by Nora Bateson (daughter of Gregory) From her Facebook post, shared here in the aftermath of our group's questioning about the kind of spirituality (and enlightenment) that is being called for in these times. I keep hearing people say we have a crisis of leadership. I agree. But the leadership required now is not old-school leadership. Whatever leadership used to be—it used to be. Now, it has to be something different. Now, we all have to be more than we were. Leadership models come in many flavors. Strategic leadership, leadership from behind, organizational, innovative, creative leadership, collective leadership, transformational leadership, cross cultural leadership, team leadership—the list goes on. But the kind of leadership that I want to explore may not be identifiable as leadership at all. I am interested in a kind of mutually alert care and attention to the well-being of all people and ecological systems. This kind of leadership cannot be found in individuals, but rather between them. It cannot be found in organizations, nations, religions or institutions, but rather between them. I have called it Liminal Leadership to highlight the relational characteristics. Inter-systemic change is at hand. More than change, and more than system change, the interdependency between systems of economy, health, politics, ecology and communication is where the change lies. This is a murky territory of alive in-betweeness. The interdependency we are discussing should not be thought of as a part that can be replaced in an engine. It is elusively not in the economy or the education system, it is not in politics or the health system, it is not in the media, or even the culture—it is in the way in which these aspects of our world are steeped together in a slow-cooked stew. The ingredients of the socio-economic stew cannot now be pulled out, but the chemistry can be tended. We, as citizens, as human beings, cannot point to these institutions as “them”— there is no them. All of these contexts of society (and more) are in a kind of ecology of interdependency, pattern and relationship. You and me, we are simultaneously in the systems, and occupying the position of observer, or change-maker. We cannot get out. But, we are also within another ecology; the ecology of the biosphere. —N. Bateson 2017
0 Comments
The story of Mayum Kunsang Dechen, consort of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche This is what I know about my mother, and what has been told to me by the people who knew her. When she was young, she had a very loving heart and really cared about the welfare of others. She liked to help poor people and animals. This was one of her main qualities as a child. She especially cared about the Law of Karma and was very careful about even her small deeds. While still very young, 13 or 14 years old, she took teachings in Tibet from different teachers and started the ngondro preliminary practice. She continued to do ngondro even while staying in Sikkim and when she came to Nepal. If we count them all, she completed the 500,000 aspects of ngondro practice thirteen times. In addition to that, she engaged in many sadhanas and recited many mantras. In short, my father told me he never saw her waste a single day; she was always doing some kind of practice. My mother was very lucky to take teachings from my father, Tulku Urgyen, and especially from His Holiness, the 16th Karmapa. From the Second Jamgon Kongtrul, named Palden Khyentse Oser, she received many different kinds of teachings, oral transmissions, and initiations and, in particular, mind teachings. At that time, she gained complete confidence in her practice and since then has had no doubts about her understanding of buddha nature, so her trust, devotion, and compassion was always increasing. Read more.... by Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo Quoted in Cave in the Snow by Vick Mackenzie (pp. 133-36) To me the special female quality (which of course many men have as well) is first of all a sharpness, a clarity. It cuts through—especially intellectual ossification. It's very sharp and gets to the point. To me the Dakini principle stands for the intuitive force. Women get it in a flash—they're not interested in intellectual discussion which they normally find dry and cold with minimum appeal. To women that's the long way of going about it. They go through the back door! This reveals itself as women being more practical in their approach, less abstract and idealistic than men. They want to know, "What can we do?" They're not entranced by theories and ideas—they want to be able to crunch it between their teeth. Of course, Prajnaparamita [personification of unconditional space, often referred to as the Mother of all the Buddhas] is female. She's the Perfection of Wisdom which cuts away all our concepts and desires to make something very stable and settled. We build up our ideas. We try to make them concrete. She cuts away, cutting, cutting, cutting. She cuts things back to the bare essential. At the same time women have a nurturing, a softness, a gentleness. Women tend to be more into feeling than men, which makes it easier to develop Bodhicitta. Loving-kindness is innate in women, because of the mothering factor. A mother is prepared to die for her child. That impulse can be developed towards all beings. Again it's a matter of feeling, not intellect. These are not just useful qualities—they're essential. [to continue, click "read more," below right] An interview with Vicki Mackenzie from Mandala Magazine Mandala: What inspired you to write this book? Vicki Mackenzie: I never met Freda Bedi. It was such a shame. But from my earliest days in the Dharma, I heard about her. I went to Kopan in November 1976 for my first course there, and she had just visited. There was a buzz because Lama Yeshe had brought her into the gompa, into “the Tent” as it was then called, and put her on the throne. He made three full-length prostrations to her. Unfortunately, she died shortly afterwards, in 1977. Then when I was writing the book Cave in the Snow, I heard about her from Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, who had helped her at her Young Lamas Home School. Tenzin Palmo said she was such an extraordinary woman, a powerhouse. She had an incredible life, a big life, many lives in one lifetime. So my ears pricked up. And after Cave in the Snow, Tenzin Palmo kept saying, you really must write a book about Freda Bedi, women need inspirational role models. But I wasn’t interested then because I didn’t want to write a book on another British woman who had become a Tibetan nun! She kept pushing though. And then I got a letter from Ranga Bedi, Freda Bedi’s eldest son, saying we’re looking for someone to write a book about our mother. He said the Dalai Lama thought a book should be written. His Holiness didn’t specify me, but I thought, “Well, if His Holiness thinks a book should be written … I’ll take it on.” Read more... |
Archives
November 2017
Categories |