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 […]
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 […]
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.
Having our faults pointed out is receiving the Dharma, Seeing our faults is understanding the Dharma, Eradicating our faults is practising the Dharma.
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 […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 14 March 2018
The true study of Buddhism is a quest to establish the truth; to ascertain the basic reality of things. When that happens for someone, their intelligence and understanding blossom; they become clear about the whys and wherefores of life. This intelligence and insight permeates and transforms their whole perspective and behaviour.
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 […]
