Some people have the habit of thinking that something is bound to happen after practicing meditation a while – like going through school – that after ten or fifteen years you end up with a degree. That’s the idea in the back of people’s minds: “I can make it happen! I can do enlightenment!” Not […]
Tradition describes three types of ‘freely resting’. Let your body freely rest like a mountain. Let your breath freely rest like an ocean, meaning that your breathing is as totally unimpeded, like an ocean when its surface is undisturbed. Let your mind freely rest in awareness; in other words, rest in the nature of mind. […]
The worst obstacle for a practitioner is when crowds of followers begin to gather and say, “You are so wonderful, you’re such a great practitioner, you are very special. Please give us teachings. Please guide us.” Starting to have a great following causes the most difficult kind of obstacle because, unless one is the foremost […]
Didn’t the Buddha say that the mind in itself has no form, no sound, no smell, no taste, no texture, no dharmas? Here,dharma means mental object. He did not call it empty or void, he called it emptiness. This ‘-ness’ means the same as ‘ta’ in the word dharmata, or tathata. This word ‘ta’ refers […]
There are two kinds of ignorance: coemergent and conceptual ignorance. In the moment after seeing our essence, it almost immediately slips away. We get distracted and we start to think of something. Coemergent ignorance is simply to forget. Conceptual ignorance comes in the moment after forgetting, forming thought after thought. As one thought follows after […]
According to the Dzogchen teachings, the state of primordial enlightenment has never been confused. The basic state of buddhas is like pure gold that is not covered by any dirt. Dirt is the example for the confused thinking that temporarily takes place. If the gold always remains pure, there is no cleaning to be done […]
Complete openness, ‘Zangtal’ in Tibetan, means not attached to anything, not fixating on anything. This is precisely the opposite of an ordinary person’s frame of mind clinging to and fixating on everything. The openness of Rigpa, the openness of a yogi, does not fixate on anything: it does not hold on to anything. We need […]
The precious relative bodhichitta is compassion and the precious ultimate bodhichitta is emptiness. With compassion and emptiness, enlightenment is unavoidable. All the sutras, tantras, scriptures and oral instructions are contained within this. It is not all right to say, ‘I don’t need devotion, I don’t need compassion for beings, just meditation is sufficient.’ With compassion […]
Within the dharmakaya which pervades like space, The sambhogakaya is distinctly manifest like the light of the sun, And the nirmanakaya accomplishes the welfare of beings like a rainbow. Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
To prepare for the bardo state, it is very important to always keep in mind that, “Whatever I experience right now, whatever happens, is unreal, illusory.” Such training will make it much easier to remember in the bardo states. The most crucial point, however, is to resolve on and rest in the state of rigpa, […]
When pure gold is covered by dirt it is not obvious that it is gold, even though this dirt is temporary. But once it is removed we realize that the gold is gold. In the same way, when our confusion is purified, the wisdom which is our basic wakefulness is made manifest. Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
It is not enough to strive for the higher teachings and ignore the real substance of the Dharma, which is a change in attitude. unless we can change our hearts at a deep and profound level, the samsaric traits of our personality will all remain and we will still be seduced by appearances. As long […]
The essential practice is about nothing other than realizing the nature of your mind. It is only your mind that experiences. There is nothing other in this world that can experience. The five outer and inner elements, comprising the world and your body, don’t experience anything. Neither do the five sense organs. Thus, it is […]
Please understand that all sentient beings, all our past parents, want nothing but happiness. Unfortunately, through their negative actions they only create the causes for further pain and suffering. Take this to heart and consider all our parents, wandering blindly and endlessly through painful samsaric states. When we truly take this to heart, out of […]
The essential practise is about nothing other than realizing your mind. It is only your mind which experiences; there is nothing other in this world that can experience. The five outer and inner elements, comprising the world and your body, don’t experience anything. Neither do the five sense organs. Thus, it’s this mind that we […]
Do not divide appearances as being there and awareness as being here. Let appearance and awareness be indivisible. Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
We continue in samsaric existence as long as we are covered by the emotional obscurations and the cognitive obscurations. These two obscurations are precisely what hinder us from attaining the state of omniscient buddhahood. Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Sentient beings fixate on thoughts, the true Yogi does not. Sentient beings’ thought are like carving on stones; whatever is thought stays, leaving a trace. Whatever the mental act, a trace remains. This is why we must accept that there is karma, there are disturbing emotions and there are habitual patterns. But, on the other […]
You need to simply allow the moment of uncontrived naturalness. Instead of meditating upon it, meaning focusing upon it, simply allow it to naturally be. As you train like that-and the words for training and meditating sound the same in Tibetan, so to play on that word-it is more a matter of familiarization than meditation. […]
The essence of mind that is primordially empty and rootless is unlike holding the idea of emptiness in mind, and it is not the same as the sustained attempt to feel empty. Neither of these helps very much. By growing used to this natural, original emptiness again and again, we become accustomed to it. Then […]