Lama Yeshe the Great Mahasiddha
Read this wonderful description of the legendary Lama Yeshe according to his student Champa Legshe. To me it is such a wonderfully apt description of this great Mahasiddha of the Gaden Tradition. I love the description and wanted to share with you. Do read through it and let me know what you think please by posting in the comments.
Lama Yeshe was one of my heroes when I was growing up. I wanted to be a combination of him and His Holiness the Dalai Lama when I grew up, I used to think as a young child. I love Lama Yeshe, his unconventional style, his warmth, his attainments, his love and his humanity. What an attained being Lama Yeshe is.
Lama Yeshe was so unconvential, different and not the normal conservative Tibetan lama. He appealed to thousands because of his open-minded, accepting, unstuffy attitude and genuine human care to his students. I like this picture so much as it exemplifies the wonderful warm methods that Lama Yeshe always did for the sake of his students. He would just get close to them on their level according to their culture. He really wanted to understand them. His get-close-to-your-student-in-their-activities kind of thinking brought so many to the sacred Dharma…I love and respect you so much Lama.
Sincerely,
Tsem Rinpoche
Lama Yeshe, a Milestone in my Life
– Some absolutely personal remarks by Champa Legshe
(Source: http://www.iol.ie/~taeger/bio/yeshe.htm)
*** To be, or not to be? What a stupid question! ***
Due to an intensive talk in 1982 (the above photo was shot just after the talk), and similar previous meetings in the mid-seventies, Lama Yeshe kindly invited me to his Tushita Monastery in Dharmsala, Northern India, to stay there for a couple of months to get in close contact with me. Following my story and various experiences very carefully, he suspected that I might be a Tibetan tulku or a special bodhisattva emanation and suggested to put me under his personal wings for a while, to find out. At this time it was still important for me to get things clear! And a bit of pride was also involved, of course. Fortunately at no stage was I in danger to become megalomaniacal about this. His premature death destroyed those plans. – A couple of years later another tantric-experienced lama, a tulku himself, who payed us a visit in Ireland, confirmed unofficially, what Lama Yeshe already suspected and what I deeply personally felt, or more than that, was quite convinced. But does it matter anyhow?? *All* humans, any insect, even stones have a past! – And, I’m convinced by now, that looking deep enough inside, we sooner or later will find out that we all carry Tibet in us. In the end, tantric reality and the nature of mind was not invented, but *discovered* by Indian and Tibetan yogis and other spiritual seekers. I also just rediscovered, and I’m proud I’ve done it the Western way, not knowing in the beginning about a possible Tibetan past. – Declared a tulku at an early stage, in my case it would have had blocked the intensity of my spiritual development and the ability of adding some fresh and unorthodox aspects. I’m sure Lama Yeshewould have agreed to those kind of insights and would feel relieved that I managed this tulku problem, which in the seventies gave me a really hard time. – I definitely feel much better now! 😉 (- see also letter below)
No, we were not drunken! Just after a long night’s talk
It was love at first sight. In 1975 I found my first Buddhist teacher and Root Guru, so-called ‘Hippie-Lama’ and cult figure Lama Yeshe (-simply called ‘Lama’). Before coming to Europe he and his main student Lama Zopa had already many experiences with us crazy Westeners, teaching them in their monastery in Khopan (Nepal). ‘Lama’ was highly respected for his unconventional, open and modern interpretation of Buddhism. Between 1975-83 I followed his teachings wherever I could, being continously ‘on the road’. Putting all courses and retreat’s together I studied some 8-10 months full time, under his and Lama Zopa’s supervision. He was also the main initiator who encouraged me to establish Manjushri-Mandala, a centre for Western Astrology and based on the fundamentals of Tibetan Buddhism. Click here for some of his teachings and additional biographical notes, here to find some of his books (- scripts of some of his main lectures), and here for his FMPT website. The past couple of years, some of his long year followers worked on the ‘Lama Yeshe Biography Project’, a gigantic undertaking which will cover nearly everyday of his life 😉 and will hopefully be available soon in bookform, on CD-Rom or online.
– On request of Nick Ribush and Adele Hulse, directors of the Lama Yeshe Biography Project, I sent the following letter (revised version):
Lama Yeshe Biography Project
Attn. Adele Hulse
– Australia
IRL-Portsalon, 29.7.1998
Dear Adele,
I love your idea for an extensive biography on Lama Yeshe. That you are working already 7 years on it shows how many facettes he had and what an outstanding and important personality he was. Lama Yeshe was my first Tibetan teacher and it was love at first sight or, to be accurate, at second sight. Already in 1972 somebody brought me a photo of him, showing him giving teachings in one of those Tibetan tents in Khopan/Nepal. I kept this photo beside my bed, because it had such a special attraction to me. I never would have dreamt to meet this Lama in person. And than came the great surprise. I couldn’t believe to hear that exact this Lama would come to Europe (Les Bayard, Switzerland/Spring 1975 (74?)), to give together with Lama Zopa an 6 week Lam Rim course.
A dream became reality. But this reality was not an easy one! Sitting for more than 10 hours a day cross-leged, having difficulties following his broken English, sleeping on the hard ground (just 5-6 hours a night), squeezed together in a much to small lecture room, unable to move and continiously learning some new prayers, mantras, visualizations etc. was not an easy task. At the beginning I could have killed him for all this pain, cramps, and the uncomfortable situation. But I soon found out that it was worth all that, ending in an experience of the highest enjoyment and enlightened happiness, even though one hardly could walk anymore and it was really a problem to keep the overtired eyes open. To the common amusement one could hear people snoring during some important lectures. But reaching the physical and psychological limits helped a lot to overcome the gross mind and to develop a sensibility for the refined senses, opening the inner channels and getting in contact with the deeper reality of mind. Nearly all participants came from a psychedelic background and had various enlightened experiences before. But this time we experienced a ‘natural’ enforced taste of what enlightenment is all about, guided by experienced teachers and on top of it we’ve got a solid and authentic knowledge about the fundamentals of Mahayana Buddhism. I started to understand how important it is to find a guru or teacher, offering shortcuts, a whole library can’t replace.
Lama Yeshe was an ideal teacher and Buddhist entertainer for this kind of audience. From his Nepal courses he knew very well how to handle crowds of crazy hippies, serious seekers, looking for peaceful alternatives in a violent, materialistic and spiritual burned out Western world. So many of his teachings emphazised the fundamental differences between the West and the East, intellect and wisdom, extroversion and introversion, ego-cult and ego transcendence, searching for the divine in the outside instead of finding it in the inside, debating theories and philosophies instead of studying the fudamental nature of mind, questioning or at least analyze the existance of what we call ego, having no concept of what existence is all about…In other words he was running into open doors and he did this in an unorthodox and untraditional way, using our way of thinking and feeling and being aware that the alternative couldn’t be a kind of a ‘new’ church or monastic society as established in old Tibet. So he tried to translate the essence of a thousand year old wisdom culture using a modern way of thinking and presenting this enormous mind work with wit, humour and in an easy sounding way, as if Buddhism was always explained like this. Trying to do the same in the early seventies with the traditionally encrusted astrology, not giving up it’s essential truth, I know to well what inner fights, energetic brainwork, responsible translations, transformations, self doubts etc. are envolved to create such a fresh and mind provoking interpretation, always in accordance with the underlying thruth. There was no predecessor he could lean on and this made him so admirable and unique and won him so many sympathies all around the globe. One simply could see and feel how many bridges he build inside to reformulate what he himself had learned the traditional way. Doing so he was fully aware of the responsibility and the karmic consequences of his doing, honored by his young Western followers and secretly criticized by some traditionalists. But don’t get me wrong. Lama Yeshe was no Buddhist version of Martin Luther or founder of a new sect. Deep inside he was a highly trained and convinced Mahayana Buddhist of the Gelugpa tradition. He simply followed his bodhisattva attitudes, his wide and caring heart and the realistic evaluation of his karmic situation. There he was in Nepal, coming in contact with Westerners, being asked by them for teachings and understanding the necessity and importance of helping those seekers, he simply did it as professional as possible (- beside the words ‘clean-clear‘, ‘professionality‘ was one of his most beloved words he used in his teachings). As a perfectionalist he started at point zero and undertook a crash course to study and analyze the Western mind, mentality and culture to find out about our capacity, our problems, our way of thinking and feeling, to bring the Buddhist message over as effective as possible. Beside reading a lot, like books on Western science, and having intensive talks with Western students, he loved to look at tv, surfing through the channels, puzzling together more and more informations on our strange culture and way of thinking.
We often were amazed how often he used newest findings of science to compare those with the views of Buddhist philosophy and psychology. To present the Mahayana the traditional way, would have been much easier for him, but he knew exactly that this would have ended in a cul-de-sac with no future. – In the field of tantric Buddhism, where things essentially are as they are, the possibilities of a revival to please the Western mind, are much more limited. But he tried at least to reduce all kinds of rituals to a minimum, to prevent, that untrained Westerners think that the ritual is the object of empowerment and get blended by this exotic spectacle. He also knew about the danger about wrong identifications with deities, not solidly based on a selfless bodhicitta motivation, but used for stupid power games. A common problem for enthusiastic beginners, coming from various esoteric or religious backgrounds. In his later years I saw him giving initiations, not even using vajra and gantha, just giving a verbal guiding tour through the sadhana. As a trained yogi and tantrician he knew of course that the ritual, used by an advanced practitioner is of high importance preparing the mind and the accompanying visualizations, to unify with the deity and the mandala. So he found a very good compromise for those advanced and dedicated students of him, which were open and ready to understand, and to integrate the secrets of rituals and traditional ceremonies, in inviting experienced Vajrayana teachers like Ven. Zong Rinpoche, Geshe Teckshok (also Lama Zopa) and others to perform empowerments and giving detailed teachings on all sorts of refined esoteric aspects. He decided to keep the image of being just “the Lama”, a true friend to anybody, hiding his magic perfections and thereby following the tradition of many Mahasiddhas of the past.
– But back to Les Bayard and the after-effects. Even months after this course I experienced continious flashbacks of feeling ‘high’ and in ecstatic love with the whole universe, radiant with happiness. Many others had similar experiences. I started also a regular schedule of meditation sessions, went again and again through the script of the Lam Rim course, did further studies, practiced various sadhanas and infected or even confused my friends and astrology students, chanting prayers all day long, performing strange rituals, ringing bells and cymbals, burning huge amounts of incense and running around in Tibetan shirts, boots and even a huge Tibetan brocade hat. But feeling that the vibration was ok, nobody was in fear about my mental condition. Even my parents excepted all this, even though they had no clear idea what it was all about. I also started to study (not very successful) the Tibetan language. Today I can smile about all this, but at the time it was an important outing, a demonstration, that I’d found my spiritual home -which I found already much earlier- but now I felt authorized in a way. In analogy to Kennedy’s ‘I am a Berliner’, my message was ‘I am a Tibetan’, and it made me proud and I wanted to show it. Too long I had to keep my various tantric experiences from childhood onwards in secret. – At this course I also met for the first time Geshe Rabten, a former teacher of Lama Yeshe, who just arrived in Europe and introduced himself at this course as the new abbot of the Tibetan monastery in Rikon (Switzerland). With him I later studied a couple of years and became one of his closer students.
