The power of Tantra doesn’t go with wanting to be calm. It goes with being willing to ride the voltage of pure panic! In Tantra, we have some knowledge of the calm of ‘non-arising’ – the state without definitions; the state of emptiness. So; when we recognise this state of emptiness, as the basis of what we are, we can then turn round and face phenomena with fierce compassion! The spirit of heroism embraces the tumultuous flood of existence, in which: war and peace; calm and panic alternate – but, have the same intrinsic taste.
p16, Wearing the Body of Visions, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books, 1995, ISBN 1-898185-03-4
Once you accept that there’s no way you can interpret Tantra according to intellectual criteria; you’re left with simple non-conceptuality. And that; is absolute directness and blunt immediacy. You’re simply left suspended; left high and dry. There is nowhere to run; nowhere to hide. You’re left sitting with that in the moment. There is nothing to do with it apart from experiencing it. You can accept it or attempt to reject it; but it will always be there grinning at you.
p14, Wearing the Body of Visions, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books, 1995, ISBN 1-898185-03-4
The nature of existence continually helps and hinders the search for definition in a completely impartial manner. The problem is the desire to be in charge of the defining process. This is a highly complicated procedure – but it is so customary, that it is hardly noticed. Rather than allowing continual re-definition (and occasionally lack of definition), the prevalent impetus is to attempt domination of the mutually defining and un-defining process which constitutes the flux of reality.
p32, Shock Amazement : The four naljors and four ting-ngé’dzin from the Dzogchen series of the nature of Mind.
Khandro Déchen and Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books Worldwide, 2018, ISBN 978-1-898185-45-1
The discovery of shi-nè confronts fear of non-existence as being both the driving force of duality – and the sparkling through of non-duality. So—in one sense—it is quite justifiable to mistrust the nature of personal identity. That mistrust however, is usually aimed in the wrong direction. The open dimension of being is mistrusted rather than the conceptual criteria by which existence is habitually validated.
p31, Shock Amazement : The four naljors and four ting-ngé’dzin from the Dzogchen series of the nature of Mind.
Khandro Déchen and Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books Worldwide, 2018, ISBN 978-1-898185-45-1
The liberated field of energy of the earth element displays the glorious warmth and wealth of earth. This energy is inexhaustible and free to whomever needs it.
The kind of wealth we are discussing is reflected by the environment but it is central to our being. With the discovery of intrinsic space we find that we really do have all that we need. With this recognition we could realise that we are already totally secure in the primordial nature of our being. We have within us the wisdom of equanimity and primordial freedom from attachment. Mind is sufficient to itself and so is our world. Mind requires nothing but is the ground of everything – the unemptiable source of all phenomena.
p131-133, Spectrum of Ecstasy, Ngakpa Chögyam with Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 1997, ISBN 0-9653948-0-8
Tantric sexuality is a vast field of living knowledge in which coital union is infinitely modulated in terms of all the sense fields.
It voluptuates in: the soft silence of falling snow on bare branches; the succulent stickiness of budding twigs; the glorious unreserved unravelling of blossoms; and, the cool moist fire of autumnal foliage. It is the art of the way in which the eye sees, and the poetry of the way in which the ear hears. Eyesight penetrates visual phenomena, and is engulfed by the field of vision. Hearing penetrates sound and is engulfed by the auditory dimension. Every sense-perception and sense field performs, and is performed by, the same ecstatic dance.
p52, Entering the Heart of the Sun and Moon Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9653948-3-3
Male and female qualities of existence are the play of reality itself. They continually interpenetrate and inter-engulf each other as non-dual dance. The tantric vision of reality is one in which sexuality is the meaning of every nuance of existence. To see the colour of a bird’s plumage is to be in sexual embrace. Listening to the bowed strings of a cello is to be in sexual embrace. Inhaling the saline scent of sea air; savouring the taste of a heavily tannic wine; caressing the intriguing surface texture of a weathered stone; contemplating the delicate elaborations of a cognitive pattern; all these sensory communications are sexual embrace. They are self-communicated communication – and they are continuously arising from and dissolving into emptiness.
p101, Entering the Heart of the Sun and Moon Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9653948-3-3
Dzogchen is a system of nondual catalysts which self-describe the fundamental nature of what we are through exploding the horizon of conventional reality.
Dzogchen approaches our essential nature absolutely directly, but—because it is: too close, too accessible, too present, and too simple—it seems elusive.
Dzogchen—the primordial state—is entirely accessible. Ironically however, it cannot be approached in isolation as an individual initiative. Committed preparation under the guidance of a Lama is necessary. The Lama is indispensable.
p5-7, Shock Amazement : The four naljors and four ting-ngé’dzin from the Dzogchen series of the nature of Mind.
Khandro Déchen and Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books Worldwide, 2018, ISBN 978-1-898185-45-1
Dzogchen is the pinnacle of Vajrayana Buddhism. It is a cycle of teaching and of practices – but essentially Dzogchen is the primordial condition of the individual. It is thus both within and beyond the scope of conventional religion. As the primordial condition of the individual, Dzogchen is the state of referenceless relaxation in the vastness of each moment.
It is vast because it is undelineated by time. It is referenceless because the moment is experienced without allusion to past moments or future moments.
Dzogchen is the self-existent confidence of being which arises spontaneously from beginninglessness.
p4-5, Shock Amazement : The four naljors and four ting-ngé’dzin from the Dzogchen series of the nature of Mind.
