Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche...... (1954-1992)

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"Born in Lhasa, Tibet in 1954, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche was recognized as an incarnation of the previous Jamgon Kongtrul by the late Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa, the supreme head of the Kagyu lineage. At the age of six, the young tulku left Tibet to join the Karmapa at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim where he was raised by the Karmapa as one of his four “heart sons.”

"Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche accompanied the Karmapa to the United States in 1976 and 1980 and in recent years carried out the Karmapa’s work, inspiring and teaching large numbers of students in Asia as well as in Europe and the United States. At the time of his death, he was engaged in building monasteries and initiating plans for a home for the elderly and a health clinic in Nepal. Yet for all his industrious projects to preserve and disseminate the Buddhist dharma, the real loss is Rinpoche himself, for he was one of the few younger Tibetan lamas considered to embody the true dharma wisdom of his elders."

Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche died in a car accident in the Kalimpong District of Darjeeling, India, on April 26,1992.... He was thirty-seven years old.

Source: https://tricycle.org/magazine/jamgon-kongtrul-rinpoche/

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His recognized incarnation, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche relinquished his title as a monk on April 14, 2016...He was in charge of two monasteries of the Karma Kagyu sect in Kalimpong and Kathmandu, and was identified as a Tulku when he was a nine-month-old baby.

http://www.tilogaard.dk/english/Jamgon_Kongtruls_exit_messages_on_Facebook_august_2016.pdf

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Okar Research is an informal online review of published materials exploring the history, myths, legends, languages, geography, terms, practices, teachers and teachings of the ancient Central Asian 'Kingdom of Shambhala'.

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Click Here to view the Okar Research Index

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John Hopkins.....New Mexico
Email: okarresearch@gmail.com

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Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche....1939 – 1987

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Click Here to view the Okar Research Index

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Chogyam Trungpa Photo ... Robert Del Tredici .....http://www.bobdeltredici.com/robert-del-tredici-com/trungpa/

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"Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche....March 5, 1939 – April 4, 1987......In 1976, Chogyam Trungpa began giving a series of secular teachings, inspired by his vision (see terma) of the legendary Kingdom of Shambhala. Trungpa had actually started writing about Shambhala before his 1959 escape from Tibet to India, but most of those writings were lost during the escape.....In his view not only was individual enlightenment not mythical, but the Shambhala Kingdom, an enlightened society, could in fact be actualized. The practice of Shambhala vision is to use mindfulness/awareness meditation as a way to connect with one's basic goodness and confidence. It is presented as a path that "brings dignity, confidence, and wisdom to every facet of life." ....Shambhala vision is described as a nonreligious approach rooted in meditation and accessible to individuals of any, or no, religion. In Shambhala terms, it is possible, moment by moment, for individuals to establish enlightened society."

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Robin Kornman said in 1989 that..."Trungpa received the Shambhala Terma Texts in a language that he was not famiiar with...he wrote them down in Tibetan because that was as close as he could get...."

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"Carolyn Gimian writes: I attended many meetings, both formal and informal, with him [CTR] concerning Shambhala Training, Kalapa Assembly and the transmission of these teachings. In my memory, he made it quite clear that he hoped that the full transmission of the Shambhala teachings would be made to many people and that their religious persuasion was not an issue. Whenever those of us meeting with him tried to put limitations on who should be included in the advanced levels of Shambhala Training, and whenever we tried to add requirements as hoops for newer people to jump through, Rinpoche would resist our desire to limit things. I remember once, in Mill Village I believe, that he said that we needed to have more faith in the magic of the teachings.".....http://radiofreeshambhala.org/faq/faq-shambhala/

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"The Druk Sakyong had to say in Comments on the Werma Sadhana:From one way of thinking, the sadhana has been influenced by the traditional buddhist style, but on the other hand it is quite different. It is a self-contained practice. It is not particularly borrowed from buddhism, but it is simply self-existent in the Shambhala style.".. .http://radiofreeshambhala.org/faq/faq-shambhala/

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"Look at the sun. The sun is shining. Nobody polishes the sun. The sun just shines. Look at the moon, the sky, the world at its best. Unfortunately, we human beings try to fit everything into conditionality. We try to make something out of nothing. We have messed everything up. That’s our problem. We have to go back to the sun and the moon, to dragons, tigers, lions, garudas (mythical birds). We can be like the blue sky, sweethearts, and the clouds so clean, so beautiful. We don’t have to try too hard to find ourselves. We haven’t really lost anything; we just have to tune in. The majesty of the world is always there." Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche...“Helping Others...Great Eastern Sun: The Wisdom of Shambhala.

The Great Eastern Sun: Sharchen Nyima

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"Shambhala vision applies to people of any faith, not just people who believe in Buddhism… the Shambhala vision does not distinguish a Buddhist from a Catholic, a Protestant, a Jew, a Moslem, a Hindu. That’s why we call it the Shambhala kingdom. A kingdom should have lots of spiritual disciplines in it. That’s why we are here."...Chögyam Trungpa (Great Eastern Sun, The Wisdom of Shambhala, p 133).

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"Chogyam Trungpa sketched in the outlines of what a Shambhala culture means. “Shambhala is our way of life. The Shambhala principle is our way of life. Shambhala is the Central Asian kingdom that-developed in the countries of the Middle East, Russia, China, and Tibet altogether. The basic idea of Shambhala vision is that a sane society developed out of that culture, and we are trying to emulate that vision. That particular system broke down into the Taoist tradition and Bon tradition of Tibet, the Islamic tradition of the Middle East, and whatever tradition Russia might have. It has broken into various factions."

"...When we asked the Vidyadhara whether these (Shambhala Root) texts originated with Padmakara, the source of the vast majority of treasure teachings, at that time we didn’t know that other teachers also hid dharma as termas. So when Rinpoche replied that these texts were more likely from Gesar, we were understandably puzzled. But after a long pause Rinpoche added, “And of course Gesar was an emanation of Padmakara, so that should take care of things for you!” When we asked about what meaning Gesar had in terms of the Shambhala teachings, Rinpoche exclaimed: “Gesar is the vanguard of Shambhala.” (It should be noted that in other contexts, the Vidyadhara indicated that the Shambhala terma had originated with the Rigden kings, Shiwa Ökar, or Gesar of Ling.)"........http://nalandatranslation.org/projects/articles/gesar-supplication/

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"Trungpa Rinpoche’s Great Vision.....Many will remember Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s determination to gather the sacred relationships, wisdom, and living essences of the world’s authentic traditions, and to give them a home under the Shambhala banner. He had a vision of making living relationships with the sacred deities and traditions of this world, and inviting them to support us in creating an enlightened society. Before he came to the West, he had profound meetings with the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, which resulted in the Christian-Buddhist (-Jewish) dialogs held at Naropa University. In his 1983 trip to Japan, he invited Amaterasu Omikami – the indigenous Japanese goddess of the Sun – to come live at the Kami Shrine at SMC. At the 1979 Kalapa Assembly, he was asked if there still might be Chinese dralas present, to which he replied, “There are lots of them, all of the emperors and all of the deities of Mount Wu Tai Shan. There are lots of them, absolutely lots of them…. I think they will be the first to agree with us, the first to come along and join us.” In 2007, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche made a pilgrimage to Wutai Shan, which is also seen as the abode of Manjushri. Trungpa Rinpoche also talked of his dream of going to Mount Sinai to ask the great Western deity Jehovah for his support in our efforts to create an enlightened society on this earth. And he once gave a talk to a gathering of a western secret society, where he talked to them about basic goodness and the importance of maintaining their traditions. In presenting the Shambhala teachings, he preserved many aspects of the indigenous tradition of Tibet, including the teachings on lungta, drala, werma, and wangtang.".....http://shambhalatimes.org/2009/03/02/opening-communication-with-other-authentic-traditions/

"Gentleness is the rule in the Shambhala kingdom. It is actually much more terrifying than kindness, to your surprise. When you are gentle, there's no room for hostility. We like being hostile; we want to be perked up and energized by our negativity. But in Shambhala, we never do that, and we shouldn't do that. However, with Shambhala vision, there is festivity and joyousness, because we are not totally in the dungeon of our neurosis. That cheerfulness is what we call the Great Eastern Sun. The model for the Great Eastern Sun is the sun that shines at ten o'clock in the morning. The sun is no longer the early morning sun, and it is no longer a teenage sun. The sun is about to be full, but it's not quite full. That ten o'clock sun is the Great Eastern Sun....."......http://chronicleproject.com/stories_117.html

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"The Shambhala Teachings most likely have Iranian origins."

