Dear blog friends,
I’ve created this section for all of you to share your opinions, thoughts and feelings about whatever interests you.
Everyone has a different perspective, so this section is for you.
Tsem Rinpoche
Please come and join in the chat for a fun time and support. See you all there.
These are some simple guidelines to make the blog chat room a positive, enjoyable and enlightening experience for everyone. Please note that as this is a chat room, we chat! Do not flood the chat room, or post without interacting with others.
EXPANDRemember that these are real people you are chatting with. They may have different opinions to you and come from different cultures. Treat them as you would face to face, and respect their opinions, and they will treat you the same.
Give the room a chance to answer you. Patience is a virtue. And if after awhile, people don't respond, perhaps they don't know the answer or they did not see your question. Do ask again or address someone directly. Do not be offended if people do not or are unable to respond to you.
This is the blog of H.E. Tsem Rinpoche. Please respect this space. We request that all participants here are respectful of H.E. Tsem Rinpoche and his organisation, Kechara.
Avoid the use of language or attitudes which may be offensive to others. If someone is disrespectful to you, ignore them instead of arguing with them.
Please be advised that anyone who contravenes these guidelines may be banned from the chatroom. Banning is at the complete discretion of the administrator of this blog. Should anyone wish to make an appeal or complaint about the behaviour of someone in the chatroom, please copy paste the relevant chat in an email to us at care@kechara.com and state the date and time of the respective conversation.
Please let this be a conducive space for discussions, both light and profound.
Name: | Email: | ||
For: | ![]() |
||
Mail will not be published
|
Concept: Tsem Rinpoche
Technical: Lew Kwan Leng, Justin Ripley, Yong Swee Keong
Design: Justin Ripley, Cynthia Lee
Content: Tsem Rinpoche, Justin Ripley, Pastor Shin Tan, Sarah Yap
Admin: Pastor Loh Seng Piow, Beng Kooi
I must thank my dharma blog team who are great assets to me, Kechara and growth of dharma in this wonderful region. I am honoured and thrilled to work with them. I really am. Maybe I don't say it enough to them, but I am saying it now. I APPRECIATE THESE GUYS VERY MUCH!
Tsem Rinpoche
H.H. Kyabje Zong Rinpoche Explains Dorje Shugden Initiation and Benefits (With English Subtitles)
Dear everyone... This is a good condensed talk I gave on Guru Yoga of Tsongkapa. This is the one you should share with others when they are interested in a not too lengthy explanation. It is the perfect practice for everyone who wants simplicity yet effective blessings. You can share this with more people, it will be good.
~ Tsem Rinpoche
Powerful Dorje Shugden's mantras
Tsem Rinpoche on National TV's Wesak Day Documentary
'The Promise' book launch featured on NTV7 Primetime
"If you say you don't have money to help a animal shelter, why then do you have money to buy meat?"
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"Eating animals is not our God-given right, but being kind to them is."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"What makes us good humans is not how we abuse animals, but how much we allow them to live and be happy freely."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"We need another and wiser and perhaps a more mythical concept of animals.... We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complex than ours they moved finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth."
~ Henry Beston, The Outermost House
"Not eating animals is only unnatural when we are not used to it."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"We may encounter defeat, but we must not be defeated."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"What you are today, is the choice you made yesterday."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"You think you can choose your life? What an ego trip!"
~ Lama Yeshe
"If TODAY you are dissatisfied, you must make the changes to create different results for TOMORROW."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
“Meditating on Dorje Shugden while reciting his mantra will open the gateways to higher dimensions, blessings and protection.”
~ Tsem Rinpoche
“If one does the recitation of the Lama Tsongkhapa guru yoga prayer for even one month using one of the visualizations for great or clear or quick wisdom, one will definitely see development of that wisdom. It is proved by experience. There is no doubt that by doing the Lama Tsongkhapa guru yoga practice one can meet Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings from life to life. And furthermore, it gives one the opportunity to be born in the pure realm of Lama Tsongkhapa, Tushita, whenever death happens.”
~ Pabongkha Rinpoche
"I was 18 years old in 1983. That was a very special year as I met His Holiness Kyabje Zong Rinpoche and received innumerable precious teachings and empowerments from Him at Thubten Dhargye Ling Centre in Los Angeles, California. It was the best time of my life. A time that seems so magical and surreal to me. Kyabje Zong Rinpoche is Heruka Buddha and I met Heruka."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"If being me offends you, maybe I'm not the problem."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"Never abandon your spiritual teacher no matter how many inner obstacles you need to overcome."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"Actions to force something to be permanent makes all the karmas arise."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"The dharma is not easy to listen to… because some people take it as criticism. But Dharma should not be just feel good only for the moment but for deeper contemplations."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"Whether we do work and suffer but for others or we do work and suffer for ourselves, either way we have to suffer. That is the nature of samsara. So let us suffer for others and then suffering has meaning."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"Those who really want the dharma to grow within themselves and to grow for others should never fear hard work, timing, difficulties, struggles, disappointments because it is for a good cause. Working for Dharma is not a prison or work, but it is purely spiritual practice. It is purely collection of merit and purification. Actually not doing dharma work is the real prison."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"His Holiness Zong Rinpoche stressed the need to continue to practice even when we come up against obstacles, and that we should continually review our progress. He stated that a happy, luxurious life was like a good dream, and that obstacles and difficulties were like a bad dream. We should give them no significance, but simply carry on working towards real, everlasting happiness."
