Mangala Shri Bhuti - The Link

Speaker: Gretchen Kahre-Holland. Gretchen reflects on two opportunities presented by the pandemic: to go into retreat, and to emerge with a fresh perspective on how to relate with our own minds and with others. Rinpoche once advised his students to "pray that your life falls apart---but not to put it back together in the same way"; more recently, he advised us to treat the pandemic as a retreat. As we emerge from this "retreat" and prepare to gather at NSS in person for the first time since 2019, we have an opportunity to apply Rinpoche's advice. As we put our lives back together, we can reflect on how we want to engage with our own minds and with the Sangha, using our experience and natural intelligence to cultivate an open, curious, and fresh approach. In this way, we can overcome the cycle of discontent, craving, and speed that characterizes modern life.

Speaker: Jonathan Hulbert. Jonathan contemplates how taking refuge in the Three Jewels requires faith, trust, and devotion. Taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha is an ongoing process to free ourselves from the suffering that arises from the dualistic belief in a self that is real and separate. In general, taking refuge implies seeking shelter or protection from danger. Paradoxically, however, in the context of the Dharma, this protection can be attained only by choosing to be "in the open".

Speaker: Robin Correll. Robin reflects on how cultivating the five strengths helps us develop a brave heart that allows us to meet challenging circumstances with confidence, openness, curiosity, and courage. The five strengths identified by the Dharma are determination, familiarization, seeds of virtue, reproach (remorse, exposure), and aspiration. We can develop these strengths through the consistent practice of mindfulness, self-reflection, prayer, and contemplation.

Speaker: Dungse Jampal Norbu. Dungse-la explores how the practice of bodhicitta (awakened mind) includes investigating one's own egoic reactions in daily life. Holding onto our history with self-importance results in emotional baggage that leads to habitual reactions in the present that cause suffering. Our emotional baggage is not who we are; it is not intrinsically existent. We can transform it as it surfaces through self-reflection using lojong mind training teachings like "transform obstacles into the path of awakening". Using the four immeasurables to meditate on our "enemies" and objects of hurt or heartbreak can change our relationship with them, turning them into a source of inspiration. Waking up includes letting go of the dream.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. In a previously recorded LINK talk given on June 13, 2004 at Osel Ling in Crestone, Colorado, Rinpoche gives commentary on the text, "Vast As The Heavens, Deep As The Sea: Verses in Praise of Bodhicitta".

Speaker: Jen Kern. Jen reflects on how we can liberate ourselves from shenpa--the raw, uncomfortable energy of self-clinging---by engaging fully and deeply in the practice of confession. The Lojong teachings encourage us to work on our strongest reactions first. To do so, we have to recognize and reflect on our shenpa, resolve to overcome it, and confess it in the presence of the Three Jewels. Although we might resist confessing because we fear the shame and guilt that may accompany it, we can overcome this fear by recognizing that shenpa, too, is impermanent; it is merely the expression of ego itself. We do not have to be critical of our emotions. Acknowledging this frees us to confess deeply and without self-aggression, cleansing our hearts and allowing bodhicitta to increase.

Speaker: Moni Banerjee-Lauritzen. Moni speaks movingly on how deeply she was affected by the death of her parents this year and how she drew from the wisdom of the Dharma to work with her grief and loss. Her understanding of grief deepened, and she sought wisdom from all three yanas for support: from the Hinayana, teachings on the selflessness of the person; from the Mahayana, teachings on emptiness, dependent origination, and bodhicitta; and from the Vajrayana, teachings on welcoming all experience as an opportunity to progress on the path.

Speaker: Ashveen Bucktowar. Ashveen speaks of the qualities that make service possible and beneficial. Service is altruistic activity that, if approached with the right attitude, can remedy self-cherishing. Whether it is done on behalf of our own vows, the sangha, the lineage, the Dharma, or all sentient beings, it is most beneficial when approached with clarity about our intentions and motivations, devotion and commitment to the vision, and measured expectations. Service invites us to be introspective, to stretch ourselves, to appreciate the blessings of the protectors and the lineage, and to cultivate community. The nettle plant serves as a symbol of all these qualities.

Speaker: Natasha Carter. Natasha explores how progressing as practitioners depends on how effectively we work with the ego. Clinging to the ego as real is the root of all suffering; liberation from samsara arises from learning to recognize that this clinging is dependently-originated and that the ego is illusory. To counteract the universal tendency to cater to the habitual self-cherishing mind of ego, the Dharma offers many remedies: analytical meditation, vigilant introspection, humor, vision, and the aspiration to free all beings from samsara.

Speaker: Bela Hatvany. Bela reflects on how his spiritual journey has unfolded over the course of his long life, nourished by books, by his experiences as an entrepreneur and philanthropist, by his spiritual friends, and by his meditation practice. He expresses reverence and gratitude for the "present" of being present in the present moment, for the systems of trust that humanity has built to support our world, for the opportunities to serve others, and for the teachings that have enabled him to refine his ability to distinguish the states of mind that arise in his awareness.

Speaker: Marcia Drake. Marcia recollects the poems, stories, fables, and novels that sparked her imagination as a child and teenager, and expresses appreciation for how they continue to inform her understanding of the dharma. Aesop's fables, poems by Shelley, Longfellow, and R. L. Stevenson, and Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities all echo the aspirations expressed by Shantideva in The Bodhisattvacharyavatara and evoke appreciation for impermanence and interdependent origination.

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.