Mangala Shri Bhuti - The Link

Speaker: Susan Walp. Following Rinpoche's advice, Susan shares her personal journey in learning to practice the Dharma from a place of enjoyment, rather than discipline. Discipline is important for the practitioner, but there are two kinds of discipline: one that comes from a feeling of obligation, competitiveness and wanting to be a good student, and the other which has enjoyment as its basis. In examining what inspires her to practice, she is learning to approach her practice from a place of appreciation, warmth, creativity and inner joy.

Speaker: Dungse Jampal Norbu. Dungse-la explores the practice of self-reflection as the way of finding our true north as practitioners. We can use the interrelated methods of analysis (‘tokpa’, in Tibetan) to look at things in general and ‘chopa’ to examine details for clarifying our own thought process. With the internet and social media we meet with many contrasting perspectives and narratives that push agendas. Dungse-la encourages us to align ourselves with the perspectives of the Buddhas by being honest with ourselves, holding ourselves accountable to mind training and facing our mind with equanimity. We learn to trust ourselves as the primary witness. Then, we do not build new stories of ourselves or the nature of reality. We transform the negative emotions by seeing they are ultimately empty of intrinsic characteristics and remain natural- a child of illusion.

Speaker: Sasha Dorje Meyerowitz. Sasha describes how discipline is a natural feature of our longing to attain a state of awakening. The Latin word ‘disciplina’ refers to teaching, learning and knowledge. A disciple is someone who listens and learns. In the conventional world, our lives are not patterned towards practice; practice feels inconvenient and seems to contradict our belief in finding happiness in samsara. The diligent practitioner recognizes that discipline aligns our actions and intentions, fortifying us against neurotic habits. The discipline of directing our minds towards the Dharma and away from ego-clinging provides us with a greater experience of confidence and freedom.

Speaker: Jill Oppenheimer. Jill explores the practice of self-reflection and shares her experience of working with hindrances that can arise as part of this process. The point of all Buddhist teachings is to reduce self-importance and make room for the truth, and this begins with self-reflection. It involves turning the mind inward and looking without judgment at whatever arises in our experience. Jill explains the necessity to pause before engaging in self-reflection as it is only with the discipline of shamatha and vipashyana that the wisdom to self-reflect is available. She explores how confusion can arise if we hold hopes of certain outcomes and try to use the practice of self-reflection to fix things. We also need to appreciate that self-reflection is not just a single practice but involves many skillful means such as simmering practice, analytical meditation, mindfulness, observing thoughts without judgment and contemplating the eight worldly concerns and the four immeasurables.

Speaker: Chris Holland. Chris examines buddhanature as the foundation of enlightened qualities, including love. In this talk, he sets the stage to understand the genuine or absolute ground of buddhanature in order to see how the path functions. He describes absolute ground as a living presence, primordially existent with radiant qualities, the "enlightened essence" or absolute nature. Love is the radiance of absolute nature. Chris sees the Four Immeasurables practice as the "structure" of enlightened essence because the practice stirs up the qualities of enlightened essence (wisdom, love and power). Enlightened essence is the limitless source of all worlds, all positive qualities, all goodness. What separates us from allowing this essence to flow freely through us is grasping to a limited self; the path is simply to purify the obstacles that block us from recognizing the absolute nature. From there, we become a limitless source of love.

Speaker: Dungse Jampal Norbu. Dungse-la shares his experience of travel and the unique opportunity it brings to step out of our comfort zone and actively engage with our mind. He describes the difference between being a pilgrim or a tourist, the latter being one who seeks fun and comfort, the former being one who brings Dharma practice along for the ride, perhaps even seeking discomfort. Experiencing his own discomfort, Dungse-la closely examined his own mind and discovered that his experience was dependent on his attitude. Knowing there is no happiness to be found in outer circumstances, he allowed himself to relax into his discomfort and a positive mindset blossomed. That mindset allowed him to walk through the world and offer everything as if he owned it; his enjoyment and appreciation became a mandala of offering.

