gentle voice february 2013

Subject: Gentle Voice February 2013Date: 29/01/13 20:39

February 2013In This Issue

His Holiness The Dalai Lama

This month at Jamyang

Geshe Tashi's column

The Director's Column

Photo Journal of the teachings at GandenMonastery

Ganden: What it was like to be there

Andy Weber Art Weekend

Day of Miracles/ Great Prayer Day

Dying Well Day

Festival of Lights at Bodh Gaya

Dharma Bites - Imagine

Poetry Corner

Work Opportunities

Out and About in London

About FPMT

Your Thoughts for Gentle Voice

Quick Links

Jamyang Website

Current Programme

Talking Buddhism

The Foundation Study Course

The Lamrim Chenmo StudyCourse

FPMT

Editor's welcomeHello,I hope you enjoy this edition of Gentle Voice. We are celebrating theteachings given by HisHoliness the DalaiLama in South India inDecember. SeveralJamyang students werethere and we includesome of their photosand memories Thereare interesting updatesfrom Geshe Tashi and also from Roy Sutherwood along withthe usual programme updates, stories, teachings, poemsand assorted trivia. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Peace and Love,John

Gentle Voice February 2013

1 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

His Holiness the Dalai LamaWords of TruthA Prayer Composed by:His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso The Fourteenth Dalai Lamaof Tibet

Honouring and Invoking the Great Compassionof the Three Jewels; the Buddha, the Teachings,and the Spiritual Community

O Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and disciplesof the past, present, and future:Having remarkable qualitiesImmeasurably vast as the ocean,Who regard all helpless sentient beingsas your only child;Please consider the truth of my anguished pleas.

Buddha's full teachings dispel the pain of worldlyexistence and self-oriented peace;May they flourish, spreading prosperity and happiness through-out this spacious world.O holders of the Dharma: scholarsand realised practitioners;May your ten fold virtuous practice prevail.

Humble sentient beings, tormentedby sufferings without cease,Completely suppressed by seemingly endlessand terribly intense, negative deeds,May all their fears from unbearable war, famine,and disease be pacified,To freely breathe an ocean of happiness and well-being.And particularly the pious peopleof the Land of Snows who, through various means,Are mercilessly destroyed by barbaric hordeson the side of darkness,Kindly let the power of your compassion arise,To quickly stem the flow of blood and tears.

Those unrelentingly cruel ones, objects of compassion,Maddened by delusion's evils,wantonly destroy themselves and others;May they achieve the eye of wisdom,knowing what must be done and undone,And abide in the glory of friendship and love.

May this heartfelt wish of total freedom for all Tibet,Which has been awaited for a long time,


2 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

be spontaneously fulfilled;Please grant soon the good fortune to enjoyThe happy celebration of spiritual with temporal rule.

O protector Chenrezig, compassionately care forThose who have undergone myriad hardships,Completely sacrificing their most cherished lives,bodies, and wealth,For the sake of the teachings, practitioners,people, and nation.

Thus, the protector Chenrezig made vast prayersBefore the Buddhas and BodhisativasTo fully embrace the Land of Snows;May the good results of these prayers now quickly appear.By the profound interdependence of emptinessand relative forms,Together with the force of great compassionin the Three Jewels and their Words of Truth,And through the powerof the infallible law of actions and their fruits,May this truthful prayer be unhinderedand quickly fulfilled.

This prayer, Words of Truth, was composed by His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the FourteenthDalai Lama of Tibet, on 29 September 1960 at his temporary headquarters in the SwargAshram at Dharamsala, Kangra District, Himachal State, India. This prayer for restoringpeace, the Buddhist teachings, and the culture and self-determination of the Tibetan people intheir homeland was written after repeated requests by Tibetan government officials along withthe unanimous consensus of the monastic and lay communities.

