Ashe (Primordial Stroke). In the Shambhala Teachings

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Shambhala Training is presented in a series of weekend programs, the first five of which are called "The Heart of Warriorship" and the latter seven, "The Sacred Path". The Warrior Assembly is the fruition of the Shambhala Training Sacred Path program. During Warrior Assembly, students study the Shambhala terma text, The Golden Sun of the Great East, and receive the ashé practices of stroke and lungta. Certain Shambhala practices derive from specific terma texts of Trungpa Rinpoche's such as Letter of the Black Ashe, Letter of the Golden Key that Fulfills Desire, Golden Sun of the Great East, and the Scorpion Seal of the Golden Sun, in long and short versions. Trungpa Rinpoche is believed by his students to have received these teachings directly from Gesar of Ling, an emanation of Padmasambhava, and the Rigden kings. The Shambhala dharma practices derived entirely or in part from these texts include those of werma, drala, Wind Horse (Tib. lungta), and meditations on four "dignities of Shambhala": tiger (tib. tak), lion (Tib. seng), garuda (Tib. kyung) and dragon (Tib. druk). Jamgon Ju Mipham Gyatso, a great 19th century Nyingma lama and the predecessor of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, wrote about many of these practices and concepts as well. Some, such as the "stroke of Ashé", have no known precedents.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shambhala_Buddhism

"Ashe (Tibetan: primordial or first stroke. Pronounced ah-shay). In the Shambhala teachings, A-, primordial or first, is the open space of mind before the first thought, or first gesture; that first thought or gesture is -she. Ashe is the power to express basic goodness and is also know as "the essence of life." Ashe symbolizes primordial confidence and compassion. The execution of the stroke of Ashe is the practice that expressed and nourishes those qualities."
Jeremy Hayward, 'Warrior - King of shambhala - Remembering Chogyam Trungpa. - Wisdom Publications, 2008

"The 1976 Seminary was a landmark event in many ways. During Seminary, the Vidyadhara discovered the root terma text of The Golden Sun of the Great East and received the transmission of the stroke of ashe, giving birth to the Shambhala teachings in tangible form. We arrived at the Seminary just after the first part of the terma had been translated by Rinpoche, working with David Rome, his secretary. As we emerged from my car in the parking lot of the King's Gate Hotel, a tapping was heard at a window upstairs. There was Rinpoche beckoning us up to his suite. Excited, we hurried to find the room, at which point we were treated to a reading of the poem "Tung Shi" and its commentary, written perhaps a few days earlier, as well as the first section of the root text. Rinpoche demonstrated the stroke of Ashe, and we all looked at each other as if we had just landed in a new world, exciting yet very mysterious."
Remembering Robin by Larry Mermelstein
http://chronicleproject.com/stories_85.html

The Golden Sun of the Great East is a beautiful hardbound edition of a Shambhala root text by Dorje Dradül of Mukpo. It features cloth binding with gold-lettered spine, a gold scorpion seal on the front cover, and saffron endpapers. This second edition of the text has been re-edited, using gender-inclusive language wherever possible. Other amendments have been made based on a re-examination of the original Tibetan manuscript, which appears alongside the English translation. Translated from Tibetan by the Vajravairochana Translation Committee under the direction of Dorje Dradül of Mukpo. Vajradhatu Publications
Hardcover, 6" x 9".....40 pp.
Available to students at Warrior Assembly and beyond.
http://www.shambhalamedia.org/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=BVN175

The Letter of the Black Ashe is a beautiful hardbound edition of a Shambhala root text by Dorje Dradül of Mukpo. It features cloth binding with gold-lettered spine, a gold scorpion seal on the front cover, and blue endpapers. This second edition of the text has been re-edited, using gender-inclusive language wherever possible. In addition, other amendments have been made based on a re-examination of the original Tibetan manuscript and the initial translation by Dorje Dradül of Mukpo. Here the Tibetan appears alongside the English. Translated from the Tibetan by the Vajravairochana Translation Committee under the direction of Dorje Dradül of Mukpo.
Vajradhatu Publications ....Hardcover, 6" x 9" .....22 pp.
Available only to those authorized to receive it.

Pema Chodron Teaching on Shambhala Terma
"On Monday, the Gampo Acharya Pema Chodron gave her second formal teaching during this visit to the monastics and residents of Gampo Abbey. Following the themes established in her first teaching presented earlier in May, Ani Pema continued to speak about the Shambhala terma teachings of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, as presented in his text The Letter of the Black Ashe. These teachings are particularly timely in today's climate of economic crisis, warfare, sickness, social injustice, and looming environmental calamity. The Shambhala teachings, says Ani Pema, were given by Trungpa Rinpoche to benefit beings during the most difficult times, when people would withdraw into themselves and hide from fear, and lash out at externally perceived enemies. These teachings remind us of the basic sanity and dignity that we are capable of as human beings."
http://gampoabbey.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html

"Genuine art—dharma art—is simply the activity of nonaggression," said Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Trungpa Rinpoche was one of the most important Buddhist teachers of the twentieth-century, and founder of this magazine. He was also a multi-talented artist. Trained as a child in Tibet in the traditional arts of calligraphy, painting, monastic dance, and poetry, on his arrival in the West he immersed himself in the pursuit of new artistic disciplines, including Japanese flower-arranging, photography, design, and filmmaking. In addition he brought fresh approaches to the traditional arts he had been taught, as seen in his calligraphy. Titled "Great Eastern Sun," it combines Tibetan script, three of his seals, and, the mark he used in the Shambhala teachings to symbolize primordial wisdom, which he called the Ashe stroke."
http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3423

What is the warrior’s cry and what does it mean?
"Tonight, I would like to introduce the Shambhala warrior’s cry. Chanting this cry is a way to rouse your head and shoulders, a way to rouse a sense of uplifted dignity. It is also a way to invoke the power of windhorse and the energy of basic goodness. We might call it a battle cry, as long as you understand that this particular battle is fighting against aggression, conquering aggression, rather than promoting hatred or warfare. We could say that the warrior’s cry celebrates victory over war, victory over aggression. It is also a celebration of overcoming obstacles. The warrior’s cry goes like this: Ki Ki So So. Ki is primordial energy, similar to the idea of ch’i in the Chinese martial arts. So is furthering or extending that energy of ki and extending the power of Ki Ki So So altogether. Let us close our meeting by shouting “Ki Ki So So” three times. Sitting in good warrior posture, with your hands on your hips, hold your head and shoulders and shout:
Ki Ki So So
Ki Ki So So
Ki Ki So So"
by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche from our Teaching Library http://www.shambhala.org/teachings/
The chant to raise wind-horse, which represents a connection between earth and sky, and its manifestation in a person...
KI KI SO SO ASHE LHA GYAL LO TAK SENG KHYUNG DRUK DYAR KYE!

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Email....dzogchenexplorations@gmail.com

September 2012

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