As Bodhicharya Publications, we record, transcribe, edit and publish Ringu Tulku Rinpoche's teachings in written format. Under his guidance and inspiration, two series have been developed: the Lazy Lama series and the Heart Wisdom series. They are available as small A6 pocket books (Lazy Lama's) and the small book format A5 Heart Wisdom series. Soon all these will be available as e-books as well. We are a not-for-profit organisation and all work is given free of charge; any funds generated go towards humanitarian and educational projects.  Ringu Tulku is a Tibetan Buddhist master of the Kagyu lineage. He is much appreciated for his clear transmission of Tibet's timeless, Buddhist teachings to a contemporary Western audience, having spent more than twenty years travelling and teaching throughout Europe and America. His voice speaks easily to busy Westerners, at this time when we seek to reconnect with simplicity, unconditional love and true freedom. Details of some books we have produced in the Heart Wisdom series are below, and more information on Ringu Tulku's books in general can be found on the Bodhicharya website.
 Editor’s Preface Days are where we live. The idea for this book came out of noticing how helpful Thought for the Day books were to people, and then expanding the thought out to a teaching – a teaching for each day. While there is a theme running through what is included here, each section is designed to offer a self-contained reading, concise enough that we can bring the influence into our daily lives. Buddhist teaching is broad and deep, detailed and elaborated in many different ways. Yet there are core themes that run through all Buddhadharma. Sometimes, when we are embroiled in busy lives, it is not possible to study large volumes of teachings in depth, or even to keep reading through relatively small books. In times like this the challenge is to remember the essence of Dharma and keep it in the forefront of our minds as we go about our lives. The living Dharma is, after all, that which we can apply in our lives and express as we live. Ringu Tulku’s teachings bring out these common and fundamental threads at the core of Buddhadharma. We have drawn from several of his teachings to compile this set of short reflections. Our main source was a series of teachings Ringu Tulku gave in London in May 2006 entitled Daring Steps towards Fearlessness. Ringu Tulku taught on the three main vehicles of Buddhism, taking us through the Sravakayana to the Mahayana or Bodhisattvayana, and on to the Vajrayana ways of practising. If not mentioned otherwise, this is where the extracts included here are taken from. Other sources include a public teaching given in London in May 2009 on Meditation and a question and answer discussion with the ‘White Tara Group’ and public talk, both given in Oxford in June 2012. The White Tara Group is a practice group that meets monthly in Oxford to listen to Ringu Tulku’s recorded teachings, discuss them and practise meditation together. During our discussions we highlight what particularly struck us from the teaching, looking at what it means to us and how it relates to our own life experiences. After listening to the Daring Steps towards Fearlessness teachings mentioned above, extracts of Ringu Tulku’s words were chosen to include here, based on what the group found particularly helpful. White Tara herself, who the group is named for, is a female embodiment of enlightenment. She displays the qualities of perfectly realised compassion and wisdom, which mark all those who are fully awake or enlightened. And, within this, the particular blessings she brings out are long life, good health and the wisdom of clear seeing. Ringu Tulku talks about Tara more fully in the teachings included here. Because of her particular qualities, White Tara is said to watch over Dharma study and practice and to encourage the conditions that uphold it, which is why we set up the Oxford group under her banner. The section on Tara in this book is given as an example of how a deity can be used in Buddhist practice. Further information on the topics touched on in these excerpts of Ringu Tulku’s teachings can be found in some of his other books. For example, a full elucidation of the three vehicles of Buddhism is found in his comprehensive book Daring Steps, edited by Rosemarie Fuchs. The Lazy Lama series looks, in a simple way, at key topics like Taking Refuge, Bodhicitta and The Four Noble Truths. More on the philosophy of Emptiness and Interdependence is found in Heart Wisdom No.4 Like Dreams and Clouds, and a step-by-step guide to Dealing with Emotions is found in the Heart Wisdom book of that title, No.5. Talks on Death and Dying, Reincarnation and Working with a Spiritual Teacher form Heart Wisdom No.3: From Milk to Yoghurt; and further instruction on the Vajrayana practices of Ngöndro are found in Heart Wisdom No.2. We hope you enjoy your reading and these teachings bring benefit into many days. Mary Heneghan Oxford, February 2013 On behalf of Bodhicharya Publications
