Eight verses to happiness and acceptance
(By Tsem Rinpoche)
The original teachings of the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation originated from Buddha Shakyamuni. Buddha Shakyamuni gave teachings on great compassion which were passed down to the great panditas Arya Asanga and Nagarjuna. From these masters, the teachings were passed down to Shantideva. Shantideva emphasized, expanded and reiterated on the thoughts on compassion by the Buddha and he put it into words that are easier for people to understand.
The teachings on the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation arose from the Bodhisattvacharyavatara, written by Shantideva, which talks about the development of Bodhicitta and compassion. From Shantideva it was passed down to Lama Serlingpa and Lama Atisha. Lama Atisha came to Tibet from India and spread the teachings all over Tibet to countless disciples. Out of his countless disciples he passed the teachings to his main disciple the great Dromtompa. Dromtompa then passed the teachings to his disciples, chief among those were Geshe Potowa, Geshe Chekawa and Geshe Langri Tangpa.
Geshe Langri Tangpa received the teachings directly from Dromtompa and he felt that the teachings were very profound. Until then the teachings were not practiced publicly but were only passed down to a few qualified disciples. He thought that it would be a tremendous loss if the teachings were not preserved.
So Geshe Langri Tangpa wrote the teachings down for the first time before he passed away. Prior to that, the teachings were only given orally and there was no text on it. Years later, one great master called Geshe Chekawa found one verse of the teachings – “May I accept the defeat and offer the victory to others”. Geshe Chekawa was extremely touched and moved by this verse as it represents the essence and the complete embodiment of the Buddha’s teachings.
Determined to look for the author of the text, he went in search of Geshe Langri Tangpa but when he met Geshe Langri Tangpa’s disciple, he found out that the great master had passed away. In a small town near Lhasa, he met another master Geshe Sarawa who was practising these teachings. He received more of these teachings from Geshe Sarawa.
From then on, Geshe Chekawa started to teach it openly to others. From Geshe Chekawa, the teachings were passed down through a long line of teachers until it reached the great King of Dharma Tsongkhapa, and from Tsongkhapa through a long line of teachers to Pabongka Rinpoche, Trijang Rinpoche and H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama. I received these teachings from H.H. in Washington, New Jersey in 1979. It was one of the most moving teachings I have ever heard and it was from His Holiness himself. I will never forget that day…..from then on Eight Verses has become one of my favorite practices for myself and I recommend to others highly. It is what I put as the core of my work for Kechara. If you wish to overcome disturbing emotions, unhappiness, self hatred, denial, insecurities and wrong views which is all the real enemy, then apply these teachings. They will change you thoroughly. If you combine this practice with a Yidam practice such as Tsongkapa, Avalokitesvara, Tara, etc, it will be even more beneficial. It is the practice that can heal our planet, restore the environments and bless all denizens of the earth. When people eradicate selfishness, their treatment of the earth will change and the earth will be restored and healed. When people accomplish the teachings here, their anger, expectations and wrong attitudes can transform incredibly into something totally embracing everyone around them with love and genuine kindness. I cannot praise these teachings enough. They are perfect for young and old, East and West, intelligent or dull and for people who really want their lives to be different. Practice these teachings and practice from your heart. And welcome the change you will see in you. When your inner world changes, everything on the outer world follows……Please listen to the teachings and practice.
Below are videos of teachings on the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation I have given in the past. I would like to share the teachings with you with the hope that you will learn, understand and practice these holy teachings. Please bring these to others as much as possible tirelessly. The world in its condition today needs it very badly.
Tsem Rinpoche
Eight Verses of Thought Transformation
With the thought of attaining Enlightenment
For the welfare of all beings,
Who are more precious than a wish–fulfilling jewel,
I will constantly practise holding them dear.
Whenever I am with others,
I will practise seeing myself as the lowest of all,
And from the very depths of my heart
I will respectfully hold others as supreme.
In all actions I will examine my mind
And the moment a disturbing attitude arises,
Endangering myself or others,
I will firmly confront and avert it.
Whenever I meet a person of bad nature,
Overwhelmed by negative energy and intense suffering,
I will hold such a rare one dear
As if I’ve found a precious treasure.
When others out of jealousy,
Mistreat me with abuse, slander and so on,
I will practise accepting defeat
And offering the victory to them.
When someone I have benefited and in whom
I have placed great trust hurts me very badly,
I will practise seeing that person
As my supreme teacher.