– Of course I fevered towards the next year’s repeat of this Lam Rim experience. This time in Cumbria/England. Some students of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa (Charles & Harvey) managed to buy a dilapidated, dump but huge castle-like manor house ‘Conishead Priory’, called then ‘Manjushri-Institute’. I will never forget the Odyssey finding this haunted place in the middle of nowhere in a cold, Full Moon December night. The car packed with all my friends, lots of sleeping bags, the heating system of the car not functioning, and expecting a warm and cosy place, we finally found the mansion at two or three in the morning. No light in it, no people at all, just some howling owls. After shouting and knocking at all doors and windows, Harvey opened this heavy big and squeaking door and stared at us as if we were ghosts. By mistake we had arrived a day or two to early and he let us in with the words ‘welcome, you are the first official visitors at Manjushri Institute’. Huge empty, icy halls and rooms, no functioning washing facilities. No furniture, just a couple of mattresses lying around (flees included). Another Dharma adventure had started. But all the excitement when the course finally started and the intensity of the teachings from 6 in the morning of up to 12 midnight superimposed the freezing dumpness, the stiff fingers, the scratching flees and the haunting neo-gothic building. Basically this course was of the same intensity and on the same subjects as Les Bayard. But this time I managed to get two or three private meetings with Lama Yeshe and told him about my strange childhood, my psychedelic past, my work as an astrologer and my idea of establishing a centre, combining Western astrology with Tibetan Buddhism. At this time I already worked as a professional astrology teacher since a couple of years (1970) and he showed great interest in my work and enthusiastically enforced me to go on with my project and, suggesting the name ‘Manjushri-Mandala’ for this new centre, he immediatly agreed. With the additional agreement of Geshe Rabten some months later Manjushri-Mandala was born. I don’t know why, but both trusted me to work as a Buddhist teacher and encouraged me to teach Lam Rim, giving meditation instructions and organizing retreats (e.g. Manjushri, White Tara, Vajrapani, Shine, Vajrasattva), what I did for a couple of years. I must add that they did this not lightheartedly. They knew and found ways to proof, that I did intensive Buddhist studies since the late sixties. So their decision was not just based on the result of a few Lam Rim courses, empowerments and retreats. Lama Yeshe was already to busy those days to come and visit me Germany, but Geshe Rabten and his main disciple Gonsar Tulku came in 1976 and 1977 to give teachings and initiations at Manjushri-Mandala. On one occasion I asked Lama Yeshe for his birthdata, which by then nobody knew for sure. After a short meditation he gave me his data: 15th of May 1935, 5:00 LMT (‘sun was just showing from behind the mountains’) in Tölung/Dechen near Lhasa.
– Now you should know, that it was not easy for me all the years to live with a few secrets, which I was to shy to share with other people, without risking to be taxed as a dreamer, boaster or even an esoteric confidence trickster. Having a healthy amount of self criticism, self doubts and being no esoteric sentimentalist, it was difficult for me to accept the fact that by my experiences, which I had from early childhood onwards, and after overcoming heavy inner fights, that in a former existance I must have had a strong connection to Manjushri, the naga-realms and other magical worlds as described in the Buddhist tantras. In Lama Yeshe I had confidence and so I took together all my courage to speak to him quite openly about just this. He listened very carefully to my story, giving me a special Manjushri blessing afterwards, and taking it as possibility that I may be a Buddhist tulku (rebirth). When I repeatedly told him the story in 1981 (or 82?), he invited me to visit his Tushita centre in Northern India to stay a couple of month to find out more about me. I went to Tushita in 1983 for the big 2-month Dharma Experience course, but dealing with hundreds of students and monks, and organizing a daily schedule for highly advanced teachings and empowerments, there was no time to contact him personally. So I decided to possibly come back the next year. His untimely death in 1984 destroyed this plans, and in the meantime I found ways to live with this past of mine quite happily and unproblematic. Not searching for confirmation anymore and giving it a low profile.
– Just for curiosity a few details of what I’ve told Lama Yeshe: In my childhood, up to the age of twelve or thirteen ‘realistic’ daytime visions of magical animals like dragons, majestic golden turtles, various kind and helpfull naga-goddesses, mystical serpent beings, emanating from the water, fulfilling my wishes and protecting me when I felt in danger or fear. Sitting for hours at a lake or a little stream nearby I could communicate with many of them and they gave me various teachings and empowerments, but I can’t remember clearly what it was about. But whenever I could, I went to the lakes in our area and choose a timing when no other people were around. I really loved those little secret places of mine and I often wondered why adults couldn’t see or experience all the magic which happened directly in front of me. I also was able to experience all kind of elementary beings, lower gods, witches or demons, living on trees or hiding in bushes, having conversations with animals (e.g. birds) and plants, even whole landscapes as if it were the most natural thing in the world. I often made a long way round to avoid certain magical spots which gave me fear. I was also building little fantasy altars beside my bed and had a protector, a friendly demon-like being with an immense magical power, who watched over me during the night. I called him ‘The Dark Man’, and he always stood in a special corner of my bedroom. Many years later I recogneized him as Yamantaka (-a wrathful form of Manjushri), discovering a painting of him in a Buddhist book. All this magical reality was abosolutely normal for me (as for many other children too), but I think I never spoke about this to my parents or other people, because I knew they wouldn’t understand or just laugh about a childs fantasies. But when I recently was in Berlin and spoke about my strange childhood, an old aunt of mine remembered that I told her about some of my strang experiences. Maybe she was the only person at that time which had an open ear for a childs secret little problems.
Of most importance was my special deity, a bright and radiant being which I called ‘Manju’. Whenever I had problems or wishes I called for Manju, who manifested himself promptly and who announced himself with a wind breeze to fullfill my little wishes. When I was sixteen it happened that I started a longer lasting friendship with possibly the only person in Berlin, who ever was in Tibet and Lhasa, working as a silk merchant between China and Tibet during the second WW. He tried to teach me the meaning of the Kalachakra symbol (also connected to Manjushri), which he studied in a Tibetan monastery. But I wasn’t open to all this at that stage. Fourteen years later I enthusiastically initiated a 1-year workshop to study exactly this Kalachakra symbol in full detail.
– Enforced by strong psychedelic experiences from the mid-sixties onwards, but also in normal meditations and in dreams I had many clean-clear visions of a skyblue-transparent Buddha with a very fine golden aura. I recognized him immediatly as my child-god Manju, and of course I was very exited! Always in the teaching mudra he allowed me to receive very deep and unbelievable insights about the magical evolution of the universe, the interactions between the elements and esoteric astrological correlations, not using words but pictorial, film-like explanations. I must confess that it was to much for me to keep all this in memory or even understand this mystical crash course in full. Today I interprete this experiences (which still last on) as wisdom transmissions, initiations, kept somewhere in my mind for further clearance in further existences (I don’t like the word incarnation, because it associates a physical body and excludes an etheric existance, – in Buddhist terms the Samboghakaya level). I was quite alone with all this and had no further explanations. Imagine my over-exitement, when, in the early seventies I discovered a Tibetan thangka painting in a book showing a deity named ‘Manjushri’ and which looked similar to the Manju of my many visions. Tears came to my eyes and I was exploding with enjoyment and relief. Later I discovered also painting of naga deities and Naga-Buddhas, which were so close and realistic friends of mine in my early childhood. And all this growing up in the bombed ruins of the after-war Berlin, not knowing anything about Tibet, but living in natural harmony with it’s kind of reality. Unbelievable, here was a culture and esoteric tradition, knowing all about all my little secrets, practicing Manjushri meditations on a daily basis, taking those things seriously and all this since thousands of years! Couldn’t believe it, but I immediatly felt back ‘home’.
Just two details I had to clear up. Firstly the name. Here I discovered the information, that the ending ‘Shri’ is just a title of honor like ‘his holiness’. So Manju was the right ‘intimate’ word for a deity (aspect of mind) I must have a special connection to. Then there was the color. Even though Manjushri can have the color resp. light-body of all 5 elements, I didn’t find a sky-blue description or painting of Manjushri. This became a small problem for me, developing slight doubts in the credibility of Tibetan Buddhism. Also none of my Buddhist teachers (I asked many high ranking teachers of all 4 major Tibetan tradtions about a skyblue Manjushri) had an answer for this. Doing several retreats on the popular orange form of Manjushri I went berserk, because he persistently showed himself in his skyblue form. I even developed childish doubts in Lama Yeshe, Tibetan Buddhism in general and other Lamas, giving possibly wrong teachings on Manjushri. I had to live with these doubts to the end of the eighties, until I found the missing link, studying the biography of Je Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelugpa tradition and honored as an emanation of Manjushri. At one stage of his life, Tzongkhapa heard about a secretly famous yogi living far away in a remote area who practiced on the skyblue Manjushri. Tzongkhapa showed great interest in this and wanted to receive those rare instructions and initiations. Three times he undertook a long journey to meet this yogi and three times he missed him, until he finally gave up. I’m not so much interested in the meaning of all this. But for me it was just a great relief, that my offstream and clean-clear visions of the skyblue Manjushri were/are not a false invention of my mind, but had a tantric tradition too, even though it’s a tradition seemed to have become extinct. – Another fact completed my Manjushri connection. Long before I discovered all this, I decided against the advice of most of my friends and against all reason to become a professional astrologer. A strange and courageous decision at those days (late sixties). Another surprise when I found out that Manjushri is the highest patron of astrology and related esoteric sciences. Mythology even says that he did hide all advanced astrology teachings on the peak of his sacred mountain Wu-Tai-Chan at the border between Tibet and China, waiting until manking would be ready for them. Maybe he allowed me to get some vague insights into his hidden magic box, a box, which lies deep in anybody’s mind, just waiting to be discovered. – But now I really should come to an end. Enough about all this! Lama Yeshe would have said ‘I talk to much‘ 😉
p.s. For me it was/is an essentail part of my biography. For a Non-Buddhist reader this may sound a bit ‘up in the sky’. They should just ignore my little story and stay sceptical. For the experienced and advanced Tibetan Buddhist this is just a normal down-to-earth thing, not even very special 😉
There are so many stories concerning Lama Yeshe, but there is one, which I want to share, because it touched my heart and improved my deep trust in him. As you can see from my biography I was enthuasiastically and seriously envolved in the psychedelic movement of the sixties and early seventies. Not so much as a playground to have an easy going and funny time of self-entertainment. I was more the type of a systematical spiritual seeker, analyzing and learning from my discoveries I made with the help of some 2000 intensive LSD experiences. Lama had an open heart for people with this kind of background, being dissatisfied with the answers of Western culture, religion and philosophy concerning the nature of mind and the meaning of life, being on the road to discover what the East might have to offer. Basically an academic movement, spreading from Californian universities all over the world, even to Germany 😉 – I just give this reminder to understand, that dealing with hippies meant dealing with a kind of an intellectual advangarde of that era and not with some dull drug consumers of later times. Having no proper Western tradition of meditation, LSD, having the potential for mind-expanding experiences, was the only option to open new doors for finding an understanding of Eastern esoterics and philosophy, a vehicle, which often enough catapulted ones mind to the peaks of the Himalayas. And arriving there, there was this famous ‘Hippie Lama’, called Thubten Yeshe, who put us under his wings, knowing how difficult it was to get here and how hungry we were for getting profound teachings and instructions. Most of the other lamas were to proud or had no complex understanding to mix with those colorful and suspect outsiders coming from the West, hanging around Tibetan monasteries and waiting for ‘food’. There were rumours that Lama Yeshe had tested LSD himself in his early Nepal days. But even if not, he must have heard enough about the nature of psychedelics to get a complex picture. – Anyhow, his first courses in Europe were crowded by Europe’s spectacular hippie hi-society, most of them already with various tantric insights, but no general concept of explanations or a right understanding. So, especially in Les Bayard the tension was very high: What would this Lama think about LSD and us hippie’s in general. The last one was an easy one. Everybody felt his warm and understanding kindness towards us paradise birds, even giving us the feelig that he is one of us. But nobody had the courage during the many question/answer discussions to openly place the crucial question concerning LSD. Also I felt to shy for it. Than, nearly at the end of the course somebody asked this essential question. There immediatly was a complete silence in the room, even breathing stopped. Lama Yeshe closed his eyes for a moment, smiling from inside, and feeling the importance of the question, until he came over with the Solomon words: “LSD is the wisdom of the West”. Whow, tears filled our eyes. There was a real Tibetan Lama and spiritual authority, exactly knowing what he said – and he backed up our trip so far. A really touching experience I never will forget. It meant so much for us at this time. – Of course he didn’t encourage us to go on with it, just after given us a 2-month lecture of how to develope similar experiences using Buddhist methods, but he signalized that we didn’t waste our time, using LSD as a vehicle arriving safely in Les Bayard/Switzerland. – I know that at later occasions he didn’t repeat this unorthodox statement, dealing with a more conservative sangha of a different generation.
