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WORK TITLE: Training in Tenderness
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Kongtrul, Dzigar
BIRTHDATE: 10/23/1964
WEBSITE:
CITY: Boulder
STATE: CO
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: Tibetan
“Rinpoche” looks like a title, not a name. http://www.choklingtersar.org/teachers/dzigar.htm. http://www.mangalashribhuti.org/html/rinpoche/index.html.
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born October 23, 1964, in Himachal Pradesh, India; emigrated to U.S., 1989; son of Neten Chokling Rinpoche and Mayum Tsewang Palden.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author and spiritual leader. Naropa University, Boulder, CO, professor of Buddhist philosophy, beginning 1990. Founder, Mangala Shri Bhuti.
AVOCATIONS:Painting.
AWARDS:Spirituality & Practice Award, 2016, for The Intelligent Heart.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche is a Tibetan Buddhist tulku, a spiritual leader or lama, who serves as a professor at Naropa University in Colorado. “Born into a noble dharma family in Northern India, his father was the third incarnation of the great tertön Chogyur Lingpa, while Rinpoche’s first teacher, his mother, was a great and renowned practitioner,” explained the contributor of a biographical blurb to the home page of the tulku’s school, the Mangala Shri Bhuti website. “Raised in a monastic environment, Rinpoche received extensive training in all aspects of Buddhist doctrine.” He came to the United States with his parents and siblings in 1989 and received a position at Naropa the following year. Since then, he has taught and written extensively about Buddhist life, thought, and philosophy. His works include It’s up to You: The Practice of Self-Reflection on the Buddhist Path, Uncommon Happiness, Light Comes Through: Buddhist Teachings on Awakening to Our Natural Intelligence, The Power of an Open Question: The Buddha’s Path to Freedom, The Intelligent Heart: A Guide to the Compassionate Life, and Training in Tenderness: Buddhist Teachings on Tsewa, the Radical Openness of Heart That Can Change the World.
Each of Rinpoche’s books is designed to teach an aspect of Buddhist thought to a popular audience. In It’s up to You, Rinpoche looks at the process of meditation and self-knowledge, one of the key practices in Buddhism. “Self-reflection is the common thread that runs through all traditions of Buddhist practice,” said Elizabeth McCardell on the Gulf Bend Center website. “It breathes life into our practice, protecting it from becoming just another enterprise. When we practice self-reflection we take liberation into our own hands and accept the challenge and personal empowerment indicated in Kongtrul’s title: it’s up to you. But more than this, we seek to simplify our lives through a clarity of intention.” It’s up to You, wrote Graham Christian in Library Journal, “addresses questions of some subtlety in a highly accessible manner.”
In Light Comes Through, the concept that Rinpoche teaches ways of understanding and working through the emotions that interfere with showing compassion for others. Aggression, arrogance, attachment, jealousy, and stupidity feed our egos and cut us off from others. By embracing emptiness—or potential—we come back into compassion. “A superbly written and thoroughly ‘reader friendly’ treatise,” stated a contributor to California Bookwatch, “‘Light Comes Through’ is inspired and inspiring.” “Steadily gaining in sophistication,” assessed a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “… this slender book has wisdom for practitioners of all levels.” “With the many insights it contains,” concluded Todd Mayville in Elephant Journal, Light Comes Through “is one of those that can be read again and again.”
In The Intelligent Heart, stated a Mountain Record reviewer, Rinpoche “takes us in a very systematic fashion through a series of lojong (mind transformation) teachings designed to help us diminish our own sense of self importance and shift towards extending bodhicitta compassion.” The idea is to be able to have compassion for others by putting ourselves in their situations and places. “This is a substantive guide to the compassionate life,” asserted Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat in Spirituality & Practice, “with wise and practical steps toward putting others before yourself and seeking in all things to benefit them.”
Rinpoche introduces the concept of tsewa, or innate compassion, to Western readers in Training in Tenderness. “By comparing tsewa to natural elements,” declared a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “… he explains why tsewa is fundamental to human well-being.” “The author reminds us of a simple truth, rephrasing classic Buddhist wisdom,” remarked Gabriel Rosenstock in the Irish Times, “when he says, ‘Each of us is like a hungry, homeless person who doesn’t realize there’s an enormous treasure buried under the ground where he sleeps. The warmth of our heart is that buried treasure, buy we can’t enjoy it because we lack the wisdom and skillful means to recognize it, appreciate it and harness its power.’”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
California Bookwatch, August, 2008, review of Light Comes Through: Buddhist Teachings on Awakening to Our Natural Intelligence.
