All teachings by Ngak’chang Rinpoche

Strange and unbelievable

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen Apprentice Why does enthusiasm come and go? It is not that I am not enthusiastic as an apprentice—it’s the best …

Sudden enlightenment

Ngak’chang Rinpoche Apprentice People talk about satori, sudden enlightenment, glimpses of enlightenment. I tend to be a bit suspicious of these things—what …

Sulkiness, sullenness, and surliness

Ngak’chang Rinpoche Apprentice In your last Vajra Letter, you mention that one must be able to ‘remain free of the prison of …

Sweet & sour orthodoxy

Part 2 of an interview with the lineage holders by Lama Shardröl, 31 December 1997.

Ngak’chang Rinpoche, Khandro Déchen & Shardröl Du-nyam Wangmo This is the second half of an interview originally published in Vision magazine in 1998 (issue 11). The first half …

that is the nature of the world

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen Apprentice I spent the first 32 years or so working out a reason to live. What was the point when …

The Art of Living

18 October 2018

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen The Art of Living is the act of living life AS Art. This can only really be understood if we …

The Drala Jong Interview – Part I

24 July 2011

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen Q: What will Drala Jong be used for?
Ngak’chang Chögyam Rinpoche [NCR]: Buddhism!
Q: [Laughs] Sorry, silly question. What I really meant …

The Drala Jong Interview – Part II

29 July 2011

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen Q: What sorts of teachings would a residential centre allow – would there be something new that isn’t currently possible …

The Five Certainties

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen Five factors are of crucial importance if transmission is to function: time, place, teacher, teaching, and audience. For authentic, lucid, …

the Godfather

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen Retreat participant My son is thinking about opening a gun shop. I’m wondering if you could comment as to whether …

The hell of being a practitioner

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen Apprentice Why is it that I can see, in my practice of shi-nè, exactly how my mind works, but I …

The initial display

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen A brief overview of how to relate to unsatisfactoriness without dwelling on it or becoming miserable, as explained by Lamas. The text emphasizes observing the initial experience with clarity rather than getting caught up in commentary and conceptualization, allowing for a sense of spaciousness and non-referentiality.

The Lama-Student Relationship within Dzogchen

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen We have long realised that we cannot work with those who need their Lamas to sit on shoulder height thrones …

The Little Buddha

Ngak’chang Rinpoche Apprentice I have been practicing shi-nè for a year now, and I swear it’s making me crazier rather than saner.
Ngak’chang …

The malodorous security of last night’s curry

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen Apprentice There is something a little irritating about shi-nè when I practise it properly—I mean when I don’t zone out …

The Meaning of Transmission

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen The essential meaning of transmission lies in continually experiencing oneself in relation to the Lama.
The function of the Lamas – …

the surrogate compassion of an arrogant dharmite

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen Apprentice I am used to hearing teachings which continually emphasise compassion—and since I became an apprentice I have been aware …

The Vehicles

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen As you get to understand Buddhism better, you will come to understand what a beautiful geometry it makes. The ways …

The Yanas

Ngak’chang Rinpoche Ngak’chang Rinpoche recorded at the San Francisco Shambhala Center, April 2006. A 13-minute talk.
To learn more about the yanas, …

The year of the Dog

A teaching on ‘time in transit’

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen There are many ways in which we could examine the meaning of the Fire Dog year. We could look at …

They may as well have kissed Barney Rubble

Ngak’chang Rinpoche Apprentice The intellect seems to get a raw deal in our lineage.
Ngak’chang Rinpoche That has more to do with Khandro …

They spook from time to time

Ngak’chang Rinpoche Apprentice In your reply to my last letter you said that I should try to celebrate whenever obstacles arose, and …

Tralam-mé

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen Authentic relationship to the dimension of sexuality—in terms of Aro gTér practice—is linked with the Dzogchen teachings of the Khandro …

Tralam-mé Q&A (1)

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen Q Rinpoche, do you have awareness of people’s tralam-mé?
R Yes – but it is not necessary. You can know the …

Tralam-mé Q&A (2)

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen Q Is it possible to see tralam-mé?
R Yes, in a manner of speaking – but it is more that you …

‘Unless you are an imbecile. . .’ (Drala Jong Interview – Part III)

13 September 2011

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen Q: What sort of location do you have in mind?
KD: It depends on how much money we raise. It depends …

Vajrayana Buddhism in the West

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen This is not ‘just for us’; not even the Aro gTér is ‘just for us’.
People often speak of preserving the …

Wealth

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen We were asked for our views on ‘envy’ in respect of ‘giving up materialism as the Buddhist way of life’. …

we thought we had no spare time left

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen Prospective apprentice Is it feasible for a man or woman with a career, children, and family obligations to practise Vajrayana? …

when we forget to ‘do samsara’

Ngak’chang Rinpoche Apprentice Rinpoche, when you were teaching at Pema ’ö-Sel Ling, you said that one could be inspired by natural phenomena …