The Lama can be relied upon

We should not expect our teacher to be able to know what we are thinking.  The Lama can be relied upon for something different: to know the meaning of liberation, and the meaning of confusion.  The Lama can be relied upon to see the student’s particular patterns of liberation and confusion, and to work with them.  

p148, Wearing the Body of Visions, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books, 1995, ISBN 1-898185-03-4  

Liberation

Liberation is ours to see, hear, touch, smell, taste, and ideate – but all we seem to sense is the shifting surface of that vastness.  We see reflections, but are blind to the nature of the mirror.  We see waves, but fail to experience the ocean.  We see clouds, but cannot conceive of the sky.

p188, Tracts of the Sun : An Earth Orbit of Vajrayana Expressions.  Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2022, ISBN 978-1-898185-28-4

Every experience

The khandros and pawos are our environment: the earth, water, fire, air, and space which manifest as the conditions in which we find ourselves.  When we realise that the entire phenomenal world is the dance of the khandros and pawos – every experience becomes a teaching.  Every experience becomes the possibility for liberation. 

 p99, Rays of the Sun, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books worldwide, 2010, 978-1-898185-06-2 

Liberating anyone and everyone

      The symbolic nature of Tantra is a reflection of the spontaneous creativity, that is inherent in the fabric of reality.  There is no aspect of Tantra that has been invented through the processes of a manipulative intellect.  Tantric imagery has all been spontaneously realised and communicated with the implicit function of liberating anyone and everyone into their authentic condition. 

p101, Wearing the Body of Visions, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books, 1995, ISBN 1-898185-03-4

Desire

The Vajrayana texts—both Tibetan and Sanskrit—portray Vajrayana as a magnificent banquet of the senses.  Naturally then, as teachers of Vajrayana, we encourage desire.  Desire is the sensory scenario in which lust and liberation are indivisible.  Desire is inseparable from chang-chub sem.  This is both subtle and easy to misinterpret – which is why we place  such emphasis on silent sitting.  Without recognition of emptiness, desire is merely self  orientation.   

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

Promises

Only make promises to yourself that you know you can keep, otherwise you’ll never have confidence in yourself and you’ll find that you won’t be able to make promises to yourself at all.  Being able to make promises to yourself is keenly meaningful.  It’s a way of giving your life real direction and enabling something positive to happen – especially if you link your promises to the wish for the liberation of everyone everywhere.   

p144, Roaring Silence: Discovering the Mind of Dzogchen, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Shambhala, 2002, ISBN 1-57062-944-7
  

Liberation

"The belief that liberation requires us to discover another concrete realm where everything is perfect will not help us discover the perfection of where we are. The experience of pure happiness and pleasure is available to us in this life."

p155, Spacious Passion , Ngakma Nor'dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2010, 978-1-898185-07-9

Practice is the key

"Practice is the key that explodes the narrow confines of our ordinary experience. Practice liberates the fatalistic, deterministic view of karma as cause and effect."

p146, Spacious Passion, Ngakma Nor'dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2009, 978-1-898185-07-9

Simply Be

"Trying to pin-point being is like attempting to suspend time and movement--it's not possible, so we might as well simply be."

p73, Spectrum of Ecstasy, Ngakpa Chögyam with Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 1997, 0-9653948-0-8

See the game

"The only possibility of liberation is to see the game as it is"

p45, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, 978-0-9653948-5-7