Irish Times, August 2, 2018, Gabriel Rosenstock, review of Training in Tenderness: Buddhist Teachings on Tsewa, the Radical Openness of Heart That Can Change the World.
Library Journal, July 1, 2005, Graham Christian, review of It’s up to You: The Practice of Self-Reflection on the Buddhist Path, p. 88.
Publishers Weekly, May 12, 2008, review of Light Comes Through, p. 51; March 12, 2018, review of Training in Tenderness, p. 55.
ONLINE
Elephant Journal, https://www.elephantjournal.com/ (July 20, 2008), Todd Mayville, review of Light Comes Through.
Gulf Bend Center website, https://www.gulfbend.org/ (January 18, 2006), Elizabeth McCardell, review of It’s up to You.
Mangala Shri Bhuti website, http://www.mangalashribhuti.org (August 8, 2018), author profile.
Mountain Record, https://www.mountainrecord.org/ (August 8, 2018), review of The Intelligent Heart: A Guide to the Compassionate Life.
Spirituality & Practice, http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/ (August 8, 2018), Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, review of The Intelligent Heart.
Occasionally we encounter people in our lives who have an immediate effect upon us. We are struck by the selfless nature of their presence, the strength of their confidence, the wisdom in their eyes, or the warmth they radiate. Contact with such people can awaken our intelligence, curiosity and longing, and perhaps even inspire us to look deeper into the meaning of our ordinary lives. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche is one of these people.
Unbroken lineages of wisdom traditions are rare in these times, and Kongtrul Rinpoche descends from a pure lineage of the Dzogpa Chenpo Longchen Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Born into a noble dharma family in Northern India, his father was the third incarnation of the great tertön Chogyur Lingpa, while Rinpoche’s first teacher, his mother, was a great and renowned practitioner, completing thirteen years of solitary retreat before she married. At the age of nine, Rinpoche was recognized as an incarnation of Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, by Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa. Raised in a monastic environment, Rinpoche received extensive training in all aspects of Buddhist doctrine. In particular he received the teachings of the Nyingma lineage from his root teacher, Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Rinpoche also studied extensively under Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Nyöshul Khen Rinpoche and the great scholar Khenpo Rinchen.
In 1989 Rinpoche moved to the United States with his family and in 1990 began five-year tenure as the first holder of the World Wisdom Chair at Naropa University. During that time Rinpoche founded Mangala Shri Bhuti, an organization dedicated to establishing a genuine sangha of the Longchen Nyingtik Lineage in the West. Weaving his ancient spiritual heritage with the many threads of a modern Western culture, Rinpoche is known for his uncompromising integrity, deep conviction in altruism, and insistence that all beings can awaken to their own enlightened nature.
Kongtrul Rinpoche's life defines what it means to be a spiritual person in modern times. Whether through his teaching, his passion as an abstract painter, his steadfast dedication to his lineage and students, or through his joy in solitude, and his unshakable determination to engage his own path, throughout it all, Rinpoche integrates his practice and his life. "Isn’t that the goal of the spiritual path?" Rinpoche often asks. Indeed it is -- to be flexible, courageous and exploratory in the face of life’s joys and paradoxes, while never losing touch with a connection to its deepest meaning.
Dzigar Kongtrul grew up in a monastic environment and received extensive training in all aspects of Buddhist doctrine. In 1989, he moved to the United States with his family, and in 1990, he began a five-year tenure as a professor of Buddhist philosophy at Naropa University. He also founded Mangala Shri Bhuti, his own teaching organization, during this period. He has established a mountain retreat center, Longchen Jigme Samten Ling, in southern Colorado. When not guiding students in long-term retreats and not in retreat himself, Rinpoche travels widely throughout the world teaching and furthering his own education.
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
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Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche (b. 23 Oct 1964[1][2]) is the title of a tulku lineage of Tibetan Buddhist lamas. They originate with Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, one of the most illustrious lamas of recent history, known for his central role in the rimé or non-sectarian movement in 19th Century Tibet. Jigme Namgyel (b. 1964) is the present Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. He is the second or third incarnation, depending on whether Lodro Thaye is counted (he was not known as "Dzigar Kongtrul"—that lineage is one of five distinct subsequent variants beginning after his death).
