29 June 2023

Finding pleasure in others' happiness - Illusory Advice



Apprentice: I really enjoyed your examples of irritation, such as ‘squeezing the toothpaste tube in the middle’ and ‘whose turn it is to unpack the dishwasher…… 

Teachers: The khandro-pawo nyid-da mélong gyüd [1] teaches that when making love the khandro and pawo focus on the pleasure of their partner rather than on whether their own pleasure is being satisfied. Similarly you can focus on whether you can do a job rather than relying on others to do it in their turn, because of the pleasure you experience through saving them the work. There is a story of beings trying to eat using forks with incredibly long handles. In nirvana this works because everyone is enjoying feeding each other. In hell it is great suffering because everyone is trying to feed themselves and so the long-handled forks become a desperate encumbrance. [2]

[1] The khandro-pawo nyid-da mélong gyüd (mKha’ ’gro dPa’ bo nyi zLa me long rGyud) is a teaching where romantic relationship becomes a spiritual practice. See Entering the Heart of the Sun and the Moon by Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books Inc, 2009. 

[2] This story is attributed to an itinerant preacher, Rabbi Haim of Romshishok, Lithuania page 120, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor’dzin & Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2016, ISBN: 978-1-898185-37-6

page 120, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor’dzin & Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2016, ISBN: 978-1-898185-37-6




26 June 2023

Slogan 31 - Battlecry of Freedom

Slogan 31 of ‘Battlecry of Freedom’ is now available to view on Aro Ling Cardiff’s YouTube channel: https://youtube/KiB48be8gCc

For live commentary on these slogans of Buddhist Mind Training, join us for Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm (UK time) on Zoom, Monday evenings.
Zoom Meeting ID: 85249620913
Passcode: 640389
Silent sitting and yogic song, finishing with a slogan from ‘Battlecry of Freedom’.
Everyone is welcome.

To see all videos with Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/c/AroLingCardiff

22 June 2023

Slogan 30 - Battlecry of Freedom

Slogan 30 of ‘Battlecry of Freedom’ is now available to view on Aro Ling Cardiff’s YouTube channel: https://youtube/KiB48be8gCc

For live commentary on these slogans of Buddhist Mind Training, join us for Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm (UK time) on Zoom, Monday evenings.
Zoom Meeting ID: 85249620913
Passcode: 640389
Silent sitting and yogic song, finishing with a slogan from ‘Battlecry of Freedom’.
Everyone is welcome.

To see all videos with Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/c/AroLingCardiff

The most valuable ‘someone’ you can ever be, is simply a kind person with honour and integrity. - Illusory Advice



Apprentice: I have just discovered that my partner is pregnant. It has made me realise that I want to be able to provide a decent home life for my family…. 

Teachers:…. It shows strength of character to respond so immediately to the responsibility of the pregnancy. We would encourage any apprentice to try to be self-supporting. We are not keen on people living on state benefit in order to do their own thing, so we are glad to hear that you would like to find a way of supporting yourself and your family. Any employment, even if it appears menial, can have its own purpose, and can bring a real feeling of self-worth and achievement if approached as a tantrika. 

Apprentice: Perhaps I can start at the bottom and work my way to the top, to be someone, and then laugh at it all. Teachers: You are someone wherever you are and whatever you are doing. The most valuable ‘someone’ you can ever be, is simply a kind person with honour and integrity. If you have these qualities then you are a bodhisattva warrior, whether you are cleaning out a toilet at the time or heading a board of directors. Remember the Mahasiddhas. They numbered amongst them people of all walks of life, who discovered realisation through doing whatever it was they were doing exactly as it was.

page 118-119, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor’dzin & Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2016, ISBN: 978-1-89818




19 June 2023

Slogan 29 - Battlecry of Freedom

Slogan 29 of ‘Battlecry of Freedom’ is now available to view on Aro Ling Cardiff’s YouTube channel: https://youtube/KiB48be8gCc

For live commentary on these slogans of Buddhist Mind Training, join us for Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm (UK time) on Zoom, Monday evenings.
Zoom Meeting ID: 85249620913
Passcode: 640389
Silent sitting and yogic song, finishing with a slogan from ‘Battlecry of Freedom’.
Everyone is welcome.

