Monday Meditation times

Greetings on this fine sunny November afternoon.

We have decided to change the meeting times for Monday Meditations. From Monday 18th November the new start time will be 6pm instead of 7pm. This will continue weekly until further notice.

Monday Meditations
6 pm - 7:30 pm

Practice group with Ngakma Nor´dzin Pamo and Ngakpa ´ö-Dzin Tridral.
Silent sitting and yogic song.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85249620913

Zoom Meeting ID: 85249620913

Passcode: 640389

The Seven Points of Mind Training, part 2

 

 

Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin read from ‘Battlecry of Freedom’.

‘Battlecry of Freedom’ by Ngakma Nor’dzin, published by Aro Books worldwide in 2019, explores the Tibetan Buddhist practice of Lojong, Mind Training, as presented by Chekhawa Yeshé Dorje in the 12th century. His Seven Points of Mind Training offer a complete approach to daily practice in 59 slogans.

This video is the second part of Chapter 3: The Seven Points of Mind Training.

Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm (UK time) on Zoom Monday evenings.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85249620913
Zoom Meeting ID: 85249620913
Passcode: 640389
Do join us for silent sitting and yogic song, finishing with a reading 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

 

 

Battlecry of Freedpm - a brief historical background

Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin read from ‘Battlecry of Freedom’.

‘Battlecry of Freedom’ by Ngakma Nor’dzin, published by Aro Books worldwide in 2019, explores the Tibetan Buddhist practice of Lojong, Mind Training, as presented by Chekhawa Yeshé Dorje in the 12th century. His Seven Points of Mind Training offer a complete approach to daily practice in 59 slogans.

Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm (UK time) on Zoom Monday evenings.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85249620913
Zoom Meeting ID: 85249620913
Passcode: 640389
Do join us for silent sitting and yogic song, finishing with a reading 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

As warriors we have to live with honour, boldness, and integrity - Spacious Passion

 

Taking refuge in Dharma is placing our confidence in practice as a place of safety. This is redefining ‘safety’ as the challenge of practice. Once we become practitioners it is guaranteed that at some point practice will become inconvenient. We will wish to take the easy but less honest option; to make the half-hearted response; to indulge in believing that we have no responsibility for the situation in which we find ourselves. But as practitioners, these are no longer available options.

As warriors we have to live with honour, boldness, and integrity. We cannot allow ourselves to slip into good-enough mediocrity. Our security in terms of realisation is absolutely guaranteed if we remain in the domain of practice. But the path of warriorship may be the harder and less comfortable choice. It may be the path that leads us into exposure and danger. The security of practice may be the least secure path in terms of referential personal safety and referential self-protection.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-0, chapter 9 Irrational Reason, page 215 and 216

 

Refuge: We seek protection from the neurotic tendencies which we employ in order to prevent us experiencing the natural state.

 

The dictionary defines the word refuge as ‘shelter or protection from danger or trouble: an asylum or retreat’. We have looked at the nature of the danger or threat to which we are vulnerable with regard to The Four Thoughts. 

In the context of our lives as Buddhists, we seek protection from our own conceptual minds: from our compulsion to dualistically split reality; from our addiction to conditioned responses rooted in dualistic preconceptions. We seek protection from the neurotic tendencies which we employ in order to prevent us experiencing the natural state.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor´dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-0, chapter 9 Irrational Reason, page 210
 

 

The Lama reflects as it is in order to allow us the freedom to let go of how it seems. - Spacious Passion

 

 

 

If we wish to engage with spiritual practice in this transformative manner, we require a mirror. We need a Lama who knows us as individuals, takes an active interest in spiritual progress, and guides us in our practice – through impartial reflection. The mirror does not choose to reflect some of the objects in front of it and not others, or to favour some in the manner of its reflection and not others – it simply reflects. This is the vajra master – described by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche as the dangerous friend.

