Dear Friends,
Mr. Kris Kringle has never really had an impact on me. If anything, the rosy cheeks, snow-white beard and deer might be the perfect remedy for a nightmare. In fact, I do useless shopping anyway, with or without the excuse of a Kris Kringle.
Still, I have always been fascinated by the amazing karma of the son of Joseph, the co-father, to help create such power to love, care, forgive, inspire, redeem, disorient, unsettle, and mould entire cultures and billions of people, and to be used as a tool by the great bullies of history.
And then there’s this thing called a new year – not only a western one but a Tibetan one, a Chinese one and, of course, how can I forget the new year of my beloved country, Bhutan. It’s puzzled me that all these new years fall around so-called winter time. Maybe there are new years in the sub-Sahara or Caribbean that fall in the spring or summer?
Anyway, I have some trepidation in saying Happy New Year this year, because that’s what I said with millions of others at the end of 2023 and look what happened in 2024! If anything, it only showed what an angel George Bush was. You might wonder why I am singling out an American president here. That’s only because they have singled themselves out as guardians of the world.
So this year I have no inclination to go through all the rigmarole of designing new year cards, deciding who for, and then sending them by hand. It feels a bit like those childhood obstacle games where kids have to race wearing a sack. Those kinds of things just don’t amuse me any more. New year cards feel a bit like that and I wonder why we even do it. Nor do I claim any wholesome motivation like saving the planet by wasting less paper, though if even one less envelope contributes to that, I’ll see that as a bonus.
So when you don’t get a new year card, friends and those connected to me should not take that as neglect or rejection. Just remember that we’re so deeply intertwined and bound and the power of karma is so strong that such rejection is not even possible. Whether you’ve been annoyed, irritated, envious, or disgusted by my appearance, actions or mere presence, or whether you’ve loved, cared, followed, been devoted to or inspired by me – all of that is the result of causes and conditions through so many lifetimes from what both you and I have done.
I try not to take advantage of our connection by over-using your precious time, energy and resources. But, no matter what kind of connection you have with me, I want to say that I genuinely aspire that, new year or not, our own connection will keep you connected to Gautama, the Prince of Shakya, and that you will never stray from the great Muni.
In this so-called holiday season, I also pray that while you are alive, you always remain under the gentle, protective palms of Arya Tara, and that the subjugator of all phenomena, Padmasambhava, remains in your heart whether you remember him or not. And when this act of so-called living ends, may we all be awakened with the act of the copper-coloured mountain or Sukhavati.
I also aspire that everyone, and especially those who claim to be practitioners, will truly and deeply realize that life will never be perfect, but that the true nature of our mind is primordially stainless. That is something of which we can be proud, which is worth maintaining and cultivating, and developing the genuine wish that others will also be interested in this.
Yours in the wondering and therefore wandering,
— DJK
A worldwide network of buddhist practitioners studying and practising under the guidance of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.
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