“All living beings have the same general wish: we all want to be happy, and free from suffering. This common wish is shared by everyone. It doesn’t matter which country we’re from, what tradition we follow, or what kind of background beliefs we have. Our goal is the same.

We should embrace this deep, common ground we share, and try to respect, appreciate, and have patience with one another. We’re here to learn from one another, support one another, and grow together. Everyone is important and special.

Since we all like happiness and peace, we shouldn’t ignore their causes. We can’t really expect results without their causes. There is nothing we know of where results have arisen without their necessary causes and conditions. So, as much as we love the results, we should also love the causes and conditions behind them. As much as we want to be happy, we have to love the causes for happiness as well.

The foundation of happiness is to bring more joy to our own hearts—joy for who we are and what we have. Many times we ignore what we already have. We’re always looking ahead to somewhere else without looking at our own richness. We look outside to what other’s have, ignoring our own beauty. We should have more joy and appreciation for who we are and what we already have. We’re all such amazing beings who are so fortunate to enjoy one another’s company. Let’s deeply remember our richness, and celebrate and appreciate ourselves and one another.”

The Four Causes of Happiness
by the Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
Free Download: https://www.padmasambhava.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/spring2014.pdf

Photo of the 2017 PSL Nynugne Retreat on Chenrezig, the Buddha of Compassion, led by Lama Laia Pema Tsultrim from October 7-9, 2017.

“Compassion is the beneficial thought that moves you to help other sentient beings. It arises when you see their misery and pain, and you feel from the depth of your heart that you want to remove that suffering.

Compassion can be divided into three types. The first is compassion that focuses on sentient beings, the second is compassion that focuses on ignorance, and the third is compassion without any focus. The first type of compassion is easy to understand; if we look closely at the painful situations that sentient beings experience, we feel compassion and want to change their miserable conditions.

The second kind of compassion is directed toward a deeper level; it is compassion for the ignorance that sentient beings have about the true nature of phenomena. Everything about their bodies, possessions, and emotions is constantly changing, but due to ignorance, sentient beings grasp and cling to their lives as if they will last for aeons. Then, when things change, they suffer. This type of compassion focuses on ignorance as the root of all suffering.

The third type of compassion is objectless compassion. The first two types of compassion have objects: the first has the suffering of sentient beings and the second has their ignorance, but the third type has no particular focus. It is the deepest level of compassion; it is the meditation on the absolute state of equanimity. With this kind of compassion there are no distinctions between sentient beings and nonsentient beings; one’s compassion is equal for all. One simply rests in the absolute, natural state, without any particular ideas or judgments. This compassion arises from the realization of emptiness and is free from all desire and duality. This level of meditation is achieved gradually and it is not as easy to under- stand as the first two types of compassion.

Practicing compassion will bring about the recognition of emptiness as the true nature of the mind. When you practice virtuous actions of love and compassion on the relative level, you spontaneously realize the profound nature of emptiness, which is the absolute level. In turn, if you focus your meditation practice on emptiness, then your loving-kindness and compassion will spontaneously grow.

These two natures, the absolute and the relative, are not opposites; they always arise together. They have the same nature; they are inseparable like a fire and its heat or the sun and its light. Compassion and emptiness are not like two sides of a coin. Emptiness and compassion are not two separate elements joined together; they are always coexistent.”

Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
The Buddhist Path

“Love and compassion inspire us to communicate and make friends with one another. They are completely based on primordial wisdom and are inseparable from the nature of enlightened awareness.”

Venerable Khenpo RInpoches
Liberating Duality with Wisdom Display: The Eight Emanations of Guru Padmasambhava (pg 71)

“Every effort in your practice and studies, every step along the path is enriching, rewarding, and meaningful. Together we’re moving forward from light to light, which we can all celebrate and rejoice!”

Ven. Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche
2013 PBC Pema Mandala Magazine
Free Download: www.padmasambhava.org/pema-mandala-magazine/

“When we see and acknowledge our own faults, it means that the ego is not in charge. We’re becoming more flexible people who respect the feelings and views of others, and who know how to solve problems and move forward. This is a very important sign of progress in the practice of Dzogchen.”

Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
The Beauty of Awakened Mind (pg 173)

“It’s extremely important to train our minds in love and compassion. Whenever you are faced with a difficult situation, if you can simply relax your mind, settle into meditation, and reconnect with pure love and the presence of Guru Padmasambhava, you are developing a very important skill. In this way, the more frightening bardo experiences will remind you to return to the primordial source and merge your mind with Guru Rinpoche, Vajrasattva, or any of the buddhas. All of the terrifying noises and uncomfortable visions are related to the winds. If you learn about these phenomena now, the bardo experiences will be just like a fire alarm going off, and you will remember
precisely what you need to do.

… At this point [after you die], bardo voyagers are restless, and their uncomfortable feelings gradually increase. This continues for about two weeks. You don’t like who you are or your circumstances, even though you may not recognize your real situation. For an ordinary person, the speed and uncontrollable chaos is overwhelming. Fear and anxiety may begin to dominate their mood.

There are no gross elements present at this stage. The bardo consciousness is developing in relation to its karmic winds of the four elements of earth, water, fire, and air. These four winds interact with our habit patterns and emotional instability, and give rise to further visions that tend to be rather frightening. When the earth wind becomes unbalanced, it causes you to feel like there are landslides and earthquakes. As the water wind is affected, you get stormy visions of heavy rain and crashing waves as if there were a hurricane, and this makes your consciousness more unsteady. When the fire wind is influenced, you see houses, buildings, and whole cities burning, and great fires spreading through mountain forests. When the wind of air is affected, you feel intense pressure, and hear howling and rumbling like a tornado is approaching.

If you were a kind-hearted, loving person, a guide often appears to assist you through this phase. This is very helpful because the situation is beginning to seem exhausting and endless, even as new changes continue to develop rapidly. For those who have been involved in negative activities like torturing, killing humans, or even butchering animals, malicious beings appear who cause trouble and confusion for them wherever they go. Any time they begin to feel safe and secure, someone suddenly appears to disturb them and destroy their peace of mind. This happens over and over again.

… After about three weeks, the habit patterns of your previous life begin to lose force and dissolve. The energy of the patterns begins to wane, and your normal vision of things is shown to be false. At this point, your consciousness undergoes a crisis of deep uncertainty about the nature of existence. Everyone who wanders this far into the bardo will have this kind of experience, regardless of their habits. Gradually, visions of your future life appear like the glow before sunrise. This gets stronger and clearer as you approach the dawn of future habit patterns and karmic rebirth. It’s not yet very bright, but even so, it’s attractive
because you’re tired of being afraid and wandering without any support.

During the fourth week, the emerging pattern of the future becomes even stronger. You start to feel comfortable with it. Your association with your previous habitual body ends as a new form arises, and you like the feel of the energy. It’s like taking birth in the god realm, with a rosy anticipation of some security as the light slowly increases.

While the beginning of your next life is inevitably approaching, lights of different colors and intensities will appear. The nature of your thoughts and attachments determine which color is attractive, and where you will take rebirth. By the seventh week, you abandon almost all attention to past memories, and shift your focus to your new situation. Everything becomes increasingly defined, until somewhere around forty-nine days when the average person takes up residence in a womb.

In most cases, reincarnation is not a conscious decision—it’s determined by the power of karma. If you haven’t practiced, you will have difficulty recognizing the opportunities for liberation in the clear light, and you’ll be carried by the force of your karmic winds. They will drive you along and you won’t have much choice. Practitioners who have some understanding of the mind have the ability to influence their destination and choose a higher rebirth. They may even get to be born to parents they like. But most beings just wander for awhile, visiting different places in their mental body. After an average of forty-nine days, they re-enter the bardo of birth and life in one of the six realms according to their karma.”

Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
The Essential Journey of Life and Death, Vol. 1 (pgs 198-201)

Photo of the Padma Samye Ling sky in 2008, as well as the six bardos of living and dying.

“Remember, you do not always have to speak or act in order to be of benefit to others—silence and stillness can be very powerful too.”

Ven. Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche
Inborn Realization: A Commentary on His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche’s Mountain Retreat Instructions (pg 168)