The Eighth Adeu Rinpoche was one my (Tsoknyi Rinpoche III) root gurus; he passed away at Tsechu, his monastery in Nangchen, Tibet, in July, 2007. Adeu Rinpoche was renowned  (read the rest of this entry)

Rinpoche regrettfully reports that one of the Tsoknyi Lineage Nuns in Yushu died in the recent earthquake, and 14 members of the Nuns’ families were seriously affected by the earthquake, resulting in death, injury, and homelessness. To learn more about the earthquake and how to help, please visit www.tibetanvillageproject.org

The Tsoknyi Lineage Nuns of Gebchak Gonpa

The Tsoknyi Lineage Nuns of Gebchak Gonpa welcome Rinpoche to Tsechu Gonpa

“While I was in Tsechu Gonpa for the announcment of the Adeu Rinpoche Yangsi, a group of 16 senior Tsoknyi nuns from Gebchak Gonpa in Nangchen came to see me (Tsoknyi Rinpoche) to ask for my help. Their gonpa’s main shrine hall is falling down (click here for rest of entry)

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To enhance your Dharma practice, Tsoknyi Rinpoche has requested that a series of short papers based on his retreat teachings and an accompanying glossary be published on the Pundarika website. This is the second paper in that series of teachings, and a glossary will follow shortly. This newly revised Teachings Section also contains a library of previously published materials and chants. More invaluable short papers by Rinpoche on various teachings will be forthcoming, so please check back from time to time.

II. TAKING EMOTIONS AS THE PATH

by Tsoknyi Rinpoche III

The Vajrayana says not to reject the kleshas, the negative emotions, but to take them as the path. This can be quite challenging to most people because emotions often govern our body, speech, and mind. So in order to take emotions as the path, we need to take a step back to take a look at emotions.

Where do these emotions come from? The most obvious are the karmic habitual patterns stored in our alaya. We know our own emotional inclinations, these kleshas very well, don’t we? They often seem to be running the show! But sometimes they are confusing; they seem to pop out of the alaya according to very subtle causes and conditions of which we are unaware, not from traceable situations. Other emotions, particularly pure emotions, are not necessarily created by the mind. When these emotions come, they inform the mind and create moods that color everything. Some emotions are simply patterned into the physical system. So when the physical system is triggered, those emotions come up in the mind. For example preliminary practice, ngöndro, is a time when a lot of emotions can be triggered due to the physical activity. Some people cope well with it, but some cannot take it, so preliminary practice can be a very emotionally challenging time.

However, it’s not only special practice situations that produce strong emotions in the body’s chemistry. One that most people experience is fear. There are two kinds of fear. The first is a healthy fear, like when you are walking and suddenly feel yourself tripping. Fear arises instantly as a bad taste in your mouth; you can taste the chemistry of fear. Until you become a rainbow body you need that fear. That fear is part of our relative-truth wisdom. If you see a car coming straight at you, you need to do something with your intelligence and clarity. Is jumping to the side best? But which side? Is rolling out of the way better? Or is it best to stand still and wave your arms, so the car can see you and go around you? At that moment you have to choose to do something to protect your physical body. When you’re a rainbow body, then you can think, “Oh yeah, this body is transparent, it cannot be harmed, so it’s not an obstruction.” Until then, you need this fear because it will lead to life-saving action.

The other fear is an unhealthy fear, a deluded fear that feels like a constant buzz in our body and mind. This is the fear you need to take care of. With such strong emotions like deluded, solidified fear I suggest you start by developing an attitude towards it that views it neither as an enemy to be abandoned, nor as something with which to identify. Once this attitude is established, bring the emotion into focus. Emotions like fear are misperceptions by the ego and result in mental grasping. Because there is grasping, a good aikido-welcome works well with it. An aikido-welcome releases mental/emotional grasping just like it does physically. You begin by saying, ”Oh hello fear, I see you’re here, but that’s okay because there’s room for you.” Then, as you relax the subtle body the fear itself relaxes a bit. At this point, like in aikido, you can move the energy of fear more easily in the same direction you are going because the ego’s fear-story is no longer in charge of the energy. By applying this method you are beginning to take emotion as the path. What is the key to doing this? It is removing the ego’s attachment to the fear story.

This is how you can approach anger as well. There are two kinds of anger. One comes from believing you are right. It is a pure anger, not really sticky. With it comes a lot of clarity and, for the practitioner, the possibility of mirror-like wisdom, the dissolving of anger and ego in rigpa.

But there is another kind of anger that comes when you feel you have been wrong, made mistakes or avoiding feeling of self-blame…“I’m not wrong!” This sort of anger is more difficult to deal with because it has a lot of delusion connected to it and is not so clear. It is stickier than the pure anger. This is the anger you need to take care of. It can be very powerful, heating up the physical body, tightening the subtle body, and narrowing the conceptual mind’s focus to just the object seen as threatening and the source of anger. When this anger arises, it’s ordinarily experienced as something solid and is filled with ego because within the emotions are the five poisons. Within all of the five poisons, there is one predominant element, the ego that clings to experiences and to its own survival. You have to abandon this ego, no matter what. Remove ego and the five poisons become transformed to the five wisdoms.

Actually, ego is happy when you notice it and challenge it. It likes the focus; it likes the attention. It’s used to being the center of your universe and a challenge makes it feel so important, and, if it is invested in being a practitioner, so spiritual, so holy. This is why first welcoming emotion and then turning away is quite upsetting to ego. The aikido-like moves transform the energy that supports the ego’s story and centrality in your life.  When the energy is transformed, ego doesn’t know what to do. When the ego doesn’t know what to do, it freaks out and that is the time to recognize rigpa, if you can. But sometimes it’s difficult to recognizing rigpa when the kleshas are strong, so this aikido-like method works well even if you cannot rest in rigpa. In fact, when any obstacle comes, any emotion comes, the aikido method works best. But first you must welcome it. Do not confront, just welcome. But don’t hang out too long with it. If you do, you are likely to merge with the emotion and that is quite different then doing the aikido moves. Technically you may understand this, but whether you can do it or not depends on your skill in practicing this way. So practice the skill of  “mental aikido” because it is very useful.

So what else can you do with self-blaming anger? It has both emotional and mental aspects that need to be dealt with, but before doing either of those, it’s best to take care of the emotion in your physical body. Generally I don’t recommend that Westerners do Tibetan Buddhist body practices. Your complex life produces subtle restlessness (lung), an emotional problem we don’t commonly see in traditional Tibet society. In Tibet they assume you don’t have a problem with restlessness and teach a lot of jumping, a lot of breathing. Sometimes it’s too much for Westerners and you might get more restlessness. Instead, I think westerners should go more in the direction of yoga, tai ji or qigong.

