Teachings with Khenchen Lama Rinpoche - February 2009

The Seven-Line Prayer
The Seven-Line Prayer is the essential preliminary practice both in the Mahayana and the Vajrayana traditions. Within Tibetan Buddhism, it is at the heart of  practices in all the lineages. This teaching will follow a commentary on the Seven-Line Prayer composed by Mipham Rinpoche called White Lotus - it was published by Shambhala . Khenchen Lama Rinpoche will guide students through the outer, inner, secret and most secret layers of meaning of this essential practice.

Dzogchen Kalachakra
Practice requirement: Rinpoche asks those who will attend this empowerment and teaching to commit to ten thousand recitations of the mantra “OM AH HUNG HACHAMALA ARAYANG SWAHA”. It is important to fulfill this practice requirement since not doing the practice after receiving the precious empowerment and teachings is traditionally believed to result in negative karma for the teacher as well as students.

It is said that the powerful practice of Kalachakra can lead to enlightenment in one lifetime. Those who keep samaya, but do not achieve enlightenment in this lifetime, should reach their goal in the Shambhala land in the next lifetime. The Kalachakra empowerment given by Khenchen Prachhimba Dorjee Rinpoche comes from one of few Kalachakra termas (hidden treasure teachings).  This particular terma was revealed by Rinpoche’s previous incarnation – Padma Dragnag Lingpa, and is presented in the context of Dzogchen. A unique aspect of the empowerment is that it includes empowerment of the pristine awareness or rigpa. In his teaching, Rinpoche will also follow the Kalachakra lineage of Mipham Rinpoche since he received empowerment and teachings in this tradition of Kalachakra from his root guru - His Holiness Jigmed Phuntsok Rinpoche.

Vajrakilaya Empowerment & Practice
"The practice of Vajrakilaya blazes at the heart of the ancient Vajrayana traditions of Tibet. The wrathful heruka Vajrakilaya is the yidam deity who embodies the enlightened activity of all the buddhas, manifesting in an intensely wrathful yet compassionate form in order to subjugate the delusion and negativity that can arise as obstacles to the practice of Dharma. In fact, the practice of Vajrakilaya is famous in the Tibetan Buddhist world as the most powerful for removing obstacles, destroying the forces hostile to compassion, and purifying the spiritual pollution so prevalent in this age."--Sogyal Rinpoche

Yeshe Lama Empowerment, Transmission, and Pointing Out Instructions
The Dzogchen tradition contains a wealth of different texts and practice instructions. The essence of these teachings has been summarized by Rigzin Jigme Lingpa in the ‘Yeshe Lama’ text. Jigme Lingpa says that studying this text is like receiving direct instructions from him in person. ‘Yeshe Lama’ is translated as ‘Wisdom Guru’ and refers to the deepest nature of our mind – the Buddha nature – that possesses the highest degree of enlightened wisdom. Many masters achieved enlightenment by manifesting rainbow body through practices of ‘Yeshe Lama’. The empowerment has the form of ‘pointing out instructions’ to recognize our Buddha nature. This enables a qualified practitioner with good motivation and faith to gain unmistaken experiential understanding of the true nature of mind. This is an auspicious day to receive these teachings because during the month beginning with this day karma is multiplied by 100,000.

Practice requirements: If you have not completed the preliminary practices (Ngondro), then Rinpoche requires that you make a promise to him to complete preliminary practice during your lifetime.  If you have completed preliminaries or if you are a returning student of Rinpoche’s (who has been practicing White Manjushri, Sange Yeshe Guru Yoga, Rigpa Guru Yoga, Vajrakilaya Gurkurma, etc.) you are welcome to attend the teachings without further practice commitments.