A reader noted the following from their reading of “Living Buddhas speak up in politics in Tibet” which I submit here for your consideration as a test of the 31 year old 17th Karmapa’s claim that he is more than just the 7 year old Tibetan child whom the Chinese enthroned as successor to the 16th Karmapa at Tsurphu Monastery as its first “Living Buddha” in 1992, 24 years ago.
“Padma Namgyel, vice chairman of the regional political advisory body, said the fact that many proposals have become realities has helped maintain religious stability in Tibet.
Many members of the advisory body proposed that more monasteries, for example, Tsurpu [!!], Drigung, Talung and Pashod monasteries, should be brought under state protection programs, said Namgyel…”
If the 31 year old 17th Karmapa is the legitimate successor to the 16th Karmapa he will speak out against Chinese control of Tsurphu Monastery.
If the 31 year old 17th Karmapa does not speak out against Chinese control of Tsurphu Monastery he is not the legitimate successor to the 16th Karmapa.
Let the fact that in 1959 the then 35 year old 16th Karmapa risked his life to escape Chinese control of Tsurphu Monastery be the measure of the 31 year old 17th Karmapa’s claim that he is more than just the 7 year old Tibetan child whom the Chinese enthroned as successor to the 16th Karmapa at Tsurphu Monastery as its first “Living Buddha” in 1992, 24 years ago.
Tinfoil Ushnisha 
He knew pretty well he is just a puppet of china communist .
Ignorant is bliss
This is not a matter of who the 17th Karmapa considers himself to be at the age of 31, or his fellow Tibetans, as much as a matter of whether or not we find him at the age of 31 to be the legitimate successor to the then 35 year old 16th Karmapa that in 1959 risked his life to escape Chinese control of Tsurphu Monastery.
All things come to an end.
So will our precious Kagyu….
“Letting go is not the same as giving up.” Saljay Rinpoche
Perhaps someone should tell that to Tsurphu Labrang.
Today, in 2017, Whether or not the Tsurphu Labrang’s 31 year old 17th Karmapa is the legitimate successor of the 35 year old 16th Karmapa who in 1959 fled Chinese control of Tsurphu monastery and 22 years later chose to pass into Parinirvana here at Zion, IL in 1981 is about us and us alone.
It is none of the Tsurphu Labrang’s business as such.
As the Panama Papers document he has been corrupted by the influence Chinese Buddhist money in his capacity as Tsurphu Labrang and the very reason the legitimacy of the 17th Karmapa whom he represents has been called into question here in the first place.
Based solely upon how the dharma activity to date of both 17th Karmapas measure up against the legacy of the 16th Karmapa in our country we will decide for ourselves which if any are the 16th Karmapa’s successor for us.
This isn’t about Tibetans.
It’s about who we are as dharma practitioners living in this country today.
It’s also not about being discursive about who might be the actual successor to the 16th Karmapa.
Only an insecure person worries what other people think.
Our lineage has become so desperate and insecure. Perhaps if we let go and stopped trying we would be able to actually see something.
Having seen the thing we saw, then we could move on. This type of court politics is exactly the same stuff that Karma Chagme and later, Patrul Rinpoche warned us about becoming obsessed with as a topic of interest.
Our lineage masters seem to have become focused upon the death of a Karmapa and his natural succession. That they have created a vortex of confusion is apparent. My suggestion is to leave the metaphorical Lhasa and seek out the wilderness.
These topics only cause doubt- who cares about Karmapa? Don’t waste your life.
Practice.
Good perspective. A lineage is only a vehicle for transmitting teachings. The sangha is also the least perfect gem. Humans are fallible. The teachings and liberation are what is actually important. As long as people are passing along the teachings the lineage continues. It’s sort of like a restaurant. As long as the food(dharma) is able to get to your mouth(mindstream) )and as long as it is healthy, then things are okay. There is no sense in wondering too much about the people that work at the restaurant or what the restaurant says about itself on a placard. As long as the staff seems genuinely compassionate or interested in the quality of the food, that is all that matters.
http://www.memes.com/img/413625
Thus I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was living at Gaya, at Gayasisa, together with a thousand bhikkhus. There he addressed the bhikkhus.
“Bhikkhus, all is burning. And what is the all that is burning?
“The eye is burning, forms are burning, eye-consciousness is burning, eye-contact is burning, also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, with lamentations, with pains, with griefs, with despairs.
“The ear is burning, sounds are burning…
“The nose is burning, odors are burning…
“The tongue is burning, flavors are burning…
“The body is burning, tangibles are burning…
“The mind is burning, ideas are burning, mind-consciousness is burning, mind-contact is burning, also whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact for its indispensable condition, that too is burning. Burning with what? Burning with the fire of lust, with the fire of hate, with the fire of delusion. I say it is burning with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, with lamentations, with pains, with griefs, with despairs.
“Bhikkhus, when a noble follower who has heard (the truth) sees thus, he finds estrangement in the eye, finds estrangement in forms, finds estrangement in eye-consciousness, finds estrangement in eye-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful- nor-pleasant that arises with eye-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he finds estrangement.
