Chapter 12: Dharma Ambition We all have the ambition to live a comfortable, happy life, and so we put in effort in our studies, careers, business, relationships and so on. This ambition is typically married with the intent to have a good job or successful business, a spouse or...

- Chapter 11: What Is This For? That was the question Rinpoche asked me each time I made an offering. This was some 20 years ago. I would babble some reason in response, usually to say it was to repay his kindness, to thank him for teaching etc. I wondered why he kept asking m...

Chapter 10: In the most difficult of times... Many people seek Gurus who are internationally famous with titles who are recognised and respected. I suppose it is beneficial to develop such a karmic link, but these very busy teachers - who travel the world with tens of thousand...

Chapter 9: Meanings In modern day communication training, we are told to be clear and concise. We use various means to check whether the person we have communicated with has understood our message etc. Over the years, I have realized that this expectation of communication that...

Chapter 8: All you do is talk; you have not done anything... Ouch. That was what Rinpoche said at a temple committee meeting. It was not directed at me personally but was in relation to something I felt responsible for - so the words stung. In previous musings I mentioned how...

Chapter 7: Is This a Pilgrimage? It was early 1999. Singha Rinpoche had advised a student that he should have 100,000 Tsa-Tsa - the small statue you can wear in an amulet or sometimes bigger - of Lama Tsongkhapa made. Rinpoche also wanted to go to visit the stupa of his Buddhi...

Chapter 6: WHWWHHHHHHYYYY? In Buddhist teachings, short instructions given by your Guru are called “pith” - meaning the essence of something - instructions. This story is about what I viewed as a very simple pith instruction given by Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup Rigsel (late...

Chapter 5: The Rude Lady The lady was crying. Rinpoche had just spoken to her and the three of us stood there, somewhat awkward. Rinpoche said, “You three better talk to her”. We looked at each other, a bit lost. We invited her into a room, turned on the air conditioning and s...

Chapter 4: Creating Experiences There is a contradiction in all of us - we always seek a peaceful, stable, serene life with no problems. Yet, for probably all of us, when we look back at our lives, we realise that we grew, learnt and changed most as a result of (very often) ch...

Chapter 3: Buddha’s teachings as medicine It is 1999. The digits on the clock reads 8.10pm.The phone rings. A familiar voice drifts out from the phone. “Why are you not attending teaching?” It is Singha Rinpoche. He does not sound pleased. I make up some lame excuse and he bru...

Connecting all with divine hearts – what does that mean? Dunbar’s Theory based on some research suggests that the human brain is limited in the number of individuals with whom it can maintain a “social relationship”, suggesting a maximum of 150. Most of us have a lot of acquai...

Introduction This is the first of a series of stories that are reflections of experiences with my root Guru, Singha Rinpoche. To enable a certain honesty, these are written with the pen name, Tenzin. Some stories are my own experiences and some of other students. The tradition...