 

The Lama reflects as it is in order to allow us the freedom to let go of how it seems. Through aligning ourselves with the view of the Lama and letting go of our own referential rationale, the leap into realisation becomes possible, and our understanding can be taken beyond theory and into actualisation.

Spacious Passion,Ngakma Nor´dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-0, chapter 9 Irrational Reason, page 208

 

 

Honour concerns one’s respect and dignity: respect for others and also for ourselves. - Spacious Passion

 

Warriors are honourable. To have honour is to be open and direct in communication and action. To be honourable is not to sidestep difficult situations, but rather to face them. Honour concerns keeping one’s word. To act with honour is to see something through to the end. Honour does not leave tasks uncompleted or forgotten because it no longer suits our purpose. Honour concerns one’s respect and dignity: respect for others and also for ourselves. Honour requires that we behave with dignity alone or in company.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor´dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 8 Spacious Passion in Passionate Space, page 189

 

Warriors do not fail to practise the wholesome deed because nobody will see it. - Spacious Passion

 

Warriors do not concern themselves with peer pressure, peer approbation, or being socially accepted. Warriors make their own decisions about the needs of a situation based in awareness and kindness. Warriors do not feel the need to always do what everyone else is doing. Warriors do not wait for others to take the initiative or let the opportunity to help pass by because of a fear of making the first move. Warriors do not fail to practise the wholesome deed because nobody will see it. Warriors always have the energy to bother. They do not indulge indifference just because their lack of involvement does not appear to matter.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor´dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2006, ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 8 Spacious Passion in Passionate Space, page 183

 

Greeting people in a kindly way offers them the opportunity to respond in a kindly way. - Spacious Passion

 

If we are kind and warm, we will tend to expect others to be kind and warm. We will approach others with an optimistic attitude. If met with aggression we are less likely to respond with aggression, because this is not the stance from which we began. Greeting people in a kindly way offers them the opportunity to respond in a kindly way. If they do not, this does not need to unseat our kindness. We can simply remain kind. If aggression does upset our kindness so that we respond defensively, then we were ‘wearing’ kindness as an artificial definition, rather than as the nature of our being in the present moment. If the wearing of kindness is a good-hearted attempt to become a compassionate person developing awareness, then we can simply acknowledge that we lost it that time, let it go, and re-dress ourselves in kindness. If we do this often enough over a long period of time, eventually our ‘cloak’ of kindness becomes the quintessence of our being.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor´dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2006,ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 8 Spacious Passion in Passionate Space, page 180

 

 

The Five Skandhas - Monday Meditations

 

Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin and Ngakma Nor’dzin talk on the subject of the Five Skandhas.

This talk was part of the ‘Monday Meditations’ session at Aro Ling Cardiff, 11th October 2021.

Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm (UK time) on Zoom every Monday evening. Zoom meeting ID: 85249620913; Passcode: 640389.

Do join us for silent sitting and yogic song, with a short teaching in the middle.

Everyone is welcome.

Invitation Link

The Four Immesurables - Monday Meditations

 

Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin talk on the subject of The Four Immeasurables: loving kindness, comapssion, empathetic joy and equanimity.

This talk was part of the ‘Monday Meditations’ session at Aro Ling Cardiff, 4th October 2021.

Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm (UK time) on Zoom every Monday evening. Zoom meeting ID: 85249620913; Passcode: 640389.

Do join us for silent sitting and yogic song, with a short teaching in the middle.

Everyone is welcome.

Invitation Link

 

The Chörten - Monday Meditations

 

Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin and Ngakma Nor’dzin talk on the subject of the symbolism of the Chörten (stupa). 

This talk was part of the ‘Monday Meditations’ session at Aro Ling Cardiff, 27th September 2021.

Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm (UK time) on Zoom every Monday evening. Zoom meeting ID: 85249620913; Passcode: 640389.

Do join us for silent sitting and yogic song, with a short teaching in the middle.

Everyone is welcome.