THIS MONTH AND NEXT AT JAMYANG

CLASSES AND EVENTS IN NOVEMBER and December AT JAMYANG

CLASSES and RETREATSwith GESHE TASHI Weekend 9 & 10 FebruaryWeekend 16 &17 MarchSaturday 10am - 5pmSunday 10am - 1pm FBT Module 2: The TwoTruthsRegistered Students Only

Weekend 2 &3 March andWeekend 23 & 24 March10am - 5pmIntroduction to Tantra

WEEK DAY EVENINGS

Mondays weekly until 25 March excluding 25February 7:30pmBuddhist Meditation: Positive Emotions

Tuesdays weekly 12 February to 26 March 6:15pmMedicine Buddha Puja

Thursdays weekly until 28 March 6.15 - 7.15pmSilent Meditation

7th February 7:30 with David FordMeditation for Beginners

Thursdays 7, 14, 21, 28 February, 7 March 7.30pm


3 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

Friday 29 - Sunday 31 MarchFriday, Saturday 8am - 5pmSunday 9am - 1pmEaster Compassion Retreat Tuesday 5 February 7.30pm

Mind Only Tuesdays 12, 19, 26February 7.30pmSelf Evident Middle Way

Tuesdays 5, 12, 19, 26March 7.30pmConsequence Middle Way Wednesdays 6, 13, 20, 27February 7.30pmSecular Ethics

Wednesdays 6, 13, 20, 27March 7.30pmBuddhist Practice

Sunday 10 February 2- 6pm Community Dharma Includes children'sactivities (family Day)

RETREATS and WEEKENDTEACHINGS and PRACTICE Weekend 23 & 24 February10am to 5pmA little drop of Reasoningwith Jeremy ManheimStudent seminar series

PRACTICE GROUPS Insight Meditation PracticeGroup23 February, 9 March10.30-12.30pm open to all Kalachakra Group meets 16 February, 9 March2 -5:30pm for initiates only

Guhyasamaja Group meets 17 February10am for initiates only

With Steff Hill Transforming Negative Emotions

Saturday 8 December 7 - 8.30pmLama Tsongkhapa Celebration Lama ChoepaPlease bring vegetarian food offerings for the tsog pujaand/ or flowers to offer in the temple

5, 20 February, 7 March 6 - 7pmLama Choepa Puja

WEEK DAY DAYTIME

Tuesdays weekly 12 February to 26 March4pm set up for puja at 4.30pmTara Puja

COMMUNITY

MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction)Thursday am and evening. You must book for thesecourses. Next courses start summer term.Contact [email protected] or [email protected],uk

Monday evenings Chi Kung and Tai ChiTaught by William Walker.For more information and to book call William (followthe link above)

Tuesday and Wednesday eveningsYoga Taught by Judy Watchman For more information and to book call Judy (follow thelink above)

Hridaya (Heart Centre) YogaWednesday 16 January - 24 April7.30 - 9.00 PM thaught by NazFor more information and to book call Naz (follow thelink above)

SPECIAL EVENTS

1st - 3rd FebruaryAndy Weber Art Weekend: Buddhist Art in Meditation

Art Lecture: Friday 7.30 - 9.30pmWeekend Art workshop: 9am - 6pm each day

Day of Miracles/ Great Prayer DayWith Geshe Tashi Tsering and members of theJamyang Community Monday 25 February8am - 5pm


4 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

Vajrayogini group meets 17 February 2:30pm for initiates only

Please book for all weekendclasses other than practicegroups by calling the officeon 02078208787 oremail [email protected]

You can drop in to allevening classes unless westate otherwise.

Geshe Tashi's column

I am very pleased to back at Jamyang after a great visit toIndia. It is always good to spend time with my family and, ofcourse, the teachings from His Holiness were outstanding. Itis a long time since I participated in teachings with such alarge group of Tibetan monks. These days I tend to go to theteachings of His Holiness in Europe so it is not since 1999that I have attended a teaching with such a large group and itgave me the chance to reflect on the changes taking place inthe Tibetan monastic environment.There are many positive changes taking place. In 1987 I hadthe great good fortune to act as debate instructor for aTibetan nunnery in Swayanbunath, Khatmandu. It was a verynew initiative as historically it was only the monks that tookon this rigorous study which is essential in leading up to theGeshe examinations. Now I learnt that the preparations forthe first Geshe exams for the nuns are all being set up thisyear and the first group of female Geshes will qualify nextyear. I am very happy about this.Things are also changing in the study programme that the monks participate in. His Holinesshas always been very keen that the monks should study science in a Western style. Now themonastic science curriculum is in place and in two to three years there will be a foundationscience paper as part of the Geshe exams. The monasteries are working closely with anAmerican university that is helping with the teaching and has collaborated in the production ofthe science text books. These are in Tibetan on one side and English on the other side -another sign of change.I think this is all very positive and I am very hopeful that the younger generation of Geshescoming out of the monasteries and nunneries will have a very good basic grounding that willmake them very effective teachers.Well we are back in the teaching programme at Jamyang and later in February is the Great


5 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

Prayer Day. Do try to come for all or part of the day if you can.

