Erik Pema Kunsang - bodhitraining

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lhaksam.dorje
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Erik Pema Kunsang - bodhitraining

Post by lhaksam.dorje »

https://bodhitraining.com/

He is quite excellent ! It just started online, in English, wasn't actually expecting it to be so pithy and practical, based on the blurb.
First up...great practical instructions in rangs bab/resting in thamal gyi shepa/ that (contentious?) gap....(my interpretations of the only terms I'm familiar with....he doesn't use any of those terms, except for 'gap' maybe once or twice in passing)

Always was a big fan of his translations, maybe cos all the stuff I was interested in, in the 90's, was by him, but he's also a lovely teacher....highly recommended !
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heart
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Re: Erik Pema Kunsang - bodhitraining

Post by heart »

lhaksam.dorje wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 3:17 pm https://bodhitraining.com/

He is quite excellent ! It just started online, in English, wasn't actually expecting it to be so pithy and practical, based on the blurb.
First up...great practical instructions in rangs bab/resting in thamal gyi shepa/ that (contentious?) gap....(my interpretations of the only terms I'm familiar with....he doesn't use any of those terms, except for 'gap' maybe once or twice in passing)

Always was a big fan of his translations, maybe cos all the stuff I was interested in, in the 90's, was by him, but he's also a lovely teacher....highly recommended !
He is a lovely human being, to put it as frankly as I can.

/magnus
"We are all here to help each other go through this thing, whatever it is."
~Kurt Vonnegut

"The principal practice is Guruyoga. But we need to understand that any secondary practice combined with Guruyoga becomes a principal practice." ChNNR (Teachings on Thun and Ganapuja)
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conebeckham
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Re: Erik Pema Kunsang - bodhitraining

Post by conebeckham »

I concur with all the positive comments! :smile:
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
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Shaiksha
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Re: Erik Pema Kunsang - bodhitraining

Post by Shaiksha »

Thank you for sharing the information!

I attended Erik's online talks - the open sky dharma (part 2) earlier this year. It cannot be understated but, for me, it was life-changing! there were no pointing-out instructions but the way he explained about the "inner-sky" and the "inner-most sky" in us - it changed something in me! I have since tried to practice in accordance with his instructions plus my other existing practice and commitments.

I was thinking long and hard about enrolling in his Bodhi Training course. I still have an existing commitment to another lama for my preliminaries and unfortunately, I chose to forgo the course as I do not want to over-commit myself. Based on the blurb, I thought it would be about the four noble truths, etc! Plus, it was in a discussion group format which I was skeptical. It usually ends up listening to some dominant or more outspoken people in the discussion group about their opinions, proliferation or thoughts!

I will probably give it a try next year. If you could keep us updated with the content (assuming this is okay with Erik and the management), that would be great.
lhaksam.dorje
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Re: Erik Pema Kunsang - bodhitraining

Post by lhaksam.dorje »

Shaiksha wrote: Tue May 17, 2022 2:28 am It cannot be understated but, for me, it was life-changing! there were no pointing-out instructions but the way he explained about the "inner-sky" and the "inner-most sky" in us - it changed something in me!
He didn't explicitly mention pointing out in the first session, but it was definitely there.
Shaiksha wrote: Tue May 17, 2022 2:28 am I was thinking long and hard about enrolling in his Bodhi Training course. I still have an existing commitment to another lama for my preliminaries and unfortunately, I chose to forgo the course as I do not want to over-commit myself.
I too had similar concerns. Fortunately for me, a kind DW member who has a connection with Erik suggested that he was unlikely to impose any extra commitments and that any teaching would likely enhance any existing practice. In fact the question came up in the (extensive) Q&A 'should I do these practices instead of my sadhana/ngondro etc etc' Erik refused to answer saying it was entirely up to the individual, and added that his guru would usually suggest that people keep doing their existing practice.

@Shaiksha The sessions are recorded and made available to participants after the event. It may not be too late to get involved.
lhaksam.dorje
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Re: Erik Pema Kunsang - bodhitraining

Post by lhaksam.dorje »

lhaksam.dorje wrote: Tue May 17, 2022 2:28 pm a kind DW member who has a connection with Erik suggested that he was unlikely to impose any extra commitments and that any teaching would likely enhance any existing practice.
I was trying to be discreet, probably unnecessarily in this case. The kind DW member was Magnus, and his suggestions appear to be accurate. No extra daily commitments, and definitely would not interfere with and would likely enhance any existing practice.
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heart
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Re: Erik Pema Kunsang - bodhitraining

Post by heart »

The first talk is available online
So it isn't too late to join this program.

/magnus
"We are all here to help each other go through this thing, whatever it is."
~Kurt Vonnegut

"The principal practice is Guruyoga. But we need to understand that any secondary practice combined with Guruyoga becomes a principal practice." ChNNR (Teachings on Thun and Ganapuja)
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Shaiksha
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Re: Erik Pema Kunsang - bodhitraining

Post by Shaiksha »

lhaksam.dorje wrote: Tue May 17, 2022 3:06 pm
lhaksam.dorje wrote: Tue May 17, 2022 2:28 pm a kind DW member who has a connection with Erik suggested that he was unlikely to impose any extra commitments and that any teaching would likely enhance any existing practice.
I was trying to be discreet, probably unnecessarily in this case. The kind DW member was Magnus, and his suggestions appear to be accurate. No extra daily commitments, and definitely would not interfere with and would likely enhance any existing practice.
Wow, okay. Thank you for your information. I do not mind a bit more extra commitment - I just did not know how much more it would be.

I am putting in my application as I type this reply - fingers crossed it will be accepted.

It is funny - my gut (or heart) told me to enroll in the program after I saw it about 3 months ago. After thinking (my head) about it, I decided it was not an appropriate time for me to undertake this. But, then the urge to enroll came back again 2 months ago, 1 month ago and then as recent as 3 days before the program started while I was in the toilet! I remembered thinking back then this must be FOMO driving me - but it was a particularly strong FOMO. :rolling:

So glad it came up again! I have no excuse now.
Last edited by Shaiksha on Tue May 17, 2022 8:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Shaiksha
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Re: Erik Pema Kunsang - bodhitraining

Post by Shaiksha »

heart wrote: Tue May 17, 2022 6:35 pm The first talk is available online. So it isn't too late to join this program.

/magnus
Hi Magnus,

Thank you for sharing this. Much appreciated. :namaste:
Last edited by Shaiksha on Tue May 17, 2022 7:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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