Pathgate News

Free Offer of HH Penor Rinpoche Thangka Posters

Working under the compassionate guidance of Venerable Lama Dondrup Dorje, students of the Pathgate Institute of Buddhist Studies had produced a thangka of the late Holiness Penor Rinpoche in the summer of 2007. Upon completion, the thangka was shown to HH Penor Rinpoche, who was very pleased with the result. To the best of our knowledge, this is the only thangka of the late Holiness Penor Rinpoche that had been seen and approved by His Holiness personally before he passed away last year.

At the forty-nine days Parinirvana Grand Ceremony of HH Penor Rinpoche at the Namdroling Monastery in 2009, several thousand of these thangka posters of HH Penor Rinpoche were distributed to the ordained sangha there during one of the weekly Mandala Offerings made by Venerable Lama Dondrup Dorje to the Kudung (holy body) of his Root Guru.

Due to numerous requests from around the world, this thangka poster, which is of A3 size, is now being made available post-free to the devotees of HH Penor Rinpoche worldwide. To receive your copy of the thangka poster, please contact the Pathgate Office by sending an email with your postal address to: contact@pathgate.org. This thangka poster is distributed post-free without any charges, but if you wish to make an offering to support this and other Pathgate projects for the welfare of the greater many, please click Make a Donation.

Farewell to Anger

Seeking only our own happiness and pleasure, we fill our minds with all kinds of distractions and wrong views, but the more we find that these fail to deliver the result we desire, the more cynical, unhappy and angry we become.

In the latest Audio Teaching, ‘Farewell to Anger’, Venerable Lama Dondrup Dorje explains that it is common for ordinary beings to practise self-denial rather than acknowledging their own mistakes. When the mind is wholesome, every living cell in the body will also be wholesome, but when the mind is busy entertaining that which is false and impure, afflictive emotions and sickness of the body naturally arise. Relying upon the fixation of conceptual ideas will only bring more suffering to our lives; but when we strive to emulate the conduct of the great Bodhisattvas by following the path of Bodhicitta, we gain the opportunity to liberate ourselves from the unwholesome attachment to worldly distraction and emotional turmoil, and in so doing, attain a state of happiness and lasting harmony.

Seeing that no one has ever liberated themselves by their own effort alone, the Bodhisattva who seeks enlightenment relies on the instruction of their guru with perfect devotion. Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje gives the example of the disciple whose master drags him from his bed by his hair in the middle of the night, and in so doing skilfully removes the last bit of anger from his mind.

To listen to this and other Audio Teachings, or to download them as MP3, please visit Audio Teachings by Lama Dondrup Dorje.

How To Become The Same As Buddha

The Audio Teaching of 'How to Become the Same as Buddha' by Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje is a continuation from ‘Return to the Right Path’, and describes how the essence of Buddhism is in developing the same perfect conduct, the same big compassion, the same big wisdom and the same big courage as Lord Buddha. Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje explains that the true nature of humans is of goodness - all beings have that, but we have the habit of allowing ourselves to get distracted by other fixations. For this reason it is important that we strive to purify our mind, to move away from that which is of obscuration, from that which is not helpful and return to that which is helpful for all beings.

Buddhist practice, Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje emphasises, is not about asking Buddha to rescue us, but rather it is about rescuing ourselves through following the teachings of Buddha. It is only through purifying our minds that we can bring peace to our own mind and thus in turn bring peace to the minds of others.

To listen to this and other Audio teachings, or to download them as MP3, please visit Audio Teachings by Lama Dondrup Dorje.

Pathgate Help Saved KPC Temple

Kunzang Odsal Palyul Changchub Choling (KPC) is a Vajrayana Buddhist organization founded by Jetsunma Akhon Norbu Lhamo to uphold the Palyul Lineage of the Nyingma tradition in the west. The KPC Temple at Poolesville, Maryland, USA, is located in the rural Montgomery County, a pleasant half-hour drive from Washington, D.C. It has a Prayer Room which houses the main Altar, a Dharma Room which serves as the Teaching Hall, and a Crystal Gallery with an extensive collection of crystals. Located in the temple grounds and in the 65-acre Peace Park opposite the temple, are thirty magnificent Stupas which have been blessed by the late Holiness Penor Rinpoche.