Director's ColumnOur break is well and truly over. The midwinter point haspassed and a new year has turned. In very dark, coldand stark but at times visually very beautiful conditions,we begin to look forward to the return of warmth andlight.

The magnificent statues we invited, made possible byyour swift and warm generosity late last year in responseto the appeal for funds to replace the damaged MedicineBuddha, have all arrived - Medicine Buddha, Manjusri,four-armed Chenrezig, Green Tara, Vajrapani andsix-armed Mahakala. Mantras and precious substancesare being rolled and prepared to fill them prior toblessing and soon they will greet the incoming springfrom their seats in the shrine of the small gompa.

The new January to April programme is off to a good start and now in full swing. Geshe-la hasreturned from India and begun his teaching programme with weekly classes on Mind Onlyand the True Kinship of Faiths on Tuesdays and Wednesdays respectively. The first of thefour Introduction to Tantra weekends began at the weekend and classes on Secular Ethics,Self-Evident Middle Way and Consequence Middle Way allstart in February. Visiting teachersinclude Geshe Graham, the Ven. Rita, Jeremy Manheim and Andy Weber - who will be herethis weekend. There is also a programme of great FPMT courses and classes, meditation andgroup practice sessions, and a busy schedule of community events and activities, includingour London Centre for Mindfulness eight-week courses. If you have not already done so,check out the new programme here: http://www.jamyang.co.uk/whats-on/programme-calendar

Later this year we look forward to possible further visits from our precious teachers and will behosting the FPMT Europe Regional Meeting in London and our colleagues from FPMTTraining are coming over from the US to deliver Foundation Training in CompassionateService.

The Foundation Training in Compassionate Service will enable us to explore how to best offerour skills and qualities in service. This training will investigate the purpose and mission ofFPMT, what it means to be an FPMT centre or group, and how that vision translates intoaction for centres, projects, and individuals. There will also be training of trainers inFoundation Training for the first time in Europe.

The rewiring of the North wing is underway and the care and development of the building ishigh on the agenda. We are close to finalising what is required to get work started on theimprovement and restoration of the frontage that we already have outline planning permissionfor. The Trustees are gathering professional advice and information on the options for thepotential development of other areas of the building to support the vision and agreed prioritiesin the recently updated strategic 5-year plan.

We are doing this to better support and develop our Buddhist and Community programmes


6 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

and improve our offering to you, as well as new people interested in the Dharma and thewider local community. We could not do this without your help and support. Your generositywith time, energy and donations are what sustains us and helps to make the consistent andever improving delivery of all these things possible. Heartfelt thanks from all of us here on theJamyang team!

Roy

His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Ganden and Drepung- Picture GalleryYou may remember that shortly before Christmas His Holiness was giving teachings on aseries of Lamrim texts in the South Indian monasteries of Ganden and Drepung. Quite a fewJamyang students made the long and arduous trip to be there and so to celebrate theirjourney we are publishing some of their photos.Many thanks to Jane Sill, Michelle Klepper and Steve Golding for all these pictures. Enjoy!

Ganden Monastery

Ganden Monastery Debate Yard


7 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

Waiting for His Holiness to arrive

Tibetan monks throng the streets waiting for His Holiness


8 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

His Holiness arrives to give teachings

Jamyang students (and friends) meet with Lama Zopa Rinpoche to invite him to London.Lama Zopa has just read the invitation letter - he looks happy!


9 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

Meeting with Dagri Rinpoche

Meeting withZongRinpoche


10 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

Relaxing at Base Camp - hospitality provided by Geshe Tashi's family.

The hosts!


11 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

A mobile sari shop and after it's all over - relaxing at the seaside

Having fun!


