Karmapa’s message on the fifth anniversary of Shamar Rinpoche’s passing

June 11, 2019

Thaye Dorje, His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, shares the following message on the fifth anniversary of the parinirvana of His Holiness 14th Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche:

Karmapa’s message on the fifth anniversary of Shamar Rinpoche’s passing

A transcript of the letter is below:

Dear dharma friends

His Holiness 14th Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche displayed the Parinirvana aspect of Buddha’s activity on this day, 11th of June, five years ago.

Due to sentient beings’ extreme mental attitudes of eternalism and nihilism, the teaching of impermanence is challenging for enlightened beings to express. May our virtuous accumulation of merit and wisdom support us in hearing, contemplating and meditating this precious expression of impermanence.

I’d like to ask all of you to use this day to reflect on the impermanent nature of life. Do not let impermanence be terrible news, for death is never the finale. It never has been, and it never will be. That is not a message of a desperate cry for survival. Therefore, just let impermanence be.

If you let impermanence be, then you will see that it has an amazing quality to bring a beautiful awareness in you, just like either light brightens the view, or dimness helps to contrast and focus it, so that our vision is clearer than ever before. Again, this is not a message of encouragement to cling on to living.  Therefore, don’t be afraid. Just breathe and reflect on impermanence.

In this way, we will beat each and every beat of our heart in the same way as that of an enlightened being’s Bodhi heart.

With prayers,

Thaye Dorje

His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa