One of the ways Lama Shenpen likes to teach is by responding to questions from her students. Receiving teachings in this way creates a powerful energy exchange, deepening connection between student and teacher.
This teaching page is currently dedicated to sharing Lama Shenpen’s responses to questions on Mandala Principle, a core organising principle of her Living the Awakened Heart training.
Explore the training here: www.ahs.org.uk/training.
Teachings arise in the world because there are beings there to listen and draw them out.
It feels like I’m in conversation with you when I read your questions – you’re asking all my own questions. So thank you for your questions, because you need to be asking them – but not asking them in the desperate way, ‘Oh, I don’t understand this, please give me the answer’. But in the sense of, ‘This doesn’t make sense, does it? So somewhere, somehow, I’m not not getting it’ …and then that uneasy feeling of ‘I didn’t quite get it’.
It’s good, that’s a sign of intelligence – you must be intelligent to be able to notice that, mustn’t you?
– Lama Shenpen
What is Mandala Principle? How can it help us connect to and understand the world we live in?
Mandala Principle is about the pattern and structure of everything that happens. The basic pattern is a centre or a central point from which everything else emanates. In Tibetan, the Sanskrit term ‘mandala’ is translated as kyilkor, which literally means a centre and a periphery. Every experience has this structure.
What’s the difference between ‘personal mandala’ and ‘ego mandala’?
Even though our experience of it is distorted, we have access to its qualities already. They shine through our confusion and are what lead us out of it. We need to learn to be subtle about recognising what are the Buddha qualities and trusting them, and what is ego grasping and letting that go. While…
Continue reading What’s the difference between ‘personal mandala’ and ‘ego mandala’?
Mandala Principle & Boundaries: Boundaries feel threatening to me, what aren’t I getting?
Mandalas are a way of describing the world of our experience in which everything is appearing and yet is ungraspable. The only reason we experience anything is because we can distinguish it from anything else. If it were all uniform with no differentiation it would not be experience would it? It wouldn’t be anything.
Pranidhana Part 4: Pranidhanas, Dying & Death
The teaching theme of this year in the Awakened Heart Sangha is Pranidhana, a Sanskrit word which translates as ‘powerful aspirational prayer’, known as Monlam in Tibetan. This is the fourth part of a transcript from a teaching given by Lama Shenpen on the theme.
Continue reading Pranidhana Part 4: Pranidhanas, Dying & Death
Pranidhana Part 3: The power of connections behind our intentions
The teaching theme of this year in the Awakened Heart Sangha is Pranidhana, a Sanskrit word which translates as ‘powerful aspirational prayer’, known as Monlam in Tibetan. This is the third part of a transcript from a teaching given by Lama Shenpen on the theme.
Continue reading Pranidhana Part 3: The power of connections behind our intentions
Pranidhana Part 2: Confidence in the power of our word
The teaching theme of this year in the Awakened Heart Sangha is Pranidhana, a Sanskrit word which translates as ‘powerful aspirational prayer’, known as Monlam in Tibetan. This is the second part of a transcript from a teaching given by Lama Shenpen on the theme.
Continue reading Pranidhana Part 2: Confidence in the power of our word
Pranidhana Part 1: The importance of the power of our word
The teaching theme of this year in the Awakened Heart Sangha is Pranidhana, a Sanskrit word which translates as ‘powerful aspirational prayer’, known as Monlam in Tibetan. This is the first part of a transcript from a teaching given by Lama Shenpen on the theme.
Continue reading Pranidhana Part 1: The importance of the power of our word
Why do we recite long life prayers for teachers & why do we need to repeat them?
We pray for our personal teachers in particular to live long and for us to keep up as close a connection as possible with them by every means at our disposal, through this and through all our lifetimes working together forever to bring all beings to Awakening. This is about Mandala Principle.
Continue reading Why do we recite long life prayers for teachers & why do we need to repeat them?
Why might someone feel lonely after taking the Refuge or Bodhisattva vow?
We are facing the aloneness of a journey only we can make for ourselves, also an alone-ness where there is nobody looking on and saying we are doing well, we are our own leader and follower – Guru and disciple – we have to do it ourselves, like growing up but on a cosmic scale.
Continue reading Why might someone feel lonely after taking the Refuge or Bodhisattva vow?
How best to set up a regular meditation practice?
The winter months can be a good time to set up a regular meditation practice or to realign with your intentions if your regular practice has drifted. We revisit this article by Lama Shenpen on how to set up a regular practice, which is an excerpt from the booklet Heart of Meditation that given to… Continue reading How best to set up a regular meditation practice?
How can we increase our sense of sacredness & transmission with online Dharma teachings & downloaded texts?
These days we surf the net and find a likely looking Dharma website and feel that parting with our money is to take a risk, since who knows who the people are and what they’re are up to. So often it is with suspicion and scepticism that we embark on a course and the practice,…
Meeting Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche
He was about forty at the time, small in stature, with the walk and presence of a samurai warrior. There was something very direct and yet very kind in everything he said or did. Having shown him into his room, I sat down in the semi-darkness of the gathering dusk to listen to him talking…
What Does the Term ‘Guru Principle’ Mean?
Even our enemies can become our gurus if we learn patience and forbearance from them. Texts can be our guru; the world around us can become our guru. This is because the guru is the all-pervading and timeless compassionate action of the Buddha’s mandala of awakening, which is reaching out to us through all the…
Should I continue to practice generosity towards others if they take me for granted?
So, we have to examine our motives carefully. Sometimes, as with children, it’s better to hold back and instil in others a deeper kind of respect for the things that you wish to give them or even greater respect for yourself.
Can I Hurt Others With My Negative Thoughts?
If in our heart of hearts we don’t want the thoughts to have a negative influence on others then they won’t. Even if we have wished others harm in the past we can negate those thoughts by our sincere regret and send out endless good wishes instead.
Continue reading Can I Hurt Others With My Negative Thoughts?
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