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Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 18
Stanzas 72-79
We move now into other areas where attachment brings suffering: for example spending your life accumulating wealth for the sake of comfort in old age, when there is no longer the energy, desire or ability to enjoy it. In the meantime, Shantideva says, we can bring shame and harm on ourselves and lose friendships and family in the drive to accumulate riches. We tie ourselves to a system, to masters who have no respect for us and place no value on our work.
Craving can cause us to sell ourselves to the highest bidder, while at the same time we lose our own sense of worth. What is truly valuable passes us by in the race to accumulate wealth, but our days are spent working so hard all we can do in the end is sleep like a corpse.
On the other hand, if we are able to accumulate wealth and not be attached to it, it won’t be a problem if, in the end, it is lost.
Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 7th February. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 19
Answers to Written Questions
This Sunday’s, 24th January, Live Question & Answer session was postponed until 7th February because of a Kagyu Monlam prayer session that was scheduled for today. Instead, on this video Rinpoche answers some of the presubmitted questions he has received on various topics, like the recent teaching on Aspiration of Samantabhadra.
Questions answered on this video:
Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 7th February. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 18
Stanzas 43-71
At an Indian wedding the visage of a new bride is revealed for the first time only when new husband lifts the veil that covers her face. Similarly, after death it is the carrion birds which reveal the true nature of the body we have lusted after in life.
The next 28 verses in this teaching are on lustful attachment as an obstacle to meditation, and each verse provides a compelling reason to see beyond the face value of what we lust for, recognising it as a projection of our own mind. The text points out that we can also apply these principles to our own physical body.
The point of these verses is to help us lessen our desire for another person and the compelling, crippling attachment that is driven by lust.
Rinpoche says that while these verses may help some people to reduce this type of attachment, if they don’t work for you, just leave it: if the particulars of the verses help you see the facts, then fine, if not, it doesn’t matter, it is not something to be offended by, because it comes from a particular cultural milieu.
Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 7th February. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 17
Stanzas 40-42
The next verses continue to address one of the strongest attachments in the human world: that of sexual desire. If it is allowed to take hold in the wrong time or place, say if we are part of a monastic community, or when someone doesn’t return our attention, it can cause us to lose control and do terrible things often against our better judgement.
When wrongly directed, this type of desire can lead to loss of reputation, family, wealth, happiness, the opposite of what we are looking for.
This is why it is so important to be in charge of our own desirous emotions, and in the case of another person being the object of our attachment, one way of working with that is to imagine that body as a skeleton, as flesh, blood and organs that are going to age, become ugly and disintegrate.
It is important to understand that the apparent disdain in these verses for the female body actually relates to the harm that uncontrolled desires can bring when the mind is not trained to see the lustful thoughts for what they are and manage them.
Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 7th February. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 16
Stanzas 39-40
Verse 39 begins to go further into attachment as the cause of suffering. Shantideva describes desire as the parent, the one who gives life to and feeds suffering. Desire will be the cause of pain in this life, and prepare the ground for a future life in hell. Rinpoche elaborates on the meaning of this verse, discussing how greed can consume us, the never ending desire for more of everything: success, wealth, lovers and property: and as it strengthens, it becomes the cause of war, fuelling every other negative emotion along with it.
This is the reason it is seen as the antithesis of love. Rinpoche touches on verse 40 which begins to look at sexual desire, involving all of the senses, and explains the reason Shantideva unambiguously places so much emphasis here: he is addressing hundreds of young monks for whom the adolescent struggle with feelings for the opposite sex is likely to lead to many transgressions, and for whom a clear method for working on desire is essential.
In this teaching Rinpoche also describes how a balanced society naturally arises when the family unit is based on love.
Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 7th February. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 15
Stanza 38
In this session Rinpoche goes into the very heart of the matter: meditation with ambition that is guided by attachment and aversion to thoughts will not achieve a calm mind or a compassionate heart.
If we approach meditation (and most of us do until this has been understood) with an ambition to achieve something, get somewhere, be something, we are completely missing the point. If the meditator approaches meditation using a technique to focus the mind, but is attached to the idea of achieving a calm mind– rejecting tumultuous thoughts and emotions, they have not understood something very fundamental.
Attachment and aversion are dependent on each other, because even when attachment brings joy, it is the cause of suffering. Genuine love on the other hand is not achieved through attachment; genuine love and compassion must be cultivated.
The intention of practising meditation is to develop genuine love and compassion, and for this we require patience and non-attachment. This, Rinpoche says is very important but difficult to understand.
Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be announced soon. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
This LIVE Question and Answer Session with Rinpoche took place on:
The recorded video of the live session is now above. For the audio only version, and all the audio translations, visit the Chapter 8 page.
The next LIVE Question and Answer Session with Rinpoche will be:
See the LIVE Teaching Events page for more details.
Please join us for these bi-monthly live sessions with Rinpoche and ask your question live or send them in advance using the comments areas or forms on any of the Bodhicharyavatara teaching posts.
