Dharma Teachings

The web pages linked from this page are notes from talks given in Baltimore and at the Tibetan Meditation Center in Frederick Maryland. Our thanks thanks go to the Ja Ling Center, Susquehanna Yoga Center, and everyone who has assisted in bringing these teachers to Baltimore and Frederick.

Introductory Teachings

Some newcomers visited Frederick during a scheduled talk on guru yoga. For their sake Khenpo Tsultrim Tenzin prefaced his remarks with a short introduction to the dharma.

Ari Kiev, who serves as Garchen Rinpoche's translator, also gave an introductory talk on Buddhist practice.

And Drupon Thinley Nyingpo also gave an introduction to Buddhism.

Kensur Lobsang Chojor, former abbot of the Ganden monastery in India, visited Baltimore in December 2005 and gave two intruductory teachings on Buddhism: the four noble truths and the three vehicles of Buddhism.

Drupon Thinley Ningpo gave a talk on the importance of the sangha. The term sangha refers to the community of practitioners.

Drupon Thinley Nyingpo gave a talk explaining the different styles of shamatha meditation taught in Tibetan Buddhism.

Khandro Rinpoche gave a talk at the Washington DC Shambhala Center and another talk at the Baltimore Shambhala Center on the practice of meditation.

Khenpo Tsultrim Tenzin gave a talk explaining the twelve deeds of Shakyamuni Buddha the weekend before the Buddhist holy day Lha Bab Duchen in 2005.

Lama Dawa Chodrak gave a talk on the significance of the holy days in the Tibetan calendar at Vajra Konchog Ling in May of 2005.

Mahayana Buddhism

The Mahayana teachings describe how one follows the path to full enlightenment by developing impartial compassion for all beings and by cultivating the six perfections: generosity, ethics, patience, enthusiastic effort, meditation, and non-dual wisdom. These talks cover some aspects of the Mahayana.

Khenpo Tsultrim Tenzin gave a talk explaining The Heart Sutra, the essence of the view of the Mahayna.

Drupon Thinley Ningpo followed the empowerment of Prjanaparamita with a teaching on the meaning of the Heart Sutra.

Ari Kiev, who is secretary to His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche, gave a talk on the practice of The Four Immeasurables and Bodhicitta.

Drupon Thinley Ningpo gave a talk on cultivating bodhicitta. His talk provides a good introduction to the role compassion plays in Mahayana Buddhism.

While visiting the Towson Dharma House Namkhai Nyingpo Rinpoche gave a talk on developing compassion and cultivating the six perfections.

Kenchen Konchog Gyaltsen taught on the The Jewel Ornament of Liberation when he returned to Frederick for the 2006 and 2007 Spring Retreats. Here are my notes on his teachings on the perfections of generosity, perseverance, and the stages of the Buddhist path.

Karma Chagme Rinpoche gave a talk based on the Thirty Eighth Chapter of Mountain Dharma. The talk is on eliminating the kleshas (negative emotions.)

Khenpo Chokyi Goecha gave a short talk explaining the dharmakaya and emptiness.

Khenpo Tsultrim Tenzin gave a talk explaining Chenga Lingpa's Vajra Song, which explains the Mahayana Buddhist path of practice.

Lama Gyalpo spoke on Chokyi Drakpa's Thirty Five Verses of Advice, which gives his advice to practitioners on different stages of the Buddhist path.

Khenpo Tsultrim gave two talks explaining the three levels of vows: The Pratimoksha Vows, the Bodhisattva Vows, and the Tantric Samaya Vows.

Mahamudra

Mahamudra is the practice of meditation which identifies enlightenment with the natural state of mind. Any effort to produce calm, bliss, or wisdom is viewed as a contrivance and deviation from this natural mind. By resting the mind without effort or contrivance mind's inherent enlightened nature is revealed.

When still in Tibet, Garchen Rinpoche wrote a poem explaining the practice of Mahamudra to an American student visiting him. This talk that he gave at the Tibetan Meditation Center is an explanation of some of the points in the poem, which is called A River that Cannot be Frozen.. On a later visit to the Tibetan Meditation Center, he provided a brief commentary on the Dharmadhatu Doha, which sets out the main points of mahaumudra meditation. When visiting in 2007, he gave an explanation of Milarepa's talk with Nyama Paldarbum, where Milarepa explained how to practice mahamudra.

