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 cheerfulness as we cultivate disillusionment.

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.