Having been established for over twenty-five years, the mortgage on the temple property had already been paid off, but the Peace Park across the road from the KPC Temple continued to carry a mortgage that was financed by a mortgage-backed line of credit, with the temple property used as collateral. Due to the current economic down turn, KPC have been falling quite a bit behind in payments to the bank. Unexpectedly, the credit note was called in by the bank on the 24th April and KPC was given just 5 days to raise the $250,000 US dollars needed to prevent its property and assets being seized by the bank. On the 27th April, Ani Tenzin Wangmo, a KPC nun in Australia emailed Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje and requested his help in this matter. Meanwhile, a fund-raising telethon was organised by the KPC on the same evening and the pledges of donation they received that night reached $108,000 US dollars, but it was still quite far from the target they were aiming for. If the full amount of $250,000 US dollars could not be raised and presented to the bank by the morning of the 30th April, the KPC Temple would be lost and therefore the compassionate activity of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche in helping Jetsuma establishing the KPC Temple would also be lost.

Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje, who has been entrusted by his Root Guru the late Holiness Penor Rinpoche with the responsibility of taking charge of the largest Palyul Ordained Sangha in Europe, has always maintained his only mission in life is to promote and preserve the Dharma activities of his Root Guru Penor Rinpoche. On hearing the plight of the KPC and recognising the imminent threat that the KPC Temple, which had been blessed by numerous visits of the late Holiness Penor Rinpoche, was on the verge of being lost to the bank, Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje immediately took steps to offer financial help to the KPC by diverting money to the KPC from the Pathgate Centre Fund, which was due to be used in paying off the mortgage for the main Pathgate Dharma Centre, in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Wishing to encourage the many supporters of KPC around the world to play a bigger part in the fund raising effort, Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje offered to match the amount pledged by donors during the final night of fund-raising telethon on the 28th April. Being aware that this effort may still not be sufficient, Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje also offered to top up the difference in the short fall of donation that was needed to reach the total amount of $250,000 US dollars, to ensure the future of the KPC Temple is secured.

The following day, in response to the request made by the directors of KPC to have $250,000 US dollars in cash ready for the bank on the morning of 30th April, the amount of $117,000 US dollars was diverted by express transfer from the Pathgate bank account in the UK to the KPC bank account in the USA on the afternoon of the 29th April.

When asked why he has no hesitation in diverting the money meant for the mortgage repayment of his own Dharma Centre to support KPC at such short notice, Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje replied simply that he is only carrying out his duty to preserve the Dharma Activities of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche for he regarded the establishing of KPC as the extension of his Root Guru Penor Rinpoche’s Enlightened Activities and as such, it deserves the right to be preserved for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Yu Shu Earthquake

On April 14th at 7:49am, an earthquake measuring 7.1 struck the Yushu Tibet Autonomous Prefecture located in Qinghai, the traditional Tibetan province of Kham; the birth place of the late Holiness Penor Rinpoche. The population of the area is 98% Tibetan. Official figures report 2,220 dead and over 12,000 injured with many people still missing.

Worst hit was the city of Kye Ku Do (Jiegu) where many buildings were heavily damaged. To the north and west of the city, 90% of the poorly built mud homes lived in by most Tibetans were destroyed. Makeshift camps were set up in open clearings, where many people escaped to with only the clothes on their backs, many in night wear and without shoes. Residents were unable to re-enter their homes more than a week later due to the fear of safety. The weather has added to the difficulties of the homeless survivors with strong winds, snow fall and overnight temperatures dropping well below zero.

Thousands of monks from both local monasteries and monasteries at neighbouring provinces arrived in their masses to assist in the relief effort of recovering survivors and the dead from the wreckage. Due to the large number of casualties and the unsanitary conditions, it was decided that traditional burial practices would not be possible and a mass cremation according to Buddhist custom was held instead.

One week after the earthquake, China held a day of national mourning for victims of the disaster. Newspapers were printed only in black and white, websites drained their pages of colour, Chinese flags flew at half mast and three minutes of silence was held across the nation.

The Palyul mother monastery in Tibet was close to the epicentre and though the earthquake was felt there, there was no damage to the buildings and no casualties. Everyone at Pathgate Institute offers our heart-felt prayers to those caught up in this tragedy.

UK Retreats Attract International Sangha

The recent UK Retreats during the Easter holiday and the May Day public holidays attracted students not merely from the UK but also students from a diversity of countries of origin such as France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Netherlands, Ireland, Mexico, Iran, Russia, Serbia, Poland, New Zealand, China and Singapore.

