Aro Quotation: June 2016

Monday, 27 June 2016

The Aro gTér

"The teachers of the Aro gTér Tradition are not monks or nuns. They are ordained Tantrikas – whose lives are, in many ways, quite ordinary. They may have conventional jobs, or raise children. Many teach as married couples. Their wisdom is embodied in the ways they live everyday life. Facing the same life challenges as their students, they are able to offer advice that is grounded in personal experience as well as profound religious understanding."

Aro Buddhism, Ngak'chang Rinpoche

Monday, 20 June 2016

Appreciation is the key

"Drala Jong innately exists in human beings. ‘Drala’ is the appreciative faculty which exponentially enlivens people the more they engage with the world. Appreciation is the key to enjoyment and to delighting in the enjoyment of others. When we learn to appreciate phenomena our sense fields ‘Jong’ begin to sparkle and a sense of generosity is born which connects us with others. Although Vajrayana Buddhism is by no means unknown in the West – the sense in which enjoyment and compassion are mutually interdependent remains unexpressed." Drala Jong, Ngak'chang Rinpoche, Drala Jong

Monday, 13 June 2016

Wandering mind

"If you mind is wandering, if your attention is not on what you're doing, if you're hang gliding in your imagination while you drive, that could certainly be very dangerous. Have you ever seen those stickers in the back of cars that say things like "I'd rather be windsurfing"? I think that the Buddhist version could run "I'd rather be precisely where I am."."

p162, Roaring Silence, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Shambhala, 2002, 1-57062-944-7

Monday, 6 June 2016

The buddhist path can be bumpy

"Buddhist practice develops kindness and awareness in ourselves, but the path of practice can be a bumpy one-to say the least. As we discover qualities of openness and appreciation, we are also confronted with what we have always been, but have chosen to ignore. We begin to see our territoriality, our aggressiveness, our neediness, our jealousy and our obduracy. We become aware of the sides of ourselves that we find distinctly less "spiritual"."

p.143, Illusory Advice, Ngakma Nord'dzin and Ngakpa ö-Dzin