In short, I will offer directly and indirectly
Every benefit and happiness to all beings, my mothers.
I will practise in secret taking upon myself
All their harmful actions and sufferings.
Without these practices being defiled
By the stains of the eight worldly concerns,
By perceiving all phenomena as illusory,
I will practise without grasping to release all beings
From the bondage of the disturbing unsubdued mind and karma.
Eight Verses of Thought Transformation (Part 1)
At the beginning of any Dharma discourse the teacher and the students should set a superior motivation. The teacher should have the transmission of the lineage, the knowledge and have studied thoroughly what is to be taught and is practising the teachings. The motivation of the teacher should be to impart the knowledge and methods to become a fully enlightened Buddha.
Students should be free from the faults of not retaining, contemplating and practising the teachings. They should receive the teaching with a positive motivation. This motivation, at the lowest scope is to be free from rebirth in the three lower realms; at the medium scope, to liberated from samsaric rebirth; at the highest scope, to become a fully enlightened Buddha for the sake of others. Students must also be free from the fault of not being receptive to Dharma teachings. All Dharma actions must be free of the eight worldly concerns. Otherwise our practice will not bring results and may lead to more uncontrolled attachment and rebirth in the three lower realms. The motive of our practice is critical.
All phenomena are impermanent. They are empty of inherent existence and depend on other causes for its existence. Our two main problems are wrong projections on impermanent phenomena and grasping at our wrong projections and acting on it. As a result we, create negative karma that is the cause of all our sufferings. Therefore, it is our wrong projection of an object that makes us suffer, not the object itself.
However, our wrong projections are impermanent and can be removed. They depend on other causes to survive and logically there is an end to suffering. Wrong projection arises from wrong conditioning, stubbornness, laziness and selfish attitude.
If we train ourselves to stop the causes of wrong projection, our suffering will become less and eventually stop. When we suffer less, we will have the clarity of mind and ability to solve our problems. In this regard, collection of merits and purification of negative karma is crucial to support that growth of understanding and realization…
Eight Verses of Thought Transformation (Part 2)
Our minds are not transforming because our motivation is incorrect. We have wrong projections and we lack merits. However, incorrect motivation is impermanent. It arises from a cause. The cause of it is ignorance. Once we acquire wisdom and knowledge, ignorance can be cut and positive motivation will arise. The guideline to develop correct motivation is to be free from the eight worldly concerns. The motivation we should develop is to achieve enlightenment for the freedom from suffering for ourselves and others.
The kindness of the Buddhas and the kindness of sentient beings towards us are equal in terms of causes for our enlightenment. We need the Buddhas because they are the source of all our teachings and methods to attain enlightenment. We need sentient beings because it is in dependence on them that we can practice and develop the qualities needed to be a Buddha. Therefore, since sentient beings are so important to us, we should develop love and compassion towards them…
Eight Verses of Thought Transformation (Part 3)
When we hold dear people who abuse us or people who are plagued by intense suffering, the enemy from our point of view disappears. This verse refers to people who are ill tempered and bad mannered and people with contagious or fatal diseases. We usually ignore or avoid such people and advise others to stay away from them. We do that because we are influenced by selfish thoughts and think that we are too precious to mingle with them and fear that our “precious” self may get contaminated.
A wish granting jewel can confer on us material wealth. However, people who hurt us and people who are oppressed by violent suffering can confer on us enlightenment because they provide us with the greatest opportunity to practice patience, compassion and love. They are the greatest test to see if we have those qualities. If our practice has any result, it will be shown in how we can respond to these people positively…
Eight Verses of Thought Transformation (Part 4)
Dharma actions done with the eight worldly concerns will still accumulate merits that will fruition in happiness in samsara. However, once we have received the benefits, the merit is used up. For actions done free of the eight worldly concerns and with a Bodhicitta motivation, the merit will lead to enlightenment and will not be used up until enlightenment is achieved.
In order to achieve enlightenment, we will need a good body, long life, wealth, freedom, our five senses intact etc. If our actions are free from the eight worldly concerns, we will get the necessary conditions to achieve enlightenment. Therefore, without having to directly dedicate our virtuous actions towards samsaric pleasure, we will get samsaric pleasure as we are approaching enlightenment. Thus, the merits from actions free of the eight worldly concerns are used to its full potential.