12 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

Steve is third from the left

Golden moments in South India

Jang Chup Lam Rim and Camp 5I am very fortunate to have attended 2 week's teachingsand transmissions of 4 lam rim texts by His Holiness theDalai Lama, at Ganden Jangtse and Drepung Loselingmonasteries in South India. It's a great blessing to be inthe same gompa as His Holiness for 14 days and to listento His transmission and English translation of Hisexplanations of the texts with humorous anecdotes andother pearls of His compassion and wisdom. Atransmission from His Holiness is to not only receive alengthy recital of the text but also of His wonderful energyand great enthusiasm, which inspires one tostudy/re-study lam rim and (I hope) to more easilyunderstand/actualise it.

The positive energy is enhanced by sharing the experience with 25,000 others, mostlysangha, but all with well-motivated, altruistic, peaceful, intent. At His Holiness long-life puja onthe last day, I was sat outside with a tightly-packed throng of devotees. A whopping ant camealong - I tried to divert it to a safer spot but it headed to a row of sitting Tibetans - one afteranother, they gently diverted it. I found this delightful as I recalled that at work, my boss wouldhave instantly bludgeoned it to death.We were also blessed with visits to Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Dagri Rinpoche who acceptedinvitations to come to Jamyang; and to Zong Rinpoche who was also a delight to meet.


13 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

Jane Sill presents the invitaion letter toLama Zopa

It was also good to share the experience and discuss the teachings with 13 other students ofGeshe la - 9 from Jamyang, London and 5 from Austria, Denmark, Switzerland and Australia.We stayed in 2 houses in camp 5 of the Tibetan settlement of Tattihalli. Facilities were basicbut Geshe la's brother Phurbu and wife Dicky worked long hours to keep it clean and provideus with plentiful helpings of a variety of delicious Indian, Tibetan and international dishes forbreakfast (from 6 a.m) and dinner. Geshe la's father, Jamyang, also blessed us with hisendless mantras.

We had a lot of laughs and got along remarkably well considering we were mostly exhausted.Most nights were disturbed by a canine cacophony of howling and barking, which temporarilydrowned out the other night-time noises. All survived and it was a little sad to depart buthopefully we'll be blessed with a reunion for part 2 in 2013.

Thank you very much Geshe Tashi la and family.

Steve Golding -----------------

Lam Rim Teachings 2012 with HH Dalai Lama

Teachings and commentary on Lam Rim Chenmo givenby HH Dalai Lama; over 2 weeks in India; being lookedafter by Geshe la's family - still can't believe our goodfortune to have been able to enjoy all 3! It felt unrealwhile we were in India and just 'like a dream' now, adream which brings many smiles and happy memories.

Where to begin? India offers sensory overload at the bestof times, but even more so as we arrived literally riding onthe slip stream of HH's entry into Mundgod, the smallTibetan settlement which was to be our home for 2weeks. Streamers of Tibetan flags and auspicious symbols were hung in unbroken linesbeside the road joining Drepung and Ganden monasteries and there was a real partyatmosphere as every monk and nun from the Gelugpa tradition, it seemed, both young andold had assembled in this small rural township. The stream of maroon and golden robescarried on every conceivable form of transport, often hanging precariously from the sides ofopen backed trucks, was to be a feature of our daily trek on foot or tutsie to the teachings.The dust clouds were epic and face-masks nearly obligatory!

It was a real experience to be at a Tibetan monastery, for me for the first time. Ganden andDrepung offered very different experiences. Drepung was the younger of the two but seemedmore traditional with literally hundreds of pillars everywhere. Not hard to figure out why theyfeature so often as examples. One of the most memorable experiences and one which willalways stay with me was the melodious chanting each morning before the teachings began.Only towards the end did I find out that one long chant consisted of the many dedicationswhich were read out each day. There followed a very moving crescendo of supplication to thelineage masters. By the time it finished, the presence of the unbroken line of teachersseemed to stretch from South India right to Tibet and back to the farthest reaches of history,to Buddha Shakyamuni himself.


14 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

Another amazing experience was the whoosh and rumble which felt like a strong gust of windas hundreds of young monks came running in clutching pots full of tea and bags of sweettasting bread. Then the 'Tea chant'. This popular refrain was composed by Lord Atisha himselfat a small monastery originally situated near Mount Kailash but now removed to just outsideCamp 5. A very beautiful little monastery, nothing on the scale of its 2 large counterparts, butcontaining some of the rarest and most precious relics dating back to the first Tibetan Kingwho introduced Buddhism into Tibet and to Lord Atisha himself. The outside had been newlyrepainted in honour of a visit by HH Dalai Lama. Villagers queued for hours to catch just aglimpse of his smiling face, including 3 young people who had recently escaped from Kham.

