Gentle Voice March 2015

March 2015 In This Issue

Editor's welcome

Friends Scheme Q&A with Lama Yeshe This Month at Jamyang Geshe Tashi's column Great Prayer Day The Director's Column Lama Zopa in Holland Venerable Anie returns Coming up this Spring Community News

Orchids from Kew Gardens annual exhibition Dharma Bites: The Benefits of Meditating on Reality Poetry Corner Landof Joy Programme FPMT Annual Review Tibet News Opportunities for Service around the FPMT About FPMT Your Thoughts for Gentle Voice

Quick Links Jamyang Website Current Programme Talking Buddhism The Foundation Study Course

Dear friends, What a short month this has been. Scarcely 28 days since the last month and every year that astonishing fact still catches me out. I take it as a lesson on how difficult it is to challenge our normal preconceptions. I expect I will wake up one day in the bardo thinking, "Gosh, is it that time in cyclic existence again?"

We have an early view of some of the programme coming up this Spring so that you can set aside time in your schedules. We also print Lama Yeshe's superb down to earth answer to the question, what is karma? Don't miss the equally precious advice from Guru Rinpoche in the Dharma Bites section, and for all you yoga practitioners we have a specially selected poem on how to practice.

Do enjoy this edition of Gentle Voice and keep happy.

Become a Friend of Jamyang The Lamrim Chenmo Study Course FPMT

Help Jamyang stay afloat with a regular donation to the Jamyang Friends scheme. A regular donation is the best way to help keep Jamyang going. It's amazing how even modest contributions from a few hundred individuals can make all the difference.

As well as the vast merit you will receive by helping to spread the Dharma, there are also some more worldly perks on offer, a free quarterly Mandala magazine, discounts, etc. So if you can spare around ÂŁ15 a month to help us stay afloat we would be very appreciative. You can find all the information about the Friends Scheme and how to become a member by following this link.

Jamyang Friends Sceme Alternatively you can make a one-off donation by following this link.

Donate to Jamyang Many thanks!

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Lama Yeshe Answers Questions In 1975 Lama Yeshe gave a talk at Melbourne university. We thought you would like to see how he answered the following question.

Q. Lama, could you please talk a little about karma.

Lama. Sure: you are karma. It's that simple.

Actually, karma is a Sanskrit word that, roughly translated, means cause and effect.

What does that mean? Yesterday something happened in your mind; today you experience the effect. Or, your environment: you have certain parents, you live in a certain situation, all that has an effect on you. As you go through life, every day, everything you do, all the time, within your mind there's a constant chain of cause and reaction, cause and reaction; that's karma. As long as you're in your body, interacting with the sense world, discriminating this is good, that is bad, your mind is automatically creating karma, cause and effect. Karma is not just theoretical philosophy, it's science, Buddhist science. Karma explains how life evolves; form and feeling, colour and sensation, discrimination; your entire life, what you are, where you came from, how you keep going, your relationship with your mind. Karma is Buddhism's scientific explanation of evolution. So, even though karma is a Sanskrit word, actually, you are karma, your whole life is controlled by karma, you live within the energy field of karma. Your energy interacts with another energy, then another, and another, and that's how your entire life unfolds. Physically, mentally, it's all karma. Therefore, karma isn't something you have to believe in. Because of the characteristic nature of your mind and body, you are constantly circling through the six realms of cyclic existence, whether you believe in karma or not. In the physical universe, when everything comes together - earth, sea, the four elements, heat and so forth effects automatically result; there's no need for belief to know this happens. It's the same thing in your internal universe, especially when you're in contact with the sense world; you're constantly reacting. For example, last year you enjoyed delicious chocolate with much attachment but haven't had any since, so you miss it badly, "Oh, I'd really love some chocolate." You remember your previous experience of chocolate, that memory causes you to crave and grasp for more.

That reaction to your previous experience is karma; the experience is the cause, the missing is the result. It's actually quite simple.