Contents [hide]
1
The 2nd Dzigar Kongtrul
2
The 3rd Dzigar Kongtrul
2.1
Artistic pursuits
2.2
Integrating art and wisdom
3
Bibliography
4
References
5
External links
The 2nd Dzigar Kongtrul[edit]
The second Dzigar Kongtrul, Lodrö Rabpel, was recognized by his root guru the 15th Karmapa, Khakyab Dorje, along with Karsey Kongtrul. He was the younger brother of Dzigar Chogtrül, a Drukpa Kagyü of a long incarnate lineage.
His bases of activity were Palpung Monastery, Tsanda Rinchen Drag and Dzong Shö, and later he founded a monastery known as Rango Tsokha near Neten Gön, the monastery of the 2nd Neten Chokling Rinpoche to whom he was very close. According to Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, a contemporary master who died in 1996, Lodro Rabpel was renowned throughout Derge for his eloquence.[3]
The 3rd Dzigar Kongtrul[edit]
The present Dzigar Kongtrul was born in the Northern Indian province of Himachal Pradesh to Tibetan refugee parents; his father was the third Neten Chokling Rinpoche and his mother, Mayum Tsewang Palden, practiced all her life, even in the midst of raising five children. Rinpoche grew up in a monastic environment. He was trained in the Longchen Nyingtik lineage of the Nyingma school as well as the Khyen-Kong Chok-Sum lineages (those of Jamgon Kongtrul, Khyentse Wangpo and Chokgyur Lingpa—the three primary figures in the rimé movement) by his root guru H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Rinpoche also studied extensively under Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche and the great scholar Khenpo Rinchen. He moved to the United States in 1989 with his family and began a five-year tenure as a professor of Buddhist philosophy at Naropa University (then Institute) in 1990.
Not long after arriving in the United States, Rinpoche founded Mangala Shri Bhuti, an organization established to further the practice of the Longchen Nyingtik and Khyen-Kong Chok-sum lineages. He established a mountain retreat center, Longchen Jigme Samten Ling, in southern Colorado, where he spends much of his time in retreat and guides students in long-term retreat practice. When not in retreat, Rinpoche travels widely throughout the world teaching and furthering his own education.
His most well-known student in the Western world is Pema Chödrön, who took him as her primary teacher in 1994, years after the death of her root guru, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.[4]
Mangala Shri Bhuti, Rinpoche's organization, has a total of five centers. Three are study and practice centers -- Phuntsok Choling in Boulder, Colorado, Pema Osel Do Ngak Choling in Vershire, Vermont, and the Guna Institute in Bir, India. The remaining two are retreat centers -- Longchen Jigme Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, and Guna Norling in Salvador, Bahia - Brazil.
Artistic pursuits[edit]
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche is also an abstract expressionist painter. Kongtrul Rinpoche views creativity as "something very large - the essence of everything". His training in the arts began at an early age with the practice of calligraphy, music, ritual dance and other traditional Tibetan arts. After his introduction to Western culture, Rinpoche became increasingly interested in modern art, particularly abstract painting and the work of Pablo Picasso and Wassily Kandinsky. He began painting under the guidance of his teacher, Yahne Le Toumelin in the mid-1990s. Mrs. Le Toumelin, who is based in Dordogne, France, is herself a renowned abstract expressionist painter who was introduced by André Breton in the 1960 as one of the few women painters to make a mark in her generation. Mrs. Le Toumelin teaches a unique style of oil paint mixed with glue applied with special palettes. She regards Rinpoche as her most significant student and an artist whose fearlessness and brilliance are incomparable[citation needed].
Integrating art and wisdom[edit]
In his book Natural Vitality, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche speaks about how the creative process and meditation can merge. The outcome is not only profound works of art, but an added dimension for our spiritual growth.