However, there are some meditative practices in the Tibetan system that can be very helpful. In the Tibetan system we understand that there is a subtle body made of tsa, lung and tigle. The Tibetan word tsa is called nadi in Sanskrit and translates as channels in English. The Tibetan word lung is prana in Sanskrit and translates as energies or winds in English. Tigle is bindu in Sanskrit or seeds of energy in English. Within the subtle body there are different levels of subtlety. The channels are the most gross, the energies are subtler, and finally the seeds of energy are quite subtle. So meditation practices involving exercises for tsa, lung, tigle are a way of working with the subtle body and are used when taking emotions as the path. But you need to know the right way to do these exercises otherwise they will not function correctly. Because of the lung problem, you need to take your time, scan your body and loosen up the energetic knots. Over the years, knots of restlessness have developed and underneath the restlessness is ego. But ego does not like to let go, so it takes a few months, a few years perhaps, to really let go. So before you try to practice Tibetan tsa-lung exercises, I think it’s good to practice jam-lung, subtle vase breathing. Anything harsh does not work for the western body, but a very long time of gentle nurturing opens it up and the subtle body begins to rejuvenate.

Once the subtle body begins to rejuvenate you can bring in mental understanding, the second aspect generally needed to work with strong emotions. A good practice for this is The Four Applications of Mindfulness. They begin to break down the ego clinging that makes self-blaming anger so powerful. Breaking down the ego clinging makes it possible to reconnect with the spark of love that lives within all of us. This spark, this basic love has surely been obscured if there is self-hatred. Basic love has been replaced by a very critical ego. Generally, you’ll find that your expectations for your life have been set so high that you are bound to be disappointed with yourself. But once you feel the spark of basic love again, really feel it, it’s possible to adjust your expectations for your life. Only then can well being infuse your heart. If you don’t do this, you’ll continue to suffer greatly from self-blaming anger. However, if you begin to receive the nurturing of basic love, your mind becomes more stable, and it’s not as hard take the medicine of rigpa.

Using rigpa medicine can bring a klesha to an extreme and at its peak realize its emptiness. However, rigpa medicine also works well without letting the emotion build.  If you can, go directly to the view of rigpa, seeing the empty, spacious nature of the emotion, without rejecting, avoiding or having to transform it. Within rigpa, the anger ceases to be solid. By realizing emptiness and resting in rigpa, the already weakened ego-clinging dissolves. With no self to be hit by the emotion, there is no need to reject the anger or react to it. The counterpart of anger is mirror-like wisdom and this will come as you experience the pure energy of anger. When there is the experience of anger’s pure energy, it enhances clarity of mind. That enhancement of the clarity stays as rigpa clarity. And that is the quality of mirror-like wisdom that sees everything.

But these methods are quite difficult to do because they require strong, stable rigpa and this takes some time to establish. So that is why I recommend beginning with the wisdom of the aikido-like method. However, no matter which combination of practices you use to let go of the anger story, you need to know that anger leaves some sensation in the body and you might think anger is still there. Don’t be confused by this, because actually the anger is gone. As long as the ego is not grasping, the feeling will no longer produce any karmic pattern. It’s just an uncomfortable feeling that can distract you if you don’t see it as just a little bit of physical discomfort. Don’t hook back into it. It takes some time to cool down, but the emotional part of anger is gone as soon as you let go of the ego grasping. Only the energy is left, and that is what the body is feeling.

It is incomplete to look at emotions as the path for western Vajrayana practitioners without considering depression. For many, many Westerners depression is a life-long emotional struggle, with much suffering, and I think it’s connected with tigle (bindu), the seeds of energy. When I discuss depression with people, they say the experience is one of no light in their life; their thoughts and bodies feel heavy and hollow; there’s no enthusiasm, and their sexual desire has gone down (although they may not behave this way). Everything is gray or even black and they are easily scared (again, they may not behave this way). They feel flat and there’s no “juice.” Anything connected with bliss is gone.

This is very close to the description of what happens in our constitution when the energies are blocked and the tigle cannot move freely throughout the body. The tigle are stuck in one place and start to diminish. When they diminish or dry up, minds start to feel a sense of depression. When not dried up and the subtle body is in balance, tigle function as the basis for love, happiness, compassion, and bodhicitta. Usually the mind rides on these energies, but when the energies become too speedy, our minds fill with worry and anxiety. Speed itself can go in a positive way or a negative way, but when it drives our minds in a negative way our whole system feels the impact. When this energy comes into the heart, people can become quite depressed and hopeless. I call this “chicken-hearted,” and it’s another form of depression. No matter what the specific formative circumstances, people with depression are easily overwhelmed by stimulation and just want to pull the covers over their head. Without the courage or guts to engage in life, they become ruled by fear and aversion and either take no risks or are covering it up with bravado.

From the practice perspective, the tigle need to be revived. In the beginning, it’s difficult to address the tigle directly, so we start by working with our minds, which are usually full of thoughts of all kinds. Having a lot of thoughts also can dry up the strength of the tigle. Therefore we train our minds to calm down, relax and remain still through the practice of samadhi. If you can do this, it automatically rejuvenates the tigle, bringing back the experience of well-being. You can also apply the Four Applications of Mindfulness as we saw with anger. They too will stimulate a sense of well-being. Another important method you can apply to depression is intellectual conviction. Although you feel lousy, your conceptual belief can be quite strong. You trust the Dharma, the blessings of your teacher, and the lineage teachers. Based on this trust, you should supplicate the teachers and receive their spiritual influence. These blessings impact your subtle body and you start to experience well-being again. All of these methods can be used to jump start the tigle.

Once the tigle begin to move again, your desire and enthusiasm begin to come back. Then it helps to “feed” the tigle with things that nurture well-being, like stable, emotionally healthy relationships, good food, beauty, music, and the juicy practices like devotion, which bring bliss and joy. But of course you have to take care. You have to take care of your energy. You have to use it the right way. When desire and enthusiasm come, don’t exhaust yourself expending it in the next moment. But eventually enthusiasm, bravery, openness, juiciness, compassion, love, and bliss–many things come together.

From the Vajrayana point of view, emotions are fine. But if you use them wrongly, these emotions can be harmful. The key to the Vajrayana approach is remembering that your emotions are your emotions, whether you are skillfully managing them or not. They are your production. They are all empty in nature. Because of this, all emotion in Vajrayana is welcomed as method. But in Vajrayana practice, any emotional feeling can be mistakenly indulged if there is not sufficient wisdom and stable rigpa. Then it becomes just craziness or harmful behavior. This is important, so make sure your practice is a balance of wisdom and method. You need to know how to welcome emotions. It doesn’t mean you follow them all the way. Opening the door to them completely is the samsaric way of welcoming, not the Vajrayana. If you follow any emotion completely, it does not lead to freedom.

However, once you have a stable rigpa practice, you can let go of all methods because recognizing the view is the best way of dealing with emotions. Just recognize rigpa, realize emptiness. That’s all. When any emotion comes, just re-recognize rigpa, realize emptiness. The emotions will naturally become purified. With stable rigpa, emotions can be purified through liberation, using self-liberation, liberation upon arising or liberation without benefit or harm. But if there’s still some lingering negative emotion, although rigpa is totally stable, it is fine to say: “Oh, hello, I am sorry, I didn’t know you were still here.” Make a “handshake” with what is hanging around, engage with it so the emotion doesn’t feel left out. You can include the emotion with an “Oh honey.” Just say “honey” like a sweet mantra. It doesn’t mean much because you are no longer trapped by the ego’s attachment to emotion, but the ego will be happy…and then you can continue to practice!

I. FOUR THOUGHTS THAT CHANGE THE MIND

(Please use glossary at end of article)

by Tsoknyi Rinpoche III

I want to speak about The Four Thoughts That Change the Mind, but I think many of you will chant the Western mantra, “I know, I know.” I’ve heard the “I know” mantra chanted 100 times in a single conversation. Really! I think it means, “I’ve got it, so don’t make me listen to it again…” You’re all really smart, but in the case of the Dharma, repeating a teaching is not just for your conceptual mind. Once your conceptual brain understands, you think you understand. But that kind of understanding is not enough because repetition is for your mind’s emotional understanding. In order to feel the teachings deep down, the Dharma needs to take root in the alaya, your unconscious mind. Only then can the Dharma grow from the inside out and be true nourishment for how you live. I think this takes a lot of repetition. That’s why you need to hear the teachings 100,000 times or more, even a million, a billion times. Then the preciousness of a teaching will stay with you. It’s the same as conceptually understanding the View and then meditating on it. It takes many, many, many years until it becomes part of you. First you contemplate and then you rest in the View. The same thing is true of The Four Thoughts That Change the Mind. So please listen…again.

This Precious Human Birth

Contemplate the importance and opportunity of having a precious human birth. We are very fortunate to be born as human beings and to encounter the Dharma. This human existence is invaluable, for we are endowed with the freedom and conditions necessary for practicing Dharma and cultivating our spiritual development.

I think when you read about the preciousness of a human birth one or two times, you’ll know the concept intellectually. But to feel that having this human life is precious, that is something else. Do you feel it? Most of time, no. Each morning when you wake up, do you feel how precious it is to have this birth? Maybe. But most of time, no. And before you fall asleep, do you feel, “Wow, I’m so lucky I have a nice bed, a warm blanket?” Maybe. But most of time, no. More often you feel the opposite about your life and yourself. You say, “I want more, I want things to be different, better.” Or…“I’m bad, worthless…I’ve been abandoned…I’m unlovable.” Generally this is because you’re caught by the ego, which is never ever satisfied. It always needs something, wants something because it’s hollow. It’s like a hungry ghost that is never ever fulfilled. So many, many people stay caught there.

But honestly, I think your life is really very good. That’s what you need to consider about your precious human birth. Think about how much freedom you have because of this human birth, how good this circumstance is for the learning the Dharma. You have food, warmth, safety, and you have teachers. So I think every session of meditation you need to purposely reflect on this because Buddhist training is based on thinking and then resting the mind. You need to influence your emotional understanding about the preciousness of your human birth, and that influence comes through conscious, repetitive mind training. You just have to think about it again and again until you feel it in your whole system, until everything inside your body agrees that “I know I have a precious human birth. How important this opportunity is!” Once you have conviction about the preciousness of human existence, you’ll want to use all the time you have in this life as best as you can. As the master Longchen Rabjam said, “We now have the independence to genuinely apply the sacred Dharma, so do not squander your life on pointless things.”

Impermanence and Mortality

Because of ignorance and misperception, we become attached to permanence and solidity. We habitually deny the fact of our mortality, acting as if we will live forever. This misperception of reality only brings more confusion, stress, dissatisfaction, and suffering. However, when we face the inevitability of our death, then we start to wonder what to do about it and how to deal with the uncertainty of life.

When thinking about impermanence, the mind goes straight to negative experiences of impermanence, and you immediately want to make your life better in the time you have. Many of you say that you need to reduce fear of death so you can enjoy life more. You say to me, “I understand impermanence and death. They are some of the elements of life I’m not so happy about. But I don’t want to think about them, really. They’re scary, so I’m going to accept them without investigating them. That way I won’t be scared and can enjoy this life more before it ends.” But for authentic Dharma that is not the point, really.  Until the Dharma seeds have taken root, fear of death is useful. You need this fear as motivation to learn about death and the bardos because you’re shaping your future life right now. When you appreciate this, you will take karma and practice more seriously.

You say to me that you feel the meaninglessness of this life and so you practice Dharma and compassion to bring meaning to this life. I say that is still not good enough. It’s 50% OK, but not 100%. You are still trying to make this life perfect…this life, this life, this life. Still, it’s OK. Understanding Dharma this way will make this life juicier, so it’s OK. But this is what I call “healthy human being Dharma.” I think that so far in the West 90% of Dharma is devoted to this life, to making this life happier. Becoming a healthy human being is a very good place to start, but it could become a trap. If it were your main purpose for practice, I would call you a “California Dharma Practitioner” because there is so much interest in self-improvement in California. Such a practitioner uses Dharma to make life more pleasant and emotionally comfortable. But there is no reduction of attachment, no reduction of anger, no reduction of jealousy, no reduction of pride, no reduction of ignorance. No reduction of ego, really. In fact, you are simply making ego feel more “spiritual.” Whenever ego suffers from fear of death and your practice turns to seeing impermanence, ego settles down. This actually makes ego more comfortable, more established. The symptoms of the five poisons subside, but Dharma didn’t go to the root. It didn’t purify the five poisons and uproot the dominance of ego. But in this contemplation, we’re talking about going beyond ego, not making it stronger. Dharma is about transcending samsara, not making it a nicer place to be. That is the tough part. Very, very tough, I think.

The actual wording in Tibetan for the Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind is “Turning the Mind from Samsara.” With practice you’re reversing the mind’s interest in perfecting this life by turning it away from samsara. Sometimes in the West, practicing with this contemplation on impermanence and death leads only to improving the quality of this life, but not to motivating you to attain liberation.

So what we are talking about is change. Changing the mind, turning it away from its strong attachment to this life. I’m not saying you should live a life of suffering, but live life by thinking this way: “If I need some medicine and it helps, I will take it. If yoga or tai ji helps, I will do it. If Dzogchen or Mahamudra or Theravada helps, I will practice it. If music or dancing helps, I will make music, dance and sing. If something helps my life, that is good, but I’m not doing any of this to make this life 100% happy.”

Karma and its Consequences

It is wise for us to contemplate that the quality of our life is fully determined by the quality of our behavior. Our thoughts, feelings, speech, and actions, virtuous and nonvirtuous, create the intricate patterns of our life experience. We ourselves create the causes for our own happiness or our own suffering. When we understand the unwholesome, nonvirtuous actions that cause suffering, we can eliminate those causes. When we understand the wholesome, virtuous actions, which bring happiness and benefit to ourselves and others, we can cultivate those causes. We must begin by acknowledging that our situation in life is the result of our own actions.

So let’s focus on karma, the natural, unequivocal relationship between cause and effect. There cannot be any mistake about this; it is one of the defining characteristics of the Buddha’s teachings. The traditional example is that if you plant rice, you will never obtain wheat or corn from that grain of rice because there is continuity from seed to plant. Yet, even though we start with a certain cause, different conditions come into play and the fruition of that cause might change. Because it’s possible to introduce different causes and conditions, we can change the fruition, we can change the result. But even this is not permanent. How do you know it’s not permanent? You use logic to see it. If karma is dependent on causes and conditions, then it has no intrinsic existence. If it were not dependent, everything in the world would be fixed in the first instant and nothing would ever change. The same is true of kleshas. They, too, are dependent and so have no intrinsic existence. They’re the fruition of causes and conditions coming together.

On his enlightenment, Buddha identified suffering as the nature of our experience. But then he identified the cause of suffering. He saw the origin of suffering is karma and the afflictive emotions. But the cause of suffering is itself impermanent; it actually has no true and permanent existence. The Buddha also saw the interdependent nature of everything, so any particular cause is the result of previous impermanent causes and itself is now an impermanent cause. If it were real or solid, it would be outside dependant existence, and we could never change or eliminate it. But we can bring about change. Change occurs by creating new conditions, and we can change conditions. Causes and conditions are the elements that produce karma and also produce change.

So the conditions that we create are the Path, and the main objective of the path is to eliminate the cause of suffering. You really can delete past karma! But the force of the conditions that change the course of events must be strong to do this.

The Shortcomings of Samsara

A very large obstacle to success on the path of liberation is our attachment to samsara, to the worldly life. Because we are all so strongly attached to this material world, we need to examine with great care whether worldly activities will benefit us in the long run or not. For example, most of us desire possessions, pleasure, comfort, and we also want love and acceptance from others. We work hard to obtain these things, going through much discomfort and even suffering to get them. Ultimately, we will find that clinging to this world as the source of our safety, happiness, and satisfaction is fruitless and futile.

Given all that has been considered in the first three contemplations, this fourth one makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? But for this contemplation to be of real benefit, there needs to be more then intellectual acceptance of samsara’s shortcomings. There needs to be some basic change in your attitude about samsara. To bring about such a change in attitude you need something strong, you need to work with your own mind because your own mind is the root of both samsara and nirvana. The mind has produced your ego, and it’s your ego that’s attached to samsara. Although there really is no “I,” beings still cling to an “I.” Although there’s no ego or intrinsic identity, human beings still cling to the notion that their identity is intrinsic. It’s this clinging that forms the afflictions, the five poisons, and the poisons are what make all beings wander in samsara. Considering this, we can begin to arouse genuine compassion for all beings, including ourselves.

One way to do this is to practice bodhicitta, the aspiration to attain complete enlightenment in order to be of benefit to all sentient beings trapped in samsara. Bodhicitta begins with the practice of compassion.

This contemplation offers you an opportunity to feel how good it would be if all of us were free from the poisons, the afflictions. Bringing your mind to this can open your heart to genuine generosity and the other paramitas. You need to train your mind to keep coming back to bodhicitta by thinking, “Through these practices may I be able to free all beings from their suffering. If I cannot do it right now, may I have the conviction to do it in the future. It may not happen now or next year. It may take fifteen years, or 30 or 40…or the next lifetime, or the next or the next. No matter how long it takes, I want to have strong conviction that one day I will free all beings from suffering.” Never giving up on bodhicitta gives you the fortitude and the strength of mind to carry on in this lifetime.

If we cannot experience this compassion naturally, then we have to apply methods for it to happen. In the beginning it may be artificial and awkward, but we still have to do it. Many Buddhist practices are like this. By fabricating our intentions and actions again and again, at some point they become natural. Everything we become accustomed to, everything we master is like this, isn’t it? It is quite ordinary to begin by fabrication and practice. That is how people learn new languages, to play an instrument, to master a sport, to perfect the art of cooking, even how to make offerings. It is all fabrication, isn’t it? Fabricating compassionate intentions and actions are no different. So we need to practice more then once, more then twice or 100 times. We need to practice bodhicitta 1,000 times, 10,000 times, 1 million times, 100 million times…as long as it takes.

The Kadampa teachers say that as soon as you wake up you should practice bodhicitta. In the morning you practice bodhicitta; at work you practice bodhicitta; while having lunch you practice bodhicitta; in the afternoon you practice bodhicitta; during dinner you practice bodhicitta; in the shower and brushing your teeth you practice bodhicitta; when going to sleep and during your dreams you practices bodhicitta. The next morning upon waking, you practice bodhicitta. All day and all night should be embraced by bodhicitta practice. Over time, it infuses your life.

However, you also need to remember that this mood of compassion has to be present without any attachment or grasping. It needs to be there, but without ownership. By recognizing the emptiness of non-ownership, what begins to arise is absolute bodhicitta (experienced and expressed without any distinction between subject [me] and object [receiver]). At that point compassion and emptiness are indivisibly united and are a natural expression of rigpa [the nature of mind]. Make sure you live the unity of emptiness and compassion, not just rely on the idea.

While remaining in rigpa, compassion can sometimes fade away. Just let it fade. Don’t have hope that it will come back. Maybe it won’t come back at all. But that’s nothing to worry about. When you worry, ego is involved. You need to establish the right attitude, an altruistic attitude in which ego isn’t involved. Then whatever you’re doing, you’re doing it to free your mind from the five poisons and to establish the intention to help other beings to bring them to liberation, no matter how long it may take.

It may happen that you can’t manage to do this in this lifetime. Is this ok with you? Or is it too bad? Really look into this and see what you actually think. Do you think you’re wasting time if it doesn’t come in this life? Or are you willing to practice this way, live this way, no matter how many lifetimes it may take?

Glossary 1.  The Four Thoughts That Change the Mind

1. Alaya (Tib. kun gzhi). The repository of all karmic imprints, which conditions our existences in samsara. Only when the alaya is totally depleted one is a fully enlightened being. In another context kun gzhi may imply the basic ground from which all phenomena emerge.

2. Attachment and grasping. Grasping, or fixation (‘dzin pa), is the function of ignorance and ego, establishing the basis for attachment and aversion—and all of the derivative afflictions associated with these— to arise. Fixation has many forms, such as dualistic fixation (gnyis ‘dzin), reifying fixation (bden ‘dzin), ego-fixation (bdag ‘zdin), fixation on characteristics (mtshan ‘dzin).

3. Bardos. The Tibetan word bardo means “in between.”  It refers to intermediate situations we experience through life and death. Generally four bardos are taught: birth and life, death, absolute reality and becoming. Included in the bardo of birth and life are the bardos of meditation and dream, thus extending the number of bardos to six. Teachings are given to utilize any of these bardos as a way to liberation.

4. Bodhichitta – relative and ultimate. In an ultimate level bodhichitta refers to the enlightened mind itself. In the relative level, which operates in the structure of conceptual mind, it indicates the motivation to attain enlightenment for the benefit of others, out of a sense of love and compassion. Relative bodhichitta has two aspects: aspiration and application. In aspiration bodhichitta one systematically develops the four boundless states of loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. With the resultant altruistic motivation, application bodhichitta entails effectively acting to benefit other beings through the six paramitas.

5. Compassion. An innate sublime quality of our Buddha nature. Although it is naturally present in every being, it must be developed if one’s aim is attainment of Buddhahood. Technically it is defined as the wish that all beings be free from suffering. However, compassion in the Buddhist context does not mean mere pity. It includes a sense of empathy to other beings out of the recognition that we are all the same in that we want to be happy and avoid suffering, a conviction that we all have a right to experience this and a resultant sense of responsibility to help all beings achieve these aims.

6. Dharma (Tib. Chos). The Sanskrit word dharma has 10 meanings, including path, teaching, phenomena. It also has a sense of protection.

7. Emptiness. The ultimate nature of all things. It indicates the absence (or emptiness) of intrinsic nature in the self and in phenomena. In terms of contemplative experience, emptiness is usually referred to as open space.

8. Five poisons and five wisdoms. The five poisons are the five main afflictions, or kleshas, present in a samsaric mind: ignorance, passion, aggression, pride and envy. Together with karma they constitute the origin of suffering. The fundamental affliction is ignorance, as it provides the dualistic basis for the other four to operate. In essence these are expressions of our innate wisdom energy distorted by the misconception of ignorance. Therefore, once ignorance is eliminated by the realization of the true nature of reality, these afflictions, freed from that element that was causing the distortion, arise as aspects of primordial wisdom: wisdom of dharmadhatu, discerning wisdom, mirror-like wisdom, wisdom of equality and all-accomplishing wisdom.

9. Hungry ghost. One of the six kinds of beings in samsara, afflicted constantly by hunger and thirst.

10. Ignorance. The root of all afflictions that binds a being to experience its existence as samsara, affected by suffering and conditioning, instead of experiencing innate Buddhahood and liberation. It basically has two forms: a) mere unknowing, in the sense of not knowing one’s nature, and b) having a misconception regarding it.

11. Karma. Literally it means “action.” However, since any action has a result, karma also implies the result. The moment the action is completed, an imprint is formed in the alaya in the manner of habitual pattern that conditions our existence. Unless the empty nature of reality is realized, karma will continue to condition not only the type of rebirth but also one’s perception.

12. Kleshas. See five poisons. From the five basic poisons, kleshas evolve to a total of 84,000.

13. Liberation. Liberation from samsara is achieved when the empty nature of reality is realized. Since at that point ignorance is destroyed, afflictive emotions collapse and one is freed from suffering. Once this is accomplished, the cognitive obscuration preventing the realization of omniscience must be removed in order to attain Buddhahood.

14. Nirvana. The state beyond suffering. It can refer to the state of peace gained by the realized beings of the Theravada tradition, or by the level of Buddhahood, in which case it is called “non-dwelling nirvana,” since a Buddha neither dwells in the state of peace nor in the samsaric level.

15. Paramitas. The six paramitas, or transcendent perfections, are: generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditation and knowledge. Only when the first five are guided by the transcendent knowledge of reality, the sixth one, they truly become transcendent. At some level of realization four more paramitas are added: method, strength, aspiration and wisdom, thus forming a total of ten paramitas.

16. Rigpa. An important term that indicates the nature of mind in the dzogchen teachings, implying non-conceptual, empty cognizance.

17. Social I. An aspect of ego that, in order to feel worthwhile, engages in productive activity for which it has received positive feedback; however, in order to maintain the positive self-reflection, it depends on constantly receiving positive feedback.

18. Solidity. Based on the two types of ignorance, the fixation to reify arises, leading to solidifying oneself as a solid “I” and the phenomenal world as concrete entities.

19. Samsara. The mind, afflicted by ignorance, dwells in a state of confusion regarding one’s true nature, which results in the experience of suffering and the conditioning of karma, death and rebirth. Driven by karma, one may be reborn in any of the six states of existence, circling helplessly from one to another in a succession that can only be interrupted by the elimination of ignorance.

From the foothills of the Himalayas, I send my best wishes to you for a happy and prosperous 2010.

As usual, I’ve been quite busy–partly with projects I have initiated and partly with fulfilling the vision and obligations set in motion by the First and Second Tsoknyi Rinpoches. It is my intention in this letter to discuss the projects in which I’ve been engaged primarily in Tibet and Nepal. I intend in the near future to share my thoughts about developments in the Americas and Europe.

To put projects in Tibet and Nepal into some historical context, I would like to remind you that over the past 1,000 years, the great masters in Tibet worked ceaselessly to preserve and promote the teachings of the Dharma, bringing the opportunity of enlightenment to generations of dedicated practitioners. The First Tsoknyi Rinpoche, while building and maintaining several monasteries in Eastern Tibet, placed special emphasis on ensuring that female practitioners were accorded the same opportunities as their male counterparts, rebuilding nunneries and retreat communities that had fallen into disrepair and establishing new ones. The Second Tsoknyi Rinpoche continued his efforts in that direction quite successfully until the Cultural Revolution swept through Tibet and all but obliterated the great centers of learning and training. Thousands died during that dark time, including the Second Tsoknyi Rinpoche, who was caught as he attempted to flee across the border to India. Those who escaped the purge went underground, practicing in secrecy and silence, in great fear for their lives, but unwavering dedication to the Dharma.

Fortunately, a great many masters–such as his Holiness The Dalai Lama, His Holiness The Karmapa, Khamtrul Rinpoche, and my own father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche–had managed to leave the country prior to the catastrophe. Together with many of their followers and members of the Tibetan community, they built new monasteries and practice centers in host countries like India and Nepal, and these institutions grew and flourished.

