Ri Chö Mountain Retreat new video series begins September 2023

Our new Heart Teachings member video series, Lama Tharchin Rinpoche’s Thanksgiving Retreat teachings at Pema Ösel Ling in 2012, Ri Chö Mountain Retreat by Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche, begins in September. We are so pleased to offer Rinpoche’s teachings on this text that he considered such an essential guide to his dharma path. When introducing these teachings, Rinpoche noted that Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche composed the Ri Chö Mountain Retreat text at Lama Ling in Kongpo, Tibet, in the 1950s for the Drubdra (traditional three-year retreat) at Rigdzin Gatsal, where Lama Tharchin Rinpoche himself was in retreat. He noted how short and pure the lineage is for this text and said:

“The root of blessings is very strong. Also, because I was in three-year retreat when I received this teaching, I had the opportunity to see firsthand its benefits on my own mind stream… I have firsthand experience of its profound blessings.”

I was recently reviewing recordings of Rinpoche’s teachings to his 2009-2012 Drubdra at Pema Ösel Ling. Rinpoche devoted the first couple of months to teaching this text to establish the retreatants’ pure motivation to use their retreat time towards attaining fully enlightened Buddhahood rather than elevating their egos or simply wasting their time. Rinpoche spoke about how this text’s profound meaning was deeply penetrating and effective for him, saying that perhaps it was because Kyabje Rinpoche, directly aiming his wisdom mind toward them, wrote it for his Drubdra. Lama Tharchin Rinpoche said:

“For me, this text is the witness of my life’s Dharma practice… Reading the text is not enough. Don’t read it like a newspaper. Be fully present with each word and compare Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche’s words with what you are doing. Be honest, and don’t fool yourself. That’s the tricky part… In the three realms of existence, only the Dharma is pure. This text is our witness to the purity of our own Dharma practice. I’m not expecting that everybody’s practice will be perfect in the beginning. That’s why we’re here. But I am truly requesting that everybody can take this pure motivation.”

Lama Tharchin Rinpoche taught on the Ri Chö many times, both to long-term retreatants and to guide our practice in our daily lives.

Please visit our Membership page for more information. The current series began in September 2023 and will conclude in February 2024. The videos are offered exclusively to subscribing members for at least a year. It is important to receive complete teachings, so if you subscribe after the first teaching, we will send an invoice for the missed teachings.

Text: “Extracting the Essence of Accomplishment: Instructions on Mountain Dharma, the Heart of Practice, Explained in a Way that is Easy to Understand” by Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje; Tibetan with English translation by Sarah Schneider Plazas (2013)

Leave a comment

Comments will be approved before showing up.