General Q & A on Practice

Rinpoche la, I realized that I have so many defilements, faults, especially arrogant, and anger. I pray earnestly to you, please bestow me teachings that could help taming my mind.

One of the obstacles in our practice is the hope to pursue perfection from the very beginning; constantly looking for perfection. The path itself is fruition. You have to accept everything as it is, instead of complicated it with your way of thinking, your expectations and worries. As such, you will always be stuck in hope and fear. This is not the path of Vajrayana. Vajrayana’s way is accepting everything, every condition as it is, including your disturbing emotions. When you are angry, you do not look for peace, but you deal with anger*. That’s why there are wrathful deities and its practices to support those dealing with great defilement of anger.

Do not try to be perfect. Do not hope for perfection. Any circumstances are good for practice. If you are already perfect, then where is the need for practice?

If you have a guru, and your devotion is unshakable. With his or her blessings, every chaos becomes the fuel to practice. Constantly make efforts to watch your thoughts, your emotions. The more emotions you faced the faster and better your spiritual progress will be. Without devotion and faith, one is akin to a ship without rudders. One thus is ineptitude in dealing with challenging circumstances. This is why practice and guru supplication always go hand in hand. Guru devotion is the key in Vajrayana. Blessings can only be felt when genuine devotion arises in your heart. Without devotion, even Buddha’s blessings cannot enter our hearts.

*The Drukpa Kargyu’s way of dealing with anger or other afflictive emotions is through meditation and constant awareness in post meditation and everyday life.

The above texts are compiled from various teachings conferred by Drukpa Choegon Rinpoche at numerous events around the world. We have distilled the essence of these teachings for the benefit of readers. May it benefit all!

Any errors or inaccuracies in the texts are the sole responsibility of the transcriber, translator, editor, and web administrators. They do not reflect Rinpoche's teachings, which are always flawless and insightful.

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