Many thanks to those who joined us for Riwo Sangchö with Lama Tinley on Sunday! It was a really special event, we were all buzzing afterward with positive energy and blessings. More than 30 people joined us, in-person and online. Many people in other countries stayed up late to participate, including four in India, where it was 3:30am! Lama Tinley will be going to Toronto after this, I'm so glad he could meet some of you and spend some time in little Grand Forks while in Canada! 

My sister and I met Lama Tinley in Nepal when I was 21. He had just come out of retreat; our lama Lopon Ugyen Rinpoche introduced us at the Bodhinath Stupa. They were both students of Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche, whom I had the good fortune of meeting and taking refuge with while I was there. Lama Tinley is a lineage-holder of Dudjom Tersar ritual, including melodies, instruments, and torma. We know when we hear him play rolmos and chant that this is the authentic tradition. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. 

This week we had a short and sweet meditation and discussion about gratitude and attachment. While gratitude is wonderful, it easily turns into attachment. Attachment is one of the main traps we are learning to identify and avoid as we begin exploring Buddhist thought. This is tricky because it is often connected to things we like. Sometimes good feelings end up harming us, and sometimes feeling bad is constructive-  it takes wisdom to discern what is actually beneficial. Gaining this wisdom is crucial, otherwise we are constantly chasing what feels good, even when it is harmful, like eating something you love but are allergic to. When we notice a food is making us sick we try to identify what it is and avoid it. We would be wise to treat our actions with the same care!

This week we were joined by Peter, Rinpoche's German translator, for meditation and a fruitful discussion. We talked about what Rinpoche calls 'samsaric confidence'. Throughout our lives, and even countless past lives, we have consistently reinforced our identities and dualistic view of the world. This has given us incredible confidence in our ego and the primacy of physical experience. So much confidence that we rarely, if ever, investigate it. Questioning the nature of self and phenomena is so rare that we call it a "precious human rebirth". This life is an opportunity to change not only ourselves now but who we will be in the future; it cannot be overstated how precious this moment is. The wheel of life is ever turning, there will never be a "free moment" to practice dharma, the time has to be willfully carved out. Of course it's hard to do that when we have so much samsaric confidence, and so little experience beyond it. 

Some people who start practicing meditation have had some glimpse of wisdom and are searching for what it means, and who they really are. Others have experienced so much hardship that they are brave enough to go against that confidence to escape suffering. Still others have a nagging feeling there must be more than this, a whispering from a past life. If you are reading this there has been something, a moment, feeling, thought or experience, that connected you to this practice. I encourage you to consider what it was, and give yourself a chance to explore it. The Buddha reminded us how brief this life is, comparing it to a bubble on water, a star at dawn, a flash of lightning. Don't miss it. 

We are planning a very special guest later this month, stay tuned! Thank you again for joining us Peter!

We had a wonderful first session this Sunday, where we discussed meditation and began with the practice of Vajrasattva. We talked about how meditation is like exercise- the word does not specify what exactly is being done, but rather is a general term for a physical practice, or in the case of meditation, a mental one. Many people meditate, with many different goals. Most commonly people in our culture meditate for relaxation and anxiety management. Buddhist meditation is specifically designed with the goal of achieving enlightenment. This goal, awakening our mind to our infinite nature, is so big that it accomplishes all other goals along the way. It is like the saying, "shoot for the moon, even if you miss you'll land among the stars" (except of course it should be the opposite, as the moon is the closest celestial body to us!) So all that relaxation, positivity, and joy that we may see as more relevant to our daily lives is included, and achieved along the way. Think of it as the ultra deluxe package. ;) 

Last week we talked about comparison and envy, two eternal companions in society.

Whether piercing our heart with a hot blade, or slowly smoldering in our stomach, envy has a heated effect on our minds and emotions. It can simply pop up in the presence of others, or it can be triggered by what they have, who they're with, etc. It is an inevitable arising in dualistic thinking (self and other). 

