H.E. Ling Rinpoche with Geshe Lobsang Jamphel, Geshe Jamphel Gyaltsen, Geshe Lobsang Yonten, Geshe Tenzin Loden, and Ven. Tenzin Khentse at Nalanda Monastery, Labastide-Saint-Georges, France, May 2019. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunkhen (Nico Balthazar).

His Eminence the 7th Kyabje Ling Rinpoche arrived at the Toulouse airport in France on April 30, 2019. Rinpoche was welcomed by representatives from Nalanda Monastery and Institut Vajra Yogini, FPMT centers near Toulouse. Rinpoche remained in France through the end of May 2019, teaching at several Dharma centers including Nalanda Monastery, Monastère Dorjé Pamo, an FPMT nunnery near Toulouse, Institut Vajra Yogini, and Kalachakra Centre, an FPMT center in Paris. From May 3-5, 2019, Rinpoche gave three days of teachings on “Mind Training Like the Rays of the Sun,” and bestowed the White Tara Long Life initiation at Institut Vajra Yogini. Ven. Losang Gyaltsen, Nalanda Monastery director, Ven. Chantal Tenzin Dekyi (Chantal Carrerot), Monastère Dorjé Pamo coordinator, and Laura Haughey, a Kalachakra Centre student share the story about Rinpoche’s visit to France.

On May 2, 2019, Nalanda Monastery had the great privilege to receive His Eminence Ling Rinpoche. Rinpoche kindly gave advice to the community on the importance of study and also taming one’s mind. Rinpoche’s great humor and kindness were very much appreciated by the community. We hope that H.E. Ling Rinpoche will come again next year as we are hoping to develop this connection.

Geshe Lobsang Jamphel, the present abbot of the Monastery praised H.E. Ling Rinpoche, saying Rinpoche is a great hope for the Tibetans. We also feel H.E Ling Rinpoche will be a great hope for the Dharma in the West. Deep gratitude to His Eminence for sharing with us Rinpoche’s precious time, wisdom, and compassion.

H.E. Ling Rinpoche with Geshe Lobsang Jamphel and Geshe Tenzin Loden at Nalanda Monastery, Rouzegas, Labastide-Saint-Georges, France, May 2019. Photo by Ven. Thubten Kunkhen (Nico Balthazar).

On the occasion of H.E. Ling Rinpoche’s visit to Institut Vajra Yogini in early May, Rinpoche honored us with a visit to Monastère Dorjé Pamo. Rinpoche was accompanied by Geshe Tenzin Loden, FPMT resident geshe at Institut Vajra Yogini, and Geshe Lobsang Jamphel, abbot of Nalanda Monastery, as well as Rinpoche’s attendants Geshe Lobsang Yonten and Ven. Tenzin Khentse.

A few nuns and volunteers had gathered, and we all had tea and refreshments on the terrace in a very relaxed atmosphere. Rinpoche blessed our gompa as well as a Tara thangka just offered to us by one of our benefactors. Rinpoche also provided advice and encouragement, highlighting the importance of harmony in developing our new community.

H.E. Ling Rinpoche with Ven. Tendreun, Marie Vaysse, Annick Lainé, Ven Chantal Tenzin Dekyi, Geshe Tenzin Loden, Geshe Losang Jamphel, Cristiana Cervantes, Ven. Irene, Ven. Michèle Paldreun, Ven. Tenzin Péma, Yves Alirol, and Annick Leclerc du Sablon at Monastère Dorje Pamo, En Baut, Fiac, France, May 2019. Photo courtesy of Monastère Dorje Pamo.

On May 25, 2019, a warm, sunny morning, Kalachakra Centre in Paris was very fortunate and greatly honored to host a visit and teaching with H.E. Ling Rinpoche. It was a short but wonderful visit. This is the third time Rinpoche has visited Kalachakra Centre, the first being in 2005 and the second in 2014. Last year, Rinpoche’s visit to Paris was a very large gathering, with over 700 people in attendance, including many displaced Tibetans now living in France.

Rinpoche prefaced the teaching on the three poisonous minds of anger, attachment, and ignorance by mentioning how truly happy Rinpoche was to again be visiting the center, whose official name is the Wheel of Life Kalachakra Cultural Association, and that it was with the idea of seeing old friends in the Dharma, including those who had met Rinpoche’s previous incarnation, that Rinpoche was making this visit.

Kalachakra Centre’s director, Ven. Elisabeth Drukier, recalls that when she first met the Buddhadharma and was visiting Bodhgaya, she befriended Yvonne Laurence, a French nun and fellow Parisian. Yvonne had been a nurse when the 6th Kyabje Yongdzin Ling Rinpoche came to France for medical treatment and had ended up following Rinpoche to India and becoming ordained. Ven. Elisabeth and Yvonne’s shared love of Camembert cheese and Paris bonded them in India, and Ven. Elisabeth spent time with her friend at Tushita Meditation Centre in Dharamsala, often seeing the 6th Kyabje Ling Rinpoche there at Rinpoche’s house. In 1978, Ven. Elisabeth saw the 6th Kyabje Ling Rinpoche for the last time in France.

H.E. Ling Rinpoche at Kalachakra Centre, Paris, France, May 2019. Photo by Olivier Adam.

Rinpoche very clearly elucidated the nature of the three poisons of attachment, anger, and ignorance, and the detrimental influence they have on our well-being and happiness. Rinpoche began by summarizing the essence of the teachings of the Buddha as being the act of disciplining, transforming, and most importantly acquiring mastery, or pacification, of our minds.

Rinpoche concluded by encouraging us to think positively, saying that we all have the possibility to become Buddhas. The Buddha Shakyamuni started out just like us, completely under the influence of mental afflictions and the three poisonous attitudes of attachment, anger, and ignorance. Through training his mind, he achieved the ultimate transformation and developed all virtuous qualities, eliminated all faults, and realized the state of a Buddha, perfectly awakened. Rinpoche said that we also have the potential and possibility to follow exactly the same path.

Ven. Tenzin Khentse, H.E. Ling Rinpoche, Ven. Tenzin Pemba, Ven. Jampa president of the Tibetan community in Paris, and Kalachakra Centre director Ven. Elisabeth Drukier outside of Kalachakra Centre, Paris, France, May 2019. Photo by Olivier Adam.

Rinpoche also said that we have the benefit of all the necessary, good conditions in being human beings: we have met with the teachings of the Buddha, we can meet with authentic spiritual guides, and we have not been born in a country where we suffer from hunger, thirst, or homelessness. We also don’t have any physical handicaps which would prevent us from practicing. Rinpoche continued by saying that apart from the fact that we are not applying ourselves, we enjoy a situation that is extremely favorable. There is much to rejoice about. Rinpoche added that we need to tell ourselves that certainly the influence of the three poisons exist in our mind, but instead of reacting to this negatively, we should say to ourselves, “These mental afflictions are my enemies, my true enemies, and from now on, I will fight against them.”

Kalachakra Centre hopes to have the great fortune of hosting visits by H.E. Ling Rinpoche every year, for many years to come!

For more information about H.E. Ling Rinpoche’s schedule visit Rinpoche’s website:
http://lingrinpoche.info/

Learn more about FPMT’s activities in France:
https://fpmt.org/centers/france/

Watch Rinpoche’s teaching at Kalachakra Centre, given in Tibetan with French translation:
https://youtu.be/CH4M9WkHZOU

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