This depicts Dromtonpa Gyalway Jungne while he was studying with Setsun Lama from Kham. As his eyes read a text, his hands mill barley flour, his feet soften a leather hide and he churns milk on his back. It demonstrates the unbelievable diligence with which he pursued his studies and served the lama. འདི་ནི་འབྲོམ་སྟོན་པ་རྒྱལ་བའི་འབྱུང་གནས་ཁམས་ཀྱི་བླ་མ་སེ་བཙུན་གྱི་སྐུ་མདུན་ནས་སློབ་གཉེར་གནང་སྐབས་ཀྱི་འདྲ་རིས་སྟེ། ཕྱག་གིས་རྩམ་པ་འཐག་པ་དང་། […]
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, 8th May 2022
There’s no true happiness to be found in cyclic existence (samsara) but we spend our time pursuing it all the same. A Buddhist practitioner gives up this futile pursuit and forbears any hardship in the most worthwhile pursuit, the true and lasting happiness of liberation and awakening.
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 2nd May 2022
When I was on pilgrimage in Yolmo the other day, something came to mind that might be useful to you. While we were there, we sang some songs of Milarepa which tell of his time in the region of Yolmo. In one of them, a group of students made a request of Milarepa, ‘Since it […]
Mind Training teaching with HuaYue Foundation, Taiwan, 2015
We think that by practising the dharma we will only improve, but over the years I’ve seen many people, if not the majority of people, deteriorate as they spend more time in the dharma. The first year when people enter the dharma they are very enthusiastic, even though they do not know very much about […]
Samye Ling Retreat Centre on Holy Isle, Scotland, 2012
As Westerners, you won’t like this. But if you are taken on and cared for by a real lama in an authentic fashion, they will mind your business. They won’t just leave you to your own devices. They will pull you up on even what might be considered small things, the way you eat, the […]
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 Centre, Nepal, 28th March 2022
The best way to look after yourself is to look after your environment. By that, I don’t mean the physical environment, but the people and the culture that you surround yourself with. If everyone around you sees learning and self-improvement to be important, if they aspire to be kind, take responsibility for what needs to […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, March 2022
Prostration in its true sense is the physical, verbal or mental expression that naturally emerges when we are captivated in awe of the qualities of the Lama or Three Jewels.
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, March 2022
After the first cycle of retreat at Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, the retreat lamas and I went on pilgrimage with Kyabje Thrangu Rinpoche in south India. At that point I had not had so many personal meetings and interactions with Kyabje Rinpoche. But nevertheless I did have some faith in him and believed he was […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 27 September 2021
Those who seek out their own faults are dharma practitioners. Those who seek out the faults of others are worldly people.
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, Autumn 2021
Without at least a little sacrifice on our part, we will not be able to help another in any significant way.
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, Nepal, 24th January 2022
Today a Chinese nun came to see for advice about where to go for the dharma. She said since it seems like she doesn’t have the opportunity to stay here in the retreat centre, where could she go to get good opportunities for the dharma. I was stumped, I didn’t know what to say. The […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 25th January 2022
If you are going to approach a lama with a request for teachings, it is best to approach them with humility and conduct yourself humbly. That is if you think that the lama has the mentality of a real practitioner and you truly wish to be taken on as a student. I wouldn’t advise approaching […]
