Mangala Shri Bhuti - The Link

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.

Speaker: Kelly Smith. Kelly Smith recounts how MSB's centers at Samten Ling, Phuntsok Choling, and Pema Osel developed, how Rinpoche shaped the culture of the Sangha, and what it means to be a practitioner of the Longchen Nyingtik lineage. It took the great, sustained effort of many people to build these centers. The culture that took root from these efforts reflects Rinpoche's intention for his students: through practice, renunciation and surrender, to accumulate the blessings of the lineage.

Speaker: Dungse Jampal Norbu. Dungse Jampal Norbu explores our polarized political climate through the lens of Lojong mind training. How do these seeds of anxious thinking arise? Can we cut through catastrophic narratives? Are we prepared to deal with loss? Mind training gives us tools to steer ourselves out of whirlpools of thinking and shift our focus to equanimity and bodhicitta. In this way, we can be a practitioner first.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This LINK was originally given by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche on February 8, 2015 from Phuntsok Choling in Ward, Colorado. It is the sixth in a series of talks given by Rinpoche called, "The Seven Riches of the Aryas", and it covers "Sherab", which is Tibetan for Wisdom.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This LINK was originally given by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche on January 4, 2015 from Osel Ling in Crestone, Colorado. It is the fifth in a series of talks given by Rinpoche called, "The Seven Riches of the Aryas", and it covers "Trelyupa and Ngotsa Shepa", which are Tibetan for Conscientiousness and Propriety.

Speaker: Dungse Jampal Norbu. Fairness seems to be a contemporary ideal that does not clearly appear in the Dharma. It refers largely to what is reasonable or equal. But what arises is governed by karmic theory, the nature of the vast web of interdependence, not by fairness. Fairness is usually a view from the standpoint of self-importance. The fact that samsara is not fair calls us to examine when we are caught in attachment to our ideas of fairness and self-importance. We have a great future ahead of us as practitioners when we apply the Dharma to our sufferings in samsara, applying the views of karma, interdependence, emptiness, the Four Immeasurables, and so on. Being motivated by bodhicitta is a far better approach than being motivated by fairness.

Speaker: Sara Namgyel. Sara identifies the genuine heart of sadness as the key to generating bodhicitta, cultivating renunciation, taking refuge, and attaining enlightenment. The genuine heart of sadness (choshe) arises from our willingness accept all our feelings fully. Unlike depression or despair, which lead us to feel stuck, choshe motivates us to gain freedom from samsara. Accepting our feelings fully develops the fundamental quality of Dharmic warriorship: fearlessness in the face of fear. By cultivating the genuine heart of sadness, we foster renunciation, the desire to liberate ourselves from samsara, and the determination to take refuge in the Three Jewels and attain enlightenment.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This LINK was originally given by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche on December 7, 2014 from Longchen Jigme Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado. It is the fourth in a series of talks given by Rinpoche called, "The Seven Riches of the Aryas", and it covers "Tupa", which is Tibetan for Hearing Wisdom.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This LINK was originally given by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche on November 2, 2014 at Phuntsok Choling, in Ward, Colorado. It is the third in the series called, "The Seven Riches of the Aryas", and it covers "Jinpa" which is Tibetan for generosity. Rinpoche speaks of generosity as a "hook" for a happy, joyful and meaningful life.

Speaker: Fredi Kaufmann. Fredi reflects on how the relationship we cultivate with our experiences determines how much we suffer. When we reject experiences by ignoring them, assigning meaning to them, or trying to fix them, we contract, and suffering increases. When we open our heart in full acceptance of the present moment, suffering recedes. Shamatha practice cultivates our capacity to calmly abide with whatever arises.