Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 6 August 2020
Being a practitioner doesn’t mean that we go to a place with the intention to practise and do sessions. We’ve all come here to the retreat centre with that thought in mind, but that thought alone is not what makes someone a practitioner. A practitioner has a very special or unique way of thinking, which […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 23 August 2020
Having the name “lama”, I don’t see myself as someone who tells others what to do and what not to do, like a boss. I feel more like a servant. I try to carry myself with the thought that I will do whatever I can to help any being for them to turn out better […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 19 August 2020
A good lama will not teach the dharma easily, to just any student. Feeling that we can get dharma whenever and wherever we want is a sign that the dharma has become devalued. A genuine lama, like Milarepa, Gampopa, or Patrul Rinpoche, will not teach the dharma lightly. For example, when they detected a hint […]
Online Teaching from Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 9 June 2020
Our experience is not determined by what is seemingly outside, but by our own perception. For example, when a lama is teaching, they probably have no thought of pleasing some and upsetting others, but that’s what inevitably happens. One person will appreciate it, and another will get up and walk out in a rage. Each […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 16 July 2020
You can’t practise that which doesn’t appear in your mind. If you are to practise developing loving-kindness, for instance, there is a particular order to it, and this order applies to any practice. Sticking with the example of love though, you first have to learn what love is. You have to be able to distinguish […]
When we are listening to the dharma, meditating or practicing, if our way of thinking is along the lines of, ‘May this be good for me,’ then our motivation is poor. As I said already, all of our difficulties and problems stem from this very strong sense of ‘me’. So if we are taking that […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 1 October 2015
The texts often talk about ‘jaded practitioners’ but what is it that makes us jaded? It is when we have heard so much Dharma and have taken it to be so easy but have done nothing to change our ways. It is when we have said so many prayers that we have not put our […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, June 2020
The more we make of our present opportunities, the better and more numerous our future opportunities will be.
Online Teaching from Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 8 June 2020
There is a great difference between intelligence in the dharma and worldly intelligence. In the world we may think someone who is very good at picking up languages is intelligent. Or if someone is very successful in business we think, ‘Wow they’re smart as hell.’ And I’m sure many of those who invented some of […]
Online Teaching from Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 7 June 2020
We can divide the dharma into the different vehicles, or into the three turnings of the wheels of dharma, or we can look at in terms of the different capacities of individuals. But it’s not about what we study or practice on an outer level, it’s about us, ourselves, our understanding and how we see […]
Online Teaching from Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 6 June 2020
The dharma is about showing us where we are mistaken, so we can remedy our mistakenness and become unmistaken. What is our actual situation at the moment? We have the afflictions – desire, anger and so on. So the dharma teachings that work for us are those that points to these things. With these teaching […]
Online Teaching from Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 5 June 2020
When it comes to making offerings to a lama, if they are a genuine lama they have no need for the material things that we offer. It is for our sake that we make offerings, to relinquish our clinging, to sacrifice or let go of something we treasure. Our clinging is what holds us back […]
Online Teaching from Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 4 June 2020
We are not really interested in putting the dharma into practice. For example, a number of people from the West have approached me with questions, asking me to explain a point in the dharma or a text because they want or need to teach it to others. Not many approach me for an explanation because […]
Online Teaching from Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 3 June 2020
The Practice Lineage is the lineage of those who follow a way of studying and practising that is not directed externally to words, texts, treatises and that sort of thing. It’s about what is going on inside. It’s also not about remaining in retreats or hermitages, it’s much broader than that. Tilopa and Naropa didn’t […]
Online Teaching from Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 2 June 2020
Namtars are not simply ‘life stories.’ ‘Nam’ refers to a master’s life, their way of living, what kind of life they had. In a way this can apply to anyone – we all have a life, and there are many life stories, but this is not what makes a namtar. ‘Tar’ refers to liberation – […]
