Taking Your Heart Into the World

Here is the teaching from Sunday. Jetsunma talks about how to make a difference in the world by practicing compassion in your daily life.

On the Road Finally!

We finally got on the road last night a little after dark. We're all adjusting to the sleeping arrangements. In one of the vehicles we have something resembling a proper bed which we take turns using. The rest of us doze where we sit, unless we're the driver!




This is a shot of us gathering our gear at 10 Pottery Place in Sedona before taking off for a rendezvous as Whispering Hope,a wild life rescue located near Dakini Valley.



Here we are at a Safeway/Starbucks in Payson awaiting the call to meet in Whispering Hope.



This is the main house in Whispering Hope.




Around 2am, when changing shifts for drivers, Tashi (the main man leading this expedition) noticed one of the tires looked soft on the van. Sure enough...we had a problem...



Will publish more from the road, but the connection speed is really slow so that's it for now!

Movement

This is Ani Dawa. She is our primary communication contact with the rest of the team (located in a remote area called Dakini Valley minimal cell phone coverage). Hence, we wait for the "call" and whenever we see her do this, our breath stops as we wait to see if it is our awaited instructions.

Today we knew we wouldn't be able to leave, as the RV is in the shop:



We were bringing an offering to the RV and a hitch for the trailer. We also decided to sprinkle some Chenrezig ash from our big fire puja last month, just for good measure...



Here's a look at the vehicle suffering the obstacle...



After the trip to Cottonwood to see the RV we got word that more practice was needed to avert further obstacles that would delay our trip. We all gathered at the Stupa to do practice...



By the evening we got tentative word that we should leave Sedona around 10am. So we'll be packed and ready to go!

Before leaving tonight I wanted to share a few more shots of the fire puja last night, these were shot with my cell phone (you use what you have):



The above shot was before we put the lid on the drum!

Here's a closer look at the Mantra:



We got an estimate from UPS for shipping it to Maryland, so we'll be looking into how to get that done soon! Then we can invite all of you in the Washington D.C. area to come see it in person!

For now we're steadying our nerves and reminding ourselves our Precious Lama would never seek to cause us harm, all our suffering is self inflicted. May we cease to resist her wisdom!

Delays Continue

Problems with the main vehicle of our caravan (an RV) continued today. The water system is in need of repair, so we decided the best puja to employ to balance out the elements was fire! We're currently in Sedona Arizona, where they take fires very seriously. This is a desert, and as we've all seen from California, in dry conditions even a spark can cause trouble.




Our first puja was at the Stupa using incense (behaving ourselves). Then we got more bad news, and decided to pull out all stops and do a real fire puja. One of our nuns had a 55 gallon barrel that had been laser carved by an artist with Dharma designs (including Tibetan seed syllables). Didn't look like much in the daylight, but at night with the fire behind it----WOW----alas I have bare minimum equipment with me, and thus shot the following with a compact digital camera (not even a real video camera) but I think it does help convey how beautiful it was (even if not how LARGE---big fire!).





We finished up at the prayer center here with tsog, and by the end everyone was more relaxed. Most of us drivers do have day jobs, and we're all a little concerned about them, but in the end, we know what will benefit beings...

Surrender

This Ani is currently in Arizona, waiting to assist in the transport of some precious cargo across country. It's going to be one long continuous drive from Arizona to Maryland, with a small team rotating between naps and the driver's seat! We had thought we'd be on our way by now, but obstacles arise!

It's not the worst place to get stuck....



We spent some time yesterday shopping for food and supplies. I'm on a diet designed to assist one in attaining a peaceful mind, but it does make for a challenge when separated from a kitchen and time to cook! So we visited Sedona's local healthfood grocer:



I then visited the Stupa here (a must see if you're ever in the state!) to do a practice designed to pacify obstacles:



And one of the other Ani's joined me in circumambulating to pray for the removal of obstacles. Here's a choppy video shot with a small handheld point and shoot camera (I'm traveling light so no video camera and no "real" camera):



More from the trip tomorrow....hopefully we get on the road! If not, we'll employ more Dharma tech and get back out there praying for the end of suffering and benefit of all beings!

You Tube Video of Dudjom Rinpoche from 1963

This isn't one of our postings or videos, but when I saw it as a result of visiting another blog

http://tibetanaltar.blogspot.com/

I wanted to share it. It is posted, and I know it is from a film "The Message of the Tibetans" which I think was in two parts. I also know the DVD is hard to come by. I don't know if it was posted to youtube with permission though, so if there is non-virtue in this posting om benzar sato hung. My intention is to connect folks with a resource that provides a glimpse in to the history of Tibetan Buddhism filmed during the transitional time when the Tibetans were settling in India after the Chinese invasion.

Enough words, here it is:

The Spirit Of Dharma 8-10-97

In this teaching Jetsunma describes the motivation for taking ordination as a monk or a nun, as well as other levels of vows. She clarifies the difference between living a spiritual life, and "wearing the Dharma clothes".

The teaching took place a few days before a visit by His Holiness Penor Rinpoche where a group of Jetsunma's students were planning on taking ordination.

Feedback on the quality of the playback of this stream is invited!

May every being be inspired to live a sacred life!

Revised Webcast Page

Updated (finally) the webcast page on tara.org to indicate we'll be webcasting the Sunday teachings at 2pm EST!

I can talk now a little about the technical issues...learning dreamweaver from tutorials. What I haven't figured out is how to import and existing site into Dreamweaver from a server. One must download to the desktop but I haven't figured out how to get Dreamweaver how to associate the files on my desktop with those on the server so it can accurately track links and relationships. Oh well. I'm only working with one page right now so no big deal.

In the spirit of sharing, Pete Z turned us on to Fire ftp. It's a free plug in for mozilla firefox which acts as an ftp client. It's handy when you're just working with a few files.

Any advice out there on learning Dreamweaver CS3 please share!

For everyone checking in because they want to see teachings, please do visit our webcast page tomorrow at 2pm EST to view a teaching from our temple!

Ani Aileen here is working with some folks out in Arizona to see if they can't webcast an anticipated teaching from our teacher, Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo on Tuesday. It would be live from Dakini Valley where she is currently on retreat! This would be amazing!

All efforts you see here are devoted to bringing the precious Dharma to as many beings as possible, leading them all to ultimate joy!