It’s difficult to characterize such a multilayered and unique personality like Lama Yeshe, but, knowing him for 9 years I will try to find a few keywords: a pioneering bridge-builder between East and West, unorthodox maverick, Buddhist hippie, thought provoking, sharp thinker and analyst, intuitive, creative, unpredictable, controverse, spontanious, individualist, vajra-pride (spiritual pride), stylish, open-minded, quick, Lams Yeshe and Hans (1981)soft but strict, heart-centered, rethoric talent, humorous, quick-witted, friend of good food, complex, natural sense for beauty, bright intelligence, satirical, comprehensive magic recources, human, powerful, mischievous, dramatic, entertaining, radiating, charming, organizing talent, self-confident, adventurous, eccentric, boyish, ready to help, generous, good listener, reading people’s mind, occasionally moody, honest, unconvential. To his closer students and monks he could be rigorous and demanding. But this was common use and part of a more intensive monastic Buddhist education. By his heart he always stayed a caring and loving teacher and friend. In Buddhist tantric terms a unique mixture of Manjushri, Vajrapani, Chenrezig, Green Tara and Heruka…
– With kind regards from Ireland, Champa Legshe (Hans Taeger)
The Lama Yeshe Experience: Buddhist Ways of Thought
– Question/Answer Lectures by Lama Thubten Yeshe
(Source: http://www.iol.ie/~taeger/yesheque/yesheque.html)
– Compiled from various sources
by Champa Legshe (Hans Taeger)
Lama Thubten Yeshe (15.5.1935, 5:00 LMT (6:05 GMT), Töling Dechen/Lhasa/TIB – 3.3.1984, 5:07 PST, Los Angeles/USA), also called “Hippie Lama” was one of the most outstanding personalities of the Seventieth and early Eighties. Beside Chögyam Trungpa he was one of the first Tibetan teachers, who managed to explain Buddhism in a modern and unorthodox way. The result of a careful study of our Western mentality and culture. His early meditation courses in Nepal were a major attraction for the international Hippie high society, mainly young academics, and he really loved and enjoyed the craziness of Westerners. He quickly became a kind of an institution and cult figure. Taking in account that Tibet was cut off the world for thousands of years, living in fixed traditions of how transmit the Dharma, Lama made a huge time-jump, to create completely new words, analogies and ways of thinking. A courageous, pioneering and admirable undertaking, which demonstrated his open-mindedness and highly developed intellectual qualities. For this he was loved and honored by all his Western students and seretly critizied by many traditionalists. An ‘enfant terrible’ in the Buddhist world.
But his huge sucess in spreading the Dharma in the West, having thousands of students and young monks worldwide and initiating more than 100 centres and monasteries in all continents gave him right. The unique charm of his teachings was a mixture of spontaneity, natural humor, humanity, openess and his powerful way of transmitting the Dharma. He always spoke directly from the heart and one could feel, that behind his words was a highly trained and experienced mind of wisdom and tantric realization. His main disciple, Lama Zopa, described his qualities using the words of Shantideva: ‘May I become a protector for those without one – A guide for those who have entered the path – May I become a bridge, a boat and a ship for those who wish to cross over – May I be an island for those who seek one – And a lamp for those needing light – May I be a bed for all who wish to rest – And a servant for all who want a servant.‘ To his closer students he could be a rigorous teacher demanding high discipline and intensive studies in both sutra and tantra. He embodied both, modesty and vajra-pride. Being his student for ten years (1974-84) I know and learned to honor both aspects of him. Sometimes after weeks of intensive teachings and meditations from 6 in the morning to 12 midnight I hardly couldn’t walk anymore and, like many others, I really started to hate his rigidity. But it was essential and wise to go through such extremes, for fighting ego grasping and wrong concepts, so that the ultimate mind could open it’s hidden and enlightening potential. I don’t want to go much further here, following Lama’s standard saying, with which he ended all his lectures (laughing and excusing himself): ‘I think I talk to much‘.
Lama Yeshe entered at the age of six the famous Sera Monastic University in Lhasa, where he studied until 1959, when the Chinese invasion of Tibet forced him into exile in India. He continued to study and meditate in India until 1967, when, with his chief disciple, Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, he went to Nepal, where he established two years later Kopan Monastery, near Kathmandu, in order to teach Buddhism to Westerners. In 1974, the Lamas began making annual teaching tours to the West, and as a result of these travels a worldwide network of Buddhist teaching and meditation centers (FPMT) began to develop. In 1984, after an intensive decade of imparting a wide variety of incredible teachings, at the age of forty-nine, Lama Yeshe passed away after a heart surgery in Los Angeles. His rebirth was discovered in Osel Hita Torres (* 12.2.1985, 19:40 MET, Bubion/E) and officially recognized by H.H. the Dalai Lama in 1982. As the monk Lama Tenzin Osel Rinpoche he is now studying for his geshe degree (Doctor of Buddhist philosophy) at the reconstituted Sera Monastery in South India. Lama’s remarkable story is told in Vick MacKenzie’s book ‘Reincarnation: The Boy Lama‘ (-see below).
Fore more detailed biographical notes surf to the FPMT website or click my article ‘Lama Yeshe, A Milestone In My Life’ (links see below).
East/West
Question: From what you say, I get the impression you’re somewhat critical of the West, that you laugh at what we do and the way we try to civilize the uncivilized. I don’t really have a question, but what future do you see for mankind in terms of what the so-called progressive West is developing: bigger planes, bigger houses, bigger supermarkets? What future do you see for the West?
Lama Yeshe: I see that Western people are getting busier and busier, more and more restless. I’m not criticizing material or technological development as such, but rather the uncontrolled mind. Because you don’t know who or what you are, you spend your life blindly grasping at what I call “supermarket goodness”. You agitate your own life; you make yourself restless. Instead of integrating your life, you splinter it. Check up for yourself. I’m not putting you down. In fact, Buddhism doesn’t allow us to dogmatically put down anybody else’s way of life. All I’m trying to suggest is that you consider looking at things another way.
Finding a Teacher
Lama Yeshe: Remember, we are all responsible for our own lives. Don’t think that this Tibetan monk will give you enlightenment or make you powerful. It is not like that. Just think, “At this time in my life I have come into contact with this monk, and I will judge him realistically. I will not blindly accept what he says but will check up on wether it is right or wrong and debate with him.”
Question: What should people in the West do when they can’t find a teacher? Should those who are really searching go to the East to find one?
Lama Yeshe: Don’t worry. When the time is right, you’ll meet your teacher. Buddhism doesn’t believe that you can push other people: “Everybody should learn to meditate; everybody should become Buddhists.” That’s stupid. Pushing people is unwise. When you’re ready, some kind of magnetic energy will bring you together with your teacher. About going to the East, it depends on your personal situation. Check up. The important thing is to search with wisdom and not blind faith. Sometimes, even if you go to the East, you still can’t find a teacher. It takes time.
Practice of Tantra
Practice of TantraQuestion: Sometimes it’s hard to find a teacher. Is it dangerous to try to practice tantra, for example, without a teacher, just by reading books?
Lama Yeshe: Yes, very dangerous. Without specific instructions, you can’t pick up a book on tantra and think, “Wow, what fantastic ideas. I want to practice this right now!” This kind of attitude never brings realizations. You need the guidance of an experienced teacher. Sure, the ideas are fantastic, but if you don’t know the method, you can’t put them into your own experience; you have to have the key. Many Buddhist books have been translated into English. They’ll tell you, “Attachment is bad; don’t get angry,” but how do you actuallyabandon attachment and anger? The Bible, too, recommends universal love, but how do you bring universal love into your own experience? You need the key, and sometimes only a teacher can give you that.
Visualization Practice
Question: When you were talking about meditation, you didn’t mention visualization. It seems that some people find it relatively easy to visualize while others find it quite difficult. How important is it to develop the ability to visualize things in the mind?
Lama Yeshe: Many people have trouble visualizing what’s described to them simply because they have not trained their minds in it, but for others it’s because they have a poor imagination; they’re too physical. Perhaps they think that all there is to their being is their physical body, that there’s no mind apart from their brain. However, Buddhism has methods whereby you can train your mind and develop the ability to visualize in meditation. But in reality, you visualize all day long. The breakfast you eat in the morning is a visualization. Whenever you go shopping and think, “This is nice,” or “I don’t like that,”, whatever you’re looking at is a projection of your own mind. When you get up in the morning and see the sun shining and think, “Oh, it’s going to be nice today,” that’s your own mind visualizing. Actually, visualization is quite well understood. Even shopkeepers and advertising agents know the importance of visualization, so they create displays or billboards to attract your attention: “Buy this!” They know that things you see affect your mind, your visualization. Visualization is not something supernatural; it’s scientific.
Deity Yoga
Lama Yeshe: The nuclear essence of tantra is that the human being is the deity. The human being is the god; the human being is the deity. I have to emphasize this. We have the qualities of the deity within us. You always think that the deity is something rarefied and inaccessible, but through tantra you can touch the deity, recognize yourself as the deity. That’s why it is very powerful.
Buddhism teaches that the basic human problem is the ridiculous thought that we are hopeless. This way of identifying ourselves damages our human quality. Therefore, we need to discover the divinity within us, the divine qualities that are already there. Buddhism is really so realistic, so scientific, so down-to-earth, so clean-clear: human beings do have a pure nature and divine inner qualities, so they should recognize and unify with them. And according to Lord Buddha, the way to recognize our divine qualities is not simply to know that they are there, but to act, to act. The way to act is to practice tantra. Tantra is not about words; the essence of tantra is action.
Meditation
Question: I would like to clarify the Buddhist meaning of meditation. Am I right in interpretating it as “observing the passage of your mind”?
Lama Yeshe: Yes, you can think of it that way. As I said before, Buddhist meditation doen’t necessarily mean sitting cross-legged with your eyes closed. Simply observing how your mind is responding to the sense world as you go about your business – walking, talking, shopping, whatever – can be a really perfect meditation and bring a perfect result.
Learning by Practicing
Lama Yeshe: Many people easily gain an incredible intellectual understanding of Buddhism, but it is a dry understanding that does not fertilize the heart. There are some Western professors, for example, who have studied Buddhism for years. They have high degrees in Buddhist studies and have published books on the sutras (= philosophy) and tantras (= magical wisdom practice). Yet many of them admit that they are not even Buddhists, which means they haven’t actualized what they write about. They can read Lama Je Tsongkhapa’s texts and translate them using incredible words, but for them it remains mere theory. I find this shocking.
On the other hand, some people have heard just a few lam-rim teachings (= basics of Mahayana Buddhism), such as the workings of the negative mind, but they begin to look inside themselves and to meditate. The teachings gradually become part of them. The mere intellectuals, however, think that the negative mind is somewhere else – up on top of Mount Everest, perhaps. They don’t care about the negative mind because they think that it doesn’t refer to them… The important point is to taste the chocolate. No matter how small a piece you get, as long as you taste it, you will be satisfied.
Enlightened?
Question: If a person, out of ignorance perhaps, believes he has achieved enlightenment, what is his purpose in continuing to live?
Lama Yeshe: An ignorant person who thinks he’s enlightened is completely mentally polluted and is simply compounding the ignorance he already has. All he has to do is to check the actions of his uncontrolled mind and he’ll realize he’s not enlightened. Also, you don’t have to ask others, “Am I enlightened?” Just check your own experiences. Enlightenment is a highly personal thing.
Reincarnation
Question: I like the way that you stress the importance of understanding over belief, but I find it difficult to know how a person brought up in the West or given a scientific education can understand the concept of reincarnation: past, present and future lives. How can you prove that they exist?
Lama Yeshe: If you can realize your own mind’s continuity from the time you were a tiny embryo in your mother’s womb up to the present time, then you’ll understand. The continuity of your mental energy is a bit like the flow of electricity from a generator through the wires until it lights up a lamp. From the moment it’s conceived, as your body evolves, mental energy is constantly running through it – changing, changing, changing – and if you can realize that, you can more easily understand your own mind’s previous continuity. As I keep saying, it’s never simply a question of belief. Of course, initially it’s difficult to accept the idea of reincarnation because these days it’s such a new concept for most people, especially those brought up in the West. They don’t teach you continuity of consciousness in school; you don’t study the nature of the mind – who you are, what you are – in college. So of course, it’s all new to you. But if you think it’s important to know who and what you are, and you investigate your mind through meditation, you will easily come to understand the difference between your body and your mind; you will recognize the continuity of your own consciousness; from there you will be able to realize your previous lives. It is not necessary to accept reincarnation on faith alone.
