Finding a Path

This quotation from the Historical Introduction to Patrul Rinpoche’s ‘Words of My Perfect Teacher’ sums up the differences in the path taught by the various Buddhist traditions:

“A practitioner who follows this [Hinayana] path with only his own liberation in mind can attain a high degree of realisation and become an Arhat (one who has overcome the negative emotions). But this is not full enlightenment. Only those who have as their motivation the good and ultimate enlightenment of all other beings can attain final Buddhahood. Such practitioners, who follow the path of the Great Vehicle [Mahayana] based on compassion, are known as Bodhisattvas. A Bodhisattva who moreover practices the profound and skilful teachings of the Vajrayana is able to become fully enlightened in a very short time.”

What is Dzogchen?

Dzogchen is the quickest and most effective means of practice from the Nyingma tradition (the most ancient tradition of Tibetan Buddhism). 

Dzogchen, or dzogpa chenpo, is the Tibetan name for a set of teachings known in English as the Great Perfection. Within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition these ancient and secret teachings are the most exalted and profound of all the secret Tantras. The supreme goal of practice is enlightenment or Buddhahood, which can be attained in a single lifetime. Through concentrated practice many extraordinary qualities can be achieved, including unobstructed clairvoyance and the ability to sustain oneself without food or shelter. Someone who masters these teachings will have control over their lifespan, and when they do pass away, their physical elements will be liberated into the rainbow body, leaving only their hair and nails behind. Dedication to the practice of the Great Perfection led to both Dzogchen Monastery and the surrounding district becoming known by this name.

Transmissions and empowerments, the personal instruction of secret Dharma including dzogpa chenpo, are given privately by the Dzogchen Lamas to a few fortunate students. In this way the personal instruction of the Great Perfection lineage continues from master to student. In a Buddhist context ‘lineage’ means that each teaching, each practice in contemplation and meditation and training the mind to achieve realisation, has been passed down from the origin of the lineage, through an unbroken succession of realised masters, to the present day. Kyabje Pema Kalsang Rinpoche is the main holder of one of the closest and most pure Dzogchen Nyingthig lineages in the world. Only five lineage holders form the links between All-Knowing Jigme Lingpa and Kyabje Rinpoche.

Our Perfect Teachers

To guide us on the path of the Vajrayana, the Mahasandhi Buddhist Group is most profoundly blessed in having two great Dzogchen Lamas as our wise and compassionate teachers.

Kyabje Pema Kalsang Rinpoche

Having received an intense theoretical and spiritual education with some of the most eminent masters of the 20^th century, Kyabje Pema Kalsang Rinpoche became twelfth Throne Holder of the Great Dzogchen Monastery at the age of fourteen. Throughout the bleak period of the 1960s and '70s, Kyabje Rinpoche managed to maintain and practise the Dzogchen teachings, and he is one of the few surviving masters from this unique time. One of the greatest living Dzogchen masters in Tibet, Kyabje Rinpoche is recognised as the mind emanation of Guru Rinpoche, who first brought the Buddhist teachings to Tibet from India, and is the main holder of the closest Dzogchen lineage in the world.

As soon as circumstances permitted, Kyabje Rinpoche spared no effort in starting to undertake a complete programme of restoring not only Dzogchen Monastery, but also Shira Sing Buddhist University. In 1998, Kyabje Rinpoche established Dzogchen Pema Tung Great Perfection Retreat Centre. His untiring efforts have resulted in a great revival of the Dzogchen tradition, and Dzogchen Monastery is once again a supreme example of both scholarly excellence and meditative realisation.

Despite all the tremendous hardships and challenges he has faced throughout his life, Kyabje Rinpoche has always remained happy and content, with a vast and spacious outlook. He embodies activities of Buddha body, speech and mind. With his body he has rebuilt Dzogchen Monastery from the foundations up. With his speech he teaches the enlightened view of the Great Perfection, and with his mind he never ceases in his efforts to benefit all sentient beings.

Undoubtedly, Dzogchen Monastery, Shira Sing Buddhist University and Pema Tung Great Perfection Retreat Centre, now full of life and Dharma, are almost entirely the result of the intense and prolonged effort of one single master, Kyabje Rinpoche. Without his efforts, Dzogchen would probably still be empty and lifeless. He is the vital force and embodiment of Dzogchen the monastery, Dzogchen the teaching and Dzogchen the realisation.

Long Life Prayer for Kyabje Rinpoche

[extract]

Read Kyabje Pema Kalsang Rinpoche’s Biography

Dza Mura Rinpoche

The Fifth Mura Rinpoche, Tenzin Khachab Dorje, is Kyabje Rinpoche’s younger nephew, and is recognized as an emanation of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion. Anyone fortunate enough to have contact with Mura Rinpoche, even through seeing his picture or hearing his voice, is immediately aware of the blessing of his boundless compassion. All the Mahasandhi Buddhist Group members experienced this when we received teachings from Rinpoche through the medium of webcam at the end of our first year of study, and again in May 2008.

Mura Rinpoche was born in Golok in Amdo in 1979, near the source of the Yantse river and holy mountain of Amni Machen. His birth was marked with the sound of the MANI mantra resounding all through the valley, and many other auspicious signs. Not long after Rinpoche was born, he was recognised by a consensus of many great masters as the reincarnation of the Fourth Mura Rinpoche. When he was young, his uncle Kyabje Rinpoche took him to Dzogchen Monastery, where he studied the Buddhist scriptures in the great Buddhist university of Shira Sing, and received all the empowerments, transmissions and teachings of Great Perfection lineage from Ajon Lama, a Dzogchen yogi who attained Buddhahood in one life, and from Kyabje Rinpoche. To extend even further the scope of understanding and benefit he brings to people, Mura Rinpoche, having studied teachings of the Nyingma tradition at Shira Sing, went on to study at the great Gelug monastery of Drepung in Lhasa, and has also mastered the English and Chinese languages.

In autumn 2005, Mura Rinpoche accompanied Kyabje Rinpoche on his visit to Europe, where they met up with the Mahasandhi Buddhist group founder members. We are honoured by the name Kyabje Rinpoche gave the group (Mahasandhi is the Sanskrit translation of Great Perfection). Mura Rinpoche instructed us on the form our meetings should take, and suggested our course of study. Mura Rinpoche also continues to guide our progress, instructing us to begin regular Nondro recitation, with emphasis on the Vajrasattva purification practice. As Mura Rinpoche told us when we took Refuge vows with him, and we received teachings, transmission and instructions for practice via webcam, although we are separated by great distance, we are together in our hearts.

Prayer to Mura Rinpoche

Read more about the previous incarnations of Mura Rinpoche

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