Given the stage of my practice, I am not one to seek many empowerments but when I heard Shenchen Rabjam was visiting the US, I felt the tingle to seek out his blessings. Since the passing of the yangsi of Dudjum Rincophe last year, i felt a lost of connection to the Nyingma lineage and Rabjam Rincophe's strong connection with the lineage was a catalyst for me to seek the empowerments.
So, it's been a little more than a month since I wrapped up my northern tour roadtrip and I have barely touch the photos from the trip. A combination of being busy with my day job and spending more time on the main project that I have little time to edit the personal photos.
In the past year, my karmic propensity has led to many encounters with Guru Rinpoche, aka, the founder of Tibetan Buddhism. Just a few weeks ago when I was working on redoing the home page of this website, I was tempted to reuse the famous quote by Guru Rinpoche about when Buddhism would come to the west. The first iteration of the website had the quote so his influence was from the get go. As time progress and I learned more about his activities through books and movies such as this one, my appreciation and his influence continues to this day.
The importance of a consistent contemplation practice became an experiential realization in the past year. I vaguely recall reading a passage from 'Words of My Perfect Teacher' in the past year about the how critical the teaching on impermanence is. When I picked up the books many years ago, I knew it was a 'classic' Vajrayana text and enjoyed reading it but I wasn't actually practicing ngondro at that time. In the past year, I have revisited the book as part of my practice and the teachings are coming to 'life' so to speak. Since I am still on the 'outer' preliminaries of the practice, the teaching on impermanence and death is one of the 4 thoughts that turn the mind towards dharma.
I stumbled on this video piece while researching Drupchen and it is a beautiful example of the kind of work I would like to make in the future. I had the chance to attend a Drupchen retreat at Pema Osel Ling a few years ago and at the time, I felt that it was a bit overhead in terms of practice. Watching one of my favorite teachers in one of his more ‘traditional’ roles is inspiring on […]