But for nearly 20 years, there was only silence in Tibet.

In the 1980s, however, the restrictions on practice put in place after the Cultural Revolution began to lift, and the teachers, monks, and nuns who had spent two decades in hiding began to emerge. Slowly, they began to rebuild monasteries and retreat communities, where they could practice openly and bring the Dharma to a new generation of Tibetans, hungry for spiritual guidance and nourishment. Gradually, monks and nuns were allowed to travel to India and Nepal for training at the centers established there, and in time many of the masters who had spent years in exile were permitted to return to Tibet and reestablish contact with those who had kept the words and teachings of the Buddha alive, and assist in the efforts of teaching and rebuilding.

However, during that 20-year interval, the monasteries built in the “borrowed lands” of India and Nepal had grown into established institutions, shining the light of the Dharma not only among the communities of exiles, but across the modern world. The masters who had founded these institutions, and the monks and nuns who had trained there, could not simply abandon them. Consequently, many teachers and lineage holders, including myself, find ourselves straddling two worlds, two commitments: continuing to expand our efforts in Nepal and India, and helping to reestablish and rekindle the Dharma in Tibet.

My mission, as someone trained in the centuries-old tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and teaching in the 21^st century, is to preserve, protect, promote, and provide access to the ancient wisdom of the East, while at the same time forming a bridge between Tibetan Buddhist teachings and the modern wisdom of the West.

I’d like to take some time to share with you a bit about the progress that has been made in recent projects I’ve been working on, both in Nepal and in Tibet.

In Nangchen, Eastern Tibet, I supervise 26 monastic institutions and retreat centers that were established by the previous incarnations of Tsoknyi Rinpoche. Some of these monasteries and centers were established for monks, but a larger number were established for the benefit of women who felt an overwhelming longing to commit to monastic life.

Some of you may be confused by the term “monastic.”  On the surface, it would seem that this term refers to monks; but the deeper meaning of the word points to those who have made a  vow to free those bound by the chains of ignorance of their essential nature, which is love and compassion toward all living beings. Some monastics have taken quite a number of vows, but the essence of all of them is the vow to serve, to help as many sentient beings as possible to realize that their happiness, their very survival, depends upon dedicating their lives to the welfare of all sentient beings–even those who hate and abuse them. So the term “monastic” refers equally to monks and nuns.

It is an honor and a privilege to carry on the commitments made by prior Tsoknyi Rinpoches. But I must say that I would not have been able to carry out my duties without the extraordinary courage of those who had been trained by my predecessors. They kept the tradition of teachings and practices alive in the face of overwhelming forces and the punishments of slavery, rape, and murder. Those of you who have seen the documentary film Blessings will see evidence of the harsh measures carried out against those caught up in the Cultural Revolution, the bravery of those who managed to maintain their commitments and keep the training alive in the face of seemingly impossible odds, and the relief of those of a new generation who are now able to receive the treasury of wisdom held by survivors. After a recent survey conducted by Pundarika U.S., there are approximately 2,000 monastics living in the newly rebuilt monasteries and retreat centers.

Although the residents of nunneries and other institutions have, in recent years, been granted permission to rebuild, the members of these 26 communities face formidable obstacles. Many of them go without meals for days at a time because land use regulations deprive them of the right to grow their own food. Water is in short supply; it must be carried in buckets from springs and streams that aren’t nearby. As a result, the women and men who are struggling to reestablish the Dharma in Tibet go without water to cook, make tea, or even accomplish something as simple as to wash their hands. The small shelters they have built of mud and stone–often occupied by 15 people at a time–quickly deteriorate due to harsh climatic conditions, and they can’t afford even the basic accommodations of windows or doors. Three-fourths of the 2,000 nuns and monks living in these shelters go without heat during winters that drop to temperatures so far below freezing that most of us cannot even imagine. Access to even the simplest forms of medical care–including treatment of heart problems, liver, kidney, and gall bladder failures, arthritis, and eye failure–cannot be treated, because the cost of transferring ill residents to medical centers in dense, urban areas is too much. So, with each year, illness, death, and blindness cost us a bit more loss of the light of Dharma.

Yet despite the difficulties the nuns and monks in Nangchen endure, they have not lost sight of their commitments or their duties. Every day they wake before dawn to begin practicing together on behalf of all sentient beings. No matter their cold or hunger, they gather together four times a day for communal practice. At night, many of them practice dream yoga, to benefit beings through their prayers even while they sleep.

Many of the nuns are accomplished masters of tummo, the yoga of inner heat. They perform yearly rituals for the public that include a long procession around the monastery in the dead of winter in sub-zero temperatures, with only a sheet wrapped around their bodies. During the night, hundreds of the most adept nuns dip their sheets repeatedly in buckets of melted snow and continue their procession, drying the sheets again and again with the inner heat from their bodies, generated by their yogic practice. This very rare and awe-inspiring event, as well as the realization of the elder nuns, has gained them respect and renown throughout Tibet. In a culture where female practitioners have struggled to gain respect, these nuns have risen to a high level of status, with many monks and lamas seeking their teachings and instruction.

These dedicated nuns also serve surrounding communities through spiritual support and counseling, helping with blessing ceremonies for the living and prayers for the dead. Despite their own hardships, their commitment to serve the needs of those around them offers tangible evidence of the example of the power of spiritual influence. The communities that surround the nunneries have, in recent years, become markedly more peaceful. Violence, alcoholism, and other harmful habits have declined. The harsh speech that dominates so many disputes has dropped off considerably.

Tsechu Gonpa

I have to share with you some sad news regarding Tsechu Gonpa, the monastery in Nangchen founded by my esteemed teacher, Adeu Rinpoche, who passed the Drukpa Kagyu lineage on to me.  As many of you know, the Drukpa Kagyu lineage, which holds the teachings and practices of Milarepa’s “secret student,” Rechungpa, is in danger of extinction.  Preservation of this sacred lineage of teachings and practices is extremely important. Many core teachings and practices could be lost to the winds of time without effort.

As some of you may know, an earthquake in Nangchen devastated Tsechu Gonpa in November 2009. Of the 150 monks who survived, only 50 can gather now in a smaller shrine hall for prayers and group practice. The main assembly hall–once capable of accommodating nearly 700 people, who gathered there to receive empowerments and teachings–was mostly destroyed.

Rebuilding Tsechu Gompa must begin soon, before the temperatures begin to warm. The monastery is full of precious statues and relics acquired by Adeu Rinpoche after the end of the Cultural Revolution. These relics and statues are as important as the oral and written teachings of past and present masters. Removing the relics to a safe place is the first stage of the massive project of rebuilding.

