Wish Fulfilling Jewel Teaches in London

It's the week before H.H 17th Karmapa's visit to London, the air was filled with exciting thoughts about the following weeks precious teachings and blessings.

Heavy clouds and rain decided to plague my week in Basingstoke. Nevertheless, it would take more than bad weather to shake me, and my excitement, regarding the chance to greet H.H 17th Karmapa, in his first, yes first, visit to London, England. 

His Holiness is the 17th in a long line, of Lineage holders of the Karma Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, and at the age of 14 he escaped Tibet, leaving his beloved Tsurphu Monastery, in the hope that he would be able to travel, and spread the Buddha's teachings around the world, something he wasn't able to do in China. So at 14 years old, the Karmapa made the treacherous journey, and arrived in India to find that his expectation to be able to travel were not what he had imagined, he would have to wait a long time before he could travel.

Now, fast forward 17 years, and finally he has the opportunity to set foot in the United Kingdom, a place he has wanted to travel to, for all those years, due to his predecessor, the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa's connection with Akong Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche and Chime Rinpoche to mention but a few, who had settled in the UK to spread the Dharma to the west, and what a great job they have done. 

It's now 4 days before the teachings, and everything we had hoped for was confirmed, his holiness was granted all the permits to come to the UK. The visit was ON!!!!!! I think I speak for all us Dharma practitioners who attended here, when I say, we all jumped for joy at this point.

Soon enough, there were videos of H.H 17th Karmapa doing some fun stuff, like eating diner with all the different Sangha's and riding a boat up the Thames, seeing the sights of Parliament and Big Ben and the London Eye. Then in another video, we see His Holiness, driving the boat down the Thames. Yes that's Captain Karmapa to you now lol.

So it's 20th May 2017, and the big day as arrived, I'm up crazy early to ensure I get to London in time. I arrive at the venue to find huge queue's, but everyone is understanding and still super happy. People are talking to each other in the queue, doing what practitioners do best, networking and making new friends. 

Soon enough, I get through security and find my seat. I then go for a walk around the venue, to see whats things the shop has to offer. Before I get to the shop, I bump into friend, after friend, after friend. It was like walking into a family gathering, filled with precious friends and teachers. I saw so many Lama's and Rinpoche's, I couldn't possibly list them all. The venue had this great feeling about it, with stars on the ceiling and so many smiles, it was a truly warming and wonderful feeling.

After all the talking and catching up, everyone settled into their seats, waiting for that magical moment, where we would all see our precious teacher, Buddha in the flesh, in front of us, radiating loving kindness and compassion. All of a sudden, like a Mexican wave, the seats are empty with everyone standing, hands clasped together in a show of complete obedience. Then people's heads start to bow, and you could hear the gasps as people saw His Holiness walk past, on his way to the stage. 

His Holiness is introduced by Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche, after His Holiness is seated, on what can only be expressed, as the most amazing thrown seat I've ever seen. The stage looks incredible with a shrine and amazing super large thangkas of Lord Buddha.

Lama Yeshe gives his lovely speech and the teaching begins.

I have attached the links below of the teachings, as my notes are not great at the best of times, plus why read my write up, when you can watch the whole thing on video.

Day 1 - AM Session      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOWGFmt3DLc 

Day 1 - PM Session       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQno84k08lA

   

Day 2 - AM Session       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI8KIrZSI8g

Day 2 - PM Session       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zn0TMVaTHM

At the very end of the teachings, His Holiness gave all who attended the Chenrezig Empowerment, and who better to give this than His Holiness. What an incredible way to end the weekend.

The teachings for me, were incredibly clear and concise, and that's hard to do in very few words, but His Holiness made it look effortless.

His holiness's gaze, was at times piercing, and you felt that those eyes could look through you and see the real Buddha within you. My dear friend Anton Smuts said it perfectly, in a short message to me, saying, "He's the Lion Buddha". Couldn't have worded it better myself. 

