Morning Inspiration talk by Erik Pema Kunsang about the meaning of refuge.
Some people say we live in samsara. This is total nonsense. It is this mind that is either samsara or not samsara.
Tsikey Chokling Rinpoche
Tsikey Chokling Rinpoche was born in 1953 as Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche’s second son. He was recognized as an incarnation of Chokgyur Lingpa by the Sixteenth Karmapa. Together with his older brother, Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, he was educated at Rumtek Monastery, Sikkim, the seat of the Karmapa in exile. In 1975, both lamas joined their father, Tulku Urgyen in Kathmandu, Nepal and established the Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery where Chokling Rinpoche now resides.
He was a tertön and lay practitioner with a wife and four children. His oldest son has been recognized by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the seventh Phakchok Rinpoche, of the Taklung Kagyü lineage. The youngest son is the reincarnation of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche.
Chokling Rinpoche passed away in December 2020, but he’s infinite presence continue to influence us.
Tsoknyi Rinpoche
Tsoknyi Rinpoche teaches and provides spiritual guidance to nuns and monks at more than 50 retreat centers in Tibet, India, and Nepal. Tsoknyi Rinpoche passion and commitment to his legacy of providing education and sustenance to these future scholars and teachers of the Buddhadharma.
His fresh insights into the western psyche have enabled him to teach and write in a way that touches our most profound awareness, using metaphors, stories, and images that point directly to our everyday experience. His warmth, humor, and compassionate attention greatly enrich and enliven his teaching.
Rinpoche is one of those rare teachers whose lighthearted yet illuminating style appeals to beginners and advanced practitioners alike. He is truly a bridge between ancient wisdom and the modern mind. He has a keen interest in the ongoing dialogue between western research, especially in neuroscience, and Buddhist practitioners and scholars.
Tsoknyi Rinpoche’s activity contributes to preserving the Buddha Dharma in the East while nurturing its growth in the West. In this sense, he is a bridge between two worlds.
Erik Pema Kunsang
Erik Pema Kunsang is born in Denmark and has since 1972 studied and practiced the Buddha, and especially the teachings of Padmasambhava.
He has been trained by many masters including the Dzogchen master Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche Rinpoche, whom he stayed with for 16 years as servant and interpreter.
Since 1975 he is guided by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. During Rinpoche’s encouragement Erik initiated a study center and a translation program in 1981, both with the name Rangjung Yeshe.
Erik has translated and published over 60 volumes and his Tibetan-English dictionary is freely available on the Internet. Founder of bodhitraining.com.
He is active in facilitating the teaching of Buddha in the West and teaches in both Danish and English at the Rangjung Yeshe Gomde retreat center on Helgenæs in Denmark. His articles levekunst.com.
Lama Tenzin Sangpo
Lama Tenzin Sangpo was born in the area of Tingri in Tibet in the year 1967. In 1976, after his escape from Tibet, he received ordination and the traditional education at Chokyi Nyima’s monastery Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling in Boudhanath, Kathmandu.
Raised under the loving care of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, and Tsikey Chokling Rinpoche, Tenzin received an extensive education in all aspects of the spiritual path. Among other things he has successfully completed a traditional three-years retreat, and he is one of the most respected lamas of the monastery.He is especially known for his expert ability to lead monks in their chanting and visualization practices.
Lama Tenzin Sangpo is extremely versed in the various buddhist philosophies, and he is an expert in terms of meditation practice. Serving as the chant leader at major Buddhist ceremonies and conducting meditation seminars all over the world, he joyfully shares his deep knowledge of Buddhist views and practices with anyone who wants to experience the Buddha Dharma
Currently Lama Tenzin is the resident teacher at the Rangjung Yeshe Gomde in Austria.
Phakchok Rinpoche
Phakchok Rinpoche is the Supreme Head of the Taklung Kagyu lineage, the Abbot of a monastery in Chapagaon in the southern Kathmandu Valley, and the Head of Riwoche Monastery in Tibet’s Dokham region. Born in 1981 to Chokling Rinpoche and his wife Dechen Paldron, Phakchok Rinpoche is grandson of Tulku Ugyen Rinpoche and the eldest brother of the Yangsi Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Recognized by the Kagyu regents and ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he has studied with a number of great lamas, including Khyentse Rinpoche, Dudjom Rinpoche, Tulku Ugyen Rinpoche, Penor Rinpoche, Trulshik Rinpoche and Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche. An enthusiastic and vibrant young lama, his teachings are direct, accessible, and always fresh, opening up our minds in a playful and inspiring way.
Phakchok Rinpoche is currently Vajra Master of Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery in Boudhanath, Kathmandu, and Abbot of Do-ngak Nyida Zungdrel Sherab Raldri Ling Monastery (Nepal).
Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche
In the 7th lunar month of 1951, Tulku Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche was born into the Tsangsar family as the first-born son of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche whose family has, for many generations, held the now rare Barom Kagyu lineage.