Question: With respect to rebirth, what is it that is reborn?
Lama Yeshe: When you die, your consciousness separates from your body, enters the intermediate state, and from there it is born into another physical form. We call that rebirth. Physical and mental energy are different from each other. Physical energy is extremely limited, but mental energy always has continuity.
Question: We have this idea of consciousness transmigrating from body to body, from life to life, but if there is continuity of consciousness, why is it that we don’t remember our previous lives?
Lama Yeshe: 
market information crowding into our minds makes us forget our previous experiences. Even science says that the brain is limited such that new information suppresses the old. They say that, but it’s not quite right. What actually happens is that basically, the human mind is mostly unconscious, ignorant, and gets so preoccupied with new experiences that it forgets the old ones. Review the past month: exactly what happened, precisely what feeligs did you have, every day? You can’t remember, can you? So checking back further, all the way back to the time when you were just a few cells in your mother’s womb, then even further back than that: it’s very difficult, isn’t it? But if you practice this slowly, slowly, continuously checking within your mind, eventually you’ll be able to remember more and more of your previous experiences.
Many of us may have had the experience of reacting very strangely to something that has happened and being perplexed by our reaction, which seems not to have based on any of this life’s experiences: “That’s weird. Why did I react like this? I’ve no idea where that came from.” That’s because it’s based on a previous life’s experience. Modern psychologists cannot explain such reactions because they don’t understand mental continuity, the beginningless nature of each individual’s mind. They don’t understand that mental reactions can result from impulses that were generated thousands and thousands of years ago. But if you keep investigating your mind through meditation, you will eventually understand all this through your own experience.
Reincarnation and Population Explosion
Question:How does Buddhism explain the population explosion? If you believe in reincarnation, how is it that the population is expanding all the time?
Lama Yeshe: That’s simple. Like modern science, Buddhism talks about the existence of billions and billions of galaxies. The consciousness of a person born on earth may have come from a galaxy far away, drawn here by the force of karma, which connect that person’s mental energy to this planet. On the other hand, the consciousness of a person dying on this earth may at the time of death be karmically directed to a rebirth in another galaxy, far from here. If more minds are being drawn to earth, the population increases; if fewer, it declines. That does not mean that brand new minds are coming into existence. Each mind taking rebirth here on earth has come from its previous life – perthaps in another galaxy, perhaps on earth itself, but not from nowhere – in accordance with the cyclic nature of wordly existence.
Bodhisattva Ideal and Marxism
Question: Can a Bodhisattva be a Marxist in order to create social harmony? I mean, is there a place for the Bodhisattva in Marxism or, vice versa, is there a place in Marxism for the Bodhisattva? Could Marxism be a tool in the abolition of all sentient beings’ suffering?
Lama Yeshe: Well, it’s pretty hard for someone like me to comment on a Bodhisattva’s actions, but I have my doubts about a Bodhisattva becoming a communist in order to stop social problems. Problems exist in the minds of individuals. You have to solve your own problems, no matter what kind of society you live in, socialist, communist or capitalist. You must check your own mind. Your problem is not society’s problem, not my problem. You are responsible for your own problems just as you’re responsible for your own liberation or enlightenment. Otherwise you’re going to say, “Supermarkets help people because they can buy the stuff they need in them. If I work in a supermarket I’ll really be contributing to society.” Then, after doing that for a while, you’re going to say, “Maybe supermarkets don’t help that much after all. I’d be of more help to others if I took a job in an office.” None of those things solve social problems. But first of all you have to check where you got the idea that by becoming a communist, a Bodhisattva could help all mother sentient beings.
Spiritual Unity?
Spiritual Unity?Question: In conclusion, then, are you saying that it’s impossible to create one common spiritual society on this planet?
Lama Yeshe: Even if you could, it would not stop people’s problems. Even if you made a single society of all inhabitants of the entire universe, there would still be attachment, there would still be anger, there would still be hunger. Problems lie within each individual. People are not the same; everybody is different. Each of us needs different methods according to our individual psychological makeup, mental attitudes and personality; each of us needs a different approach in order to attain enlightenment. That’s why Buddhism completely accepts the existence of other religions and philosophies. We recognize that they are all necessary for human development. You can’t say that any one way of thinking is right for everybody. That’s just dogma.
Buddhism/Hinduism
Question: Are you familiar with the Hindu concepts of atman and brahman?
Lama Yeshe: While Hindu philosophy accepts the idea of a soul (atman), Buddhism does not. We completely deny the existence of a self-existent I, or a permanent, independent soul. Every aspect of your body and mind is impermanent: changing, changing, changing… Buddhists also deny the existence of a permanent hell. Every pain, every pleasure we experience is in a state of constant flux; so transitory, so impermanent, always changing, never lasting. Therefore, recognizing the dissatisfactory nature of our existence and renouncing the world in which transitory sense objects contact transitory sense organs to produce transitory feelings, none of which are worth grasping at, we seek instead the everlasting, eternally joyful realizations of enlightenment or nirvana.
Negative Influences/Power of Mind
Lama Yeshe: Anyone who claims to be a Buddhist knows that the pricipal concern of Buddhism is the mind. The mind is the nucleus of samsara (=illusionary world) and nirvana (= enlightened, nondualistic dimension). Every experience we have in our lives manifests from our mind. Because you interpret your life and your world through your mental attitude, it is important to have the right motivation. Wrong motivation brings pain, disappointment, and extremes in life. Think in this way, “During the rest of my life, it is my responsibility, to grow in mindfulness and happiness. Each day I will expand the loving kindness I already have. When I wake up each morning, I will open my wisdom-eye and see more and more deeply into the inner universal reality. I will try to be as mindful as possible. I will take responsibility for my life and dedicate it to others by growing strong in loving kindness and wisdom. I will serve others as much as possible.” Make the determination that this will be your way of life.
Question: Lama, can the various negative thoughts that arise in our minds come from a source outside of ourselves, from other people, or perhaps from spirits?
Lama Yeshe: Well, that’s a very good question. The real source, the deep root of negativity, lies within our own minds, but for this to manifest usually requires interaction with a cooperative, environmental cause, such as other people or the material world. For example, some people experience mood swings as a result of astrological influences, such as the vibration of planetary movement. Others’ emotions fluctuate because of hormonal changes in their bodies. Such experiences do not come from their minds alone but through the interaction of physical and mental energy. Of course, we would also say that the fact that we find ourselves in a body susceptible to this kind of change originally comes from our minds. But I don’t think Lord Buddha would say that there is some outer spirit harming you like that. What is possible is that your inner energy is relating to some outer energy, and that it is that interaction that makes you sick.
You can see from your own life experiences how the environment can effect you. When you’re amongst peaceful, generous, happy people, you’re inclined to feel happy and peaceful yourself. When you’re amongst angry, aggressive people, you tend to become like them. The human mind is like a mirror. A mirror does not discriminate but simply reflects whatever’s before it, no matter wether it’s horrible or wonderful. Similarly, your mind takes on the aspect of your surroundings, and if you’re not aware of what’s going on, your mind can fill with garbage. Therefore, it is very important to be conscious of your surroundings and how they affect your mind.
The thing that you have to understand about religion is how your religion relates to your own mind, how it relates to the life you lead. If you can manage that, religion is fantastic; the realizations are there. You don’t need to emphasize belief in God, or Buddha, or sin or whatever; don’t worry about all that. Just act of right understanding as best you can and you’ll get results, even today. Forget about super consciousness or super universal love – universal love grows slowly, steadily, gradually. If, however, you’re just clinging to the notion, “Oh, fantastic! Infinite knowledge, infinite power,” you’re simply on a power trip. Of course, spiritual power really does exist, but the only way you can get it is by engaging in the proper spiritual actions. Power comes from within you; part of you becomes power, too. Don’t think that the only true power is up there, somewhere in the sky. You have power; your mind is power.
Question: I’ve seen Tibetan images of wrathful deities, but although they were fierce-looking, they didn’t look evil. That made me wonder wether or not Buddhism emphasizes evil and bad things
Lama Yeshe: Buddhism never emphasizes the existence of external evil. Evil is a projection of your mind. If evil exists, it’s within you. There’s no outside evil to fear. Wrathful deities are emanations of enlightened wisdom and serve to help people who have a lot of uncontrolled anger. In meditation, the angry person transforms his anger into wisdom, which is then visualized as a wrathful deity; thus the energy of his anger is digested by wisdom. Briefly, that’s how the method works.
Suffering
Question: What is the meaning of suffering?
Lama Yeshe: Mental agitation is suffering; dissatisfaction is suffering. Actually, it is very important to understand the various subtle levels of suffering, otherwise people are going to say, “Why does Buddhism say everybody’s suffering? I’m happy.” When Lord Buddha talked about suffering, he din’t mean just the pain of a wound or the kind of mental anguish that we often experience. We say that we’re happy, but if we check our happiness more closely, we’ll find that there’s still plenty of dissatisfaction in our minds. From the Buddhist point of view, simply the fact that we can’t control our minds is mental suffering; in fact, that’s worse than the various physical sufferings we experience. Therefore, when Buddhism talks about suffering, it’s emphasizing the mental level much more than the physical, and that’s why, in practical terms, Buddhist teachings are basically applied psychology. Buddhism teaches the nature of suffering at the mental level and the methods for its eradication.
Question: Why do we all experience suffering and what do we learn from it?
Lama Yeshe: That’s so simple, isn’t it? Why are you suffering? Because you’re too involved in acting out of ignorance and grasping with attachment. You learn from suffering by realizing where it comes from and exactly what it is that makes you suffer. In our infinite previous lives we have had so many experiences but we still haven’t learned that much. Many people think that they’re learning from their experiences, but they’re not. There are infinite past experiences in their unconscious but they still know nothing about their own true nature.
Question: Why do we have the opportunity to be attached?
Lama Yeshe: Because we’re hallucinating; we’re not seeing the reality of either the subject or the object. When you understand the nature of an object of attachment, the subjective mind of attachment automatically disappears. It’s the foggy mind, the mind that’s attracted to an object and paints a distorted projection onto it, that makes you suffer. That’s all. It’s really quite simple.
Perception
Question: Perception is one of the five aggregates that, according to Buddhist philosophy, constitute a person. How does it work?
Lama Yeshe: Yes, that’s another good question. Most of the time, our perception is illusory; we’re not perceiving reality. Sure, we see the sense world – attractive shapes, beautiful colors, nice tastes and so forth – but we don’t actually perceive the real, true nature of the shapes, colors and tastes we see. That’s how most of the time our perception is mistaken. So our mistaken perception processes the information supplied by our five senses and transmits incorrect information to our mind, which reacts under the influence of the ego. The result of all this is that most of the time we are hallucinating, not seeing the true nature of things, not understanding the reality of even the sense world.
Question: Does past karma affect our perception?
Lama Yeshe: Yes, of course. Past karma affects our perception a lot. Our ego grasps at our uncontrolled perception’s view, and our mind just follows along: that entire uncontrolled situation is what we call karma. Karma is not simply some irrelevant theory; it’s the everyday perceptions in which we live, that’s all.
Body and Mind
Question: Lama, what is the relationship between the body and mind as far as food is concerned.
Lama Yeshe: Body is not mind, mind is not body, but the two have a very special connection. They are very closely linked, very sensitive to changes in each other. For example, when people take drugs, the substance doesn’t affect the mind directly. But since the mind is connected to the body’s nervous system and sense organs, changes induced in the nervous system by the drug throw it out of harmony and cause the mind to hallucinate. There’s a very strong connection between the body and the mind. In Tibetan tantric yoga, we take advantage of that strong connection: by concentrating strongly on the body’s psychic channels we can affect the mind accordingly. Therefore, even in everyday life, the food you eat and the other things your body touches have an effect on your mind.