Speaker: Greg Seton. Greg delves into working with emotional pain, outlining the process from a ground, path and fruition perspective. Emotional pain or "klesha" in Sanskrit is loosely translated as "affliction". It causes pain and contaminates our thoughts, feelings and actions. The afflicted ego-mind is the cause of klesha. It is afflicted because it struggles to maintain what it constructs as self-image and becomes attached to that mental image. This fixation is painful and causes one to interpret everything through the ego-image as a stream of thinking, which then sets up false duality. In the path, we need to first learn to recognize our emotions, then apply antidotes. For learning about the relative-based Mahayana approach, Greg recommends reading 'Light Comes Through' by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche as it covers the five, self-centered emotions and their antidotes. For the absolute-based Vajrayana approach, he suggests we bring the pain of the emotion into our experience and then stare at it, looking at it

Speaker: Scott Kleihege. Scott delves into the topic of conceptual mind in this LINK given from Fort Collins, Colorado.

Speaker: Catherine Houston. Catherine shares her experience of the parinirvana of her root teacher, Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, and her experiences in retreat following his passing.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This is a previously-recorded talk given by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche from Northshire Book Store in Manchester, Vermont on August 31, 2018. The talk was from Rinpoche's 2018 Book Tour, 'Training in Tenderness: Buddhist Teachings on "Tsewa", the Radical Openness of Heart That Can Change the World'.

Speaker: Kate Dobbertin. Kate speaks about her journey to bring her heart to a state of well being by breaking down the false realities within herself. Kate describes how being nearer to her mother during a time of illness and her siblings brought to light various attachments and storylines to reflect upon and investigate more deeply. Being part of a lineage built on self-reflection, coupled with Kate's hunger to shift her consciousness to a larger reality, she delved into what obscures her heart- a solidified sense of self. Kate describes how samsara, karma and attachment cut deep into the idea of self, and describes samsara as what we experience when we have preferences. It is represented by a constant wish that things were different from the way they are, driven by our own individual karma. She believes that every practice in this lineage offers healing, and healing is creating a state of well being, or a heart unburdened by layers of self-deception.

Speaker: Natasha Carter. Natasha discusses how the practice of staying open allows her to see more clearly her patterns of mind, particularly when the mind is disturbed and agitated. Caring for elderly parents can be challenging, but Natasha uses this as an opportunity to lean into her discomfort to cultivate self-awareness. Reading Rinpoche's book, "Peaceful Heart" with her mother has provided a framework for reflecting on her repetitive patterns of anger, irritation and remorse that sometimes arise while relating to her parents. In particular, she examines how the eight worldly concerns (pleasure and pain, loss and gain, praise and blame, fame and disgrace) show up to hook her, causing pain to herself and others. Rather than criticizing, she remains curious about her own disturbance of mind. The willingness to face these destructive mindsets takes humility, courage and resolve. It also requires an agile mind: the capacity to think clearly in the face of reactivity.

Speaker: Dai Inaba. Dai-san analyzes the ways in which he's dealt with unexpected life events, including things about himself he hasn't wanted to face. Dai-san described some recent, unexpected events that caused damage to the entrance gate at Tashi Gachil. Staying present with the events and calmly investigating the source, Dai-san was able to respond with equanimity, instead of panic and blame. In looking back over his 25 years as a student of Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, he remembered being very hard on himself, but now sees clearly the source of his pain as self-clinging. Practices such as Lojong allow Dai-san to view his own suffering as a way to decrease the suffering of others. This has helped him disrupt habitual self-clinging, and focus more on alleviating the suffering of others, with meditation and prayer.

Speaker: Mary Cobb. Mary shares her experience of meditation on the Vajrayana path of Tibetan Buddhism.