The essential practice of meditation is to allow the mind to express itself freely without fear or judgment. In each moment of awareness we encounter impressions of the outer world through our sense perception as well as our inner world of thoughts, feelings and emotions. When, through the process of meditation, we are able to let this incredible array of experience be, without trying to reject what we fear or pull in what we feel attracted to - when we relax into experience without trying to manipulate it in any way - we have a complete experience of mind, naked and unaltered. Art, when it is free of such notions of beauty and ugliness, ‘shoulds’ and ‘shouldn’ts’ can be used to express this complete experience of mind. When art evolves from this understanding it provides the possibility for those who see it to also experience the natural and unfabricated nature of their own awareness. –Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
Bibliography[edit]
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. It's Up to You : The Practice of Self-Reflection on the Buddhist Path, Shambhala Publications, Boston, Mass. 2005. ISBN 1-59030-148-X
"Light Coming Through", paintings of Kongtrul Jigme Namgyel, MSB, Boulder, CO;
"Natural Vitality", the paintings of Kongtrul Jigme Namgyel, Sarasvati Publishing, Crestone, CO
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. Uncommon Happiness: The Path of the Compassionate Warrior
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. Light Comes Through: Buddhist Teachings on Awakening to Our Natural Intelligence
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche Heart Advice: Selected Teachings from the Mangala Shri Bhuti Dharma Blog
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
Occasionally we encounter people in our lives who have an immediate effect upon us. We are struck by the selfless nature of their presence, the strength of their confidence, the wisdom in their eyes, or the warmth they radiate. Contact with such people can awaken our intelligence, curiosity and longing, and perhaps even inspire us to look deeper into the meaning of our ordinary lives. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche is one of these people.
Unbroken lineages of wisdom traditions are rare in these times, and Kongtrul Rinpoche descends from a pure lineage of the Dzogpa Chenpo Longchen Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Born into a noble dharma family in Northern India, his father was the third incarnation of the great tertön Chogyur Lingpa, while Rinpoche’s first teacher, his mother, was a great and renowned practitioner, completing thirteen years of solitary retreat before she married. At the age of nine, Rinpoche was recognized as an incarnation of Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, by Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa. Raised in a monastic environment, Rinpoche received extensive training in all aspects of Buddhist doctrine. In particular he received the teachings of the Nyingma lineage from his root teacher, Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Rinpoche also studied extensively under Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Nyöshul Khen Rinpoche and the great scholar Khenpo Rinchen.
In 1989 Rinpoche moved to the United States with his family and in 1990 began five-year tenure as the first holder of the World Wisdom Chair at Naropa University. During that time Rinpoche founded Mangala Shri Bhuti, an organization dedicated to establishing a genuine sangha of the Longchen Nyingtik Lineage in the West. Weaving his ancient spiritual heritage with the many threads of a modern Western culture, Rinpoche is known for his uncompromising integrity, deep conviction in altruism, and insistence that all beings can awaken to their own enlightened nature.
Kongtrul Rinpoche's life defines what it means to be a spiritual person in modern times. Whether through his teaching, his passion as an abstract painter, his steadfast dedication to his lineage and students, or through his joy in solitude, and his unshakable determination to engage his own path, throughout it all, Rinpoche integrates his practice and his life. "Isn’t that the goal of the spiritual path?" Rinpoche often asks. Indeed it is -- to be flexible, courageous and exploratory in the face of life’s joys and paradoxes, while never losing touch with a connection to its deepest meaning.
Rinpoche is the author of four books, It’s Up to You: The Practice of Self-Reflection on the Buddhist Path, Light Comes Through: Buddhist Teachings on Awakening to our Natural Intelligence, Uncommon Happiness: The Path of the Compassionate Warrior, and The Intelligent Heart: A Guide to the Compassionate Life.
If you are interested in finding out more about pursuing the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual path of the Dzogchen Longchen Nyingtik lineage under Rinpoche’s guidance, please visit the Becoming a Student webpage.