If we have eight worldly concerns while practising the Dharma, it will only serve to reinforce our eight worldly concerns causing a huge obstruction to our liberation and we will gain no insights or attainments…
Eight Verses of Thought Transformation (Part 5)
When people whom we place great hopes in hurt us, it is not they who are hurting us. Rather it is them not fulfilling our expectation of how they should treat us that is hurting us. Therefore, it is our wrong projection that is hurting us.
If any person is inherently bad, everybody will see that person as bad but we can see that this is never the case. We must understand that their reaction towards us is a result of our negative karma. Therefore, if we react back, it shows our deep ignorance, lack of patience, compassion and practice and lack of realisation of the kindness of the people who abuse us.
Instead, we should regard people who hurt us as our teacher because they give us an opportunity to see our state of mind in that situation. We should stop projecting how we want others to be and accept them as who they are. In that way a lot of our problems can be solved and our suffering can cease…
Eight Verses of Thought Transformation (Part 6)
Eight Verses of Thought Transformation (Part 7)
Eight Verses of Thought Transformation (Part 8 )
Eight Verses of Thought Transformation (Part 9)
Eight Verses of Thought Transformation (Part 10)
Eight Verses of Thought Transformation (Part 11)
Eight Verses of Thought Transformation (Part 12)
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A POWERFUL TEACHINGS of Eight verses to happiness and acceptance. Have been reading over and over again to remind of myself the importance of kindness, compassion and transforming our mind learning and put into practice Dharma and what our Guru has taught us. We are indeed so fortunate to have H E Tsem Rinpoche explaining the ways to be a better person. All these teachings had indeed changed my life since than coming to learning and practicing Dharma.
Thank you Rinpoche for these great teachings.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing the precious teachings with us originated from Buddha Shakyamuni. May more and more practitioners learn, understand and practice these holy teachings. Very beneficial when we apply these holy teachings in our daily prayers and it will have change us thoroughly with inner world changes, everything on the outer world too. I do believe a disciplined mind brings happiness.
I am glad and appreciated meeting our Lama…Tsem Rinpoche in this life. Meeting Rinpoche truly have me change my life . With folded hands thanks again.
A good teaching.Transformation is an inner self reworking of what we are now to what we will be.Nothing gets transformed in our life until our mind is transformed to be better.
Eight verses to happiness and acceptance is a very powerful practice to recite daily.Thank you very much for sharing these precious teachings .
Great teachings indeed. Thank you Rinpoche for this precious profound explanations with much details for us. Life happens there are tons of ups and downs and it’s a journey of discovery . Nothing gets transformed in our life until our mind is transformed to be better. When we know and understand ourselves better, we will be to make our choices wisely and transform our mind. Transformation is an inner self reworking of what we are now to what we will be.
Thanks again with folded hands.
Eight verses to happiness and acceptance is a very powerful practice to recite daily. It addresses the condition of our daily living and how we should practice to gain that happiness. It is the lowering of our self (ego) to take on the sufferings of another (who are other sentient beings). It is knowing that they are already in the state of suffering and our not adding more to their sufferings. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this beautiful verses with us.
Very profound and precious teachings for us to practice for mind transformation . I will do my best to practice this way in my lie for less sufferings and increase happiness. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this beautiful and brilliant teaching of the Eight verses of Thought Transformation .????
Very profound and precious teachings for us to practice for mind tranformation.I will read over and listerning to those videos again to get a much understanding of it.Rinpoche always remind us to practice this consistently to happiness and acceptance.
Thank you Rinpoche for these teachings to benefit all of us .
Thank you Tsem Tulku Rinpoche for composing such detailed elaborations on these verses, and on top of that, I really appreciate your valiant efforts in compiling your sharp and profound insights on the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation into a book entitled “Compassion: Eight Verses of Thought Transformation.” The reason I had to repeatedly express my gratitude to you for doing so is because I finally gained another fruitful opportunity to transform my inherent negativity and delusions in my mind. I was actually browsing through the contents of the book after finishing the Protector Prayers at Kechara Paradise Viva Home (KPVH) today and managed to finish the chapter on Verse Five of the eight verses which read as:
May I accept the unjust loss of others,
Such as others abusing me,
Or slandering me out of jealousy,
And may I offer the victory to others.
Reading that particular chapter explaining on the concept of “Accepting defeat and You win” motivated me to continue my pursuits on Dharma practice. I could now relate this concept of compassion to the core content of one of your books entitled “Peace” which also prompts us humans to always look within and check our mind-streams despite encountering any setbacks physically, emotionally, spiritually. There is still so much to learn from you, Guru so please do continue writing and publishing more enlightening books on Dharma philosophy as I am eager to understand and apply them in my life.
