We have the incredibly great fortune to have encountered the precious teachings of the Buddha as well as living teachers who offer us the opportunity to study those teachings and assist us in training in them. Such a situation is a source of rejoicing that fills my heart with gratitude. It doesn’t matter that the path is long and difficult; it is the journey itself that is important.
Chadral Rinpoche encouraged us to recognize our ‘true nature,’ because absolutely nothing else will be of any use to us in the long run. This and this alone is the chief and crucial point. In recognizing and practicing, one brings into balance all other factors in one’s life.
Interview with Drubgyu Rinpoche of Surmang Monastery in Nangchen, China by Lee Weingrad about the treasure revelations of Chogyam Trungpa: In Drubgyu Rinpoche I discovered an unexpected treasure, a spokesman for an era, a world that we can only imagine or dream about. But the monastery lay basically in dust and ruins, which dispelled any sense of romance about the meeting.
This is the story of a retreat I did at Karme Choling in the winter of 1977. That retreat was a bone rattling experience for me, but I was too young at the time to fully appreciate how it was going to change my life. Well, here I am on the fortieth anniversary of that retreat, and it certainly did change my life, so it might worth sharing a bit of that story before I fade away.
In The Heart of Lo Gekar, the ancient story is re-imagined from a woman’s point of view. In the hours after the battle ends, our heroine senses something more than conquest. She senses that the battle is not yet over. We follow her up the mountain trail where we see her find the demon’s heart, cast aside yet still beating, on the mountainside where the gompa will eventually rise.
For almost all countries that Buddhism came to, it was a force of civilization. Japan, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Tibet, Mongolia, all got their written languages from Buddhist scholar-missionaries. But not China. China was a civilized country at the time, with its own language and literature when Buddhism arrived.
I noticed two yogis were being held in high esteem. Since we were eating in the same tent, I had occasion to talk to them. I also noticed during the Drubchen that as everyone was chanting, doing mudras and so on, Drüpon Lama Karma and the other yogi just stared into space unmoving for hours on end. As I spoke to Drüpon Lama Karma, I realized he was a Dzogchen yogi who had done many years of retreat.
An outstanding photo essay by Magda Myjak, photographer from Poland, recording a journey through the largely unknown kingdoms between Tibet and China.
“Inside each atom in this world there are as many universes as there are atoms in the world.”
— Buddha Shakyamuni.
With whom shall I share my enduring pain, decades are gone, but my hopes were in vain. No mortal has suffered such river of tears where I always swim with aching fears.
I have heard my teacher say that in the same way a summer rain will bring forth countless mushrooms in a meadow, the mind-training and meditation practices of Tibet brought forth an uncountable number of masters who awakened to their own potential. These masters attained a degree of fulfillment and insight in their lives that far surpasses anything we can imagine.
You may wonder, is mind nothing? It still shimmers and flashes forth, like haze in the heat of the sun. You may wonder, is it something? It has no color or shape to identify it but is utterly empty and completely awake. That is the nature of your mind.
– Padmasambhava.