Teachings in Namo Buddha

Drupon Khen Rinpoche resumed the community teachings he had been regularly offering in Thrangu Monastery in Namo Buddha before the pandemic.

This was initiated at the behest of Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche in 2017, who thought the monks in the shedra (Buddhist college) would benefit from Drupon Khen Rinpoche’s advice and teachings. Besides the monks in the shedra, the shedra khenpos, lamas, the administrators, etc., of Namo Buddha monastery also attend the teachings.

Rinpoche gives four teachings a month. Twice a month, he concludes a day of teaching at 18.00 at Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre in Bhaktapur and then makes the hour-long journey to Namo Buddha, where he proceeds straight to the shrine room to teach from 19.30 to 21.00. The following morning, he teaches again from 05.30 to 07.00, after which he returns to Thrangu Sekhar.

The teachings are based on Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche’s Heart-Nectar of Advice.
Some of the main points Rinpoche has been emphasising in the teachings are:
– the importance of learning and being exposed to the dharma from a young age
– the bad habit of always looking for handouts and why we shouldn’t take more than is absolutely necessary from sponsors
– the necessity of ring-fencing time for our most essential activities, study and practice
– that monks and nuns should value renunciation, the mind of awakening and the view of emptiness above all else
– the need for monks and nuns to do more meditation and to have modern-day role models to look up to in this regard