OKAR RESEARCH
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RESEARCH NOTES ON SHAMBHALA, SHENLHA OKAR and DZOGCHEN
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Email:[email protected]
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This informal survey of Published material began in 1987 and explores the origins and influences of the teachings outlined in the 1984 publication.... "Shambhala, The Sacred Path of the Warrior"... by Chogyam Trungpa....
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Current research explores the deity Shenlha Okar.... (Great Lha White Light).......(Shiwa'i Od'kar).....(Shiwa Okar)
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"The teachings of Shambhala, as originally proclaimed by Chögyam Trungpa, state that "there is a natural source of radiance and brilliance in the world, which is the innate wakefulness of human beings. This is the basis, in myth and inspiration, of the Kingdom of Shambhala, an enlightened society of fearlessness, dignity and compassion." Furthermore, "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."
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"In 1976, Trungpa Rinpoche began giving teachings, some of which were gathered and presented as Shambhala Training, inspired by his vision (see terma) of the legendary Kingdom of Shambhala. Shambhalian practices focus on using mindfulness/awareness meditation as a means of connecting with one's basic sanity and using that insight as inspiration for one's encounter with the world. The Shambhala of Chögyam Trungpa is essentially a secular approach to meditation, with roots in Buddhism as well as in other traditions, but accessible to individuals of any, or no religion. The greater social vision of Shambhala is that it is possible, moment by moment, for individuals to establish enlightened society. Trungpa's book Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior provides a concise collection of the Shambhala views."
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"Trungpa Rinpoche incorporated other elements into Shambhala Buddhism that he thought would be beneficial to practitioners. From the Bön religion, the lhasang ceremony is performed; other elements of shamanism play a role. From Confucianism comes a framework of heaven, earth, and man for understanding the proper relationship between different elements of compositions of all kinds. From Taoism comes the use of feng shui and other incorporations. From the Shinto tradition comes the use of kami shrines to honor natural forces in specific locales.........especially important is the Shinto Shrine at Rocky Mountain Shambhala Center."
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"In 1959, Chogyam Trungpa left Tibet, fleeing the invasion of the Chinese communists. It took him a long time to cross the Himalayas. On the way, he wrote a synthesis of the spiritual history of Shambala that was, unfortunately, lost during that eventful journey, then re-written in England....It is Known as "The Golden Dot"....There are two translations.... (one at Karme Choling in 1972 and the other in 1979)........it describes how Shiwa Okar and the Nine Lha (Gods) created existence out of non-existence...... .......In the Tibetan Bon tradition the legend is known as Shen Lha Okar and the Nine Brothers who created this world.......
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"RIMAY TRADITION.... (Rime, Ris med) : "Jamgon Kongtrul The Great....(1813-1899) His background was Bonpo (his father was an illustrous lama of the Khyungpo, or Garuda clan..[Kongtrul: 1995..pg 15]) and both he and Jamyang Kyentse were particularly open to the Bon tradition. The most significant Bon teacher in the Rimay movement was Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen (1859-1935)..."HEART DROPS OF DHARMAKAYA.....Dzogchen Practice of the Bon Tradition". [Samuel:1993..p.542]....
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"Until the eighth century, the country of Zhang-zhung had been an independent kingdom with its own language and culture. It lay in what is now Western and Northern Tibet and the center of the country was dominated by the majestic presence of the sacred mountain of Mount Kailas........ Just to the west of Zhang-zhung there once existed the vast Kushana empire..... an area in which Indian Buddhism interacted with various strands of Iranian religion-- Zoroastrian, Zurvanist, Mithraist, Manichean, as well as Indian Shaivism and Nestorian Christianity. ...... All this suggests that certain trends within Bon actually do go back to a kind of syncretistic Indo-Iranian Buddhism that once flourished in the independent kingdom of Zhang-zhung before it was forcibly incorporated into the expanding Tibetan empire in the eighth century. This "Buddhism", known as gyer in the Zhang-zhung language and as bon in the Tibetan, was not particularly monastic........"
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"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)
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BASIC GOODNESS....."Küntu Zangpo is one of the peacful Bonpo deities, his name means "The All-Good" and he is seen as the supreme deity of all knowledge and has strong links to Shenla Okar in the sense that both are hierophanies of the bönku or "The body of Bon", the ultimate Truth..... Küntu Zangpo is Künzang Akor which means "The All-Good cycle of A", "A" being the last letter in the Zhan Zhung-alphabet ....the White A......Important Dzogchen Practice in the Bonpo Tradition"
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"The first lha, the primordial prince Peaceful White Light, rode on a divine white horse called, Ngul Ja Da O (Silver Bird Moon Light). That divine white horse was the steed, beyond the concept of animal, existing in the pinnacle of the first supreme time. Because of that he did not depart from being the manifestation of the power of the divine prince, Peaceful White LIght. He was very swift, contending with the wind's movement. He was unhindered, inseparable from the power of lightning. His tail and mane move like a white silk scarf in the sky, whistling in the wind. From each hair, many white lungta-colts, ornamented with the wings of white vultures, swirled about as if one had opened a beehive. There was the victorious sound "lungta yarkye" ("raising lungta") . The divine white horse, Ngul Ja Da O, having long ears, was uplifted. HIs forehead, of great fortune and authentic presence, was broad and expansive like the dancing ground of the warriors. The middle was adorned with the figure of a coil-of-joy, a self-existing mark, not drawn. From that came a white garuda, Single Ah, who soared and increased the masculinity of drala. From his nostril came the great cosmic wind emanating swift messengers -- greak white kinkara. His neigh possessed the eight kinds of laughter, which produced the strength of werma and increased the confidence of drala. It was lovely and unobstructed, resounding in the distance, transforming one's mind."
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"Texts that we commonly call the Shambhala teachings stem from the visions that the Druk Sakyong, the Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, had from an early age in Tibet......These visions came from the Rigden and from Shiwa Okar......the Vidyadhara often said that he was merely writing them down...." Sakyong Mipham.....January 23, 2005
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