There are effective antidotes to this emotional arising, both in contemplation and meditation. For one, consider how impermanent everything in life is. What we long for today may even have been ours in the past- youth, companionship, wealth. And just as we look to others who have them, others, who have even less, look to us with envy. The present moment is like a bubble, floating, soon to pop; a temporary arrangement of causes and conditions. It will not last; it will become something else soon. That is why we call it the Wheel of Samsara, ever turning over, exchanging places, up and down. Deeply contemplating impermanence is the gateway to Buddhist practice- it is truly life changing. 

When we do the practice of Vajrasattva we imagine/visualize the Buddha Vajrasattva, the surrounding landscape, and eventually ourselves as beautiful, shining, youthful, perfect. We have an automatic response to these qualities, so we use them to create something beyond; use the duality to go beyond duality. It is a powerful way to transform our view of ourselves, and eventually, everything. 

Sunday, May 31st, is our last group meeting in this session. It is also Saga Dawa Duchen, the most holy day in the Buddhist year. This full moon marks the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and mahaparinirvana (death). While this entire lunar month is held in special regard, this day in particular is most important, and a big karmic multiplier. Consider ways you can generate merit on this day- make a donation to the local food bank or your charity of choice, volunteer or spend your time in the service of others, especially the sick, elderly, or your parents. Of course, this is a very good day to do meditation, particularly the purification meditation of Vajrasattva, as the work done on this day has the potential to deeply penetrate your habitual mind. If you can only make one group meet this entire year, let it be this one.

This week, in the spirit of Mother's Day, we discussed the Buddhist concept of "mother sentient beings". Buddhism includes the belief in reincarnation, recognizing that we have lived countless lives before this one, and will continue to take birth in a variety of ways throughout time. Maybe reincarnation is not something you are into, and that's ok. You don't need to believe in reincarnation to learn about Buddhist meditation. Below are two contemplations, with and without reincarnation, that help us reduce our intense self-focus and expand our mental and emotional capacity. 

"All mother sentient beings" is a term used very often in Buddhist philosophy, prayers, and meditation. When we refer to others as "mother sentient beings" we are saying that, at some point in a previous life, they were precious to us, they showed us great kindness and love. Our mothers, at a minimum, gave us the bodies we cherish, at incredible cost to herself. Consider for a minute the possibility that the Buddha was right, that we have lived many, many lives before. In each life someone was our mother- she nourished our bodies, endured our birth, and supported our growth. Then there were many more we loved, cried over and cared for. After just a few lives we would have quite a long list. Now we encounter them again, karma brings them back into our lives, only we don't remember. 

Even without reincarnation, the number of people we are connected to is much larger than we might initially think. You've heard of the concept of six degrees of separation? We rely on other people, all over the world, to support our lives. Everywhere we go, everything we buy, everything we eat, wherever we work, other people's efforts have created the circumstances of our lives. You've surely eaten a banana but never grown one. How about the clothes you are wearing? We are not independent, but interdependent. 

In contemplating our connection with others, whether in this life or throughout time, (or both!) we expand our own capacity, and release ourselves from the prison of self-focus. This is one of the reasons our visualizations are so vast, and a reason we dedicate our merit to all sentient beings. By integrating others into our practice with contemplation, visualization, and dedication, we connect with our innate vastness, and reduce our negativity and frustrations. So let's get to it!

I hope the Fire Horse year has gotten off to a favourable start for you all! This past Tuesday we finally got snow in Grand Forks, and unsurprisingly our meditation group met online only. We talked about Losar traditions and how it is celebrated at the Ngakde centre in Germany. Below is a picture of the Ngakde altar all ready for Losar morning! After completing rituals and prayers for auspiciousness there was feasting and celebrating, both here and there! Juniper and I made another batch of khapse (Tibetan cookies, pictured below) which we can enjoy tomorrow.

How is saying "I'm sad" different from "I am experiencing a wave of sadness"? What about telling yourself "I can do this" vs. "She/You/Name can do this"? This week we discussed these statements with excerpts from Steve Magness' book Do Hard Things (from the Alex Honnold article a couple weeks ago). Each of the second sentences above create a "distanced" perspective, giving space between ourselves and our emotions. The positive impact of shifting our perspective has been well researched; below I've included a short excerpt from a Psychology Today article on the topic.

