From Bleakness to a Positive State of Mind: A Roadmap (Link #822)

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This is the fourth of five talks given during a weekend program to students of Naropa University in November 2002. The program focus was the practice of meditation. In this fourth talk, Rinpoche revisits the pith instructions on in-meditation and post-meditation practice, including the fruition, which is to "wake up".

Speaker: Moni Banerjee. Moni opens with an analogy between devotional dance and devotion to the guru. She then reflects on Rinpoche's teaching from NSS on the eight consciousnesses being a framework for working with mental proliferation and delusion. Rinpoche emphasized how every moment has self-awareness, which can be harnessed through the practices of shamatha, completing our thoughts, contemplating the four immeasurables, and applying Madhyamika logic. With this "roadmap", Moni concludes that we can work with our own minds to break free from a bleak mindset. She brings her analogy full circle by describing how the dance to Shiva enacts the eight consciousnesses and arrives at devotion.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This talk was originally given by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche during a three-day, weekend program at Naropa University in November 2002. Part 1 of the third talk aired September 23, 2026. In Part 2, Rinpoche continues the series with detailed teachings and instruction on the practice of meditation.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This talk was originally given by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche during a three-day, weekend program at Naropa University in November 2002. The third talk from these weekend teachings was one hour and thirty minutes long, so it was split into two parts airing September 23 and 30, 2026. Rinpoche guides students through the view and fruition of Buddhist meditation practice.

Speaker: Stephanie Kindberg. "Bring your struggles onto the path and appreciate them." Stephanie recalls important advice Rinpoche gave her when she started a new business. "Let your work become your practice and bring skillful means and wisdom to each situation rather than rigidly following a manual." Stephanie reflects on how this unconventional approach extends well beyond our work situation, informing how we contemplate impermanence and death.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This talk was originally given by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche during a three-day, weekend program at Naropa University in November 2002. This second talk centers around the practice of meditation from a Buddhist perspective. Additional talks from this 2002 weekend program will air later in 2026.

Speaker: Dungse Jampal Norbu. Dungse-la explores ideas about AI and how it can expose assumptions about the causes of happiness and suffering. He illustrates how technology can be a way of recreating the eight worldly concerns, similar to how social media serves as a platform on which to build a reputation, digging one deeper into samsara. He encourages us to look into our reliance on outer means for happiness, contrasting that to the foundation of Dharma practice being self-reflection. As a method of support, Dungse-la underscores the importance of connecting with the four immeasurables: equanimity, loving-kindness, compassion and sympathetic joy.

Speaker: Joseph Waxman. Joey unpacks a poignant talk given by Rinpoche at the 2015 Nyingma Summer Seminar. The talk centered on obscurations that veil our true nature. These include emotional obscurations such as attachment, aggression and jealousy, cognitive obscurations such as grasping at phenomena as real, and habitual obscurations such as the self-perpetuating momentum of delusion. That said, Rinpoche's talk specifically delved into one key obscuration to penetrate, which is feeling like a schmuck. Joey explores this and another vital point of this teaching wherein Rinpoche said, "Buddhanature taking precedence over ‘schmuckness’ is the path of Buddhism".

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This talk was originally given by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche during a three-day, weekend program at Naropa University in November 2002. The first talk included detailed instructions on the practice of meditation. The second and third talks from this 2002 series will air later in 2026.

Speaker: Sarah Gomes. Sarah recounts how she met the Dharma through the writings of Pema Chödrön during a difficult period in her life. She experienced an immediate sense of meaning, particularly in the teaching that ‘within suffering lies the potential for transformation’. Sarah has been a student of Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche for 24 years and supports the living presence of the Dharma at the Mangala Shri Bhuti Center, Guna Norling, in Salvador de Bahia. She holds a deep commitment to the practice of life release and is a founding member of the local animal protection sanctuary. She strives to bring the teachings into every aspect of her daily life, believing that the Dharma reveals its true power when it moves beyond intellectual understanding and reaches the heart, transforming our words, choices, and the way we engage with the world.