"The reason that you don't understand the Shambhala Teachings is because you are Buddhists."

"One important difference between the Shambhala Tradition and the Buddhist Path is that Shambhalians work more closely with higher beings."

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"SEARCHING FOR SHAMBHALA......by James George.......The following is an early draft of Searching for Shambhala, an article that was later published in Search: Journey on the Inner Path. James George sent this draft to Chögyam Trunpa Rinpoche in 1976....http://www.chronicleproject.com...."To say that such a centre has existed does not mean that it still exists. Nor does it follow, even if it exists, that it could be located by satellite photography or tracked down by systematic ground expeditions. But so long as there is the remote possibility that such a place is real somewhere in our world, here and now, there will be those who will look for it. We can take Shambhala as the prototype of the object of this search..... in 1968, when we had the now well-known Tibetan teacher, Trungpa Rinpoche, staying with us. We had been asking him about the Tibetan tradition of Shambhala. To our astonishment he replied very quietly that, although he had never been there, he believed in its existence and could see it in his mirror whenever he went into deep meditation......"

"I am honoured and grateful that in the past I have been able to present the wisdom and dignity of human life within the context of the religious teachings of Buddhism. Now it gives me tremendous joy to present the principles of Shambhala warriorship and to show how we can conduct our lives as warriors with fearlessness and rejoicing, without destroying one another... I have been presenting a series of "Shambhala teachings" that use the image of the Shambhala kingdom to represent the ideal of secular enlightenment, that is, the possibility of uplifting our personal existence and that of others without the help of any religious outlook. For although the Shambhala tradition is founded on the sanity and gentleness of the Buddhist tradition, at the same time it has its own independent basis, which is directly cultivating who and what we are as human beings."....Trungpa (1984), pp 25-34..... "Shambhala: Sacred Path of the Warrior". ISBN 0-87773-264-7......

"Bon, unlike the religious outgrowths of the Aryan culture, especially Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism in their quasi-popular forms, gives little heed to the pursuit of salvation through austerities. Bon philosophy speaks of Yeshen as being reflected in the interplay between heaven and earth."...(Chogyam Trungpa: The Heart of the Buddha"...1991..pg 222)....

"I have kept the name Mukpo as my family name, my identity, my pride." (Trungpa:1984..pg 94)......Tonpa Shenrab was born at the palace Barpo Sogye of Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring. His father was Gyalbon Thodkar of the Mu clan ......

" the word La is similar in meaning to the word 'soul'. All human beings possess a la, consciousness (sem) and life (sok). The la is an entity which is part of one's being but is unintelligent. Therefore it can be stolen, confiscated, regained, as well as reinforced by spiritual power." (Trungpa: 1978..pg 227)....

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Gerald Red Elk......Rocky Mountain Dharma Center July, 1984......http://www.shamansdoor.com/?attachment_id=59

MASTER WARRIOR..."Those who have been fearless in their search and fearless in their proclamation belong to the lineage of master warriors, whatever their religion, philosophy, or creed...They are the fathers and mothers of Shambhala." (Trungpa: 1984..pg 179)...."The basic quality of the master warrior is that his presence evokes the experience of the cosmic mirror and the magic of perception in others." (Trungpa: 1984...pg 176)..."The master warrior has relaxed completely into the unconditional purity of the cosmic mirror." (Trungpa: 1984..pg 177)..."the birth of the master warrior takes place in the realm of the cosmic mirror. The master warrior is humble, extremely humble." ...(Trungpa: 1984..pg 176-178)

"We are working with iconography as a journey, rather than as entertainment or excitement or cultural fascination. We are talking about personal experience, how we actually see this world. There is a basic iconographic pattern in the universe, like the existence of the seasons and the elements, but how we react to that is individual.""....(Trungpa: Dharma Art.:1996...pg 94)

"The work of Shenrap still exists in Tibet in the form of 400 volumes, but it has undergone heavy Buddhist editing." ....The Tibetan texts "Ziji" (gZi brid) and "Zermig" (gZer mig)(Piercing Eye) Two biographies of Shenrab Miwo (Mibo)..... (Trungpa:Shen = divine,heavenly,ally..... Rap = Supreme One.... Miwo = Great Man)......(Chogyam Trungpa: 1978..pg 220)

Chogyam Trungpa...."NYIDA: The vegetarian diet of Shambhala. Nyi stands for yellow and green foods, primarily vegetables and fruits, and da for white foods such as milk, yogurt, cheese and tofu......enjoy as your provision only yogurt, milk, white butter, cheese, fresh vegetables, raw fish and white rice. You should refrain from garlic, onions, fat and other meats."

"My most favorite person in music, Mozart...sat in the sense that his mind became blank before he composed. Some kind of mind-less-ness in the Buddhist sense has to take place."..(Trungpa: 1996..pg 20)...

"Creating art is like meditating. You work with one technique for a long, long time, and finally the technique falls away."...(Trungpa: Dharma Art...1996..pg 115)...

INSPIRATION..."Has two parts, openness and clear vision (Sanskrit: shunyata and prajna). Both are based on the notion of original mind, traditionally known as Buddha mind, which is blank, non-territorial, non-competitive and open."..(Trungpa: 1996..100)...

FILM...."I would like to create a film in such a way that the audience has to take part in it. To do so, we would need to provide lots of space, speed, and richness."..(Trungpa: 1996..pg 116)...

DANCE...."If there is no aggression, that brings joy, openness, dance!"..(Trungpa: 1996..pg 52)...

"Poetry, linguistic expression, and music are identical as far as I am concerned."....(Trungpa: 1983..pg xx)

"I once went to hear the St Matthew Passion in Oxford. This was such a great discovery. Experiencing the tremendous heroism and spiritual passion in that atmosphere of sanctity, that I felt as though the occasion was my own private feast. From the beauty of the music I gained further appreciation of the Western legacy. My Tibetan friend panicked and thought I was in danger of being converted to Christianity."..(Trungpa: 1983..pg xx)

"Then there is Gita, the female bodhisattva of song." (Trungpa:1975..pg 20)

Robin Kornman (standing), Larry, and Jan Watson with the Vidyadhara in 1975 Photo by Robert Del Tredici....http://nalandatranslation.org/projects/articles/remembering-robin/

"According to Robin Kornman, “Trungpa Rinpoche began to reconstruct the original text after escaping Tibet, and it is this later work to which we refer. The first chapter describes the creation of the world by nine cosmic gods (shrid pa 'i lha) who appear in the form of native Tibetan dieties known as drala (Wylie: dgra bla), or war gods. These gods represent primal or originary aspects of the phenomenal world. For example, one of these lha stood for all kinds of light. Glancing in many directions, this diety created all of the lights existing in the world, including the sun, the moon, the light of the planets and stars, and the inward luminosity of consciousness itself. Another represented space and the sense of direction ... In Trungpa Rinpoche's epic these were directed by a ninth lha called Shiwa Okar ... a sort of absolute principle behind creation and the nature of reality. After these nine cosmic deities have created the world, [Shiwa Okar] goes to the things they have created and invests each one with an animistic spirit, a drala."….http://labelingthoughts.org/wiki/Shiwa_Okar

"There are many gods....They are always present everywhere.....the deities of the indigenous traditions of Western Europe and The Americas especially were dismantled, suppressed, undermined, abused, forgotten...followers were not even allowed to mention them.....but they still have not been able to destroy them, even with the desecration of the entire planet...the drala principle exists everywhere, always."..(Naropa Institute 1975.....Trungpa)

"The fundamental vastness of the world cannot be expressed directly in words, but in children's literature, very often it is possible to express that vastness in simplicity."...(Trungpa: 1984..pg 104)

"Another wonderful example of literature that evokes the sense of ordinary, or elemental magic is The Little Prince. The Fox tells the Prince what he calls 'my secret, a very simple secret' which is that 'it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye. Saint Exupery has a different vocabulary for describing the discovery of magic, or drala, but the experience is basically the same."...(Trungpa: 1984...pg 105)...

