Lama Khemsar Rinpoche

Greeting each of you in the infinite light of Kunzhi Jangchub Sem!

Tashi Dheleg

I am writing to my students as well as to those who are interested in reading this message. This is further reminder that without meditating and practising teachings, no matter from whom you received, they will bear no fruit. It is generally presumed by individuals and groups everywhere that reading books and receiving teaching discourses is some sort of spiritual practice. This presumption could lead one to intellectual spiritual and could have the reverse effect of inflating one's pride or ego. One must know that from the Buddhist teaching point of view, the core purpose of spiritual practice is to tame, transform one's mind or to eliminate the inner devil. Practising Meditation based on Zhiney and Lhak-thong accordingly is crucial to lay the foundations for advanced meditation in realising Divine Wisdom Mind!! To do so, having an authentic Living Master is indispensable. To support those of you who are not only meditating but who have adopted the Drub-Dra (Meditation School) approach, it is essential for your Master to back you up at all times. In the process of attaining Enlightenment for one as well as for the benefit of all sentient beings, there lies ahead a bounty of tasks needed to be practiced involving devotion, faith, challenges, diligence, courage and persistence etc. Amongst all of these, meditating with fervent devotion and faith is the key thing. This is very important, in fact, there is nothing more important than this task in life. Human birth is not a joke but very precious and rare and those of you who have taken a spiritual path in this way are not just a potential but a candidate to Buddhahood!

Some of you have had difficulty practising regularly due to being otherwise very busy, and of course I know that there are many things to attend to in daily life, including jobs and family and so on, and finding dedicated time to practise is very difficult. This is precisely why residential and non-residential retreats are conducted.
It is very important for your continuing practice to attend these retreats, where you are provided with ample opportunity to practise and hear commentaries/men-ngag thus deepening your experience and understanding.
I often hear some of you saying “I have received enough teachings and don’t want to add more ”. You should understand that attending retreats is not about receiving more teachings but deepening the understanding of the teachings you have already received.

The teachings you have received are like receiving a sponge in your hand, but the sponge will not work to clean the greasy dish unless hot water and washing liquid is poured on to it. In the same way, simply receiving teachings will not have the necessary effect in cleaning your karmic mind unless they are soaked with your Teacher's men-ngagk (Esoteric commentary)

As such, I strongly suggest that you should make an effort to attend non-residential retreats, half yearly retreats and yearly residential retreats. Such retreats are held yearly in August in UK, March in Miami, FL, USA and between April and May in Europe (Italy or Switzerland). At these usually 9 days residential retreats, degrees of Dzogchen teachings including Treg-chhod and Thod-ghel are taught or will be taught and practised.

As you have always heard me alerting, Human Life is precious and rare as each human is a potential Buddha in their core. At the same time, Human Life is meaningless without taking a proper spiritual path. One will be wasting this Precious Rare Human Birth if one constantly dwells in the never ending distraction of catching illusionary rainbows.
One's fame, name, richness, power and success is not going to help as these are all non-other than illusionary deception.
My genuine wish is for you to practice, and therefore I hope to see all of you at one or more of these retreat. These kinds of opportunities are VERY RARE and will not be there forever! (Just to remind you)

With Love

Lama Khemsar Rinpoche

According to Yungdrung Bon, the Ancient  Native Buddhism of Tibet  which originated from Zhang Zhung Shambala - every sentient being  is a potential Buddha. It particularly emphasises that human birth is thousands of miles ahead of other fellow sentient beings in the process of attaining Enlightenment or  Buddhahood! As such, it is of paramount importance that each human being should take an authentic spiritual path and start purifying negative karma and their defilements (which obscures the the state of Enlightenment).

To take the spiritual path, it is essential to meet a Lama, Guru or Master who will guide one in the process of purification!