“The main point of meditation is learning how to relax the mind within itself.” — The Karmapa in Freedom through Meditation, dharmaebooks.org
Our resident teacher, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering, offers guided meditation and short dharma teachings every Sunday at Karmapa Center 16 and online. As everyone is welcome, and no prior experience is needed, Acharya calls the Sunday sessions Meditation for All.
On November 17, 2024, Acharya Lhakpa started to include teachings on The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva. Here we offer summaries of his explanations about this precious text, written by the great master Ngülchu Thogme Zangpo, that points out how to follow the heroic path of the bodhisattvas verse by verse.
Teaching Summaries for
The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva
- Responding with Love and Appreciation – 37 Practice – Session 13Why do we always begin our Meditation for All session with meditation? Following our usual opening chants and the practice of śamatha, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering offered some reflections about the practice of meditation itself. He then continued with his commentary on the sixteenth and seventeenth verse of Ngulchu Tokmé’s 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva, which discuss how to take ingratitude and contempt onto the path of compassion. Helping Others through Meditation At the beginning of our meditation session, we bring to mind the main reason for our practice: to attain genuine freedom, enlightenment, for the benefit of all others. ThinkingContinue reading “Responding with Love and Appreciation – 37 Practice – Session 13”
- Taking a Step Back – 37 Practices – Session 12How can we take denigration or criticism to the path? Especially in this twenty-first century, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering explained that we need to learn to take a step back and slow down before we react.
- How to Alleviate Suffering? – 37 Practices – Reflection and TonglenFollowing Acharya Lhakpa’s commentary on how to take everything onto the path, we contemplated the difficulty of the training of a bodhisattva and engaged in the practice of tonglen (“giving and taking”).
- All is the Path in Pursuit of the Dream – 37 Practices – Session 11What to do when someone harms or says unpleasant things about you? Follow our usual practice, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering offered commentary on the thirteenth and fourteenth verse of Ngulchu Tokmé’s 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva.
- Please Don’t Wait to Practice – 37 Practices – Session 10The main thought and practice pointed out by Ngulchu Tokmé in verse twelve, Acharya Lhakpa taught, is that we need to let go of our attachment and whatever we hold onto, include all virtue of the thee times. And he emphasized how we should not wait but start this practice today.
- The Heart of Sharing – 37 Practices – Session 9Under the guidance of Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen, we contemplated the causes of happiness and suffering. What we need to change, he commented, is our way of thinking. We need to expand our mind and start thinking, “I want you to be happy.”
- Intermezzo: Cultivating an Altruistic Aspiration and BodhicittaHow to cultivate an altruistic aspiration and bodhicitta? Drawing from the sevenfold cause-and-effect instruction in the Kadampa tradition, this adapted contemplation focuses on making a heartfelt connection with others.
- Intermezzo: Contemplating Karma and SaṃsāraDo we see karma, cause and effect, at play in our actions of body, speech, and mind? Is there really no lasting happiness in saṃsāra, the world and experience of suffering? If so, what does this mean for our practice and how to progress along the heroic path of a bodhisattva?
- Cultivating an Expansive Mind and Boundless Heart on the Spiritual Path – 37 Practices – Session 8Yesterday was our past life, today is the present, and tomorrow will be a new one. Contemplating our existence in this way allows us to realize how our well-being depends on countless others. Without them, we wouldn’t even be able to survive.
- Key Advice if You Are Looking for a Comfortable Human Life – 37 Practices – Session 7Some of us may have the thought of attaining buddhahood. Others are okay with simply having a human life, thinking: “I don’t want to achieve buddhahood. I don’t want to go that far. I just want to be a human being.” Thinking thus, what does that mean for a bodhisattva’s practice?
- Intermezzo: Embracing Genuine Dharma Practice: Observing and Directing the Mind“After I finish this session, through the rest of the day, I will try to retain the flavor of this experience and state of mind,” His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Oygen Trinley Dorje, writes in his commentary. How do we genuinely practice the dharma throughout the day?
- Intermezzo: Following in The Footsteps of the First KarmapaOur first session of the international New Year, 2025 was dedicated to commemorating the parinirvāṇa anniversary of the First Karmapa, Düsum Khyenpa. His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, shared a beautiful verse on Facebook, on January 3rd. While it is difficult, if not impossible, to capture the profoundness and beauty of His Holiness’s writing in Tibetan, we wrote an English translation for our session, which we read together: “Water cascading from the ocean of all that can be known in the three timesFlowing into a single vessel of omniscience –The great sage who takes in the wholeContinue reading “Intermezzo: Following in The Footsteps of the First Karmapa”
- Mirroring Ourselves: Finding Outer and Inner Refuge – 37 Practices – Session 6What is our destination? How to progress along the path? And who are our companions? In his commentary to the seventh verse of Ngulchu Tokmé’s Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, Acharya Lhakpa explained these to be the three jewels: the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. We go for refuge to them in an outer sense as a way to find their qualities within.
- A Poisonous Tree and a Waxing Moon – 37 Practices – Session 5As beginning practitioners, once we distance ourselves from negative friends, what do we need in order to develop our positive qualities like hearing, reflecting, and meditating, as well as loving-kindness and compassion?
- Embracing Impermanence – 37 Practices – Session 4The verse itself, Acharya Lhakpa noted, is very clear and not difficult to understand. The most challenging part is how to bring it into practice. What is the true meaning of “letting go of this life,” and how can we internalize this verse?
- Leaving our homeland and samsaric distractions behind – 37 Practices – Session 3Bodhisattvas strive to liberate themselves and others from samsara. To do this, they keep to solitary places. What does it truly mean to “keep to solitary places”?
- Seizing the opportunity: Embrace life’s meaning: 37 Practices – session 2Understanding our precious human life as an opportunity to free ourselves and many others from suffering means that we must seize it. How do we seize this opportunity?
- The Heroic Path of Compassion: Meditation for All – 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva – session 1Following our practice of śamatha meditation together, Acharya began his teaching on The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva by introducing the author of the root text, a great scholar and practitioner, Ngulchu Tokmé (ca. 1295 – ca. 1369).