The following is a video of comments made by Ven. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche during his visit to Kunzang Palyul Choling. You can tune into a live webcast of his teaching this evening here:
Ven. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
Ven. Dzigar Kongtrul to Offer Teaching on The Four Immeasurables at KPC
The Four Immeasurables: The Key to a Meaningful Life
KPC is honored that renowned Buddhist Master and Nyingma lineage-holder, Ven. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche will be teaching at our Maryland Temple this Friday 29th June at 7pm.
Rinpoche defines what it means to be a spiritual person in modern times, always mixing practice and life. “Isn’t that the goal of the spiritual path?” Rinpoche often asks; to be flexible, courageous and exploratory in the face of life’s joys and paradoxes, while never parting from a connection to its deepest meaning.
Born into a Tibetan family in Northern India, when he was a boy Ven. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche was recognized by His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche as an emanation of Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thaye, also known as Jamgön Kongtrül the Great. His Holiness the 16th Karmapa confirmed this. Jamgön Kongtrül the Great, was one of the most influential teachers of the Rimé movement of Tibetan Buddhism. His collected works total more than ninety volumes, which include The Treasury of Precious Termas (Rinchen Terdzod).
Rinpoche married an American woman, and moved to the United States with his family in 1989. In the early 1990’s he founded Mangala Shri Bhuti (link: http://mangalashribhuti.org/index.html), an organization established to further the study and practice of the Nyingma lineage in the West and particularly the Rimé tradition.
Ven. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche is the author of three books and is also an avid painter in the abstract expressionist tradition, and a photographer – bearing witness to moments of life around him as he travels widely throughout the world teaching and furthering his own education.
On Friday, Rinpoche will guide us in a meditation on the Four Immeasurables, and will speak about how it can be applied to our contemporary lives. By practicing the Four Immeasurables, equanimity, loving-kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy, we develop the aspiration to devote our lives to attain enlightenment for others. The practice of altruism is the best form of kindness towards oneself and others; the ultimate altruism is Bodhicitta, the compassionate wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. For Ven. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, the Four Immeasurables are the foundation of Buddhist practice and the key to leading a meaningful life.
Ven. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche is a wonderfully accessible teacher whose fluent English and western manner allow the most profound teachings to be easily assimilated into the western mind. He is respected by Lamas of many traditions. Please join us for this precious opportunity to learn how to apply the extraordinary methods of the Buddhadharma in our daily lives.
Suggested donation is $35, but no-one will be turned away. For those not in the Maryland/D.C. area Rinpoche’s teaching will also be streamed live here. Please let your friends know – everyone is welcome!
“May all beings know happiness and the causes of happiness,
May they be free from suffering and the causes of suffering,
May they never be separated from the sacred happiness which is sorrowless,
And free from the knots of hope and fear, may they believe in the equality of all that lives.”