When We Are Caught Off Guard

Below is an excerpt from a teaching Drupon Rinpoche gave at a three day retreat in Hong Kong over the weekend.

"When students approach me and tell me what practice they are doing and how they do it, I don’t have much confidence in what they say, or give what they say much weight; at least I don’t take what they say as a measure of how their practice is going or what sort of practitioner they are, because they can be acting at that point. It is when they are caught off guard that I look to see how their practice is going, when they are on the phone, eating, chatting etc. It is how they are at these times that you can better see if their practice is going well or not, and what sort of Dharma practitioner they are. Because Dharma has to become integrated, it has to become our natural way of being and thinking. Part of our character. It is when we are caught off guard that we show our true colours."