Question: I am trying to understand the relationship in Buddhism between the mind and the body. Is mind more important than body? For example, in the case of tantric monks who do overtone chanting, oviously they develop a part of their body in order to sing, so just how important is the body?
Lama Yeshe: The mind is the most important thing, but there are some meditation practices that are enhanced by certain physical yoga exercises. Conversely, if your body is sick, that can affect your mind. So, it’s also important to keep your body healthy. But if you concern yourself with only the physical and neglect to investigate the reality of your own mind, that’s not wise either; it’s unbalanced, not realistic. So, I think we all agree that the mind is more important than the body, but at the same time, we cannot forget about the body alltogether. I’ve seen Westerners come to the East for teachings, and when they hear about Tibetan yogis living in the high mountains without food they think, “Oh, fantastic! I want to be just like Milarepa.” That’s a mistake. If you were born in the West, your body is used to certain specific conditions, so to keep it healthy, you need to create a conducive environment. You can’t do a Himalayan trip. Be wise, not extreme.
Karma
Question: Buddhism always talks about karma. What is it?
Lama Yeshe: Karma is your experiences of body and mind. The word itself is Sanskrit; it means cause and effect. Your experiences of mental and physical happiness or unhappiness are the effects of certain causes, but those effects themselves become the cause of future results. One action produces a reaction; that is karma. Both Eastern philosophies and science explain that all matter is inter-related; if you can understand that, you will understand how karma works. All existence, internal and external, does not come about accidentally; the energy of all internal and external phenomena is interdependent. For example, your body’s energy is related to the energy of your parents’ bodies; their bodies’ energy is related to their parents’ bodies, and so forth. That sort of evolution is karma.
Non-Dual Awareness/Nirvana
Lama Yeshe: When you contemplate your own consciousness with intense awareness, leaving aside all thoughts of good and bad, you are automatically led to the experience of non-duality. How is this possible? Think of it like this: the clean clear blue sky is like consciousness, while the smoke and pollution pumped into the sky are like the unnatural, artificial concepts manufactured by ego-grasping ignorance. Now, even though we say the pollutants are contaminating the atmosphere, the sky itself never really becomes contaminated by the pollution. The sky and the pollution each retain their own characteristic nature. In other words, on a fundamental level the sky remains unaffected no matter how much toxic energy enters it. The proof of this is that when conditions change, the sky can become clear once again. In the same way, no matter how many problems maybe created by artificial ego concepts, they never affect the clean clear nature of our consciousness itself. From the relative point of view, our consciousness remains pure because its clear nature never becomes mixed with the nature of confusion.
From an ultimate point of view as well, our consciousness always remains clear and pure. The non-dual characteristic of the mind is never damaged by the dualistic concepts that arise in it. In this respect consciousness is pure, always was pure and will always remain pure. We can compare positive states of mind to water at rest and deluded states of mind to turbulent, boiling water. If we investigate the nature of the boiling water we will discover that, despite the turbulence, each individual droplet is still clear. The same is true of the mind: wether it is calm or boiled into turbulence by the overwhelming complexity of dualistic views, its basic nature reamains clear and conscious.
The conclusion, the, is that we all have the capacity to move from the confused, polluted state of ego-conflict to the natural clean clear state of pure consciousness itself. We should never think that our mind has somehow become irreversibly contaminated. This is impossible. If we can train ourselves to identify and enter into the natural, unaffected state of our consciousness, we will eventually experience the freedom of non-dual awareness.
Question: What is nirvana and do many people attain it?
Lama Yeshe: When you develop your powers of concentration such that you can integrate your mind into single-pointed concentration, you will gradually diminish your ego’s emotional reactions until they disappear altogether. At that point, you transcend your ego and discover an everlasting, blissful, peaceful state of mind. That is what we call nirvana. Many people have attained this state and many more are well on their way to it.
Control of Kundalini
Lama Yeshe: Control of kundalini energy (=libido, sexual energy, naga energy) is important even in ordinary orgasm. You cannot have a perfect orgasm if you cannot control your energy. It is the same in tantra. You cannot experience perfect bliss if you cannot control your energy. The fact is that if we lose our energy, we have to energy to utilize. In order to use energy, we need energy. If we don’t have it, we cannot use it. This is logical, and you can see it clearly from your own experience. When you concentrate well and control your energy, you can experience more bliss, which you then unify with the wisdom of nonduality.
If kundalini starts to flow uncontrollably during your meditation and you begin to experience orgasm, try as much as possible to hold it and have it expand inside the secret chakra. Try to hold the energy there as long as possible. The longer you can hold it, the more pleasure you will experience and the more possibility you will have of utilizing that pleasure by unifying it with the universal reality of nonduality. In this way, you learn to control your body as well as your mind.
References
– The majority of Question/Answers are cited from the booklet Lama Yeshe: Becoming Your own Therapist (various lectures given in 1975, ed. by Nick Ribush, 53 pp, Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, Boston/USA, 1998, free distributed). Additional sources are Lama Thubten Yeshe: The Bliss of Inner Fire, Heart Practice of the Six Yogas of Naropa (from lectures given in 1982-83, eds. Robina Courtin, Ailsa Cameron, 230 pp, Wisdom Publ./USA 1998); Lama Yeshe: Introducation to Tantra – A Vision of Totality (from various lectures given between 1975-83, ed. by J. Landaw, 173 pp, Wisdom Publ./USA 1989); Lama Yeshe: The Tantric Path of Purification (from various lectures given between 1974-82, ed. by Nick Ribush, 311 pp, Wisdom Publ./USA 1995). All titles can be directly ordered from our Buddhist Bookshop. Here you can also find the story about his rebirth: Reincarnation – The Boy Lama by Vicki MacKenzi. For a free copy of Becoming Your Own Therapist contact the ‘Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive’, PO Box 1095, Brookline MA 02446, USA.
For more detailed informations on Lama Yeshe, his rebirth Lama Ösel, Lama Zopa, the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, the Lama Yeshe Biography Project and the FPMT Organization (Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition) with 100 centres worldwide visit the FPMT-Website: http://www.fpmt.org/
Or click the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive to order free booklets, read some of the teachings of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, or download some texts: http://www.LamaYeshe.com/
Lama Yeshe during his first course in Europe (1974)
Lama Thubten Yeshe was not just a highly educated scholar and Geshe (Doctor of Buddhist philosophy), but also a great tantrician. Beside mastering various aspects of deity-yoga like Manjushri, Green Tara, Chenrezig, Guhyasamaja etc., he was secretly known for having high realizations through the tantra practice of Heruka-Chakrasamvara and Vajrapani (Mandala of the 6-armed Vajrapani).
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Thank you Rinpoche for the above.
Reading the comments below about Rinpoche really breaks my heart. From having Rinpoche by ourside and now Rinpoche Himself has entered Parinirvana, the above text about Lama Yeshe really befits Rinpoche too.
A Mahasiddha in our lifetime.
(Photos Lama Yeshe and Zong Rinpoche. Tsem Rinpoche with Lama Zopa in happier times prior to the ban against Dorje Shugden. I found these photos on the internet. I could not attach with my post below, so here it is again.)
I am a old student of Lama Yeshe and I wish to remain anonymous. I am older now. Lama Yeshe would do Dorje Shugden puja often. If he was alive, he would not have been browbeaten into giving up Dorje Shugden’s practice. After Lama Zopa and FPMT was forced to ‘give’ up this precious practice, I stopped going to FPMT. I never received any teachings from H.H. the Dalai Lama and he is not my guru. Lama Yeshe was my guru. We received this Dorje Shugden practice from Trijang Rinpoche at the urging of Lama Yeshe. FPMT should not have abandoned Dorje Shugden’s practice. How can they abandon the practice of Lama Yeshe who founded FPMT. Lama Yeshe relied on Dorje Shugden fully. It is rumored that Lama Yeshe’s incarnation (Lama Osel) cannot manifest being a successful teacher in this life as FPMT broke their commitment practice to Dorje Shugden as promised to Trijang Rinpoche. This heavy karma of breaking commitment becomes FPMT’s obstacle that Lama Yeshe’s incarnation cannot manifest as a teacher. Too bad. Dorje Shugden cannot punish anyone, but students promised Trijang Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe to do this practice, and the karma of breaking a promise of the guru is what counts and returns as obstacles. In all teachings we consider Trijang Rinpoche and Lama Yeshe as living Buddhas. When getting tantric practice/initiation from them, they are the living Buddhas of the mandala we are being initiated into so they cannot be seen as mistaken in giving Dorje Shugden’s practice. How can we view them as mistaken. If they can be mistaken in giving Dorje Shugden practice to students, then Dalai Lama can be mistaken in banning the practice. If one guru can make mistakes then all gurus including Dalai Lama can make mistakes. Just because Dalai Lama is high ranking does not mean he cannot make mistakes. Dalai Lama listens to Nechung via the oracle to ban the practice. Nechung told Dalai Lama to stop the practice. Nechung is a spirit. Dalai Lama should listen to his guru Trijang Rinpoche to practice Dorje Dorje Shugden and not to a spirit to give up the practice. How can a spirit override the instructions of one’s guru? Nechung never teaches dharma and Trijang Rinpoche taught dharma his whole life to Dalai Lama. Dalai Lama should listen to his teacher and not the spirit Nechung.
I have been following Tsem Rinpoche’s blog for a few years now. I have not read or heard (videos) anything Tsem Rinpoche says that criticizes the Dalai Lama or says anything negative against the Dalai Lama. This is amazing practice. He does his guru proud. Tsem Rinpoche is steadfast in his practice of Shugden because he is keeping his commitment to his guru just as we are taught. Just for this he is criticized and ostracized. That is too bad. Tsem Rinpoche is simply following the rules of Tantric Buddhist practice which is to keep his commitment to his guru and that is why I understand he is doing the Dorje Shugden practice. I commend Tsem Rinpoche for keeping his guru devotion so strong. Tsem Rinpoche is brave in the face of segregation, hatred and ostracizing against him to keep his commitment to his guru so steadfast. I admire this and respect Tsem Rinpoche very much for this. It’s rare to find a Buddhist practitioner who practices not for political correctness but for gaining enlightenment.
Tsem Rinpoche was very close to Lama Zopa Rinpoche. But he was not allowed to see Lama Zopa anymore simply because he did not give up his commitment to his guru Zong Rinpoche to practice Shugden. Tsem Rinpoche has been very respectful of Lama Zopa always and yet he is not allowed to see Lama Zopa only for this reason I was told by other ex-FPMT members. That is wrong. Lama Zopa would in the past call by telephone when he was in the Asia region to Tsem Rinpoche or email Tsem Rinpoche to contact him to meet up whenever Lama Zopa was in Singapore or Malaysia. Now Lama Zopa stopped seeing Tsem Rinpoche only because Tsem Rinpoche chooses to follow his guru’s instruction to practice Dorje Shugden. What is the world coming to? Lama Zopa should embrace Tsem Rinpoche and respect him very much. Tsem Rinpoche did nothing wrong.
The good thing is Tsem Rinpoche is peaceful, calm and patient. He never criticizes Dalai Lama or anyone else that attacks him for his practice. He continues his practice and he is brave to continue and openly. Very honest and admirable.
The many wonderful articles in this blogsite inspired me to speak up about FPMT and their unfair discrimination against Dorje Shugden. Many Dorje Shugden lamas and people made pujas, donations (molney/materials/time) and teachings in FPMT to get it to where it is today. All these things should be returned. Don’t reject Dorje Shugden people but keep their gifts and donations.
I hope Tsem Rinpoche lives very long,
Ex-member of FPMT
(Photos Lama Yeshe and Zong Rinpoche. Tsem Rinpoche with Lama Zopa in happier times prior to the ban against Dorje Shugden. I found these photos on the internet.)
