Wu Tai Shan is a remote, mountainous region in northern China, sacred to all Mahayana Buddhists, a place where the physical emanation of Manjushri appears, the place of pilgrimage for the wisdom holder Vimalamitra where he gathered the teachings of the Great Perfection to take to Tibet.
In October 1987, Chagdud Rinpoche and 13 students made a pilgrimage to Wu Tai Shan.
Rinpoche had told us that Manjushri's emanation would actually be seen here in this place of the five sacred peaks. A great practitioner would immediately recognize him, while a practitioner of lesser ability would see only an ordinary person. With this outlook, every resident of Wu Tai Shan became extraordinary. Each one could be the great wisdom holder–the old monk s who held the dharma in the barren rock temples of the high peaks; the carpenters who saw me gazing at their construction and invited me up on the scaffolds to learn the secrets of their curved roofs; the keeper of the Bright Moon Pool who bemusedly let us peer down a pitch black shaft only to see the nature of our own minds ; the caretakers who let us glimpse the ancient, towering Manjushri statue that few others knew about. Or could it have been the old black sow who seemed so happy to see us, and fell over in a state of bliss when we all stroked her? Even as we left Wu Tai Shan, Rinpoche would not say. As the bus passed a crazy man talking to himself and waving his stick, Rinpoche nodded.
"Maybe that's Manjushri!"
____________________________________________
Slowly making our way up to central peak
Rinpoche setting the heartbeat: climbing and resting
The breath of offering and purification
Rocks strewn like flowers on the hard ground
The stupa was seated on the edge of the world
We circled with nothing to stop our prayers and aspirations
Reaching everywhere at once, arising from nowhere
As the fog grew thicker
Like cotton strands whispering around
Gathering in the rising wind
Stark and untame
Every gust carrying Manjushri 's name
The harshness here only heightening
The essential tranquility
Karen Poverny
____________________________________________
Mountain peaks, buddhas,
a legless man,
Statues and stupas swirl
in the sacred land.
Manju and Vima in
radiant display
Visions of beauty;
no words to say.
A place far beyond
dual hopes and fears,
For those compassionate ones
who shed crystal tears.
A land neither close
nor far apart
To be in Wu Tai Shan
remain in your own heart.
Glenn Sandvoss
____________________________________________
With the unsurpassable light void of loving understanding
opening the page of the lotus word
he shattered the darkness of beings.
Homage to Vimalamitra!
Following in your footsteps
the great space of pure awareness is quickly attained.
Catching carefully the whispered words,
we find the arrow already at the target,
and the snake-knot of doubt I loosened at the heart.
The seeming paradox of the Great Perfection,
the non-doing path without progress or perfection,
dissolves in magnificent appearance of the five peaks,
a faraway land from which we've never really been separate.
As the glorious teacher so carefully pointed out:
"Nothing being seen, there is nothing at all left over.
The profound meaning is absolute certainty in one's
own mind."
James Kalfas
Wu Tai Shan is a remote, mountainous region in northern China, sacred to all Mahayana Buddhists, a place where the physical emanation of Manjushri appears, the place of pilgrimage for the wisdom holder Vimalamitra where he gathered the teachings of the Great Perfection to take to Tibet.
In October 1987, Chagdud Rinpoche and 13 students made a pilgrimage to Wu Tai Shan.
Rinpoche had told us that Manjushri's emanation would actually be seen here in this place of the five sacred peaks. A great practitioner would immediately recognize him, while a practitioner of lesser ability would see only an ordinary person. With this outlook, every resident of Wu Tai Shan became extraordinary. Each one could be the great wisdom holder–the old monk s who held the dharma in the barren rock temples of the high peaks; the carpenters who saw me gazing at their construction and invited me up on the scaffolds to learn the secrets of their curved roofs; the keeper of the Bright Moon Pool who bemusedly let us peer down a pitch black shaft only to see the nature of our own minds ; the caretakers who let us glimpse the ancient, towering Manjushri statue that few others knew about. Or could it have been the old black sow who seemed so happy to see us, and fell over in a state of bliss when we all stroked her? Even as we left Wu Tai Shan, Rinpoche would not say. As the bus passed a crazy man talking to himself and waving his stick, Rinpoche nodded.
"Maybe that's Manjushri!"
____________________________________________
Slowly making our way up to central peak
Rinpoche setting the heartbeat: climbing and resting
The breath of offering and purification
Rocks strewn like flowers on the hard ground
The stupa was seated on the edge of the world
We circled with nothing to stop our prayers and aspirations
Reaching everywhere at once, arising from nowhere
As the fog grew thicker
Like cotton strands whispering around
Gathering in the rising wind
Stark and untame
Every gust carrying Manjushri 's name
The harshness here only heightening
The essential tranquility
Karen Poverny
____________________________________________
Mountain peaks, buddhas,
a legless man,
Statues and stupas swirl
in the sacred land.