Training in Tenderness: Buddhist Teachings on Tsewa, the Radical Openness of Heart That Can Change the World
Publishers Weekly. 265.11 (Mar. 12, 2018): p55.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Training in Tenderness: Buddhist Teachings on Tsewa, the Radical Openness of Heart That Can Change the World
Dzigar Kongtrul. Shambhala, $14.95 trade paper (128p) ISBN 978-1-61180-558-1
Kongtrul (The Intelligent Heart), a Tibetan Buddhist teacher, shows how the cultivation of tsewa (a Tibetan word for "the innate tenderness of our own heart") can lead to increased personal happiness and positive change in this uplifting book. By comparing tsewa to natural elements such as oxygen, seeds, water, and trees, he explains why tsewa is fundamental to human well-being (underlying even such key Buddhist concepts as compassion and loving-kindness) and explores how it can be developed through self-inquiry. His discussions of letting go of grudges and using discernment to improve relationships are particularly strong as he describes how one negative experience, if processed through anger, can ripple through the mind to have negative affects on overall health. His approach is firmly grounded in Mahayana Buddhist concepts (such as the bodhisattva path of service to help all beings attain enlightenment), but Kongtrul offers general, accessible principles (such as resisting gut reactions and allowing time before making large decisions) that will work for readers who have no knowledge of Buddhism or any interest in meditation. With clarity, brevity, and grace, Kongtrul ably conveys his hopeful vision that all individuals can "live a life full of joy, meaning, and profound value to the world." (May)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Training in Tenderness: Buddhist Teachings on Tsewa, the Radical Openness of Heart That Can Change the World." Publishers Weekly, 12 Mar. 2018, p. 55. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A531285151/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=24520382. Accessed 26 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A531285151
Kongtrul, Dzigar. It's Up to You: The Practice of Self-Reflection on the Buddhist Path
Graham Christian
Library Journal. 130.12 (July 1, 2005): p88.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2005 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Kongtrul, Dzigar. It's Up to You: The Practice of Self-Reflection on the Buddhist Path. Shambhala, dist. by Random. 2005. c.160p. ISBN 1-59030-148-X. $19.95. REL
Kongtrul is not only the son of a respected Buddhist teacher in northern India but also has been acclaimed as an incarnation of Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, a leading light of 19th-century Buddhism. His latest book addresses questions of some subtlety in a highly accessible manner. Buddhist thought, Kongtrul asserts, necessarily focuses on the "self"--"not the ego 'self' but the true nature of all sentient beings." Once the movement from ego to "true nature" is made, we become free to act in the world. An immensely enjoyable little volume on some basics of Buddhist spirituality, this is recommended for all collections.
Christian, Graham
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Christian, Graham. "Kongtrul, Dzigar. It's Up to You: The Practice of Self-Reflection on the Buddhist Path." Library Journal, 1 July 2005, p. 88. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A134314582/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=d983a15f. Accessed 26 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A134314582
Light Comes Through
California Bookwatch. (Aug. 2008):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2008 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Full Text:
Light Comes Through
Dzigar Kongtrul
Shambhala Publications, Inc.
300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02115-4544
9781590305676, $21.95, www.shambhala.com 1-800-733-3000
The philosophies and tenants of Buddhism are continuing to gain wide acceptance and increasing interest among westerners as an alternative to the Abrahamic religions and their dogmas. Shambhala Publications is a premier publisher of books on Buddhism and one of their newest titles is "Light Comes Through: Buddhist Teachings On Awakening To Our Natural Intelligence" by Dzigar Kongtrul, a Tibetan lama who has been teaching Buddhism in the United States for the better part of the last twenty years. Kongtrul maintains that 'Buddhahood' is essentially acquiring an unobstructed experience of the true nature of the human mind as being "boundlessly spacious and limitlessly compassionate". In "Light Comes Through" this master teacher shows the reader how to use his or her natural intelligence as a tool to "awaken to the joyous nature of mind" and thereby achieve emancipation from suffering through life-changing insights. A superbly written and thoroughly 'reader friendly' treatise, "Light Comes Through" is inspired and inspiring--and an essential, core addition to personal, academic, and community library Buddhist Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Light Comes Through." California Bookwatch, Aug. 2008. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A182979537/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f34c7e65. Accessed 26 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A182979537
Light Comes Through: Buddhist Teachings on Awakening Our Natural Intelligence
Publishers Weekly. 255.19 (May 12, 2008): p51.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2008 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Light Comes Through: Buddhist Teachings on Awakening
Our Natural Intelligence
Dzigar Kongtrul, foreword by the Dalai Lama. Shambhala, $21.95 (144p) ISBN 978-1-59030567-6
