Speaker: Elizabeth Ready. Elizabeth discusses various pith instructions of the guru, from Dzigar Kongtrul’s request to generate bodhicitta before we listen to the teachings, to Patrul Rinpoche’s encouragement to generate the unsurpassable skillful means of the Mantrayana. She recounts Bob Reid’s talk on the three supreme methods: the supreme aspiration for the benefit of beings, the supreme view of trutal, the ineffable, luminous nature and the supreme dedication that all attain enlightenment at the end of any activity or practice, all of which are teachings on the ground, path and fruition. She describes how relative and ultimate bodhicitta are at the heart of all the pith instructions we receive at MSB, the thread that runs through all the teachings. She asks, “What is there other than resting in that genuine heart of enlightenment and how heartfelt is our wish?”

Speaker: Mark Kram. Mark shares his experience exploring emptiness, the foundational Mahayana teaching that is distilled in the Heart Sutra, ‘The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom’. He explains that our wisdom increases directly as a function of how close we are to understanding this teaching. Each of us must arrive at the realization of emptiness through our own process of contemplation and meditation. Yet, because the Heart Sutra so profoundly upends our ideas about what is real, it is critical to examine our assumptions and notions before we can fully engage with emptiness. We come to understand that our mistaken “reality” is shaped by the physical senses, emotions, cultural experiences, the conceptualising mind and by the “vulgar illusions” of language itself.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This previously-recorded Personal LINK was given by Rinpoche on May 30, 2004 at Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado. It was re-broadcast in two parts, Part 1 on September 1st and Part 2 on September 8th, 2024. Please refer to Part 1 for a full summary of the talk.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This previously-recorded Personal LINK was given by Rinpoche on May 30, 2004 at Samten Ling in Crestone Colorado. The talk was split into two parts, aired on consecutive weekends while Rinpoche and the Sangha are engaged in the annual Mahayoga and Sadhana of Mahamudra programs at Pema Osel Do Ngak Choling in Vershire, Vermont. In this talk, Rinpoche encourages us to not waste this precious tendrel of having met the Mahayana and Vajrayana Dharma. He stresses that our connection to Guru Rinpoche is not random. The path we follow being part of the Nyingma lineage comes directly from Guru Rinpoche and his great kindness. Not only is the Nyingma path connected to Guru Rinpoche, but all the schools have a strong connection to his enlightened mind and have flourished due to his kindness. As such, he strongly encourages his students to make daily, heartfelt aspirations to be reborn in the Glorious Copper-Colored Mountain.