Manju and Vima in
radiant display
Visions of beauty;
no words to say.
A place far beyond
dual hopes and fears,
For those compassionate ones
who shed crystal tears.
A land neither close
nor far apart
To be in Wu Tai Shan
remain in your own heart.
Glenn Sandvoss
____________________________________________
With the unsurpassable light void of loving understanding
opening the page of the lotus word
he shattered the darkness of beings.
Homage to Vimalamitra!
Following in your footsteps
the great space of pure awareness is quickly attained.
Catching carefully the whispered words,
we find the arrow already at the target,
and the snake-knot of doubt I loosened at the heart.
The seeming paradox of the Great Perfection,
the non-doing path without progress or perfection,
dissolves in magnificent appearance of the five peaks,
a faraway land from which we've never really been separate.
As the glorious teacher so carefully pointed out:
"Nothing being seen, there is nothing at all left over.
The profound meaning is absolute certainty in one's
own mind."
James Kalfas
Wu Tai Shan is a remote, mountainous region in northern China, sacred to all Mahayana Buddhists, a place where the physical emanation of Manjushri appears, the place of pilgrimage for the wisdom holder Vimalamitra where he gathered the teachings of the Great Perfection to take to Tibet.
In October 1987, Chagdud Rinpoche and 13 students made a pilgrimage to Wu Tai Shan.
Rinpoche had told us that Manjushri's emanation would actually be seen here in this place of the five sacred peaks. A great practitioner would immediately recognize him, while a practitioner of lesser ability would see only an ordinary person. With this outlook, every resident of Wu Tai Shan became extraordinary. Each one could be the great wisdom holder–the old monk s who held the dharma in the barren rock temples of the high peaks; the carpenters who saw me gazing at their construction and invited me up on the scaffolds to learn the secrets of their curved roofs; the keeper of the Bright Moon Pool who bemusedly let us peer down a pitch black shaft only to see the nature of our own minds ; the caretakers who let us glimpse the ancient, towering Manjushri statue that few others knew about. Or could it have been the old black sow who seemed so happy to see us, and fell over in a state of bliss when we all stroked her? Even as we left Wu Tai Shan, Rinpoche would not say. As the bus passed a crazy man talking to himself and waving his stick, Rinpoche nodded.
"Maybe that's Manjushri!"
____________________________________________
Slowly making our way up to central peak
Rinpoche setting the heartbeat: climbing and resting
The breath of offering and purification
Rocks strewn like flowers on the hard ground
The stupa was seated on the edge of the world
We circled with nothing to stop our prayers and aspirations
Reaching everywhere at once, arising from nowhere
As the fog grew thicker
Like cotton strands whispering around
Gathering in the rising wind
Stark and untame
Every gust carrying Manjushri 's name
The harshness here only heightening
The essential tranquility
Karen Poverny
____________________________________________
Mountain peaks, buddhas,
a legless man,
Statues and stupas swirl
in the sacred land.
Manju and Vima in
radiant display
Visions of beauty;
no words to say.
A place far beyond
dual hopes and fears,
For those compassionate ones
who shed crystal tears.
A land neither close
nor far apart
To be in Wu Tai Shan
remain in your own heart.
Glenn Sandvoss
____________________________________________
With the unsurpassable light void of loving understanding
opening the page of the lotus word
he shattered the darkness of beings.
Homage to Vimalamitra!
Following in your footsteps
the great space of pure awareness is quickly attained.
Catching carefully the whispered words,
we find the arrow already at the target,
and the snake-knot of doubt I loosened at the heart.
The seeming paradox of the Great Perfection,
the non-doing path without progress or perfection,
dissolves in magnificent appearance of the five peaks,
a faraway land from which we've never really been separate.
As the glorious teacher so carefully pointed out:
"Nothing being seen, there is nothing at all left over.
The profound meaning is absolute certainty in one's
own mind."
James Kalfas
Wu Tai Shan is a remote, mountainous region in northern China, sacred to all Mahayana Buddhists, a place where the physical emanation of Manjushri appears, the place of pilgrimage for the wisdom holder Vimalamitra where he gathered the teachings of the Great Perfection to take to Tibet.
In October 1987, Chagdud Rinpoche and 13 students made a pilgrimage to Wu Tai Shan.
Rinpoche had told us that Manjushri's emanation would actually be seen here in this place of the five sacred peaks. A great practitioner would immediately recognize him, while a practitioner of lesser ability would see only an ordinary person. With this outlook, every resident of Wu Tai Shan became extraordinary. Each one could be the great wisdom holder–the old monk s who held the dharma in the barren rock temples of the high peaks; the carpenters who saw me gazing at their construction and invited me up on the scaffolds to learn the secrets of their curved roofs; the keeper of the Bright Moon Pool who bemusedly let us peer down a pitch black shaft only to see the nature of our own minds ; the caretakers who let us glimpse the ancient, towering Manjushri statue that few others knew about. Or could it have been the old black sow who seemed so happy to see us, and fell over in a state of bliss when we all stroked her? Even as we left Wu Tai Shan, Rinpoche would not say. As the bus passed a crazy man talking to himself and waving his stick, Rinpoche nodded.
