“EMBODYING THE ESSENCE” WITH LOVE, TIME, PRESENCE AND STABILITY: “One Gone to Bliss” Buddha Nature experiential teachings on text by 3rd Karmapa by 9th Gyalton Rinpoche in Belgium (Part I: 11-12 September 2025)

“Time is free, but it is also priceless.”

“The nature of all beings is always Buddha [Awakened]. འགྲོ་བའི་རང་བཞིན་རྟག་ཏུ་སངས་རྒྱས་”

—3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje

“The reason samsara is beginningless is because it is an illusion. When you realise this then the illusion ends. The reason texts describe samsara as endless is because countless sentient beings are still trapped in that illusion.” –9th Gyalton Rinpoche (Brussels teaching September 2025).

After a month of travelling and attending HE 9th Gyalton Rinpoche’s teachings and events in Europe (made possible by the kind sponsorship of others), am happy to offer this new report and edited summary of my recent attendance at Rinpoche’s final European teachings and empowerments in Brussels and then, Beaumont, Belgium (11th -14th September).

After attending the Discovering Buddhism II Prague teachings led by Rinpoche, although I wanted (and had planned) to go to his subsequent teachings in France (as I was deliberately prevented from doing so by someone I have never met or spoken to), I decided to visit Chengdu, China to attend a prestigious international academic conference and visit the Tibetan quarter and Buddhist monasteries there (more on that soon!). However, as I detail in my report, I was heavily magnetically pulled (via devotion and connection) to go all the way back to Europe again to attend Rinpoche’s teachings in Belgium .

This first report (of two) on the Belgium teachings, shares some personal experiences, challenges and observations about getting to and attending Rinpoche’s teachings in Belgium (and France), as well as an edited summary of some of the key points and profound instructions on the Buddha Nature text commentary by the 3rd Karmapa, which Gyalton Rinpoche taught. A well-known, yet not often taught publicly, commentary which is also considered to assert the Zhen-tong view (Empty-of-Other). For my 2020 research article on the Karmapas and Buddha Nature view, see here.

Thankfully, despite all the obstacles being put in our way by others with hostile and unkind intentions, the European teachings sealed and strengthened my vajra connection and union with Rinpoche, which was “instant” ever since I met him for the Discovering Buddhist I course in Vietnam in May 2025. It was maintained and strengthened despite several white European “administrators” trying to sever and disrupt that connection (based on anonymous gossip), and prevent me attending teachings, or even from sitting at or near the front on unreserved seats available to all (except me)! Yet, I deliberately attended all the teachings low-key, sitting at the back and using my Tibetan name/s.

The worst case of such discriminatory and sexist conduct was in Austria (August 2025, prior to Prague) where despite my having attended several teachings and empowerments of Rinpoche in Asia at Palpung centres, I was outright barred from attending Rinpoche’s Avalokiteshvara empowerment at a Palpung centre in August 2025, in an unsigned, unofficial email by an over-zealous (or jealous?), and hostile white Austrian female administrator, Susanna (whom I had never met or spoken to, and who refused to give her surname). Susanna also deliberately did not issue a refund of the compulsory registration fee I had paid online (which was what had “alerted her” to my presence there it seems) and worse, actively wasted police time when I arrived at the centre to speak to her and get a refund (the police told her to give me the money when they arrived and nothing further happened). A more detailed report of what happened in Austria (and why) is soon to be published.

In any case, I will write more on the European “obstacles” such as when, whom and where they arose, as I believe it is in the public interest and Buddha Dharma to do so (and for those who follow my work and website as a source of Dharma teachings).

In any case, Rinpoche’s teachings in Brussels were on the view of emptiness (including a brief analysis of the empty-of-self (rang-tong) and empty-of -other (zhen-tong) teachings and Buddha Nature. These are profound subjects that amny scholars and monastics (including myself) spend years studying and debating. Although, Rinpoche’s presentation was not scholarly, detailed, original or intellectually that “sophisticated” in academic terms, it was profound and genuine in other (more important) ways. Highlights of the teaching included metaphors as to how Buddha Nature exists eternally deep within our reality, like the sun obscured by clouds, and how we all have the capacity to realise our true nature and essence.

In Buddhism, we speak about “embodying the teachings”, and Rinpoche spoke later about how Yeshe Tsogyel was the embodiment of wisdom/Prajnaparamita. Scholars and academics write and teach on huge texts, books, and debate throughout the night on a conceptual understanding of emptiness and the Buddha Nature. Yet, Rinpoche’s unwavering time, presence, stability, love, compassion and refusal to be manipulated, swayed and dictated to by loud, worldly voices of administrators to remove and bar me from the classes etc. it never happened. Thus, Rinpoche’s teaching was the most precious one above and beyond that of any PhD. Practising what one preaches and embodying the Buddha Nature qualities of unshakeable wisdom, love, compassion and joy. For me personally too, after years of “thirst/hunger” (like many others) following the online teachings of HH 17th Gyalwang Karmapa (praying and hoping he would return and might be able to meet him in person again), the most rare and precious kindness and generosity of Rinpoche was his time and presence. Something which no virtual screen or online messages can ever replicate.

Thus, the wisdom ultimately revealed (when the teachings were said and done) was it does not matter how many years, or how famous a scholar-debater, how many papers, books, teachings, social media followers etc. one has, if one is unable to practice and embody those teachings at the fundamental levels of love, compassion, wisdom, empathy, kindness for all “faulty” samsaric beings, what is the point? It is just “dry” and empty words.