Thank you
This is my all time favourite teaching ! Thank you Rinpoche for giving such a profound explanation to all the verses. I hope to be able to practice them well for the benefit of those around me !
I try my best to read and contemplate on the 8 verses of mind trasformation as part of my sadhana daily as much as possible. To me Next to my Guru,s name and mantra this is the very verse which is important to me , WHY ? In my 25 years of life I have undergone virtual HELL . Mentally .Emotionaly and physically, tremendous amount of abuses and everything I did as a child growing up was wrong , wrong and self hatred was what I was mentally programm to do. My father, family, teachers, friends and majority of people whom I knew since young could only say negative stuffs about me and I was ABUSED really bad which caused me to suffer it out in silence till It broke out in the form of Histeria and Mental disorder YEARS YEARS LATER, THis caused my education , my Life, My dream and everything which I beleived GOOD IN to shatter into PEICES. I HATED EVERYONE INCLUDING MYSELF, I Wanted to KILL myself for being very unworthy of living. I HATED all those who bellitled me , teachers who insulted me and abused their powers on me , Family members who always abuse words on me Making me feel like I WAS A WASTED SOUL and MY FATHER FOR USING BLACK MAGIC ON ME and attacking my psycicly . I went for soul searching as I lost trust in PEOPLE around me and me, I felt Helpless and I shut off from everyone , I became a social recluse and a confused soul.EVERYONE thought I was weird. I underwent soul searching , Born as a Hindu I went searching for “GOD” in all IT’s Splendor for I felt IT was the only Thing which I could rely on. I wanted to Kill myself as young as 13 but I lived for my mother. Now I searched and searched getting obssesed from One religion to another , from ONE form/idea of GOD to another. From a HINDU I studies the Bible as I was in a catholic school. I found Understanding and forgiveness from CHrist, I ventured in THE BAHAI Faith , I found COurgage in GOD . I went into and studies many more other beleives, faiths and religion , I understood many more on the idea of “GOD” and Love but I could not apply it in my thoughts and life. I still kept HATING MYSELF and ALL AROUND ME , I KEPT CURSING and ILL WISHING all those WHO HURT me. I prayed and Prayed but nothing helped. I went under various Gurus (Many who were Hoax) to understand my sufferings but NONE could help me as many were there to scrape my money off with an empty promises of success in LIFE. I even tried many NEW AGE PHILOSOPHIES , LAW OF ATTRACTION and all sort of stuffs , from HYPNOSIS to Crytal meditation to NLP and many more. NONE of this HELPED me in any way to do help me cope up with my greif and self AGONY .
I met KECHARIANS and the teachings of HIS EMINENCE one good day. I had all the doubt under the sun asking my self repeatedly “I have been to soo many centres and practises , buying one amulet to another , paying soo much for puja in hindu temples and going from one Medium to another psycic, NON OF THIS HELPED, How could this place KECHARA help me , HOW could this MONK help me , is this another place for me to waste my time nd money? ” but never the less I forced myself , something in me and mother told to keep hold of this MONK called Rinpoche and the practise KECHARIANS prescribe to us, I was guided by some good hearted senior KECHARIANS all the way thru to complete a certain prayers of 100000 counts. I was hesitant but I did together with my mom with guidance from the senior in KECHARA We completed the 100000.There was tons of problems and obstacles which arised during the period of prayers till we completed it , it was virtual HELL But We KEPT on till we finished it. after that my mother and me started Guru Yoga and setrap practise It was during this Sadhana that I bumped into the 8 Verses of mind transformation , By contemplationg on this very Verse made me Understand and respect the people who abused me , that all are my Gurus regardless who they are , the abuses given to me, I take it as a lesson to learn in life to change my mind and I began Loving all including myself eventhough there is still pain in me , I am slowly recoving , this is my remedy to understand that I AM THE CAUSE OF MY SUFFERINGS and I FORGIVE THE ABUSE THAT PEOPLE GAVE ME AND I DO NOT WANT THEM TO SUFFER AS WHAT I DID , I PRAY THAT ALL OF THESE PEOPLE BE FREE OF SUFFING AND RECEIVE THE DHARMA TO ACHEIVE BUDDHAHOOD, and this changed my thought on KEchara and that MONK called RInpoche ,It indeed changed me and it is slowly changing me to a better me. THanks to the senior who guided me and still guiding me if it was not for His SKillfull means I would have gone astray away from DHARMA.