  All Buddhist teachings and practices are actually only concerned with and aimed at dealing with negative emotions. Guru Padmasambhava said that when the kleshas are finished, then there is no more Dharma to practice. That is to say, if you have done away with your negative emotions, then your Dharma practice is completed. Ringu Tulku Editors’ Preface ‘Wheresoever is human emotion, there is sentient life; wheresoever is sentient life, there are the five elements, there is space; and in so far as my compassion is co-extensive with space, it pervades all human emotion.’ Yeshe Tsogyal gave us these words in one of her songs of realisation. She was a disciple of Guru Padmasambhava, and her name is synonymous with the great ocean of primordial, natural wisdom. It is this ocean of wisdom that her words of support come from. Everyone longs for happiness but we all experience problems and difficulties. The teachings presented as this Heart Wisdom book offer us a pathway to address this. They show us how we can work directly with our emotions and bring skill and insight to our experience of life. They encourage us that it is possible to shape our actions more freely to create more widespread and lasting happiness. Ringu Tulku explains how we gain insight into the origin of our emotions and their impact on ourselves and others, through observing and acknowledging our habitual tendencies as they arise. A crucial step on the journey is to come into honest contact with whatever emotions are arising in us; we need to see them, feel them and accept they are happening. Many layers of reaction tend to arise instantaneously, obscuring the simple emotions we initially experience. These include judgement, denial, sensation-seeking and believing we are different or better than others and do not have usual and common emotions. They become habitual strategies by which we avoid our emotions. What we need to do is recognise and accept what is there as a starting point. Then we can decide what we are going to do about it. Ringu Tulku describes how we can start to address our emotions through cultivating a positive attitude and practising meditation and mindfulness. As our mind becomes calmer through these practices, there is more ease in our lives and we have more space to diffuse agitated emotions and the entanglements they create. Lasting transformation, however, will only come once we start to deeply understand our true nature and the nature of how things really are. The practice of insight meditation leads us to see that all experience originates in the mind. We come to see that our minds and experience can be freed, because of the fluidity and clarity that are inherent qualities of mind. As we let go of negative emotions within awareness, they dissolve and give rise instead to the experiential knowing or insight that is wisdom. This is the transformation of emotions into wisdom. We may still have a tendency to hold on to our emotions, as if we think they are providing the colour or ‘juice’ of our life. What these teachings suggest is that the real juice of life - lasting happiness and joy for ourselves and others - comes from developing pure, unconditional love and compassion, and connecting to the wisdom that lies behind the play of the emotions. This is ‘the middle way’, not a monochrome existence but a freer way of being: we are freed to join our experience directly with our senses, the vibrancy of our environment and the people we share our lives with. In this book, Ringu Tulku looks at our negative emotions, how more positive counterparts may be brought out and how we can release emotions to reveal our innate wisdom. He provides guidance for this gradual process and uses stories to illustrate points along the way. We can only put these teachings into practice step by step. Ultimately, though, there is no emotion that cannot be released into its wisdom counterpart and there is no limit to the love and compassion we can develop. And these practices have the potential to completely transform our lives. Mary Heneghan Oxford, June 2012
Emptiness and Interdependence; Mahamudra and Dzogchen  Editors’ Preface This teaching is combined here with another teaching by Ringu Tulku which was originally published as the first in the Heart Wisdom series. This covers Mahamudra and Dzogchen, approaches which provide skilful means and an overall path by which we can realise the true nature of ourselves, our world and all things - as none other than emptiness or interdependence. With very great thanks to Ringu Tulku for bringing these timeless teachings through to us with their subtleties and depth, in a way we can understand and use. May all beings be happy and peaceful and come to know things just as they are. Mary Heneghan and Jonathan Clewley These are available to buy at Amazon Or, to order books directly from Bodhicharya, please contact Bodhicharya publications. |
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