August 2007. Summer Course. Renchen-Ulm, Germany

Dear Friends,

We are happy to offer you the possibility to register now for the summer course 2007 of Kunzig Shamar Rimpoche.

The course will start August, 3rd and end August, 10th. Rinpoche will give the following teachings:

Philosophical part
– “The 8 groups of consciousness”
– “The 3 faculties of all-inclusive consciousness”

Meditation part
– “The 7-points mind-training”
The general teachings of the so-called 7 points of mind-training will be given in the center by different teachers. However, the Kadampa tradition of mind-training (lojong) has many profound levels. Rinpoche will start to give those advanced levels of teachings this year.

The course should take place in the new meditation hall here in the house, which yet has to be finished. This will not be possible without your help and support.

It would be a great contribution if you could participate in this work – in whatever way. You would participate in the completion of a meditation hall with a size of 114 m², which should provide enough space for the next summer course (and many others).

The support of such a project is considered to be very meritorious and beneficial. You will have a part in all the benefit that is emanated and this will certainly be limitless.

Our account number:
7901896600, GLS Gemeinschaftsbank, BLZ 43060967
or the international Bank codes:
IBAN: DE91 4306 0967 7901 8966 00
BIC: GENO DEM 1 GLS

We are very much looking forward to this course and to welcoming you!

With warmest regards,
Your Bodhi Path Team

Sabine Teuber

Bodhi Path – Buddhistisches Zentrum der Karma Kagyü Linie
e.V. Kaierstr 18
D-77871 Renchen-Ulm
Germany
Tel: +49 (0)7843-7232

info@bodhipath-renchen-ulm.de
www.bodhipath-renchen-ulm.de

April, 2007 teaching program in California

On 8 April, 2007, Shamar Rimpoche concluded the three day program in Northern California.

During the first two days, The Four Stages of Mahamudra Meditation by Kunchen Pema Karpo was taught at Stanford University.

The Bodhisattva vow was given on the last day at the Bodhi Path Buddhist Center in Menlo Park. The participants were mostly members of Bodhi Path Buddhist Centers from around the world. There were also members from various other Karma Kagyu Centers.

October, 2006 Shamar Rimpoche visited the Bodhi Path Center in Hong Kong

During his recent visit to Hong Kong, Shamar Rimpoche transmitted the commentary titled “The King of Aspiration Prayers, the Aspiration for Noble Conduct.”

This commentary, taken from a text called “Collection of all commentaries” written by Drakpa Gyaltsen, a student of the first Jamyang Khyentse, explain in a concise way the deeper meaning of the Samantabhadra Prayer.

Shamar Rimpoche insisted on the importance of regular practice of this wishing prayer, especially for lay practitioners, who cannot afford to practice as Milarepa, leaving everything behind and practicing in a cave.

Numerous devotees of the Hong Kong center received the transmission and also the Loung for the text. Refuge vows were also given. On October 27th, a birthday celebration was held to honor Sharma Rinpoche’s birthday.

To see some pictures, click here

Shamar Rimpoche recognized a child as the reincarnation of one bodhisattva among the 21 abbots of Yangpachen

A myth until now about reincarnation and recognition in Buddhism has taken place during this very century. A Tibetan Ngagpa, Lama Tsering Ngodup, married an American woman, Andrea Strimling, in the year 2002, and they were living in Boston. Both of them are very devoted to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and His Holiness Shamar Rimpoche.

Lama Tsering and Andrea wanted to have a child, but had not yet conceived. Tsering has two older children, Dinah and Dorje, who live in Germany, and Andrea loves them, but Tsering and Andrea also wanted to have a child together. During the fall of 2005 when Shamar Rimpoche visited Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, Lama Tsering and Andrea went to visit Shamar Rimpoche. At that time they requested Rimpoche’ blessings to have a child. Rimpoche told them that he would make a special wishing prayer in order to fulfill their wish to have a child.

Early in 2006 Andrea learned she was pregnant. As is customary in Tibetan tradition, Lama Tsering and his wife requested Shamar Rimpoche to give a name for the baby. Since they had decided not to learn of the gender by ultrasound, they asked Rimpoche for two names, one for a boy and one for a girl. Shamar Rimpoche predicted that the baby would be a boy, and he gave the name Karma Yeshe Dorje. In July 2006, Shamar Rimpoche asked Lama Tsering and Andrea if they had checked the gender of the baby. They told Rimpoche that they had not, and that they would wait for the baby to be born. Shamar Rimpoche once again told them that the baby would be a boy. This time he also told them the child would be the reincarnate of one bodhisattva among the 21 bodhisattva abbots in the line of Shamarpas in Yangpachen during the 1600s. Shamar Rimpoche then told the couple to share the news with their families that their baby had been recognized in the womb as a reincarnate lama.

On October 14 of 2006, Tsering’s and Andrea’s son was born as predicted, and his parents named the boy Karma Yeshe Dorje Strimling Yodsampa, with Karma indicating the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Lama Tsering called Shamar Rinpoche on October 15 in Kalimpong to share the news. Shamar Rimpoche congratulated the new parents and told them that he would, on a special occasion, let them know which of the 21 bodhisatvas the Karma Yeshe Dorje is. Among the 21 bodhisattvas, Shamar Rimpoche has already recognized four, including Karma Yeshe Dorje.

Recognition of reincarnate lamas until now has been done when children are already born. The recognition of a reincarnated lama in the womb has not been done since the 19th century.

Philippe Jedar, spokesperson for IKKBO

Teachings and empowerment in Geneva Switzerland September 2006

Shamar Rimpoche arrived on Friday morning, September 15, at Geneva airport, where Venerable Lama Mönlam Gyatso and devotees welcomed him. He was accompanied to one of the centers nearby Geneva at Anières, where he stayed during the four days. On the day of his arrival, the sky was auspicious: a very soft rain fell on the region and a colorful double rainbow appeared.

On the weekend, Shamar Rimpoche gave three teaching sessions in downtown Geneva on "The four foundations of mindfulness", conferred the Amitabha empowerment and gave the refuge vow.

Numerous followers from Switzerland, from the neighboring countries France, Germany, Italy and Austria, as well as from many other parts of Europe, such as Ireland, Spain, Hungary or the Czech Republic, gathered in Geneva to attend the teaching, which was given by Shamar Rimpoche in English and translated into French and German.

In an extremely clear and comprehensible way, Shamar Rimpoche led the audience through the four foundations of mindfulness, explaining how to place mindfulness on body, sensations, mind and phenomena so as to attain freedom from obscurations, and from the conditioned state of existence. During the teaching sessions, the meditation instructions were put directly into practice under the guidance of Shamarpa, who encouraged the practitioners to report their experience to him and answered their questions.