Speaker: Mary Lee Mooney. Mary Lee reflects on discovering that she had been neglecting one of the three pillars- study, and how she has come to embrace it on her path as a practitioner. Over the past few years, spurred on by the forced solitude of the pandemic lockdown, Mary found that her interest in study had grown. Becoming a lobpon for MSB's online courses encouraged her as the wealth of the contemplations in these classes changed her view. Mary shared that studies didn't come easily to her since childhood, and she became aware of the creative ways she pushed forward through life on her own terms. When Mary recognized that she was not fully relating with the three pillars, she began including them into her daily contemplative practice. In doing so, she realized the importance of self-compassion and humor in relating to our humanness as critical for waking up. Mary now feels more grounded in the three pillars of study, practice and service, and in truly being "with" the Buddhadharma.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. Rinpoche describes how to understand our relationship to our mind, and what supports our well being. There are two sides to the mind: thoughts and emotions. Thoughts are made up of our perceptions and the labels we put on them. We will always remain vague about what holds us back and what supports us to move forward, until we learn how to self-recognize our experiences. In order to remove vagueness and establish clarity we must "bring everything out onto the table". We then begin to develop a certain intelligence and sophistication of mind which sees the relative truth of what arises, as well as the absolute truth, which is beyond dualism. Holding relative and absolute simultaneously and inseparably, not abandoning one and accepting another, is the mark of a truly mature mind. The second side of mind – emotions – is crucial to understand as well. Emotions are nothing more than a façade. When the façade is exposed to all aspects of mind, things become free and open. Nothing g

Speaker: Amy Hayes. As a ngondro practitioner in the refuge section, Amy introduces the idea of prostration as a mudra of refuge. Amy demonstrates how, through the humbling act of prostrations, our bodies become vehicles of refuge using the Refuge Prayer as her main point of reference. The Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha) are companions we take along the path. The Buddha is our own enlightened nature, the Dharma the teachings, and through our connections with Sangha our hearts can crack open. Amy views the physicality of full body prostrations as an opportunity for purification. Fully flat, with one's forehead to the ground, one is expressing humility, faith and devotion. Our body and how we relate to it becomes a gateway to self awareness. Just as the seated posture of meditation may be viewed as a mudra of transformation, prostration can be seen as a mudra of refuge. In this way, prostrations are a path and a gateway to enlightenment.

Speaker: Cary Yang. Cary's question, ‘What have I learned so far?’ as a practitioner and student stems from a conversation with her mother who was curious to know. Cary provides deep reflections on Rinpoche's 2024 Year of the Wood Dragon Losar address, which deals with developing positive habits of mind, including seeing the best in others to create the optimal atmosphere for tsewa to arise. Contrastingly, a disturbed mind blocks the opportunity for tsewa. She refers to Patrul Rinpoche who, in Words of My Perfect Teacher, guides us to contemplate how we listen, as it can be a barometer to gauge our state of mind. Listening filled with obstacles like distraction and toxic thinking is not conducive to cultivating tsewa. However, an awareness of how we listen is a step toward overcoming such obstacles and developing a positive mindset.

Speaker: Dungse Jampal Norbu. Dungse-la speaks about "sonam" or merit, and explains how things manifest in our lives. Merit is the energy that brings joy. We cannot be dependent on circumstances for our happiness and well-being as it is dependent on sonam. We know that even those who have wealth are sometimes unable to appreciate their wealth. What's more, we are naturally predisposed to avoid suffering and rather than seeking to find an outer remedy for our suffering, we need to generate merit through actions that are in line with bodhicitta (based on an altruistic mind). Dungse-la further speaks to dedication, as a powerful tool to conserve the energy of a particular action towards a particular goal. It allows the momentum of an action to go in a particular direction and not slow down due to circumstances. Therefore, we need to dedicate the merit of our actions towards the enlightenment of all beings.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This is a previously-recorded talk given by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche in Boston Massachusetts on May 19, 2018. The talk was part of his 2018 Book Tour for 'Training in Tenderness: Buddhist Teachings on "Tsewa", the Radical Openness of Heart That Can Change the World'.