"NOW WE ARE SIX"...by A.A.MILNE
"In the poem 'Waiting at the Window' several hours are spent on a rainy day looking out the window, watching drops of water making patterns on the glass."..(Trungpa: 1984..pg 104)

"....you don't give in to things that indulge your reality. There is no special reality beyond reality. That is the Big No, as opposed to the regular no. You cannot destroy life. You cannot by any means, for any religious, spiritual, or metaphysical reasons, step on an ant or kill your mosquitoes at all. That is Buddhism. That is Shambhala. You have to respect everybody. You cannot make a random judgment on that at all. That is the rule of the king of Shambhala, and that is the Big No. You can't act on your desires alone. You have to contemplate the details of what needs to be removed and what needs to be cultivated...."....http://chronicleproject.com/stories_117.html

Trungpa, Chogyam...."Dharma Art"....1996
Trungpa..."The Pon Way of Life" in Himalayan Anthropology...1978 (Reprinted in "The Heart of the Buddha": 1991)
Trungpa...."Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism"...1973
Chogyam Trungpa..."Shambhala, The Sacred Path of the Warrior"...1984

Photo by Michael Wood

Vajra Regent Ösel Tendzin....."At first, when Trungpa Rinpoche introduced the Shambhala teachings to his students, it was very unsettling for us. For centuries, Buddhists have been teaching their doctrine, which is very precise and orderly and follows a specific progression. The students who had become accustomed to the Buddhist teachings found the Shambhala teachings quite challenging. Because the Shambhala teachings have nothing to do with religion, and in some way nothing to do with doctrine, they are difficult to grasp in a conventional way. When Trungpa Rinpoche introduced the Shambhala teachings, they were like a sudden, brilliant flash of light. They had nothing to do with the past, and they did not project anything particular in the future. They had to do with now. To begin with, we were amazed and shocked that a whole body of teaching like this could exist, and that we had no knowledge of it. That shock was good for us, because we soon realized that we could not rest on our so-called knowledge or experience, but we had to open our minds to the very basic, ordinary truth of Shambhala.".. Talk One from Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, a seminar taught by the Vajra Regent in Vancouver, British Columbia, November 1987. ......On August 22, 1976, Chögyam Trungpa empowered Ösel Tendzin as his Vajra Regent and first Western lineage holder in the Tibetan Karma Kagyü and Nyingma lineages

Trungpa Rinpoche: "You see, all ancient traditions—such as the Egyptian, the Pon tradition of Tibet, the Shintoism of Japan, the Taoism of China, and others—all paid a great deal of attention to the process of growth. The process of growth means birth as well as coloring, blooming, decaying, turning into a seed, dropping on the ground, regenerating as another plant, and going through the cycle of the four seasons continuously. Because of that, because it is of the same nature, human life has been dealt with in exactly the same way. So much sacredness has been imposed on the idea of the birth and death process. I don't think it is so much an intellectual, philosophical, or religious phenomenon, but it is much more earthy—being one with the facts of life, with this growth process.....For instance, in Pon, the Tibetan pre-Buddhist tradition, they say the time of death and the time of birth should coincide. That brings a conclusion to that process of birth and death—which includes the climate, the time, the location, the direction the dying person is facing, the particular collection of parents and relatives, and how many people are gathered there, how many men, women, or children. That whole collection brings a total picture of complete conclusion. So they are very earthy people. It is quite different from how modern occultists work with the same thing. It is very earthy; nobody allows room for hallucinations or imagination. Everything is dealt with completely within the tradition and the actual experience of the moment......From that point of view, in all the traditional civilizations of many different cultures, the death experience is regarded as an important point. And on top of that, the Buddhist discovery was to see all those colors, directions, temperatures, and climates of the dying person as a psychological picture. So it is seen completely differently but in exactly the same way."......From seminar's in Allenspark, Colorado & Karme Choling.....1971.......http://www.beezone.com/Trungpa/transcendingmadness/transcendingmadness1.html

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Okar Research is an informal online review of published materials exploring the history, myths, legends, languages, geography, terms, practices, teachers and teachings of the ancient Central Asian 'Kingdom of Shambhala'.

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Click Here to view the Okar Research Index

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John Hopkins.....New Mexico
Email: okarresearch@gmail.com

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Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche...1910-1991

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Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (Tib. དིལ་མགོ་མཁྱེན་བརྩེ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་, Wyl. dil mgo mkhyen brtse rin po che) (1910-1991) — born in the Dergé region of Kham, Eastern Tibet, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was recognized as the mind emanation of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892), and was one of the closest disciples of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo’s activity emanation, Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö (1893-1959). He is regarded by many as one of the greatest Dzogchen masters of the twentieth century.

His root guru was Shechen Gyaltsap Rinpoche, and Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro (1893–1959) was his other main spiritual master. After he completed what is known as the Preliminary Practices (Ngöndro), Khyentse spent most of the next 13 years in silent retreat in remote hermitages and caves near his birthplace.....After completing his retreat in 1938, Khyentse spent many years with Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro.....the Dalai Lama regarded Dilgo Khyentse as his principal teacher in the Nyingma tradition and of Dzogchen..... Khyentse was also one of the main teachers of Chögyam Trungpa, whom he held in high regard.

His death in Bhutan on 28 September 1991.....final cremation ceremonies were held for him over a three-day period near Paro in November 1992.

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Okar Research is an informal online review of published materials exploring the history, myths, legends, languages, geography, terms, practices, teachers and teachings of the ancient Central Asian 'Kingdom of Shambhala'.

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Click Here to view the Okar Research Index

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John Hopkins.....New Mexico
Email: okarresearch@gmail.com

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Khandro Tsering Chödrön...1929-2011

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Khandro Tsering Chödrön's name literally means "Dakini Lamp of the Teachings and Long Life."

"The wife of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö, an eminent Rimé master, she was universally regarded as one of the supremely realized female Buddhist practitioners of our time. Tibetans called her a "hidden master" because throughout her life she refused to preach with words, yet she taught by her sheer presence, beauty and example. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche revered her as "the queen of dakinis". Khandro-la was born in a small village in East Tibet around 1929 into an ancient Tibetan family. Her mother was Dechen Tso, a princess of Ling, who was married to the two Lakar brothers Tutob Namgyal and Sonam Tobgyal.... She became Jamyang Khyentse's spiritual wife in 1948, at a time when he was in poor health and many of his disciples were urging him to take a consort to prolong his life.....After fleeing Tibet in 1956 and losing her husband in 1959, she devoted her time to prayer and meditation."

According to Dzongsar Ngari Tulku (Tenzin Khedrup Gyatso), on one occasion [c.1952], when Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö was opening the sacred place of Gyalgen Khyungtak, above Dzongsar Monastery, Jamyang Khyentse, Gyarong Khandro, Khandro Tsering Chödrön and Sogyal Rinpoche all left their handprints in the solid rock.

She travelled from Sikkim to Europe and America several times.... On 5th of December 2006, near the beginning of Rigpa's first three-year retreat, Khandro Tsering Chödrön took residence in Lerab Ling, located near Montpellier in southern France.

Khandro Tsering Chödrön passed away on 26th May 2011 in Lerab Ling, where she showed all the signs of attaining the final accomplishment of a great Dzogchen practitioner...Khandro Tsering Chödrön's stupa was consecrated in 2014 at Lerab Ling.

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Okar Research is an informal online review of published materials exploring the history, myths, legends, languages, geography, terms, practices, teachers and teachings of the ancient Central Asian 'Kingdom of Shambhala'.

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Click Here to view the Okar Research Index

**************************

John Hopkins.....New Mexico
Email: okarresearch@gmail.com

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The 16th Karmapa ... Black Crown Ceremony

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The sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje (August 14, 1924 – November 5, 1981)..... spiritual leader of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He was born in Denkhok in the Dergé district of Kham (Eastern Tibet), near the Yangtze River.

