Many people are very fond of doing voluntary work in the dharma centres and at dharma events {Rinpoche was addressing a predominantly Chinese audience}. But you should remember that the most important thing when relying on your Lama is to learn the dharma. Sacrificing the opportunity to attend a dharma teaching to do volunteer work […]

There’s no true happiness to be found in cyclic existence (samsara) but we spend our time pursuing it all the same. A Buddhist practitioner gives up this futile pursuit and forbears any hardship in the most worthwhile pursuit, the true and lasting happiness of liberation and awakening.

When I was on pilgrimage in Yolmo the other day, something came to mind that might be useful to you. While we were there, we sang some songs of Milarepa which tell of his time in the region of Yolmo. In one of them, a group of students made a request of Milarepa, ‘Since it […]

We think that by practising the dharma we will only improve, but over the years I’ve seen many people, if not the majority of people, deteriorate as they spend more time in the dharma. The first year when people enter the dharma they are very enthusiastic, even though they do not know very much about […]