Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, Spring 2022
From what I have seen, most Western Buddhists are not so concerned about the buddhadharma. You have no real thought of learning the full breadth of the teachings in order to master them. Yes, to master them for your own development, but also in order to preserve the continuity of the teachings for future generations. […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, Spring 2022
When I see the students I’ve guided leave retreat and then make no effort to pursue the dharma, it becomes clear that I haven’t helped them at all. It pains my heart when I see that. The fact that some of them stop practising and receiving dharma teachings shows that after teaching them daily for […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 15 May 2022
If you are serious about the dharma, try to let go of what you are attached to and try to accept what you find difficult to accept. At the very least try to question your likes and dislikes. This alone will open up a new path for you and you will be able to make […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, May 2022
Many people are very fond of doing voluntary work in the dharma centres and at dharma events {Rinpoche was addressing a predominantly Chinese audience}. But you should remember that the most important thing when relying on your Lama is to learn the dharma. Sacrificing the opportunity to attend a dharma teaching to do volunteer work […]
This depicts Dromtonpa Gyalway Jungne while he was studying with Setsun Lama from Kham. As his eyes read a text, his hands mill barley flour, his feet soften a leather hide and he churns milk on his back. It demonstrates the unbelievable diligence with which he pursued his studies and served the lama. འདི་ནི་འབྲོམ་སྟོན་པ་རྒྱལ་བའི་འབྱུང་གནས་ཁམས་ཀྱི་བླ་མ་སེ་བཙུན་གྱི་སྐུ་མདུན་ནས་སློབ་གཉེར་གནང་སྐབས་ཀྱི་འདྲ་རིས་སྟེ། ཕྱག་གིས་རྩམ་པ་འཐག་པ་དང་། […]
Mind Training teaching with HuaYue Foundation, Taiwan, 2015
We think that by practising the dharma we will only improve, but over the years I’ve seen many people, if not the majority of people, deteriorate as they spend more time in the dharma. The first year when people enter the dharma they are very enthusiastic, even though they do not know very much about […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, November 2022
A reply to a student’s request for advanced meditation instruction. I sincerely wish for you to know Mahamudra. Perhaps I feel a greater sense of urgency about it than even you do yourself. You may wonder why I teach meditation when I travel abroad, but not to you here in the retreat centre. Well, truth […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat, Nepal, 24th January 2022
Today a Chinese nun came to see for advice about where to go for the dharma. She said since it seems like she doesn’t have the opportunity to stay here in the retreat centre, where could she go to get good opportunities for the dharma. I was stumped, I didn’t know what to say. The […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, June 2021
The teachings of the Buddha relate to our everyday experience, the way we perceive life. This is true across the board, from the most basic teachings to teachings on the ultimate view. So of course this is true in our practice of the dharma too. Our practice must relate to what we see, hear and […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, 5th December 2021
We shouldn’t bother wishing to be like the rich and famous. We probably have no idea of the trouble, anxiety and feelings of dissatisfaction that plague them. We should instead look up to and aspire to be like those who have control over their minds. When I was in Namo Buddha just now, I was […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, October 2021
Here’s are some good questions you can ask yourself occasionally: What if everyone were like me? What would happen to my community if everyone had the same degree of care and concern for others as me? What would happen to the community if everyone offered the same amount of service as me? What would happen […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, October 2021
A young child is happy to play with other children for a while but its heart lies with its mother. It is happy as long as its mother is in sight. Likewise, us modern day Buddhists are happy to play with the dharma for a while but our hearts lie with the world. We will […]
Whatever we are attached to becomes our boss. Our desires enslave us.
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, August 2021
Yesterday Olga requested some practice instructions. She said she gave up everything in order to come here and rely on me – her career, her status, her financial security and so on. So what I’ll say in reply is, ok, you gave up these things to come and train under my guidance, now on top […]
Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre, Nepal, Summer 2021
Our normal way of being will show us how our practice is going, not how long we can sit on the cushion.
