Ringu Tulku, Dublin Visit. June 2012

'Compassion and love are not mere luxuries. 

As the source both of inner and external peace, they are fundamental to the continued  survival of our species.'          His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama

We are honoured once again to be able to welcome Ringu Tulku Rinpoche to Dublin for 5 days,  from June 20th - 24th 2012, accompanied by  our dear friend Lama Shenga.  For two days of the visit Rinpoche will be teaching on The Four Immeasurables,  at the Hilton Hotel Kilmainham. The 'Four Immeasurables' are also known as 'sublime attitudes':  Loving Kindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy, and Equanimity.  To develop these attitudes of mind is considered fundamental to all the mainstream religions, and in Buddhism they are understood to be essential to the awakening mind.  We cannot be Awake if we are imprisoned in a sense of limited selfhood: our Mind can only Awaken when when our hearts are able to fully embrace others with love and joy, without exception, when we no longer see friends or foes but when we see all beings as companions on the path who are each seeking the same thing as us, a life without suffering.  Rinpoche will teach on these meditation practises that are especially powerful antidotes to our habitual tendency of judging others according to our own prejudice.

Venue: The Hilton Hotel, Kilmainham, Dublin 8.
Time:  Sat 23rd - Sun 24th from 10am  - 5 pm both days.
Cost:  All of the proceeds -after costs- from these teachings will be donated to Ringu Tulku's  personal charities.  We suggest a donation of 50 euro for each day [100€ for the weekend]. However if you are in the happy position to be able to give more, that will be greatly appreciated.
The Hilton Hotel is partly sponsoring the event, and will provide reduced fee parking in  their underground car park if you bring your parking ticket to reception. There is also free parking at IMMA, as well as a small amount of free parking on Inchicore Road.  Please be mindful of residents' car spaces.

Rinpoche will also be teaching at Kagyu Samye Dzong on 20th/ 21st/ 22nd June  details here.
Please see Ringu Tulku's projects in Tibet  and Berlin

May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness

May all be free from the suffering and the causes of suffering

May they all live in that great impartiality that knows know suffering

May they all rest in equanimity, free from attachment and aversion 

Big Buddha Day 2012

Bruno Breathnach of Bodhicharya Ireland is inviting groups of meditators around the world come together in their own locality for 1 hour any time on May 5 2012, and simply sit... he says 'no speeches or prayers or anything extra, just sit together somewhere open and inspiring -  BODY STILL, SPEECH SILENT, MIND AT REST'


please see www.bigbuddhaday.blogspot.com for the full story!

Visit to Dublin of Lama Tsultrim to teach Nangpé Yoga in Ireland, May 2012

The Nangpé Yoga Instructions of  Yoga of the Venerable Kalu Rinpoche [1905-1989].
These are a specific teaching to accompany meditation practice, and the course will integrate both theory and movement.

‘This yoga is directed to the inside and leads to the understanding of the nature of the mind. It offers a harmonious set of dynamic exercises for the body speech and mind that are accessible to all, Buddhists and non Buddhists, young or old, beginners or advanced practitioners of other forms of yoga. These exercises include positions and symbolic guestures, the experience of space and motion, techniques of relaxation and massage, breathing practises, working on the subtle energies and the chakras, mantra recitation, and the experience of voidness and the clarity of mind’.          
Passage taken from Kalu Rinpocheʼs introduction to the instruction manual.

Lama Tsultrim Gelek

Lama Tsultrim took ordination in 1985 with Kalu Rinpoche, and was fully ordained by Bokar Rinpoche in 1988, after completing a three year, three month retreat in France. Ten years later he established the Dashang Buddhist Centre in Strasburg, under the guidance of Bokar Rinpoche. After the death of Bokar Rinpoche, Ladannma Tsultrim extended an invitation to Ringu Tulku, to take on the role of spiritual director of the centre which then became known as Bodhicharya France/Strasburg.
Whilst the previous Kalu Rinpoche was alive he devised and taught a set of practices that became known as the ‘Kalu Yogas’.  These he taught in Scotland, France and Belgium.  Lama Tsultrim is one of those who received the teachings, and has been asked by Ringu Tulku to teach them to Bodhicharya Students. Lama Tsultrim and his students have organised the last six Bodhicharya France summercamps for Rinpoche. He runs the Bodhicharya retreat centre at Lusse, in eastern France, and teaches at centres across Europe.  

This course will run on the 12th &13th May 2012 at a venue near Greystones, in north Co. Wicklow.  There are a small number of places remaining, and will be given on a first come basis.  Cost for the weekend €50. 
Please indicate your interest by emailing  bodhicharya.ireland@gmail.com  if you would like to attend.

Rinpoche's Travel Schedule for 2012 is now available on line

please see the 

Bodhicharya In Touch Webpage 

for information on Rinpoche's schedule for spring/summer 2012

Great News for Losar - Ringu Tulku to Visit Dublin in June 2012 -

We are very happy to welcome Ringu Tulku  to Dublin   21st - 24th  June 2012.  Rinpoche's first visit to Ireland was in January 1990, when he stayed for three weeks and taught both at Dublin Samye Dzong and in Dzogchen Beara in West Cork, at the invitation of both Akong Rinpoche and Sogyal Rinpoche.   At the time both were 'fledgeling' centres and we have been indebted for the  continuing support of Rinpoche's wonderful visits.   Bodhicharya Ireland was formed by a group of Rinpoche's long term students in 2008 and each year hosts a weekend teaching in Dublin.

Best wishes to everyone for the Tibetan New Year of the Male Water Dragon - and we'll have more details on Rinpoche's upcoming visit soon.

The Khyentse Foundation have launched 84000 words of the Buddha online.

A new online reading room, an archive of translations of the words of the Buddha has been launched today by the Khyentse Foundation, who are undertaking to translate the whole of the Kangyur [sacred texts].  This is a unique resource at our fingertips, inspired by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, it is a work in progress and currently 100 translators are dedicated to the task.

A Poem for 2012

Ringu Tulku has sent his new year greetings in the form of an aspirational poem for 2012.  As he suggests, let's aim for a new awareness and try to hold a stable place in the midst of so much change. 

Happy New Year 2012

The year Two Thousand and Twelve has arrived.

Some say this is the end of the world.

Others predict it will be the beginning of a new awareness.

We have just lived through a challenging and eventful year

And it certainly will be another year with lots happening.

But what is the use worrying about the future?

We need to live today the best we can

And create causes for a better tomorrow.

Let us celebrate the freedom of choice that we have.

Who says I cannot make a difference?

I can make a difference to myself and around me.

Isn't that making enough difference to my world?

My mind goes to those brave men and women

Who offered their lives as lamps for the freedom of others.

My heart is moved by those who came forward to help

People in distress through natural or man-made calamities.

Human spirit of compassion, courage and longing for freedom,

Neither can be crushed by power nor bought with gold.

Let us celebrate that undying human spirit!

Happy New Year.

Rinpoche is currently in Sikkim, and leading a New Year Retreat at his meditation centre organised by a group from South Africa.