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.