Dzogchen & Mahamudra Teachings with Lama Lena - Day 1

Recording of the live cast from Barcelona

09-06-2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM0RtJIbKnY

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Recording of Live from Barcelona - Dzogchen & Mahamudra Teachings (Day 1)

Due to technical difficulties, the live stream was of poor quality. We are uploading the recording of the session. Recorded on September 6, 2024

Upcoming Teachings from Barcelona: Dzogchen and Mahamudra

When: September 6-8, 2024

Lama Lena will offer teachings on Mahamudra and Dzogchen live from Casa Del Tibet de Barcelona (House of Tibet).

In-person attendance is by registration only and full as of this posting. For questions or concerns, contact [email protected]

Sessions

1. Friday Sept. 6, 2024 / 7PM - 9PM (Barcelona time)
2. Saturday Sept. 7, 2024 / 1 - 3PM (Barcelona time)
3. Sunday Sept. 8 2024 / 11AM - 1PM (Barcelona time)

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#Dzogchen #Mahamudra #Webcasts

@VajraGuruSongs | #LamaLena

Wealth, success and status are all simply ways of attracting enemies and demons.

— Chatral Sangye Dorje (1913-2015)

#Fragments

@VajraGuruSongs | Context

The Body of Light is the supreme realization of Dzogchen. Its function is different from that of a Sambhogakaya manifestation, because a being in a Body of Light can communicate and actively help other beings. It is as if the physical body, its material substance having been absorbed into its luminous essence, continues to live as an aggregation of the elements in their subtle aspect. Manifestations of the Sambhogakaya, on the other hand, are passive, because they depend on the beings who enjoy the vision of them.

— Chogyal Namkhai Norbu

Image: Guru Padmasambhava manifests the realization of the Body of Light (Rainbow Body)

#Fragments #Realization

@VajraGuruSongs | Context

Meditation That Anyone Can Do

You are going to go home. You will have a lot of things to do. And for this I'd like to share a technique before we depart today.

For those of you, who aren't necessarily following the path of the Buddha, I want you to keep this mood of celebration of festival, or even the sadhana, by choosing an object. Whether it is a form or a sound, or even a taste or a feeling.

It doesn't have to be holy. It doesn't have to be beautiful. It can be a sunset. It can be a piece of rock. It can be a dead leaf. It can be your fork, spoon, whatever comes in your mind. Or whatever is in front of you, whatever you see. The first thing you see. Wherever it is. It doesn't have to be in a very serene place, such as the temple. It can be in your toilet. Wherever, whenever.

If you can choose one object, such as door handle, as you are probably rushing out to buy grocery, look at this door handle, and remain there looking at it for at least one minute. And while you are looking at this door handle for one minute, if you have a thought about going to the supermarket, the shopping list, etc., try to come back to the door handle.

Or, even better, if you are web browsing, let's say you are doing the Facebook. Why not choose the letter "f" and look at this letter "f" for one minute? And if you really want to browse the other parts — don't. Just look at the letter "f" for just one minute. We are talking about as short as one minute.

As you do this, what happens is the object you get distracted ends up becoming a lie. Like a fire and the wood. If you know how to use the wood, more wood means more fire. But if you don't know how to use the wood, then fire can die.

So choose an object. It could be a sound. It could be noise, like this. And this is something that any one of us can do.

And on top of that, if you still want to do something extra, try to acknowledge and educate yourself that everything is your projection. Everything is your opinion. You know, like in the expression "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder". Basically, whatever you are seeing, hearing, whatever you are deciding, is your projection.

As simple as it sounds, if you can really understand what it means, that it is just my projection, if you can really comprehend this, you will begin to understand the world of illusion more and more. And this, even though I put it in this way, is basically the Shamatha and the Vipassana practice, that can be done by everyone.

And by doing this, when you remain, for instance, on the door handle for one minute, without distraction, it is the Buddha. You are remembering the Buddha, because you are not distracted. This is also remembering the Dharma, because you are not distracted. You are remembering the Sangha, because at that time... Ok, see, when you are not distracted, you are not judging. When you are not judging, that is the seed of the compassion. And that is the Buddha. When you are not distracted, the chances of you misinterpreting, when you are not distracted, the chances of you judging, having a wrong view, is much less. And that is the Dharma.

And when you are not judging, when you are not distracted, and we are not even talking about a holy object, we are talking about a door handle, or a fork, or tissue paper or anything. During that time, as short as it may be, you are not contaminated, you are not corrupted by your emotion. At that time, you are a holy person. And at that time, you have become a Sangha. So through this you will be doing the sadhana.

So this is something that I wanted to share to those, who are not necessarily following the Buddhadharma.

— Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche

? Watch

#Meditation #RelaxationTechniques #Presence

@VajraGuruSongs | #DzongsarKhyentseRinpoche

Just as light destroys darkness,
Generosity destroys miserliness,
Discipline destroys harmfulness.
Patience destroys intolerance,
Perseverance destroys laziness,
Concentration destroys distraction,
Wisdom destroys ignorance.

— Chamtrul Rinpoche. Source

#Mahayana #SixParamitas #Antidotes

@VajraGuruSongs | #ChamtrulRinpoche

The Difference between the Eight Worldly Dharmas and Dharma (1/2)

Without renouncing the thought of the eight worldly dharmas, any action — circumambulating a stupa, meditating, reading a Dharma book — is a negative action, a worldly action. It is not spiritual, it is not Dharma; it is the opposite of Dharma.