At the four-day Easter Retreat, Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje continued the teaching on ‘The Bodhisattva Way of Life’. He began by describing how, in the ocean of samsara we are constantly swaying back and forth between embracing Bodhicitta - the aspiration to free all living beings from suffering - and the habitual attachment to afflictive mental activities. It is the presence of these Three Poisons of grasping, aversion and ignorance that bring harm to everything we touch, and which robs both ourselves and others of the welfare and benefit of ever attaining liberation. This is why the greatest service we can do for all beings is to purify our mind.

In the three-day May Day Retreat, Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje continued his discourse on the Dharmapada Sutra. After giving further commentary on the first 9 chapters, Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje continued with in-depth explanation of the 10th and 11th chapters on ‘Punishment’ and ‘Old age’. Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje encouraged students not to waste their lives, explaining that the human birth is extremely rare and precious, for it offers us the body in which we can attain liberation from suffering. We should not give in when faced with challenging situations in this life, but instead use them to temper our minds.

As always, Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje’s commentary at both retreats were full of real-life examples and individual guidance to students on how to implement Dharma practice in their daily lives in order to bring out the best in others and from every situation they encounter, whether dealing with difficult situations at work or communicating mindfully with those around us.

The next UK Retreat is the three-days Spring Holiday Retreat on the Bodhisattvacharyavatara. It will take place from 29th to 31st May 2010 at the Pathgate Dharma Centre, Newcastle Upon-Tyne. Only students who have attended the previous teaching will be eligible for this retreat, but Ven. Lama Dondrup Dorje will again give public teachings at the beginning of each day which are open to all. For details please visit the Teaching Schedule.

1st Anniversary of HH Penor Rinpoche’s Parinirvana

To commemorate the First Anniversary of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche’s Parinirvana, a Grand Ceremony comprising five days of puja was held at the Namdroling Monastery in India from 14th to 18th March 2010 (29th day of the 1st Tibetan Lunar Month to the 3rd day of the 2nd Tibetan Lunar Month, of the Year of the Iron Tiger 2137). Many Palyul students from around the world made the journey to India to join the ordained sangha at Namdroling Monastery during the five-day Grand Puja.

Elsewhere around the world, every Palyul Centre was hosting special practices to cater for the need of the local sangha wishing to participate during this special occasion. Likewise the Palyul Centres and Study Groups under the care of Venerable Lama Dondrup Dorje in Europe and Australia were all involved in full-day practices during the five days period of the Grand Puja. At the main seat of Palyul Nyingma Buddhist Association (UK) based at Pathgate Dharma Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, the first practice of each day commenced at 6.00 am followed by Dorje Sempa (Vajrasattva purification) in the mid-morning, Shitro (100 Peaceful and Wrathful Deities) in the afternoon and Lama Choepa Puja in the evening. All the Centres reported good turn out of local sangha participating in this special anniversary.

To see how the Grand Puja for the First Anniversary of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche’s Parinirvana was commemorated in Namdroling Monastery, please visit the Pathgate Gallery.

First Colour Photograph of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche In India

To commemorate the First Anniversary of the Parinirvana of His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, the Pathgate Gallery has been expanded with a number of photographs featuring HH Penor Rinpoche, including many rare early prints such as the very first colour photograph of HH Penor Rinpoche taken at Namdroling Monastery in India.

To view the photos, please visit Pathgate Galleries - His Holiness Penor Rinpoche.

A New Film on HH Penor Rinpoche's Parinirvana Puja Ceremonies

New to the Dharma Theatre is a 39-minute film, Tsa Wai Lama Chen, which covered the events during the Mahaparinirvana Puja Ceremonies for H.H. Penor Rinpoche at Namdroling Monastery last year. Produced by Lopon Rapjee Wangchuk, a personal attendant of the late Holiness Penor Rinpoche, it featured footage filmed inside the house of His Holiness and the proceeding of the 49-day puja. It also documented the unusual occurrence of many extraordinary phenomena during the 49-day period such as the sudden change in the facial features of the Guru Rinpoche statue in the Zangdok Palri Temple from that which was wrathful to that of deep sorrow two days after His Holiness released his body from the meditative state of Thugdam; numerous appearances of rainbows around the monastery at various times and many other astonishing sights.

To view this film, please click Dharma Theatre.

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