Visit by the Ven 5th Minyak Rinpoche

We are delighted that the Ven 5th Minyak Rinpoche, Tulku Ogyen Nyima, will be visiting southern Africa in August 2016.

TulkuOgyen

Rinpoche is a scholar and is married to Akong Tulku Rinpoche’s niece, Drolkar Lhamo, and they have two children. He is currently one of the teachers in the Samye Ling mandala and as a master of both the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions, he is available to bestow initiations and give teachings at Samye Ling and its branches and associated centres. For more about Rinpoche, follow this link.

All ceremonies and talks will be free of charge.

We are appealing for sponsors to support the Dharma in Africa by helping with the airfares for this visit. To learn how to contribute, please see here.

For the Johannesburg programme, please see here.

This is a rare opportunity to take refuge and to receive empowerments. The last empowerments that we received in Johannesburg were with Choje Akong Tulku Rinpoche in 2010, and we don’t know when next we will be able to obtain such a blessing again the future.

It is beneficial to do the empowerments for future practices , or you can take them as a blessing.

To take any empowerments for practice purposes, you need to have taken Refuge first.

 REFUGE: 

  • to take refuge is to make a formal commitment to accept the precepts and the protection of the 3 Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha) as the way for developing the aspiration for enlightenment
  • For an explanation of Refuge from Choje Akong Tulku Rinpoche, please follow this link.
  • For an explanation of the actual ceremony, please watch this video by Ken Holmes.

EMPOWERMENT:

  • used in Vajrayana Buddhism to awaken our innate potential for Buddhahood and to create a strong connection between the recipient and the teacher, as well as the Buddha-figure involved. 
  • Participation in an Empowerment with a fully qualified teacher bestows permission to engage in specific practices.
  • You need to have taken Refuge to take the empowerments, if not, the empowerments act as a blessing only.

“Within the Vajrayana teachings the giving of empowerments is a particularly special thing. The empowerment is like a seed planted on the path. This seed bears fruit and that’s the result of our practice. The seed, which bears the fruit on the path of fruition, which is the path of Vajrayana, is the empowerment – Mingyur Rinpoche”

For more on Vajrayana and Empowerments, see this explanation by the Ven Mingyur Dorje

LUNG:

  • the textual transmission; needed to practice.

Formal instruction is also a requirement and will be offered in future.