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 […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Center, Nepal, 27 December 2016
This day, today, is of inconceivable importance for all of our myriad future lives. Why? Because what we do today has the potential to bring benefit or harm to those countless future lives. Suppose that today, through your practice, you reduce or dent your afflictions just a little bit, or gain a tiny nugget of […]
Most of the time, we don’t know what is really important. To give an example: if we were attending a puja and the substances were being distributed, but we didn’t get any, we would immediately make a fuss and say, ‘Excuse me, I didn’t get any.’ In truth it makes no real difference if we […]
The texts do teach about objectless or non-referential meditation, and having the mind naturally settled, but this meditation is taught only for those who are advanced, who have high levels of meditation. We are simply not able to do that yet because we are not clear about the mind, and that being the case, we […]
From childhood until now, how have we been working? Our motivation and aim has been to block suffering, and gain happiness and pleasure. This has been our main driving force, and we have been working continuously on that basis. Yet still, we haven't managed to gain the happiness we seek, and neither have we been […]
“Your mother is my sister. My sister is someone else’s daughter. She is Tony’s sweetest love, and Sam’s bitter enemy.” She is one object, experienced in various ways. What makes for these very different perceptions of this one person? People’s minds. The mind is what determines our experience. Furthermore, this truth also tells us that […]
What approach is needed for practicing the Dharma? Firstly, we should not see the Dharma as merely a hobby, a pastime, or a matter of simply accumulating a certain number of repetitions of something. Instead, what we really need to think is, ‘I’m not going to waste this life, I’m going to use it to […]
A dharma practitioner would see retreat as being essential, because they know it as being a conducive environment where there are fewer triggers for desire and anger. For beginners, it’s impossible for practice to go well with many disturbances, thus retreat is essential. Does that mean that everyone who stays in retreat will gain understanding […]
Why are we taught to give up concern for this life in Buddhism? Because in giving up concern for this life, our mind naturally easies, becomes balanced, and just as it should be. Now all we do is for the sake of this life, we are constantly reaching out for happiness and pleasure, and trying […]
Before we start to meditate, we first need to look at our motivation, or the way we are thinking. We shouldn’t be looking to feel good, peaceful and happy; we shouldn't be thinking about these at all. If we are, then right from the start, our very first thoughts regarding what we are about to […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, December 2016
What is it to study the Dharma? It is not about reading books, memorising the words, and bringing them to mind. The very purpose of the Dharma is to change and transform the mind. It is very important that we relate to the Dharma in this way; instead of thinking that it is something in […]
Thrangu Vajrayana Buddhist Centre, Hong Kong. 20 November 2016
A big misunderstanding that many of us have is that we think daily life and practice are separate. For us, practice means to put aside all activities and sit with straight backs, reciting mantras or meditating; as if there is something called practice that is separate from everything else we do. For people who […]