I go On my kness and bow down to the Living BODHISATTVA , WHOSE teaching,s has ILLUMINATED ME AND MY MOTHERS LIFE, I WAS LOST IN THE DARK AS THE CHILD SOPAKA WHO WAS LOST IN THE CARNEL GROUND AND HIS EMINENCE MY LORD CAME AS MY BUDDHA WHO RESCUED ME FROM DARKNESS AS HOW SAKYAMUNI BUDDHA RESCUED SOPAKA , WE(my mother and me)HAVE NOT SEEN HIM IN PERSON BUT HE IS IN THE LOTUS SEAT WITHIN OUR HEARTS, TILL DEATH I BOW BEFORE HIM MY GURU DEVA WHO IS SUPREME BEYOND MY LIFE, HIS EMINENCE TSEM RINPOCHE . DEAREST RINPOCHE I WOULD HAVE LOST MYSELF AND DROWN MYSELF IN HATRED AND ANGER BUT YOU SAVED ME ! I DO NOT KNOW HOW AM I GOING TO THANK YOU MY DEAR LORD ! MY GURU ! I BOW DOWN TO YOU MENTALLY AND PHYSICALL ! MY HEART IS FILLED WITH INFINITE GRATITUDE . THANK YOU A TRILLION TIMES , THANK YOU FOR TEACHING US THE BUDDHA DHARMA and SHOWING US THE PATH . We are proud Buddhist (me and my mom) and we aspire to be babtised as Buddhists with the grace of our dearest GURU His EMinence. A TRILLION PRANAMS AND NAMASKARAS to You dearest Rinpoche………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. P.S : Dearest RInpoche I do not meant to be Rude in the comment above to use the term ‘THIS MONK” . MY LORD I am very sorry as I was using it as a figure of speech to denote what was going in my head during that particular time . Please Please forgive me I do not mean to be rude , I bow down with humility before you Dear rinpoche .
8 verses of training the mind contains the essence of Buddha’s teachings, and its practices that help practitioners to transform their minds and not suffer so much.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing the Eight verses of Thought Transformation . I will doing my best to practice this way in my live for less sufferings and increase happiness.
This text is said to reveal a profound, yet totally practical method for the opening of the heart – the source of all true happiness! For endless eons, these liberating methods have created lasting peace, inspirations and serenity to countless peoples! This best of all Buddhism teaching serves as an essential advice on how to awaken our potential spiritual insight into limitless love and compassion with wisdom. Accordingly, in these pearls of good wisdom, it is said that every human being has the potential to become a buddha, if he/she has completely purified their mind of all faults and has brought forth all good qualities to perfection – except that “our mind is like a cloudy sky, in essence clear and pure, but overcast by clouds of delusions.” If such delusions could be removed, just as the thickest clouds can eventually be dispersed, then only can we experience the suppreme happiness of full enlightenment!
Thank you for sharing these precious teachings again Rinpoche. I hope and request that you once again teach directly, public and in person to impart the blessings of the lineage and transmission to those who are fortunate enough to recieve these type of teachings. Blogging and online recordings are wonderful, but like you said in this teaching, it can only impart intellectual knowledge. It is only by receiving the teachings directly does it impart the blessings of the lineage and transmission. These teachings are so profound and amazing.
Eight verses encourages us on a path to overcome suffering,through self understanding and reflection.This is about learning to cultivate wisdom and compassion in every part of our daily lives.
Thank you for this beautiful and brilliant teaching,Rinpoche.
Thank you for this important teaching, Rinpoche. It is amazing how Rinpoche spent so much time for this teaching. These verses are the basis of all teachings and basically, if practiced, a ticket to Enlightenment.
Much much gratitude for offering this teaching that is so precious and his changing my way of seeing.
[…] 3. Recite the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation […]
thank you very much on the sharing for the Eight verses of Thought Transformation.
Thanks Rinpoche for this precious teaching. I will share it out with others to let them more understand the Eight verses.
Wow this is amazing… this teaching seems so long ago… and it is still amazingly applicable! I remembered when we first got Kechara House Gompa in Sunwaymas, these 8 verses graced the gompa wall.
Rinpoche told us, if we only practised these 8 verses ardently and we lived our life by it, we would definitely find true peace and happiness. These prayer act as a reminder to me whenever I get upset with something. It helps me to stay calm and focus as truly nothing really matters as the moment passes, we realise our anger gets less and less. So what was the huge hang up in the first place you wonder. How did it made us so upset during that moment and a few hours or days later, we don’t even remember it.