Invitation Link

The Ten Paramitas - Monday Meditations

 

Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin talk on the subject of ‘The Ten Paramitas’. 

 

This talk was part of the ‘Monday Meditations’ session at Aro Ling Cardiff, 20th September 2021.

Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm (UK time) on Zoom every Monday evening. Zoom meeting ID: 85249620913; Passcode: 640389.

Do join us for silent sitting and yogic song, with a short teaching in the middle.

Everyone is welcome.

Invitation Link

Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind to Practice - Monday Meditations

 

Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin and Ngakma Nor’dzin talk on the subject of ‘The Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind to Practice’. These are: the contemplation of the rareness of a precious human rebirth; karma; impermanence and death; and the experience of dissatisfaction 

This talk was part of the ‘Monday Meditations’ session at Aro Ling Cardiff, September 13th 2021.

Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm (UK time) on Zoom every Monday evening. Zoom meeting ID: 85249620913; Passcode: 640389.

Do join us for silent sitting and yogic song, with a short teaching in the middle. 

Everyone is welcome.

Invitation Link

Four Denials: monism, dualism, eternalism, nihilism - Monday Meditations

 

Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin talk on the subject of ‘The Four Denials: monism, dualism, eternalism, nihilism.'

 

This talk was part of the ‘Monday Meditations’ session at Aro Ling Cardiff, 6th September 2021.

Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm (UK time) on Zoom every Monday evening. Zoom meeting ID: 85249620913; Passcode: 640389.

Do join us for silent sitting and yogic song, with a short teaching in the middle. Everyone is welcome.

Invitation Link

Emptiness - Monday Meditations

 

Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin and Ngakma Nor’dzin talk on the subject of ‘Emptiness’.

 This talk was part of the ‘Monday Meditations’ session at Aro Ling Cardiff, August 30th 2021.

Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm (UK time) on Zoom every Monday evening. Zoom meeting ID: 85249620913; Passcode: 640389. 

Do join us for silent sitting and yogic song, with a short teaching in the middle. 

Everyone is welcome.

Invitation Link

The 12 interdependent links of origination - Monday Meditations

 

Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin talk on the subject of ‘12 interdependent links of origination’. 

 

 This talk was part of the ‘Monday Meditations’ session at Aro Ling Cardiff, 23rd August 2021. Clarification of the five skandhas mentioned in the talk: form, feeling, perception, mental formation, consciousness. 

Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm on Zoom (UK time) every Monday. Zoom meeting ID: 85249620913; Passcode: 640389.

Do join us for silent sitting and yogic song, with a short teaching in the middle. 

Everyone welcome.

Invitation Link

The Eight Worldly Dharmas - Monday Meditations

 

Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin and Ngakma Nor'dzin talk on the subject of ‘The Eight Worldly Dharmas'. 

This talk was part of the 'Monday Meditations' session at Aro Ling Cardiff on 16th August 2021.

Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm on Zoom (UK time) every Monday. Zoom meeting ID: 85249620913; Passcode: 640389.

Do join us for silent sitting and yogic song, with a short teaching in the middle. 

Everyone is welcome

Invitation Link

The Five Precepts - Monday Meditations

 

Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin talk on the subject of ‘The Five Precepts’

This talk was part of the ‘Monday Meditations’ session at Aro Ling Cardiff, 2nd August 2021. 

Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm (UK time) on Zoom every Monday evening. Zoom meeting ID: 85249620913; Passcode: 640389. 

Do join us for silent sitting and yogic song, with a short teaching in the middle.

Invitation Link

Realms of Being - Monday Meditations

 

Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin and Ngakma Nor’dzin talk on the subject of ‘The Realms of Being’.

 

This talk was part of the ‘Monday Meditations’ session at Aro Ling Cardiff, July 26th 2021

Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm (UK time) on Zoom every Monday evening. Zoom meeting ID: 85249620913; Passcode: 640389. 

Do join us for silent sitting and yogic song, with a short teaching in the middle.

Invitation Link