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The Crown that Liberates When Seen (Üsha Thong Dröl)

The Black Crown (Tibetan: ཞྭ་ནག་, Wylie: zhwa nag) is an important symbol of the Karmapa, the Lama that heads the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. The crown signifies his power to benefit all sentient beings. A corresponding crown, the Red Crown, is worn by the Shamarpa. The Tai Situpa wears a red crown as well, whereas Goshir Gyaltsab wears an orange crown.

Legend tells that in a previous eon, in a former life as an accomplished yogi, the Karmapa attained the eighth level or bhumi of the bodhisattvas. At this time, 100,000 dakinis (female buddhas) manifested their hair as a crown, and offered it to the Karmapa as a symbol of his accomplishment.

The Karmapas were traditionally the teachers of the successive Ming Dynasty Emperors of China. When the 5th Karmapa, Dezhin Shegpa, met the Chinese Emperor Yung Lo, the Emperor, through his devotion and spiritual realization, was able to perceive Karmapa in the Sambhogakaya form of Vajradhara (Tib. Dorje Chang), wearing a black crown on his head. The Karmapa explained to the Emperor that he could see the 'Vajra Crown', the power-field of wisdom-energy that always stays above the Karmapa's head. The emperor offered to have a physical replica made so that others could receive its blessing.

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Wangchuk Dorje (1556–1603) was the ninth Gyalwa Karmapa, head of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism.

A crown encrusted with precious stones and topped by a huge ruby was commissioned, and using this, the 5th Karmapa started the tradition of the Black Crown Ceremony which was performed by successive Karmapa incarnations up to the time of the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje.

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The Black Crown Ceremony..... In preparation for the ceremony the Karmapa meditates to become inseparable with Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion. A mandala offering is made, followed by the seven branch prayer. This is to accumulate good impressions for the ceremony that ensues. The Karmapa then places the crown on his head while reciting the mantra 'Om Mani Peme Hung', transmitting blessings to each participant in the ceremony to the extent that they are capable of receiving them. It is said that by merely seeing of the Black Crown during the ceremony, one will become the first bhumi bodhisattva within three lifespans. This is one of the key reasons why the Black Crown is so important to the Karma Kagyu lineage.

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Recent developments..... In the early 1960s, the 16th Karmapa brought the Black Crown and other valuable relics of the Kagyu lineage to Rumtek monastery in Sikkim. They remained there in safekeeping until 1993 following the 16th Karmapa’s death. The ensuing split in his lineage caused a conflict at the monastery between supporters of the two rival claimants for the title of Karmapa. Since that time, it is said that many valuable items have disappeared from the cloister. On July 5, 2004, the Indian Supreme Court delivered a final judgement to grant Rumtek monastery to the Karmapa Charitable Trust, principal supporters of Thaye Dorje, one of the rival candidates for the title of 17th Karmapa. The Crown that Liberates When Seen of the Karmapas is stored today in Rumtek Monastery, in Sikkim, northern India.

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Okar Research is an informal online review of published materials exploring the history, myths, legends, languages, geography, terms, practices, teachers and teachings of the ancient Central Asian 'Kingdom of Shambhala'.

**************************

Click Here to view the Okar Research Index

**************************

John Hopkins.....New Mexico
Email: okarresearch@gmail.com

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Yungdrung Tharpaling...Lamayuru Monastery & Mahasiddha Naropa (11th c. AD)

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"Lamayuru or Yuru Monastery (Tibetan: བླ་མ་གཡུང་དྲུང་དགོན་པ་, Wylie: bla ma gyung drung dgon pa "Eternal Monastery", Lama Yungdrung Gonpa......Urdu: لمیرو گومپا‎) is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Lamayouro, Leh district, India. It is situated on the Srinagar-Leh highway 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) east of the Fotu La ....A. H. Francke states that, "according to popular tradition," it was originally the foremost Bon monastery in Ladakh; its name means sauwastika and is a popular symbol in Bon for "eternity". .....Yungdrung is the name of the most popular school of Bon..... It is currently affiliated with the Drikung Kagyu school of Buddhism....Francke, A. H. (1977). A History of Ladakh. (Originally published as, A History of Western Tibet, (1907).

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"Lamayuru......Yungdrung Tharpaling (g.yung drung thar pa gling), known today as Lamayuru, is the most ancient monastery of Ladakh.... LamaYuru, a vast monastery complex on a steep outcrop of earth..... Legend has it that the region where Yungdrung Tharpaling is situated today, approximately 127 km to the west of Leh, the capital of Ladakh, at the time of Buddha Shakyamuni was under a big lake, which was home to many Nagas. Rising prominently from the eastern part of the lake was a little dry hill which was locally called Skambur. It is said that the Arahat Madhyantika, when he visited the lake at Lamayuru and made water offerings to the Nagas, made a crack into the ground of the lake with his walking staff to leak out the water. He also pronounced the prophecy that in the future, the teachings of Sutra and Tantra unified will flourish in this place.."..... http://www.drikung.org/drikung-kagyu-lineage/main-monasteries/ladakh/lamayuru

"Mahasiddha Naropa (c. 1016–1100) visited Lamayuru coming from Zanskar...... He spent a long time in strict retreat in a cave there and turned the place into a sacred land. The cave still exists, well preserved and forms part of the main shrine of Lamayuru Monastery.......When Naropa was a great yogi, that he visited Kashmir. He came to Sani in Zanskar and to Lama Yuru in Ladakh.....at Sani the stupa here was built 2,500 years ago they say. It is called Kaniska or Sani Kaniska.....Guru Rinpoche came some 1300 years ago and mediated here establishing the cremation grounds and many springs. Then 1000 years ago came Naropa who meditated in front of the Kaniska Stupa."..... http://www.drikung.org/drikung-kagyu-lineage/main-monasteries/ladakh/lamayuru......http://naropa.edu/documents/programs/ma-environmental-leadership/footsteps.pdf

"Later in his life Naropa stayed in Phullahari, where he died aged 85 (c. 1040 AD)....One of the few reliable historical accounts of him comes from a Tibetan translator named Ngatso Lotsawa, who made an effort to visit Naropa at the monastery of Phullahari while waiting to visit with Atiśa at Vikramashila:......' I thought I would go see the Lord Naropa, since his reputation was so great.... On the day I arrived, they said some feudal prince had come to pay homage. So I went to the spot, and a great throne had been erected. I sat right in front of it. The whole crowd started buzzing, "The Lord is coming!" I looked and the Lord was physically quite corpulent, with his white hair [stained with henna] bright red, and a vermilion turban on. He was being carried [on a palanquin] by four men, and was chewing betel-leaf....So, there I saw the Lord's face, but did not actually hear his voice."......Davidson, Ronald M. Indian Esoteric Buddhism. pg 317. Columbia University Press, 2003.

"In 1038 the great translator Rinchen Zangpo (958–1055) built five temples at Lamayuru. These were among the 108 temples and stupas he erected in Spiti and Ladakh. One of the five temples at Lamayuru is still in perfect condition."...... http://www.drikung.org/drikung-kagyu-lineage/main-monasteries/ladakh/lamayuru

"The Lamayuru monastery, which is around 125 kms away from Leh. During the Yuru Kabgyat Festival, the monks perform mask dances, prayers and rituals in order to get away from any kind of disaster and for bringing in peace in the world. This is a pre-historic monastery, which is called Yuru Gonpa by the locals. This festival is dedicated to Yuru Kabgyat and his mythical connection...The main objective behind this masked dance drama is to appease the deity.....The Yuru Kabgyat dance consists of Chams in which the Lamas dance in the form of circles with large colorful masks. This circular movement is often accompanied by drum beats, long pipes and cymbals. The masks are usually made from paper mache and there is also a thin coat of plaster enveloping it.....The main figures portrayed are the Yama or the Lord of Death and Padmasambhava..... At Lamayuru in Leh, this dance is a renowned dance drama which is held every year during the Yuru Kabgyat festival, (held around July –August.) This dance drama concludes with sacrificial offerings......http://www.lehladakhindia.com/festivals/yuru-kabgyat-festival/

"Zanskar (“bzang-dkar”, meaning good (or beautiful) and white).......Zanskar, together with the neighbouring region of Ladakh, was briefly a part of the kingdom of Guge in Western Tibet......The majority of Zanskaris are of mixed Tibetan and Indo-European origins; notably Changpa, Dard and Mon.... It is suspected that an Indo-European population known as the Mon might then have lived in this region, before mixing with or being replaced by the next settlers, the Dards. Early Buddhism coming from Kashmir spread its influence in Zanskar, possibly as early as 200 BC. The earliest monuments date from the Kushan period. After this eastward propagation of Buddhism, Zanskar and large parts of the Western Himalaya were overrun in the 7th century by the Tibetans, who imposed their Bön religion.......Buddhism regained its influence over Zanskar in the 8th century when Tibet was also converted to this religion. Between the 10th and 11th centuries, two Royal Houses were founded in Zanskar, and the monasteries of Karsha and Phugtal (see picture) were built. Until the 15th century Zanskar existed as a more or less independent Buddhist Kingdom ruled by between two and four related royal families..".....Namgail, T. (2004). "Zangskar: mystic land". Sanctuary Asia 24: 44–47.