The teachings were, as you can imagine, wonderful. His Holiness gave the 'lung' (oraltransmission) of the whole of the Lam Rim Chenmo, the graduated path to enlightenment,with personal commentary along the way. Throughout the teachings HH stressed theimportance of study and effort on our part, and how developing critical reasoning wasessential for our practice to have firm foundations and be able to stand the test of time. Oncewe have become totally convinced of the accuracy and veracity of the teachings in our ownminds, nothing can shake that conviction.The teachings seemed effortless and flowed inrhythmical fashion without break except for the celebration of Lama Tsong Khapa day whenhundreds of little butter lamps festooned each villager's house, as well as great light offeringsin the monasteries. There was also a special ceremony at which HH was awarded the mostprestigious title from the Gelugpa tradition. This provided the opportunity for colourfulcelebrations of traditional song and dance with lively participation by local Tibetanschoolchildren who enjoyed having time out of school.

During our stay we were very fortunate to have been able to have audiences with some greatmasters, including young reincarnations who are just beginning to emerge to teach. Somememorable moments occurred at unexpected moments, such as waiting in a queue when Imet with a brave young man who was planning to return to Tibet to visit his very elderlyparents and grandmother.

We were looked after so well by Geshe la's family and it was thanks to their care and amazingcooking, planned meticulously with Dolma's help, that those of us who stayed there kept wellthe whole of our stay.

All I can say are massive thank you's to all who made this wonderful experience possible and,like many of us on the trip, we are just waiting for the opportunity to book for thecommentaries HH is planning to deliver at Sera later this year or early next.

Jane Sill


15 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

Andy Weber Art Weekend 1 - 3 FebruaryDon't miss Andy Weber's Buddhist Art in Meditation Weekendfrom 1 -3 February 2013

A reminder that the world famous Tibetan thangka artist AndyWeber has kindly agreed to make time in his busy worldwideschedule to share with us his vast knowledge of Tibetan arttechniques and symbolism.

Art Lecture: Friday 7.30 - 9.30pmSuggested donation £7Weekend Art workshop: 9am - 6pm each dayCourse fee £90 for weekend £45 for a day. Concessions £70 forthe weekend, £35 a day

Andy lectures on the iconography of Tibetan Buddhism their purpose and meaning whileillustrating his points with slides of wonderful Tibetan Art.

Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 December Andy gives an art workshop. Learn how to draw and let the creative part of you explorebeauty in a spiritual setting.

Book your place by emailing or calling the office at Jamyang

Day of Miracles/ Great Prayer Day 25 FebruaryThis is one of the festivals that we celebrate at Jamyang and is also anopportunity to take refuge for the first time through the refugeceremony that Geshe Tashi will offer. You need to ask him in personand talk it through with him in one of his interviews on Wednesdays. They run in half hour slots from 4pm to 6pm. Book up through [email protected]. More details on the Jamyangwebsite here

Dying Well Please note that the date for the next Dying Well meeting hasbeen brought forward from 20th April to Sunday 10th March.We will be looking at the practical preparations we can make forthe end of our lives which should make things easier for thosewe leave behind - anything from planning our funeral to decidingwho will look after the cat! Having to clear up our affairs afterwe've gone is probably the last thing our loved ones feel likedoing, so anything we can do in advance to help them is veryworthwhile. We have arranged for a funeral director, PollyMardall, to come and talk to us : she has been recommended by our one-time manager, JonUnderwood. After lunch there will be the opportunity to ask questions, bring items fordiscussion and share anything about death and dying you have found interesting.

