Could someone please help me identify this lama? Thanks a lot!

[SOLVED] It's Chogyal Rinpoche. Thanks, u/Vegetable_Draw6554.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIHftn5gQUa/

I am taking a deeper commitment with my vows, which includes going back to the "basics" (the 5 precepts) and really digging in to the immensity of their meaning in a way I had not previously. Developing wholesome speech has been a core element of the training I've received form my teachers and sangha. I'd say that I've received more training on wholesome speech than on the other 4 vows combined.

I'd love to hear how other practitioners work on wholesome speech, in particular, and/or any feedback on my interpretations and questions below!

We work with both positive (building the wholesome) and negative (reducing the unwholesome) transliterations of the vows, so for speech this is:

I undertake to train myself to abstain from unskillful speech
I undertake to train myself to communicate in a skillful and compassionate manner.

I understand that unwholesome speech includes:

• False speech or lying — my teacher is encouraging us to consider lies of omissions with equal weight to lies of commission — when not speaking is an unwholesome act
• Idle speech, which includes gossip — this is a long-standing pattern of mine we have been (successfully chipping away at!)
• Malicious speech, including slander
• Harsh speech — which would seem to include malicious speech, so I still exploring how these are separable?

Wholesome speech does not have such a clear definition, so I'm curious if / how others define it! I find it very helpful to build the positive (3rd and 4th ennobling efforts) with at least as much effort as I put on purifying the unwholesome (1st and 2nd ennobling efforts).

Wholesome speech might include:

• Speaking up whenever it is compassionate to do so: offering training, teaching, or other forms of wholesome support
• Not speaking when silence is more appropriate; not enabling, infantilizing, or indulging someone in an unwholesome state or story, etc.
• Interrupting an unwholesome speech, story, state, etc. by sharing the dharma, or otherwise directing attention toward something wholesome and uplifting
• Expanding on #1, intuiting when / where someone is struggling and making the effort to connect and communicate and be supportive
• Sharing and celebrating positive events in personal, community or the world, to expand joy and also combat the "negative news" mental state of current society
• Developing the inquiring mind: asking deeper questions that explore dharma and seek to develop a better view on personal patterns, the nature of mind / dharma / awakening, and/or another person's experience and unfoldment

A working list that is very much unrefined!

I'm looking for an tantra which would be under anuttarayoga I believe, but similar in practice to tsalung and karmamudra. It could be a terma or some other text, but basically the practice is to generate realization through structure. There's an extra intermediate step of converting energy (like the tsalung energy or desire) into structure, but then that structure is immediately converted into a realization, which skips the intermediate step of practice found in karmamudra and tsalung.

It's a tantra that is not karmamudra and not tsalung/tummo, but a separate tantra that is very similar to these in terms of manipulating energy and directing it towards Dharma during critical moments. Maybe someone has spreadable texts saved and might know what tantra I'm thinking of.

Any ideas? Termas are fine too, untranslated is fine. Thank you!

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Hello. Has anyone experienced benefits from ngondro that they can elucidate. Also is there any way around doing ngondro to become a ngakpa? Currently I am practicing and developing concentration and I feel that doing ngondro will delay me for at least a decade from practicing concentration. Is it possible to skip this process? Also for anyone that has successfully completed ngondro how long did it take you as a householder working a full time job. And did you have a social life? Ngondro as in taking of refuge in the Three Jewels in conjunction with the performance of 100,000 prostrations (purifying pride) cultivation of bodhicitta (purifying jealousy). 100,000 recitations of Vajrasattva's hundred-syllable mantra (purifying hatred/aversion) 100,000 mandala offerings (purifying attachment) 100,000 guru yoga practices (purifying delusion)

Hi,

I don’t know if anyone relates with this but the first time I ever did a sadhana practice I felt more than overwhelmed. I had a lot of previous meditation practice and experience in Hinayana and Mahayana and ended up at a center doing a daily concise sadhana practice with them and it literally felt like I was going to have a psychotic break. This was years ago, and my relationship to the same sadhana practice has evolved to a more gentle and workable state of mind around that practice. I honestly still feel wary of Vajrayana to this day though, and was misled by a teacher and am now looking for one to help clarify things. But at the time I had no idea about Vajrayana practices because I intentionally kept myself from reading much about Vajrayana until I was properly introduced step by step by a qualified teacher. The Lama at the center at the time said it’s important that I just kept showing up and doing the practice regardless of how crazy it was making me feel, but I just couldn’t. It felt wrong.

