Month: July 2023

Attaining Liberation

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

“According to the Vajrayana view, guru yoga is the quintessential practice for attaining liberation. All Buddhas became enlightened by following their teacher’s precious instructions. So the guru is considered even more important than the Buddha because without out the guru there is no way to achieve Buddhahood. When the guru’s instructions have penetrated the student’s heart, this is the same as finding a precious wish-fulfilling jewel in your hand. Someone who has received the guru’s mind transmission has no choice but to attain enlightenment, just as someone falling down a steep mountain totally out of control has no choice but to fall all the way to the bottom.”

Lama Tharchin Rinpoche from Wisdom Nectar ~ Shambhala

Lama Tsedrup Tharchin Rinpoche 1936-2013

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

Pema Dechen and Drubpon Pema Rigdzin standing next to Lama Tharchin Rinpoche’s Throne in the Shrineroom at the Pema Osel Ling Retreat Center in the Santa Cruz Mountains, California

Lama Tharchin Rinpoche was a beloved Dzogchen master of the Dudjom Tersar tradition of the Nyingma school of Vajrayana Buddhism and the tenth family lineage holder of the Repkong Ngakmang in Amdo, the largest community of yogi and lay tantric practitioners in Tibet. The Repkong ngakpas were revered throughout the region for their realization and ability to benefit others through the power of their tantric practice. (continue to read at https://www.heartteachings.com/pages/about-us). Lama Tharchin Rinpoche entered parinirvana on July 22, 2013

This year, on Rinpoche’s 10th Solar Parinirvana Anniversary, Saturday, July 22, Jnanasukha Foundation is offering  a day of community, practice and teaching beginning at 9:00 am with Lama Dechen Yeshe Wangmo, and students of Lama Tharchin Rinpoche. For more information, to see the schedule of events and to connect to join this commemorative event, visit: https://www.jnanasukha.org/ltr-10th-parinirvana-event

Chakung Wangdrak Rinpoche (Spiritual Director of the Abhaya Fellowship) will give a teaching from 10am – noon on “The Ngakpa Tradition: Stories and a Teaching in Honor of Lama Tharchin Rinpoche, ” hosted by the Abhaya Fellowship. You can find the login information using this link on The Heart Teachings by Lama Tharchin website:

On August 1st, the Lunar Anniversary date, the Vajrayana Foundation is offering a day of practice, by livestream or to attend in person at the Pema Osel Ling Retreat Center, the Dorsem Lama Chopa Offering of the Lama in the Form of Vajrasattva puja and tsok. For more information and to receive live stream links, visit: https://www.vajrayana.org/events/242/

Following herein in three versions: English, Tibetan and by Rinpoche’s hand, we want to re-share Lama Tharchin Rinpoche’s ShalChem, Final Words of Advice. Lama Tharchin Rinpoche requested Pema Dechen to give his Final Words of Advice to people after he passed.

finaleng

finaltib

finalhand

“Responding to the requests of students, Lama Tharchin Rinpoche established Heart Teachings in 2000 (as Friends of Lama Tharchin Rinpoche) and began producing monthly Dharma teaching videos to support the practice of his many heart friends. Rinpoche used this opportunity to offer precise instruction on the view, meditation, action, and result of the vajrayana path, focusing on presenting detailed guidance for many of the most important practices of our Dudjom Tersar lineage.  Rinpoche’s video series provided us, wherever we were, with a way to connect with Rinpoche each month, helped support Rinpoche’s personal retreats, and allowed us to compile a vast library capturing Rinpoche’s unique wisdom heritage. Following Rinpoche’s instructions, after his passing into parinirvana on July 22, 2013, we have continued collecting, cataloging, preserving, and making available Lama Tharchin Rinpoche’s Vajrayana Buddhist legacy of teachings, practice and ritual traditions, writings and art, stemming particularly from the Nyingma and Dudjom Tersar yogi traditions.

Rinpoche’s teachings encompass a wide range of topics from Vajrayana Buddhism, including the foundational preliminary practices, our most common Dudjom Tersar sadhana practices, and Dzogchen. Suitable for beginning to advanced practitioners, Rinpoche’s heart advice will illuminate spiritual practice in any tradition.

Since the Heart Teachings’ inception, our monthly subscribers have formed the heart of support and continue to be an essential element of, and inspiration for, our work.”

Click here to join the Heart Teaching by Lama Tharchin as a monthly subscriber.

 

The First Teaching of Buddha

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

The First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma, Chokhor Duchen, is an important holiday in which Buddhist honor the day that the Buddha Shakyamuni first taught the Four Noble Truths ( See list below.) in Sarnath, India, and first turned the Wheel of the Dharma after attaining enlightenment.

Magical Display of the Arts ~ Dharma Wheel and Deer

This year, 2023, we at Vajrayana Foundation will celebrate streaming live from Pema Osel Ling on Friday, July 21st 8am Pacific with Buddha Puja and Tsog. Please join us using this link.  If you would like to make offerings for our teachers, for Tsok, Butter Lamps, general support, or Special Projects, please use this link.

From a temple in Vietnam, Relief of Buddha Giving First Teaching.

The Four Noble Truths are the foundational tenets of Buddhism, which spark awareness of suffering as the nature of existence, its cause, and how to live without it. The truths are understood as the realization which led to the enlightenment of Buddha and were the basis of his teachings.

The Four Noble Truths are:

  • The Truth of Suffering
  • The Truth of the Cause of Suffering
  • The Truth of Freedom from Suffering
  • The Truth of the Way to Eliminate Suffering

The path alluded to in the fourth truth is The Eightfold Path which serves as both a guide on the road to non-attachment and the road itself. The precepts both inform a traveler on how to proceed and provide the way through spiritual discipline. The eight precepts are:

  • Right View
  • Right Intention
  • Right Speech
  • Right Action
  • Right Livelihood
  • Right Effort
  • Right Mindfulness
  • Right Concentration

By recognizing the Four Noble Truths and following the Eightfold Path, a person could find release from craving and attachment to the things of the world and liberate oneself from the endless cycle of suffering experienced through rebirth and death. The Truths and the Path are given varying levels of significance by different Buddhist schools in the present day but remain foundational aspects of the faith in all of them.