An art form equal to any other

   Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen consider craftwork to be an art form equal to any other form of art (it is notable that the Lineage Holders also view art itself as inseparably connected with essential Vajrayana).  In fact, the Lineage Holders view Vajrayana craftwork as vital to the continuity of the lineage.  Likewise, Lama Tharchin Rinpoche, Dung-sé Thrin-lé Norbu Rinpoche, Kyabjé Künzang Dorje Rinpoche, and Kyabjé Düd’jom Rinpoche all emphasized the benefits of undertaking craftwork.

In a letter to their students, Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen once wrote: “Some people see little value in craftwork in comparison with meditation – but what we have noticed about such people is that they seem to gain little benefit from their ‘meditation’.  Those, however, who enjoy craftwork – seem to change and show the beneficial changes one would expect to see in terms of meditation.”
Vajrayana Arts and Crafts  at Drala Jong  

Romantic relationships

The Aro gTér is a non-monastic lineage that emphasizes householder practice and non-celibate ordination in the style of ngakmas and ngakpas / naljorpas and naljormas.

The lineage is named after its founder, the female visionary Khyungchen Aro Lingma, who comes from a line of accomplished female practitioners that begins with Yeshé Tsogyel – the female Tantric Buddha who founded the Nyingma tradition and established Buddhism in Tibet together with Padmasambhava (also known as ‘Guru Rinpoche’, the male Tantric Buddha).
 

Providing equal opportunities for female practitioners, as well as integration of profound Buddhist practice into family life,  healthy families and romantic relationships are at the core of the tradition.

The Aro gTér  Teachings at the Drala Jong  website. 

Men and women need greater respect & appreciation for each other

  
Family environments which exemplify kindness, openness and an enthusiasm for life, are needed for there to be peace and harmony in the world.  For these qualities to exist as examples for children, men and women need greater respect & appreciation for each other.  The Aro gTér provides insight and methodology which are directly applicable to this need.

Ngak’chang Rinpoche & Khandro Déchen, Lineage holders of the Aro gTér, on Drala Jong: A Buddhist retreat Centre in Wales
 

Accountability: For anyone concerned by revelations of abuse

For anyone who has been concerned by the revelations of abuse in the world of Vajrayana Buddhism, the Lineage Lamas of the Aro gTér Lineage have written a text outlining the five precept guidelines which all Aro gTér teachers, abide by.

“Those who approach the Confederate Sanghas of Aro can expect its teachers to abide by the five precepts – and by the ramifications of the five precepts in terms of their societal implications. Within the ethos of the five precepts, the lineage Holders, Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen—and the Aro gTér teachers who are their students—wish to provide the example of generosity, clarity, enthusiasm, creativity, and spaciousness.”

You can read the full article on the Aro Buddhism website.

Accountability  at the Drala Jong  website. 

A Vicar of Vajrayana

  There is no area of life that is ever separate from practice; whether we’re in a business meeting with the board, eating paella and drinking Prosecco with friends, roaring with laughter at a bad joke, hang gliding across the Grand Canyon, walking in the wind with the hounds on the hill, singing the blues, stringing beans, or attending a dying friend. Whether we’re on the bus, on the stage, or on the run, on a roll, on the mend, or on the make, on the toilet, on the edge, or on our last legs and last breath . . . there is nothing but practice. The essential practice of recognizing the one taste of emptiness and form, of wisdom and compassion, of manifesting the non-dual play of our awareness and kindness at all times.

 

Drala-Jong.org: A Vicar of Vajrayana Ngakma Mé-tsal Wangmo
Excerpt from an article published in the magazine Buddhist Door Global 2018.

Discover the pleasure of existence

   The name ‘Drala Jong’ means ‘Sparkling Meadow of Primal Iridescence’.  Of this name,  Ngak’chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen write:

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.  We would like Drala Jong to be a place where human beings could discover the pleasure of existence – the pleasure that animates the sense fields and revitalises the Arts – and the art of living.

Drala-Jong.org: Sparkling Meadow of Primal Iridescence Ngak'chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen

Karma