Somehow I had a visceral reaction to being introduced to higher Vajrayana language and practice before I was ready. Even now if there’s a text that requires a lung or empowerment and I click on it not knowing that I get this knot in my stomach and intense fear and just click away. Not for some theistic fear, but because I think I know it could seriously adversely affect my spiritual health and have serious consequences in my everyday life. Just curious if anyone else has had such an experience or knows of anything teachers have said about students who feel they are going crazy when jumping into Vajrayana practice unprepared.

Thank you in advance for whatever you offer and share.

Looks similar to Vajradhara, but obviously red in colour.

Do these two groups deviate from the rest of Tibetan Buddhism only by their acceptance of DS and cultish practices, or do they have additional deviations in the doctrine itself, like on the nature of mind and deities and so on? Tsem Rinpoche's website often shows up in results and has a lot of information, so I am tempted to read it but stay away due to his association with DS.

I have some attraction towards kurukulle, are there any practices which can be done without empowerment for now atleast?

Hello, from January, I can’t find news on Internet about Dilgo Yangsi’s teachings in Europe or Asia. Do you know if he will come back to Europe? Where can I find some informations about his schedule? Thanks so much

Was teased last year and they finally have a date.

I showed my guru the trailer and said “this milarepa is a woman”. He said “no problem, this is a Buddhist movie. Good.”

Prakrti in buddhism is emptiness (śūnyatā), which is an absence of nature, characterised as wisdom. (Characterised as feminine)

Purusha's view as method and enlightened compassionate action. (Characterised as male).

Their union and inseparability - of wisdom and method is shown throughout buddhism.

These are not concepts as exactly described in samkhya, buddha changed/suited it for enlightenment.

The idea of two things uniting to generate something.

Several scholars have stressed on the connection between samkhya and tantra. Did the buddha use these concepts to create - buddhist tantra, suited to reach enlightenment?

I want to make sure if I understood those concepts and their differences in regards to each other correctly and ask kindly for any correction:

Svatantrika and Prasangika differ on the use of logic, debating whether or not it is permissible to agree initially to a factual existence of conventional phenomena according to their characteristics in order to allow the use of syllogistic reasoning in discussions with Prthagjanas.

Rangtong and Shentong differ on the actual ontic status of Shunyata in regards to ultimate reality, the latter which affirms the existence of an innate nature of Paramartha-Satya (being only empty of others) while the former denies any Svabhava of it (lacking any own essence it only exists dependently within the context of Pratityasamutpada)

Two Truths Doctrine of Samvriti Satya (conventional truth, the mundane experience of life) & Paramartha-Satya (ultimate truth, the realisation of Dharmadhatu), a system that is upheld by both Svatantrikamadhyamaka & Prasangikamadhyamaka and Vajrayana schools regardless of their stance on Shentong but as seen above differ in interpretation & application

I've recently received empowerment and am curious about refuge. In this case, we took refuge in the Guru, the Yidam, and the Dakini. However, we were instructed that taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha is optional but not required for empowerment or practice. I'm curious to know what other Vajrayana sects take that approach? Thanks

"We want to make Buddhas in the West. We want as many girl Buddhas and boy Buddhas... A couple years ago all these teachings were given to me by His Holiness meaning he wants these teachings - he's very pragmatic - he wants these teachings to survive in their West and ... about three or four years ago he ... put all these texts in front of me of all the secret advanced cave and Hermitage yogi practices the most advanced practices and he said look if we don't find a way of preserving these in the West there were very few Tibetans that can do these anymore they're all going to die out so here's what I want you to do I want you to translate all the texts of the cave and Hermitage yogis and translate them accurately ... and put them in a form that Westerners can actually do them."

~Dr. Daniel P. Brown

Please use this thread to discuss random thoughts, discussions and other comments related to Vajrayana Buddhism. This can hopefully de-clutter the front page a bit as this is something users have requested. Let's use it for benefit!

One of the tantric refuge vows I took said something like taking refuge in Buddha and not worldly deities.

I recently prayed and made offerings to Phra Phrom at Erawan Shrine for career when I was in Bangkok. Did this constitute a vow breakage?

Its not convenient for me to ask my guru now