Tricycle is pleased to offer the Tricycle Talks podcast for free. If you would like to support this offering, please consider donating. Thank you!
When we lose touch with the groundedness we may find in Buddhist practice, whether it be through anger or fear, it’s easy to be hard on ourselves. But rather than trying to rid our lives of the things that disturb our peace of mind, we can use the anger and frustration we experience to help us develop greater self-awareness, says Tibetan teacher Dzigar Kongtrul.
Amid the craziness of this year, some Buddhists are returning to the classics to ground themselves and their practice. One such classic is the 8th-century Indian philosopher Shantideva’s The Way of the Bodhisattva, whose sixth chapter gets new treatment in Dzigar Kongtrul’s new book, Peaceful Heart: The Buddhist Practice of Patience. (Shantideva wrote that an emotion like anger is so destructive that it can demolish a lifetime of good works in a single instant. Something to keep in mind as we prepare for the holidays.)
In this episode of Tricycle Talks, Tricycle’s Editor and Publisher James Shaheen sits down with Kongtrul Rinpoche to discuss turning inward to steady oneself for the world, using humor to combat hurt feelings, and how patience is not passivity.
Kongtrul Rinpoche is the founder of Mangala Shri Bhuti, an organization in the Longchen Nyingtik lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He’s also the author of eight books, including Training in Tenderness: Buddhist Teachings on Tsewa.
Tricycle Talks is a podcast series featuring leading voices in the contemporary Buddhist world. You can listen to more Tricycle Talks on Spotify, iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and iHeartRadio.
Thank you for subscribing to Tricycle! As a nonprofit, we depend on readers like you to keep Buddhist teachings and practices widely available.