Interesting description of a great Master……….Lama Yeshe by his student Champa Legshe. Lama Yeshe received the teachings of both sutra and tantra from a long line of erudite masters such as Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, Kyabje Ling Rinpoche to name a few. Through his establishment of Kopan Monastery, in Kathmandu, he started spreading Buddhism among the westerners. Described by his student as humble, down to earth caring and loving teacher, friendly and many goodness of a highly respected attained Lama for his different approach and modern interpretation of Buddhism. From what I understand after reading Champa Legshe description , Lama Yeshe is definitely a great teacher . And Rinpoche has all the qualities and characteristics as Lama Yeshe … caring, loving, jovial, good- humoured, way of teaching Dharma to his students.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
This is not the picture I believe zLama would have preferred.
Hi Jean, thank you for your comment and welcome to Rinpoche’s blog. I never had the honour to meet Lama Yeshe but I would have assumed since the photo was freely available on the Internet, Lama would’ve been okay for it to be used? I could be wrong!
Having said that, if you have any photos of Lama that you think he would have preferred to be published here, please do send them to elena[dot]khong[at]kechara[dot]com and I can update this post…just remove the [dot] and [at], and replace it with the actual . and @ hehe
By the way, the picture you attached, is that of Bodhgaya?
Lama Yeshe is definitely a great teacher. By reading this article, it reminds me of Tsem Rinpoche as will. Rinpoche always cares for us, engage in activities that would help bond that teacher and student relationship. He is like a teacher, a parent, a friend, and a buddy.
We will always know that Rinpoche is there for us no matter what happens. Even when we are not by Rinpoche’s side, but we will still feel his love, care and concern for us.
In my opinion, I believe that these are the factors to make teachers like Lama Yeshe and Tsem Rinpoche great teachers in the hearts of their students.
I am sorry to hear of the tragedy of your family. I am sorrier still to hear of your affiliation with Shugden.
@Jean Morrissey, I am sorry you crticize the religious freedom of another person. Tsem Rinpoche is a great lama and has no need of your missplaced sympathy for his practice of Dorje Shugden. Lama Yeshe was also a great master, profound practitioner and founder of FPMT and practiced Dorje Shugden his whole life and encouraged us to do the same. He was my guru and he certainly does not need your sympathy because he also practiced Dorje Shugden. Do not criticize another for their religioius choice. It is none of your business. Create harmony and don’t use religion to criticize others. Don’t judge.
Jean Morrissey, please direct your condolences to FPMT too, for having a founder who relied on Dorje Shugden. And while you’re at it, tell them to remove all images of Lama from their altars since he died as a Shugden worshipper and every day, their whole organisation takes refuge in a Shugden practitioner. Thanks!
Why do you come to a Shugden lama’s page and leave a comment like this? If you are sorry to hear of people’s affiliation with Shugden, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and all of Tibetan Buddhism is affiliated with Shugden because His Holiness’ successful escape from Tibet was due to Dorje Shugden’s help, from the advice of Shugden via Panglung Oracle. The old monks from Sera who escaped with His Holiness continue to tell us this.
You can send your sorry message to all these hundreds of teachers and all their students, relatives and friends who are among millions out there: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/dorje-shugden/they-were-not-wrong.html If you visit Chatreng Tibet, you can go to every house and say sorry because our protector is Shugden.
Since His Holiness has said we are free to practice Shugden, please let us practice in peace. Please respect His Holiness’ advice, our human rights and religious freedom.
This article reminds me so much of our very own Guru,Tsem Tulku Rinpoche.Like Lama Yeshe,Rinpoche is also very caring,loving,amusing entertaining,flamboyance and most of all compassionate!Rinpoche used his skillful ways to bring people to Dharma.Our Rinpoche is the mirror version of Lama Yeshe.
Han Taeger lovingly refers to Lama Yeshe as the Hippie Lama and here we have Tsem Tulku Rinpoche our own Cyber Lama/Neon Lama. Both Lama Yeshe and Tsem Rinpoche are indeed bridge builders with unconventional methods to bring the ancient teachings of the Buddha to a modern world. Who can forget Rinpoche’s power packed teaching of Cosmic Tantra (http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/cosmic-tantra.html) and Rinpoche’s series of postcard-teachings. All these efforts were made by Rinpoche so that the Dharma can more easily be received by our polluted minds. One of Rinpoche’s special traits is how close he gets to his students and how close Rinpoche allows his students to get to him in spite of Rinpoche’s strong desire for solitude and practice.
If Lama Yeshe is a Mahasiddha as Rinpoche refers to him, I cannot help but notice that Rinpoche too possesses all the qualities and characteristics of a Mahasiddha. How incredibly fortunate we are.
This may sound surfacing, and I don’t know if you understand my point of view… but to me since today Lama Yeshe and Vadjra Yoghini and “me” seem to be one.
Nevertheless, the point is: I am a committed Hippie, too!
Reading Champa Legshe describtion of Lama Yeshe is like reading an article that could be used in describing our guru Tsem Rinpoche. Whatever unconventional style, his warmth, his attainment, his love and his humanity are same like those we had the good fortune to experience from our guru Tsem Tulku Rinpoche. It could be that like whatChampa Legshe said, “This was a common use and part of a more intensive monastic Buddhist education.” Like Lama Yeshe, our guru is also a very caring, loving teacher and friend. Similarly to the same method used by Lama Yeshe in his “get-close-to-your-student” method which attracted many to the Sacred Dharma, Tsem Rinpoche has in the same way used such method to attract same to the Dharma.
Thank you Rinpoche for posting Lama Yeshe’s biography on your blog. Your method of teaching your students are exactly like Lama Yeshe. The year I met Lama Zopa was the year Lama Yeshe passed away. Lama Zopa had instructed FMPT to send me newsletter re Lama Yeshe’s teachings. I seem to have a a very close affinity and liking for these two Lamas. And I also like to read their teachings. Although Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa have different personalities their teachings are identical. I have not met Lama Yeshe. But I love reading the newsletter from FPMT. After Lama Yeshe passed away I did not receive any more newsletter. How am I going to get continued teachings of Lama Yeshe. Then I got the answer. Our Tsem Rinpoche is an almost close version of Lama Yeshe. I fully agree with all the comments posted about Lama Yeshe and Tsem Rinpoche having same personalities and using them to teach Dharma.
Dear Rinpoche,
Don’t ever ask me to describe you. I will look like I’ve committed plagiarism.
This just proves to me that if we focus on the qualities we want to achieve, we can achieve that. Be it through our yidam, guru or herosssss. This post is such a clear and concise way of explaining this because of the obvious resemblance between Rinpoche and your hero.
I find this concept of Mahasiddhas seriously intriguing and an eye-opener. Many people who don’t understand this will think this is some twisted Buddhist practice! It gives me a sense of relief that a spiritual person does not have to be all so holy smoly to bring dharma to others. Why? Cos I can still be who I am but by being more conscious about my actions, I can also bring dharma to others the way they can connect to.
All the words used to describe Lama Yeshe perfectly describe Tsem Rinpoche. Tsem Rinpoche is our Lama Yeshe, he uses unconventional teachings and methods to his all students, sometimes PEACEFUL way of approach and sometime WRAFTFUL means in order to make the students transform, as long as benefits his student, he will do what ever it takes and will not give up anyone.
What Tsem Rinpoche described about Lama Yeshe perfectly describe Tsem Rinpoche.
To me, Rinpoche is different and not a conservative lama too. Rinpoches types of modern teachings appeals to eastern and western people worldwide, Tsem Rinpoche ‘s blog is one of the very good example.
Tsem Rinpoche has all the good qualities of a great master like Lama Yeshe
In Guru-students relationship, Rinpoche understands and cares every single students he encountered, Tsem Rinpoche truly a Great Mahasiddha.
Reading through Hans Taeger descriptions of Lama Yeshe is just like characterizing our own Tsem Rinpoche. It is a fact that highly attained beings can choose where to incarnate and His environment to benefit sentient beings.
Just like Lama Yeshe, Tsem Rinpoche also uses skillful means to attract students to dharma. During Rinpoche’s younger days, Rinpoche used to do cat walk modeling as Rinpoche has the look and the height of a model, join students for coffee session, movies, karaoke etc. By doing this, Rinpoche is slowing transforming the students’ perception of learning dharma could be fun!
Rinpoche will always joke with everyone at the same time interspersing dharma talk for everyone’s benefit.
We are truly blessed to be near a highly attained lama who always has the welfare of the students in His mind and is always on the look out for us the ‘lost souls’!!
Thank you Rinpoche for being here in Malaysia and creating various opportunities for everyone to get involve in dharma activities. May Rinpoche always be in good and stable health, may KWPC manifest soon to benefit many!!!
Dear Rinpoche,
After reading this article on Lama Yeshe, I thought Hey! Rinpoche is our Lama Yeshe! Everything single thing described in Lama Yeshe’s character is exactly like our Rinpoche hehe. Yes Rinpoche have always always used unconventional methods to reach out to us, to wake us up and to kick us to Enlightenment if need be!
Like back in those days in the old Ladrang, impermanence was taught via changing the look of a room, sometimes rooms in Rinpoche’s house in the middle of the night! It drove our neighbors crazy and by the time the sunrise, we’ve got a whole new look and style in the house. Then next week it was change again cos Rinpoche was bored. Of course Rinpoche was not bored, we all knew by the 3rd time moving things around/painting/rewiring that it is a lesson on non attachment and impermanence on so many levels and for each individual it was different! So don’t resist la, just surrender. It was crazy but at the end of each successful move, we learnt something precious. And the more we let go of our concept of how things should and shouldn’t be, life becomes easier. Thank you Rinpoche – our Lama Yeshe 😉
Although I have never met Lama Yeshe, when I read about him, I feel Lama Yeshe had similarities with our Rinpoche . He is unconventional, flamboyance, amusing, hilarious, modern, entertaining, caring, loving, compassionate, generous, with humanity, skillful and effective in bringing many westerners to Dharma. It clearly shows his enlightened mind will go to any length and process to benefit others.
What we see of FPMT today was mainly the work of Lama Yeshe and later carry on by Lama Zopa. I understand that during the days of Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa was a quiet lama until Lama Yeshe passed away.
If it was not for Rinpoche’s witty, humorous, unconventional, thought provoking Dharma talk that I attended for the first time in 2001, I wouldn’t be here commenting on his blog now. Yes, talk about bringing their level down to ours in order to bring Dharma to the absolute bunch of hopeless nerds. I believe all great lamas who come back to turn the wheel of Dharma now and in future will use whatever means it takes to get their message across to their students.
I have never met lama Yeshe, but heard that he would sit on the beach and spend an afternoon talking Dharma to someone casually, laughing and having a great time together. Someone may ask, shouldn’t a lama be sitting on a high throne to give Dharma talk? That is exactly what I love about Tsem Rinpoche and also Lama Yeshe, their UNCONVENTIONAL ATTIDUDES, GET –CLOSE- TO –THE- STUDENTS- IN- THEIR- ACTIVITIES mentalities, brought more happiness to many of us who may not have a chance to hear about Dharma at all.
May all these great mahasiddas live long and continuously turn the wheel of Dharma.
All the words used to describe Lama Yeshe perfectly describe Tsem Rinpoche as well. It is a characteristic of great mahasiddhas and teachers that they will adapt to the needs of their students, bringing the dharma to them in ways that they are able to understand and accept.
I first met Rinpoche through the book club that was a regular programme at Kechara House back in 2007. The book we were reading was Dragon Thunder and it featured the biography of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche as told by his wife Diana Mukpo.
His WIFE? I was new to Tibetan Buddhism then and the things I read in the book shocked and surprised me to the core. Fortunately I was intrigued enough to want to learn more and the more I heard and understood about the deeds of these skillful masters, the more I realised that we should not judge any of their actions, but look instead at their results and their students.
Lama Yeshe and Chogyam Trungpa were a great teacher, as is Tsem Rinpoche. May more mahasattvas like them emanate in our world. Buddha knows we need them badly.
Lama Yeshe’s work and teachings are so inspiring to me as well. If you watch on Youtube, he doesn’t just use words to teach. It’s almost as if he uses his words, his mannerisms, his hands and even his eyes in order to teach the Dharma to many types of people.