Adeu Rinpoche & Tsoknyi Rinpoche III

In Nepal, I’ve been engaged in overseeing Ösel Ling monastery in Kathmandu, as well as two nunneries, Chumig Gyatsa and Gebchak.

Ösel Ling has grown tremendously over the past few years. Our initially small community of 30 monks has now expanded to include approximately 120 monks in various stages of training. Accommodating this larger community–as well as the increased number of visitors who have come to study and practice at the International Buddhist Meditation Center at the monastery–has required some physical changes.

I’m very pleased to announce that early 2009 saw the completion of an addition to both the monks’ quarters and the visitors’ wing.  Lama Tashi had important oversight responsibilities for this 15-year project, which served as only one small aspect of his many Dharma-related duties in both the east and west.

Ramon and Elena Alvarez have administered Ösel Ling. With sincere dedication and compassion, Ramon and Elena ensure that residents and visitors are well fed, that there is an adequate supply of water and other supplies, and that the rooms, buildings, and grounds are kept in good repair. They have also used considerable skill in cultivating awareness among the monastic community of the need for sensitivity to the environment and the importance of maintaining health and hygiene. I cannot thank them enough for their efforts.

I’d also like to take a moment to acknowledge some members of the monastic community for their achievements and contributions. Recently, two of our monks, Karma Thaye and Mipham Namgyal, completed a three-year training program in torma making, under the guidance of His Holiness the 17^th Karmapa. Karma Thaye was awarded special recognition for his skill and talent. Rigdzin Tarchin, meanwhile, has been training under a master in nearby Boudhanath in the fine art of thangka painting and has been busily engaged in the fine decorative work involved in repainting the exterior of the main shrine hall. Ngawang Chöjong has also been traveling back and forth between Ösel Ling and Boudhanath to study Tibetan medicine. In addition, Yeshe Tarchin has, over the past few years, become an expert tailor, sewing robes for the ever-growing monastic community as well as creating beautiful hangings and other ritual ornaments for the main shrine hall.  My hope is that the talents these young men bring to the monastery will not only help to carry on important traditions and pass their training along to other residents, but will also use their skills to serve members of the surrounding community.

More changes came to Ösel Ling in February, when my brother, Mingyur Rinpoche, assumed primary responsibility for the monastery. He will be bringing with him quite a number of monks from Tergar Monastery in India, who will join with the monks here at Ösel Ling in the creation of a shedra, or monastic college, which will provide opportunities for studying more advanced levels of Buddhist philosophy and practice.

Meanwhile, conditions for the 55 nuns at Chumig Gyatsa in Muktinath are continuing to improve. With the residential quarters and medical clinic complete, we turned our attention three years ago to building a shrine hall, where the nuns can study and practice together. Construction of the exterior–built entirely of natural materials–was finished in 2009, and this year we’re focused on completing the interior, with high hopes of opening the shrine hall at the beginning of 2011.  As the work proceeds, the nuns continue their regimen of spending half the year in retreat and half the year in bringing spiritual aid and comfort to the residents of villages in the mountainous Mustang region.

I have news as well about Gebchak Nunnery. Because conditions in Pharping had recently grown unsettled, we relocated the nunnery to a small, existing building in Chobar, which is much closer to Kathmandu and temporarily safer for the nuns.

The land in Pharping will be held in trust for future development. Last year, we completed a road from the main highway to the nunnery and purchased additional land in order to expand the facilities to include 30 residential quarters, a kitchen and dining hall, a library, and a classroom building.

These new facilities in Pharping will serve for the envisioned Womens’ Teachers Project, which includes a thorough education of qualified nuns to become teachers and holders of the Tsoknyi Lineage. It is foreseen that these nuns not only will teach in Tibetan, but in English as well, which is particularly important for the West. In the same spirit as explained to you before, these accomplished woman masters will, to a vast extent, fulfill the vision for female practitioners that both the previous Tsoknyi Rinpoches had.

We also plan to build a guesthouse for visitors, which will eventually serve as the new home for the International Buddhist Meditation Center, a place of refuge and study where nuns and visitors can inspire and assist one another in achieving spiritual goals.

In addition, the Gebchak nuns have just completed a six-month retreat focused on tummo (inner heat) practice, one of the six yogas of Naropa.  At the end of January, they successfully completed a test of their mastery of this essential practice of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

* * * * * *

Of course, none of these achievements would have been possible without your kind and generous support. Food, water, medical care, construction materials, and the resources necessary for maintaining and expanding the living, teaching, and practice facilities are needed in order for these dedicated men and women to continue their work of preserving, protecting, and promoting the Dharma and providing spiritual and other forms of service to their communities.

We realize that many of you may be experiencing financial hardship right now, but whatever contribution you are able to offer at this time will help the nuns and monks in Tibet and Nepal immensely. All donations are, of course, tax-deductible.

Through your assistance, you also participate in the great work of shining the light of the Dharma across the world and will receive great blessings. As Milarepa often said, whoever helps the yogi practicing in the mountains achieves the same merit as the yogi.

Along with your contributions, I also urge you to submit requests for prayers on behalf your friends, family members, and yourselves. The prayers of those who have dedicated their lives to serving all sentient beings are quite effective. So don’t be shy about submitting prayer requests! The Chobar nuns will include your prayer requests in their daily practice. Please go to www.pundarika.org to do this.

In that spirit, I humbly request you to continue your support and rejoice in the work we share together.

With deep love and respect,

Tsoknyi Rinpoche III

Rinpoche invited all of his students beginning with the 2009 Devotion Retreat in Crestone, to acknowledge their student-teacher relationship with him, if they chose to do so. He said that there has been confusion around the issue of who is and who is not his student, and that he wished to clarify it by asking students to accept a “student mandala card.”

He would send students a card welcoming them into the Pundarika mandala, and that would essentially formalize their student-teacher relationship. The term “Pundarika mandala” means Rinpoche’s mandala, as he stated they are one in the same and that Pundarika is “all of us.” To be a student of Tsoknyi Rinpoche’s means that you acknowledge that he is one of your primary teachers (he has five primary teachers himself) and that you are dedicated to the Buddhadharma and liberation, whatever your capability to help to grow the Dharma.

When people question him about the Tsoknyi path, he replies that it is a simple path of the middle way—not too tight, not too loose. “I am showing you the path all the time, but still you ask me about the path.” If you have been on a path given to you by a past teacher, that is fine to continue, and if you wish to add Tsoknyi Rinpoche as one of your primary teachers and work with him, that is fine, too. There is really no change in your relationship if you do or do not request a student mandala card, but the request merely makes the relationship a little more formal. Pundarika Foundation is actually Rinpoche’s vehicle that preserves the original Buddhadharma, protects it so it flourishes and is not lost, and then provides to whomever whatever they may need in order to achieve liberation.  If you have the energy, or a skill, new ideas, financial means—whatever you have to contribute to the mandala, that is good.

