Embrace and appreciate all circumstances - Illusory Advice

Part of the practice of bodhicitta is the capacity to embrace and appreciate all circumstances in which you find yourself. You could entertain the possibility of doing things that do not interest you, in order to enter into the energy of others’ appreciation and enjoyment.

page 50, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor’dzin & Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2016, ISBN: 978-1-898185-37-6

 

The Nine Vehicles of Nyingma

The Vehicles of Himalayan Buddhism

Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin present the Vehicles of Himalayan Buddhism, during ‘Monday Meditations’ at Aro Ling Cardiff, January 17th 2022.

Monday Meditations: 7 - 8:30 pm (UK time); https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85249620913, Passcode: 640389.

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

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

Nirvana is Samsara and Samsara is Nirvana - Spacious Passion

 

The experience of samsara is the base of Sutrayana. The teachings of Sutrayana arise in response to our experience of samsara as unsatisfactory. The idea of samsara experienced as dissatisfaction implies the existence of nirvana as a fulfilling experience. Nirvana may mistakenly be thought of as an ‘other-worldly state’, a pure land, heaven, or paradise. This is a misconception. Samsara is nirvana. Nirvana is samsara. They are the same environment. They are exactly the same circumstances. It is our relationship with environment and circumstance which changes our experience. When we gain realisation, we will not suddenly find ourselves reborn into a totally new physical existence. Rather, we will discover ourselves reborn in the reality of our present existence with awakened view.

Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor´dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2006,ISBN 978-0-9653948-4-0, chapter 7, Sparkling Puddles, page 159

 

The teacher enjoys the patterns of their student’s neuroses - Illusory Advice

The relationship with the teacher needs to be challenging if you wish to change, but there are other aspects of the relationship. The teacher may also reflect to the student how wonderful they are – to help undermine patterns of self-deprecation. Humour and shared pleasurable experiences are all part of the teacher-student interaction. The teacher enjoys the patterns of their student’s neuroses because they love the realised qualities of the student that those neuroses indicate.

page 39, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor’dzin & Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2016, ISBN: 978-1-898185-37-6

Practice is the key that explodes the narrow confines of our ordinary experience. - Spacious Passion

 

Practice is the key that explodes the narrow confines of our ordinary experience. Practice liberates the fatalistic, deterministic view of karma as cause and effect. Once karma is understood as self-originated and self-maintained, we can let go of the cause and refuse to support its maintenance. Through direct introduction to method by our Lama, we can derail karma and burn the diesel as passionate devotion. We can turn around the causes that create samsara, and transform their energy into creating the causes of eternal satisfaction through the endless continuity of blissful now-moments. 

Spacious Passion,Ngakma Nor´dzin, Aro Books worldwide, ISBN 978-0-9653984-4-0, chapter 6, Quelling the Storm, page 149

 

Once you realise that opinions are empty then self-importance becomes irrelevant. - Illusory Advice

 

Apprentice: I am very sorry that I am sometimes rather opinionated and self-important.
Teachers: Most people have times when they are opinionated and self-important, and recognising this is half way to letting such things go. In ordinary society it seems to be generally regarded that having opinions is a sign of maturity. We would regard the openness to admit ‘not knowing’ and a willingness to be challenged as greater signs of maturity. Once you realise that opinions are empty then self-importance becomes irrelevant.

page 38, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nor’dzin & Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin, Aro Books Worldwide, 2016, ISBN: 978-1-898185-37-6