At 18 months of age, Chökyi Nyima — Sun of the Dharma — was recognized as the 7th incarnation of the Drikung Kagyu lama, Gar Drubchen, a Tibetan mahasiddha and spiritual emanation of the renowned 2nd century Indian Buddhist philosopher, Nagarjuna. Soon after, he was enthroned at his predecessor’s monastery, Drong Gon Tubten Dargye Ling Monastery in Nakchukha, Central Tibet, where he resumed his role as Dharma Master to 500 monks.
Shortly before the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959, Chökyi Nyima migrated with his parents and younger brother, Tsikey Chokling Rinpoche, to Gangtok, Sikkim. Thereafter, he was enrolled at the Young Lamas’ School in Dalhousie, India. At the age of 13, he entered Rumtek, seat of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism, and spent the next 11 years studying the Karma Kagyu, Drikung Kagyu, and Nyingma traditions under the guidance of such eminent masters as His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and Kyabje Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche.
Thoroughly engaged in the study of such classic philosophical treatises as Vasubhandu’s Abhidharma Kosha, the Five Texts of Maitreya, Dharmakirti’s Pramanavartika, Shantideva’s Bodhicarya Avatara, and Chandrakirti’s Madhyamaka Avatara, Tulku Chökyi Nyima earned his khenpo degree at an early age.
In 1974, Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche left Rumtek, where he had been personal aide to Rangjung Rigpey Dorje, the 16th Karmapa, and joined his father, mother and younger brother, Tsikey Chokling Rinpoche, in Boudhanath, a suburb of Kathmandu, Nepal. There, at the command of the 16th Karmapa, the family of high Lamas established Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery just north of the Great Jarung Khashor Stupa. After its completion in 1976, Rinpoche was instructed by the Karmapa to become its 25-year-old abbot. His Holiness also advised Tulku Chökyi Nyima to turn his efforts towards instructing Western practitioners. To fulfill this directive, Rinpoche honed his English language skills and began to offer weekend teachings to the flourishing Western community in Nepal and to interested travelers. This ongoing series of free public talks, which came to be known as the “Saturday Morning Talks,” continue to this day.
In 1980, with his eldest son, Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, by his side, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche embarked on an extensive round-the-world tour through Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States in order to bring Lord Buddha’s message to Buddhist practitioners everywhere. Erik Pema Kunsang accompanied them as their translator. Wherever the Lamas visited, they gave Dzogchen and Mahamudra teachings and empowerments to numerous people.
After returning to Nepal, in 1981 Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche established the Rangjung Yeshe Institute for Buddhist Studies (RYI) which hosts annual international seminars and symposiums on Buddhism. In 1997, RYI expanded to include an international Buddhist college, or “shedra”, offering an in-depth curriculum in formal Buddhist studies for students from around the world. RYI has since formed the Centre for Buddhist Studies at Kathmandu University, a degree-granting institution for scholarship and academic research where, after 3 to 5 years of study, both local and foreign students can receive their BA and MA degrees in Buddhist Studies.
Late in 1981, Rinpoche also established Rangjung Yeshe Publications who have, through the decades, produced many fine books. Among their publications, Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche’s prolific teachings, commentaries and writings can be found in: Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen, Song of Karmapa, Bardo Guidebook, Indisputable Truth, Present Fresh Wakefulness and Medicine and Compassion.
Rinpoche has a good command of the English language, and has been instructing a growing number of Western students in meditation practice since 1977. When his busy schedule allows, several mornings each week Rinpoche throws open the doors of his personal shrine-room and meets visitors personally. Moreover, each autumn, he conducts a 10-day Fall Seminar on Buddhist teachings, ranging from the most basic to the most esoteric. For the benefit of the international participants, the seminar is offered in Tibetan and translated into English, German, French, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and a number of other languages.
Through the decades, Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche has successfully founded Tibetan Buddhist Dharma Centres, which he now heads, in Malaysia, Denmark, America, Austria, Russia, the United Kingdom and France. Study groups have formed under his direction in other countries, including Israel, Holland, Mexico and Portugal. Each year, Rinpoche travels widely in Europe, Russia, Asia and the Americas instructing students in a variety of Buddhist disciplines and contexts. During his travels, he has also been a frequent lecturer at many esteemed colleges and universities around the world, such as Harvard and Oxford University.
In 2006, Rinpoche established the Dharmachakra Translation Group, a committee of expert translators dedicated to translating and publishing classical Buddhist treatises from Tibetan and Sanskrit scriptural canon.
For more than 30 years, Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche has overseen the welfare and spiritual education of almost 500 monks and nuns residing primarily at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery, Asura Cave Retreat Centre and Nagi Gompa Hermitage, respectively. His heartfelt wish is to double this number of ordained and therefore the monasteries and retreat centers under his care are constantly undergoing improvements and expansion.
In the meantime, much of Rinpoches everyday life is devoted to the spiritual needs of the local congregation of both Tibetan and Nepalese lay practitioners. As an adjunct to his activity locally, and for the betterment of the monastery’s surrounding community, Rinpoche founded the charitable organization Shenpen which addresses the practical special needs of the disadvantaged, such as health care and education. Shenpen is administered by a number of Rinpoche’s close Western students.
