Mangala Shri Bhuti - The Link

Speaker: Bob Reid. Bob explores the meaning, benefits, and practice of making aspirations. Since they take place in the mind, they are always available to all of us, and are unlimited in their scope. Rooted in humility, they are important because they help us to clarify and reinforce our intentions to benefit beings. Aspiration bodhicitta is the basis for all other bodhicitta practices; as one of the ten paramitas, aspiration is also related to application bodhicitta. Making aspirations creates karmic links, which are essential for bodhisattvas who wish to benefit all beings. Although the practice of making aspirations is a powerful way to accumulate merit, it may not seem to have any real benefit for others. This is not so. Aspirations transmit energy that can have an immediate and direct benefit to beings, even to who are unaware of them.

Speaker: Dungse Jampal Norbu. This LINK is an excerpt from a talk originally given on December 4th, 2021, at a three-day program called, "Lojong: Where Wisdon and Compassion Meet". Dungse-la gives a history of Lojong with a focus on Chekawa Yeshe Dorje's Seven Points of Mind Training and its numerous, available English translations. Developing bodhicitta, the intention to generate warmth and become enlightened for the benefit of all sentient beings, is at the core of the Lojong teachings. Dungse-la reviews foundational teachings of Buddhism and how they enable us to switch gears from the eight worldly concerns to the four immeasureables, where generating bodhicitta becomes a central aim of our life.

Speaker: Doug Larsen. Doug describes the challenges and blessings of living as a retreatant at Samten Ling. The physical, financial and social demands, and the spiritual gifts that come from the practices and from the energy of the land itself. He describes how HH Dilgo Khyentse first identified Samten Ling as the site to establish the Sangha, the interactions with the elements and animals on the land, and the daily rhythms of retreat life ordered by the lunar cycle.

Speaker: Joey Waxman. Joey refers to two recent Link talks to trace the causes that recently led him to experience a sense of heaviness about samsara. One talk, given at Losar by Dungse Jampal Norbu, explored the importance of cultivating disillusionment with samsara. The other, given last week by Jennifer Shippee, expressed appreciation for the capacity of Indian culture to accommodate and embrace all experiences without rejecting anything. Disillusionment requires us to develop a sense of sadness or "kyoshe", which is associated with renunciation, by recognizing the suffering of samsara. This disillusionment might give rise to a sense of heaviness. However, as Jennifer's talk suggests, we can see India's capacity to accept all experience as a metaphor for the nature of mind: when purified of self-importance and ignorance, it, too, is capable of embracing all experience without suffering. If we realize that all beings have Buddha nature, and therefore the capacity to be enlightened, we can maintain cheerfuln

Speaker: Jennifer Shippee. Jennifer reflects on the value of taking the time to feel and appreciate gratitude. Pausing to appreciate the natural intelligence of our buddha nature enables us to feel a connection to all beings. It lightens our load and softens our hearts. Instead of rejecting feelings, situations, and people, we can make the choice to find a way to feel grateful for them. Doing so helps us overcome our kleshas, reduce our aggression, and cultivate a peaceful heart. This does not mean we should not exercise discernment. But by exercising discernment without aggression we can maintain an open-hearted perspective that allows us to embrace all experience.

Speaker: Dungse Jampal Norbu. Dungse-la explores service from the perspective of the Dharma, reminding us that we have a responsibility to apply our good merit and skills through service to others. The proper motivation for this is not guilt or self-importance, but interaction with the world through bodhicitta and a growing freedom from our habitual patterns through the practice of service.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This previously recorded LINK talk was given by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche at the Guna Institute in Bir, India on May 16, 2011. Rinpoche talks about the necessity of some suffering in developing a happy and cheerful mind that has stability. He goes on to discuss how to experience the growth that comes from this kind of suffering.

Speaker: Dungse Jampal Norbu. Dungse-la reflects on what it means to orient ourself toward enlightenment, from the moment we wake up in the morning. Gratitude for our precious human birth, the Dharma, and even things we enjoy like tea and coffee, uplifts us and cuts through the tendency toward cynicism. When our mood is affected by an experience we don't like, it can be an opportunity to analyze our self-grasping and practice compassion for others. He touches on many topics, including death practice, guilt, privilege and merit.

Speaker: Joe Wilson. Joe suggests that cultivating a scholarly understanding of Tibetan Buddhism can ground and enrich our contemplative and meditative practices. There are subtle nuances involved in translating Sanskrit and Tibetan words into English. Appreciating these nuances can lead us to clarify the meanings of commonly-used terms like "dharma," "sangha," and "dzogchen." To make our aspirations more precise and deepen our connections to the Three Jewels, it is useful to contemplate what we mean when we take "refuge" in them. By studying the system of Tibetan Buddhism, and the scholars and practitioners who developed and transmitted it to us, we can cultivate a deeper appreciation for the blessings of our connection to the Longchen Nyingtik lineage, to our guru, and to our Sangha.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This previously-recorded Personal Link was given by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche to the local Sangha on October 21, 2001 at Phuntsok Choling in Ward, Colorado. Rinpoche explores the two general tendencies of either over-managing or mismanaging our lives.

