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C 


Calendar

The Tibetan calendar is divided into major cycles of sixty years duration. These sixty-year cycles are divided into five minor twelve-year cycles, each year of which is identified by the name of an animal:
 
1. Rabbit
2. Dragon
3. Snake
4. Horse
5. Sheep
6. Monkey
7. Bird
8. Dog
9. Pig
10. Mouse
11. Ox
12. Tiger.

Two consecutive years are paired with one of the five elements. As there are:
1. Fire
2. Earth
3. Iron
4. Water
5. Wood

The first year of an element is called "male", the second one "female".So one gets i.e. a male Earth Dragon Year, followed by a female Earth Snake Year, followed by a male Iron Horse Year and so on. After 60 years the combinations are repeated and the cycle is closed.

The calendar was introduced in 1027 starting with the Fire Rabbit Year. The 16th cycle ended 1986 with a Fire Tiger Year. Thus we're living in the 17th cycle. According to Tsurphu-tradition the Earth Ox year lasts until 02/13/2010. Beginning with 2/14/2010 we live in the Iron Tiger year.

The Tibetan year is based on twelve lunar months and lasts 360 days.

To keep pace with the solar year (365.25 days) every 3 years a leap month is added. There is an intelligent calculation which month will be the leap month. This certain month is simply repeated. In 1997 the fifth month of the Fire Ox Year was repeated.

Depending on the exact change of the days 5 (or 6) days in the Tibetan Year are left out, if the change comes later and happen twice, if the change comes earlier. In order to transform a date from the Western Calendar into a date of the Tibetan Calendar and vice versa, the most precise calendar is the "Tibetan Calendar of the Tsurphu Tradition", developed by the 3. Karmapa Rangjung Dorje.

Due to the leap month the New Year's Day (Losar) of the Tibetan Calendar moves between February and March. The month starts with the new crescent and full moon is on the 15th.


Chagya Chenpo


Chakrasamvara


Changchub Dorje

[1703-1732] The twelfth Karmapa, Changchub Dorje was born at Chile Chakhor in Derge province in east Tibet. Shamarpa heard talk of the doings of a remarkable child, and sent a party to investigate. His envoys brought the child to Karma Gon, one of Karmapa's principal monasteries, where he met Shamarpa Palchen Chokyi Dondrub. The two were to spend the rest of their lives together, travelling and teaching in Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, India and China. Only one day separated their deaths. Both gave Kagyu transmission to the eighth Situpa, and declared him to be the next lineage holder.


Chang Chub Kyi Sem


Channa Dorje


Chenrezi


Cho


Chodrag Gyamtso

[1454 - 1506] The seventh Karmapa, Chodrag Gyamtso, was from Kyilha in Northern Tibet. Wiping his face immediately after birth, he is reported to have said "AH", the Sanskrit syllable symbolising the ultimate nature of reality. The nearby Nyewo Ngarteng Monastery was headed by one Cho Paljor, a student of the sixth Karmapa, who had a dream that his teacher had taken rebirth at Kyilha. He searched, and found the week-old child. The baby immediately recognised the possessions of the sixth Karmapa, and placed his hands in blessing on Cho Paljor's head. Seven weeks later, Chodrag Gyamtso was brought to Arik Thang, where Tongwa Donden had taught, and where there was a vast seat, like a throne, made of stone slabs. He blessed the ten thousand who had come to welcome him. At four, he was given a series of empowerments by Goshir Paljor Dondrup, and at eight, at Karma Gon, he was given the Kagyu teachings from Bengar Jampal Zangpo and Goshir Paljor Dondrub.

He was invited to teach and give empowerments throughout Tibet; during his travels he wrote many texts and commentaries, and attended to the development of the many students who travelled with him. These tent-dwelling nomads - said to be several thousand strong - led a rigorous life, following a strict schedule of study and meditation laid down by the Karmapa. While at Nyriro Dong Tse, he met the fourth Shamarpa, to whom he gave the full teachings. Another of his students, Denma Drubchen Tashi Paljor, was to become the next lineage holder.


Chokhor Duchen

Name of the day where Buddha started his teachings.


Chokyi Drakpa Yeshe Pal Zangpo

[1453 - 1524] The Fourth Shamarpa was born in the Treshö province of Kham in eastern Tibet. Wondrous signs manifested at his birthplace in Tre Kangmar, with wide ranging interpretations by the local communities. The Seventh Karmapa Chodrag Gyamtso was seven years old when he set up camp near Kangmar and remained in retreat while he sent his attendant to invite the Shamarpa. This learned monk was Paljor Döndrup - the first Gyaltsab Rinpoche, a man of exceptional realisation. He was later to become a Guru to the Shamarpa. When the Karmapa and the Shamarpa met it was the renewal of a very close bond, comparable to the joyful reunion of father and son. The Karmapa enthroned the young Shamarpa under the name of Chökyi Drakpa Yeshe Pal Zangpo and returned the red crown to him. The Karmapa proposed that from then on they both propagate the Dharma, but in different parts of the country. The Shamarpa would remain in the Kongpo area of southern Tibet, while the Karmapa continued towards eastern Kham. Some years later, they were together again at Treshö Kangmar. The Shamarpa arrived laden with offerings and the Karmapa imparted to him the empowerments of Mahamudra, the Six Yogas of Naropa and many other important instructions of the Kagyu lineage.


