Month: October 2023

November 2023 Ngondro Schedule

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

LIVESTREAM DUDJOM NGONDRO TEACHINGS
AND ACCUMULATION SESSIONS

𝐃𝐮𝐝𝐣𝐨𝐦 𝐍𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐨 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 ⁣𝟐𝟎𝟐3 NOVEMBER 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞

Rinpoche teaches in the Tibetan Language
with Cy Cassoff translating into English.

November 8th, 2023 @ 5pm
TROMA NGAKMO NGONDRO TEACHINGS
with Tulku Thadral Rinpoche 

By the request from Troma Ngondro Practitioners, Tulku Thadral Rinpoche has accepted to give Troma Ngondro Teachings from The Recitation of the Profound Preliminary Practice of Cutting through Demons  Adapted from the main instruction Manual. Rinpoche has suggested that all participants  attending by live stream or in person at Pema Osel Ling to please bring  your text *. On November 8th Tulku Thadral Rinpoche will give the Troma Ngondro Oral Reading Transmission, Lung, which must be received in real time to be valid, and Rinpoche will continue the Troma Ngondro Teaching, Part 2.

Attendance in person and by livestream.
To attend in person, RSVP:  Dharma Programs ~~~> office@vajrayana.org
subject: RSVP Troma Ngondro Teaching

To attend by YouTube livestream ~>>> https://youtube.com/live/4T3WEXSgxSw

Outline Recap from the part 1 teaching:

Tulku Thadral Rinpoche began with a brief history and explanation of chod and covered the Lama Soldeb and the first of the Four Thoughts. If you missed part 1, view it here: ~~~> https://youtube.com/live/Gd6HPgefQwl

The monthly YouTube Live stream of the Troma Ngondro Teaching Series with Tulku Thadral Rinpoche in realtime will be free for everyone. Access to the YouTube livestream recordings will be free for Dudjom Ngondro Program Participants of the Vajrayana Foundation. Access for Non-Members will be by fee/offering ($21, $54, $108 sliding scale).

  *Troma Ngondro Text 

Acquire complimentary copy from the website of
Dudjom Rnpoche III Sangye Pema Shepa
Dudjom International Foundation

Purchase Troma Ngondro version published by
Light of Berotsana Publication from
Dharma Treasures Bookstore (Pema Osel Ling)
or directly from Light of Berotsana here

Note:  This is marked as a restricted text, which indicates that some prerequisite is required for its purchase, such as having received an empowerment, transmission, and/or permission from a lama.

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November 18th, 2023 @ 11am
Questions and Answers with Tulku Thadral Rinpoche
NOTE:  For Participants of the Vajrayana Foundation
Ngondro Program

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 November 19th, 2023 @ 9am
Dudjom Tersar Ngondro Accumulations with
Choying Wangmo
NOTE:  For Participants of the Vajrayana Foundation
Ngondro Program

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TROMA RESOURCES:

Dharma Treasures
Heart Teachings by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche

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DAILY TROMA NGONDRO ACCUMULATION
For Troma Ngondro Participants only with Helen:
Access to the 7am Pacific Daily Troma Ngondro
Practice Session and the
8:pm Pacific Troma Four Feasts: Black, Red, Mixed & Red.

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Impermanence

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

As the root verses read: Whoever is born possesses the phenomena of impermanence and death. Thus, wherever one goes, wherever one is born, then from birth, without depending on measuring by the numbers of more or less beings, impermanence is the conditional phenomenon of death. As the Great Pandit, Ashvaghosha, said:

Whether on earth or else in the heavens,
Once born, was there ever anyone who did not die?
Did you ever see anyone?
Did you ever hear of anyone, or did you have any doubt?

Thus, as said, here in this universe, has one ever heard of any being who never died and is still living at this time? Did anyone ever see any such being with their eyes, or ever hear about them, or have any doubt? There is no escape from death, so therefore, such decisive questions are asked by the learned one. However one thinks, whether considering the outer container of the universe or the inner essence of beings, it is all conditional phenomena that is destructible. From The King of Samadhi Sutra:

When this world of cyclic existence occurs,
By occurring, it diminishes and nothing is left.
Likewise, as it was before, the future will be like that.

