Empty Cognizance

i listen

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:01:00 +0000

Hallelujah and Amen

Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo teaching at KPC

I demand the poetic! And decry the
profane-
And I never never ever want to see
The day
When the artist is forbidden to dance
and sway
And the Goddess is prevented from
having her say.
Yeah, I’m really gonna hate that day.
Really don’t wanna see the day.

This may be a song or maybe a poem-
But I just can’t leave this thought alone.
See I don’t wanna see my people sick
and fearful
Only makes our suffering so tearful. Hard
to heal
Hard to be the Hero. Being here with you
Is all I have.
See, I don’t wanna leave, don’t wanna let
you down.

Here’s the church and here’s the steeple
Inside and all around stand my people
This is no lie and it’s not just ego-
They’re mine to love, and mine to live
for!
So here I’ll stay.

Maybe there will come a day when
All the people learn to pray and
We will turn our minds to Truth and Light
No one will ever doubt what’s right. No
never again.
And we can trust both enemies and.
friends.
Hallelujah and Amen.

Lama Guided

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:57:00 +0000

Meditation

Image courtesy of NASA

Download Guided Meditation

This is a guided meditation by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo. In a teaching from the 1980s, Jetsunma taught about how this meditation helps one get passed the feeling of separation, and begin to imitate the radiant qualities of one’s true nature – light and compassion.

In her words, “Separation is the cause of all trauma, all pain, any grief that you have ever suffered anywhere, or at anytime. Anything that has ever hurt you or been a bother to you has been because you believe yourself to be separate from everything. Your true nature is Absolute Union or Oneness. The true nature that you are is light.

Effective prayer is about imitating that radiance. Through imitation of your true nature, you come to realize your true nature. You stop thinking about separation, and you stop buying into judgment, and you get out of limitations. Effective prayer is centering into that Absolute reality that is the core of what you are.”

Precious Poetry

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:14:00 +0000

This Journey

The Journey

From the birth of yearning
To the moment of recognition
The path, this journey, is method.

One’s true nature the precious seed-
Buddha ground.
One’s journey, this path- the method.
The awakening- this fruit- the treasure.
How astonishing!

The ground, the path, the fruit are Buddha.
Praise to the Nirmanakaya Buddhas who walk the earth!
Praise to the sons and daughters who follow them!

May I myself return again and again for them.
May I never grow weary, or bored of helping them.
May I nurture, teach, and feed them precious fruit.
May I never abandon the supreme samaya!

Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo on October 21, 2009

Eventually the Truth will always come out

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:33:00 +0000

I don't know this person and have never read her comments in the book The Buddha From Brooklyn but of course heard the "Rumor Mill" about it. And to Her credit Michelle Grissom is coming clean.

"My real name is Michelle Grissom, formerly Ani Dechen Drolma. I wish that I could reach every person who has read or heard of The Buddha From Brooklyn, or who has heard the slander I've spread through blogs and as Longchenpa on Wikipedia -- now being helplessly replicated everywhere against my will -- because I lied."

Fakes and Frauds

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 03:05:00 +0000

This is why Lineage is sooo important.

watch out for the people that say they are something but don't have support from teachers. These self-proclaimed people take other Teachers Teachings, re-write them or sometimes even directly link to them and try to make them their own so they seem authentic.
They say things like you don't need an empowerment/ or permission from Legitimate Teachers for Deity Practices and Prayers. They take small pieces of information and bend them into something they are not. they prey but the wrong kind of preying, on those that don't know or haven't studied Buddhism or on how to make good choices.

We have enough work to do and the potential to accomplish in this life with the Foundational Teachings of Buddhism that secret and special practices are not necessary. Pray with devotion and good intention, make choices and perform actions in accordance with the Basic Teachings and one will find what we've been looking for all along.

And lastly, part of meditation is to let all the talking, thoughts and sights before our minds and eyes pass like clouds in the sky, we remain aware and see but let them pass. please don't listen to all the talkers and fakers or invest in people you have not fully checked out.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Buddhist Ponzi Scam Alleged in L.A.