Reproduced from "Make Your Mind an Ocean" by Lama Yeshe Return to Contents

CLASSES AND EVENTS IN MARCH AND APRIL AT JAMYANG Full information about these and all our events can be found here on the Jamyang Website CLASSES and RETREATS with GESHE TASHI

WEEK DAY EVENINGS AND AFTERNOONS

Middle Length Lamrim Wednesdays until 18th March at 7:30

Buddhist Meditation: Beautiful Minds Mondays to 30 March 7.30.

Teachings on Emptiness: middle length Lam Rim -Superior Insight 7 March 10am - 5pm

Heart Practices for Death and Dying with Jo Gillibrand and John Bonell Tuesdays 3 Feb to 31 March 7:30pm.

Great Prayer Day Thursday 5 March 8am - 5pm Shamata Morning Sunday 8 March 10am - 1pm Community Dharma Sunday 8 March 2 - 4

Meditation for Beginners with David Ford 12 Mar, 9 April 7.30pm Vajrasattva Practice with Mike Murray. Wednesdays 25 Mar, 1, 8 April 7.30pm

Easter Compassion Retreat Good Friday 3 April, Sat 4 April (with 8 Mahayana Precepts), Sun 5 April (finishing with a shared lunch at 1pm) Fri 9am - 5pm, Sat 8am - 5pm (precept lunch at 11.30am), Sun 9am - 1pm

Mindfulness. Really? with Mike Murray Tuesday14 and 21 April 7.30pm

VISITING TEACHERS AND WEEKEND TEACHINGS

Kindness with Robin Bath Mondays 13, 20 April 7.30pm

Mind and Cognition with Tenzin Josh (can be taken as part of the Basic Programme) Weekends Sat 28 Feb & Sun 1 Mar, Sat 28 & Sun 29 Mar 10am - 5pm registered students only Vajrasattva Retreat with Venerable Robina Courtin Weekend Sat 21 and Sun 22 March 10am - 6pm Sublime Continuum with Andy Wishreich 18, 19 April (can be taken as part of the Basic Programme)

Vajra Cutter Sutra with John Bonell Wednesdays 15, 22, 29 April 7.30pm

Mahayana Mindfulness With Mike Murray Monday 27 April 7.30pm Lunchtime Meditation Thursdays 1 - 2pm Silent Meditation Thursdays weekly 6.15 - 7.15pm Tara Puja Tuesdays at 4.30pm Medicine Buddha Puja Tuesdays at 6pm

PRACTICE GROUPS

COMMUNITY

Insight Meditation Practice Group 14 March, 11 and 25 April 10.30- 12.30pm Open to all

Community Dharma Sunday 8 March 2 - 4 Jamyang Walk Saturday 25 April

Guhyasamaja Practice Group Saturdays 28 March, 11 April 2 - 5pm for initiates only Vajrayogini Practice Group Sundays 1, 29 March and 12, 26 April For initiates only Kalachakra Practice Group Sat 14 March, 25 April 2 - 5pm For initiates only

Chi Kung and Tai Chi Monday evenings taught by William Walker.

For more information and to book call William (follow the link above) Satyananda Yoga Tuesday evenings taught by Judy Watchman For more information and to book call Judy (follow the link above)

SPECIAL EVENTS Great Prayer Day Thursday 5 March 8am - 5pm

Gentle Vinyassa Flow Wednesday 6:00pm to 7:15pm

Hridaya (Heart Centre) Yoga Taught by Naz Wednesday evenings 7.30pm For more information please call Naz (follow the link above)

Please book for all weekend classes or retreats other than practice groups online if you can.

If you can't call the office on 02078208787 or email admin@jamyang.co.uk

Chair Yoga Taught by Cathy Brebion Tuesdays 10.30am - 11.30am Meditation and Yoga for Mind and Body Fridays 6.45-7.45PM For more information please call Nicolette (follow the link above) COMING SOON Special Insight with Geshe Tashi weekend 16, 17 May

You can drop in to all evening classes unless we state otherwise

Andy Weber Art Workshop 29 - 31 May Return to Contents

Geshe Tashi's column Hello Everybody, Well Spring is nearly upon us and that is always a good feeling. That feeling of the sun warming your face for the first time in the year is one of the pleasures of life. We should enjoy these simple pleasures, but enjoy them for what they are, without adding any attachment or value judgements. It is better not to enjoy by comparing them to how unpleasant we found the cold or the wet weather.

