Mangala Shri Bhuti - The Link

The first in a series of four recordings of Rinpoche played in February, 2011, all taken from teachings he gave during the Fall/Winter semester at Guna Institute, 2010 - 2011.

When we hear about the emptiness things, we might visualize that emptiness is like a hologram, having form but no substance. However, nothing we think of can actually prepare us for what the real experience of emptiness is like in life. The way our conventional mind works cannot grasp it. Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche describes the sunyata or emptiness experience as "a state where things fade out (stet) and future possibilities have not arisen." It also can be experienced as not knowing what to do.

Rebecca recounts how she entered the Buddhist path and her experience as a student of Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche over the last 20 years.

What does Trungpa, Rinpoche mean by "don' t trust"? He is not addressing things that are conventionally untrustworthy such as drug dealers, used car salesmen or large corporations. He is talking about the world always changing and not behaving according to our preferences.

The beginning of the new year is a time when people often make resolutions to change. They might want to quit a bad habit such as smoking or excessive drinking, or to cultivate something such as healthy eating in order to lose weight. But often these good intentions fall by the wayside and are never carried out. In order to actually accomplish one' s intention, one needs in addition to intention, a vision.

New Year is a good time to review the past year to evaluate what has worked for us and what has not, what has been beneficial to others and what has not. Since we are human and not perfect, we are subject to errors and confusions. But these can be remedied. If we contemplate our mistakes with joy and without guilt, if we face our errors in judgment with courage and learn from our mistakes, we can have a clear conscience

Joey Waxman, one of Mangala Shri Bhuti' s khenchungs, examines his own motivation for practice, and asks the question, "how do you develop disciplne without being hard on yourself", in this personal and honest link

Elizabeth suggests that we need to examine where our mind is coming from when we feel driven. Is it tight, fearful and contracted? Is there something inside that is unsettled? That discomfort is often then projected to the outside world. If we stop, look at our minds and relax with the discomfort, we might find things are not what we think. Things can shift very quickly. Loneliness can change into fullness, fixation can change into openness.

Dungse Jampal Norbu continues his exploration of karma. While dieties and our teachers ' supplement' our path, we each must clarify how our intention informs our actions as we seek to walk toward awakening.

Kongtrul Rinpoche reminds us how fast time passes, from a day to a month, a year and then our entire life. What will we have made of this precious opportunity? How do we determine what is important, and not? Will we talk in the footsteps of those who have made communicating the dharma to others their priority?

Speaker: Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel. Elizabeth comments on the poem, "The Art of Disappearing", by Naomi Shahib Nye, exploring renunciation as desirable rather than a loss of things desirable.

Speaker: Dungse Jampal Norbu. Dungse Jampal explores karma in this eloquent and insightful talk. By identifying two types of karma, personal and general (general meaning phenomena like gravity), we can address what in our karma we can do something about through practice and the view. The Q and A contains engaging discussion of topics such as fate.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. Rinpoche speaks on the power of keeping silent to bring our mental patterns into light and make our choice to ' drop it' and turn our focus to impermanence and appreciation of simplicity.

Speaker: Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel. Elizabeth discusses another angle on our experience of faith

Speaker: Dungse Jampal Norbu. Dungse Jampal Norbu explores some of the misconceptions one may naturally have about emptiness and its relation to relative experience.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. Many people feel they were born clumsy and will die clumsy, Rinpoche says. But the relaxation that comes through practice gives rise to a natural elegance and grace.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. Rinpoche restates the mission of Mangala Shri Bhuti: a life of service and of deepening one' s nature of mind practice as a naljor.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche suggests we needn' t automatically feel doomed under the power of our habits. We need to approach them with a sense of relaxation - not giving them too much power by fearing them - and learning to ' dance' with their enegery.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche adresses how merit, especially the merit to mature, relates to our ability to overcome a pervasive suffering, that of insecurity.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche ' makes a case' against attachment, emphasizing how logic and reason can be a force for change in working with our habits.