By TIM HULL

LOS ANGELES (CN) - A self-proclaimed Buddhist monk collected $7 million in phony land investments from Vietnamese-Americans who thought they were helping build religious shrines and charities, the 15 recent immigrants claim in Superior Court.
The plaintiffs, some of them elderly and all followers of Buddhism, which eschews worldly wealth and ambition, say they contributed more than $800,000 to a Ponzi scheme run by Tuan Nguyen, Kiet Nguyen, Robert E. O'Leary and others.
The 15 say that the Nguyens and O'Leary claimed to be devout Buddhists was central to the scheme. They say Tuan Nguyen sold himself to groups of "unsophisticated émigrés" as a Buddhist monk whose followers were "spiritually advanced practitioners of the creed."
"A Buddhist monk is presumed to be one who has progressed far along the path towards total liberation from selfish sentiments and cravings," the complaint states, adding that the plaintiffs "relied on the defendants to act in an ethical, spiritual manner that would accord with their common Buddhist teachings."
Though Nguyen said he would use the money to build "Buddhist shrines, temples and community centers," the more than $7 million he collected over two years went to pay other investors who had been promised unrealistic returns, and into the defendants' own pockets, according to the complaint.
The 15 plaintiffs, many of whom invested more than $50,000 in the scheme, want a jury trial and their money back. They are represented by William Markham of Maldonado & Markham.

courtesy of the Buddhist Channel

Slander is a non-virtue

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:47:00 +0000

So I don't even know where to really start with the recent slander from impersonator tulku tenpa - really convicted felon william cassidy.
Essentially he and his three blogs are so ridiculous it's beyond bothering to even pay attention to, so i'm really writing today because I refuse to see my Teacher have annoyances directed towards Her. Jetsunma was given accreditation from HH Penor Rinpoche, His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, H.E. Gyatrul Rinpoche and HH Ngawang Tenzin Rinpoche, and others!!. All of whom are supported by HH the Dalai Lama. So to slander Her is to slander ALL of the Vajrayana Buddhist Lineage, in turn displaying william cassidy can not be a Buddhist in any way what so ever.
I'm begining to think that he really is a gyalpo spirit because he is trying to create harm and turn ordinary people, like me, away from Buddhism through creating a vile poison of Anger and Hatred. Jetsunma though has Taught well and this can be seen by a compassionate response from Her students. I can only speak for myself, so i see that within this opportunity to bare Anger and Hate, only compassion and wisdom arise. what i see is a poor suffering being lost in samsara distracting himself from his old age and thus sickness and death to come by voicing his delusion. i see him creating his own vicious hell realm for a future tormented by his own actions. I see this stalker blinded by hate not seeing his own stalker as his reflection but instead himself as the stalkers reflection, (that's pride and arrogance), i know that doesn't make any sense but that's what he voiced. i see his confusion as my own secret hopes to currently be an accomplished master. thankfully, due to my Teachers, i know i'm not anything special nor accomplished in any way. so i pray anyone on the verge of finding the Dharma, finds qualified Teachers and (if finds a false master) has the merit to see through the facade by way of Vajrayana's Foundational Teachings.

slander
pride
arrogance
hate
anger
all poisonous to the mind

Peace and Love to All
Norbi GD Tashi

HH Penor Rinpoche Prayer for a Swift Rebirth by HH Dalai Lama

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:34:00 +0000

PRAYER FOR THE SWIFT REBIRTH CALLED THE ESSENTIAL
BLESSINGS OF THE LOTUS-BORN BUDDHA

MA WAI NYI MA DREN CHOG SHAKYAI TOG
The sun of speech, the supreme guide, the crown of Shakyas

DRIN GYI DO ME KHEN LOP CHOE KYI GYAL
Unequalled in kindness, Khenpo(Abbot), Lopon(Acharya) and
Choegyal (Dharma King)

KHYE PAR GANG RI'I NYEN DU SHAR WAI GON
Especially, the one who appeared as the friend of the Snowland(Tibet)

