When you have an opportunity to help someone you should take it. There will be many times in life – especially if you reach old age – when someone needs your help and you desperately wish you could, but you just can't. That won’t feel good, so don’t let the times when you can help […]
The level of our practice is determined by our view, not the form of the practice. – Drupon Khen Rinpoche Karma Lhabu
Teachings on the "Torch of Certainty", 2015
When people hear the word ‘Buddhism’, the first thing that comes to mind is probably meditation; they feel that meditation is the essence or the root of Buddhism. There is good reason for that but there is another perspective that is less common, which is that study is foremost in Buddhism. One of the many […]
Online Teaching from Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 14 June 2020
Question: If we truly want to follow the path of the Mahamudra in this life, is it possible to do this whilst engaging in an “ordinary life” with jobs, partners, houses and so on? Or, if we want to make the most of this precious human birth and follow the gift of dharma, do we […]
Online Teaching from Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 10 June 2020
When we hear that Tilopa received teaching directly from Vajradhara, it is difficult to understand. We think the three kayas of a buddha are different buddhas, teaching in different places at different times. But in reality it is not like this, it is simultaneous. What we perceive depends on our level, our perception. Those with […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 7th April 2020
Some who run dharma institutions feel that if their students or members were to direct all their time and effort to study and practice that there would not be enough people to look after the daily running of the centre. For example it has happened more than once, and in both the East and the […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Center, Nepal, 24th Mars 2020
If you still have a worldly view, you could found a monastery and it would be a worldly act, you could start a dharma centre and it would be a worldly act, you could even teach the dharma and that too would be a worldly act. But if you have a dharma view, all that […]
Advice given to the western students in Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, July 2016
Real Buddhism is not in the texts, not in the monasteries, not in the retreat centres, not in the shedras, not in the dharma centres, nor are you likely to find it in the towns and cities. And you might think, ‘If Buddhism, the dharma, is not in the monasteries, where is it?’ What we […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Center, Nepal, 10th February 2020
The word for dharma in Tibetan is ཆོས་ (chö), which is related to the word འཆོས, which means to repair or to correct. When I see those who consider themselves students of mine conducting themselves unskilfully, I may well tell them that they are doing wrong, with the hope that they will see why it […]
Kagyu Samye Ling, Scotland, 15th June 2019
What I have to say concerns me personally. At the moment I’m quite sure there are a number of people who are highly critical of me, who don’t like me. But in my eyes I don’t have a single enemy in this world. I don’t mind what people say about me, I’ve got nothing against […]
Admonition to students, Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Center, Nepal, 7th February 2020
Just be normal. I do not expect you to be accomplished yogis. I do not expect you to be great bodhisattvas. But if you can be normal, level headed, decent, polite people, the sort of person who is switched on, easy going and courteous, that will suffice for now.
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Center, Nepal, 12th January 2020
Don’t think it doesn’t matter what people think about you. It makes a big difference to them and to you. If you do or say something that causes someone to have negative thoughts, that is bad for them and since you were the cause of that, it is bad for you. Every action brings a […]
Namo Buddha Seminar, Nepal, 14 April 2019
We are not learning something new when we study the dharma. We tend to study the dharma in the same way that we learn a new language – but that is not right. In the study of dharma we are trying to recognise the desire that we have – desire is not new to us, […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 12 December 2019
We often see new Buddhists, or old Buddhists who have not studied much dharma, getting ahead of themselves and making plans to run off to the mountains. This shows a lack of understanding and experience of dharma. In order to practise alone in solitude, and to be able to practice properly, we must have first […]
Kagyu Samye Ling, Scotland, 12 October 2017
Money becomes a real obstacle in forming a true lama-student relationship. So if it’s real dharma you want, if it’s a real lama-student relationship you want, then this is something you should keep in mind. For example, if you see me to be a lama of yours, and you genuinely wish to rely on and […]
