1999 Losar Address We all have chosen to be Dharma students. We all have chosen to take refuge in the Three Jewels. We all have chosen to be on the path of Vajrayana. We made these choices with intention rather than casually or because of the expectations of our family or a cultural tradition. Hopefully,

MSB Archive Newsletter Article by Vernon Mizner, Khenchung, first published in 1995 This month’s Study and Practice article is about the importance of Sangha. The points mentioned here are primarily a summary of comments Rinpoche has made over the years concerning Sangha, as well as some of my own contemplations based upon Rinpoche’s teachings on

One of the points that has helped me as a pratictioner when I am out in the world, traveling, or simply not in retreat or the supportive context of, for example, a sangha event, is to constantly come back to egolessness of self. Not egolessness of dharma, not egolessness of other people and the emptiness

When we feel negative feelings or aggression towards others, if we look at our mind honestly and very openly, we will discover that those feelings are nothing other than our own attachments manifesting. Consider this: whomever we think is close to us now, and for whom we have warm feelings toward now, all these relations

Things that appear difficult and challenging, or nearly impossible from the ego’s point of view, the bodhisattva takes right on, with a vision of skillful means and a sense of joyful challenge to work on the ego, and progress further. This actually puts the self in service towards the highest outcome: toppling samsara—attaining the state

In the end, our life won’t just evaporate like a puddle of water in the hot sun. In fact, even a puddle of water does not just disappear into nothingness. The molecules remain in a different form, since atoms do not just disintegrate. If we do think that life is like this, then our life

Part 3 In moving toward some degree of renunciation, our first step is to be open and nonjudgmental about our suffering, not feeling guilty about it. Judgment and guilt will cloud our minds, preventing our intelligence from coming through. Knowledge leads to understanding and understanding to wisdom. Knowledge is information. It is what you hear

We need to recognize the source of our problems and the source of all our perceived threats. We must try to see how they arise from our “self,” and more specifically from our grasping to the self. When we have the feeling of being sucked into a situation, when we feel emotionally drained, or when

I’d like to address the theme of renunciation. This word, this idea of “renunciation,” as it is meant in the Buddhist teachings and particularly in the Hinayana teachings, provokes wildly different reactions among people. People will respond differently to this word depending upon where they are in their lives, their levels of suffering, and with

Cultivating the kind of detached awareness that I’ve mentioned allows us to develop a maturity regarding our emotional reactions. We gain a perspective that is balanced, not viewing the emotions as “black and white”, so we find that we no longer feel a need to react aggressively or judge our own behavior. Instead of suppressing