HwaYue Foundation, Taiwan, 21 October 2017
Once you have examined a lama in whom you have faith and decided to put yourself in their hands, then from that point on don’t worry too much about what Dharma they’re teaching. If the lama you rely on is good, then whatever they teach will be directed at remedying your faults and wrong ways […]
Kagyu Samye Ling Zimbabwe, 11 September 2017
When it comes to meditation we should keep things simple right from the start. We shouldn’t have too many ideas within, nor too much clutter and stuff we think we need without. If we don’t keep things simple, we might find ourselves in a situation where we want to meditate but, lacking some ‘vital’ item, […]
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 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 […]
