Ethics

Phakchok Rinpoche wishes everyone a happy 2022 and shares very useful advice from Dza Patrül Rinpoche for both mundane and spiritual activities.

As social beings, we humans learn from those around us. And because we don’t have fixed, unchanging solidity as beings, we make choices. We can choose to follow our innate goodness. If we associate with loving, kind, and open-hearted people, we will naturally develop those qualities. When we acknowledge our basic goodness, we lean toward virtue and surround ourselves with others who share that view.

As social beings, we humans learn from those around us. And because we don’t have fixed, unchanging solidity as beings, we make choices. We can choose to follow our innate goodness. If we associate with loving, kind, and open-hearted people, we will naturally develop those qualities. When we acknowledge our basic goodness, we lean toward virtue and surround ourselves with others who share that view.

As social beings, we humans learn from those around us. And because we don’t have fixed, unchanging solidity as beings, we make choices. We can choose to follow our innate goodness. If we associate with loving, kind, and open-hearted people, we will naturally develop those qualities. When we acknowledge our basic goodness, we lean toward virtue and surround ourselves with others who share that view.

To conclude our Copper-Colored Mountain series on this last Guru Rinpoche day of the year of the pig, I would like to share with you a very special prayer for rebirth in Zangdok Palri, written by the great tertön Chokgyur Lingpa himself.

Hilary Herdman explores the five fundamental precepts taught by the Buddha.

Meditation certainly includes formal sitting practice, but we can appreciate that there is more to it than that! Here, Phakchok Rinpoche explains that meditation doesn’t just mean sitting on a cushion and watching our breath. Nor does it mean just practicing whatever specific instruction you may have received. Of course, those are important forms of meditation, but meditation can be so much juicier!

Ethical behavior occupies a central role on the Buddhist path to awakening. Yet often, modern presentations of Buddhist teaching skip over these fundamental principles. In our hurry to jump to the “good stuff,” however, we may be missing some crucial points.

How do we become authentic Buddhist practitioners? In this short audio clip from a teaching in Sao Paolo, Brasil, Khenpo Gyaltsen says each one of us needs to remember to “check yourself.”

Believing karma, cause and effect, makes us authentic practitioners. Here, Phakchok Rinpoche speaks very directly to our cynicism and doubts. He says frankly that we need to believe in karma and in past and future lives.

Expanding the heart brings great benefit for both ourselves and others. In this video teaching, Phakchok Rinpoche advises each of us to develop big and broad hearts.

Remembering the kindness of others is an important practice for all of us. We should not forget those many individuals who have been kind to us.