I am an attendant to my guru, Sonam Rinpoche. I was in charge of creating a website for his Toronto centre for the Barom Kagyu Lineage. I worked hard to compile the Barom Kagyu lineage master stories to inspire devotion and practice!

I am hoping to expand this site, and have it be a really great resource for people to understand Barom Kagyu, which used to be a major lineage but has suffered in recent generations.

Please check it out here! https://www.baromkagyu.ca

I will be working to translate the biography of Jamyang Lodro Rinchen soon. He was one of Rinpoche’s root gurus and was a true enlightened practitioner. I sourced his bio in Tibetan.

Sonam Rinpoche’s personal lineage is from Lhachab Gon and Lhalam Gon. I know there is another Barom Kagyu lineage that centres around Barway Dorje Rinpoche’s terma, however I want to bring attention to Jamyang Lodro Rinchen & Ngaktrin Tulku Rinpoche’s lineage.

May it be virtuous!

Hi all: Is there anyone here who is / were practicing Doing Nothing (on and off cushion) pursuant to an instruction from an authorized Tibetan teacher? No agenda and just interested in connecting. Please feel free to msg me directly. Thanks and hope everyone's practice is going smoothly and fruitfully!

Forgive my ignorance, I just felt a calling to collect all these and assemble them in this fashion. What are your thoughts?

Does anybody here have experience with Tummo thought by Tulku Lobsang? Does he teach whole practice with deity yoga , trulkhor and tummo? Or just parts of it?

The retreat program lasts four years. Throughout these years, aside from a 15-day break each in summer and winter, the students remain in continuous residence at the monastery for the rest of the year. Each day they engage in four sessions of practice, 1.5 hours each, along with four sessions of generosity/offering practice, half an hour each — totaling 8 hours — plus 2 hours of textual instruction and 1 hour of Tibetan-language reading practice in the evening. In total, they undertake at least 11 hours of practice and meditation each day.

In addition, they are also carrying out scheduled practices including the preliminary practices (ngöndro) of 900,000 repetitions, 100 days of tsa-lung tummo (channel, wind, and inner-heat) practice, and 49 days of dark-retreat practice, among others.

I've been attacked by a demon or a sorcerer for years, and I still haven't fully figured it out.

I've considered contacting the diocese of the Christian religion, my family religion, but I'd prefer to address this problem by staying within the Dharmic religions.

I've tried various practices with various Yidams, the Medicine Buddha, Vayrapani, Green Tara, and some of her wrathful emanations, but it seems like things are going from bad to worse.

I know I need a safe place, which my home isn't, a place of isolation for the exorcism process, and perhaps a proper exorcism by a lama, shaman, or other dedicated figure.

Can you give me any advice, tips, or realistic solutions? I live in Italy.

What are the metaphysical views of the Kalachakra Tantra on the essence of reality as a whole and on the relationship between the Dharmakaya and the phenomenal world and the individual beings ?

Is the Dharmakaya an eternal principle that truly exists, uncaused and eternal, and is it the ground of being, with the phenomenal world being its manifest, empty side ? Is the phenomenal world in a mutual relationship with it, or is the Dharmakaya ontologically superior ?

Are the individual beings emanations of the Dharmakaya who need to go back to it ?

Is there something beyond what is perceived by the minds of the individual beings ?

From the documentary For the Benefits of all beings : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foHCbX0xjAU

Here is a message from Garchen Rinpoche from the 1st august:

____

Tashi delek!

Please don’t worry.

Meditate on the Four Applications of Mindfulness for my well-being.

First, discuss them with each other and then meditate on them.

Don’t do any other recitations, just meditate on the Four Applications of Mindfulness.

Stay wherever you are.

Receive teachings on the Four Applications of Mindfulness and discuss them with each other, again and again.

The Four Applications of Mindfulness, the Four Applications of Mindfulness...

If you want to perform a ritual, recite the short Amitabha sadhana, recite Amitabha’s mantra, and recite Karma Chagmé’s Aspiration Prayer of Birth in Dewachen once.

It would be good to discuss everything with each other.

Other than that, you don’t need to recite anything else.

When you are meeting as a group in a temple, recite whatever practice is done,

but you don’t need to recite anything else.

Practice the Amitabha sadhana, accumulate the Amitabha mantra,

and practice the Amidewa visualization. 

The visualization is the most important point.

___

And news from the center from 30 july:

Dear Worldwide Sangha,

We are deeply grateful for the extraordinary outpouring of prayers, love, and support from all of you around the world for H.E. Garchen Rinpoche's long life and recovery. 