Speaker: Sarah Thompson. Sarah describes how self-reflecting enables us to cultivate merit, self-confidence, appreciation, gratitude, and trust in our ability to progress on the path. Self-reflection allows us to recognize that our connection with the Dharma, the lineage, the Sangha, and Rinpoche could have arisen only through merit gained in this or previous lifetimes. Recognizing this merit builds confidence to work with the conditions that arise in life, which in turn enables us to continue to accumulate merit and to progress on the path.

Speaker: Dungse Jampal Norbu. Dungse-la explores the defects of cyclical samsara and how disillusionment is an important seed for our commitment to the path of transformation rather than just hoping for change. This requires moving beyond our comfort zone, like we do when on pilgrimage. Dungse-la shares his New Year's resolutions.

Speaker: Vanessa Waxman. Vanessa reflects on the importance of putting the Dharma at the center of one's life, applying its wisdom and skillful means throughout our everyday experiences. To fully commit to the Dharma, it is necessary to shift from fitting practice into our life to fitting our life into our practice. In addition to being aware of the truth, cause and cessation of suffering, we need to put the path to ending suffering into practice. Doing so requires perseverance, devotion and patience. It requires us to contemplate deeply the Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind toward the Dharma. And it requires us to practice vigilant introspection, being aware of our mind's activities and applying the remedies that will pacify confusion and generate clarity and wisdom.

Speaker: Jim Kinkaid. Jim speaks about how writing poetry has enriched his connection to the Dharma. It is a vehicle to stay mindful, to contemplate, to express devotion, to enliven and strengthen his practice, and to share with the Sangha. Jim reads several of his poems and explains the sources of his inspiration to write.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. Rinpoche gives a New Year's Day talk with prayers for deep peace in the world during this time of war, conflicts, corruption, and refugee crises, including reflections on the spirit of the bodhisattva who lives to benefit all sentient beings.

Speaker: Stephanie Kindberg-Velasco. Stephanie expresses her appreciation for the Sangha as a community that provides opportunities to study, serve, and practice. The transformation practitioners seek depends on the cultivation of choshe, the sadness that comes from recognizing the suffering of samsara and that leads to renunciation. It depends on having faith in and devotion to the Three Jewels as the only remedy for the suffering of cyclic existence. It depends on the commitment to put the Dharma into practice by maintaining a warm and open heart. In providing a context for faith, devotion, and commitment to the path and to others, the Sangha represents a fortunate opportunity for inner transformation.

Speaker: Sasha Dorje Meyerowitz. Sasha addresses how he responds to the challenges that confront him as a practitioner. It is important to acknowledge unconscious self-doubts and to skillfully address the tendencies that undermine one's practice. The Dharma offers several remedies to work with these doubts and habits. We can choose to accept our experience fully without letting regrets distract us or using the Dharma to avoid pain. We can apply the wisdom of emptiness to remember that experience is not solid. We can recognize that our integrity is grounded in self-respect and nyingru ("the bone in the heart"), which fortify our motivation to persevere. And we can remember the rare and extraordinary blessing of being in the mangala of the guru.

Speaker: Katsutoshi Okabayashi. Oka-san reflects on how the quality of our devotion depends on the depth of our conviction in the Dharma. When motivated by a desire for appreciation and esteem, service and practice do not reflect authentic devotion to the guru or the lineage. Only deep conviction in the wisdom of the Dharma can generate genuine devotion. To gain this conviction we need to contemplate how the four thoughts that turn the mind to the Dharma are relevant to our own lives. Grasping the truths of impermanence, our precious human birth, karma, and the suffering of samsara will motivate us to work with our minds. And by focusing our efforts on transforming our minds, we can give birth to genuine devotion to the guru, the lineage, and the Dharma.

Speaker: Dungse Jampal Norbu. Lojong, the Buddhist practice of mind training, is where compassion and wisdom meet. The slogans on mind training provide an important framework for how we meet the world with kindness and equanimity. In this weekend program hosted by Pema Osel Do Ngak Choling in Vermont, Dungse-la continues his teachings on Lojong, drawing on commentaries by great Lojong practitioners, and other texts referring to foundational teachings of Buddhadharma. This program is a continuation of a series of talks Dungse-la has given on Lojong over the past three years.

Speaker: Suzy Greanias. Suzy coined the term, "the Buddha's advocate" as a counterpoint to the more familiar phrase, "devil's advocate.' Recalling Rinpoche's advice to his students never to think we have something to teach others, but to pursue our paths, she concludes that the best way to be the Buddha's advocate is to have faith in his teachings.