Rinpoche said:

Once you come into the Pundarika mandala, it is like your nationality; it becomes your sangha, and the middleman is me. We can be a Dharma seed for the next generation, and from there it will grow. Don’t worry about promoting the Buddhadharma—there is no side effect of fanaticism as long as devotion is based on compassion. There is no side effect from promoting love, compassion, and peace. In compassion, there is a lot of activity—it all comes from an altruistic mind. Devotion, compassion and insight are the “team.” These three aspects, devotion based on compassion together with wisdom (egolessness and insight) together make a full Buddhist. These three things make the practice of Buddhism, and there is not much danger in becoming a fanatic—you will have no regrets if you become like H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, or Milarepa. So please work with us, practice with us.

If you would like to formalize your relationship with Tsoknyi Rinpoche and receive your student mandala card, please request it by emailing deborah@pundarika.org and include the name you wish to have on your card (e.g., Mary Smith), the date you consider you became a student of Rinpoche’s, and your mailing address. The card has a beautiful picture of Rinpoche on one side, and many people place it on their home altars.

I am happy to give my full and complete authorization to Tsewang Rinzing Lama, also known as Tashi Lama, to give teachings in Buddhist theory and practice whenever he may be requested to do so.

Tashi Lama became a monk of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche at the Kat Nying Shedrup Ling monastery in Boudhanath, Nepal in 1975, when he was nine years old. Tashi Lama completed his full monastic training, including philosophical learning and study, training in ritual practices and personal meditation retreat between 1975-1991, primarily under the guidance of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. (Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche was well known throughout the world as a meditation master. He passed away in February 1996.) Tashi Lama has served as my main assistant since 1991, when I first began my major work of building Ngesdon Osel Ling monastery in Nepal and giving Buddhist teachings throughout the world. In 1992, Tashi began accompanying me on my travels to teach outside of Nepal.

He is a core teacher in my organization and has traveled and taught with me in the following countries: India, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Taiwan in Asia; the U.K., France, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria in Europe; the U.S. and Canada in North America; and, Argentina and Brazil in South America.

Tsoknyi Rinpoche III

(Photos by Tony Barrs; 2009 Crestone, CO at Yeshe Rangsal and Vajrasattva Empowerment)

August 16 -22, Crestone, CO:  Empowerment–Transmission and Practice

In an unprecedented teaching demonstration, Rinpoche gave three empowerments and practice instructions for  Green Tara, Vajrasattva and Guru Rinpoche during this week. Additionally, participants had an opportunity to circumambulate the Jangchub Chorten Stupa (Stupa of Enlightentment) with Rinpoche prior to his blessing the newly almost-completed Dorje Yudronma Shrine on the Yeshe Rangsal land. (This week also served as the first week of the Monthlong retreat in Crestone.)

August 16-September 13, Crestone, CO:  Monthlong–The Precious Garland of the Sublime Path (The Teachings of Gampopa) One hundred participants from over 14 countries attended the Monthlong this year, which was held in the teaching tent on the Yeshe Rangsal retreat land in Crestone.  Rinpoche gave daily morning teachings, as well as small group interviews in the afternoon, along with group instructions on ngondro, yidam practice, and dzogchen practice. The retreat closed with a fire puja and bountiful tsok. Retreatants were also invited to visit Rinpoche’s new home that borders the retreat land.

Monthlong 2009

Please click below for photos of the Empowerment Retreat and 2009 Monthlong:

Tony Barrs’ Picasa Web Album/ Monthlong 2009

Richard Timan’s Picasa Web Album/Monthlong 2009

Jim Gritz Gallery (password:  Gampopa)

October 2-4, San Francisco, CA:  Wisdom for Difficult Times:  What the Buddhists Teach Sylvia Boorstein, Zoketsu Norman Fischer, and Tsoknyi Rinpoche co-chaired this discussion sponsored by the California Institute of Integral Studies and the Asia Society of California at the Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco.

October 8-9, Washington, D.C.:  The Heart of Change (The Mind & Life Conference with H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama) To learn more about this event, please visit:  www.jamesgritz.com/blog/

The Lady Yeshe Tsogyal

October 10-15, Tara Mandala, Pagosa Springs, CO:  Songs of Yeshe Tsogyal Rinpoche taught the nature of mind using one of the dohas (songs) of Yeshe Tsogyal who chronicled the teachings of Guru Rinpoche for the sake of future generations.

October 16-22, Garrison, NY: The Bardo Teachings The description of the six bardos, or major intermediate states occurring in our existence, provide us with great opportunities for liberation while living and dying. Particularly useful are the instructions on the bardo of death and the following states, because we learn how to deal with these extreme situations and use them to reach enlightenment.

October 23-25, Kripalu Yoga Center, Lennox, MA: Rinpoche taught on the topic of Finding Fearlessness in Difficult Times

November 21: Tulku Urgyen Yangsi Rinpoche arrived at Kathmandu airport, accompanied by his parents, Neten Chokling Rinpoche and Khandro Tendzin Choyang Gyari. Tsoknyi Rinpoche then escorted the Yangsi and his family along with Namdol Gyatso Lama and two attendants to Nepal. For more information, please visit www.Shedrub.org and see “The Return of Tulku Urgyen Yangsi Rinpoche” dated Sunday, November 22, 2009.

Tulku Urgyen Yangsi Rinpoche

Blessings presented to a full house at the Omni Theater in Washington, D.C. in association with The Heart of Change (The Mind & Life Conference with H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama). Tsoknyi Rinpoche introduced the film, along with producer/director Victress Hitchcock, Barbara Green, and Jim Gritz participating in a question and answer dialog with the audience.

The Rubin Museum of Art presented two New York screenings of Blessings on December 23 and 30th. The film has been screened in: Boise, Albuquerque, the Denver Film Festival, the Academy of Music in Northampton, MA, the Buddhist Film Festival of Europe in Amsterdam, the St. Johns Womens Film Festival in New Foundland, and the Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival.

Upcoming public screening and film festivals are:

• January 13, 2010:  The Frontier Theater in Brunswick, Maine
• February 2010:  European Spiritual Film Festival 2010
• Spring 2010:  Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.
• Fall 2010:   Melbourne Buddhist Film Festival, Melbourne, Australia
• 2010:  The International Buddhist Film Festival (dates and locations to be announced)

Supporters of the Tsoknyi Lineage Nangchen Nuns are holding successful screenings of the film in association with home fundraisers, as well as public and film festival events. For a complete list of upcoming screenings, please visit Chariot Videos. And to find out about hosting your own home fundraiser, please email maryann@pundarika.org.