An evening with Khensur Rinpoche

I attended an event in Newburyport last night where Khensur Rinpoche Jampa Tegchock spoke about “Cultivating Lovingkindness and Compassion.” It was beautiful and heart-warming. I wish I could have understood what he was saying. He spoke to the group via interpreter, a local Buddhist monk and teacher.

It amazes me to think about Khensur Rinpoche’s life. He was ordained as a monk at eight years old. He has devoted his life to Buddhism and service. How different his meditation time must be from my own…ummm…when I actually meditate. Whatevs. I am grateful for the opportunity to hear this man’s teachings. That’s my truth.

Here are a few very general notes from his talk:

+ Whatever we do with a good heart will produce a good result
+ Good seeds produce good flowers or good food - we choose what seeds we cultivate
+ This body and existence is like the skin of a snake - it will be shed, yet the snake moves on
+ An auspicious life prepares us for good future karma
+ How we are motivated is important and makes a big difference
+ Are we motivated towards happiness: in this life, in the next life or towards all sentient beings?
+ If we are dedicated to all sentient beings, we gain positive energy
+ It is up to us to decide what kind of happiness we want and how we are motivated
+ Do things (work, practice, etc.) to move closer to higher states of awakening
+ Free awakeing is like seeing the entire picture, not just one small piece of it
+ Through good, virtuous action, life becomes more meaningful and work can become more meaningful
+ Once we are not invovled with negative action, positive action will begin
+ As brightness increases, darkness decreases - happiness increases, suffering decreases
+ Extend lovingkindness to all sentient beings every day
+ Everything we have comes from others (why it’s important to extend lovingkindness to all sentient beings)
+ When we have great compassion, we will have the highest happiness
+ Do not harm anyone

From the Q&A:
+ Someone asked a question like, “How do we handle the great tragedies in our lives?”
+ Khensur Rinpoche’s response - When tragedies happen, all negative karma for those people is paid off immediately
+ Generate love for those who die
+ Practice lovingkindness and compassion to them
+ We can choose to say and live, “Since then, I changed myself.”
+ We can bring about positive action in ourselves instead of negative action (anger, hatred, etc)
+ We are not angry with the person who did a certain thing, but the negative mind of that person

There was more that I didn’t capture, but these are the broad brush strokes. For those who haven’t read Buddhist teachings, it may seem a bit cryptic. That’s OK. As I have read a few Buddhist books, I may have the “jargon” down and may be making assumptions about what everyone else “gets” about all of this. If you have questions, please ask away.

If any of this excites you, come join me tonight at the Ioka Theater in Exeter, NH for the screening of Dalai Lama Renaissance. The movie starts at 7PM. “Dalai Lama Renaissance is an 80-minute documentary about forty of the world’s most innovative thinkers who travel to India in the Himalaya Mountains to meet with the Dalai Lama to solve many of the world’s problems. What happened was surprising and unexpected.”

With lovingkindness,
Gregory