“He finds estrangement in the ear… in sounds…
“He finds estrangement in the nose… in odors…
“He finds estrangement in the tongue… in flavors…
“He finds estrangement in the body… in tangibles…
“He finds estrangement in the mind, finds estrangement in ideas, finds estrangement in mind-consciousness, finds estrangement in mind-contact, and whatever is felt as pleasant or painful or neither-painful-nor-pleasant that arises with mind-contact for its indispensable condition, in that too he finds estrangement.
“When he finds estrangement, passion fades out. With the fading of passion, he is liberated. When liberated, there is knowledge that he is liberated. He understands: ‘Birth is exhausted, the holy life has been lived out, what can be done is done, of this there is no more beyond.'”
That is what the Blessed One said. The bhikkhus were glad, and they approved his words.
Now during his utterance, the hearts of those thousand bhikkhus were liberated from taints through clinging no more.
SMOKEY THE BEAR SUTRA
BY GARY SNYDER
SMOKEY THE BEAR SUTRA
Once in the Jurassic about 150 million years ago, the Great Sun Buddha in this corner of the Infinite Void gave a discourse to all the assembled elements and energies: to the standing beings, the walking beings, the flying beings, and the sitting beings–even the grasses, to the number of thirteen billion, each one born from a seed, assembled there: a Discourse concerning Enlightenment on the planet Earth.
“In some future time, there will be a continent called America. It will have great centers of power called such as Pyramid Lake, Walden Pond, Mt. Rainier, Big Sur, Everglades, and so forth; and powerful nerves and channels such as Columbia River, Mississippi River, and Grand Canyon. The human race in that era will get into troubles all over its head, and practically wreck everything in spite of its own strong intelligent Buddha-nature.”
“The twisting strata of the great mountains and the pulsings of volcanoes are my love burning deep in the earth. My obstinate compassion is schist and basalt and granite, to be mountains, to bring down the rain. In that future American Era I shall enter a new form; to cure the world of loveless knowledge that seeks with blind hunger: and mindless rage eating food that will not fill it.”
And he showed himself in his true form of
SMOKEY THE BEAR
A handsome smokey-colored brown bear standing on his hind legs, showing that he is aroused and watchful.
Bearing in his right paw the Shovel that digs to the truth beneath appearances; cuts the roots of useless attachments, and flings damp sand on the fires of greed and war;
His left paw in the mudra of Comradely Display–indicating that all creatures have the full right to live to their limits and that of deer, rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, dandelions, and lizards all grow in the realm of the Dharma;
Wearing the blue work overalls symbolic of slaves and laborers, the countless men oppressed by a civilization that claims to save but often destroys;
Wearing the broad-brimmed hat of the west, symbolic of the forces that guard the wilderness, which is the Natural State of the Dharma and the true path of man on Earth:
all true paths lead through mountains
With a halo of smoke and flame behind, the forest fires of the kali-yuga, fires caused by the stupidity of those who think things can be gained and lost whereas in truth all is contained vast and free in the Blue Sky and Green Earth of One Mind;
Round-bellied to show his kind nature and that the great earth has food enough for everyone who loves her and trusts her;
Trampling underfoot wasteful freeways and needless suburbs, smashing the worms of capitalism and totalitarianism;
Indicating the task: his followers, becoming free of cars, houses, canned foods, universities, and shoes, master the Three Mysteries of their own Body, Speech, and Mind; and fearlessly chop down the rotten trees and prune out the sick limbs of this country America and then burn the leftover trash.
Wrathful but calm. Austere but Comic. Smokey the Bear will Illuminate those who would help him; but for those who would hinder or slander him…
HE WILL PUT THEM OUT
Thus his great Mantra:
Namah samanta vajranam chanda maharoshana Sphataya hum traka ham mam
“I DEDICATE MYSELF TO THE UNIVERSAL DIAMOND
BE THIS RAGING FURY BE DESTROYED”
And he will protect those who love the woods and rivers, Gods and animals,
hobos and madmen, prisoners and sick people, musicians,
playful women,and hopeful children:
And if anyone is threatened by advertising, air pollution, television,
or the police, they should chant SMOKEY THE BEAR’S WAR SPELL:
DROWN THEIR BUTTS
CRUSH THEIR BUTTS
DROWN THEIR BUTTS
CRUSH THEIR BUTTS
And SMOKEY THE BEAR will surely appear to put the enemy out with his vajra-shovel.
Now those who recite this Sutra and then try to put it in practice will accumulate merit as countless as the sands of Arizona and Nevada.
Will help save the planet Earth from total oil slick.
Will enter the age of harmony of man and nature.
Will win the tender love and caresses of men, women, and beasts.
Will always have ripened blackberries to eat and a sunny spot under a pine tree to sit at.
AND IN THE END WILL WIN HIGHEST PERFECT ENLIGHTENMENT
…thus we have heard…
THANK YOU SMOKEY AND KEK!