TSO KYE DOR JEY GE LEG CHAR DU NYIL
Lotus-born Vajra ! May you all shower virtue and perfection

DRUB PAI SA LA WANG WAI CHO GA YI
The one who achieved the state of accomplishment through the ritual

TOB CHU PEMA KHONG NA ZHE PA YI
Blossomed the lotus of ten powers in the heart

GE LEG NOR BU JO WAI DZOG DEN TRIN
May the cloud of golden age that showers the precious gem-like virtue and perfection

KAL PAI BAR DU CHAG LA SOL WA DEB
Remain for eons!

JIG ME RIG PEY THUB TEN JE WAI SOG
Through your fearless logic, you possess the courage to preserve the life-force
of the million teachings of Lord Buddha

SHE DRUB NGE DON CHOE KYI DRA YANG KYI
By study, practice and the melodious voice of dharma

NAM KHA SI DU DZIN LA PA WA YI
Until the endurance of space

YANG TRUL NYIN JE WANG PO ZHE DU SOL
I pray that the sun of your emanation appears!

KA DAG TROE PA DRAL WAI DOE MEI ZHAL
The primordial purity, non-conceptual, the face of the beginning

RANG JUNG NYUG MAI LONG DU SIM PA NYI
That dissolves in the vast expanse of self-born nature

NGON JE ZAB SANG NYING PO DZOG PA CHE
The essence of profound and secret Great Perfection that helps to actualize it

NGA GYUR RANG TEN SO WAI PAL DU JON
May your reincarnation appear to revive the teachings of the Ancient Translation!

CHE PAI KYE GUI NA WAI CHU LEN JE
Your discourses serve as ambrosia for all beings

TSOE PE CHOE DRAG RIG PA DUL DU NYIL
Your debating skills outsmart even the logics of Dharmakirti

TSOM PE NGAG GI WANG MO KHA LA KYENG
Your composition skills put even Saraswati to shame

CHOG TRUL TEN PAI MIG CHIG LAR JON SHOG
May the supreme emanation, who is the only eye of the teachings come again!

KUN TU MI GYUR TEN JUNG RANG TSAL DANG
The never changing self-expression of interdependence and

CHOG SUM JIN LAB CHID KYI MA MA YI
The blessings of the Three Jewels which are the like the rain

JI TAR MON PE PAG SAM CHOE KYI TSAL
May they enable whatever aspirations I have made

TONG TRAG TSUG TU MIN PAR SHOG
To ripen into one thousand wish-fulfilling trees of dharma upon the crown
of samsara and nirvana!

This prayer for the swift rebirth called the Essential Blessings of the
Lotus-born Buddha was composed by the Shakyan Shramanera, Dalai
Lama Tenzin Gyatso, on the 19th day of May 2009, 23rd year of the 17th
Rabjung Cycle, at the request of Gyang Khang Rinpoche, the Abbot of
Thegchog Namdrol Shedrub Dhargyeling Monastery (Namdroling
Monastery) and all its sangha members.
The composition is ornamented with the auspicious name of Jigme
Thupten Shedrup Choekyi Drayang (the 3rd Drubwang Pema Norbu
Rinpoche) and was written with the utmost devotion for Acharya
Padmasambhava, the compassionate guru. May the prayer be fulfilled!

Garuda Aviary

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:20:00 +0000

My Teacher was on CBS news for a one liner in a piece about Parrots and their abandonment and rescue. The whole piece is only a few minutes long and you can check it out Here

I love Our President!!!

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Sat, 02 May 2009 03:14:00 +0000

Dalai Lama part of solution for China: Obama aide

WASHINGTON (AFP) — China should see the Dalai Lama as "part of the solution" on Tibet instead of trying to isolate him, US President Barack Obama's top Asia adviser said.

Jeff Bader, senior director for Asia on the White House's National Security Council, told the Committee of 100, a Chinese-American group, that it should use its influence in Beijing to encourage a different view of the Dalai Lama.

