The following is an excerpt from Great Perfection Buddha in the Palm of the Hand a commentary by Gyaltrul Rinpoche:

The reason for taking refuge is based on the awareness of the precious human rebirth, on the awareness that, having attained the precious human rebirth, to waste it will be just like returning empty-handed [...]]]>

The following is an excerpt from Great Perfection Buddha in the Palm of the Hand a commentary by Gyaltrul Rinpoche:

The reason for taking refuge is based on the awareness of the precious human rebirth, on the awareness that, having attained the precious human rebirth, to waste it will be just like returning empty-handed from a land of precious jewels. Keeping that in mind, you must recognize that you need some kind of guide, some kind of help, someone or something that will teach you, show you, how to make use of your precious opportunity. This someone or something is the three jewels of refuge.

As I have mentioned, one should not take refuge in or rely upon the external form, the body of the lama or the actual presence of the Buddha. If that were important, then we would all be in trouble because the Buddha is long gone now and the lama will also pass. Even though the Buddha and all the great teachers of the past are no longer in this world, there are still buddhists. Buddhism lives on because refuge isn’t taken in the body, the form, of a teacher; it’s taken in the qualities that are actualized in that particular embodiment.

The enlightened body has specific attributes, indicated by specific physical characteristics. You must learn what those attributes are. There are many different teachings on the subject of the enlightened body.  For example, the fact that a buddha or a deity has one face symbolizes the dharmakaya, the great bindhu that is the one nature of reality, or truth. Two arms symbolize method and wisdom in non-dual union. When you take refuge in the sangha you take refuge in the qualities the sangha represents, not the bodies of the sangha members. When you take refuge in the dharma you aren’t taking refuge in the paper and ink, in the pages that the dharma is written on; you’re taking refuge in what the words express, in the quality and essence of the teaching. Whatever your dharma practice may  be, on whatever level, it is in the meaning of the dharma that you take refuge.

If you intend to study with a spiritual teacher, that teacher should be an embodiment of the qualities of the three jewels of refuge, and you should know what those qualities are. If you take refuge in an ordinary person who lacks a higher level of realization, who, in his ignorance, mixes traditions to create something new — maybe mixing hinduism and buddhism, throwing in a little christianity or taoism, making a little garbage container — then you will find yourself in trouble. It won’t be beneficial to you; it will harm you and everyone else involved. And you shouldn’t become such a teacher, because you won’t be a suitable object of refuge. If you are not a lama, a qualified spiritual teacher, then you are sangha. Since the sangha is one of the three jewels, it is important that you also be clean and pure.

NGE PA DON GYI LUNG TOK TEN PAI SOG

Ngedon Cho Kyi Nyima, you are the life of the teachings of scripture and realizations.

SANG CHEN CHO KYI NYI MAI OD ZER GYI

You are the sun’s radiance of the great secret dharma.

DRO WAI YID KYI MUN PA RAB SEL WA

Clarifier of the [...]]]>

NGE PA DON GYI LUNG TOK TEN PAI SOG

Ngedon Cho Kyi Nyima, you are the life of the teachings of scripture and realizations.

SANG CHEN CHO KYI NYI MAI OD ZER GYI

You are the sun’s radiance of the great secret dharma.

DRO WAI YID KYI MUN PA RAB SEL WA

Clarifier of the darkness in the minds of sentient beings.

NA TSOK RANG DROL ZHAB LA SOL WA DEB

To the feet of Natsog  Rangdrol I pray.

GANG GI NAM PAR TAR PAI JEI ZHUK TE

Fully liberating whosoever follows you,

DRO PEN TRIN LEI DRUB LA NYER TSON PA

Particularly diligent in accomplishing miraculous activities that benefit all beings,

TSUNG MED SHED DRUB TEN PAI GYAL TSEN GYI

Unequalled, you are the victory banner showing explanations for accomplishing the practice.

ZHAB PED TEN ZHING DZED TRIN TAR CHIN SHOG

Planting your lotus feet firmly, please complete your miraculous activity!

