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 at the start of the six-year retreat programme at Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Center, Nepal, 13 January 2015
We all feel that we have to become good Dharma practitioners. And what it means to be a good dharma practitioner is to have a view that is different from normal worldly views. We simply can’t become dharma practitioners whilst maintaining a worldly view, because that can only take us along the path of samsara, […]
Meditation Retreat, Samye Ling, UK, 9 October 2016
Since it is the mind that determines our experience, it is essential to have some understanding of the workings of it, the way it is. Although not a material object, our mind can tie itself up in knots when engaged in certain negative ways of thinking, just like a silkworm spins out silk threads and […]
Teachings on 'A Torch for the Definitive Meaning', Sekhar, Nepal, 1st March 2015
Reprimanding a student is often much more profound than just explaining the words of a text. Usually when we receive teachings on a text, we don’t feel all that much, nothing really hits home. But when we are told off, something registers. We may become a little upset at first, but later a personal truth […]
Teachings on 'A Torch for the Definitive Meaning', Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Center, Nepal, February 2015
In brief, a source of refuge is something that, when we place our hopes in it, it actually gives us refuge, gives us protection and helps us. And that which is helped is principally the mind. It is the mind that needs to be helped because all of our suffering and difficulties stem from the […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, February 2017
Real understanding can never be found amongst the pages of a book. But if we can learn to look into everything we experience in the same way that we look at a mirror, we will always be gaining fresh and ever deepening insight, most importantly about ourselves. Think about how we use a mirror. We’re […]
Meditation Retreat, Kagyu Samye Ling, 9 October 2016
The way our minds work is very strange. The smallest little thing we see or hear can totally change how we feel. Someone casts a smile in our direction or treats us in a way that we like, and that’s enough for us to love them and feel happy. If a few moments later that […]
Teaching on ‘The Four Dharmas of Gampopa’, Thrangu Vajrayana Buddhist Centre, Hong Kong, 29 June 2013
Something very important we need to be aware of, is that we don’t have good understanding of the dharma and what it is. Therefore we don’t really appreciate the dharma as much as we might think. It’s very important that we are aware of this. Here is an example that clearly shows how we think. […]
Meditation Retreat, Kagyu Samye Ling, UK, 9 October 2016
When it comes to meditation, we have to rely on our own experience. If we just take what somebody else says, take their experience of meditation and attempt to replicate it, things are not going to go very well. Like that, we will never come to know meditation for ourselves. To give an example: let’s […]
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 […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 4 February 2017
One of the biggest mistake I have seen Western Buddhists make when it comes to receiving dharma teachings, is feeling that somebody who can explain the teachings well, is a suitable teacher. There is no thought that the teachers themselves need to have the particular view which they are explaining. This attitude comes from a lack of understanding of the dharma.
Meditation Retreat, Kagyu Samye Ling, UK, 8 October 2016
How we start out is very important. We should engage with our meditation with enthusiasm, feeling it to be something wonderful and very beneficial. We should not start out with fear and anxiety, feeling ‘I’m not able to do this.’
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 22 February 2017
When we do a practice and it makes us feel good, we think, ‘This is it! This is the one,’ and work at that. But if it doesn’t make us feel good we think, ‘This isn’t benefiting me. I’m not so keen on this.’Basically, our only thought is of feeling good, which is a massive […]
Understanding Buddhism is understanding desire; desire is not a tradition. Understanding Buddhism is understanding anger and ignorance; anger is not a tradition, ignorance is not a tradition. Understanding Buddhism is understanding suffering; suffering is not a tradition. To learn Buddhism is to learn how to be kind; kindness is not a tradition. Buddhism is the […]
