Buddhist Nun Kelsang Kunshe demystifies the process of death and dying

[Ensapa]

Nice to see that NKT's activities are getting more prominent

Buddhist Nun Kelsang Kunshe demystifies the process of death and dying

| HERALD/REVIEW
Thu, 06/27/2013 - 12:15pm
     

New classes in Buddhist meditation have formed in Sierra Vista. The monthly classes in Buddhism and meditation are led by Buddhist nun Kelsang Kunshe, of the Kadampa Meditation Center in Tucson, at the Unitarian Universalist Church on S. 2nd Street.
The July 20 class, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. will focus on the Buddhist perspective on death and dying. Caregivers and hospice workers are especially invited to attend the session on death and dying. A suggested donation of $10 is encouraged.

Buddha demonstrated how to follow a path of inner transformation that leads to the complete eradication of all traces of negativity and confusion from the mind. By practicing the Dharma, or teachings of Buddha, Buddhists seek to attain the sublime qualities such as universal compassion and wisdom, realizing the true nature of all phenomena leading to nirvana, or the cessation of the suffering caused by samsara. Samsara is the constant cycle of life, death and rebirth perpetuated by the accumulation and ripening of negative karma.
Kelsang Kunshe, who studies and practices Kadampa Buddhism in the Mahayana tradition, explains how to integrate these practices and meditations into one’s daily life to make this life happy and meaningful.
Mahayana Buddhism emerged in the first century CE as a more liberal, accessible interpretation of Buddhism. Known as the “Greater Vehicle,” Mahayana is a path available to people from all walks of life, not just monks and ascetics, and is the primary form of Buddhism in North Asia and the Far East, including China, Japan, Korea, Tibet and Mongolia.
Mahayana Buddhists hope to become boddhisatvas, saints who have become enlightened but who unselfishly delay nirvana to help others attain it as well, as the Buddha did.
Perhaps more significantly for one who would choose to practice this form of Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhists teach that enlightenment can be attained in a single lifetime and this can be accomplished even by a layperson. The various subdivisions within the Mahayana tradition, such as Zen, Nichiren, and Pure Land, promote different ways of attaining this goal, but all are agree that it can be attained in a single lifetime by anyone who puts his or her mind (and sometimes body) to it. 
Kadampa Buddhism is a Mahayana Buddhist school founded by the Indian Buddhist Master Atisha (AD 982-1054). His followers are known as “Kadampas.” Ka refers to Buddha’s teachings, and dam to Atisha’s special Lamrim instructions known as “the stages of the path to enlightenment.” Kadampas, then, are practitioners who regard Buddha’s teachings as personal instructions and put them into practice by following the instructions of Lamrim.
The Kadampa tradition was later promoted widely in Tibet by Je Tsongkhapa and his followers, who were known as the New Kadampas. Transforming daily activities into the path
By integrating their knowledge of all Buddha’s teachings into their everyday lives, Kadampa Buddhists are encouraged to use Buddha’s teachings as practical methods for transforming daily activities into the path to enlightenment. The great Kadampa teachers are famous not only for being great scholars but also for being spiritual practitioners of immense purity and sincerity.
The lineage of these teachings, both their oral transmission and blessings was then passed from teacher to disciple, spreading throughout much of Asia, and now to many countries throughout the western world. Buddha’s teachings, which are known as Dharma, are likened to a wheel that moves from country to country in accordance with changing conditions and people’s karmic inclinations.
The external forms of presenting Buddhism may change as it meets with different cultures and societies, but its essential authenticity is ensured through the continuation of an unbroken lineage of realized practitioners. Through the activities and dedication of the renowned Buddhist Master, Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Kadampa Buddhism has spread to many countries in recent years.
Geshe Kelsang has worked tirelessly to spread Kadampa Buddhism throughout the world by giving extensive teachings, writing many books on Kadampa Buddhism, establishing the International Temples Project and founding the New Kadampa Tradition.
Geshe Kelsang’s free book Modern Buddhism is available as a download at www. meditationintucson.org.
For information about the Sierra Vista classes in meditation or about services in Tucson, contact the Kadampa Mediation Center of Tucson at 441-1617 or email [email protected]. 
Modern Buddhism
This eBook “Modern Buddhism – The Path of Compassion and Wisdom,” in three volumes, is being distributed freely at the request of the author Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. The author says: “Through reading and practicing the instructions given in this book, people can solve their daily problems and maintain a happy mind all the time.”
So that these benefits can pervade the whole world, Geshe Kelsang wishes to give this eBook freely to everyone. They request all to respect this Dharma book, which functions to free living beings from suffering permanently. If you continually read and practice the advice in this book, eventually your problems caused by anger, attachment and ignorance will cease.
Enjoy this special gift from Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, who dedicates: “May everyone who reads this book experience deep peace of mind, and accomplish the real meaning of human life.”

[yontenjamyang]

When one practice the teachings according to the Lamrim, one can easily realize that the root and foundation of the path is the reliance on the Guru. Next is the appreciation of the optimum human rebirth and to use this rebirth as the vehicle for liberation and omniscience. Closely tied to this is the realization of the inevitability of death and of impermanence.

Nun Kelsang Kunshe is skillfully making people changing their perception on death. While death is feared by all, yet nothing concrete is done is relation to this inevitability. Buddhism teaches one to make use of this optimum human rebirth to change ones' thought; to transform the mind from a selfish one to one that is selfless. Death then is but a end of something but also a new beginning of another life that can bring benefits to others and end one's suffering. But most importantly we can start now. Hence, demystifying death is a very powerful method to end suffering.

[kris]

I have heard from my lama that the basics of Buddhism is about life, death, reincarnation, karma etc. In many culture, it is not a common to talk about death, and after death. What I find fascinating about Buddhism is that it openly talk about death and next life which is so vital because it is something we cannot escape.

Therefore, it is so happy to hear that Nun Kelsang Kunshe to have Dharma class to discuss about death. I pray for the good response for this class and more classes will be held soon!!