The same nature

When life experience seems most arduous or difficult, simply remember that your Mind is of the same nature as Padmasambhava and Yeshé Tsogyel.

p204, Tracts of the Sun : An Earth Orbit of Vajrayana Expressions.  Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2022, ISBN 978-1-898185-28-4

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. 

The Buddha of our time

Padmasambhava is the Buddha of our time; for anyone interested in these teachings – this is something that needs to be taken to heart. Padmasambhava is both a personal relationship and a vast sphere of meaning and luminous experience. Padmasambhava is the Buddha whose teachings and practices become more powerful as our condition of confusion as sentient beings becomes more intense. To really practice in the Tantric tradition, Padmasambhava has to be understood.  He has to be understood as embodying the depth of meaning and influence that goes completely beyond the reach and range of the rational mind. Without a sense of the vastness of what is in encompassed by his name, it’s impossible to have a useful relationship with Tantra.

p133, Wearing the Body of Visions, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books, 1995, ISBN 1-898185-03-4

Inclusivity

There is space for historical academic research, and there is space for the reverential attribution of teachings to various personages.  There is space for people who want to get as close as they can to the words of Padmasambhava and Yeshé Tsogyel—and there is space for people who want to go for the essence irrespective of the nearness or distance of its historical origin.  Buddhism is a vast field of wonder for its sincere practitioners, and so many, many, many different methods are encompassed within its parameters.  We feel that it is preferable to come from a position of inclusivity rather than exclusivity.

p51, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9653948-5-7