That way we can enjoy without increasing our attachment, without increasing our long-term suffering!

I am enjoying my Wednesday classes studying the middle length Lamrim text by Lama Tsongkhapa and I am looking forward to restarting my Tuesday classes in May. The subject is one that we have been reading together before. This is the Buddha Nature as explained in the Uttara Tantra, or the Sublime Continuum, by Maitreya. I have also decided to extend the series of classes that I am giving on Special Insight as I think we need to really go through these teachings in a methodical and careful manner and we will need more time. So there will be an additional weekend on this next term.

I am also very pleased that we have some excellent visiting teachers coming to Jamyang in the coming months. I would encourage you all to make the time to meet these teachers and learn with them. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is also coming to the UK this June, though he will not be giving any public talks. So I encourage you all to keep on practicing. As His Holiness says practicing the good heart. If you combine a good attitude in your daily life, an attitude with a good heart, with receiving teachings and practicing these teachings, then that is a very productive way to spend your life.

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Great Prayer Day Thursday, 5th March Great Prayer Day/ Day of Miracles Thursday 5 March, 8am - 5pm.

Geshe Tashi will attend part of the day.

On this day, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of the Tibetan New Year we recall the Buddha's great display of miraculous powers at Sravasti in ancient India in the 5th century B.C. and Tsongkhapa's setting up of the Great Prayer festival in Lhasa in the 15th century A.D. We celebrate with a day of puja and prayer and, if you want the taking of the Mahayana training of the Eight

Mahayana Precepts, which are held for 24 hours.

The Eight precepts are: No killing; No stealing; No lying; No intoxicants i.e. things that dull the clarity and brightness of the mind; No sexual activity; No activities that increase arrogance; No activities that increase attachment; and No eating after noon.

We will offer a free vegetarian lunch at 11.30 am.

This will be made according to the dietary restrictions of the Kriya Tantras, i.e. avoiding meat, eggs, alcohol, onions, garlic and radishes all of which are considered either to pollute the body or to excite sexual desire energy (yes we know that might not be immediately obvious, but that is what we are told) and so affect the mind.

The programme for the day will look like this: 08.00 Motivation and Mahayana Precepts 09.15 Shakyamuni Buddha puja 10.15 Tea break 10.30 Vajrassatva, Buddha of purification, puja 11.30 Lunch 13.00 Refuge (only for those who have previously discussed this with Geshe Tashi and got his agreement to them participating in the ceremony) 14.00 Chenrezig, Buddha of Compassion ,puja 15.00 Silent meditation 16.00 Tara, the Liberating Goddess Buddha, puja and dedications.

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Director's Column Losar has passed - happy Tibetan New Year! It has been a very mild winter here in London but March can still be a very frustrating month. The spring equinox is so near, yet the ever present possibility of unpredictable, sharp and dramatic changes in the weather remains. Yet, for now, it is clear, bright and sunny. The daffodils that became a crowd and a host for Wordsworth in his lonely cloud-like poetic wanderings are fast pushing their buds up through the damp earth and will soon be "Fluttering and dancing in the breeze".

Tenzin Josh gets March off to a great start this Sunday with another Basic Programme session on Minds and Mental factors, throughout the month, meditation makes for Beautiful Minds every Monday evening, John and Jo continue with Practices for Death and Dying on Tuesdays. On Wednesdays we

have Geshe-la's precious series of Middle Length teachings. As it says on our can, Lam Rim is not something that you just listen to once or twice, do a couple of times, and then put on the top shelf having 'ticked the box'. Lam Rim is for Life. It always repays revisiting regularly. Do join Geshe-la as he journeys through the Lam Rim, taking time to explain and contemplate the profound transformative insights transmitted by the tradition.

For a number of years now Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche has been emphasising that in order to really be of benefit for others we need not only to know the meditations of the Lam Rim but to also familiarise deeply with them so that their insights become a part of the very fabric of our minds. This is our chance.