Friend and teacher of the high-profile author Pema Chodron, Tibetan Buddhist lama Kongtrul grew up in a monastic environment and received broad training in Buddhist doctrine. Steadily gaining in sophistication in its three sections, this slender book has wisdom for practitioners of all levels. The first part lays bare the five self-centered emotions of jealousy, aggression, attachment, arrogance and stupidity. The second, which delves into working with others, offers fresh material on working with a teacher, as well as understanding the pull of our emotions and thoughts in everyday relationships. The final part, on emptiness, is more suited to advanced practitioners who are ready to embrace esoteric teachings. Kongtrul's primary mission is to help readers train their minds in wisdom. There is a comforting bravery in his thinking about the difference between "trying to arrange the world according to our preferences" and "delighting in the way our experience naturally unfolds." (July 8)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Light Comes Through: Buddhist Teachings on Awakening Our Natural Intelligence." Publishers Weekly, 12 May 2008, p. 51. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A179349744/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=43b46b8c. Accessed 26 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A179349744
Todd Mayville July 20, 2008
Review: Light Comes Through: Buddhist Teachings on Awakening to Our Natural Intelligence
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Light Comes Through: Buddhist Teachings on Awakening to Our Natural Intelligence
Dzigar Kongtrül Rinpoche
Light Comes Through by Dzigar Kongtrül Rinpoche is one of those books that isn’t overly long (just over 120 pages), but is dense with information. I found myself reading a chapter and then putting it down for a while just to absorb the teachings in the book. More than once I found myself challenged by the ideas in the book, and that’s good. Dzigar Kongtrül’s latest work discusses emotions and how we can better relate to them, and from that ability, better relate to ourselves, others, and the world around us. Even though the title clearly states that it is a book of Buddhist teachings, it is written in a way that is approachable for Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. Light Comes Through is a pleasure to read, and with the many insights it contains, is one of those that can be read again and again, with the reader gaining new understanding each and every time.
Added bonus: Dzigar Kongtrül Rinpoche will be at the First Congregational Church in Boulder on Monday, July 21 to speak and sign copies of Light Comes Through. For more info, click here.
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It's Up to You
by Dzigar Kongtrul
Shambhala, 2005
Review by Elizabeth McCardell, Ph.D. on Jan 18th 2006
At the heart of the Dharma is the aspiration of bodhichitta: compassion for others and their struggles in samsara. We ‘wish,’ so Dzigar Kongtrul puts it, ‘for all those who are unaware of the cause of suffering to be free from suffering’ (p. 103). Here is the motivation of Buddhists, and the central raison d’etre for writing and reading such a book.
Unless It’s Up to You is bought to be read and read again and used as a life tool, there is no point to it at all.
The author of this little gem, Dzigar Kongtrul was born in India to Tibetan refugee parents, recognized as an incarnation of Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye at a young age and trained in Buddhist philosophy and meditative practice by the renowned Nyingma spiritual master, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche is steeped in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. In 1990, he began a five-year tenure as a professor of Buddhist philosophy at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. He founded his own teaching organization and then established a mountain retreat center, Longchen Jigme Samten Ling. The essays in this volume are based on Kongtrul's weekly "personal link" teachings.
The goal of the Buddhist path is enlightenment, but what does this really mean? How do we reconcile the idea of enlightenment with what we see when we look into the mirror: our face tightened by insecurities, doubts, self-centredness, tired old habitual reactive responses, secret or not so secret self love, and all that stuff? Dzigar Kongtrul suggests it is pointless feeling doomed by all these things; rather we should simply let everything extraneous to consciousness itself arise and pass by without judging them or investing them with any power at all. This approach to experience is what the author calls self-reflection.
Self-reflection is a practice, a path, and an attitude. Instead of pushing away what we decide as negative things, or grabbing at what we decide are positive things, big or small, our practice is to be witnessing to whatever it is that arises – emotions, thoughts, habits, belief, etc.
What would our lives be like if we didn’t practice the art and science of self-reflection? Dzigar Kongtrul says that we would ‘be like a train with its wheels on two tracks, trying to go in two different directions at once’, there would be a ‘dichotomy between our spiritual path and the way we live our lives’ in the here and now. Put simply, we would be at odds with ourselves, for the craving of outward things -- desiring, and coveting, as the author puts it – more and more of the world as our personal tangerine (that lovely citrus fruit, the juice of which dribbles down one’s chin) -- leads to pain and suffering, for the desire for more is never satisfied. And so we seek to avoid pain, or dulling it with more extraneous things. The two things of desiring more tangerine and avoiding the pain and suffering can only be transcended by treating the highs and lows, the passing parade of cravings and desires, depressions and sadnesses in the same way, as clouds drifting by in the sky.