~ Ngala ’ö-Dzin Tridral
"Things in samsara always go wrong. That's its nature. Don't be surprised."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"Knowledge never quenches the thirst, only application."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"I pity men who occupy themselves exclusively with the transitory in things and lose themselves in the study of what is perishable, since we are here for this very end-that we may make the perishable imperishable, which we can do only after we have learned how to approach both."
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Money amplifies negative characteristics and that can cause problems. To walk away from that was actually very easy. I didn't even consider it."
~ Angeline Francis Khoo
"I shall not commit the fashionable stupidity of regarding everything I cannot explain as a fraud."
~ Carl Jung
"There is a devil there is no doubt, but is he trying to get into us or trying to get out?"
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"If you love someone, show it by being honest, respectful & honorable with them."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."
~ Henry David Thoreau
"If I can just be the way I am & you the way you are & we accept each other, world peace is near."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"I am Asian, you are some other beautiful color. Together we make diversity so beautiful."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"It's amazing how some people have never met me or know who I am, but based on a few things they read here & there & rumours, they have formulated a new personality for me & all the things I've never done they passionately speak about....I find it funny and entertaining now. I guess we can't spend our lives fighting rumours...we just have to work hard & then rumours get proven wrong on it's own as a by product. No point explaining repeatedly. Just do our work & show results!!"
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"There's a difference between patience and laziness. Patience comes from respect while laziness from disrespect of others."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"Although outwardly we have so much, we have so many conveniences, inwardly we have become more unhappy, so, acquisition is not the secret to happiness. The more we get, the more we have, the more unhappy we become."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"Before we experience any pain, we already had a fixed view of how things should be. When the experience we encounter contradicts our views, then the pain arises. The pain arises due to our fixed views not so much the experience itself. So the secret is changing the views. Re-educating ourselves on our views."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"You know since very young, for better or worse, I always did the things that others told me not to do. I wasn't really good at following the rules. Even now with how I share Dharma and my practice, I just do it the way I think it should be done but I do it sincerely. Not what others tell me what I can and can't do."
~ Tsem Rinpoche
"Love me or hate me, both are in my favor... If you love me, I'll always be in your heart... If you hate me, I'll always be in your mind."
~ William Shakespeare
"One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous or honest."
~ Maya Angelou
A section for you to clarify your Dharma questions with Kechara’s esteemed pastors.
Just post your name and your question below and one of our pastors will provide you with an answer.
Scroll down and click on "View All Questions" to view archived questions.
Dear blog friends, you can submit your photos to this section by sending an email to tblogpics@gmail.com. Include your message in the "Subject" field (up to 250 characters only). Be sure to include your name in the subject field too!
We are continuously improving this blog, and a major upgrade will be coming in the near future. We invite all users to share your feedback with us, so that the next version of the blog will be even better. Just enter your comments in the space below.
