Main Page

Welcome to the Rigpa Shedra Wiki, an online encyclopedia of Tibetan Buddhism We currently have 16,089 articles

Buddhas and Deities Enumerations Contemporary Teachers

Historical Masters Prayers and Practices Schools and Lineages

Texts Audio Library

---

---

Featured Pages Padmasambhava (Skt.), or Padmakara (Skt. Padmākara; Tib. པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས་, Pemajungné; Wyl. pad+ma 'byung gnas) means ‘Lotus-Born’, which refers to Guru Rinpoche's birth from a lotus in the land of Oddiyana. Guru Rinpoche, the ‘Precious Master’, is the founder of Tibetan Buddhism and the Buddha of our time. Whereas Buddha is known primarily for having taught the teachings of the sutra vehicle, Padmasambhava came into this world, and to Tibet in particular, in order to teach the tantras. While Buddha Shakyamuni exemplifies the buddha principle, the most important element in the sutrayana path, Padmasambhava personifies the guru principle, the heart of Vajrayana Buddhism, and he is therefore known as the ‘second Buddha’ (Tib. སངས་རྒྱས་གཉིས་པ་, sangyé nyipa). (Read more...) Longchen Nyingtik (Tib. ཀློང་ཆེན་སྙིང་ཐིག་, Wyl. klong chen snying thig) — a Nyingma cycle of teachings and practice, which was discovered by Jikmé Lingpa as mind terma. Regarding the revelation of the Longchen Nyingtik teachings, Tulku Thondup writes: While Guru Rinpoche was visiting Tibet…he conferred the Longchen Nyingtik teachings on King Trisong Detsen, Khandro Yeshe Tsogyal, and Vairochana… He gave prophetic empowerments by saying that the teachings would be discovered by Jikmé Lingpa, an incarnation (tulku) of King Trisong Detsen. (Read more...) Bodhicharyavatara (Skt. Bodhicaryāvatāra) or Bodhisattvacharyavatara (Skt. Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra; Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པ་, Wyl. byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa) or Introduction to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life - Shantideva's classic guide to the Mahayana path. Khenpo Namdrol said: Concerning the study of the Bodhicharyavatara, my teacher Khenpo Tsöndrü told me that though the meaning of the text is not difficult to understand, applying the teachings to one’s mind is far more difficult. The purpose of the dharma is to transform the mind, to free us from our attachment to worldly concerns. Among all treatises and texts, Shantideva’s Bodhicharyavatara and Paltrul Rinpoche’s Words of My Perfect Teacher are the most powerful texts that serve this purpose. (Read more...)

Upcoming International Events 3 - 10 April Meditation Retreat with Kimberly Poppe and Andrew Warr in Dzogchen Beara 14 - 17 May International Mindfulness & Awareness Conference with Sogyal Rinpoche, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Alan Wallace and many other key note speakers 1 - 12 July Ngöndro Retreat with Sogyal Rinpoche Audio Library Podcast Teachings on the Uttaratantra Shastra as podcast Podcast Khenpo Namdrol's teachings on Buddha nature as podcast. More teachings... This section contains Tibetan script. Without proper Tibetan rendering support configured, you may see other symbols instead of Tibetan script.

---

Other Rigpa Sites

Rigpa.org	Lerab Ling	Dzogchen Beara	Spiritual Care Centre	Tenzin Gyatso Institute

---

National Rigpa Centres Australia Austria Belgium Canada Chile Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Holland India Ireland Israel Italy Japan Norway Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan UK USA

Study & Resources Rigpa Shedra Lotsawa House ZAM - the Rigpa store ZAM store USA