Message for Losar from Tulku Jigme Norbu Rinpoche

To My Dear Sangha,

This year, because of the great sadness in the world, we are not celebrating Losar, the Tibetan New Year. First, we are mourning the painful absence of our great teachers Trulshik Rinpoche and Thinley Norbu Rinpoche. We are also experiencing profound heartache from the trouble in Tibet where numerous monks and nuns have taken their own lives through self-immolation to further the cause for a free Tibet. Finally, the world has suffered so many natural disasters in the last year, which have taken the lives of so many. For these reasons, out of respect and as Dharma practitioners, there are no celebrations this year. There will be no new clothes or special foods, no dances or games – only prayers.

Prior to Losar, from February 15 – 21, the monks and I at Nyingmapa Wishfulfilling Center will perform the practices of gutor, including Vajrakilaya rituals. These prayers and rituals are done to subdue obstacles so that we, and all sentient beings, may start the coming year with auspiciousness. During this time, I hope you will join us in spirit by doing your own Dharma practice with renewed fervor, which ever practice that may be. Do your practice not just for yourself but for all sentient beings, and pray that through our practice, we may all benefit with a better, more auspicious coming year.

Most important is practice. I appreciate that we face many afflictive emotions, that in our busy lives there is little time for Dharma practice and that there are so few practitioners in the world. But, in order to benefit beings, it is important to have good actions. During this time of degeneration, the number of bad actions in the world exceeds the good. Because of this, with each coming year the world becomes a more troubling place and there is more suffering in the world. It is cause and effect. For these reasons,
it is so important to practice the Dharma, not just for oneself, but for all sentient beings. We must practice the Dharma to free all living things from suffering.

In closing, I wish you a Happy, Prosperous Tibetan New Year of the Water Dragon, 2139.

Yours in the Dharma,

Tulku Jigme Rinpoche

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