Self-reflection is the common thread that runs through all traditions of Buddhist practice. It breathes life into our practice, protecting it from becoming just another enterprise. When we practice self-reflection we take liberation into our own hands and accept the challenge and personal empowerment indicated in Kongtrul's title: it's up to you. But more than this, we seek to simplify our lives through a clarity of intention, we lose the seriousness of the clasp of the ego that works so hard to maintain itself, we laugh more, and we care more. In this way the heart of the Dharma, the bodhichitta, brings the deep compassion for all the world.
So, as the author quotes the Buddha as saying, “Examine my words the way a goldsmith examines gold. Don’t just take my word because it is my word.” ‘Examine everything, not with a sense of obligation or suspicion but with an open mind. If something makes some sense and brings meaning and benefit to your life, apply it creatively. I would be so grateful to have brought something of benefit to your life. This is my only intention.’ (Dzigar Kongtrul, p.128)
Highly recommended for life’s journeymen.
The Intelligent Heart
August 02 · Open Access, Reviews · Earth Medicine, Summer 2016
Media Review
The Intelligent Heart: A Guide to the Compassionate Life
By Dzigar Kongtrul, Rinpoche
Shambhala Publications 2016
The transformative practice of tonglen, described as “the exchange of self and other,” is the subject of this book. The author, a contemporary teacher in the west with deep roots in Tibetian monastic training, takes us in a very systematic fashion through a series of lojong (mind transformation) teachings designed to help us diminish our own sense of self importance and shift towards extending bodhicitta compassion to others.
In the Tibetan tradition these teachings go back to the eleventh century and a teacher by the name of Atisha Dipamkara. In a time of what he perceived as weak and diluted practice he wanted to help his students develop a way to let go of their self-centeredness and develop altruism. He created a method of using “slogans” that were easy to understand and memorize so that students could hold each one in their mind as they worked with them.
The book presents lojong teachings as very accessible and understandable. They are an encouragement to simplify our lives and see our life situations and encounters with others as rich opportunities to practice. I continue to find the slogans helpful as they remind me that “because the mind is malleable, even the strongest habits can be changed.”
In my own practice of lojong it was helpful to take one slogan per week and make it my guiding principle. I created a small wooden token that I inscribed with that week’s slogan. This way I could occasionally take it out of my pocket and re-read it during the day. I could also touch it periodically or even hold it in my hand during a more challenging time. Giving myself a week to fully dive into each slogan proved helpful as a way to promote more than a surface understanding and time enough to try and really bring each one to life.
I found Kongtrul Rinpoche’s wording and descriptions of these ancient teachings filled with wisdom and inspiration.
2016
S&P Award
Winner
The Intelligent Heart
A Guide to Compassionate Life
By Dzigar Kongtrul
Wise and practical steps toward putting others ahead of yourself and seeking in all things to benefit them.
Book Review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
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Dzigar Kongrul grew up in a monastic environment and received extensive training in all aspects of Buddhist doctrine. In 1990, he began a five-year tenure as a professor of Buddhist philosophy at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. He also founded Mangala Shri Bhuti, his own teaching organization. His previous books includeLight Comes Through: Buddhist Teachings on Awakening to Our Natural Intelligence and It's Up to You: The Practice of Self-Reflection on The Buddhist Path is Pema Chodron's teacher and friend.
In this profoundly insightful work, he spells out ways to advance tonglen, an essential Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice of giving and taking, coordinated with the breath, for transforming the mind. It can lead to "the freedom, peace and joy we all seek in our lives."
Kongrul affirms altruism (defined as "holding others as important and dear") and goes on to salute the love of the Bodhisattvas as the means whereby we can turn any situation in life into a chance to practice. For example, if we give our place on a bus to someone else who needs it more, we will experience the delight in being kind, loving, and generous. Here the motivation is to step out of the small self and turn any activity into bodhisattva activity. So the intention each day is to use every interaction with others as an opportunity to benefit them.
Kongrul notes that practitioners can also work with the lojong slogans, short teachings that were developed to help us diminish self-importance and discover how to enhance the happiness and well-being of others. He recommends that we train wholeheartedly. Some of the best and most insightful commentaries are on these slogans:
Abstain from toxic food.
Do not wait in ambush.
Do not be competitive.
Practice impartiality toward everything.
Always meditate on what is most challenging.
Do not feel the world owes you.
Do not be reactive.
This is a substantive guide to the compassionate life with wise and practical steps toward putting others before yourself and seeking in all things to benefit them.
