Impermanence

These days we are all so busy that we often don’t take time to consider how constant doing affects our minds. And we might be surprised to know that in the Buddhist tradition, busyness represents a type of spiritual laziness. How can that be? If we’re doing all the time, how can we be lazy? 

We know that we ourselves will eventually die. We know, and yet … are we really taking these teachings to heart as the Buddha and the teachers encourage us to do? Do we truly believe that this could be our last Dharma talk or meditation session? Have we become bored with these reflections?

Learning meditation requires both study and actual practice. Correct preparation before starting a meditation session allows us to experience authentic results

Trusting karma is something that many of us struggle with in our practice. But are we clear about what karma really means? Here, Phakchok Rinpoche reminds us that the Sanskrit word karma means “action.” We create karma when we act with our physical body or when we speak. However, it may not be so obvious that we create karma when we think as well.

I am at the moment in Gomde New York. Hope you all are keeping well and that you are keeping up with your practice. I came across a short audio teaching on the bardos by Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche earlier today and it sent a strong reminder for practicing.

Read insightful student reflections on the Four Mind Changings, a Tibetan Buddhist teaching that inspires personal transformation and spiritual growth.

I would like to share this message with you all for today’s Guru Rinpoche Day: My son, you need to understand the dharma that I taught you. That is the easy part. The difficult part is the practice. And the more difficult part is to maintain the practice. Maintain means to carry on the practice whether you are in the mountain or in the city.

Khenpo Gyaltsen knows that discussions of impermanence can cause strange reactions. Our nature is impermanent. There is no reason to feel unhappy about it. We see it all around us in small things, don’t we?

Over 2500 years ago, the Buddha chose a different approach. We could call it uncommon sense: meaning it was almost the opposite of how we commonly think.

For today’s Guru Rinpoche Day, I would like to share with you a key that helps unlock the root of all hope and fear. To really understand the dharma, to practice the dharma, and to apply the dharma, you really need to understand this key.