"I hope that you will use that credibility and those relationships to help persuade Chinese officials that the Dalai Lama is not part of their problem but rather part of the solution to the situation in Tibet," Bader said.

Beijing brands the Dalai Lama a separatist and has stepped up pressure on world leaders, including Obama, not to meet with him. The Buddhist leader fled to India 50 years ago as China crushed an abortive uprising in Tibet.

The Dalai Lama, an advocate of non-violence, says he is only seeking greater rights for Tibetans under Chinese rule. The Nobel Peace laureate is currently touring the United States, but he does not plan to visit Washington.

Bader acknowledged that human rights have become an irritant in US-China relations -- "unsurprisingly, because China's human rights record, as we know, is poor."

But he said Obama believed the most effective way to persuade China was to lead by example, citing the president's decision to shut down the widely condemned "war on terror" detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"President Obama does not believe in lecturing. He believes in leading by example, not finger-pointing," Bader said.

Obama has called for a broader relationship with China that includes cooperation on pressing global issues such as climate change and the economic crisis. The US leader is due to visit China later this year.

"President Obama, with his unique gifts in communication and popularity, will be looking for ways to reach out to Chinese audiences and connect," Bader said.

Before his appointment, Bader served at the Brookings Institution think-tank where he led a project encouraging Chinese academics to make contact with the Dalai Lama. He said he was pleasantly surprised at the response.

"It suggested to me that there is an openness to discussion among non-official Chinese on this subject and I hope that one of these days officials will catch up," Bader said.

But Ken Lieberthal, who held Bader's position at the end of Bill Clinton's presidency, said there was a "total disconnect" between the way the US public and the Chinese government viewed the Dalai Lama.

"So long as the Chinese refuse to understand that to most of the world this is a revered religious figure -- someone who has extraordinary ethics and is deserving of great respect ... I don't see a good future here," Lieberthal told the same forum.

"Once he passes from the scene, if there has been no progress, I think the next generation of Tibetans have the possibility to be China's worst nightmare," he said.

The Dalai Lama, 73, has frequently said he wants to retire but has kept a frenetic travel schedule. His current visit to the United States has included serving food to the homeless in San Francisco and opening an ethics center named after him at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He is expected to return to the United States in October, when he hopes to meet with Obama.

Asked this week in Boston whether he expected to return to Tibet, the Dalai Lama said with a smile: "Oh yes, every Tibetan feels like that."

"If the leadership in Beijing thinks in a more wider way ... within a few days can solve," he said in English.

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:17:00 +0000

If you need to go to a Digital Tibetan Alter make sure it's This One. This is a legitimate blog with True Teachers and Teachings from many different Schools and Lineages.

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:30:00 +0000

Colors blind people's eyes,
Sounds deafen their ears;
Flavors spoil people's palates,
The chase and the hunt
Craze people's minds;
Goods hard to get
Make people's actions harmful.
Therefore sages work for the core
And not the eyes,
Leaving the latter and taking the former

- Lao-tzu

courtesy of DailyZen

Amazing story of a near past

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 04:05:00 +0000

Check it out via here at Monk Konchog Norbu's blog http://danzanravjaa.typepad.com/

I wish i was there

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:08:00 +0000

SINGER-SONGWRITER JETSUNMA RELEASES TRILOGY

Upholding Women of the World

Nashville, TN. Singer, songwriter and realized Tibetan Buddhist master, Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo, releases Trilogy. Accompanied by John Lennon’s former (post-Beatles) lead guitarist, Wayne “Tex” Gabriel (http://waynegabriel.com), Jimmy Mac, former bass player for Sly and the Family Stone, and drummerLewis Winfield, three new songs are now available for download at www.jetsunmamusic.com. Trilogy is a taste of Jetsunma’s latest CD, A Lineage of Queens, to be released in late Summer 2009.

Jetsunma’s soulful, earthy musical style and to-the-bone lyrics, layered with ancient Buddhist mantra chants could be described as inspired World Music. Her ultimate hope through music, song and sacred mantra is to uplift the women of the world-too long suffering their diminished status.