Khandro Déchen and Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books Worldwide, 2018, ISBN 978-1-898185-45-1
The principle of mantra practice is transformation. Mantra is the form quality of emptiness, and the visualisation is the emptiness quality of form. Within Tantra the two are united as a means of transforming our dimension of being into that of the yidam.
Mantra functions through repetition in terms of overwhelming the conceptual sphere – we become entirely engrossed with the quality sphere of the yidam in terms of light and sound.
There is no room for ‘me’ there. I have to let go of the ‘me project’. As soon as I let go of the ‘me project’, the yidam irradiates my experience with referenceless enjoyment in which there are no compulsory projects. One becomes the yidam and both sees and hears the world as the yidam.
Aro Encyclopaedia Index: Dzogchen and Tantra: question and answer session. Ngak'chang Rinpoche and Khandro Déchen
Chö-ku, long-ku and trül-ku, exist as a singular field – the fourth, or indivisible sphere of being. This is known as dorje-ku (indestructible sphere) or ngo-wo-ku (essence sphere). Chö-ku, long-ku and trül-ku manifest as three inherent modes of access to the unitary experience of reality. But the experience of realisation sees no boundaries or divisions between them.
Dorje-ku is the absolute undivided quality of enlightened nature. This is the sphere of complete freedom from inhibition – the sphere of indestructible reality, in which dualistic fixations have no ground.
Whatever arises in this condition becomes an ornament of the enlightened state, in the instant of its arising. From the pan-dimensional principle of tantra, in order to actualise this state – to become trül-ku – we need to unify emptiness and form though entering the sphere of energy.
p55-56, Wearing the Body of Visions, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books, 1995, ISBN 1-898185-03-4
Enlightened intention arises out of the experience of the singular field of reality and because of this, it manifests methods of understanding itself which are reflections of our sense of dividedness. This enlightened intention employs the strategy of the apparently separate spheres of being, as a means of communicating the nature of reality to those who have become confused by dividedness. So; within the view of Tantra, this portrayal of division is an aspect of the skilful means that destroys divisiveness. Tantra uses the force of illusion itself, to destroy illusion. Tantra functions in this way, because the energy of delusion is none other than the play of our own enlightenment.
p55, Wearing the Body of Visions, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books, 1995, ISBN 1-898185-03-4
Shi-nè provides face-to-face experience with: insecurity, fear, loneliness, vulnerability, and bewilderment. These underlying tensions are common to all – and create distortion whether or not shi-nè is practised. Avoiding shi-nè is therefore not an answer. Self-hidden vulnerabilities cause greater conflict in being hidden than in being exposed. Clarity spontaneously arises from the discovery of openness within the practice of shi-nè.
Self-transparency manifests – and motivation becomes simpler in being seen nakedly. A natural compassion arises – a compassion which does not need to be forced or fabricated. This is the first real taste of freedom.
p25-26, Shock Amazement : The four naljors and four ting-ngé’dzin from the Dzogchen series of the nature of Mind.
Khandro Déchen and Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books Worldwide, 2018, ISBN 978-1-898185-45-1
When we speak of employing desire, we’re speaking of the functioning of energy. The intrinsic energy of desire is none other than the enlightened state. This is what is meant by transformation or transmutation in Tantra. To be a tantrika you have to be a good warrior; you have to be able to use whatever is at your disposal in terms of what you are – in terms of how you happen to be.
So if you’re an egomaniac, then you become an eager maniac. You let your Lama make fun of your egomania; and you give up your investment, either in being embarrassed by it or in being defensive about it.
Your ego, or egomania, then becomes an aspect of your energy with which the Lama conjures. There is nothing with which the Lama cannot conjure if the student is prepared to follow through – if the student is open to that process.
p125-126, Wearing the Body of Visions, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books, 1995, ISBN 1-898185-03-4
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 
The need to continually confirm personal identity seems hard-wired – because there is a continually observable engagement in the activity of seeking existential assurances. This is the dualistic penchant for unnecessarily clothing naked awareness in concepts.
Non-duality is the state in which emptiness and form manifest as a seamless alternation in which each are aspects of the other – and have the same essential experiential flavour.
p29, Shock Amazement : The four naljors and four ting-ngé’dzin from the Dzogchen series of the nature of Mind.
Khandro Déchen and Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books Worldwide, 2018, ISBN 978-1-898185-45-1
When it is said that ‘Meditation isn’t’ – it means that meditation is not a method of doing. It is a method of not-doing. There is no involvement in doing anything – there is simply the maintenance of presence in motiveless observation. When it is said that ‘Getting used to is’ – it means simply getting used to – being. This requires acclimatisation to the undefined dimension of existence – getting used to being referenceless.
p28, Shock Amazement : The four naljors and four ting-ngé’dzin from the Dzogchen series of the nature of Mind.
Khandro Déchen and Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books Worldwide, 2018, ISBN 978-1-898185-45-1
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.
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
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.
The power of Tantra doesn’t go with wanting to be calm. It goes with being willing to ride the voltage of pure panic! In Tantra, we have some knowledge of the calm of ‘non-arising’ – the state without definitions; the state of emptiness. So; when we recognise this state of emptiness, as the basis of what we are, we can then turn round and face phenomena with fierce compassion! The spirit of heroism embraces the tumultuous flood of existence, in which: war and peace; calm and panic alternate – but, have the same intrinsic taste.