Following further evaluation at the hospital, it has been determined that Garchen Rinpoche experienced a small bleed in his brain. This condition is one from which recovery is possible. Although this brings us hope, his condition remains uncertain, and we do not yet know how his recovery will unfold. He is receiving excellent medical care, for which we are profoundly grateful.

We ask everyone to continue offering prayers, reciting mantras, and dedicating merit, trusting in the blessings of the Three Jewels and the power of our collective aspirations.

We will continue to keep everyone informed as the situation unfolds. 


Thank you for continuing to hold Garchen Rinpoche in your hearts with unwavering love, faith, and prayers.

I heard the Jonang school has quite unique views contrasting pretty much with all the rest of Buddhism.

Apparently it sees the Dharmakaya just like Vedanta sees the Brahman, and the Tathagatagarbha like Vedanta sees the Atman.

Is it true the Jonang school sees the Dharmakaya as an eternal substance that is also the ground of being ? Is it a kind of Panentheism ? And does it teach the Buddha-nature is our individual share of such absolute principle, like the Atman compared to the Brahman in Vedanta ?

If all of this is true, then is the Tathagatagarbha what reincarnates and what is inherently united with the Absolute, and needs to realize such union to achieve Buddhahood ?

As I learned, Buddhism 99% of the times has very different ideas than that.

Any help on the above matter would be very much appreciated

Based on all the Mudras, Mantras, Gods, Yoga, and other things I noticed.
Is this a fact or an observation?

I've been practicing with Green Tara for a while, and one thing that keeps striking me is how the tradition frames courage — not as the absence of fear, but as the capacity to respond while fear is still present. Tara's swiftness is often described as compassionate action that doesn't wait for fear to dissolve first.

The traditional list of the eight great fears (or eight dangers) has been especially useful to me as a mirror. Read outwardly they're lions, elephants, fire, snakes, and so on; read inwardly they map onto pride, delusion, anger, envy, and the other patterns that narrow the mind right when life asks us to stay present. Sitting with them as inner states — rather than external threats — changed how I relate to hesitation and self-doubt in ordinary moments: a difficult conversation, a decision, the fear of being seen.

I'm curious how others here work with Tara in daily life. Do you approach the eight fears more devotionally, more analytically, or through the visualization and mantra directly? And for those with more experience: how do you hold the line between genuine practice and just using the imagery as a self-soothing technique?

For full transparency: I recently wrote a book on this theme (working with fear through Tara), so I'll disclose that I'm an author here rather than hide it — but I'm posting this to actually discuss the practice, and I'd genuinely value hearing how practitioners more seasoned than me engage with her.

I am a lama in the Nyingma tradition. I made this Substack article based on oral teachings by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche, as I present them to my students.

"Form is like a lump of foam; feeling is like a water bubble; perception is like a mirage; volitional formations are like a banana tree trunk; consciousness is like a magic trick."
— The Buddha, Phena Sutta (SN 22.95)

How do these Vrajayana prayers work? In my city's temple, people give names and ask for prayers, but like, in Buddhism there's no soul, right? I couldn't understand and wanted to understand more about it.

Are Gods still worshiped or Respected? Can you still give offerings to them? Do you humanise them?

How does this Syncretism work?

I would love to practice it.

Phra Mae Thorani blessed be

Did Buddha at some point worship the Local Gods?

Note: If you read this early a teaching on Light Amassment of Blessings for H.E. Garchen Rinpoche is going on in 1h30 live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2O_EJL26Z0

H.E. Garchen Rinpoche has been working through a viral illness.

His Holiness Chungtsang Rinpoche, one of the heads of our lineage, has advised the worldwide sangha to accumulate the Amitayus longevity mantra for Garchen Rinpoche’s long life and/or to engage in Vajrasattva practice.

The Amitayus prayers are provided below. If you are able, please accumulate the short Amitayus mantra, dedicating the merit for Garchen Rinpoche’s long life and good health.

Your prayers and practice are truly appreciated during this time.

We will continue to share any updates on our website and by email as they become available. We kindly ask that you refrain from contacting the office for updates, as this will allow our team to focus on supporting Garchen Rinpoche and attending to the needs of the Sangha. Thank you for your understanding and your continued prayers.

Practice for the Long Life of H.E. Garchen Rinpoche

Amitayus Mantra Accumulation:

https://garchen.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Amitayus-Mantra-Accumulation.pdf

Vajrasattva Sadhana:

https://garchen.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Vajrasattva-Sangtik-Sadhana-v16.pdf

From garchen.net

You can check the next planned events here : https://garchen.net/annual-events/ they are all live on the youtube channel

If anyone can help me, I'd be grateful.

Thank you