Page Views By Country | ||
---|---|---|
United States | 6,854,772 | |
Malaysia | 5,143,614 | |
India | 2,678,258 | |
Singapore | 984,865 | |
Bhutan | 977,294 | |
United Kingdom | 966,837 | |
Nepal | 961,694 | |
Canada | 840,889 | |
Australia | 667,531 | |
Philippines | 568,361 | |
Indonesia | 485,742 | |
Germany | 392,000 | |
France | 324,835 | |
Brazil | 271,193 | |
Vietnam | 248,217 | |
Thailand | 229,402 | |
Taiwan | 217,407 | |
Italy | 189,115 | |
Spain | 171,194 | |
Netherlands | 168,282 | |
Mongolia | 154,939 | |
South Africa | 144,740 | |
Portugal | 142,118 | |
Türkiye | 137,740 | |
Sri Lanka | 136,375 | |
Hong Kong | 132,904 | |
Japan | 130,573 | |
United Arab Emirates | 125,348 | |
Russia | 122,021 | |
China | 114,506 | |
Romania | 109,819 | |
Mexico | 104,052 | |
New Zealand | 98,104 | |
Switzerland | 96,555 | |
Myanmar (Burma) | 92,100 | |
Pakistan | 84,457 | |
Sweden | 84,137 | |
South Korea | 80,750 | |
Cambodia | 72,326 | |
Poland | 6,641 |
Total Pageviews: | 27,465,113 |
---|
![]() |
Comments I like from
WT Liang David I. Lynch steve holley
|
![]() |
Thank you Rinpoche for the precious teaching that has been passed down from the authentic lineage. Hope Rinpoche have a good rest. May Rinpoche live long and always turn the ... Read More Thank you Rinpoche your teachings and everyone at Kechara have been so very kind to me. When my leg was amputated you sent such a wonderful package of Dharma books ... Read More Dear Rinpoche I was immediately drawn to this photo of H.H.Kyabje Zong Rinpoche. It seems to me to capture all the Wisdom of the Ancients.I had the great good fortune ... Read More
|
Dear Wanderer,
Thank you for your very interesting question. It is probably the first time that this question has been raised here. The four major lineages of Tibetan Buddhism (Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug) all emerged after various waves of dissemination of the Buddhist teachings from India into Tibet, or due to new ways of interpreting the teachings and how they apply in practice. By this I mean that different masters placed emphasis on different teachings, scriptures, prayers, and mediation techniques but all with the same ultimate goal – to gain realisations along the spiritual journey and to reach enlightenment.
Despite their differences, all four schools stress the need for a complete and structured presentation of the Buddhist path of practice, from the foundations in the Theravada traditions, the bodhisattva practices of the Mahayana traditions, and the intricate and powerful meditations of the Vajrayana traditions. Similarly all four schools are based on the Madhyamaka School of thought arising from India, though again each school will present this thought in a slightly different manner.
The major differences between each tradition, although based on the same Madhyamaka philosophy, are each school’s presentation of and emphasis on tantra. For example, the Nyingma tradition favours the Great Perfection or Dzogchen view and earlier examples of tantric practice, together with terma or revealed teachings; the Kagyu tradition emphasises the Mahamudra system of meditation stemming from the Indian Mahasiddha Tilopa and the tantric systems of the Guhyasamaja and Heruka Chakrasamvara tantras; the Sakya tradition focuses on the practice of the Hevajra tantra and its associated Lamdre (path and fruit) system of practice; while the Gelug tradition emphasises the Lam Rim (graduated stages of the path) and the Guhyasamaja, Chakrasamvara, and Yamantaka tantras. I have listed out some other distinguishing features of each school below.
Nyingma
Traces its origins back to Guru Rinpoche, also known as Padmasambhava, and the Abbot of Nalanda Monastery in India, Santarakshita who both arrived in Tibet upon the invitation of King Trisong Detsen. Unlike the other three traditions which classify tantra into four categories, the Nyingma tradition classifies tantra into nine categories. They also have two methods of lineage transmissions, the ‘long’ lineage, stemming from teacher to student in an unbroken tradition tracing back to various masters in India; and the ‘short’ lineage of receiving transmission from termas, or revealed teachings.
Kagyu
Traces its origins back to Marpa, whose teachers were the Indian Mahasiddhas Tilopa and Naropa. Marpa’s student Milarepa taught Gampopa who is credited with founding the tradition. The tradition emphasises the achievement of Mahamudra or the Great Seal through four progressive stages of meditation: (1) development of single pointed concentration, (2) transcending notions of conceptual reality, (3) cultivation of the perspective that all phenomena are of a ‘single taste’, and (4) the fruition of the path, which is beyond all contrived acts of meditation.
Sakya
Tracing its origins back to the Indian Mahasiddha Virupa, the tradition has five founding fathers: Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, Sonam Tsemo, Drakpa Gyaltsen, Sakya Pandita, and Chogyal Pakpa. Two major practices of the tradition include the Hevajra tantra and the Naro Kachoma form of Vajrayogini as stemming from Naropa. They have a distinctive presentation of the teachings, one which is based on sutra for the general public and the other based on tantra which is only taught privately.
Gelug
Traces its origins back to Lama Tsongkhapa, a great Tibetan master that combined the essential teachings from the Kadam lineage, together with Sakya and Kagyu doctrines including a presentation of the Lam Rim or Graduated Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, first espoused by Lama Atisha. These teachings are taken as the basis of practising Highest Yoga Tantra, which emphasises the union of bliss and emptiness. The Kechara Buddhist organisation belongs to this school.
This a very brief overview of the differences between the lineages. You can join any of these lineages. Most people have an affinity with one more than the other, and you should join the one that you are comfortable with, but make sure that you stick with it, and do not keep jumping between traditions. This is because they all present the path to enlightenment in different ways, and your practice can get confused if you switch. Though they all present the path in different ways, they all end up at the very same exact goal, enlightenment. Once you choose which tradition to follow, you should stick with it all the way. I hope this helps. Thank you.