When we enter the path, we are working at the level of relative truth, and with practice we may gain insight into the absolute. But we don’t enter the final stage of practice, says Tsoknyi Rinpoche, until we realize these truths were never separate. The art and beauty of practicing dharma becomes more and more subtle and profound as we learn the dance of the relative and [...]
How to Drop Into Your Body & Feelings
Photo by Helen A. Vink. A short drop-in practice from Tsoknyi Rinpoche. Relax deeply. Don’t hold onto anything. Completely let go of thinking and judging mind while gently maintaining the clarity and knowing aspects of mind. Now raise your arms to shoulder height, pause, and let them drop suddenly to your knees. As you drop your arms, breathe out forcefully. Then say, [...]
The More Carefree You Are, the Better Your Dharma Practice
We practice in order to liberate ourselves, but we can make ourselves crazy in the process. Tsoknyi Rinpoche teaches us how to temper our expectations and experience more contentment. It’s actually fine to be happy and carefree. The more carefree you are from deep within, the better your dharma practice is. Carefree means being wide open from within, not constricted. [...]
Be part of the first Shambhala Sun Community Retreat at Omega
The Shambhala Sun is pleased to invite you to its first-ever community retreat, featuring leading teachers in the Insight, Zen, and Tibetan traditions guiding you in meditation and mindfulness practices designed to help you wake up and embrace life: Waking Up In Every Moment, August 26-30 Sylvia Boorstein, Melissa Myozen Blacker, Tsoknyi Rinpoche. A Shambhala Sun Community [...]
The Compassionate Attitude of Bodhichitta
When it comes to spiritual practice, the most important thing isn't the who, the what, the where or the with whom. What's important is why we do it. Do we engage in spiritual practice to relax, to have better relationships, to become nicer people, to get enlightened? Tsoknyi Rinpoche talks here about how the most important thing in spiritual practice is motivation. And the most [...]
To Enter the Vajrayana Start at the Beginning
"It doesn't make sense to grab at the highest teachings and reject the rest," says Tsoknyi Rinpoche. "It is the kindness of the buddhas to provide us with a complete path, and the preliminary practices are part of that path." All great teachers of the past have taught the identical message: "Gather the accumulations, purify the obscurations, and receive the blessings of a [...]