Next Saturday Geshe-la is also teaching in depth on the Superior Insight section of Lama Tsongkhapa's Middle Length Lam Rim. This text is rightly considered as the most subtle and refined presentation of his view of emptiness in the Prasangika Madhyamaka system and what that means for practice. Correct experiential understanding of emptiness is what frees us and others from samsara, the repetitive cycle of being unenlightened. On the Sunday Geshe-la is leading a Shamata morning and hosting Community Dharma for families in the afternoon.

The Venerable Robina is here on the weekend of the 21 & 22nd to lead a Vajrasattva Retreat. Vajrasattva Practice is a really powerful tool for helping us to move on from being mired in the consequences of our unskilful actions of the past that have left unhelpful taints and propensities in our mindstreams and hold us back from experiencing the bliss of freedom and enlightenment for the sake of all.

On the final weekend, Tenzin Josh closes the month as he started it with another Basic Programme session on Mind and Cognition.

The Cafe is thriving, Maria has joined the team from Spain as the resident yogini and Sabrina, Aisha and Krista on the hospitality team take us through to the spring. The garden is beginning to burst into bud. As the days get longer and the weather warmer, come and spend some time there and enjoy some refreshment with us. There is still a lot of work to do on the building and we really need the funds to sustain it - if you have not already done so, think about becoming a Friend of Jamyang to help us with this.

We saw our very special Venerable Barbara off to Land of Joy last week - our loss is very much their gain. Party, cake, poem and lion! We will miss her a lot but wish her well, will keep in touch and she will be back here in August for the Vajrayogini retreat.

Great time of the year to turn the mind to planning retreat - check out the Land of Joy programme and consider getting away to listen, reflect, practice and actualise the unmistaken teachings of the Buddha for the benefit of all sentient beings.

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Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Holland this July A reminder that Lama Zopa will be back in Europe this summer. He will be at the Maitreya Institut, Loenen in the Netherlands.

It's a great programme that currently stands as follows: July 11 - 12 Teachings on the Essence of the Kadam July 13 - 19 Heruka Five Deities Initiation July 20 Long Life Puja Full details on the Maitreya Institut website www.maitreya.nl/loenen-lama-zopa-2015.htm

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Venerable Angie Muir Returns to Jamyang in April Yes, Venerable Angie has kindly agreed to make space to visit Jamyang London as part of her incredibly full UK and European tour in April and May 2015. We are enormously grateful for her kind offer and it will be lovely to see her again.

Over the evenings of the 23 and 24th of April Venerable Angie Muir will look at the practice of Buddhist tantra and how it can transform our experience right now, let alone in the future. She will base her two talks on the book Introduction to Tantra, by the Lama Thubten Yeshe the founder of Jamyang London.

Venerable Angie Muir will lead the Tara and Medicine Buddha Pujas and Lama Choepa at Jamyang in the smaller temple.

Tuesdays 14 April Tara Puja at 4.30pm and Lama Choepa Puja at 6pm Tuesday 21 April Tara Puja at 4.30pm and Medicine Buddha Puja at 6pm.

Come along and catch up with her. She is a lovely person and the ideal person to question about all levels of practice and meditation.

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Coming up this Spring Here are some of the highlights from our programme in the next few months.

Easter Compassion Retreat Good Friday 3 April, Sat 4 April (with 8 Mahayana Precepts), Sun 5 April (finishing with a shared lunch at 1pm) Join with Geshe Tashi in working to develop those positive emotions. A beautiful way to spend Easter.

Vajrasattva Retreat with Venerable Robina Courtin Weekend Sat 21 and Sun 22 March 10am 6pm Practice the Buddha of purification with the inimitable Venerable Robina.

Special Insight Geshe Tashi will be continuing his teaching on Special Insight from the middle length Lamrim. In these classes, Geshe Tashi is very carefully explaining how to approach the understanding of emptiness. That is very special indeed. The classes will take place over the weekend of the 16 and 17 May. This will replace the teachings on Dependent Arising which are advertised in the printed programme (when available).