This linguistic trick is a fascinating mind hack, shown to reduce our stress response. In Buddhist-speak, we would say it helps us reduce our attachment. While our association with the word "attachment" probably resembles "really like", such as "Don't give away that shirt, I'm really attached to it", the Buddhist term is used to discuss both gross and subtle level experiences, such as attachment to our sense of self. As this is the bedrock of our experience of samsara, it rightly gets a lot of attention. Not only do we interrogate attachment in philosophical learning, we also employ various techniques in meditation to loosen our attachments, including visualizing ourselves in different forms and making physical and imagined offerings. When we are attached to wealth, for instance, it isn't the money that's the problem, it's how we feel about it, and then, what we do because of those feelings. Reducing our attachment proportionally increases our peace of mind, and our wisdom. 

From Psychology Today:

Ariana Orvell of the University of Michigan and colleagues (2020) had participants reflect on a series of future- and past-oriented negative personal experiences of varied intensity using distanced and immersed self-talk. They found that a “subtle shift in language—silently referring to oneself using one’s own name and non–first-person-singular pronouns… promotes emotion regulation.” Compared to first person (“immersed”) self-talk, distanced self-talk reduced participants’ emotional reactivity to negative experiences of varying levels of intensity. The findings held for future and past events, across types of events, and regardless of participants’ differing levels of emotion.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/insight-therapy/202012/science-based-technique-coping-stress/amp

This week we talked about the Buddha’s first teachings, the Four Noble Truths- the Truth of Suffering, the Cause of Suffering, the Cessation of Suffering, and the Path. At first glance these four might not seem to suit our cultural preoccupation with the pursuit of happiness, but they are in fact a guide for just that. The Buddha basically said Life is hard, then you die…and then do it all over again. It’s one battle after another. If there was no escape I’d say let’s make the best of it. But there is a way to gain control of your mind, to end the cycle of suffering. That’s really good news. Here, let me show you. 

The Truth of Suffering is evidenced everywhere, once you see it. I thought of it this week with the viral Crying Horse- a stuffed toy that was accidentally produced with its muzzle sewn upside down. Stores in China can’t keep it in stock, its sad face so, so relatable.

So when you’re having a hard time, reflect on pain as an inherent characteristic of samsara. It’s not you, or a shortcoming of yours, it’s just the way it is. But it doesn’t have to be. Take advantage of this precious life, this chance to change your karma and control your future.

Following up on this past week's discussion about meditation and the brain, below is a link to the article Justin referenced. It compares brain scans from Alex Honnold (of the recent, historic Taipei 101 climb) to the scans of Buddhist meditations. Spoiler alert- both showed a reduced fear response. The article is actually an excerpt from his book, Do Hard Things. No, we don't have it in our local library (I just checked at work today) but I am bringing it in from another library and will let you all know if it's a good read :)

This is a fascinating topic with much to explore, and very supportive as we begin integrating meditation into our lives, so I've added another short article and a link to Rinpoche's reading list.  While this information is on our GF website I have included it here from our center in Germany (the English website!).This is a great place to explore more about our lama Urgyen Rinpoche, Vajrayana meditation including ngondro practice, and our center in Germany. A short excerpt from the site: 

Buddhism offers practical tools for navigating the complexities of modern life. When we gather in our regional communities across Germany, Austria, and Canada, we're not retreating from the world—we're learning how to engage with it more skillfully. Our Sangha meetings provide a space to explore how meditation and Buddhist principles directly address the stress, conflicts, and decisions we face every day. (https://ngakde.org/en/regionalgroups.php)

Alex Honnold article:

https://stevemagness.substack.com/p/a-look-into-alex-honnolds-brain

Short article about meditation, happiness, and brain scans, featuring the popular Buddhist monk and author Matthieu Ricard:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-worlds-happiest-man-is-a-tibetan-monk-105980614/

A list of Rinpoche's recommended reading, with many of Ricard's books:

https://ngakde.org/en/readinglist.php