"Guge was an ancient kingdom in Western Tibet. The kingdom was centered in present-day Zanda County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region. At various points in history after the 10th century AD, the kingdom held sway over a vast area including south-eastern Zanskar, Upper Kinnaur district, and Spiti Valley, either by conquest or as tributaries. The ruins of the former capital of the Guge kingdom are located at Tsaparang in the Sutlej valley, not far from Mount Kailash and 1,200 miles (1,900 km) westwards from Lhasa.....Guge was founded in the 10th c. AD.....Nyi ma mgon, a great-grandson of Langdarma, the last monarch of the Tibetan Empire, established a kingdom in Ngari (West Tibet) in or after 912 ADand annexed Puhrang and Guge. He established his capital in Guge.....

'A Summer Ride Through Western Tibet......1906.......By Jane E. Duncan..... FranckeAntiquitiesPNG.....Antiquities of Indian Tibet: Personal narrative.....Page 80.....By August Hermann Francke

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Okar Research is an informal online review of published materials exploring the history, myths, legends, languages, geography, terms, practices, teachers and teachings of the ancient Central Asian 'Kingdom of Shambhala'.

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John Hopkins.....New Mexico
Email: okarresearch@gmail.com

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A Cavern of Treasures and Shenchen Luga (1017 AD)

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"A Cavern of Treasures (Tibetan: མཛོད་ཕུག, Wylie: mdzod phug) is a terma uncovered by Shenchen Luga (Tibetan: གཤེན་ཆེན་ཀླུ་དགའ, Wylie: gshen chen klu dga') in the early eleventh century. ...Dan Martin identifies the importance of this scripture for studies of the Zhang-Zhung language....'For students of Tibetan culture in general, the mDzod phug is one of the most intriguing of all Bon scriptures, since it is the only lengthy bilingual work in Zhang-zhung and Tibetan (some of the shorter but still significant sources for Zhang-zhung are signalled in Orofino 1990.'...."...https://en.wikipedia.org/

"Shenchen Luga was born in 996 in the Dringtsham (‘bring ‘tshams) region of Tsang, to a father of the sga clan and a mother who was the sibling of a Bonpo. Not much about his early years is known, but he did not seem to be formally engaged in religious pursuits until his massive corpus of treasure revelation appeared in 1017 AD, when he was 21. He spent the rest of his life teaching and debating, and perhaps established a seat at Darding (dar lding) near the town of Geding (dge lding). His greatest disciple was Zhuyé Legpo (zhu yas legs po), who eventually became the progenitor of his own lineage. In 1035 AD, the Buddhist monk Lotön Dorjé Wangchuk (lo ston rdo rje dbang phyug) allegedly poisoned and thus murdered Shenchen near the latter’s birthplace.".....https://collab.itc.virginia.edu/wiki/renaissanceold/Biography%20of%20Shenchen%20Luga.html

Shenchen Luga Writings (rtsom yig):
Innermost Treasury of Life......(g.yung drung las rnam par dag pa srid pa’i phug gi mdo), text written in both Tibetan and Zhangzhung...... revealed in 1017 AD....

"Shenchen Luga was perhaps the greatest and most popular Bönpo of the Tibetan Renaissance period, if not in all of the modern history of Bön. Adepts and supporters trace the religion back to Shenrab Miwo (gshen rab mi bo) and beyond, but there’s no question that the actual religion of Bön, in the admittedly trendy sense of an established and systematized tradition, was founded by Shenchen Luga. His treasure revelations of 1017 and the years that followed (though Shenchen’s own narrative and those of his biographers attribute almost all of his texts to this one year) forged a uniquely Bönpo identity with the very instruments (mature doctrinal, ritual, and narrative texts), strategies (treasure revelation), and sensibilities (lineal autonomy, historical validity) that worked so effectively for the Nyingma Buddhists of the same period. Around the scholarship and personality of Shenchen, the Bön tradition coalesced for the first time, blossoming into a widespread and internally consistent religious system that would inspire polemical publications and considerable anxiety on the part of the more dominant Buddhist traditions for many hundreds of years to come.".....https://collab.itc.virginia.edu

"There were at least fifteen treasure revealers before Shenchen.."........https://collab.itc.virginia.edu

"The Tibetan word, terma, literally means “treasure” and refers to Buddhist (or Bon) scriptures and relics retrieved from the distant past through a process of revelation. There are two principal types of treasures: earth terma, discovered in the Tibetan and Himalayan landscape, and mind terma, discovered in the mind of the terton or “treasure revealer.” The latter should be distinguished with pure visions, or daknang, which appear in the mind of realized masters, but do not necessarily claim ancient origins. Though its source is located in the distant past, a terma is intended for the time and place of its discovery. "......http://shambhalatimes.org/2010/07/01/what-is-terma/

"The year 1017 AD marks the resurgence of Bön, which began with the discovery by Shenchen Luga (gShen-chen klu-dga’, 996-1035 AD) of a number of important concealed texts. With his discoveries Bön re-emerged as a fully systematized religion. Shenchen Luga was born in the Shen clan, descended from Kontsha Wangden (Kong-tsha dbang-ldan), one of Tonpa Shenrab’s sons. The descendants of this important family still live in Tibet......Shenchen Luga had a large following. To three of his disciples he entrusted the task of continuing three different traditions. To the first, Druchen Namkha Yungdrung (Bru-chen nam-mkha’ g.yung-drung) born in the clan of Dru which migrated to Tibet from Druzha (‘Bru-zha, i.e., Gilgit), he entrusted the studies of cosmology and metaphysics (mDzod-phug and Gab-pa)......The second disciple, Zhuye Legpo (Zhu-yas legs-po), was assigned to maintain the Dzogchen teachings and practices. He founded the monastery of Kyikhar Rizhing (sKyid-mkhar ri-zhing).....The third disciple, Paton Palchog (sPa-ston dpal-mchog), took responsibility for upholding the Tantric teachings..".....http://gyalshen.org/history-of-bon-2/

Sources of Tibetan Tradition......Page 259.....By Kurtis R. Schaeffer, Matthew Kapstein

"In the year 1017 AD, Shenchen Luga (gShen-chen klu-dga') came from eastern Tibet and discovered two large wooden boxes containing many Bonpo texts in the Tibetan language, which had been buried at Drigtsam Thakar ('brig-mtsham mtha' dkar) in Tsang Province, near the ancestral seat of the Shen clan...... It was principally this discovery that led to the revival of Bon in central Tibet in the eleventh century...."....http://www.drjameshenley.us/sutra-system/shenchen-luga-and-the-revival-of-bon.html

http://ravencypresswood.com/category/zhang-zhung-language/

"Zhang-zhung Language.......The first Bön scriptures were translated from the language of Zhang-zhung into Tibetan. The works contained in the Bonpo canon as we know it today are written in Tibetan, but a number of them, especially the older ones, retain the titles and at times whole passages in the language of Zhang-zhung......Until the 8th century Zhang-zhung existed as a separate kingdom, comprising the land to the west of the central Tibetan provinces of (dBus) and Tsang (gTsang) and generally known as Western Tibet, extending over a vast area from Gilgit in the west to the lake of Namtsho (gNam-mtsho) in the east and from Khotan in the north to Mustang in the south. The capital was called Khyunglung Ngulkhar (Khyung-lung dngul-mkhar), the 'Silver Palace of Garuda Valley', the ruins of which lie in the upper Sutlej valley south-west of Mount Kailash. Its people spoke a language classified among the Tibeto-Burmese group of Sino-Tibetan languages....The country was ruled by a dynasty of kings which ended in the 9th century A.D. when the last king, Ligmincha (Lig-min-skya) was assassinated by order of the Buddhist king of Tibet (Trisong Detsen)......and Zhang-zhung militarily annexed by Tibet.....The Queen of Ligmincha was later able to avenge the death and likewise murdered King Trisong Detsen...... Since that time Zhang-zhung has become gradually Tibetanized and its language, culture and many of its beliefs have been integrated into the general frame of Tibetan culture. Due to its geographical proximity to the great cultural centres of central Asia such as Gilgit and Khotan, it was through Zhang-zhung that many religious concepts and ideas reached Tibet."......http://www.acbon.org/ACB/index.php/yungdrung-boen

