When we are to make prayers or aspirations, we shouldn’t pray for short-term worldly gains such as happiness, good health and success in career; nor should we focus solely on the advancement of our own people or lineage. One of the best aspirations we can make is to give rise to the mind of awakening, […]
We tend to think that Chinese Buddhists are totally different from Tibetan Buddhists and that they, in turn, are also totally different from Theravadin Buddhists. This is not a good way of thinking. Similarly, among Tibetan Buddhists, there are Gelugpas, Sakyapas, Nyingmapas, and Kagyupas, and these, too, are seen as separate. This way of relating […]
Don’t think about yourself. Think about others and help as best you can.
When you have an authentic Lama there is no need to bring in or add the Dharma as something extra, because the Lama’s own way of thinking is the Dharma. To think that the Dharma we want to learn is separate from the Lama – that the Lama is teaching us the Dharma, and we […]
The more positive thoughts you have about what you encounter, the happier you will be. The more negative thoughts you have about what you encounter, the more miserable you will be. From the normal worldly perspective, we can say that those who are happy in life are wise and intelligent because they are able to […]
Nobody drags or pulls us down to the lower realms of misery. We make that happen ourselves by our own actions. Likewise, nobody lifts or propels us up to the higher realms or to liberation and enlightenment. We achieve these states through our own endeavours. As the Buddha taught: “Oneself is one’s own protector. Oneself […]
It is embarrassing for a so-called dharma practitioner to be proud or arrogant… It's like being caught naked in public. 26th July, 2024, Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal
When we pray to our lamas, the thought is not that the lama is someone in a high position of power, while we are so lowly. That would be a very worldly and mundane way of thinking. Instead, we pray to the lama’s qualities of faith, renunciation, compassion and their realisation, with the aspiration to […]
When reading stories of the past lamas receiving instructions from their lamas, we might imagine these instructions to be something particularly deep or special, like unique visualisations or meditation techniques that we haven’t heard before. Most of the time, however, it is not like that. So, how does it work? Our lama is someone who […]
If things go well, the longer you spend in the dharma the more your perceptions come to align with reality, the less selfish and the easier to get on with you become. It shouldn’t happen that your perspective and reality remain at odds, that you are only concerned with yourself and become more difficult to […]
In the time of the Buddha, serious Buddhist practitioners, those who went forth from home life into homelessness, embraced a life of poverty. The monks, for instance, would not store food or keep anything that was not essential. Not giving importance to wealth and comfort etc., is the Buddhist way. One doesn’t live like this […]
Many people expect to understand Buddhism or transform themselves easily – through a short spell of intensive practice, etc. But that is unlikely. We have been wandering in samsara since beginningless time, concretising strong habits for continuous wandering. Thus, it is extremely difficult to eliminate these habits in a short time. We can’t let this […]
When we plant trees and flowers, they grow well and flourish when the soil is somewhat loose. They find it difficult to grow when the soil is compacted and solid. Similarly, when our minds are tight and rigid, we will encounter many troubles. If our minds are open and accommodating to any situation, however, excellent […]
The first step in the preliminary practices is to contemplate the difficulty of finding a precious human birth. This contemplation reveals that not just anyone can practise the dharma – one has to be free from the relevant obstacles and be endowed with the right conducive circumstances. So we reflect on what is taught regarding […]
The practice of Dharma is just like learning a new language. If you study a language for one month but then leave it for a long time, your initial effort will be fruitless. Similarly, the practice of Dharma should be regular and continuous. If you go for long spells without practising or do so irregularly, […]
