Excerpts

An excerpt from Drupon Khen Rinpoche’s final day teaching on The Seven Commitments from Kongtrul Rinpoche’s Heart-Nectar Advice, given to the shedra students at Namo Buddha. 8th July 2018.

We should think constantly about where we are placing our efforts each day, and what good comes from it. Then we should think about what changes we might need to make. The dharma teachings given in the texts and oral instructions are there to help us change ourselves; this is the way we should think […]

Words of advice from Drupon Khen Rinpoche in response to a student's wish to become a bodhisattva

Try not to think about yourself too much and instead focus on the well being of others. Try to feel, ‘If I’m sick, fine. If I’m having a hard time, fine. As long as others are well and happy, that is enough for me.’ If you can think and feel like this you will become […]

Teaching at First UK Kagyu Monlam 2018

To those of you who have deep feelings for the Dharma, you need to be clear about what you need to do. You need to give the priority to study and practice rather than focusing on the external conditions for practice. Better buildings doesn’t mean better study; it’s quite possible that simpler buildings and simpler […]

Teaching at First UK Kagyu Monlam 2018

We only make plans for living and we do not make plans for dying. When there is an important task and a big event we count down the days. But we do not do this for our death. The truth is we are moving closer and closer to death each minute.

Teaching at 1st UK Kagyu Monlam, Samye Ling, Scotland, 2018.

In the Dharma there are often illustrations given, such as ‘like a dream or like a mirage’. For example, ‘wealth and property are like a magic show or illusion.’ You could think, ‘yes, I understand that’. If, on hearing a teaching like this, your attachment to your wealth and property changes, then that shows you […]

HwaYue Foundation, Taiwan, 21 October 2017

Sometimes, we forget what really matters in our practice and give more emphasis to the external aspects of Buddhism; when that happens, our practice of Dharma may become a cause of upset and friction with our family and friends. But the true practice of the Dharma is not about doing external activities such as prostrating, […]

Teaching on the Precious Garland of the Supreme Path, HwaYue Foundation, Taiwan, 20 October 2017

The text talks about ‘worthy disciples’, sometimes this is also translated as ‘fortunate individuals’. This is talking about people who, when they encounter good conditions for receiving or practising the Dharma, become inspired and enlivened. They readily accept the teachings, seeing them as a way to transform their characters and root out their troublesome bad […]

Teaching on the Torch of Definitive Meaning, 27 September 2017 at Kagyu Samye Ling, UK

Most of our practice is exactly like theatre. Just like actors in a play dress up in costumes and put on masks to act out their parts, wiping off the make-up and slipping back into their jeans afterwards to get on with their lives; so we go about most of our practice. We put on […]

Advice given to western students in Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 12 April 2017

One big difficulty we face is that as the Buddhadharma spread, it gradually became so interwoven with the traditions and customs of the countries it spread to that it’s difficult for us to identify which is which. People have become so used to seeing them as inseparable that they often take what is merely a […]

Advice given to western students in Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 12 April 2017

The very purpose of studying and practicing Buddhism is to bring about a positive change in our minds. But that’s never going to happen if we hold to our own views, feeling that we need to defend them. It is taught that the number one obstacle on the path is holding one’s view to be […]