Jetsunma said, “A Lineage of Queens is, for me, a work of love for the spirit and heart of women, and men who are progressive. It speaks to the lack of empowerment and quality of life that one half of the world’s population experiences. In many places, and for a long time, women have been considered property, servants, unequal. Yet the Buddha teaches, and I believe, that all sentient beings–ALL without exception–are equal in their nature and potential. It is my dream and prayer to tell them so. How odd that the very women who are the mothers of nations and their leaders are not allowed, in many places, to have a voice. Here is my offering. Call it view, if you will. A different view of our mothers, daughters, grandmothers, sisters, friends, lovers, wives. It is the way of women to think as tribal leaders. We don’t climb on top of anybody to get power. We are mothers of the World Tribe. We care for the way of LIFE. And all must benefit equally. My great hope is that we will rise together, see our true nature, and offer our love and wisdom to all.”

“Music City,” Nashville was the gathering place where Trilogy was produced. All those present experienced something beyond a typical studio session. “At first I thought it was just going to be another run-through… but then we became captured by it. It was an incredible feeling… transcendent… hypnotic… like an altered state of consciousness,” said Gabriel who has also performed and/or recorded with Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder.

On the third cut, “Phowa,” Jimmy Mac described it like this: “When Tex, Lewis and I did the first run-through, everything jelled perfectly, and we only did one more take for the final version. I was so moved by what was happening that I had to leave the studio to re-focus before playing some more.”

A Lineage of Queens, in production now, celebrates the heroine, the divine feminine, and the embodiment of wisdom and compassion–the dakini or female wisdom being. Jetsunma’s lyrics are filled with the promise, vows and resolve of fearless compassion for the benefit of all beings.

Jetsunma, a Brooklyn-born Western woman and the first to be recognized as a Tibetan Buddhist master, has turned to music to connect and share her vision of a better world. From her spontaneous sung prayer, Invocation, 17 years ago, to her current activity as singer-songwriter and producer of three CDs, Jetsunma’s songs of longing and compassion fuse ancient Buddhist mantra with uplifting offerings that travel the spectrum of contemporary music.

Listen to Jetsunma’s new songs!

This is from jetsunmamusic.wordpress.com

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:05:00 +0000

Read a nice post about Guru Yoga and/or Devotion. take a looksee here.

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 03:36:00 +0000

Great news after a long month, Thank You Thank You Thank You

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 04:03:00 +0000

Mary from NY Retreat Center gave us the blessing of a live video feed of HH Penor Rinpoche's Procession, you can see it either here , here or here. One of them will hopefully work for you.
There will probably be a relatively large number of videos captured by others available soon too, so keep your eyes open for them if your interested.

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:42:00 +0000

Not sure if my Momma is gonna notice the address on an email i just sent her but Here's a pic from a few years back

Penor Rinpoche

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 02:54:00 +0000

HH Penor Rinpoche 8.6.06 at NY Retreat Center

I try to find you in my heart
Amongst the debris
Rays of light as memories
bring smiles to my face
i pray to You, Kyabjé Drubwang Pema Norbu Rinpoche, to help me clear away my faults.

FYI - i took this picture by His Holiness's kindness and allow unaltered use of it for beneficial purposes

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:59:00 +0000

There's a wildly inaccurate person out there going by the name of marshalduncan, i have no idea if this is the persons real name but i doubt it. that's not the main reason that i mention this though. This person has heard some information that they are surrounding in an inaccurate context. This person can't be a Buddhist or have studied the Teachings of Buddha, so i just want to say for Your and There sake, don't fall for the air of delusion they are putting out into the world.

If Anyone has a question please feel free to ask, i don't know much but maybe i can direct you to a place where an accurate answer can be found, not an angry, revengeful style of thoughts.

