There are no means for me to upload photos here. But I still thought of sharing some news with you since I have a bit of time. As usual Drubpon Ngawang made very warm arrangement for me and everyone, just to make sure that our retreat will go smoothly. However, sometimes I think physical comfort will make us appreciate less. We human beings really ask for a lot of challenges so that we learn to appreciate, otherwise it is so difficult to appreciate when we have everything nicely sorted out by someone else. For example, when you are very hungry, even a small piece of bread makes you so happy and you really want to say "Thank You" to the bread. The same thing goes when you are very thirsty, even a glass of plain water which you would never have appreciated on normal days would make you so happy and so appreciative.
Generally, I know that this world seems to be going in a very negative direction. People always come with news about wars and bombings in many parts of the world, such as the recent bombing incident in Mumbai and then the present war in Israel. At home, they fight with their husbands, wives or partners and their children or parents. Everyday when you switch on the TV or look at the front page of the newspapers, it's always something very sad. Instead of being dragged into this emotional roller coaster ride, we should appreciate how fortunate we are, especially those of us who are able to practise love, compassion, generosity, wisdom, etc. all the positive activities. When we look around ourselves, there are friends who are on the spiritual path, trying to do some good things for others. This is how fortunate we are, despite the mounting negative pressure that comes from the external environment.
There is a saying that to be reborn as a human being is very rare and to meet Dharma or the path to Ultimate Liberation or rather the genuine path to happiness is even more difficult. For those of you who are in Plouray right now, you are very fortunate to be able to spend your holidays to join together to practise and to keep your mind focused while at the same time sending immeasurable love to all the suffering beings in the ten directions through dedication of your merit and your fortunes.
No one wants to suffer in this world, even if you ask an ant, a tiger, a worm or even the most hated person in this world, everyone will tell you the same thing. But most of us are doing the opposite of removing suffering, instead we are accumulating so many causes of suffering, due to our selfish motivation. If we are able to reduce "self" and increase "others", that itself will be able to make you a happier person. This is something not difficult to practise.
For example, nothing is wrong with technology. It can be used to create sufferings and at the same time it can be used to spread the message of love and compassion, sharing of positive feeling and encouragement, instead of using technology to kill beings or to spread viruses to harm others' computers, which is actually very childish because it will not make you happier. One hatred action will attract hundreds of retributive effects. It's better to be kind and less selfish.
Therefore I was thrilled that this time Drukpa Plouray managed somehow to use technology to make an offering to our Sangha in the world. The offering of Dharma is a very valuable act of generosity. So many people send messages to say they are so moved that even though their own situation didn't allow them to come to join us in Drukpa Plouray, they feel very connected. Because they are so happy, I am also so happy. The only thing I want to say is that it would be so good if we can spread this news more, so that all of us can direct our energy together in one direction, we can put our hearts together to send our prayers to every corner of the world. I want to thank Alain Porier, our webmaster in Drukpa Plouray, and his team who always look very busy fixing wires, computers and all the things, for making my gossip available live on the web. Some people even gave me the website address to see myself teaching live on web, they said for French, please go to http://fr.justin.tv/neljorma and for English, please go to http://en.justin.tv/neljorma as if I am going to have my laptop on the throne to look at myself, ha!
By the way, Alain recently came out with a book of my nuns and monks called "Nonnes & Moines", and I had earlier given the name "Druk Nangsel", "Nangsel" means "Clear Vision". This is a beautifully printed books of photos of my monks and nuns. I don't know where you can get it, but I think you can definitely check with Drukpa Plouray.
Actually, it is still very early in the morning today. But I am really thinking that all our centres in other parts of the world can check our schedule in Drukpa Plouray and if the time is suitable, you all can join us in our practice on New Year's Eve through the help of web technology. If time is too late or too early, then you can feel free to join us in small groups of your friends and family members or by yourself, with the help of technology. In this way, our hearts are join together and we can keep our positive energy together to pray for all the beings in the entire universe and for the beings in our world who are suffering immensely due to wars, natural disasters, hunger, and all the unfortunate incidents. Jointly, together with Drubpon Ngawang and me, we can all do the King of Aspiration Prayers to send our positive energy to all the suffering beings as well as the Lamp Offering Prayers to dispell darkness in the universe. Lamp always represents the wisdom which is very much needed, all the tragedies in the world are happening due to a lack of wisdom within us, by offering lamp, we hope to increase the wisdom in ourselves so that this will dispell the ignorance which causes all the unnecessary problems and tragedies. At least for today, on the New Year's Eve and tomorrow, let us try not to have any negative thoughts and emotions and let us share our Love with the world we live in.
Happy New Year and looking forward to you all joining me in spirits, with all of you seeing me live on web!
Before I say goodbye here, I want to ask all of you to send me photos of this joint prayers together in your part of the world to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , but please don't send me large files, I sometimes can't open them on Blackberry after my office redirects the photos for me to see.