If you would like to make an offering for translations, please click the links below:
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 13
Stanzas 34-37
In verses 34 to 37 Shantideva speaks about the benefits of retreating for a period of time into a place of solitude to practice meditation. As a prince he recognised that his power to help people could not be utilised while he was trying to govern a country, so Shantideva became a monk who advocated meditation in retreat as a support to his personal transformation. He withdrew into the forest to bring himself closer to the natural cycle of the seasons, plants and wildlife, his attachment to people and objects diminished. He says here that the grief of others that might otherwise accompany our death will be diminished by distancing ourselves in retreat and the emotional ties that bind and distract us will no longer hinder our practice.
The benefits to others that can be gained through quietly and un-distractedly contemplating the Buddha’s teachings during prolonged retreat should not be underestimated.
Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 10th January. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 12
Stanzas 29-33
Staying with attachment as the cause of suffering, the next verses describe the positive aspect of being in a charnel ground in order to bring home the reality of impermanence, bones are scattered on the ground in varying states of decay, bones that had previously formed the skeleton of a living being, who once had all the fears and desires that we have.
This is a way to help us understand the temporary nature of relationships; and in this place of death we can consider the impermanent quality of those relationships and think about what happens when we attach ourselves too much. If we can see we are simply companion travellers on the road, helping each other, being kind, loving and caring deeply without attachment, we will be free. If we are still able to let go, unhindered by loss or gain, the tendency to cling and be hurt when we separate will not be a hindrance to our practise and we can meditate in peace with a spacious mind.
Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 10th January. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 11
Stanzas 25-28
This session looks at the apparent need for us to be in physical solitude in order to properly meditate and engage with spiritual practice. Shantideva says, in praise of solitude, that shamatha comes more easily when the meditator is in a natural environment, free from distractions, where the wilderness doesn’t create irritation but provides a peaceful environment. For instance, the Buddha went into the forest and sat underneath a tree. However Rinpoche adds here that while that is the optimum condition, it must not prevent us from putting off practice, there are other ways. We should find space in our minds.
What is it that prevents us from seeking isolation and quiet? It is attachment to worldly things, people, places, objects, as described in the previous stanzas. We literally live in cages often of our own making– either in the comfort of luxury and paraphernalia, or we are tied to the daily grind of work and just staying alive. There is attachment in both situations. We in the west are even attached to the outcome and a need to seek public praise for any success in our practise. But this is really about developing the right attitude, freeing ourselves from our samsaric ways.
Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 10th January. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 10
Stanzas 21-24
The next verses of Chapter 8 tell us why moving away from our attachment to worldly concerns is the key to a successful meditation practice. When we are attached, we are dancing with the mind-poisons; attempting to be liked by someone or struggling with rejection, generating pride in success or anger and frustration at finding we are unable to satisfy a need of our own or the wishes of someone else.
When we receive criticism that is hurtful, we are thrown off balance despite the possibility it may be well founded, and we fail to recognise that receiving praise and rejection are both temporary conditions that have the power to destabilise our mental equilibrium, if we are too attached.
It is important to choose our friends wisely and love them well regardless of their wealth or poverty and without expectation or attachment. Even the Buddha was not able to please or help all his listeners and was rejected by some, so we must be realistic in our own capacity to satisfy others’ needs and this will help stabilise our own mind.
Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 10th January. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 9
Stanzas 17-20
These next verses invite investigation into our habit of desiring the things that will bolster up our public reputation and our feelings of self worth: material gains as well as fame, power and reputation. We need to understand that all we experience, everything that we own, is ephemeral. So while it is ok to be able to enjoy the comforts we have when we have them, only if we can do so with no attachment will lead to peace and happiness. If we are able understand the temporary nature of everything, and relax in that knowledge, we are truly taking away a major cause of our suffering.
We never know what is around the corner. Once we rely on objects and the attention of others to create our self-image and forget the transience of everything, we will be hurt and suffer when they are gone. Those who become attached to wealth and power will also devote much time to maintaining them; meaning they may become cruel and blind to others, creating great disharmony through negative selfish actions. After death, any wealth or reputation will soon be forgotten by those we tried to impress. No one takes anything but their karma with them when they die.
Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 10th January. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 8
Stanzas 13-16
This teaching continues on with verse 13 to discuss what can happen when we become too attached to others, family or friends, and describes the wisdom in keeping a distance with love and kindness. People are fickle and can change their loyalties, meaning friendships suffer. If we are too attached and over-involved, this will bring sorrow and pain and the mind will be disturbed, we lose our meditative equilibrium. If you run away or try avoid people that will not work, because wherever you go, even in a community where people appear to have like-minds, there will be disputes and quarrels arising out of unrealistic expectations.
The best kind of relationship is like that of a honey bee with a flower, the bee takes only what it needs, the flower gives with no expectation and in turn is pollinated, no harm is done, it is uncomplicated by attachment, nothing is owed or expected.
Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 27th December. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 7
Stanzas 9-13
Following on from the previous verses reminding us to understand impermanence and the necessity for practice, we here move into noting the influences that can prevent us from practice, beginning with attachment and the choice of companion we keep: our friends are not always those we are physically closest to.
We should beware childish people who suffer from jealousy, who may lead us into lower states because we react badly to their negativity. It is easy to become pulled into their fickle web of pride, scorn and self-aggrandizement.
The company we keep that is beneficial, Rinpoche says, can be understood as a sharing of interests; for this, two people need not be in the same room: this type of companionship can grow over distance and time between people who have the same aspirations and share positive influences.
Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 27th December. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 6
Stanzas 5-8
Here we contemplate impermanence and attachment. We are all impermanent, we have no idea when life will end, either our own or that of those we are close to, and yet we attach ourselves to each other as if we will never be separated, we fully invest in a temporary situation, without contemplating the possibility of change, we try to control it, to hold on to what we have or believe in, and this brings suffering.
In fact, the pain we experience at separation, will mirror the intensity of our attachment if we don’t understand the truth of impermanence and the nature of phenomena.
Even if I have some sense of renunciation of samsara, this will be destroyed if I become too attached. In fact, by becoming too attached, we can bring ourselves to a point where we lose our dharma practice, and life will become meaningless.
Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 27th December. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
This LIVE Question and Answer Session with Rinpoche took place on:
The recorded video of the live session is now above. For the audio only version, and all the audio translations, visit the Chapter 8 page.
During the session Rinpoche spoke about Patrul Rinpoche’s book ‘Good In The Beginning, Middle and End’. Below are some teachings in the archive where Rinpoche goes into much more detail:
The next LIVE Question and Answer Session with Rinpoche will be:
See the LIVE Teaching Events page for more details.
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These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 4
Stanza 4
This is a very important stanza stating that a combination of strong Shamatha meditation accompanied by Vipassyana will completely eradicate the kleshas. Rinpoche emphasises the importance of the insight aspect, or Vipassyana (Tibetan: Lhaktong) without which he says we will not achieve a stable meditation practice. He goes on to discuss the sixth (mind) consciousness, which is what we work on in meditation, and reminds us that we must eliminate attachment to the other five, those of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste which are dependent on mind to retain their power. Shamatha practice helps us to begin the work of detaching ourselves from sense consciousness. As long as we remain attached to these we will be mentally disturbed, distracted by sense objects, and caught in samsara; we will be unable to be at peace, and not achieve the desired liberation.
Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 13th December. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 3
Stanza 3
Verse 3 continues to give the reasons we should find solitude, looks at what prevents us from achieving an ideal situation for meditation and how to develop a mind that will be less prone to distraction.
Rinpoche returns to the mind poisons, recognising that the kleshas currently have control of our thoughts and mental processes. Attachment must be abandoned; and what we are attached to, such as family, loved ones and objects should be renounced. However this isn’t about turning away from that which sustains us, but requires we become less detached and more expansive in our love, we give all we can, we provide what we are able to provide, but we remain steadfast, we don’t try to control, determine, or hold onto result. This we do through practising, first in a quiet place: real love is unconditional and is not attached, it takes time to generate as we come to understand the meaning of impermanence and change.
Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 13th December. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 2
Stanzas 1-2
Continuing the first verses on Meditation, the text examines the reason why we would benefit from meditation and what happens if we don’t do it. Rinpoche talks about three things that contribute to our samsaric experience, resulting in our being caught in the fangs of the afflictions, which he compares to being trapped in the jaws of a crocodile. These three things are: the residual root or seeds of the kleshas harbouring in the mind; an external provocation; and our resulting unskilful reaction.
In order to begin to train ourselves to eliminate these, in the beginning we need a quiet space away from distractions, to place ourselves in an environment conducive to working on our mind through meditation, where the body and mind are undisturbed by external events and can begin to calm down. When we have started to benefit from that we can test our stability outside our meditation space.
Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 13th December. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 1
Stanza 1
This next talk brings us to the chapter on Meditation. Rinpoche relates to us that His Holiness the Dalai Lama considers the Bodhicharyavatara to be one of the most important texts to study and, that this chapter on Meditation along with the one on Patience are the two most important chapters in the Bodhicharyavatara. We are told here a little about Patrul Rinpoche’s continual use of the text as the basis for his teachings, and how it was recorded on paper in this form by Kunzang Pelden. His Holiness was taught the text by Kunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen, a yogi who really embodied the teaching and taught at the Sanskrit College in Sarnath.
Ringu Tulku says that despite the title, Meditative Concentration, this chapter teaches on compassion and the importance (and difficulty) of cultivating boundless love without attachment. He begins with the first two lines of verse one, which he says are a bridge between this and the previous chapter, citing study and meditation as equally important.
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New sessions are now posted here twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday.
Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–7 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will now be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be announced here soon. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
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