Our world has known specific conflict and suffering more acute than the current situation, be it from wars — most recently we can think of Syria and the Middle East; or natural disasters — we can remember vividly Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans, or the more recent hurricane in India. These have tended to be local or regional, and so in most cases far from our own lives.The current pandemic is different. It is silent and invisible, global, and deadly, at least to a percentage of the population — particularly those more vulnerable.

When I began reading Shantideva, I was very taken at the invitation he was offering us through the Bodhicaryavatara, which is his guidebook to becoming a bodhisattva. When I got to chapter six, which is on patience (sometimes translated as forbearance), I was in a long dark night of the soul.

Love on Every Breath is an ancient Tibetan Buddhist Vajrayana meditation from the Shangpa lineage that combines breath, awareness, imagination, and an energetic transformation process. The meditation brings all these components together in a powerful way in order to open our hearts, to reveal and cultivate our kindness, love, compassion, and wisdom.

In this season of the lunar new year, the study of the Wheel of Life and the 12 Links of Interdependent Origination have been a central focus in the Sukhasiddhi Sundays study and practice sessions. The Wheel of Life is a visual representation of samsara (cyclic existence) and its causes and components.

Shakyamuni Buddha’s first of Four Noble Truths is an acknowledgement of the suffering that one experiences in any of the six realms of existence. What a relief it was for me when I first read this foundational teaching. The impact was such that I remember the exact moment in time and location of that first exposure.

As our human family faces multiple challenges resulting from an accumulation of our past collective actions, it is a good time to reflect on how we might make our current actions contribute to a more wholesome direction in the future.

Lama Pat Berube discusses the changes that have come since the publication of Elizabeth Kübler-Ross's ground breaking book, On Death and Dying, started a revolution in how we care for the dying. There are profound lessons for the living as we learn that how we die truly matters.

Lama Döndrup suggests ways to reframe crisis and offers simple practices to help us connect with the infinite capacities of our minds and hearts.

I wonder, in what ways will the Dharma shape American culture, and in what ways will it adapt itself in order to be meaningful for those with a western mindset? How do you maintain the purity of the teachings and at the same time adapt them to a new cultural context? Sukhasiddhi is a place that’s holding this question.”

The sangha at Sukhasiddhi are very serious practitioners, very talented, sophisticated and professional. Palden Drolma always told me this and now I see it for myself. They are not fly-by-night individuals only slightly interested in the dharma, but rather, a community of solid and integrated practitioners willing to get in and do the work. I’m all about strengthening and expanding that community and creating opportunities for service. For example, I have a Buddhist prison program that I‘d like to offer and get people involved with.

As the latest cases and deaths from Covid-19 filled the news, it has been impossible to not think about death. The virus has brought major changes to how we live our lives. Those who have lost loved ones and the medical personnel caring for the sick are having a particularly stressful time. Our emotional, spiritual and cultural distance from death has been narrowed. Our denial and avoidance in talking about and facing death has been challenged. It is likely that the pandemic will change the conversation around death and dying.

With all that's going on in the world, the yidam practices have been particularly helpful, because there’s a point where you can welcome everyone, including people you’re having difficulty with, into the practice. That’s so profound for a time like this, because there are so many voices in the world that are so difficult to hear — that are so destructive. These times are stressful, but not nearly as stressful as if I didn’t have that kind orientation.

Kalu Rinpoche, lineage holder for the Shangpa Kagyu, will be visiting Sukhasiddhi in April 2020. Here, he talks about a key preparation for living the true dharma.

THE DEFINITION of the true meaning of dharma itself is being in this particular moment. Being in this particular moment does not mean the empty emptiness....

In America and in the West in general, we are exposed to many different spiritual traditions, not only our own Judeo-Christian traditions, but also the traditions of Islam, all of the different traditions of Buddhism plus an immense variety of other Eastern and indigenous spiritual traditions and disciplines. This is an incredible opportunity and time that we are living in right now, an opportunity to touch into so many traditions, to read and study, to explore and travel, and to do different kinds of spiritual practice.

Practicing the dharma is much more than just sitting on the cushion. Though our sitting practice is absolutely important in helping us calm the mind and gain insight into the working of our mind, the integration of what we learn on the cushion or on the chair is vital to the transformation of our habitual patterns that cause us to suffer.

In August, 2014, Lama Palden, along with several Sukhasiddhi teachers and sangha members, traveled to France to participate in the first monlam held in the West by Kalu Rinpoche. What follows is her day-by-day account of the event.