To see all videos with Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/c/AroLingCardiff

15 June 2023

Being a Practitioner in the World - Illusory Advice



Being a practitioner in the everyday world is a source of inspiration but also a great challenge. As tantrikas, we aspire to be changchub sempas. Changchub sem means active compassion, and ‘pa’ (an abbreviation of pawo – dPa’ bo) means warrior. The changchub sempa therefore, is the awakened mind warrior we aspire to be, where the ‘war’ we wage is that of developing kindness and openness.

The warrior-like quality of the changchub sempa comes from their intimacy with death. Death is not feared because it is seen as being simply the natural outcome of birth. This knowledge is what makes the warrior fearless, and this fearlessness gives them the freedom to act without the crippling effects of self-protective referentiality. The warrior is simply open to what is and sensitive to the needs of others.

page 115, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor’dzin & Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2016, ISBN: 978-1-898185-37-6



10 June 2023

Slogan 28 - Battlecry of Freedom

Slogan 28 of ‘Battlecry of Freedom’ is now available to view on Aro Ling Cardiff’s YouTube channel: https://youtube/KiB48be8gCc

For live commentary on these slogans of Buddhist Mind Training, join us for Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm (UK time) on Zoom, Monday evenings.
Zoom Meeting ID: 85249620913
Passcode: 640389
Silent sitting and yogic song, finishing with a slogan from ‘Battlecry of Freedom’.
Everyone is welcome.

To see all videos with Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/c/AroLingCardiff

08 June 2023

The three root misconceptions are attraction, aversion and indifference and these create the experience of dissatisfaction - Illusory Advice

 

The three root misconceptions are attraction, aversion and indifference and these create the experience of dissatisfaction (or suffering). It is addiction to assessing all experience on the basis of these three that leads to the creation of reference points, and to grasping for solidity, permanence, individuality, continuity and definition. People live by: ‘I like it, I don't like it, or I don't care about it ' or: 'give me more of that because it supports my view of myself in some way; keep that away from me because it threatens my view; or I don't care about that because it neither supports or threatens my view.'

These three can be understood as inseparable, because the mindset that has attraction will inevitably have aversion and indifference as well. If there is a reference point for what is attractive this also becomes a reference point for what will create aversion and indifference -- and so on.

page 106, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor’dzin & Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2016, ISBN: 978-1-898185-37-6


 

06 June 2023

Slogan 27 - Battlecry of Freedom

Slogan 27 of ‘Battlecry of Freedom’ is now available to view on Aro Ling Cardiff’s YouTube channel: https://youtube/KiB48be8gCc

For live commentary on these slogans of Buddhist Mind Training, join us for Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm (UK time) on Zoom, Monday evenings.
Zoom Meeting ID: 85249620913
Passcode: 640389
Silent sitting and yogic song, finishing with a slogan from ‘Battlecry of Freedom’.
Everyone is welcome.

To see all videos with Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/c/AroLingCardiff

03 June 2023

Slogan 26 - Battlecry of Freedom

 

Slogan 26 of ‘Battlecry of Freedom’ is now available to view on Aro Ling Cardiff’s YouTube channel: https://youtube/KiB48be8gCc

For live commentary on these slogans of Buddhist Mind Training, join us for Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm (UK time) on Zoom, Monday evenings.
Zoom Meeting ID: 85249620913
Passcode: 640389
Silent sitting and yogic song, finishing with a slogan from ‘Battlecry of Freedom’.
Everyone is welcome.

To see all videos with Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/c/AroLingCardiff

01 June 2023

The bodhisattva regards the experience of others as real and takes responsibility. - Illusory Advice

 

When you attend an empowerment you are entering the presence of Padmasambhava and Yeshé Tsogyel and presenting yourself smartly is a sign of respect and appreciation. When your physical presentation is an expression of not bothering to be clean, tidy and smart you are failing to enter the compassionate activity of the bodhisattva path.

For the bodhisattva the sensibilities of others are never irrelevant or insignificant. The bodhisattva regards the experience of others as real and takes responsibility. The bodhisattva attempts to help others to be peaceful and comfortable in their thoughts, emotions and reactions wherever possible

page 102, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor’dzin & Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2016, ISBN: 978-1-898185-37-6