Buddha Nature Weekends 18/19 April, 13/14 June and 11/12 July 9am - 6pm each day Andy Wistreich and Shan Tate: Sublime Continuum, Buddha Nature (A stand alone module of the Basic Programme) What in us gives us the capacity to break free from samsara and become a fully enlightened Buddha truly capable of helping others also break free from samsara. What is it? How does it operate? Is it something we have to acquire or is part and parcel of our very being ?

You need to register for all three weekends, as this this is not a drop in course.

Please visit the website entry for the April weekend and register there.

For those doing the Basic Programme at London (registration for which is now closed) please note that Andy is teaching on one of the required study texts for the course.

Don't Just do something, sit there!

Natascha Bolonkin and Anne Swindell Saturdays 2 and 9 May 10am - 5pm each day A facilitated course over two days introducing students to the basics of

meditation through the FPMT Introductory course Meditation 101. In American English '101' means introductory/ for beginners.Nat and Anne promise it will be fun, exploratory, creative and sharing journey. Nat is a school teacher and street performer and Anne is a fully qualified psychotherapist and landscape gardener.

Andy Weber Tibetan Art Weekend Illustrated Lecture 7.30 - 9.30pm Friday 29 May Weekend art course 30 and 31 May 9am - 6pm each day The Eight Auspicious symbols (for indoors and outdoors) A unique opportunity to study the art techniques and guild secrets for the creation of the Eight Auspicious Symbols in the painting lineage of this revered master. The Eight Auspicious symbols are a very practical method for attracting positive energy into your life and have a long history of rich symbolism in Tibetan Buddhism. Having matured over forty years of practice Andy is at the peak of his creative potency and is now actively transmitting his encyclopedic knowledge and creative lineage to his disciples. Be part of a rare and unique creative flow.

Andy Weber's chief disciple Dolma Beresford, the highly successful CEO of the world famous Meridian Trust, will be in attendance. Do connect with her as she runs regular group practice days in London, designed to embed, support and reinforce what Andy has taught over the weekend Return to Contents

Community News Hello everyone, Venerable Barabara, stalwart of Jamyang for many years, and a key member of our community team is migrating to the Far North. That's the Land of Joy retreat centre to you and me.

We wish her every success and much happiness in her new home and we hope she comes down to visit us very frequently.

We are still looking for people to help us with school visits. It's a great way to meet some really lovely young people (and their teachers). If you would like to help then please contact Jane jane@jamyang.co.uk We reproduce the following extract from the FPMT Newsletter: Every year, the International Merit Box Project collects offerings from students all around the world and disburses them as grants to deserving FPMT centers, projects and services. Since 2001, almost US$1,000,000 in Merit Box grants has been given to build stupas, help long-term retreaters cook and stay warm,

publish Dharma books, and fund many, many other activities.

Two of the 14 most recent grants went to support community service initiatives in the caring field.

With their community being hit hard by funding cuts in public services, a team from Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London was inspired to develop Repaying the Kindness, a program to give back to those who take care of others. This compassionate program brings in carers from all ages and backgrounds to rejuvenate with yoga, counseling, celebrations, group trips, art therapy, and simple warm chats over tea and cake.

Jane Sill, co-director of Repaying the Kindness, shared about the program recently, "Our aim is to be sustainable and to be able to offer some kind of continuity and care at a time when so many lives are being affected by cuts and stoppages of public provision. As such, we are happy to be able to offer a quiet and relaxing place to re-energize and reconnect, allowing our carers to be able to carry on with renewed strength in their caring roles."

If you would like to get involved with either of the above initiatives contact Jane via her email jane@jamyang.co.uk Return to Contents

Dharma Bites: The Benefits of Meditating on Reality In the text titled "The Royal Seal of Mahamudra", the third Khamtrul Rinpoche talks about the benefits of meditating on reality. He quotes from numerous sutras and then goes on to tell a story about Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal (his consort). Here is an extract.

"In particular, Yeshe Tsogyal asked Padmasambhava, "What is the measure of the merit and qualities of a yogi who meditates without modifying?" The Master replied, "The merits of one instant of meditation cannot be measured." As Shri Singha said: The immense merit of giving away One's body to all beings, As numerous as grains of sand in the Ganges, Is not even close to that from a fraction of a second of meditation.