Drupon Thinley Nyinypo gave the oral transmission (rLung) for Moonbeams of Mahamudra, a famous text explaining Mahamudra that was written by Takpo Tashi Namgyal. During the transmission he gave a brief explanation of the crucial points of Mahamudra.

The Drikung Kagyu tradition of mahamudra is called fivefold mahamudra, because mahmudra is practiced in the context of the five practices of bodhicitta, yidam practice, guru yoga, mahamudra, and dedication. Bongtrul Rinpoche gave a talk at the Tibetan Meditation Center on the importance of fivefold mahamudra.

The Nyungma school of Tibetan Buddhism has a practice called Dzogchen, which has the same intent as Mahamudra, to recognize the inherently enlightened nature of awareness. Drupon Rinpoche gave a talk at the Tibetan Meditation Center on the Yabzang Dzogchen, the Drikung terma tradition which includes the practice of Dzogchen.

Tantric Teachings and Empowerments

Tantric Budhhism is also called the resultant vehicle, as distinguished from Mahayana Buddhism, which is the causal vehicle. The causal vehicle cultivates the causes of enlightenment, unselfish compassion and the practice of the six perfections. Tantra, the resultant vehicle, is based on the fact that all beings already posess buddha nature and utilizes meditation practices where one visualizes oneself as a buddha. The meditator with firm faith in their inherent buddha nature and devotion to their teacher can make swifter progress with the Tantric teachings than on the Mahayana path.

Garchen Rimpoche gave a talk at the Tibetan Meditation Center in Frederick on the meaning of empowerment and the role of compassion in Buddhism.

Drupon Thinley Nyingpo, retreat master at the Tibetan Meditation Center, gave a talk on the generation stage of deity yoga. He also gave talks on the tsok practice and how to practice to prepare for the between life state of the bardo.

Drupon also gave a talk on the five poisons and their antidotes.

Ontrul Rinpoche gave an explanation of the bardo teachings based on the text, The Mirror of Mindfulness.

Drupon Thinley Nyingpo spoke on the meaning of the Chenrezig sadhana and the benefits of Chenrezig practice.

Khenpo Chokyi Goecha explained the meaning of the six syllable mantra of Chrenrezig, "Om mani padme hum."

Before giving the empowerment for the Achi Chokyi Drolma sadhana, Drupon gave a brief talk on Achi Drolma's biography.

Khenpo Tsultrim Tendzin gave a one day teaching at Ja Ling on the practice of Phowa and the Amitabha sadhana. Phowa is a practice done at the time of dath to transfer the consciousness to Dewachen, the pure land of Amitabha. I haven't included the actual phowa instructions here, because they're not suitable for a public site. But many of the other instructions Khenpo gave are of general interest, so I've included my notes.

Lama Chokyi Goecha has visited Baltimore several times to give teachings. On hist first visit he gave a talk on the bardo. When he returned to Baltimore in Spring of 2005 he gave a talk explaining the Seven Line Prayer to Padmasambhava according to Mipham's commentary. And While visiting Baltimore in September 2005 Chokyi Goecha gave introductory talks on tantra and the bardo.

Bardor Tulku made a stop in Baltimore in August of 2003 and gave a talk at the Ja Ling Center on the life of Yeshe Tsogyal, the consort of Guru Padmasambhava

Khenpo Tsultrim Tenzin taught on Gong Chik at the Spring Retreat in 2006. My notes cover his remarks on the importance of lineage in Gong Chik.

Khenpo Choepel gave a talk on the first chapter of the Gong Chik during the 2007 Winter Retreat. The first chapter contains Jigten Sumgon's commentary on various aspects of Buddha Dharma.

Guenthesaurus

Several years ago Khandro Rinpoche asked her students to read Herbert Guenther's Kindly Bent to Ease Us to prepare for her visit. We were stumped by some of the terms used in the translation so we put our heads together and came up with a consensus translation. Dylan Smith formatted the results as a page on Khandro Rinpoche's web site. When the site was redesigned, the page was removed. So, to rescue it for posterity, I grabbed in from Google's cache and found a place for the Guenthesaurus on this site.