"Maybe that's Manjushri!"
____________________________________________
Slowly making our way up to central peak
Rinpoche setting the heartbeat: climbing and resting
The breath of offering and purification
Rocks strewn like flowers on the hard ground
The stupa was seated on the edge of the world
We circled with nothing to stop our prayers and aspirations
Reaching everywhere at once, arising from nowhere
As the fog grew thicker
Like cotton strands whispering around
Gathering in the rising wind
Stark and untame
Every gust carrying Manjushri 's name
The harshness here only heightening
The essential tranquility
Karen Poverny
____________________________________________
Mountain peaks, buddhas,
a legless man,
Statues and stupas swirl
in the sacred land.
Manju and Vima in
radiant display
Visions of beauty;
no words to say.
A place far beyond
dual hopes and fears,
For those compassionate ones
who shed crystal tears.
A land neither close
nor far apart
To be in Wu Tai Shan
remain in your own heart.
Glenn Sandvoss
____________________________________________
With the unsurpassable light void of loving understanding
opening the page of the lotus word
he shattered the darkness of beings.
Homage to Vimalamitra!
Following in your footsteps
the great space of pure awareness is quickly attained.
Catching carefully the whispered words,
we find the arrow already at the target,
and the snake-knot of doubt I loosened at the heart.
The seeming paradox of the Great Perfection,
the non-doing path without progress or perfection,
dissolves in magnificent appearance of the five peaks,
a faraway land from which we've never really been separate.
As the glorious teacher so carefully pointed out:
"Nothing being seen, there is nothing at all left over.
The profound meaning is absolute certainty in one's
own mind."
James Kalfas
Wu Tai Shan is a remote, mountainous region in northern China, sacred to all Mahayana Buddhists, a place where the physical emanation of Manjushri appears, the place of pilgrimage for the wisdom holder Vimalamitra where he gathered the teachings of the Great Perfection to take to Tibet.
In October 1987, Chagdud Rinpoche and 13 students made a pilgrimage to Wu Tai Shan.
Rinpoche had told us that Manjushri's emanation would actually be seen here in this place of the five sacred peaks. A great practitioner would immediately recognize him, while a practitioner of lesser ability would see only an ordinary person. With this outlook, every resident of Wu Tai Shan became extraordinary. Each one could be the great wisdom holder–the old monk s who held the dharma in the barren rock temples of the high peaks; the carpenters who saw me gazing at their construction and invited me up on the scaffolds to learn the secrets of their curved roofs; the keeper of the Bright Moon Pool who bemusedly let us peer down a pitch black shaft only to see the nature of our own minds ; the caretakers who let us glimpse the ancient, towering Manjushri statue that few others knew about. Or could it have been the old black sow who seemed so happy to see us, and fell over in a state of bliss when we all stroked her? Even as we left Wu Tai Shan, Rinpoche would not say. As the bus passed a crazy man talking to himself and waving his stick, Rinpoche nodded.
"Maybe that's Manjushri!"
____________________________________________
Slowly making our way up to central peak
Rinpoche setting the heartbeat: climbing and resting
The breath of offering and purification
Rocks strewn like flowers on the hard ground
The stupa was seated on the edge of the world
We circled with nothing to stop our prayers and aspirations
Reaching everywhere at once, arising from nowhere
As the fog grew thicker
Like cotton strands whispering around
Gathering in the rising wind
Stark and untame
Every gust carrying Manjushri 's name
The harshness here only heightening
The essential tranquility
Karen Poverny
____________________________________________
Mountain peaks, buddhas,
a legless man,
Statues and stupas swirl
in the sacred land.
Manju and Vima in
radiant display
Visions of beauty;
no words to say.
A place far beyond
dual hopes and fears,
For those compassionate ones
who shed crystal tears.
A land neither close
nor far apart
To be in Wu Tai Shan
remain in your own heart.
Glenn Sandvoss
____________________________________________
With the unsurpassable light void of loving understanding
opening the page of the lotus word
he shattered the darkness of beings.
Homage to Vimalamitra!
Following in your footsteps
the great space of pure awareness is quickly attained.
Catching carefully the whispered words,
we find the arrow already at the target,
and the snake-knot of doubt I loosened at the heart.
The seeming paradox of the Great Perfection,
the non-doing path without progress or perfection,
dissolves in magnificent appearance of the five peaks,
a faraway land from which we've never really been separate.
As the glorious teacher so carefully pointed out:
"Nothing being seen, there is nothing at all left over.
The profound meaning is absolute certainty in one's
own mind."
James Kalfas