In praise of tenderness
Gabriel Rosenstock reviews Training In Tenderness by Dzigar Kongtrul, who visits Ireland shortly
Thu, Aug 2, 2018, 05:24
Gabriel Rosenstock
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche will be in Dublin for a book signing and public programme from August 10th to 12th
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche will be in Dublin for a book signing and public programme from August 10th to 12th
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I occasionally blog the words of the Buddha, in Irish transcreation, and allow the reader to listen to the original Pali, below:
Tam nadihi vijanatha:
sobbhesu padaresu ca,
sananta yanti kusobbha,
tunhiyanti mahodadhi.
Foghlaim an méid seo ó na huiscí:
is glórach iad na srutháiníní
sna scoilteanna sléibhe agus sna haibhéisí,
na haibhneacha móra is séimh í a ngluaiseacht
To paraphrase in English: ‘learn this much from the waters:/ little streams in mountain clefts and ravines/ make such a lot of noise/ great rivers move silently’.
So, is it all about quietism? If so, the Buddhists of Myanmar need to learn a thing or two! But no, it is not at all about quietism. For the Buddhist, it’s really about everything, how we live our lives, how we get to know ourselves and others. And there’s a skill involved, as in anything else.
Specifically, this little pocket book is about tsewa which the book’s subtitle defines as ‘the radical openness of the heart that can change the world.’ Today there are lots of people who believe that to change the world, change must first happen within ourselves, allowing the ripple effect of that change to manifest in endless ways.
Is tsewa as good an instrument as any other to effect this change – or an even better instrument than most? Do we need a Tibetan version of something which must surely be common to all religions – and, indeed, the basis of good neighbourliness? Pope Francis (we are reminded in the foreword) called for ‘a revolution of tenderness’ in a TED talk).
So, the more tenderness gets approval and positive votes on social media the less chance that stridency can dominate the world. Is that it? But social media contributes to the stridency and endless verbiage that is smothering us, even when approving of the virtues of silence, tenderness and all the rest of it.
We seem to live in a world of constant questioning and debate, wondering if what we are listening to or watching is fake or not. Of course, Buddha himself – were he roaming around today – would instantly recognise how fake everything is: a world of maya and illusion, including the fake self we project as purporting to be who we are. This is the crux of the matter. What exactly is real beyond the illusory, evanescent world?
Pema Chodron, the American Buddhist nun, writing in the foreword, quotes her teacher Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche as saying, ‘All beings have the capacity for warm-hearted feelings. Everybody loves somebody or something, even if it’s just tortillas.’
The portly St Thomas Aquinas was not acquainted with tortillas but he had this much to say about our appetites and desires: ‘The true and the beautiful are spiritually possessed, the true by intellection, the beautiful by apprehension; and the appetites which desire to possess them, the intellectual and aesthetic appetites, are therefore spiritual appetites.’ Whew! After all that, let’s get to Dzigar Kongtrul, who writes in a more conversational style than Aquinas, and see if his message has relevance to our lives.
The author reminds us of a simple truth, rephrasing classic Buddhist wisdom, when he says, ‘Each of us is like a hungry, homeless person who doesn’t realize there’s an enormous treasure buried under the ground where he sleeps. The warmth of our heart is that buried treasure, buy we can’t enjoy it because we lack the wisdom and skillful means to recognize it, appreciate it and harness its power’.
This is where the guru steps in – if we allow him, or her – because a true guru has no other desire than to awaken the guru within and lead us to self-knowledge and self-empowerment, discovering we have more than enough grace to change the world. You have to believe it’s possible or you won’t even give it a try – but even if you’re a skeptic, what’s to lose by opening up to tenderness? Everything, say those who have been hurt or disappointed, disappointed in faith, for instance, or in relationships.
This book of a hundred or so pages – written with charm, simplicity and tenderness – offers an amazing cure if you are suffering or disillusioned at this moment: “When you awaken to your true nature, you will realize the same level of tsewa as the Buddha, who cares for all sentient beings like a mother for her only child.” That’s a big claim. I have a hunch that it’s true.
Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche will be in Dublin for a book signing and public programne on August 10th-12th. For more information and to register, visit ti.to/vdkr-europe or email europe@mangalashribhuti.org.
Gabriel Rosenstock is a poet, translator, haikuist, tankaist, novelist, playwright, short story writer and essayist