Festival of Lights at Bodh Gaya and Great Prayer Festival at Kopan


16 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

Root Institute for Wisdom Culture at Bodhgayainvites you to participate in the

Festival of Lights and Merit 2013

Offering prayer flags, pujas and many thousands of lights at theGreat Stupa of Enlightenment to celebrate the four mostimportant events of Shakyamuni Buddha's life

Fifteen Days of Miracles: Feb 11th - 25thLord Buddha's Enlightenment and Parinirvana/Saka Dawa: May24 - 26Lord Buddha's first teaching: July 11 - 13Lord Buddha's descent from Tushita God Realm: November 23- 25Next Light Offering: Tibetan New Year, Losar 11th - 25th FebruaryThe Festival of Lights and Merit supports Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche's Merit Box projects,your own centre and the social work projects of Root Institute.The lights are offered with the extensive light offering prayer composed by Lama ZopaRinpoche. Names of sponsors and dedications are read out in the Mahabodhi Stupa gardens.Sponsorship includes offerings on all four festivals in 2013For a detailed description of how the lights are offered or about donating please refer to thewebsite http://www.rootinstitute.com/holy-objects/light-offering.html or for further informationcontact [email protected]

Monlam Chenmo in Kopan

For many years now, Kopan Monastery has beenhosting the annual Great Prayer Festival (MonlamChenmo) in Nepal - the extensive prayer gatheringlasting for five days. It will be presided by the Jangtse Choje Losang Tenzin,ex -Abbot of Gyurme Monastery and in line for theGanden Tri, who will read from the life stories ofShakyamuni Buddha (Jataka tales) and teach every day.More than 1800 rinpoches, geshes, monks, and nunsfrom Nepal and India will attend this extraordinary five-day Great Prayer Festival to pray forworld peace. Join the MonlamWe are pleased to invite everyone to participate in this great occasion in person or by makingofferings of food, tea, lights or money offering to the Sangha. Your names and dedications willbe read to the assembly of Sangha in every prayer session over the five days to request fordedication. If you would like to accumulate extensive merits, this is a unique opportunity tomake offerings to Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha to collect ocean-like merit and to create thecause for prosperity by practicing generosity.All pujas, prayer ceremonies, food offering and cash offering for the Sangha for the five-dayfestival are open for sponsorship. Remember: "Offering even one cent to the Sanghacommunity brings uncountable benefit and merit. As long as the Sangha community existsyour merit exist. It will not be exhausted. When making the offering in your mind dedicatestrongly for your purpose and make strong prayers for all your wishes to be fulfilled"


17 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

More information about the Monlam Chenmo and how to participate can be found here KopanMonastery Monlam Chenmo

Dharma Bites: ImagineImagine that you are a character in a computer game that

wants to understand the nature of reality. You stop stealing carsor firing your gun or doing whatever you are designed to do andcontemplate the world around you. It is made up of people andhouses and other things, but what is it all made of? You lookcloser and penetrate the underlying programming language ofwhich this world is constructed - let's call it Visual C++ for thesake of the programmers amongst us. Now you see anunderlying structure, a deeper reality from which your world ismade. This underlying reality explains why things behave theway they do. There are only a handful of basic substances;commands in programming language speak that controleverything. Perhaps you notice that the commands are groupedinto programmes that inherit behaviour from other programmes - they are conditioned tobehave in certain ways. You decide that if all the inhabitants of this world just stopped doingwhat they are conditioned to do and just observed the world and themselves without engagingin action, there would be a lot less stealing of cars and shooting of guns. The world would bea much happier place. You set about using your new knowledge of the underlying rules thatgovern the world to make new, better things - flowers and trees, lambs, kittens and puppies -though every so often you are obliged to break off and shoot down intruders and car thieves.

Then one day you realise that the programming language that you thought was the mostfundamental building block of the entire world, the Visual C++ itself, is also made up of amore basic structure. You dive deep and discover that everything is made up of the binarynumbers zero and one. This applies to all the things around you, your own body and also yourthoughts, feelings and conditioning. In fact your very self is nothing other than zeroes andones in a particular combination. The people and objects of the world have no deeper natureother than this binary code and it is fundamentally the same for all of things. You wonderwhether you can be free even of this most fundamental of all substances and you againinvestigate deeply. You look in and you look out, you remain still and you engage in activity,yet you cannot escape the binary world. Everywhere you look, the tools you look with, yourmind and eyes and senses, the things you see and even the absence of seeing - all are madeof binary substance. You can influence the code, in fact your every moment of existenceinfluences the code, but you cannot escape it.Unknown to you the programmers are continually adding new features to the game. This justadds more and more code and your world seems to be expanding ad infinitum. How do youescape the game?