Two Videos Courtesy of Jetsunmamusic.wordpress.com

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:58:00 +0000

Ngagpa Yeshe Dorje speaking on Jetsunmas music

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:49:00 +0000

Nice Short Teaching From Jetsunma talking about Her music and HH Penor Rinpoche

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 04:07:00 +0000

A Sad day has come
new to the work week in all the wrong ways
a wish i never had
a fear i knew was there
so deep the river flows by my eyes
just trying to say why
a sad cat got my tongue
i pray it gives life to a baby snowlion

May Kyabjé Drubwang Pema Norbu Rinpoche
swiftly return for us poor confused beings
reborn in ignorance and suffering
May He find His SnowLion Throne and turn
the Wheel of the Dharma

It's a poor example of literature but i really do pray this
and a brief example of my thoughts to start
It hit me this morning that He's "gone". He has changed me.
He has taught me more than i can know. Though i'm blind,
he showed me all there is to see. With out him i wouldn't
have found my Teacher, Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo!!!!!!! and that is
a big deal!!! So many blessings would have been missed if i lead myself around my
deluded duality, You lead the way. my Story like maybe yours are a plenty, that's
just amazing to me, to have help sooo many in such a true and
deeply caring ways !!!!

Your Holiness please return soon for me and all others

your son norbu gyurmed dorje tashi

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 13:40:00 +0000

The 11^th throneholder of the Palyul Lineage of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, entered his final meditation at 8:20 pm on Friday, March 27, 2009, at the Palyul Namdröling Monastery in Bylakuppe, South India.

Earlier, at noon, he received offerings from many of the highest Nyingma Lamas, Tulkus and dignitaries who had assembled to pay homage to him. At 3:30 he left Columbia Asia Hospital with the Indian government providing a police escort. He reached Palyul Namdröling at 6:40 pm and remained on his bed in his residence. Tulkus, Khenpos and lamas did aspiration prayers together with His Holiness until 8:20 pm. Then he looked around, closed his eyes and went into meditation. Prayers continued for 5 minutes and then everyone remained in silence for the next two hours. His meditation continues today, and is expected to continue for a couple of days. When he releases his body from meditation, there will be an official acknowledgement of his final passing, allowing everyone to pay their respects according to tradition.

Kyabjé Drubwang Pema Norbu Rinpoche was born in 1932 in the Powo region of Kham, Eastern Tibet. After leaving Tibet, he settled in South India, where he built, from his own hands and with the help of a few monks, the Palyul Namdröling Monastery. It has grown into one of the largest temples in the world, housing over 6000 monks and nuns in the complex, which also includes a hospital, and hospice.

His Holiness has also built temples around the world – in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, United Kingdom, Greece and the United States – among others. He has frequently traveled to teach and give empowerment at all of them. Worldwide, His Holiness is revered for his compassion, pure upholding of the Vinaya and ceaseless dedication to the welfare of all beings. He has brought and nourished the Buddha-Dharma everywhere he has been. He will live forever in our hearts.

---- i don't have any words, courtesy of Jetsunma and KPC

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:15:00 +0000

I don't understand why slick willy cassidy faux tulku tenpa keeps writing about Jetsunma in derogatory ways. No one that's friends with or part of Jetsunma's sangha cares about him. Real Masters aren't sitting there talking shit about someone else, theyjust remove themselves from the situation. Just because slick willy was not accepted into the Sangha as a teacher, he now feels he has to belittle Her. It's all rediculous!! tenpa you are not a master or teacher or anything but another confused person in the world just like me and a billion others. slick your actions proove you are not anything special, you are just like a gnat that hasn't gone away yet, annoying, you will though all bugs do.
One can not have a Sangyum if one is only ordinary.

As a Vajrayana Buddhist we pray and have vowed to come back in any form necessary and to use any method we can to help others find buddism. sometimes that phenomina does display as music or fundraising, it will come together in what ever will bring benefit. and if you look back to yourSaturday, December 29, 2007
you will see your own words stating your completely opposite opinion. which is it, you like it while it gives you something but once you aren't getting what you want you don't like it. perfect example to remind you that you are a deluded human with a precious birth - being wasted.