Composed by H.E. Dungse Thinley Norbu Rinpoche

An excerpt from the Mindfulness workshop given by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo in 1999

The mistake that we make with almost any spiritual practice is waiting for it to affect us.  We’re waiting for the “feeling” when Dharma is supposed to sweep us away like a Calgon bath or something, and that’s not [...]]]>

Gyaltrul Rinpoche

An excerpt from the Mindfulness workshop given by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo in 1999

The mistake that we make with almost any spiritual practice is waiting for it to affect us.  We’re waiting for the “feeling” when Dharma is supposed to sweep us away like a Calgon bath or something, and that’s not the way it’s ever going to happen.  You may have wonderful, sweeping experiences, but you’ll do that in your bathtub too.  It’s just normal.

The kinds of practices that we are taught to do on the Vajrayana path, such as prostrations, are quite different and unique for us and for our culture.  At first, a Westerner feels very strange performing prostrations.  We feel goofy and foolish and think, “Wait a minute! I don’t even know if I like her yet.  I mean, just because she’s on the big chair…” But that’s exactly why we do the prostrations, because she’s on the big chair.  The big chair is there because the big chair is the throne of Dharma.  It’s not my throne.  It’s not Alyce Zeoli’s throne.  It’s not Ahkön Lhamo’s throne.  It is the throne of Dharma. When we perform the prostrations that we do, it is actually meant to be a connection between body, speech, and mind.  These three are utilized together.  The physical is doing something, the speech is doing something, and hopefully the mind is doing something.  These three aspects of ourselves performing at the same time makes a sense of connection.  It is a ritual that anchors something that is subtle, very spiritual: you can’t taste it, you can’t own it, you can’t pick it up.  It anchors it into the physical.  When the body performs the prostrations, you literally go into a different space.  That event involving body, speech and mind takes you into a different space, if all three are engaged.

There are many mannerisms associated with Dharma, and as Westerners we think, “Well, I don’t get that whole crouching over thing.  It just looks like a hunchback to me.”  As Westerners, we’re taught to walk straight, almost military-like and prideful.  But, actually, it is the constant mindfulness when you are in the presence of the Lama that creates an exchange of some sort.  It’s not that you have to be unnatural all the time.  If there is an exchange of some sort, simply that subtle tendency of doing that very little bow with mindfulness – and that’s the trick – puts the Lama’s speech in a place where you can hear it more directly.  It actually establishes the connection between you and the teacher, almost like a tube or a direct tunnel going between yourself and the teacher.   If you were in a room full of people and your Root Guru was talking and other people were talking and you were listening to everybody at the same time and to all in the same way, there would be no blessing there.  The reason why there would be no blessing is because the main point of practicing Guru Yoga is to get us past the point of pridefulness and past the point of lack of discrimination that makes us not know whether something is extraordinary or simply ordinary.  Eventually, we will come to see the non-duality of the nature of the Lama and one’s own nature.  At that point one actually takes refuge in that nature, which is one’s own nature every bit as much as it is the Lama’s nature.  Until then, this training is actually mind training, and, once again, Westerners have a hard time with that.  We keep trying to slip it off, because we’re naturally uncomfortable with it.  It doesn’t look like the rest of our culture, and we truly don’t understand.

We try to take our clues from the Lama, and this is where we all go wrong because some Lamas, like Gyaltrul Rinpoche, are funky, humble guys, and other Lamas come in like they’re your best friend.  And then other Lamas come in, and they have a very fine and royal, genteel appearance.  There are so many different Lamas.  The trick is not to take your clue from the Lama, but to take your clue from the Dharma: from the teachings about the nature of the Lama.  Whatever the appearance is, you need to form the habitual tendency and mindfulness of elevating that in preparation for the recognition of and awakening to your own Buddhanature.  The reason why we’re asleep, why we’re not able to awaken, as the Buddha is awake, is primarily because the mind is so thickened through the mixture of non-virtue and virtue.  It’s literally coarsened to where the loudest thing is what we hear, and the loudest thing is our ego.  The loudest voice is our demand, our desire, how we feel, whether our feet hurt or not.  That’s the loudest voice.  The mind is simply not able to distinguish through the obscuration of being constantly involved in clinging to self-nature as inherently real.  So the practice of Guru Yoga is for you, not for the teacher.  Actually, I have found it to be very inconvenient.  To get across the room when people are trying to prostrate is very difficult.  I really do come from Brooklyn, and I really don’t care about that stuff.  The only reason why I teach it the way I do, with such a fervent energy, is because I know how it works, and I know the power of that kind of practice.

© Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo

The lucky one is (s)he who has spiritual discrimination. A clear sign that one has made progress on the path. There’s so much empty jargon.  Many people pass around their learned and personal wisdom, which indeed, is precious and to be respected. It’s progress!  Spiritual discrimination is seeing the [...]]]>

His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche

The lucky one is (s)he who has spiritual discrimination. A clear sign that one has made progress on the path. There’s so much empty jargon.  Many people pass around their learned and personal wisdom, which indeed, is precious and to be respected. It’s progress!  Spiritual discrimination is seeing the difference between that communal sharing and an accomplished and qualified Guru to follow.  The entire spiritual community is strong, and growing, yearning, expressing, sharing, and loving! Hurray! Yet we must find a true Master.

I see the Lamas of Palyul, for instance. Taught and trained, profound and accomplished Lineage Masters, only here to enlighten us. These great Lamas live and die to liberate sentient beings from the sufferings of Samsara, return life after life for that alone.  That is something different from the great ocean of seekers, thinkers, poets, philosophers that we meet online and in life.

In Vajrayana we hear: “Why cross the ocean of suffering in a ship captained by one who has not yet themselves made the journey?”  Or “Why invest in a belief that has not produced even one fully Enlightened Buddha?”  Or “why travel a path not yet even one century old, and one cannot see the result?” If a man creates his own path, should YOU follow?  If we do not know the value of their path, not having seen the result, why go there? Why cross in a ship untested? Maybe it is flawed!  So we are advised to practice method and follow Lineage tested and proven over centuries and traceable lifetimes.

I read a claim by a man that he had changed Yoga to make a way to get enlightened immediately. The man looked middle age. Big ego. It is so much better to share one’s insights freely, love each other, learn from each other, but discriminate on path and guru. Or else we just have a bunch of well meaning sweeties walking around in spiritual circles, blind leading blind. It is kinda silly, especially when there are Buddhas and Bodhisattvas taking rebirth consciously, solely for the sake of all beings. That’s cosmic Love!

Not just talking heads, yada yada. A Guru must provide method to attain, or what good are they? You can’t talk your way to Liberation!  Sweet, loving, syrupy, flattering words are wonderful to see and taste. But are not the food of the Sublime Awakening!

If a “teacher” butters you up with flattery, pretty words, crazy promises, or says their blessing ALONE will Liberate-RUN! They are politicians!  They flatter and cajole for their own egocentric reasons. You will yourself receive no benefit at all. Except for a swollen puffed up ego.

The path of results, of Liberation requires daily effort, practice, mindfulness, and compassion, constantly developing! A living path!  A true path, like Vajrayana requires that you CHANGE. Utterly, completely- as we are awakening to Buddhahood. Old ways are abandoned. That old ego’s gotta go to make real progress! It ain’t for sissies. If one has been spiritual for 20 years and remains the same, there is no benefit.

Are you willing to change? Learn something new? Take a giant step that may -WILL rock your world? That is the student I value most.  We cannot remain the same, in our comfort zone, no new intake, same old spiritual mumblings and hope to attain Buddhahood.

If you were my own sweet babe in my arms, I would not teach you different. There is a lot to buy and sell, but nourishment is RARE!  Your true nature is the fundamental ground, Primordial Luminosity. You are Buddha! Do not throw yourself away! Awaken! AWAKEN to your Nature!  Lord Buddha said as He left this world: “I have given you METHOD! Now work out your own Liberation!” And that is exactly how it is.

Gyaltrul Rinpoche, Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo and His Holiness Penor Rinpoche