History and Features of the Tsurphu Lunar Calendar system
History and Features of the Tsurphu Lunar Calendar system
I was wondering how the Karma Kagyu tradition came to develop its own unique calendar, known as the Tsurphu calendar. Is it much different from the standard Tibetan calendar, and is it also used by the other Kagyu lineages?
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Re: History and Features of the Tsurphu Lunar Calendar system
I think that the Karma Kagyu are the only ones who use the Tsurluk system, which was developed by 3rd Karmapa Rangjung Dorje. The Phukluk is the one in common use.
Nitharta used to publish a calendar that combined both--not sure if they still do....
I'm no expert at all. Interested to hear any more knowledgeable responses...
Nitharta used to publish a calendar that combined both--not sure if they still do....
I'm no expert at all. Interested to hear any more knowledgeable responses...
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།
"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།
"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
Re: History and Features of the Tsurphu Lunar Calendar system
They do.conebeckham wrote:I think that the Karma Kagyu are the only ones who use the Tsurluk system, which was developed by 3rd Karmapa Rangjung Dorje. The Phukluk is the one in common use.
Nitharta used to publish a calendar that combined both--not sure if they still do....
Why did Karmapa Rangjung Dorje develop the Tsurluk calendar?
Kirt
“Where do atomic bombs come from?”
Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “That’s simple. Atomic bombs come from the mind that likes this and doesn’t like that.”
"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.
"Only you can make your mind beautiful."
HH Chetsang Rinpoche
Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “That’s simple. Atomic bombs come from the mind that likes this and doesn’t like that.”
"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.
"Only you can make your mind beautiful."
HH Chetsang Rinpoche
Re: History and Features of the Tsurphu Lunar Calendar system
The Tibetan calendar is based on the Kalachakra Tantra and like other tantras it is ambiguous, even encrypted, and stands in need of interpretation. The commentators on the Kalachakra Tantra which bothered to comment on the astronomy gave different interpretations, hence we have different calendars. Since Kamstang Kagyu follows the Karmapa, they are going to give a lot of weight to the Karmapa's interpretation of the Kalachakra and use his calendar.
"It's as plain as the nose on your face!" Dottie Primrose