These 3 verses are my favourite!
“Whenever I meet a person of bad nature,
Overwhelmed by negative energy and intense suffering,
I will hold such a rare one dear
As if I’ve found a precious treasure.
When others out of jealousy,
Mistreat me with abuse, slander and so on,
I will practise accepting defeat
And offering the victory to them.
When someone I have benefited and in whom
I have placed great trust hurts me very badly,
I will practise seeing that person
As my supreme teacher.”
If we practice and live by these 8 verses, I am sure there would be no such thing as war, disharmony, discriminations and no suffering. Just eight verses encompasses so much of an “enlightened” mind. These verses are the true attainments we should seek to master!
This teaching is just wonderful and pivotal for all of us as it encompasses the entire breadth of Buddha’s teachings on compassion and in particularly on the aspect of training the mind. I believe the mind training aspect of Buddha’s teachings is particularly powerful because it teaches a wonderful way of developing compassion. What’s wonderful and amazing is that mind training does not depend on Buddhist dogma but upon pure logic and powerful set of teachings that helps us to develop unaffected compassion for all beings. On top of that, it actually has a progressive step-by-step me
Thank you very much on the sharing for the Eight verses of Thought Transformation dear Rinpoche. The teaching from these verses is indeed profound and is the essential platform for our mind to transform to a higher level of understanding dharma.
We are indeed plague by the norm of Samara where by ego and power are the bases for success and victory. Victims and casualties are inevitable in the path of progress to gain fame and glory.
I would read through this verses over and over again until I could developed the proper motivation in my thoughts and action.
Thank you Rinpoche.
“When people whom we place great hopes in hurt us, it is not they who are hurting us. Rather it is them not fulfilling our expectation of how they should treat us that is hurting us. Therefore, it is our wrong projection that is hurting us.”
The verses above are really true, our projections and expectations really fool us!
Just re-read the 8 verses again, and its such an amazing teaching, now I feel it really grounds one in the spiritual path, to check how far you have progressed check out the 8 verses and see what you can or cannot do still.
Dear Rinpoche,
I have found the 8 verses of Mind Transformation to be the most powerful “lessons” to be learnt and although written so clearly and without ambiguity, it is not easy to practise. I have been doing my best to practise as I know making such practice a way of life, I will find true peace and harmony. I will continue to practise with rigor and perseverance as I believe in this teaching.
Thank You So Much for posting all of this great teaching.
I have been having a difficult couple months from intense hours with assisting others in psychotherapy and healing work. Just very intense work lately. I have been feeling tired yet not giving up. When I read all of this I felt anew and inspired again. Especially; ” The kindness of the Buddhas and the kindness of sentient beings towards us are equal in terms of causes for our enlightenment. We need the Buddhas because they are the source of all our teachings and methods to attain enlightenment. We need sentient beings because it is in dependence on them that we can practice and develop the qualities needed to be a Buddha. Therefore, since sentient beings are so important to us, we should develop love and compassion towards them…”
I am copying this down so I remember when the road gets a little tougher.
I appreciate your posts!
Respectfully~ Cheryl
Thanks for sharing these treasures Rinpoche.Will try to remember the essence of these when things “go wrong” and people give me the opportunity to grow spiritually. 🙂
I really like Rinpoche’s advice in Vid 9 to offer everything to Je Rinpoche, including the food we eat, the beautiful sky we gaze at etc, so “everything becomes an offering and nothing becomes an attachment”. That way, we become “a walking altar” making offerings to Je Rinp[oche all day long. Brilliant, and what an easy way to keep ourselves away from our mind.
Thank you for this very important teaching Rinpoche. I appreciate how almost 10 hours went into this few videos. It is incredible that such treasure which is direct from Buddha Shakyamuni, comes to us in such an easy format, and in a language that we understand, accompanied by guiding commentaries from Rinpoche. The Eight Verses is so clear and tangible that it leaves no room for anyone to misinterpret it’s meaning, not its intended objective. If ever one is confused as to how to train and what to focus on, here are 8 instructions, all of which require only ourselves to execute. Indeed it draws a clear line in the sand where we should make a stand (if indeed we are true to our practice) and declare war on our own self-cherishing self. Before I can hope to transform my mind, it is clear that at the very least I must never let the 8 thoughts escape my own detection at any time.