A Tribute to His Eminence Zhichen Bairo Rinpoche

Remembering Bairo Rinpoche’s kindness and a great lesson for all of us. I am writing this for two reasons. One to remember the kindness of Bairo Rinpoche towards each and every individual associated with Rinpoche. And the second reason which is of most important is what Bairo Rinpoche did for the Drukpa lineage, for the flourishing of Buddha dharma at all costs, which is a lesson that we all can look up to. Although Bairo Rinpoche was a great enlightened master of the Nyingma lineage, he had a pure vision towards the Drukpa lineage. Therefore, at a time when the Drukpa lineage in the Himalayas was going through difficult times, His Eminence protected and preserved the Drukpa lineage and its precious teachings. And His Eminence did this through various skillful means – protecting the Drukpa lineage but at the same time without ever losing his own identity as a lineage holder and a great master of the Nyingma lineage.

Published on - 29-May-2018

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Wisdom: Enlightenment without Gender

Dakini is the wisdom or emptiness aspect of enlightenment. It does not refer only to the feminine forms. It is the wisdom that eliminates the five poisons caused by the ego, such as desires, anger, ignorance, pride and doubt. Everyone, male and female has this aspect of enlightenment. The skilful method is represented by the male energy, which is the other aspect of enlightenment. Wisdom or emptiness and compassion or skilful methods are the two aspects of enlightenment.

Rather than looking at the enlightened female practitioners as female in forms, we need to appreciate them in the more profound sense.

Published on - 14-Mar-2017

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Refuge

‘Refuge’ and ‘Bodhicitta’ are terms special to Buddhism. The special Buddhist practices of refuge and Bodhicitta are a kind of starting point of the spiritual path. Bodhicitta is like a stimulant for your path. To start with we should have the attitude of refuge. In order to have refuge one has to have some kind of renunciation or sense of understanding. The understanding of samsara, of suffering, of happiness and of day-to-day life is very important. If you do not know anything about these things, then even if you take refuge vows or call yourself a spiritual practitioner, mediator or Buddhist, it will not make any sense because you do not anything, understanding is very important for everything, but it is especially important if you want to adopt the spiritual path, as one has to thoroughly understand what is happening in one’s life.

Published on - 07-Aug-2016

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Karma

Ego is the creator of the world in which we are suffering. For example, when we take rebirth, we do so without any understanding or knowledge; without freedom. Also, after being born, when we are in the process of growth, we do not have any freedom.

KARMA IS THE LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT

Those people who are crippled, blind, sick or suffering very much do not have any freedom or choice about their situation, even though they may not like that kind of life. But they have to go through it because their “karma” has pushed them into that situation. I hope you understand what karma means; it is the law of cause and effect. It is the result of the seed that you have previously sown, but this kind of seed can be destroyed before it cones to fruition.

Published on - 07-Aug-2016

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Reflection on being a Volunteer

I am very glad to see that there are many individuals who wish to volunteer and as there were so many new volunteers joining during my trip, at the same time I feel it’s important to express a few things, which I feel are important in volunteerism.

Some of you may feel, ‘How will Rinpoche know anything about volunteering?’ Some of my friends used to jokingly say, ‘Oh please remember, I am a volunteer and I cannot work as hard as you all.’ To this I usually reply, ‘you’re not the only one who is a volunteer here, even we Rinpoches are volunteers, even His Holiness is a volunteer. The many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are also volunteers - we are all volunteers in the service of all sentient beings.’ So from this point of view I think I can say that I also have some experience and some reflection about being a volunteer and what kind of attitude a volunteer should have.

Published on - 01-Aug-2016

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The 5 Afflictive Emotions

The five afflictive emotions are the source of suffering. They are: anger, pride, jealousy, attachment and ignorance.

Anger destroys our state of mind. When one is angry, one loses the power to reason. The antidote for anger is compassion and forbearance. It is impossible to kill all the people you hate, or subdue all of one’s enemies but it is easier, and possible, to subdue that anger within one’s own mind.

You will not become ugly if someone tells you so, nor will you become a thief if someone accuses you of stealing. One should practice compassion by understanding that the other person who is angry is not in a state of mind to reason and by adhering to what he says and does, you will also be doing the same to your own state of mind.

Published on - 01-Aug-2016

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