Chopal Yeshe

[1406 - 1452] The Third Shamarpa was only five months old and had no difficulty recognizing many of the monks who were close to him in his previous incarnations, which suggested that he was the incarnate for whom they all anxiously awaited. A year later he visited Takse monastery at the invitation of its monks. It had been one of the Shamarpa's monasteries in previous centuries. He studied there under the tutelage of two great Scholars - Paly�¼l Chözang and Wön Drakpa. At the age of eight, he met with the Fifth Karmapa Deshin Shegpa and stayed with him while he received all the Kagyu teachings including numerous empowerments and ritual readings. At this time, the Karmapa gave the Shamarpa full authorization to instruct.

As his extraordinary clairvoyant abilities emerged, the fame of the Third Shamarpa spread rapidly into China. The Shamarpa could see his own past lives in vivid detail and this intrigued the Chinese Emperor. The fact that the Shamarpa had been the Guru of the Fifth Karmapa in his previous incarnation also fueled the wish for a closer relationship. The Emperor sent a minister to a distant part of Tibet bearing gifts for the Shamarpa. Statues of the Buddha and Dorje Chang arrived made of the finest bell metal and the Shamarpa communicated the importance of generosity in a letter of thanks. When the Shamarpa later ruled as the Karmapa's representative in Kong-Po and other provinces in southern Tibet, he kept this basic Buddhist principle in mind when attending to the needs of the people.


Chorten


Choying Dorje

[1604-1674] The tenth Karmapa, Choying Dorje, was born at Khaytri Tang inGolok province, in the far north-east of Tibet. He was identified as the reincarnation and enthroned by the sixth Shamarpa, Chokyi Wangchuk, who also gave him the full Kagyu transmission. The Karmapa travelled throughout Tibet, teaching and promoting the welfare of the people, until certain political difficulties arose. Ngawang Lozang Gyamtso, the fifth Dalai Lama, had become the official ruler of Tibet, a role that would continue to be filled by his successive incarnations. He established a pact with the Mongol ruler Goshir Khan; the ensuing sectarian persecution severely weakened Kagyu doctrine in Tibet, and placed the Karmapa in such a difficult position that he was forced to leave the country. Travelling through Nepal and Burma to Yunnan in China, Choying Dorje made virtue of necessity and founded monasteries along his route. Twenty years were to pass before he could return to his homeland. He identified the seventh Shamarpa, Yeshe Nyingpo, and with the transmission of the Kagyu teachings, selected him as lineage holder.


Cho Ku


Cho Nyi Bardo


Clear Light

Expression of the not conditioned nature of phenomena, pervading  Samsara and  Nirvana. Appears during the death process and can then, especially as a result of former experiences in meditation, be recognized as the own nature.


Clear Light Meditation


 Compassion

It denotes the attitude that the benefit of other beings is more important to us than our own. Compassion is always paired with love. While compassion stands for the wish that other beings may be free from suffering and free from the cause of suffering, love stands for the wish that all beings may be happy.

There are several means to develop compassion (Enlightened Mind). In Mahayana and Diamond Way Buddhism the development of compassion is very important.

Wisdom and compassion are inseparable in Mahayana Buddhism. The development of wisdom leads us to the realization of emptiness. The 16th Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje said: "The true nature of emptiness is compassion. Without experiencing the wealth of compassion it means nothing, when somebody claims to have recognized emptiness."


Completion Phase

[Tib. dzog rim]: Meditation phase in Diamondway-Buddhism where the Buddha aspect melts into us. It is a direct meditation on the nature of mind to accomplish deep insights.


 Conditioned Existence

Synonym for the cycle of existence or  Samsara


 Consciousness

Operation mode of mind when it is geared to an object. This means that someone is conscious of something or conscious of an aspect of mind. In the Great Way usually eight types of consciousness are taught: Consciousness of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, thinking, ego and the all-base consciousness.


 Consciousness, Stream of

The not interrupted sequence of clear and conscious moments of experience, continuing thru this life, thru  death and rebirth and all future lives.


 Consort

[Tib. yum] Female Buddha aspect in union with a male aspect (Tib. yab). She expresses  wisdom which is inseparable from method or compassion.


Cosmology

There are different cosmologies in Buddhism. Theravada, Mahayana, Kalachakra and Mahamudra got different ways to view and explain the world. The extent of the world is different, too. All those explanations are quite different from today's astrophysical point of view.
  • In the cosmology of the Theravada there is only one world. Our one. In the center of the world lies mount Meru with mountain ranges and four main continents surrounding this mountain. The southern continent 'Jambu' (India) is the place where we all live. The other continents are inhabited too, but Jambu is the only place where beings can mature. In doing good things the Karma of the beings can be filled up with good impressions. Without beginning or end world after world is created and destroyed by the Karma of sentient beings.
  • In the cosmology of the Mahayana the structure of the world (Meru, four main continents) is equal to the world of the Theravada. But there is not only one world, there is an infinite number of worlds. They are arranged in a hierarchical way. Ordinary worlds are created by Karma, the so-called Pure Lands, the powerfields of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, are created by their compassion. Here too there was never a beginning in space and time. WorldsOrdinary worlds are created and destroyed until all beings are liberated from the sufferings of cyclic existence.
  • The cosmology of the Kalachakra contains a slightly different description of the world. This cosmology is concerned with the integration of macrocosm and microcosm into a coherent system. It also includes an astrological system.
  • In Mahamudra there is actually no cosmology. One speaks of a 'Non-Cosmology'. In the cosmologies mentioned above Karma is the cause for the creation and destruction of the worlds. Mahamudra defines the universe as primordial purity. Everything experienced is only an expression of the pure state of mind.


 Creation Phase

Creation of the inner imagination of a  Buddha aspect in Diamondway Buddhism. Used mainly to develop a calm mind and clarity.


Crown Ceremony

Black Crown

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