Taking vows of ordination and being a Monk does not make one automatically saint like, But it is a undescribable support to developing oneself to help others. A kind of person to be watched out for in the degenerate times is one that repeats the Teachings without any Accomplishment, slick you are an example so just look in the mirror to see more examples. you post the teachings of others and take other teachings jumble them around and call them your own.

A more recent teaching from the Karmapa clearly describes how this is a time for compassionate activity not slipping away into a cave out of touch. So to sharp tongue an ordinary person trying to do good and one not hiding from the world but actually connecting to it, is rediculous. these persons should be commended.

stop trying to saw the tree bill haven't you heard the old comment "we can not change others, but only ourselves" so stop talking and gossiping about others and just try to be a real buddhist not a master, just wait, if you do good and develop good qualities you eventually will get there. but you are only hurting yourself at this point.

i apoligize for having negative thoughts but i am not accomplished in any way and can not refuse defending the innocent, much less those trying to do something.

interesting

noreply@blogger.com (NorbuGDTashi) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:32:00 +0000

Halliburton Charged with Selling Nuclear Technologies to Iran

in Top 25 Censored Stories for 2007

Source: Global Research.ca, August 5, 2005, Title: “Halliburton Secretly Doing Business With Key Member of Iran’s Nuclear Team,” Author: Jason Leopold

Faculty Evaluator: Catherine Nelson
Student Researchers: Kristine Medeiros and Pla Herr

According to journalist Jason Leopold, sources at former Cheney company Halliburton allege that, as recently as January of 2005, Halliburton sold key components for a nuclear reactor to an Iranian oil development company. Leopold says his Halliburton sources have intimate knowledge of the business dealings of both Halliburton and Oriental Oil Kish, one of Iran’s largest private oil companies.

Additionally, throughout 2004 and 2005, Halliburton worked closely with Cyrus Nasseri, the vice chairman of the board of directors of Iran-based Oriental Oil Kish, to develop oil projects in Iran. Nasseri is also a key member of Iran’s nuclear development team. Nasseri was interrogated by Iranian authorities in late July 2005 for allegedly providing Halliburton with Iran’s nuclear secrets. Iranian government officials charged Nasseri with accepting as much as $1 million in bribes from Halliburton for this information.

Oriental Oil Kish dealings with Halliburton first became public knowledge in January 2005 when the company announced that it had subcontracted parts of the South Pars gas-drilling project to Halliburton Products and Services, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Halliburton that is registered to the Cayman Islands. Following the announcement, Halliburton claimed that the South Pars gas field project in Tehran would be its last project in Iran. According to a BBC report, Halliburton, which took thirty to forty million dollars from its Iranian operations in 2003, “was winding down its work due to a poor business environment.”

However, Halliburton has a long history of doing business in Iran, starting as early as 1995, while Vice President Cheney was chief executive of the company. Leopold quotes a February 2001 report published in the Wall Street Journal, “Halliburton Products and Services Ltd., works behind an unmarked door on the ninth floor of a new north Tehran tower block. A brochure declares that the company was registered in 1975 in the Cayman Islands, is based in the Persian Gulf sheikdom of Dubai and is “non-American.” But like the sign over the receptionist’s head, the brochure bears the company’s name and red emblem, and offers services from Halliburton units around the world.” Moreover mail sent to the company’s offices in Tehran and the Cayman Islands is forwarded directly to its Dallas headquarters.

In an attempt to curtail Halliburton and other U.S. companies from engaging in business dealings with rogue nations such as Libya, Iran, and Syria, an amendment was approved in the Senate on July 26, 2005. The amendment, sponsored by Senator Susan Collins R-Maine, would penalize companies that continue to skirt U.S. law by setting up offshore subsidiaries as a way to legally conduct and avoid U.S. sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

A letter, drafted by trade groups representing corporate executives, vehemently objected to the amendment, saying it would lead to further hatred and perhaps incite terrorist attacks on the U.S. and “greatly strain relations with the United States primary trading partners.” The letter warned that, “Foreign governments view U.S. efforts to dictate their foreign and commercial policy as violations of sovereignty often leading them to adopt retaliatory measures more at odds with U.S. goals.”

