Cultivating Kindness: Teachings from Lungten Cave in Lachi

Cultivating Kindness: Teachings from Lungten Cave in Lachi

During a pilgrimage to the Lungten Cave in Lachi Snow Mountain, GarTul Chimi Dorjee Rinpoche recounted how the great master had once overcome obstacles here through the practice of kindness, offering us insights into cultivating kindness in our own lives.

Lord Jigten Sumgon gave an example: Kindness can be felt when you see a little baby, a cute, innocent baby. In that moment, you naturally express kindness. When you see babies running around, you feel a connection, a feeling of kindness.

Compassion, on the other hand, comes in many different levels. On a general level, compassion arises when you see someone suffering, like a person with leprosy on the street, whose fingers may have fallen off, not just an ordinary beggar. You immediately feel a terrible, overwhelming sense of helplessness. You want to help but don't know how. This feeling, the deep, almost painful emotion, arises from within. It's not about pity or looking down on them. It's a profound, heartfelt connection to compassion.

Now, let's return to the practice of kindness. Especially in the practices of bodhisattvas, bodhicitta, and deities, because we follow a non-dual approach, we have Guru Yoga or Deity Yoga. This non-dual approach should be integrated into our practice. Let me explain what non-dual means in the context of Guru Yoga. Yoga means non-duality: there is no separation between the Guru and myself. We become inseparable. Likewise, in Deity Yoga, the deity and I are completely inseparable.

When practicing kindness, first, you generate the feeling of kindness. Then, you aim to merge this feeling into everything you experience. Every thought, every emotion: you're trying to integrate kindness into it. Every breath you take, you merge the thought and practice of kindness. When memories arise, whereas before you might have reacted differently, now you respond with kindness. You're trying to bring kindness into every part of your life.

Even when you walk, walk with kindness. This way of treating others and ourselves is meaningful. So, as you step forward, or simply act with kindness, you're supporting both yourself and others. You are integrating kindness into every aspect of your life, continuously practicing it.

The Story of Lungten Cave in Lachi

In the 13th century, Lord Jigten Sumgon sent his disciple Dorzin Yangdrub Padrak to Lachi for meditation, predicting that he would practice in a cave shaped like an upside-down heart. Despite harsh conditions and supernatural disturbances, Yangdrub Padrak focused on cultivating kindness in the cave, eventually overcoming all obstacles. He successfully established a monastic community in the snowy mountains of Lachi.

This also fulfilled Jigten Sumgon's prophecy that 55,525 disciples would come to Lachi in the future to practice in this sacred land.