When we begin to practise the Dharma or meditation, we must start with something we can conceive of. Many of us start with the inconceivable, which we do not and cannot understand at first. We conjure up an idea of what the inconceivable is and focus on that, assuming we are focusing on the inconceivable […]
Life is short and fleeting. Everyday we are given 24 hours to use – we must strive to not to let a single moment go to waste. This doesn’t necessarily mean that we should pack our day with more practices, recitations and dharma activities. While these can be helpful, they are not the most important […]
When meditating try to recognise your current thoughts. It's manageable—even when we become foggy, we can still identify our fogginess. Observe yourself carefully and be aware. This is very important for beginners. We are unable to identify our thoughts clearly and at times we may find ourselves unable to meditate well. The more experience we […]
If, after staying in a quiet retreat, you become more intolerant of noise and disturbances, it is a sign that your practice has not gone well. In fact, it has made you worse—now you cannot tolerate something you could before. Yes, it is taught that when we begin practicing, we should go to a quiet, […]
We should constantly observe ourselves. We should know what we are thinking and doing all the time by employing mindfulness and awareness. For us, this is the best way to study and practise the Dharma. 28th January 2025, Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal
The meditation we do based on the explanations or teachings we've received is contrived. It is a generic fabrication of meditation rather than a meditation gained through personal experience. Real meditation is not taught; it is found within oneself through the questions and probing of the lama. You may feel that you would like to […]
When reading stories of the past lamas receiving instructions from their lamas, we might imagine these instructions to be something particularly deep or special, like unique visualisations or meditation techniques that we haven’t heard before. Most of the time, however, it is not like that. So, how does it work? Our lama is someone who […]
Drupon Khen Rinpoche has just (December 18th 2023) finished teaching Patrul Rinpoche’s Words of My Perfect Teacher to the students of Thrangu Sekhar International Meditation Centre*. These teachings commenced on March 14th 2021, and were simultaneously translated into English and Chinese. Those who know Rinpoche will not be surprised to hear that he taught for […]
I'm often asked to teach meditation (Mahamudra and Dzogchen) by the organisers of the different centres who invite me when I travel. It has been quite normal for these teachings to be given by travelling lamas who visit the West and Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc. Falling in line with what has become the norm, I, […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, Spring 2022
A retreat lama once died in the retreat place where I and my main lamas and their root lama (Lama Tsepal) stayed. It was before my time though. The lama who had died was sitting upright on his seat in meditation posture, while other retreatants were doing prayers and meditating. When Lama Tsepal entered the […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 17th May 2022
If your view is wrong, your meditation will be wrong and the subsequent result will be wrong. First of all then, we need the right view, otherwise the rest of what we do will only take us in the wrong direction. So how do we get the right view? As it is said, ‘First, establish […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, April 2022
When we come to learn meditation we carry the assumption that we already know the mind. Right from the start we speak of, ‘my mind’ and ‘all these thoughts’ as if we know what we are talking about. Nobody has ever come to me saying that they do not know the mind. Through the meditation […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat, Nepal, Summer 2021
It’s very important that right from the beginning we link our dharma practice and our everyday experience as much as possible. If we continue to see our practice as something we merely imagine as we sit on the cushion, unrelated to the rest of our experience that we call ‘real life’, we will never come […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, November 2022
A reply to a student’s request for advanced meditation instruction. I sincerely wish for you to know Mahamudra. Perhaps I feel a greater sense of urgency about it than even you do yourself. You may wonder why I teach meditation when I travel abroad, but not to you here in the retreat centre. Well, truth […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 7th February 2018
If you are serious about learning mahamudra or dzogchen and you think you will have the opportunity to receive such authentic meditation instructions from a qualified lama, you should avoid reading any books or texts on these topics beforehand. To do so would be to commit meditation suicide. The vocabulary from such books that will […]
