Thursday, February 25, 2021

The Scorpion Seal Text

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The Scorpion Seal Text and Shambhala Termas

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"Chogyam Trungpa wrote a number of Shambhala texts throughout his life, and also received a number of them as terma......Scorpion Seal of the Golden Sun.....Received during the 1980 Seminary in Europe. A long and a short version exist....Hayward, Jeremy. Warrior-King of Shambhala: Remembering Chogyam Trungpa Wisdom Publications: 2007. ISBN 0-86171-546-2 pgs 235....

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"In 1980 and 1981, the Druk Sakyong, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, received the terma text The Scorpion Seal of the Golden Sun. As Acharya John Rockwell describes, “It was rather secret, a bit ahead of our times.” Many people were given the Werma sadhana at Kalapa Assemblies, but few realized that this practice was based on a terma. While the Druk Sakyong spoke about the Scorpion Seal to his students, and clearly stated that he wanted the community to aspire to practice it, this never happened in his lifetime. “It has been a hidden treasure,” Acharya Rockwell points out. “There has been a long deliberation about how to best open these teachings, what it would mean for people to be ready, and how they would engage on the path to the retreat that’s outlined in the terma text.”.....http://shambhalatimes.org/2009/07/02/scorpion-seal-opens/

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The Scorpion Seal Text is rarely spoken of publicly.....Trungpa Rinpoche never said too much about it.....however, in 1992, in a conversation with John Rockwell, he remembered that once Trungpa received the text in 1980, the Nalanda Translation Committee began the translation into English...Trungpa would attend some of these sessions and comment on the translation line by line....these sessions were recorded but the transcripts have never been published.....one would have to talk with the Nalanda Translation Group about these meetings.......jh

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"From 1975 to 1987, the Nalanda Translation Committee’s initial work included daily chants, the Karma Kagyu ngondro, and the Vajrayogini and Chakrasamvara sadhanas. The equally important work of providing examples of realization from our lineage, such as the vajra songs and life stories of great teachers, resulted in The Rain of Wisdom and The Life of Marpa the Translator. As the Vidyadhara’s own life and teachings evolved, we worked with him in translating the unique and special terma of Shambhala that the Vidyadhara received as well as the Shambhala liturgies he composed.

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The Lute of Unceasing Sound-Emptiness: Song of the Eternal Bön View

....."It features the translation of a song in praise of the Bön view, which the Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche wrote during his youth in Tibet. ...... the Vidyadhara had a deep knowledge of the ancient Bön tradition of Tibet. And it had a major influence on his teaching, especially in his presentation of Shambhala. He was a Bön tertön who discovered Bön termas, one of which still survives...... this volume contains (1) a detailed essay on the Bön tradition written by the Vidyadhara himself, (2) an overview of his relationship with the Bön lineage, (3) a memoir of how some of these teachings were introduced in the West, and (4) a commentary on the song, based on our work with Karma Senge Rinpoche and Surmang Khenpo."

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"Shambhala, as originally proclaimed by Chögyam Trungpa, states 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.".....Trungpa, Chogyam (1999). "Great Eastern Sun - The Wisdom of Shambhala". ISBN 1-57062-293-0

John Hopkins....February 2021

Email....okarresearch@gmail.com

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1 comment:

  1. Regarding the post of Feb 2021.

    "...A lot of our subjects have studied the materials connected with the secular vision and Shambhala principles. At this point it is about time to announce that the Sakyong King is also the Dharmaraja or Dharmaraja King at the same time. That brings together a very important announcement to you, that the Vajra Master is also King, monarch at this point. That change of gears is planned that way, not necessarily by frivolity, but at this point I think we have to realize that when the Sakyong speaks truth it is dharmic truth at (sic) same time. Just as we had in the past - like Gesar of Ling, who is also a dharmic warrior, and Emperor Ashoka who was a dharma king, dharmaraja. At this point, the indivisibility of the Sakyong and the Vajra Master has become completely one. Giving an order, a command, is one command, one order.

    "An interesting point about the Shambhala Training situation, is that we have come to the conclusion that when a person takes Shambhala Training, they are starting to become a decent human being. When they begin to get to Level V, then they begin to practice Buddhist training. So as you can see, we have that particular logic - that first a person becomes a decent human being and then finally we introduce that decent human being into being a Buddhist, which finally fulfills them as a good potential subject of Shambhala. Beyond that, they will practice Shamatha-vipassana discipline of the Shambhala Trainees, and then go on further and take the refuge vow and take the bodhisattva vow and so forth. Finally, they become tantrikas, which is actually how the society of Shambhala was planned, that every subject of Shambhala Kingdom would become yogins of some kind."

    Venerable Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Kingdom of Shambhala Meeting, January 4, 1979, Boulder Colorado

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