In other words, the action itself does not determine whether something is Dharma. Dromtonpa shows us clearly that practicing Dharma is nothing more than renouncing the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas.

We need to be very clear about the distinction between Dharma and non-Dharma. We know that anger is negative, of course, but we aren't angry all the time. What really wastes our precious life isn't anger but attachment, being attached to the eight worldly dharmas.

Without clearly understanding what Dharma is, even though we try to practice it our whole life, nothing becomes Dharma because we still have the wrong motivation. The definition of non-Dharma is simply anything that is done for the happiness of this life alone; it is whatever we do motivated by attachment to the eight worldly dharmas.

The definition of Dharma is exactly the opposite: it is anything that is done for happiness beyond this life, whatever is unstained by attachment to the eight worldly dharmas. I repeat: whatever action we do with the thought of the eight worldly dharmas is not Dharma; whatever we do unstained by the thought of the eight worldly dharmas is Dharma. Every action we do from morning to night is either Dharma or non-Dharma depending on this.

If we clearly see the borderline between Dharma and non-Dharma, between a Dharma action and a worldly action, we're very fortunate. Until we reach that point, despite all the suffering we've endured and all our attempts to stop it, we have no route out of our unhappiness. Once we do reach that point we can start to do something about it.

In the past we've probably wanted to do many good things, like meditation, but because we've lacked this fundamental understanding we've made many mistakes. Even if we never understand one other Dharma subject, learning just this one thing is like opening our eyes for the first time.

Pure Dharma is any action that is a remedy for or an antidote to the delusions. Basically, practicing Dharma benefits future lives, unlike the meaningless activities of this life, which might possibly bring some temporary happiness in this life but nothing more.

Achieving the happiness of this life is nothing special. Even animals and insects as tiny as ants can do that, so if we never do more than that we're no more special than an insect. No matter how expert in our field we are, without practicing Dharma we can't fulfill our human potential, especially that of this perfect human rebirth.

The special purposes of having a perfect human rebirth are achievement of the happiness of future lives, liberation from samsara and full enlightenment, something we can do because we can create the causes of those results every second of our lives.

Virtue and nonvirtue are defined on this basis. Every action done renouncing attachment to this life is virtue; every action done with attachment to this life is nonvirtue. If we renounce the attachment that clings to the pleasures of this life, our attitude becomes pure and everything we do becomes Dharma. Nothing we do is done for just this life.

As soon as we renounce the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas we find peace. There's no need to wait until tomorrow or the day after. It's not as if we renounce the eight worldly dharmas today but need to wait for a few years or the next life to receive happiness.

— Lama Zopa Rinopche

? How to Practice Dharma (available for free)

#Mahayana #EightWorldlyDharmas

@MahayanaTexts | #LamaZopaRinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche - Dromtonpa's Advice to an Old Man

Because the eight worldly dharmas are the source of every problem we ever encounter, if Dharma practice means renouncing suffering it means renouncing the eight worldly dharmas. “I’m practicing Dharma” really means “I’m renouncing all the suffering of this and all future lives; I’m renouncing the thought of the eight worldly dharmas.”

In previous times, Dromtonpa, Atisha’s close disciple and translator, saw an old man walking around the temple at Reting Monastery. The old man thought that he was practicing Dharma. So Dromtonpa said, “Circumambulating the temple is good, but wouldn’t it be better to practice Dharma?” After hearing this the old man gave up going around the temple and started reading scriptures, thinking that that was what practicing Dharma meant. Again Dromtonpa saw him and said, “Reading the scriptures is good, but wouldn’t it be better to practice Dharma?” At that the old man gave up reading Dharma texts and, thinking that maybe meditation was practicing Dharma, sat cross-legged with his eyes closed. Again Dromtonpa saw him and said, “Meditation is good, but wouldn’t it be better to practice Dharma?”

This made the old man really confused. He couldn’t think of any other way of practicing Dharma if it wasn’t circumambulating, reading scriptures or meditating. So, a little exasperated, he exclaimed to Dromtonpa, “Practice Dharma! Practice Dharma! What do you mean, practice Dharma?” Dromtonpa replied, “Renounce this life. Renounce it now, for if you do not renounce attachment to this life, whatever you do will not be the practice of Dharma because you will not have passed beyond the eight worldly dharmas. Once you have renounced this life’s habitual thoughts and are no longer distracted by the eight worldly dharmas, whatever you do will advance you on the path of liberation.”

Dromtonpa advised the old man to renounce this life because without renouncing this life nobody can practice pure Dharma. With renunciation, however, pure Dharma practice, which brings happiness in this and all future lives, is possible. Renouncing this life doesn’t mean running away from home or throwing away all our material possessions; it means running away from the cause of the suffering. That alone can cut our suffering. As long as we follow the eight worldly dharmas, whether we separate from this physical body or not, without question we will still suffer.

? How to Practice Dharma (page 106) ?

Image: Dromtonpa, founder of the Kadam tradition

#Mahayana #EightWorldlyDharmas #Renunciation

@MahayanaTexts | #LamaZopaRinpoche