Thrangu Rinpoche's 2007 Visit

The Thrangu Rinpoche Trust is very pleased to announce the visit of Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Saturday 22nd to Sunday 30th September, 2007.

Lojong
The Seven Points of Mind Training                                                   

(Teachings to tame the mind, supplemented with extended question & answer sessions)

The succinct teachings of Lojong have been used by generations of Tibetan Buddhist masters, as a powerful method to generate the state of mind they call ‘Bodhicitta’. Ultimately, Bodhicitta is perfect, limitless, impartial compassion, manifested by a totally open mind. Relatively, this state of mind is based on cultivating loving kindness and practising compassion in our everyday lives. Atisha, the great teacher and founder of the original Kadampa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, brought the teachings on mind training to Tibet in the eleventh century. In the twelfth century, Geshe Chekawa Yeshe Dorje condensed the Lojong teachings into the Seven Points of Training the Mind.

This form of Lojong was discovered and popularised in the nineteenth century by Lama Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, in his book The Great Path of Awakening, and the Lojong teachings are still popular in this format today. The Seven Points of Mind Training are a collection of fifty-nine concise mottos, which bear deeper and more rewarding truths the further they are examined, and give us clear and gentle suggestions as to how we can live our daily lives. In a previous commentary, Thrangu Rinpoche has said that the sayings refer directly to developing relative Bodhicitta, and that in this way they can be understood as an essential complement to Mahamudra meditation on ultimate reality.

Over the last weekend of the teachings, Rinpoche will be explaining the application of Lojong in the context of Mahamudra, and giving specific instructions on relating the two. In this way, the teachings will encompasse the entirety of the path.

Interviews

This year, interviews with Rinpoche will be held during the week, from Monday to Thursday, 4.30–5.30pm. Due to high demand, interview times will be restricted over the weekend, with short (1–minute) blessings running back to back from Friday to Saturday, 4.30–5.00pm.

Course Fees

• For people attending the whole course (23 Sept–30 Sept), £30 per day, ie £240. This fee includes access to all teachings and talks, including the public talk given by Rinpoche on 22 Sept.
  
• For people attending individual days—£50 per day.
  
• Members (sponsors of Thrangu House)—£20 per day.
  
• Volunteers and Thrangu House Sangha members can have a negotiable concession.
  
• Ordained Sangha and Ngagpas, and anyone who has completed a three-year retreat, can attend any teaching for free.

Booking Form

Please click here to download the form, return it with any payment, to the address below.

The Thrangu Rinpoche Trust
Thrangu House, 42 Magdalen Road, Oxford, OX4 1RB
phone: +44 (0)1865 241555, fax: +44 (0)1865 241555
email: secretary@thranguhouse.org.uk
web: www.thranguhouse.org.uk