Rinpoche Dzigar Kongtrèul - Uncommon happiness: the path of the compassionate warrior

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PADMASAMBHAVA Treasures from Juniper RidgeAdvice from the Lotus-BornDakini Teachings

PADMASAMBHAVA AND JAMGN KONGTRL The Light of Wisdom, Vol. 1 & Vol. 2

YESHE TSOGYAL The Lotus-Born

DAKPO T ASHI NAMGYAL Clarifying the Natural State

TSELE NATSOK RANGDRL Mirror of MindfulnessEmpowermentHeart Lamp

CHOKGYUR LINGPA Ocean of AmritaThe Great GateSkillful Grace

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JAMGN MIPHAM RINPOCHE Gateway to Knowledge, Vol. 1, Vol. 2, & Vol. 3

TULKU URGYEN RINPOCHE Blazing SplendorRainbow PaintingAs It Is, Vol. 1 & Vol. 2Vajra SpeechRepeating the Words of the Buddha

ADEU RINPOCHE Freedom in Bondage

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CHKYI NYIMA RINPOCHE Present Fresh Wakefulness

TULKU THONDUP Enlightened Living

ORGYEN TOBGYAL RINPOCHE Life & Teachings of Chokgyur Lingpa

DZIGAR KONGTRL RINPOCHE Uncommon Happiness

TSOKNYI RINPOCHE Fearless SimplicityCarefree Dignity

DZOGCHEN TRILOGY COMPILED BY MARCIA BINDER SCHMIDT Dzogchen PrimerDzogchen EssentialsQuintessential Dzogchen

ERIK PEMA KUNSANG Wellsprings of the Great Perfection A Tibetan Buddhist Companion The Rangjung Yeshe Tibetan-English Dictionary of Buddhist Culture

MARCIA DECHEN WANGMO Confessions of a Gypsy Yogini

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U NCOMMON H APPINESS: T HE P ATH OF THE C OMPASSIONATE
W ARRIOR / D ZIGAR K ONGTRL; EDITED & COMPILED BY
M ARCIA B INDER S CHMIDT .
F IRST E D .

R ELIGIOUS LIFEBUDDHISM . 2. B UDDHISMDOCTRINES .
3. V AJRAYANA T IBET .
C OVER ART BY D ZIGAR K ONGTRL [J IGMEY N AMGYAL]
R INPOCHE
C OVER D ESIGN BY M ARYANN L IPAJ

v3.1

DZIGAR KONGTRL RINPOCHES teachings are permeated with an incredible compassion that is challenging to capture in the written word. His inspiring approach is laden with a bodhichitta that radiates great concern for us all. Working with this material has had a profound effect on even my hardened Dharma heart.

In the course of putting together this book, I experienced some interesting events that I boldly interpret as Rinpoches blessings in validating the truth of the Dharma. I live part of the year in the Kathmandu Valley, in the mountain hermitage of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche called Nagi Gompa. It is actually a nunnery. Our community encompasses many different types of people besides the nuns themselves, who are of varying backgrounds. For instance, there is a monk, the son of a deceased Nagi nun, who is seriously mentally ill. Quite kindly, the nunnery organization gave him a room at the lower monastery that houses the monks connected to Nagi.

Yearly, I do retreat at Nagi and sit several sessions in the outdoors away from my hut. I am particularly fond of practicing near a certain small cave. Every year at Nagi there is a great activity practice, a drubchen that goes on for nine days. One day, as I approached the cave, I saw the monk, Tsultrim, stringing electrical wiring to the cave. He assured me it was merely for a light, and that he would be sleeping in the cave only for the duration of the drubchen.

Of course, he didnt leave after the drubchen was over. Not only that, he stayed there all day blaring his radio, which he would turn down only when scolded. I went to other outside spots to practice, as the cave was not suitable with Tsultrim there. One day when I was close by, the noise from the radio became intolerable. I actively rushed over to confront him. As I marched towards the cave, crushing leaves and branches under my feet, I remembered Dzigar Kongtrl Rinpoches teaching and tried to maintain a modicum of presence of mind as well as an attitude aimed at benefiting the monk. It was stupid to be angry, as I already knew that he was not mentally well and that arguing with a crazy person was hardly realistic. Keeping these thoughts in mind, I went up to the entrance of the cave. There was Tsultrim watching a soccer match on TV.

The incongruousness of the situation shifted my perspective entirely. I could only apologize for being such an unstable practitioner who was so easily distracted. It would be wonderful, I said if he could please try to understand that and be a support for my mindfulness. He reacted with immediate kindness and sympathy, never blared the radio or TV again, and left within a few days. That was an immediate sign to me that when applied, bodhichitta works. No matter how often I had heard these teachings and tried to practice them, it was only through the words of Dzigar Kongtrl Rinpoche that I had the determination to actually apply them.

The next interesting experience is connected to another mentally unstable resident of Nagi Gompa, this time a nun. Old Maya had been diagnosed as manic-depressive and was on medication. Over the twenty-four years I lived next door to her, I witnessed several times when she went off her medication and experienced quite outrageous episodes resulting in hospitalization. She had a really good heart and was kind and funny, but didnt seem to be able to do any Dharma practice. When she died, the lamas thought that they should dispose of her body as quickly as possible and arranged for the cremation to be within twelve hours of her passing. However, it didnt happen that way, because she sat in samadhi for the entire next day, a state called tukdam in Tibetan. The signs of tukdam are that the heart remains warm, rigor mortis does not set in, and the body does not begin to deteriorate. The whole atmosphere around a practitioner who stays in tukdam, meditative composure, is serene and inspiring, which is exactly what it was like in our neighborhood. The power of Mayas good heart overrode all the difficult circumstances of her mental illness and medication. What a supreme validation of bodhichitta!

When reviewing these wonderful teachings, I felt that the way in which Rinpoche presented his commentary of Shantidevas The Way of the Bodhisattva stood on its own and deserved to be highlighted as an independent work. This incredible material was collected over three consecutive summers of teachings on this text that Rinpoche gave at Rangjung Yeshe Gomde in California from 2005 to 2007. In organizing them I mirrored the structure and arrangement of Patrul Rinpoches