price in a world of grown-ups. And that world of grown-ups is coming. Call it a New Utopia, call it the Dying of Dinosaurs, but whatever you call it, you can take heart. The wisdom that you have so carefully cultivated and nurtured in the silence and struggles of your innermost core will soon have its day.  And slowly, gradually or suddenly, it will be back where it belongs—at the very center of the complex mandala of our lives. And that will be a maturing of humanity that is long overdue.

Signs 3
I have never done well with heights: My nose bleeds in Taos, New Mexico a mere 9,000 feet. When Dr. Rotelli and I visited Kunzang Dechen Lingpa’s monastery in Arunachel Pradesh—after a day of winding through heights of green pine—my breathing came in involuntary pants and sighs all night. AMS, also known as altitude sickness, is often mild and usually comes on gradually. But it can occur unpredictably, suddenly and intensely. It is the reason why I have never gone to the dizzying heights of Tibet, at 12,000 feet above sea level. The problem is not just the lack of oxygen, but the pressure changes, as fluids leak out of compartments and fills lung and brain cavities. Confusion, lethargy and death can follow as water perfuses into that tight compartment. One of the side effects, or balancing acts of the body in order to equalize pressures, is ridding itself of water with frequent urination.

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Signs 1
The road trip began. We set out on our long journey from Thimpu to Tashi Yangtse, mounting the first heights overlooking Bhutan’s small capital city. Within a few twists and turns of the road, we were consumed by forest and mountain, wild rock and broad sky. As we rounded that first curve on a road that led steeply away from human habitation, a black Yak came into sudden view. It was unusual to see these wonderful creatures at this low elevation and so near the city. Yet as we rounded that bend, we saw all five black yaks and a central all-white one—facing towards us as we mounted the hill. No eating, not moving, just staring back at us, as our  truck bounced past them. Had we seen their rears, it would have been a different sign to us, but their welcome gaze cheered and delighted us. We knew that MaChik and the five-deity mandala of Troma would guide our path from here onwards.

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It had taken three years, a lot of disappointment and considerable stress to get here. But finally, it had all fallen into place. I could still use the ticket I bought last year, a mere day before it would expire, and Rinpoche and Pema had come through on the arduous visa process, in which I was an invited guest. This avoids having to pay $240 dollars per day as a regular tourist, something most dharma practitioners can’t afford. After three days in Kathmandu, I boarded the small aircraft and headed over the Himalayas. The short one-hour voyage was pleasant but uneventful, as clouds preventing us from seeing the majestic snow-covered ranges. We did see the mountains however, for Bhutan’s one small airport is nestled in a valley, and in order to land, the pilot has to deftly thread through the crags and peaks, to the horror of some tourists!

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One of the most humbling experiences of my life occurred today in Thimpu. As I strolled through the DungKor, the prayer wheel house, turning the huge cylinders filled with millions of prayers, I was suddenly surrounded by a throng of elderly Bhutanese faithful. It is traditional for many devoted lay practitioners to spend their later years close to sacred shrines, stupas or temples, turning their hand-held prayer wheels, malas and continually reciting mantra. It is a community of faithful, many of whom are clearly of little material means and in various states of failing health and the decay of aging. Their minds and hearts burn bright with devotion. On seeing me in my Ngakpa garb, they drew forward to ask for blessings of both themselves and their well-worn rosary beads. I was taken aback. These holy robes draw strange stares, derision or confusion in many parts of the world. But here, they mean what they really mean. I wear robes as a practice. They convey tremendous blessings and just carrying them on my body is of immense benefit. They are a reminder, they contain one’s behavior and demeanor and remind one always of the tremendous compassion, purity and integrity of the lineage. Robes are something to live in, and something to live up to. However, I dont wear them all the time. Always at work, while doing healing and doctoring, always at dharma events, and when I am in a place and culture where the sight of them benefits others. If viewing them creates animosity or confusion in others, there is no benefit and no point in displaying them. However, even in Western dharma centers, Ngakpa robes are generally misunderstood, direspected and their meaning lost in the self-absortion of spiritual materialism that pervades the West.

Here, they mean someone devoted to mantric practice, to Mahayana compassion, to Vajrayana transformation. They devoted, simple and straight-forward beings, who approached me with smiles and sacred intention, reminded me of my own practice, of what I could do if my mantric strength ever reached its potential—or even came close. I looked at each of them as they offered their malas, and spoke the mantras appropriate to each: White Tara, Vajrayogini, Amithaba, Chenrezig, Hayagriva. Their inner joy and focus is the precious stuff of dharma, the real practice of Cutting Through self-clinging and devoting one’s being, surrendering one’s egocentricity, to the unborn, unelaborated purity which is our real “identity.”

http://picasaweb.google.com/lamajinpa9/BhutanPIlgrimageMarch09#

The desolation and loss in Nepal is palpable. The choking smell of burning garbage, the debris and filth litering every streeet, the pervasive dust and pollution. Four hours of electricity two times per day, water shortages. And such a sense of deficiency and despair. I used to call India the land of the hungry ghosts. Nepal was a place of happy and fulfilled people. Not anymore. The global slow down and the grinding political chaos and corruption on all levels has turned this former kingdom into a third-world nightmare.

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The greater the dharma, the greater the obstacle. That might just be self-soothing for when things get rough. On the other hand, there is a deep truth here, verified many times by tumultuous and disruptive incidents during meaningful teachings, events and plans. And so it goes…

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As the world goes into its long decline, and its long healing, I prepare for the Great Adventure. Though it is beyond my capacity for courage, strength, perserverence or wisdom, nonetheless, the journey must be taken. As Bruce Willis said in DieHard 4.0, when asked why he was udertaking such a heroic and basically impossible task, “because your the guy [that happens to be there]. If not me, then who? If not the inadequate, then what would be the point? If not impossible, why try? A lifetime of training in psychic healing, dharma, and basic hard knocks is all the preparation that I have. Now it will be tested. My own vision drives me, so there is no choice. May all beings come to know and follow their heart’s path, no matter how difficult. That journey is always alone, though the company is impeccable. Onwards….