In the final speech from the organiser, she asked us all to give His Holiness a gift of 30 seconds of silence, offering our heart felt love for this visit. This for me was incredibly moving, and it felt like my heart melted in those short 30 seconds. It really was unshakeably silent, during this moment, making it even more moving.

It was all over, and now we had to packed our things and leave. It was sad saying goodbye to our friends and Sangha, some who had traveled great distance to be here for this ground breaking event.
Leaving the venue, I was alone and a real stillness fell over me, as I embarked on my journey home. 

While walking back to my house, I was struck by the magnitude of what had just happened, only a few hours ago. I had been in the presence of one of greatest Buddhist teachers there is, a living Buddha, and not only this, but I didn't have to travel in an airplane to see him, he came to us!.

We are all so incredibly fortunate to have this precious visit, from his holiness. There are many thousands of Tibetans still trapped in Tibet, who would give everything they own, to have an audience in the same room as this precious Buddha. Yet in some way, I along with many others, have the good fortune and the right karma required to have this blessing. I have never felt more thankful in my life. 

So i'm sat in my living room writing this, still feeling blessed by this dreamlike weekend, someone pinch me, did I really just sit in a room, with a wish fulfilling jewel?

I don't have time to meditate!

I hear the phrase "I don't have time to meditate!" an awful lot, when people talk to me about meditation.

Meditation for some people just isn't a priority. I mean we have a thousand different things going on in our life's, at any given moment, so its easy to see why we don't have time for meditation.
But maybe the problem isn't that we don't have time, maybe it's that we are too busy, and rarely take time out, to recover from this stressful life we lead.
We see that stress and anxiety, along with other states of mental health, are on the rise, due, I feel to the crazy life we lead, trying to see all our friends, spend time with our partner and the kids, while juggling a job at the same time. But something that we rarely do, is stop and make time for ourselves, not in a selfish way, but more in a way to help you, be a better you at all the other tasks you do.

Meditation helps you to relax at times of stress, letting go of the constant feeling of worry, but this isn't evident after doing a little meditation one or twice a week.
The thing with meditation is, that it's like taking your mind to the gym, the more you do, the better your mind will function. If you do the least you can, you will probably just maintain instead of making any noticeable improvements. That being said, a sitting of meditation, may make you feel relaxed at that time, but you might not see the full benefit till you do a regular meditation practice.
It's like learning anything new, the more you do, the more instinctual you become at it.
So for someone who is an experienced meditator, they may well be able to remain calm at extremely stressful times, enabling them to do things, not clouded by the stress that is surrounding them.

I think that with all the problems we experience, taking five to thirty minutes a day, maybe more if you decide, later down the line, will help you to better cope with the stresses of life.

For me, I started doing meditation when I suffered with a server bout of anxiety, it was crippling at the time, but my recovery was sped along by the meditation I learnt at a class in my local area.
My recovery from anxiety was swift, and through regular mediation, I've managed to kept it under control.

I do my meditation every morning, and it's become the most important thing I do, as soon as I rise.
The reason why it's great to do in the morning, is that you set yourself up for your day, relaxed and ready to take on anything, but also, it means that if I don't do it for any reason, I will have the opportunity to make time later in the day, if I can fit it in. But doing your meditation at a time to suit you is key, I just find the morning works well for me, as my partner is still asleep and once its done, its done, leaving me free for the rest of the day, to do whatever I have planned.

Like most things in life, we make things a priority, some more than others. Meditation for me is my top priority, as it helps me cope with all my other priories in a much more stress free and relaxed way. Now isn't that what we are all looking for?

If your reading this, and you are someone who has told yourself and others, you don't have time for meditation, but really want to give it a go, there are some great app's out there, lots of them are free to get you started. There will no doubt be meditation classes in your local area, that will get you started also and will be able to guide you, if you should have any questions or any problems.

Learning to meditate is one of the most effective tools to deal with stress and bring a state of calmness to a hectic and stressful world, so why not give it a go and find a calmer and more relaxed you!