It’s good to read a description of a true master as written by a student who sees the guru’s wisdom and compassion on a regular basis. Great lamas like Lama Yeshe definitely have the power to manifest the qualities of Buddhas, without a doubt.
I have never met Lama Yeshe but I remember reading about him in a book entitled “Reincarnation” by his student Vicki Mackenzie many moons ago way before I met Tsem Rinpoche and Kechara. It brought back many memories of how the teachings of Lama Yeshe elucidated by Vicki Mackenzie had some deep impact on me at that time. Exactly what I can’t recall but I remember reading certain parts of that book over and over again because it affected me so deeply. It was like my bible for a while. On hind sight, that was one of my earlier exposure to Tibetan Buddhism that eventually led me to Tsem Rinpoche and Kechara. I may not have met Lama Yeshe but his enlightened actions conveyed by his students have played a part in leading me to my spiritual path. Strangely enough, Tsem Rinpoche, my guru whom I eventually meet has so many similarity to Lama Yeshe. Talk about one’s affinity manifesting in various forms.
sorry it’s so long!
Pabongka Rinpoche, Trijang Rinpoche, Zong Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa, Tsem Rinpoche and other high reincarnate lamas all have wisdom and compassion plus realizing emptiness. Highly attained lamas display crazy wisdom, some vajra anger, some ‘attachment’ yet not attached.
I am sure all the good qualities of Lama Yeshe described here are as close as can be to describe him.
Tsem Rinpoche is also very similar. The difference is modernization with the advent of mobile phones, SMS, MMS, computers, internet, face book, blog, tweet, email…..These are some of the tools that Tsem Rinpoche uses to teach dharma which I think Lama Yeshe would happily use too if these had been available during his era.
Each month, Tsem Rinpoche sends out thousands of SMS and MMS! And that is just using mobile phone.
Dear Rinpoche,
your kind elucidation of what karmic purification is really does help in taking the pain. From here i realize i will need to train my mind to not balk at small misadventures and small scale suffering as i have a bad habit at looking at things negatively. I would have to keep reminding myself whenever something bad happens that it could be even worse, but thanks to Rinpoche’s blessing, it is manifested now instead of before it gets a lot worse.
If I had not met Rinpoche, i would be naively hiding and avoiding my negative karma, thinking that this way it will not ripen and in the end suffer a great deal more. After reading this teaching, i feel more ready and less shaken by incidents that ‘upset’ my mind. And even if i do ‘fall’, i will pick myself up as i know it is not permanent but temporary.
I had never met Lama Yeshe. My interest in Tibetan Buddhism started after reading one of his books Introduction to Tantra. It was written so clearly that one cannot help being ‘illuminated ‘ by it. I will buy his books wherever I find them in bookshelves.
The short description of Lama Yeshe is poignant because my interest in him was mainly his books , but the profile of him here brings to mind ,the profile of Tsem Tulku Rinpoche, my Guru and Spiritual Guide.
What is not mentioned is whether Lama Yeshe would be like Rinpoche ,just as comfortable as a cyber Lama as he is in Kechara Paradise or Tushita Pureland or anywhere for that matter.
I am very sure if Lama Yeshe is still living today, he will be carrying a lap top ! All Mahasiddhas are one after all.
Lama Yeshe is an intelligent and adaptable lama who lives in the world of his students so that his students can relate better to his teachings. Lama Yeshe used 84,000 skillful means, may they be music, hippie, humor or fun to relate and weave dharma into the lives of his students to benefit them.
Tsem Rinpoche is in many, many ways very similar to Lama Yeshe, in that he also carefully uses skillful means to ensure his students learned the dharma with the most effective method. This shows that our Guru cares and is concern of the wellbeing of his students. One of the many ways to gain knowledge is reading all of Tsem Rinpoche’s blog posts and for us to response back to share our dharma experience.
Terima Kasih Rinpoche!
Yes I used to read some stuff on Lama Yeshe and agree that his methods are ‘unconventional’ to the untrained eye and ears.
I recall reading in the Lotus Sutra and how the Buddha calls Himself as the ‘Father of All Beings’ and how even His manifestation of birth, enlightenment and parinirvana were all provisional as a skillful means to deliver us and His countless other ways to reach out to us, it humbles me that the Buddha, Lama Yeshe and Rinpoche should even deign to come to our level for our sake out of pure love and compassion to deliver us out of this burning triple worlds.
Boundless love and compassion knows no barriers nor end…sadhu!
There was some discussion in the earlier posts regarding Shawn Tay’s fall and Rinpoche’s explanation of such experiences as a result of a blessing. This reminded me of a similar experience I had in China in November 2008. My hosts from the Hebei Normal University took me to the Bai Lin Chan Monastery nearby in Shijiazhuang province. There was a big festival and the temple complex was very crowded. While circumambulating the pagoda, I slipped and fell but I was not hurt. The Chinese believe that small accidents or misfortunes are good signs because they prevent bigger ones from happening. I remember I was praying for Rinpoche and KH. Of course, my fall could simply be due to my being careless and distracted at the time.
I agree that Tsem Rinpoche is like Lama Yeshe in many ways, especially in the way he skillfully teaches his students. Like Lama Yeshe, Rinpoche is also a bridge between the East and the West. I enjoyed reading Hans Taeger’s description of Lama Yeshe, his own spiritual experiences and the discoveries he made. What an interesting life. I think that if I had met a lama in the 1970s when I was a student, I might have had a very different life. In December 1975, I bought the books “The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation” and the Tibetan Book of the Dead” by W.Y. Evans-Wentz. But there were no lamas in Malaysia at the time. So, imagine my happiness when I finally meet a lama and can understand at last those 2 books that I bought 35 years ago.
All the methods of imparting the dharma are cleverly weaved in the way Lama Yeshe and our Rinpoche teach. Both of them are different yet similar in so many aspects. All of Rinpoche’s students can look forward to an evening of serious dharma teaching ingeniously interweaved with jokes, good clean fun amidst some scolding – all to benefit us students in a way that we are receptive. We laugh, we cry, we have our prima donna moments – we are urged and egged on to be “ourselves”, to “come out”. How kind and patient of our Lama to use different methods to reach out to us. Even the gifts we received from Rinpoche reflect our personalities very aptly.
Dear Rinpoche
Thank you for further explanation regarding Shawn’s experience which all of us experienced. I suppose many may have feel how insensitive and uncaring Buddhist can be to make such heartless, uncaring statement as “karma has ripened” to people who are in distress. People likes to hear words along the lines that it’s not their fault..it’s the universe to be blamed for every misfortune… It is hard for people to accept the fact that we ourselves are the creator of all our experiences.
I appreciate Rinpoche’s blogpost reply very much as Rinpoche say the truth of the matter in such a skillful way that I am sure many will find this truth easier to accept.
love
susan
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this blog about Lama Yeshe. How kind and compassionate a guru can be. A guru will do whatever it takes even to ruin His reputation if there’s a chance for Him to wake up his student. There’s no other reason for them to be here other than spreading dharma. Lama Yeshe and Tsem Tulku Rinpoche both are extraordinary being who can manifest into many type of personality in order to attract, tempt and hook in His students’ minds to do dharma. Look at all of us. Non of us is normal. Our guru has to blog, modeling, facebook, tweet, jokes, scream, tease, being gentle, even has to put on weight for of dharma
Wow! I love the description given of Lama Yeshe is just so amazingly apt for such a Mahasiddha as Lama Yeshe. What I really like about it is that he is so multifaceted that so many descriptive words could be used upon a single man. I find a lot of the words are what I would describe Rinpoche too. Hence, I would attempt to describe Rinpoche in my own words here.
I am blessed to have met Rinpoche about 6-7 years ago in the most unconventional ways – at the gym. He was good-looking, intelligent, sharp witted and was so sensitive of other people’s thoughts that he leads many to think him clairvoyant although he denies it and wouldn’t allow anybody to call him that. He is extremely humourous, often conjuring funny made-up conversations, fun and games and often mixing the profound and the profane to shake up our stuffy self-imposed sensibilities.
I always found it amazing that Rinpoche could have everybody’s concern his topmost priority. He could be planning the Dharma future for over 20 student’s (my estimation) simultaneously. He could be screaming at one student to make him learn a very special sacred lesson and he could simultaneously be planning the personal life of another with lots of love and humour via a text message. This is not to mention the many students that are close to him or within the vicinity.
To me, Rinpoche is a mix of Manjushri with his erudite, down-to-earth and insightful teachings and Heruka when he engages with his students according to the Heruka’s moods of wrathful, peaceful, increasing and pacifying actions to develop his students to be leaders, inspiring practitioners and teachers. Then when any of us step out of line or our egos decide to take over, Rinpoche assumes the ferocious Vajrabhairava, to totally subdue our minds into submission to the Dharma
Tsem Rinpoche of course, is the Lama of this new millenium – teaching and touching thousands via the Internet, facebook, Youtube and blog with his invaluable teachings.
Many great Masters have returned to us with the clear motivation to impart the most precious Dharma teaching to us. In their effort to get through to us, who are so deep in our samsaric habituations, these Masters have to adopt all sorts of methods including getting into swimming trunks by the beach. How kind they are! Realizing their sincerity to come down to our level, may we have the merit and wisdom to join them and go up some levels through implementation and conscious effort to uphold the teachings they blessed us with.
The controversial ways Great Lamas like Lama Yeshe and Tsem Rinpoche is in itself a kind method for us to overcome our fixed beliefs about how things should be. Developing the habit to have no limitations from expectations through the wisdom of our kind Gurus does not only create openness in us but also set the foundation for higher practice. How very skillful and long-sighted the kind Gurus are!
When I was reading the many descriptions of Lama Yeshe by his student, I thought of Buddha’s 84,000 teachings! They were created/written to suit different recipients so that the teaching is effective. Because each and everyone of us are different, the same teaching method cannot be applied for all. Therefore, being a Great Mahasiddha, Lama Yeshe applies different methods for different type of audience, they had to be close to them to understand what they think and what makes they tick! so that he can touch their heart with dharma. How Compassionate!
