Losar Tashi Delek! The Powerful Potential of the Female Wood Snake Year
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, all our Acharyas, Lamas, Mitras, and the Nalandabodhi Sangha wish you a Female Wood Snake Year full of peace, positive energy, great joy and happiness!
A New Beginning
The beginning of the year can be likened to the morning of a day, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche said in his address during Nalandabodhi’s celebration of Losar (The Tibetan New Year). The dawn of the new year, like the new morning, is the time for us to think: What are we going to do?
Seeing that yesterday and all things in the past are like a dream, Rinpoche encourages us to gently and skilfully let go. Otherwise, when we hold onto things that are no longer there, it only leads to more pain. Next, we look forward to what we are going to do today and this year. What do we wish to achieve?
Fulfilling Our Big Dreams with Small Steps
Rinpoche shared how his guru, Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, always told him to think big and not restrict his vision. At the same time, we need to be practical and take small steps to achieve what we envision. With diligence, continuous steady effort, and a sense of commitment, we can fulfill our dreams. We can think of the story of the race between the tortoise and the hare. Because of his steady movement, free of fatigue, the tortoise makes it to the destination first.
The same, Rinpoche taught, is true for our minds. If we do things with pure intentions in a persistent manner throughout the day, and from the beginning till the end of the year, not only do we not prevent harm from being done to ourselves and others, we are able to achieve freedom from confusion and attain the state of buddhahood.
Qualities of the Female Wood Snake Year
According to the Tibetan Calendar, this is the year of the Female Wood Snake. Rinpoche shared various qualities traditionally associated with such a year:
- The female wood element is associated with the potential for growth and expansion. Yet, just as with a tree, we need to nurture things and take good care of them.
- The snake aspect is symbolically connected with nāgas, beings associated with great wealth and enjoyment, and also the quality of healing. We can find a depiction of a nāga king both on Nalandabodhi’s Losar card and the image that His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, shared. The images relate to a story of a nāga king who appeared in the form of a snake, coiled seven times around the body of the Buddha, with his hood raised above the Buddha’s head to protect him during a rainstorm when he was practicing meditation.
Positive Development Depends on Introspection and Wisdom
What is important at the beginning of this year, Rinpoche said, is to understand that the female wood snake year offers us the potential for growth and healing, something we need at the individual, national, and global levels. However, we must rely on mindfulness and attentiveness, connect with our inner discerning wisdom, and share our well-being and peace with ourselves, with others, and the whole world. If we don’t rely on introspection and wisdom, but rather react impulsively, things will not turn out well. The conditions are present for positive development, it is up to use them skillfully.
Sharing Aspirations
To conclude, Rinpoche expressed his prayerful aspiration that everyone in the world will enjoy the wealth of wisdom and compassion, which can bring joy and happiness to ourselves and everyone around us.
Losar Tashi Delek!
Upcoming
To work with our minds to connect with our inner wisdom and explore the myriad of ways we can connect and bring joy to ourselves and others, consider joining Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen during NB Seattle’s upcoming Sunday Meditation and Teachings or Mitra Mark for this year’s Be Wise Go Kind.
Tibetan calendar as guide
Traditionally, to accomplish our aspirations, we can seek support by looking at the Tibetan Calendar. Want to learn more about the meaning of the various aspects of a year, a month, and days? Every year, Nalandabodhi and Nitartha International publish a Tibetan New Year Calendar we can consult as guidance for everything we do in our daily life and follow in the footsteps of the Buddha.