Saving the lives of beings, As numerous as grains of sand in the Ganges, Does not compare to one-hundred-thousandth part of one-pointed meditation.

To fill the billion-world system With precious stupas would generate merit; Yet not even this would be close to a fraction of meditation.

The virtuous root of giving to all beings Many mounds of jewels

Does not come close to that of a fraction of samadhi.

The merit of meditation is beyond measure.

Yeshe Tsogyal also asked the Master, "Supposing there is a yogi who practices such meditation but in whom realisation has not dawned. If he died while meditating, how would he be reborn?" The Master answered, "He who was genuinely meditating with renunciation will be reborn as a human, and in that life will gain a state from which he will not fall back into samsara. If a meditative experience had arisen and he died while simply not wavering from it, he will be reborn having the nature of a god, and through that birth he will awaken to buddhahood. He who has attained extremely stable and unwavering experience and realisation seizes samadhi in the bardo of existence and becomes a buddha."

Reproduced from "The Royal Seal of Mahamudra" (volume 1) by the third Khamtrul Rinpoche, translated by Gerardo Abboud Ed. My question to you is: do you meditate without modifying?

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Poetry Corner HA! HA! HA! HEE! HEE! HEE! HO! HO! HO! When you practice yogic exercise, Know your body is not solidly real It is appearance-emptiness.

Your body is like a dream body.

When you practice yogic exercise, Know sounds are not solidly real They are sound-emptiness.

Sounds are like echoes in a valley.

When you practice yogic exercise, Let mind rest relaxed within itself.

All that appears in your mind is naturally liberated.

HA! HA! HA! HEE! HEE! HEE! HO! HO! HO! Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche

Reproduced from "Training the Wisdom Body" by Rose Taylor Goldfield Return to Contents

Land of Joy announce their first programme We are pleased to announce the very first season of retreats at Land of Joy! Below you'll find some brief details about what they have planned. Please go the land of joy website for more information about any of these. www.landofjoy.co.uk/programme May: 31 April - 3 May: Mindfulness in Nature 1 [3nights] 14 - 17 May: Mindfulness in Nature 2 [3-nights] 28 - 31 May: Mindfulness in Nature 3 [3-nights] June: 3 - 7 June: Lamrim Retreat - Refuge [4-nights] 17 - 21 June: Harmony in Kalachakra [4-nights] July: 2 - 9 July: Inseparability of HH Dalai Lama and Chenrezig [7-nights] 25 July - 1 August: Lamrim Retreat [7-nights] August: 15 - 22 August: Vipassana Retreat [7-nights] 29 August - 5 September: Debate Retreat [7-nights] - course participants only Return to Contents

FPMT Annual Review The FPMT International Office are pleased to announce that their Annual Review 2014: Preserving, Developing and Spreading the Mahayana Tradition, is available for the worldwide FPMT community in eZine and PDF formats.

Please click on the links to read more.

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Tibet Freedom March Tibet Freedom March and Rally in London Saturday 7 March.

Gather in Whitehall opposite Downing Street at 11am.

This is the annual rally to protest at the oppressive regime in power in Tibet Hosted by Free Free Tibet and Students for a Free Tibet. Further info from any of those organisations or the Tibet Society.

Mount Kailash

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Opportunities Around the FPMT There are work and volunteer opportunities in many of the FPMT Centres around the world. You can find details of these on the FPMT website.

There are also volunteer opportunities in India, Spain, New Zealand.......... .................. And especially here at Jamyang, London!

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FPMT Jamyang is affiliated with FPMT (Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition) and is one of more than 150 centers and projects worldwide.

FPMT is based on the Gelugpa tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa of Tibet as taught by our founder, Lama Thubten Yeshe and spiritual director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche. If you would like to receive FPMT's monthly newsletters please subscribe here.

Your Thoughts What do you want to see in Gentle Voice? We would love to hear your ideas and comments about Gentle Voice, please contact John at: admin@jamyang.co.uk

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