Thus it is said.
Although thinking it is true that taking birth leads to death, one might still speculate, according to the strength or weakness of one’s health and whether one is old or young, that one is young and healthy, and for this reason may assume that one will continue to live for a while. It is impossible to predict that. As it says in The Voice of My Root Guru, the Emanation of Samantabhadra: 

Some infants still crawling meet with death. Some youths meet with death. For some, death comes when they are old, frail, and decrepit. Others may not even have the opportunity to take medicine or to try to protect themselves from sudden, untimely death. Some are ailing for so long that their bodies are stuck to the bedsheets while their dead eyes continue to gaze longingly at the living, with only skin covering their bones, and then they die. Some suddenly die of a stroke without even finishing their meal, conversation, or work. There are even those who die by suicide. There are many conditions for death. The power of life is weak in comparison, like a butter lamp in a windstorm. Even today at this very moment, death could suddenly occur, so that by this time tomorrow, rebirth as an animal with horns or a beak could have already happened. The time of death is extremely uncertain, and so is the future place of rebirth. It is important to be concerned about this.

Since the circumstances of death are so uncertain, it is important to have confidence in the immeasurable teachings that are given. As it says in The Speech on Impermanence: 

For all who are born,
Death is staying before them.
Since even I have not transcended that, Dharma must be practiced from today.

Thus it is said, and, from The Sutra of Parinirvana:

For whoever harvests fields, the best is to have found a field with crops. Among all impressions, the best is the perception of impermanence and death. Why? Because the perception of the three realms will be diminished.

Thus it is said. Then, in this case, the meaning of reversing the mind that identifies with the three realms is as follows. According to the Hinayana vehicle, knowing the passions and their karma are exhausted so there is no cause to be born again is the attainment of the Arhat state. According to the great vehicles of cause and result, the mind of the desire realm is exhausted in the wisdom mind of Nirmanakaya, the all-encompassing compassion of empty bliss. The mind of the form realm is exhausted in the wisdom mind of Sambhogakaya, the spontaneous presence of empty radiance. The mind of the formless realm is exhausted in the sphere of the wisdom mind of the empty awareness of Dharmakaya. In this way, the sublime permanent state of deathlessness places one in the state of the Victorious Ones of the Three Kayas. The meaning of this is in The Sutra of Revealing the Three Kayas:

Dharmakaya is the permanence of the essential nature as it is.
Sambhogakaya is constant permanence.
Nirmanakaya is uninterrupted permanence.

Thus it is said. Also, in the Uttara Tantra, it says:

The lord of Dharma annihilates the demon of death,
And since this is unborn, it is the permanent protector of the world.

Then, from Uma ]ukpa:

Body of peace, the wish-granting tree, ever radiant,
Like a wish-fulfilling jewel with no conception,
Permanently endures in this world until all beings are liberated.

Thus, Dharmakaya and Sambhogakaya are permanent. Nirmanakaya is both pure and impure, according to the purity or impurity of the vessels of water of various beings’ capacities, which reflect clearly or unclearly the image of the moon that appears in the sky. Just as the actual moon does not really enter the water to become self-characterized within water, the nature of phenomena is likewise beyond the nature of permanence and impermanence, and so is called the permanence of the uninterrupted continuity of Nirmanakaya. Therefore, since the result of meditating on impermanence is the attainment of the deathless, permanent, sublime state of the Victorious Ones of the Three Kayas, be diligent

A Cascading Waterfall of Nectar, Pgs 39-42
by Thinley Norbu
Shambhala Publishing

 

Announcement of the First Event of the Vajrayana Brazil Foundation

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

Lama Tharchin Rinpoche used to tell me: “One day we’ll visit Brazil together, I really want to get to know that land and establish a connection.” How about that? I can teach Ngondro! “. Unfortunately with his passing in 2013, this wish cannot be fulfilled in that lifetime.

However, a little more than two years ago the winds of Karma and aspirations prompted a group of Brazilians, now 62 people, to begin their journey in Ngondro under the blessings of Lama Sonam Rinpoche through the Dudjom Tersar Ngondro Program of the Vajrayana Foundation.

We had the merit of studying Lama Tharchin Rinpoche’s commentary together and now we are studying A Nectar Waterfall at Dungse Thinley Norbu Rimpoche Waterfall. We usually meet on Fridays and drink from the nectar of the teachings of the New Treasure of Dudjom tradition. On Wednesdays the group practices together, all online via Zoom.

Next week we will be meeting or live for the first time in the city of Rio de Janeiro for four ceremonies:

Tchangbu gyatsa e tchö: healing ceremony related to the cycle of dākinī irada Throma Nakmo.

Nedren: ceremony to direct the dead to the pure lands

La tse guk: a ceremony bringing back the vitality and protective energy of the body and mind

Yang guk: a ceremony driving away the embodiment of poverty and bringing prosperity.

Lama Sonam Rimpoche will open our session on the 14th at 10:00 a.m.(California Time) for the first official event of the Vajrayana Brazil Foundation. We hope that this is the beginning of many activities related to the tradition of the New Treasury of Dudjom in Portuguese.

A big hug

Pema Rigdzin