Dimensionally Barrett

  His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Karanayaka, India, 1998. Photograph by Richard Avedon. For as long as space endures, For as long as sentient beings remain,  May I, too, remain to dispel  The miseries of the world.                    -  Shantideva, Bodhicaryavatara/Entering the Way of the Bodhisattva , 10: 55 If I recall correctly, this is your favorite verse from Shantideva. It encapsulates all anyone needs for altruistic motivation. It may be the pithiest distillation of what makes Buddhism worthwhile. This verse is the felt embodiment of bodhicitta, the mind of awakening; it figures you would favor it. You are also fond of describing yourself as a simple Buddhist monk. Having met other simple Buddhist monks, this is both slightly tongue-in-cheek, but oddly, also spot-on. Thrust into political leadership of a country besieged and invaded from without by Tibet’s neighbor The People’s Republic of China, at the ag...

Lord Jigten Sumgon/Jigten Gonpo ( ‘bri-gung-pa-‘jig-rten -gsum-gon/‘bri-gung-pa-‘jig-rten-mgon-po ); founder of the Drikung/Drigung Lineage As many (most? All?) of you know, I don’t “play favorites”, I don’t root for teams, when it comes to religious traditions that I’m affiliated with. Across the Buddhist spectrum, this is many more times the case, but it doesn’t prevent me from my enthusiasms. For many years, I’ve been and continue my affiliation with the Drikung Kagyu because, well, so many friends have been or are still monks in the lineage and because it really is the embodiment of a Tibetan practice lineage. Sure, I have my reservations about Buddhism in general and Tibetan Buddhism in particular; these have been articulated elsewhere. However, there’s much to commend the Drikung lineage in terms of application. I seem to recall Lama Sonam many years ago was asked about what texts students at the center (now in Arlington, Massachusetts) would be studying and h...