Deep in your conditioning, in the programmes within programmes within programmes, youcome across what seems to be some redundant code with a "readme.txt" file attached to it.You read the file which explains that this programme will cause you to expand the zeroes andthen consolidate them into a great zero that will puncture a hole in the very heart of the game.The game will then stop in a great burst of blue light and give its last message beforeinverting itself and expanding out to entirely occupy a bigger reality that you are not aware of-something called RAM. Then this whole new world will also invert and explode into a bluelight.


18 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

Deer making snowmen on Fenton Hill,Richmond Park

You think about all your friends in the world and all your responsibilities to them - to guardtheir backs and shoot your common enemies, to steal cars and blow stuff up - you will have tobetray them all. You think about your creations, the sheep, cats and dogs - they will have tolook after themselves. No matter, you must find out what is beyond. You take a deep breathand then run headlong into the programme and the vast explosion of clear blue light.

Q would like to credit the novel - "The end of Mr Y" by Scarlett Thomas as the inspiration for this reportage.

Poetry CornerThe purpose of a fish trap is to catch fish,and when the fish are caught, the trap is forgotten.The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits. When the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten.The purpose of words is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten.Where can I find a man who has forgotten words? He is the one I would like to talk to.

- Chuang Tzu

ed - should there be an extra line in this poem one that takes us beyondideas? Is anyone willing to give it a try and write another line?

Work Opportunities with the FPMTPosition: Spanish-Tibetan (ideal) or English-Tibetan speaker interested in working asinterpreter for one year. Location: Mexico, Guadalajara and Aguascalientes.Contact: Dunia Carcamo, Khamlungpa Center Director. Email: [email protected] Position: Resident Teacher Location: Ganden Yiga Chodzin Centre, Pokhara,NepalContact: Claire Isitt, Centre Services Director,FPMT International Office. [email protected] information at www.pokharabuddhistcentre.com or www.facebook.com/FPMTPokhara -----Position: Regional Coordinator FPMT Europe Location: FlexibleContact: For more information contact theEuropean Regional Coordinatorat [email protected] More informationon FPMT can be foundat www.fpmt.org or www.fpmt-europe.org -----Position: Spiritual Programme CoordinatorLocation: Atisha Buddhist Centre, central Victoria, near Bendigo, AustraliaContact: [email protected] For information about the Atisha Centre, please


19 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

visit www.atishacentre.org.au

Out and AboutTuesday 29th January Robin Bath, photographer,student of Lama Yeshe and Jamyang Trustee willbe exhibiting a number of his photographs of"Grave Art".

He says: "I would be delighted if you were able tocome along and have a look. It forms a very smallpart of a collection of images that I have beenworking on over the last 5 years from cemeteriesthroughout Greater London. I hope you'll besurprised at how touching and amazing some ofthem can be.

There's an Opening Event on Thursday 31st from6-9pm when it would be lovely to see you,otherwise I'll try to be in attendance some of theafternoons as well, and would be happy to meetup if you let me know roughly when you'recoming." Robin highly recommends twinning the visit withthe superb Exhibition on Death at the WelcomeInstitute which is just a short distance west of theChurch along Euston Road. "Death:Aself-portrait" http://www.wellcomecollection.org/whats-on/exhibitions/death-a-self-portrait.aspx

Challenge your preconceptions with this talk Deep Sea Diving....in a Wheelchair a TED talk

FPMTJamyang is affiliated with FPMT (Foundation for the Preservation of the MahayanaTradition) and is one of more than 150 centers and projects worldwide.

FPMT is based on the Gelugpa tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa of Tibet as taught byour founder, Lama Thubten Yeshe and spiritual director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche. If you wouldlike to receive FPMT's monthly newsletters please subscribe here.

Your ThoughtsWhat do you want to see in Gentle Voice? We would love to hear your ideas and commentsabout Gentle Voice, please contact John at: [email protected]

Forward email


20 of 21 29/01/13 20:40

gentle voice february 2013

Documents

edition of gentle voice

johngentle voice

spiritual communityo

o protector chenrezig

issuehis holiness

ocean of happiness

dalai lamathis month

dalai lamaof tibethonouring