"Zhang-zhung Tapihritsa or Tapahritsa (c 7th ~ 8th century) was a Bon practitioner who achieved the Dzogchen mastery of the rainbow body and consequently, as a fully realised trikaya Buddha, is invoked as a iṣṭadevatā (Classical Tibetan: yi dam) by Dzogchen practitioners in both Bon and Tibetan Buddhism. He famously achieved the rainbow body achievement.....The historical Tapihritsa was born in Zhangzhung to a family of nomads. Tapihritsa's principal teacher was Dawa Gyaltsen.....Tapihritsa was contemporaneous with Ligmincha, King of Zhangzhung, and Trisong Detsen, Emperor of Tibet."....Karmay, Samten G; Watt, Jeff, eds. (2007). Bon, the magic word : the indigenous religion of Tibet

"The Bön religion.....during the reign of King Drigum Tsenpo (Gri-gum btsan-po') in the 7th century B.C.E. All but the 'Bön of Cause' (rgyu'i bon: the first four of the Nine Ways) was abolished, and most of its practitioners banished. They were, however, able to conceal many texts as terma (gTer-ma, 'treasure') that were rediscovered at a later date by tertons (gTer-ston, 'treasure discoverers').....From the 8th to 11th centuries the practice of Bön went mainly underground. The year 1017 AD marks the resurgence of Bön, which began with the discovery by Shenchen Luga (gShen-chen klu-dga', 996-1035) of a number of important concealed texts.".....http://www.acbon.org/ACB/index.php/yungdrung-boen

"One of the most renowned descendants of the Zhu family lineage is the holy lama Zhu Ye Lekpo. Born into the divine Zhu family, he heard of the Great Shen who had discovered Bön texts and who was the catalyst for a resurgence of the Yungdrung Bön tradition. This Great Shen was Shenchen Luga. Zhu Ye Lekpo went to Shenchen Luga and requested teachings. Shenchen Luga tested his faith by having him act as an attendant for eight years before giving him any teachings or transmissions. However, Zhu Ye Lekpo became Shenchen Luga’s main disciple and responsible for the dzogchen teachings and practice. He founded Ri Zhing Monastery in the eleventh century. This monastery became very famous. At one time, the Tibetan government donated to it more than a dozen estates and it housed over three hundred monks. It was completely destroyed during the Chinese cultural revolution. In the 1980’s, members of the Zhu family began restoring one of the hermitages connected with the monastery. The descendants of the Zhu family now live in India."......http://ravencypresswood.com/category/uncategorized/

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March 2016

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Kapila and the Samkhya School (6th c. BC)

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"Kapila (Drang-srong Ser-skya).....was a Vedic sage credited as one of the founders of the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy. He is prominent in the Bhagavata Purana, which features a theistic version of his Samkhya philosophy..... He is estimated to have lived in the 6th-century BC....Samkhya is called one of the several major atheistic schools of Hinduism by some scholars..... Others, such as Jacobsen, Samkhya is more accurately described as non-theistic.."

"Rishi Kapila is credited with authoring the influential Samkhya-sutra, in which aphoristic sutras present the dualistic philosophy of Samkhya..... Kapila's influence on Buddha and Buddhism have long been the subject of scholarly studies.....While he pre-dates Buddha, it is unclear which century he lived in, with some suggesting 6th-century BC.... Others place him in the 7th century BC.....Kapila is credited with authoring an influential sutra, called Samkhya-sutra (also called Kapila-sutra)....Buddhist sources present Kapila as a well-known philosopher whose students built the city of Kapilavastu....Some Buddhists texts claim the Buddha was Kapila in a previous life.....Scholars have long compared and associated the teachings of Kapila and Buddha....It has been said that Buddha and Kapila were both atheists, and that Buddha borrowed his atheism from Kapila......Kapila, when accused of atheism, is not accused of denying the existence of an Absolute Being. He is accused of denying the existence of an Ishvara....(Max Muller et al, Studies in Buddhism)....

"Jain philosopher, Vijayasena Suri in the court of Akbar the Great (1542 - 1605 AD) when accused of preaching atheism declared that Jainism's belief is not atheistic and is similar to the Samkhya....The existence of God or supreme being is not directly asserted, nor considered relevant by the Samkhya philosophers....."

"Ishvara (Sanskrit: ईश्वर, Īśvara) is a concept in Hinduism, with a wide range of meanings that depend on the era and the school of Hinduism.... In ancient texts of Indian philosophy, Ishvara means supreme soul, Brahman (Highest Reality), ruler, king or husband depending on the context..... In medieval era texts, Ishvara means God, Supreme Being, personal god, or special Self depending on the school of Hinduism.....In Shaivism, Ishvara is synonymous with "Shiva", as the "Supreme lord over other Gods" in the pluralistic sense, or as an Ishta-deva in pluralistic thought. In Vaishnavism, it is synonymous with Vishnu. In traditional Bhakti movements, Ishvara is one or more deities of an individual's preference from Hinduism's polytheistic canon of deities. In modern sectarian movements such as Arya Samaj and Brahmoism, Ishvara takes the form of a monotheistic God.... In Yoga school of Hinduism, it is any "personal deity" or "spiritual inspiration".... In Advaita Vedanta school, Ishvara is a monistic Universal Absolute that connects and is the Oneness in everyone and everything......The word Īśvara never appears in Rigveda.....Samkhya is called one of the several major atheistic schools of Hinduism by some scholars..... Others, such as Jacobsen, Samkhya is more accurately described as non-theistic.... Isvara is considered an irrelevant concept, neither defined nor denied, in Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy....... In Mahayana Buddhism it is used as part of the compound "Avalokiteśvara" ("lord who hears the cries of the world"), the name of a bodhisattva revered for her compassion. ....Ishvara is similar in some ways to Adi Buddha of Madhyamika Buddhists...."

"The Kalachakra system is clearly related to the ancient Vedic tradition in India which existed long before Buddhism appeared.....The Kalachakra refers to many different traditions, for example the Hindu; Saivite, Samkya, Vaishnava, the Vedas, Upanisads and Puranas traditions, but also Jainism. For example, the Kalachakra mandala includes deities which are equally accepted by Hindus, Jainas and Buddhists."

David Reigle , "Among the many traditional ideas which must be mastered to understand Kalachakra are several which are not found within Buddhism.... These include .... the Sankya system .... the Mandukya Upanisad .... and even the Jaina tradition."...The Lost Kālacakra Mūla Tantra on the Kings of Śambhala, Talent, Oregon: Eastern School, 1986

"In ancient times Kapilavastu (historical location unknown) was the capital city of the Shakya kingdom. King Śuddhodana and Queen Māyā are believed to have lived at Kapilavastu, as did their son Prince Siddartha Gautama until he left the palace at the age of 29.....The 19th-century search for the historical site of Kapilavastu followed the accounts left by Faxian and later by Xuanzang, who were Chinese Buddhist monks who made early pilgrimages to the site."....

