#tibetans

Last Updated: Feb. 19th, 2024 (If I missed smth before this, feel free to @ me to add it)

Even in thought. You never hold feelings of anger or hatred towards any being, animal or human. Everyone is a friend. Every folly is just a folly, every suffering just a suffering. Homage to all Tathagatas.

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Reposted from @tsemrinpoche 🕯 A QUICK NOTE ON FOOD OFFERINGS 🕯 ⠀ Making offerings to the Three Jewels, on your altar or in a temple, is actually part of the Perfection of Generosity. Hence, when we make offerings, we don’t take offerings back for ourselves or make offerings with the sole motivation to give them to others as blessing once it has been offered. Our motivation to make offerings, should be to generate merit & practice non-attachment. ⠀ In @kechara.forest.retreat, we have a practice of offering food to both Tsem Rinpoche & also Dorje Shugden at Tsem Ladrang. These offerings are made on a daily basis, offered by individual staff & volunteers. Some people not accustomed to such offerings asked some questions about it, so we thought to share some dos & don’ts regarding food offerings. ⠀ *DO’S* 1. Offer the best quality food that you can afford 2. Offer things that you like, to cut your attachment to them 3. Offer vegetarian foods 4. Offer food that you have cooked or that you have bought specifically for offering 5. Offer both cooked and packaged food (biscuits, etc) 6. Offer more during retreats and special days 7. Give the food to others once offered ⠀ *DON’TS* 1. Make offerings with the intention of eating the food once offered 2. Make offerings with the intention of giving them to someone else 3. Attend retreats or pujas with the motivation of taking offerings once finished 4. Rush to take the offerings at the end of pujas or retreats 5. Be picky about what you take or receive as a blessing 6. Ask for offerings back once you have given to staff to be offered for you 7. Eat the food offerings once made. You can take a little bit as blessing, but don’t eat it all. This applies to fruit offerings as well. 8. Make non-vegetarian offerings 9. Throw away food offerings. Try to give it to others once offered. If no choice, then it is okay to throw away, because it will feed animals, insects, maggots, etc and bless them. ⠀ Click the link in the bio to read the rest! ⠀ #tsemrinpoche #tsemtulku #tibetanbuddhism #buddhism #dharma #spirituality #tibet #tibetans #shakyamuni #tsongkhapa #meditation #gelug #vajrayana #ganden #monk #monastery #wisdom #compassion # https://www.instagram.com/p/CP0EjikhitF/?utm_medium=tumblr

At the end of an exceptionally odd day, I have acquired an exceptionally odd book, in an exceptionally odd way. This morning I was startled by a man who emerged from a tunnel in the basement. He said that his name was Digger Dave, and he proceeded to tell me a fanciful tale of Tibetans, Atlantis, and shortcuts to Nepal. Then, this evening, I was again disturbed by noises from the basement. I descended the stairs in time to see another man emerging from the same hatch in the floor. Like the first man, he wore a miner's helmet and carried a shovel. He wore a white dust mask over his nose and mouth. "Sorry," he said. "I'm looking for Dave." "And you are...?" "Sam," he said. "Digger Sam. Dave didn't come this way, did he?" "As a matter of fact he did," I answered. "I believe he was looking for Tibetans. He seemed to have taken a wrong turn. Or several wrong turns. He didn't stay long. He went back down that very same tunnel." Sam scoffed. "Tibetans," he muttered. "I keep telling him, this section is left over from Atlantis. He doesn't believe me. In any case, sorry to bother you. I'll be on my way now." He began to climb back down the hatch, then stopped, as if something had suddenly caught his attention. He looked around. "This is a bookshop, isn't it?" he said. "I think I saw something of yours down down below. Hang on." He disappeared into the tunnel, and when he came back, I saw that he was holding what appeared to be a very old book. "Found this near the bottom of the ladder," he explained. "You probably dropped it down there by accident." He handed it to me. It was like no book I had ever seen. It was made from metal and leather, and its yellowed pages were covered with writing in an unknown alphabet. I meant to tell him that it was not actually not mine, but somehow I failed to do so. Instead, I blurted out, "Sam! Sam and Dave. Ah, so you're Sam and Dave. I have one of your 8-tracks." He looked at me as if I were slightly insane, which, to be fair, is probably the same look I gave his friend Dave this morning. "Got to get back to digging," Sam said. "I'll keep this locked so you don't lose any more books down here." He closed the hatch behind him, and I heard the sound of a deadbolt sliding into place. I suppose I should have returned the book, but what would he have done with it? Left it in the tunnel to Atlantis? That simply wouldn't do. It's far too damp.

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