The ngakphang tradition is colorful, individualistic, and highly heterodox. The ngakpas and ngakmas, are the ordained, robe wearing members of this tradition. They are neither ‘lay’, nor ‘monastic’, nor ‘in between’ and defy all attempts to pigeon-hole them into the neat and tidy categories of authoritarian institutions. They are a parallel stream of practice to that of the better known monastic sangha, and represent an opportunity for western people to establish the highest possible commitment to the Buddhist path without having to become celibate.
Aro Encyclopaedia Index: The Ngakphang Tradition, Ngak'chang Rinpoche
It is not always easy to be kind, but it is also not that difficult because kindness flows naturally from our beginningless non-dual nature. So if we remind ourselves constantly to be kind, we constantly put ourselves in closer contact with our primordial non-dual state. There is also something in the activity of kindness that has an effect on us.
When we make the effort to be kind, we may find that it becomes increasingly effortless. It may begin to flow naturally, and make us glad that we can experience such warmth and openness. A truly kind act is an act of pure appropriateness and therefore whenever we are kind , there will be an element of appropriateness. Life will seem more infused with energy, and there will seem fewer obstructions. Kindness simplifies situations.
Aro Encyclopaedia Index: Kindness: The power of the awakened mind warrior, Ngak'chang Rinpoche
The lover's open-mindedness equates with wisdom inasmuch as lovers cannot remain lovers if they become closed-minded with each other.
The lover's kindness equates with compassion inasmuch as lovers cannot remain lovers if they entertain the possibility of causing each other pain or distress.
Kindness is elicited by the kindness of one's lover, and one's own kindness achieves reciprocal responsiveness: kindness escalates and becomes addictive. Through the self-orientation of our grasping, self-orientation loosens of itself, and dissolves within the fluidity of the needs perceived in one's lover.
p147, Entering the Heart of the Sun and Moon Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9653948-3-3
Desire habitually promotes self-seeking. The desire which drives romantic pursuit is no exception to this – apart that is, from the fact that something else occurs. When we are drawn to the person we desire for ourselves – we communicate our desire to the one we desire. In so doing – we are unsuspectingly drawn into spiritual practice. The practice, into which we are enticed, is that of wisdom and compassion. We begin to display unusual open-mindedness and uncharacteristic kindness – but what is more extraordinary, is that we feel inexplicably unthreatened in so doing.
p146, Entering the Heart of the Sun and Moon Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9653948-3-3
The ngakphang tradition is colorful, individualistic, and highly heterodox. The ngakpas and ngakmas, are the ordained, robe wearing members of this tradition. They are neither ‘lay’, nor ‘monastic’, nor ‘in between’ and defy all attempts to pigeon-hole them into the neat and tidy categories of authoritarian institutions. They are a parallel stream of practice to that of the better known monastic sangha, and represent an opportunity for western people to establish the highest possible commitment to the Buddhist path without having to become celibate.