Our Guru has the same compassion for all his students, he jokes, tease, make fun, scold, ‘punish’ whenever he sees fit. His teachings are always funfilled yet carries profound meaning. check out this cool teaching http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gusmXY0DeGo
I’d just like to comment on an extract of the post with reference to a comment made by Sharon:
I agree with Sharon’s comment when she says that the description on Lama Yeshe sounds a lot like Tsem Tulku Rinpoche. *extracted* a pioneering bridge-builder between East and West (Tsem Tulku Rinpoche uses his upbringing in America, combined with Dharma knowledge from Gaden in India to help better relate to Malaysians and those in the world today. By being able to relate better, he makes his students and followers more inclined and inspired to learn and practice Dharma), unorthodox maverick (Tsem Rinpoche encourages people to think for themselves and not just blindly follow, to understand Dharma teachings from a more logical perspective), Buddhist hippie (hehe I would consider Tsem Rinpoche to be more of a Buddhist modernist! :)), thought provoking (when Tsem Tulku speaks and whenever he gives a talk he speaks in such a manner that it makes us really think; whether by asking rhetorical questions or by talking about matters that some people find it uncomfortable to touch upon e.g. the process of death) , sharp thinker and analyst (his many years of debate has kept him on his toes!), intuitive (even a woman’s intuition can’t compare to his!! :P), creative (almost all of the ideas which has made Kechara House into what it is today has been from his own thoughts and ideas), unpredictable (e.g. at times when he’s giving a talk…he suddenly tickles you!! During a talk he’d suddenly start a quiz..or he might break out into a song!), controverse (he’s not your typical bald Lama..just take a look at his modeling picture on the Home page! :P), spontaneous (falls under unpredictability, he would regularly give out pendants and other gifts to people e.g.), individualist (know anyone else like him? He lineage, background, abuse etc makes him not your typical Joe. Everyone is different, but Tsem Rinpoches’ story of what he was like before and after becoming a Rinpoche is unique and captivating), vajra-pride (spiritual pride; Tsem Rinpoche is very proud to be from the lineage that he is in, this rubs off onto his students. Not only about the lineage but to being comfortable with taking on a more spiritual approach in life), stylish (even Karl Lagerfield would be pleased! :P) open-minded (Tsem Tulku has experienced a lot more than most of us has at his age, from being so experienced I feel that it has given him the open-mindedness that people of today welcome with open arms), quick (his speed of thought, speech and results produced in anything that he does, doesn’t shadow ones abilities but shows that being lazy, slow and sluggish leads nowhere), soft but strict (Tsem Tulku can be perceived as being demanding but his students have all seen the soft-side which allows us to understand that the “demanding-ness” all comes from the heart with the motivation to better ourselves), heart-centered (where else would pure motivation come from), rhetoric talent, humorous (watch any one of his YouTube videos and I guarantee that you will laugh!! :P), quick-witted (with humour :)), friend of good food (he knows his food! Mushroom soup with cheese on crackers…mmmm), complex (what we don’t understand makes even what Tsem Rinpoche perceives as simple to be complex), natural sense for beauty (like how Tsem Rinpoche displays in his ‘Tweety gets a Friend?’ post, he has a sense of care and puts in so much thought into the welfare of other beings), bright intelligence (bright, quick, vast, boundless, enlightening, unparalleled intelligence), satirical (witty!), comprehensive magic recources (i don’t understand what this means, sorry :P), human (Tsem Rinpoche always says that he is just like any of us but because he has put in the effort to study and learn the Dharma all the way he has the knowledge to share with us. This is one of the ways that he reminds us that he cuts and bleeds just like any of us and that we all have the ability to reach enlightenment- of which most of us perceive him to already have), powerful (from his clean samaya, keeping of his vow and bright intelligence nothing but the power of the speech and mind can come from that), mischievous (…hahaha very mischievous, Tsem Rinpoche uploaded the ‘chia dancing in the car’ video!!!! :P), dramatic (not so the diva lah! but still dramatic :P), entertaining (a Tsem Tulku dharma talk is never a boring, monotonous one! Although it’s VERY unfair for us to expect to be entertained, Tsem Rinpoche is kind enough to be so, so that we are able to stay alert and receive the knowledge), radiating (metaphorically he radiates confidence and wisdom, physically i remember seeing a photo when i was about 13 where there was a beam of light radiating from his head projecting forward) , charming (there are a few people who have admitted that if he was a monk he would be quite the catch!!! Such is the way silly people like us may think *naughty naughty!*), organizing talent (boundless talent, just look at Kechara. the results speak for itself), self-confident (but always humble and very respectful), adventurous (Tsem Rinpoche is the modern day lama, he ALWAYS tries new things, is not afraid to learn and to push and always better himself) , eccentric (if i had to pick three words to describe Tsem Rinpoche it would be ‘knowledgeable’ ‘attained’ and ‘eccentric’), boyish (this one perhaps..take off the list lah! :P), ready to help (he’s sentient beings 24/7 go-to for help.honestly. he helps financially, psychologically, emotionally and most of all spiritually. A proving example, look at this website. How many people has he helped via his words), generous (continuing from ‘ready to help’, he’s generous enough to take the time and reply some people’s answers on this blog. There aren’t that many lamas, or maybe not at all, who’s as connected to other people through the internet as him. In the past people would have to walk for miles and wait for hours to be able to be in the presence just to ask one question to a Rinpoche. Now? All you have to do is type! We shouldn’t, however, be complacent into thinking that he’s always there to ask frivilous questions), good listener (he has listened to thousands of hours to people with problems, I doubt that a lot of us would put up with it. Honestly!) , reading people’s mind (Tsem Rinpoche would never reveal to us any sort of “magical” or “psychic” powers, but we as students have seen him displaying such abilities), occasionally moody (moody with purpose. Not just a silly b*tch-fit!), honest (perhaps sometimes…brutally honest? Hahaha jk), unconvential (he is the perfect lama for these degenerate times where we lazy folks are appealed to someone whom we can relate with. He should never have to adapt to us but which one of us would give up our “lifestyles”, shave our heads and sit on a cushion for hours on end? The different and the current appeals to us, both of which would be considered ‘unconventional’ because it doesn’t fall into what we expect a high lama such as him to be like.)
The descriptions mentioned above that relates to Lama Yeshe, which I have then added my personal comments to, is not meant to shadow over Lama Yeshe but to show that all the great Mahasiddhas seem to show the same qualities. Right from the great 84 Mahasiddhas, Tsem Tulku Rinpoche illustrates how you can be attained, continue the unbroken Gelugpa lineage of 600 years whilst staying current.
I asked one of my friends whether she has read the post on Trijang Rinpoche and she said ‘oh the guy who was topless by the sea?’ 😛 Such unconventional things appeal and stick in our minds quicker (with all respect to Trijang Rinpoche, of course). Just like Lama Yeshe a lot of people upon sight of Rinpoche ask ‘Why is he so goodlooking?’ or ‘Why is he wearing this and that?’. Thought-provoking, intriguing and unconventional. If it leads people to learn the Dharma, why not?
Great Mahasiddhas.
I was very young when this Lama passed away, he was a legendary figure in terms of his work in reaching out to many westerners who were predominantly involved in the hippie culture back then. Lama Yeshe was one of those very skillful lamas who worked on you at your level. This reminds me about one of His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche’s earlier talks in which he mentioned strongly about the need to protect people’s minds, and to calm people’s minds so you can share the dharma with them.
Lama Yeshe like all compassionate lamas worked with people at that person’s level and he also took consideration of your background which influenced a big part of your personality and your mental make up. To have skill will make our sharing of the dharma that much more effective, so I better train myself to be more aware and conscientious about people’s needs and mental dispositions.
The quirky, wise, compassionate, spontaneous, never-ending love of the lamas!
How rare it is to come across beings like this who will do anything and everything to connect to their students, be it by jokes, wrath, gifts, jokes, hugs, karaoke… you name it!
When I read this description of Lama Yeshe, it felt like I was reading something about my own Guru – every word rang true and right through to my heart. The deep love that this student has for Lama Yeshe is clear too, in the way that he writes so affectionately and with so much insight into his Lama’s many facets.
I loved this so much I just had to blog about it too (http://jamiekhoo.typepad.com/jamiekhoo/2010/06/the-incredible-lightness-of-being.html ) where I’ve shared another really lovely excerpt from writer Kimberly Snow and some personal excerpts from my book “Call Me Paris” about our very own Tsem Rinpoche. (this is not meant to be about me but about our own Lama, and the many dynamic, shape-shifting, versatile moods and faces he adopts for our sake).
Thank you so much for your communication with me. I do not want take anymore of your precious time. I am very honored.
With joy and happiness to learn the teaching from you!
Dear Rinpoche,
Your explanation above on purification by contact is so true. Especially when one is open (e.g. by faith) to the holy person/object.
For me, every time after meeting the hugging saint AMMA, something significant that rocks my world would happen… yet there is the protection and guiding grace to go through that crisis.
Its like going near a powerful magnetic force where one cannot help but be purified. Its painful, its overwhelming, i hope i really have the wisdom to emerge healthy & good!
I am thankful for Rinpoche & also Lama Yeshe’s precious teachings & I am glad to be taking baby steps in Vajrayana… Your Grace, please guide me to correct practice 🙂
Salutations,
YL
Reading you response to me made me cry at first. A deep place in me is being woken up by your teaching and I am very happy deep inside. So much generosity and love are manifesting trough you and towards us. Since yesterday I place Setrap Mantra om maha yaktcha Tsa Soha in front of my computer.I would like to began a discipline to use this mantra daily. How many would you recommend daily and for how long?
Rinpoche, can Palden Lhamo be an Yidam and at the same time a Dharmapala?
can someone get a initiation on Palden Lhamo and practise only Her as Yidam and Protector?
all the best
Thank you for sharing this post on Lama Yeshe. Rinpoche’s qualities are so similar to Lama Yeshe’s! It’s almost like reading a description of Rinpoche! It is all these skilful qualities that make Lama Yeshe and Rinpoche’s teachings so appealing to many.
May Rinpoche and all great Lamas live long and continue to turn the wheel of Dharma to benefit many!
Dear Shawn Tay,
What a powerful and intimate incident. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, a blessing is when we meet a holy being, a blessed statue, stupa, relic, thangka, or have a mala of a blessed person placed on our head, or a puja done for us, MASSIVE AND WONDERFUL PURIFICATION CAN HAPPEN IN THAT WAY. When we suffer the incident of that previously latent karma, then that karma opens. We go through the effects immediately and it will not become BIGGER later and bring more disasterous results. People may think, don’t want it to open, but it has to open, the longer we wait, the bigger it becomes. So if we have it now, at least we are in a ‘controlled’ environment where we can go through the karma with no long term effects.
Better this way. So don’t be afraid. Karma is karma and we created the karma so we have to purify the karma by experiencing it, or by purification practices or both.
The blessing allows it to open immediately and we suffer no long term effects.
I am glad to hear this from you.
Tsem Tulku
Thank you Rinpoche and I feel affection for this post about Lama Yeshe.
In Sept 2008, while I was in Dharamsala, I went to pay my respect to Lama Yeshe in Vajrasattva Gompa at Tushita Centre after reading a book on his teaching. While leaving the Gompa, I slipped and fell on my back and I was in pain for 2 weeks. Some friends told me that my Karma had ripened and it was purification. I was quite irritated with their uncaring comments. However, now looking back, it was a precious blessing from the Lama as I started to get in touch with Rinopche’s teachings after returning from India in Dec 08! I am so thankful to have the chance in this life to be in contact with the holy lineage and teachings.
Indeed Lama Yeshe was a man, teacher, father and mother to many of those during His time. Lama provided a lot of emotional, financial and especially spiritual support for the people then. He became an ‘eye opener’ for many who felt that spiritualism can only be one conventional way. He opened the doors for more people to engage in Dharma in the way that they find most comfortable with.
Tsem Rinpoche held Lama Yeshe high in Rinpoche’s accord. In many talks and Dharma sharing, Rinpoche would tell us stories of Lama Yeshe. It inspires us towards Dharma and helps us cultivate a habit of thinking about our Lama’s Qualities all the time. Which is our practice now for VY in the future.
Thank you Rinpoche, for providing all that we need here.
much love,
JJ
Thank you Rinpoche fr sharing. That reminds me that i have a book on Lama Yeshe’s reincarnation to a spanish boy that i have to finish reading.
Reading through the article about lama yeshe led me to recall content from a sutra regarding chenrezig. In this sutra is revealed that chenrezig will take the necessary forms to deliver beings according to their capability.
I have watched a video of lama yeshe teaching mediation and one point that he immediate point out at the beginning of the video; he said that people now are very samsaric in whatever they do, even mediation is forced (samsaric). This pointed out the defect of our practice and I just think is good to share.
Yes Rinpoche , Lord Setrap is indeed real and very powerful. No doubt about Him ! Because of You its even sooooo.. much stronger now my faith.
Thank you Rinpoche I love this post, love the additional info website yet another great post…about Lama Yeshe the description encapsulates everything that I love about him, his methods and other decriptions I had read about Lama Yeshe from other students. It reminds me of a teaching given by you about what a teacher must do to bring Dharma to students. Wow how lucky we are to make a connection to Gaden’s Mahisiddha’s and teachers through you Rinpoche. Thank you again!
My students, friends and volunteers work very hard. Hard is an understatement. They are so dedicated, loyal and committed that it is amazing.
Some of them, I have to force them to go to sleep many times.
I love them and appreciate my people in Kechara very very very very much.
Many years ago, I prayed to Setrap to send more people to help me as I was alone…it came true. I know more are coming..many more.
I wish you the best Mima,
Tsem Tulku
Oh, I am so grateful to have the chance in this life time to be in contact with you and your amazing teams of students via cyberspace on the internet
With an open heart and endless gratitude and joy!
I am so grateful to have the chance in this life to be in contact with you and your amazing students via the internet! WIth an open heart and endless gratitude!
Dear Mima,
You are very welcome. It does take up alot of time but I think it can enrich lives. So I keep it up.
Much care,
Tsem Tulku
Thank you for this precious blog!