Teachings with Drubpon Tsering Rinpoche, Vienna

Drubpon Tsering Rinpoche's public talk in Vienna

Recently, the new meditation group "Samaya"  has been established in Vienna. It follows the Drikung Kagyu tradition. The group is lead by Drubpon Tsering Rinpoche, a longstanding student of the renown Drikung Kagyu master Garchen Rinpoche. Lama Tsering therefore recently paid a short visit to Vienna. It was the second time he came to town, but the first visit to the new group. 

During the short program (Thursday 3^rd – Sunday 6^th of April, 2014), he offered instructions and an empowerment. Unfortunately, I was only able to attend the first day of the program, the public teaching on Thursday evening. About 30 to 40 people had gathered for this event in the spacious meditation hall. 

Public talk about Love and Compassion

During the public Dharma lecture, Rinpoche talked about "Love and Compassion in our day-to-day life". He explained that the importance of these qualities should be obvious already from the fact that they play a central role in almost all religious systems. He further explained that a mind which is filled with love and compassion for others is naturally peaceful, loving and joyful since it is unperturbed by mental afflictions. 

With Lama Tsering Rinpoche in Pärnu, Estonia

Loving kindness and compassion can be developed through meditation. By habituating oneself with these qualities, we will eventually gain the superior intention of benefiting others, and develop bodhicitta, the awakening mind. As a result, all one’s actions will be motivated by loving kindness and compassion. Thus, training in these qualities leads to benefit for both oneself and others. 

Collaboration between KIBI and Mewar University

The Karmapa International Buddhist Institute

The Karmapa International Buddhist Institute (KIBI) is probably well-known to readers of this blog. Just recently I had written a sequence of posts about it (part 1, part 2). Founded by the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa in 1979, KIBI is renown for combining the best of both the Western academic approach and traditional Buddhist education. Therefore, KIBI's academic staff consists of Tibetan Buddhist masters and Western scholars.

Gyalwa Karmapa and Prof. Sempa Dorje with Mr. Ashok Kumar Gadiya, the Chairman of Mewar University

 

KIBI's Diploma Course goes BA

KIBI recently announced the collaboration for a joint program with the prestigious Mewar University, Rajasthan. The private University is run by the Mewar Education Society under the leadership of Shri Ashok Kumar Gadiya, and has been set up by the Government of Rajasthan as a private University in 2009. Due to this collaboration, KIBI's Diploma course could be transformed into an offical BA degree course. There is also wonderful news for foreign students: KIBI students will be eligible for Indian student visas from now on.

Group picture with Gyalwa Karmapa at KIBI

The Collaboration has already been announced on the websites of Mewar University and the Karmapa International Buddhist Society (KIBS). Further information about the upcoming program will soon be available here.

 

 

Problems within Tibetan translations from Sanskrit - Peter Alan Roberts

I would like to draw your attention to the following upcoming lecture: Dr. Peter Alan Roberts will speak on "Problems within Tibetan translations from Sanskrit" at the Institute for South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies (ISTB), University of Vienna. The lecture is a part of the program for Buddhist Translation Studies at the ISTB.

Problems within Tibetan translations from Sanskrit

Dr. Peter Alan Roberts

The lecture will discuss examples of some defects in Tibetan translations from Sanskrit and their causes: corruption in the text of the Sanskrit manuscripts available to the translators, subsequent faulty copying of the Tibetan text, errors or lack of clarity in translation. The texts that will be referenced are the Kāraṇḍavyūha, Karuṇāpuṇḍarīkasūtra, Aparimitāyurjñānasūtra, Daśabhūmikasūtra, Mahāmudratilakatantra, and Maitripa’s Amanasikāroddeśa.       (Source: ISTB)

Dr. Peter Alan Roberts is a Senior Translator for "84000-Translating the Words of the Buddha", and authored/translated among others the following books:

- Mahamudra and Related Instructions: Core Teachings of the Kagyu Schools (Library of Tibetan Classics)

- The Biographies of Rechungpa (Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism)

Please, visit the homepage of the institute for more information on this and further public lectures.

Recent teachings with Trehor Lama at the Bodhi Path, Renchen-Ulm

Personal Note

Let me start with a personal note. If you followed this blog during the past few weeks, you might have noticed that there has been a drop in the frequency of blog posts. The main reason for it wasn’t a lack of ideas or enthusiasm. It was simply due to being very busy with working and traveling. 

Unfortunately, this situation is not going to change for some more weeks, but I will try my best to update this blog whenever I find some spare time. Writing blog posts has generally been a great source of joy during the past months - so, don't worry, this blog will keep going...

With Trehor Lama in Renchen-Ulm

Trehor Lama, Bodhi Path Renchen-Ulm

During the past years, I had the fortune to accompany Trehor Lama several times to the Bodhi Path Buddhist center in Renchen-Ulm. Each of these visits has been a source of great inspiration and happiness. This time, the topic of the course was again very promising: "How does one become a Bodhisattva?". The teachings did not fall short of anyone's expectations. Following from here,you will find a short summary of some of the major points Trehor Lama made. Some of the points may be essential for Dharma practice. They will of course be mixed with my own thoughts about the subject. 

Develop confidence in our own mind!

During the first session, Trehor Lama stressed the importance of developing confidence in our own mind and its inherent qualities. Even though there are many Buddhist teachings that prove the non-existence of a truly existent, permanent mind, these are not meant to annihilate the most subtle workings of our mind, i.e. our Buddha nature.