"Ruzsa in 2006, states, "Sāṅkhya has a very long history. Its roots go deeper than textual traditions allow us to see. The ancient Buddhist Aśvaghoṣa (in his Buddha-Carita) describes Arāḍa Kālāma, the teacher of the young Buddha (ca. 420 B.C.) as following an archaic form of Sāṅkhya"....Ruzsa, Ferenc (2006), Sāṅkhya.

"Alara Kalama (Ārāḷa Kālāma) was a hermit saint and a teacher of yogic meditation. According to the Pāli Canon scriptures, he was one of the teachers of Gautama Buddha......After Gotama became an ascetic, he went to Alara Kalama, who was a teacher that taught a kind of early samkhya at Vessali. Alara taught Gautama Buddha meditation, especially a dhyānic state called the "sphere of nothingness" (Pali: ākiñcaññāyatana)......Gotama eventually equalled Alara, who could not teach him more, saying, "You are the same as I am now. There is no difference between us. Stay here and take my place and teach my students with me." Gautama was not interested in staying. After leaving, Buddha found a new teacher, Uddaka Ramaputta."

"The dualistic metaphysics of various Tantric traditions illustrates the strong influence of Samkhya on Tantra. Shaiva Siddhanta was identical to Samkhya in its philosophical approach, barring the addition of a transcendent theistic reality..... Knut A. Jacobsen, Professor of Religious Studies, notes the influence of Samkhya on Srivaishnavism. According to him, this Tantric system borrows the abstract dualism of Samkhya and modifies it into a personified male–female dualism of Vishnu and Sri Lakshmi..... Dasgupta speculates that the Tantric image of a wild Kali standing on a slumbering Shiva was inspired from the Samkhyan conception of prakṛti as a dynamic agent and Purusha as a passive witness. However, Samkhya and Tantra differed in their view on liberation. While Tantra sought to unite the male and female ontological realities, Samkhya held a withdrawal of consciousness from matter as the ultimate goal....According to Bagchi, the Samkhya Karika (in karika 70) identifies Sāmkhya as a Tantra, and its philosophy was one of the main influences both on the rise of the Tantras as a body of literature, as well as Tantra sadhana."....Bagchi, P.C. (1989), Evolution of the Tantras

"The purpose of this chapter is to reconcile three different views of the Universe proposed by the philosophies of Samkhya, Vedanta and Tantra. ...The ancient sages sought to capture these stark oppositions through distinctive dualities: Samkhya called it Purusha-Prakriti, Tantra defined the dual Ishwara-Shakti, and Vedanta called it Atman-Maya...."....https://auromere.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/reconciling-samkhya-vedanta-and-tantra/

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

January 2016

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Nietzsche’s Zarathustra and Zarathushtra Spitama

Nietzsche’s Zarathustra and Zarathushtra Spitama

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Primary Source: NIETZSCHE AND PERSIA.....Daryoush Ashouri (2010)......http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

"Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, like the original Zarathustra according to Zoroastrian tradition, goes to the mountain for meditation when he is thirty years old, and, like him, descends ten years later to convey his message to humanity. The early Zarathustra, at the dawn of the metaphysical history of humanity, after having long dialogues with his God of goodness, descends from the mountain to proclaim the heavenly message that interprets being in moralistic terms of Good and Evil; while the “second” Zarathustra, at the end of this history, descends to announce, first of all, the dreadful news which has immense consequences for human life and thought: the death of God......Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900)......Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None.......composed in four parts between 1883 and 1885 and published between 1883 and 1891"........http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

"Zoroaster (Greek Ζωροάστρης Zōroastrēs), also known as Zarathustra (/Persian: زرتشت‎‎ Zartosht), or as Zarathushtra Spitama, was the founder of Zoroastrianism. He was a native speaker of Old Avestan and is credited with the authorship of the Yasna Haptanghaiti as well as the Gathas, hymns which are at the liturgical core of Zoroastrian thinking. Most of his life is known through the Zoroastrian texts.....Modern scholars of Zoroastrianism generally place Zoroaster as having lived in north-east Iran or northern Afghanistan (Balkh) some time between 1700 and 1300 BC......Avestan, the language spoken by Zoroaster and used for composing the Yasna Haptanghaiti and the Gathas, on archaeological and linguistic grounds, is dated to have been spoken probably in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC.....Zoroaster's death was said to have been in Balkh located in present-day Afghanistan during the Holy War between Turan and the Persian empire in 583 BC..... Jamaspa, his son-in-law, then became Zoroaster's successor... Zoroaster himself hailed from the Airya (Aryan) people but he also preached his message to other neighboring tribes.... the Avesta contains the names of various tribes who lived in proximity to each other: "the Airyas [Aryans], Tuiryas [Turanians], Sairimas [Sarmatians], Sainus [Ashkuns] and Dahis [Dahae]"......Michael Witzel, THE HOME OF THE ARYANS, Harvard University & Encyclopedia Iranica

Click on the map to enlarge

"Tūrān (Persian توران) literally means "the land of the Tur", and is a region in Central Asia. The term is of Persian origin and may refer to a certain prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical region, or a culture. The original Turanians were an Iranian tribe of the Avestan age........ according to the Shahnameh's account, at least 1,500 years later after the Avesta, the nomadic tribes who inhabited these lands were ruled by Tūr, who was the emperor Fereydun's elder son.....Tur/Turaj is the son of emperor Fereydun in ancient Iranian mythology......Turan comprised five sub regions: Southern Turkmenia, the Atrak Valley, the Eastern Elburz Mountains, the Helmand Valley, and Bactria and Margiana.....Similar to the ancient homeland of Zoroaster, the precise geography and location of Turan is unknown. In post-Avestan traditions they were thought to inhabit the region north of the Oxus, the river separating them from the Iranians.".....Possehl, Raymond (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective

" Artaxerxes II invokes the goddess Anahita and the god Mithra, but as we have already seen above, Zarathustra was not a monotheist; he wrote Yashts for these two gods."....http://www.livius.org/articles/religion/ahuramazda/

"Nietzsche's study of classical philology and his deep immersion in Greek and Latin literature also introduced him to the ancient history of Persia and its culture, conceived as an Asiatic culture embodied in an imperial power in contradistinction to the Greek city-states in its neighborhood. In his collected works, including the voluminous fragments left in his notebooks (Nachgelassene Fragmente), there are many references to the ancient Persians. Nietzsche’s concern with Persia is well reflected in his choice of “Zarathustra” as the prophet of his philosophy and the eponymous hero of his most popular work, Also Sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra). He shows no particular interest in Persian history after the rise of Islam..."....http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

"Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938), had studied philosophy and law in Great Britain and received his doctorate 1908 in Munich with a thesis on The Development of Metaphysics in Persia, in which he retraced the development of metaphysics in Persia from Zoroaster to Baha ’ullah, the founder of the Baha’i religion. It is therefore not surprising that he also showed interest in Nietzsche, the poet of Thus spoke Zarathustra and the concept of the overhuman proposed in it......http://www.academia.edu/331812/NIETZSCHE_IN_INDIAN_EYES

"Allama Sir Mohammed Iqbal, the 'muslim of the century' and the first great Persian-language poet in 400 years, stated clearly that Persian Sufism is essentially the same as Tantric Buddhism. Iqbal is highly regarded in the great centres of learning of the muslim world both as a mystical poet and a religious reformer. A Kashmiri lawyer, he lived in Lahore, had a German wife, was knighted by the Brits, and had a great regard for Afghanistan. I have a handmade book of poetry he wrote about his only trip there - he visited a series of famous shrines behind Ghazni - its in Urdu and not so far translated into English."...RA

"Nietzsche’s deepest interest and admiration for the Persians manifest themselves where he discusses their notion of history and cyclical time. This Persian concept of time resembles to some degree his own concept of the circle of the Eternal Recurrence, expressed in a highly poetic and dramatic manner in his Zarathustra. Through this concept Nietzsche emphasizes the cyclical nature of cosmic time and the recurrence of all beings in every “circle”: “I must pay tribute to Zarathustra, a Persian (einem Perser): Persians were the first to have conceived of History in its full extent” (Sämtliche Werke, XI, p. 53). In this fragment Nietzsche uses the Persian word hazār referring to the millennial cycles (hazāra) in ancient Persian religious beliefs, “each one presided by a prophet; every prophet having his own hazar, his millennial kingdom.” In Also Sprach Zarathustra, he speaks of the great millennial (“grosser Hazar”) kingdom of his own Zarathustra, as “our great distant human kingdom, the Zarathustra kingdom of a thousand year,” (“Das Honigopfer”[The Honey Sacrifice,] Part IV).".........http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