Collins supports the legislation, stating, “It prevents U.S. corporations from creating a shell company somewhere else in order to do business with rogue, terror-sponsoring nations such as Syria and Iran. The bottom line is that if a U.S. company is evading sanctions to do business with one of these countries, they are helping to prop up countries that support terrorism—most often aimed against America.

UPDATE BY JASON LEOPOLD

During a trip to the Middle East in March 1996, Vice President Dick Cheney told a group of mostly U.S. businessmen that Congress should ease sanctions in Iran and Libya to foster better relationships, a statement that, in hindsight, is completely hypocritical considering the Bush administration’s foreign policy.

“Let me make a generalized statement about a trend I see in the U.S. Congress that I find disturbing, that applies not only with respect to the Iranian situation but a number of others as well,” Cheney said. “I think we Americans sometimes make mistakes . . . There seems to be an assumption that somehow we know what’s best for everybody else and that we are going to use our economic clout to get everybody else to live the way we would like.”

Cheney was the chief executive of Halliburton Corporation at the time he uttered those words. It was Cheney who directed Halliburton toward aggressive business dealings with Iran—in violation of U.S. law—in the mid-1990s, which continued through 2005 and is the reason Iran has the capability to enrich weapons-grade uranium.

It was Halliburton’s secret sale of centrifuges to Iran that helped get the uranium enrichment program off the ground, according to a three-year investigation that includes interviews conducted with more than a dozen current and former Halliburton employees.

If the U.S. ends up engaged in a war with Iran in the future, Cheney and Halliburton will bear the brunt of the blame.
But this shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone who has been following Halliburton’s business activities over the past decade. The company has a long, documented history of violating U.S. sanctions and conducting business with so-called rogue nations.

No, what’s disturbing about these facts is how little attention it has received from the mainstream media. But the public record speaks for itself, as do the thousands of pages of documents obtained by various federal agencies that show how Halliburton’s business dealings in Iran helped fund terrorist activities there—including the country’s nuclear enrichment program.

When I asked Wendy Hall, a spokeswoman for Halliburton, a couple of years ago if Halliburton would stop doing business with Iran because of concerns that the company helped fund terrorism she said, “No.” “We believe that decisions as to the nature of such governments and their actions are better made by governmental authorities and international entities such as the United Nations as opposed to individual persons or companies,” Hall said. “Putting politics aside, we and our affiliates operate in countries to the extent it is legally permissible, where our customers are active as they expect us to provide oilfield services support to their international operations. “We do not always agree with policies or actions of governments in every place that we do business and make no excuses for their behaviors. Due to the long-term nature of our business and the inevitability of political and social change, it is neither prudent nor appropriate for our company to establish our own country-by-country foreign policy.”

Halliburton first started doing business in Iran as early as 1995, while Vice President Cheney was chief executive of the company and in possible violation of U.S. sanctions.

An executive order signed by former President Bill Clinton in March 1995 prohibits “new investments (in Iran) by U.S. persons, including commitment of funds or other assets.” It also bars U.S. companies from performing services “that would benefit the Iranian oil industry” and provide Iran with the financial means to engage in terrorist activity.

When Bush and Cheney came into office in 2001, their administration decided it would not punish foreign oil and gas companies that invest in those countries. The sanctions imposed on countries like Iran and Libya before Bush became president were blasted by Cheney, who gave frequent speeches on the need for U.S. companies to compete with their foreign competitors, despite claims that those countries may have ties to terrorism.

“I think we’d be better off if we, in fact, backed off those sanctions (on Iran), didn’t try to impose secondary boycotts on companies . . . trying to do business over there . . . and instead started to rebuild those relationships,” Cheney said during a 1998 business trip to Sydney, Australia, according to Australia’s Illawarra Mercury newspaper.