Mark your calendars for a viewing of Rigdzin Shikpo’s Heart of Buddha teaching “What is Buddhism?”, this Friday! Cinema Shikpo is an opportunity to watch previous recorded teachings of Rigdzin Shikpo together with other members of the Longchen Foundation. There will also be time for a short discussion afterwards. This event is open to all! More details below.
Is following this path difficult? It’s not necessarily difficult but you have to be persistent. You have to not give up. The not giving up is more important than having tremendous energy, because tremendous energy often arises strongly, carries you on for a bit, and then it drops. Whereas really you have to persist. In that sense, you just need to keep coming back to it, coming back to it, coming back to it. When there are what you might call dull periods, it becomes rather boring, but that’s no reason to stop. In fact, that’s a reason to continue.
We always like to feed ourselves – to think: ‘Well, if things are boring, I ought to stop and do something else that isn’t boring. Because I like to be entertained.’ But then if that’s your life – being entertained – it’s a pretty poor show really. Because then you always need to be entertained. Perhaps you have to transcend entertainment. You have to reach something deeper in yourself than the superficial grasping at stimulation. And you can do it, you can continually come back to the directness of your experience.
Rigdzin Shikpo from “What is Buddhism?”
Friday, May 27, 2022: 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm United Kingdom time
Join the Longchen Foundation for a public viewing on Zoom of Rigdzin Shikpo’s 2017 Heart of Buddha teaching: What is Buddhism: A religion, a philosophy, or something else?
The Zoom session will begin with 5-10 minutes of formless meditation, followed by the streaming of Rigdzin Shikpo’s first talk from the What is Buddhism? teaching together with Q & A – about an hour, five minutes, total. Attendees are very welcome to remain after the video for a further 15 minutes of Zoom together time.
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89322145627
(Meeting ID: 893 2214 5627)
If you plan to attend this teaching, please consider supporting the work of the Longchen Foundation by donating £10 or so to the General Fund – at the Longchen Foundation donation page.
Any questions? Please contact Andrew at andrewjmunro@gmail.com.
Lion’s Roar Retreat Happening Soon!
The Year 1 Lion’s Roar Retreat begins in a little less than two weeks on June 4th. This retreat will take place entirely online via Zoom and will be led by Mary Mackay-James. This is a unique opportunity to revisit or deepen your experience of the practices and views of Gates 1, 2 and 3 of the first year of the Lion’s Roar training. There will be two retreat schedules, both for those who live in the UK and also for those who live in America, so no matter where you may be, you will be able to participate in a full retreat experience. Mary will review the teachings of each gate, as well as give an introductory talk on how to conduct a retreat. You can sign up for this retreat using Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-lions-roar-year-1-online-retreat-2022-tickets-331423274937.