"Nietzsche implicitly expresses once more his radical opposition to Greek metaphysical thought, as developed by Socrates and Plato, and its later prevalence in Western world through the supremacy of Greek culture within the Roman Empire. This process ultimately led, at the hands of the Church Fathers, to the integration of the Platonic metaphysics, as developed in Rome by the Neoplatonists, within the theological doctrines of Christianity. Nietzsche considered this whole historical development as constituting an ascetic and nihilistic worldview that denied and reviled the reality of this-worldly existence in the name of an illusory, eternal, and other-worldly life. Therefore, he thought that if the Persians rather than the Romans had been successful in gaining dominance over Greece, the predominance of their positive outlook towards worldly life and time would have prevented such a lamentable event in human history."......http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

"Nietzsche’s Zarathustra and the Persian Zarathustra. Nietzsche’s proficiency in classical philology, and the insertion of “Zarathustra” as the title of his most popular work, have misled some scholars of Zoroastrian studies to search laboriously for a direct reflection and representation of the ideas of the Persian prophet, or Mazdean texts, in his work (Rose, p. 174ff). Moreover, uncritical admirers of pre-Islamic Iranian history and culture, particularly among Iranians themselves, insist on seeing in Nietzsche’s Zarathustra an exact replica of the original Persian prophet and his teachings. Nietzsche’s sister, Elizabeth, has related that many Persian visitors used to come to her weekly open house in Weimar to express “their gratitude that Nietzsche had chosen a Persian sage to be the prophet of a new and superior race of man” (Rose, p. 186).....However, it is by no means certain that he had ever read Anquetil-Duperron’s translation of Zend Avesta. It could be said that his selection of the name of Zarathustra and allusions to his solitude in the mountains for ten years, and a concept like hazār (see above), testify to a broad acquaintance with Zoroastrian traditions and doctrines. However, by considering the trajectory of his intellectual interests from early youth, it becomes apparent that his historical and philological studies, including his thought-provoking studies on history of Eastern and Western religions and their sacred books, was not a matter of investigative scientific concern, but aimed at a hermeneutical reading from a novel revolutionary philosophical point of view. Moreover, he had a disdainful attitude toward supposedly “objective” scholarship restricted solely to painstaking research in specialized fields in the absence of a broad philosophical view (see, “On Scholars” and “The Leech” in Zarathustra Parts II and IV). Thus, he never intended to merely copy or adopt Zoroaster’s words and ideas uncritically."........http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

"Nietzsche made several references to “Zoroaster” in his early writings. This familiar name in European languages, of Greek origin, was used in his notebooks of 1870-71, about a decade before writing Also Sprach Zarathustra. There he speaks with great admiration of Zoroaster and his religion and, in a short note, as elsewhere (see above), implicitly expresses his sympathy for the historically not improbable possibility that Zoroastrianism could have well triumphed in ancient Greece: “Zoroaster’s religion would have prevailed in Greece, if Darius had not been defeated.” (Sämtliche Werke, VII, p. 106). Also in his posthumously published work of the same period, Die Philosophie im tragischen Zeitalter der Griechen (Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks), he refers to the probable influence of Zoroaster on Heraclitus (Sämtliche Werke, I, p. 806; English tr. P. 29). The name of “Zarathustra,” as such, first appears in Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (The Gay Science, fragment 342), published in 1882. Nietzsche inserts here the first fragment of the prologue to Also Sprach Zarathustra, i.e. Zarathustra’s prayer before the sun. This fragment appears in the following year in the published text of the first part of Zarathustra.".........http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

"One may wonder why Nietzsche abandoned the familiar name of Zoroaster for the original Old Persian form of it, Zarathustra, at a time when only specialists in Indo-Iranian philology were familiar with the original form. As Nietzsche admits himself, by choosing the name of Zarathustra as the prophet of his philosophy in a poetical idiom, he wanted to pay homage to the original Aryan prophet as a prominent founding figure of the spiritual-moral phase in human history."........http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

"Sa‘di and Hafez are the only Persian names of the Islamic era mentioned in Nietzsche’s writings......Hafez provides him with a prime example of “Dionysian” ecstatic wisdom, which he extols so extensively in his writings. There are several references to the poet in Nietzsche’s works. Obviously, Goethe’s admiration for Hafez and his “Oriental” wisdom, as expressed in West-östlisches Divan, has been the main source of attracting Nietzsche to the Persian poet. The name of Hafez, usually in association with Goethe, appears about ten times in his writings. He admires both poets for reaching the zenith of joyful human wisdom. For him Hafez exemplifies the Oriental free spirit who gratefully receives both the pleasures and sufferings of life. Nietzsche commends such an attitude as sign of a positive and courageous valuation of life."...........http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nietzsche-and-persia

"Yasnas 5 & 105 describe how "Zoroaster prayed to Anahita for the conversion of King Vištaspa", this provides further evidence that Zoroaster resided during the reign of King Vištaspa; which would corroborate a chronology of late-6th century BC.....His wife, children and a cousin named Maidhyoimangha were his first converts after his illumination from Ahura Mazda at age 30. According to Yasnas 5 & 105, Zoroaster prayed to Anahita for the conversion of King Vištaspa, who appears in the Gathas as a historic personage"....Williams Jackson, A.V. (1899), Zoroaster, the prophet of ancient Iran

"Zarathushtra and its derivative, Zoroaster..... The authentic form of Zoroaster’s name is that attested in his own songs, the Gathas, Old Av. Zaraθuštra- (Old Avestan [OAv.] and Young Avestan [YAv.] ....The speculation that Zarathushtra's name had something to do with camels appears to have started with Eugene Burnouf when explained Zarath-ustra as 'fulvos camelos habens' meaning 'having yellow camels' (Comm. sur le Yacna, pp. 12- 14, Paris, 1833). Later he changed his theory and stated that the name meant 'astre d'or' meaning 'golden star'".....http://zoroaster-zarathushtra.blogspot.com/p/etymology-of-name-zoroaster.html

"Nietzsche's original text contains a great deal of word-play. An example of this is the use of words beginning über ("over" or "above") and unter ("down" or "below"), often paired to emphasise the contrast, which is not always possible to bring out in translation, except by coinages. An example is Untergang, literally "down-going" but used in German to mean "setting" (as of the sun), which Nietzsche pairs with its opposite Übergang (going over or across). Another example is Übermensch (overman or superman)."....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Übermensch

"Untergang.....Setting of the Sun, Downfall, (Unter: down,below)...Untergang, literally "down-going" but used in German to mean "setting" (as of the sun), which Nietzsche pairs with its opposite Übergang (going over or across). Another example is Übermensch (overman or superman)."...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Übermensch

Übermensch.....(Über: going over, across)...." Zarathustra proclaims the Übermensch to be the meaning of the earth...The turn away from the earth is prompted, he says, by a dissatisfaction with life- a dissatisfaction that causes one to create another world in which those who made one unhappy in this life are tormented. The Übermensch is not driven into other worlds away from this one".....The Übermensch (German for "Overman, Overhuman, Above-Human, Superman, Superhuman, Ultraman, Ultrahuman, Beyond-Man") is a concept in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. In his 1883 book Thus Spoke Zarathustra (German: Also Sprach Zarathustra), Nietzsche has his character Zarathustra posit the Übermensch as a goal for humanity to set for itself. It is a work of philosophical allegory, with a structural similarity to the Gathas of Zoroaster/Zarathustra.".....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Übermensch

"Swastika is the symbol of Mithra, the deity of sun, or sun god, and hence its own religion, Mithraism; not Zoroastrianism. The difference is great although at some point they must have overlapped in certain regions of Iran. Mithraism predates the Iranian race, but Zoroastrianism is a strictly Iranian (in fact even Persian) religion...".....https://www.flickr.com/photos/briansearwar/3184317959

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Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

December 2015

John Hopkins....Northern New Mexico

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