Mangala Shri Bhuti - The Link

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.

Speaker: Dungse Jampal Norbu. Dungse-la points out that last thing we usually do in difficult circumstances is to appreciate and respect them. We tend to respond in a dualistic framework to get rid of "the bad" and grasp onto "the good." As practitioner's of the Dharma, we have the opportunity to use adversity to work with our own mind. We can see beyond the consensus view using the lenses of emptiness and interdependence.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This LINK was originally given by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche on October 5, 2014 at Phuntsok Choling, in Ward, Colorado. It is the second in the series called, "The Seven Riches of the Aryas", and it covers "Tsultrim" which is Tibetan for discipline. Rinpoche speaks about Buddhist ethics and delves into the topic of treating others as we would like to be treated as a way to cut through religious dogma and cultivate peace in our lives.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This LINK was originally given by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche on April 6, 2014 at Phuntsok Choling in Ward, Colorado. It is the first in a series of talks given by Rinpoche called, "The Seven Riches of the Aryas", and it covers "Tepa", which is Tibetan for Faith. In this first talk, Rinpoche contrasts the differences between a life with and a life without devotion and faith. He examines how devotion supports one's life, bringing ease and happiness, and a sense of security and sanity and how the flow of intelligence and discernment happens through acceptance and faith in situations. He explains how fear and anxieties do not stick in the core of one's heart when devotion is present.

Speaker: Scott Gallagher. Scott explores what Rinpoche meant by two phrases he used in the 2022 Nyingma Summer Seminar: "thinking from the frame of mind of the Dharma" and "catching the beginning of the tail of liberation." In the face of major life transitions, Scott suggests that, for him, "thinking from the frame of mind of the Dharma" means cultivating self-reflection and perseverance, and taking inspiration from the great masters, who overcame the same kinds of challenges that we experience. And that "catching the beginning of the tail of liberation" calls for transforming habitual mind, deepening our understanding of both the relative and absolute truths, and remembering the suffering and futility of samsara.

Speaker: Dungse Jampal Norbu. We can practice with whatever arises in our life, immediately. Even our busyness and especially our challenges in daily life are opportunites to look at life through the lens of the Dharma. We can "Make Good Art" with whatever arises. At the root of all suffering is self-importance. We don't grow in the Dharma or even experience genuine connection until we start to let go of this self-importance. Enthusiastically engaging in service to the sangha is a powerful context for releasing self-importance.

Speaker: Alex Rocha. Alex reflects on how a challenging situation led him to re-assess his progress on the path. Years of diligent practice may lead us to overestimate our attainments and allow pride to creep in. But a crisis that jolts us out of our complacency can force us to see how deeply we have really assimilated the teachings. We can regard such experiences either as obstacles or as opportunities to grow. Alex relates how he navigated this kind of experience to gain more humility and a deeper appreciation of shamatha, renunciation, taking refuge, and familiarization with the nature of mind.

Speaker: Nicholas Carter. Nick contemplates the importance of making the Dharma your own by meeting your own experience directly. To do so, it is necessary to overcome the habit of believing in a solid self; to cut through the ego's storytelling; and to engage in self-reflection, vigilant introspection, mindfulness and contemplation. These practices make it possible simply to be present with the body and one's actual experience, and in this way to cultivate humility, strength, resolve and courage.