So, Rinpoche’s vajra Buddha Nature stability remained unshaken and unbroken and his great magnetising and subduing/wrathful qualities were clear to see for anyone who actually cared to look. Thus, it is that memory and experience that lingers on, despite what happened, as the example of Buddha we should follow and embody, present, stable, loving and not easily swayed by anonymous, unsubstantiated gossip and slander of already “faulty” sentient beings. I never claimed to be perfect or fully awakened, but who are they to judge. Should we start barring people from teachings for breaching the precepts of the three yanas when they eat animals regularly, for example? Who decides which faults count more than others when it comes to accessing a teacher and teachings?

When I got some space from Europe, this “realisation” came to me, and my heart burst open and tears started flowing naturally and spontaneously. Some teachers can “give” more in a few months with presence in person, than years of online teachings and zero in person communication. For me (at least), after patiently enduring all the obstacles in Europe (and in previous years), that was the most precious gift and teaching of all, and one I will always cherish and remember.

Thus, I dedicate the merit of this activity to the long-life and health of HE 9th Gyalton Rinpoche and to the activities of his root guru, Tai Situpa and the Karma Kagyu lineage, as well as the teachings on the Buddha Nature, Zhen-tong view and Tathagatagarbha Sutra teachings. May we all realise the eternal, stable presence of the Buddha Nature qualities within us all, as our very essence.

Music? Wonderful World by Sam Cooke,  Every Time We Say Goodbye by Ella Fitzgerald,  Can’t Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli, and Say Yes to Heaven by Lana Del Ray.

Torn between France and China: deliberately prevented from going to France teachings but heavy guru devotion and magnetic pull

After the teachings on the Discovering Buddhism II course with Rinpoche in Prague,  I decided I would attend his scheduled teachings in France at Theg Chog Norbu Ling (a remote retreat centre associated with the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa in the remote countryside). I have never met the monk, Lama Sangyay (the white French male head resident teacher there), and  never visited that centre before, and had been thinking of going there before when the Kagyu Monlam was held there earlier this year. At that time, I was told by Lama Sangyay that there were no rooms and I accepted that. He seemed like a sweet, honest and kind man and so I accepted his word for it.

However, for 9th Gyaltong Rinpoche’s five-day teachings there from 3rd to 9th September, his saying there were no rooms on those dates was a deliberate (yet subtle ‘gaslighting’ ) strategy to prevent my attendance at the teachings.

How do I know? This time I discovered that I had been given false information by the resident white European Lama Sangyay that rooms were not available, only to later discover (accidentally) from an office staff member that there were two single rooms available during the same dates, on registering with my Tibetan name. I was surprised at the conflicting information, but as no explanation (or apology) was then given for that “major error” when I informed Lama Sangyay himself, I decided not to attend (especially as it is in quite a remote location anyway, and not easily accessible by public transport (I am a lone, female traveller). As of now, I still have not received any explanation, apology or reason why Lama Sangyay told me there were no rooms available there when there clearly were [1].

So, instead of going as planned to France, I went to Chengdu, China for an international academic conference on art, history and culture, that I had been invited to attend and participate in on the same date, and also visit the Tibetan quarter there and some of the Buddhist temples. Something I was also very keen to do.

However, due to my vajra connection with Rinpoche I was very “torn” about going to China and right up until, and after, check in at the Prague airport I felt a huge magnetic pull not to go, to the extent that I even considered cancelling the whole trip and losing all my money on the flight. Even after checking in and going through immigration, I felt a huge energy pull to turn round and go back and stay in Europe, and even asked the airport staff if it was OK to get off the flight and could they get my bags out if I did! It was like my heart, and very bones were telling me not to go, such was my strong connection/devotion to Gyalton Rinpoche. However, the pull of visiting Chengdu (and the money I had spent on the flight and so on) managed to keep me on route and the Chengdu trip was interesting, productive and worthwhile in various ways (more on that soon!).

However, after arriving in Chengdu, I continually felt a “magnetic” heart pull to go back to Europe and attend Rinpoche’s final teachings in Belgium.  Even though practically speaking, it was quite a large expense and distance to take, and I also had been rather put off by the “dishonest” (and at times actively deliberate) obstacles placed in my way by those organising his teachings, it was as if I had no other choice, and my devotion and connection to Gyalton Rinpoche (and even his mind itself) was pulling me back there.

Two days before Gyalton Rinpoche’s Belgium teachings were due to start on the 11th September with a Manjushri empowerment (which I really wanted to attend and receive), I went to visit a Buddhist monastery in Chengdu with a famous Manjushri statue there. I asked the statue for an answer as to where to go and the answer was clear, go to Rinpoche’s teachings. The “wisdom” whispered, “Life is too short to take decision based on personal safety and practicalities only. Follow your heart too.”

So after a week in Chengdu I decided to go to Belgium as Hainan Airways do a very reasonably priced one-way ticket there.  Again though, even though I had booked a flight, at the airport, I felt a tug of practicality, and suddenly decided last minute to cancel the flight and get a refund (losing some money doing so) and stay in Chengdu a little longer, and try to go to Derge and the famous Derge Parkhang  near there. However, as soon as I had done this, I again felt a strong pull and sensed that this was the wrong decision.  It also felt like something had “broken” after the obstacles in Europe and that it needed repairing.

So I then booked another flight (even though I had now missed the first day of Rinpoche’s teachings and the Manjushri empowerment, which I had really wanted to go to) and took the 15 hour journey there (with jet lag too) the following day, arriving on the 11th September! This was “out of character” for me because I do not like long-haul flights particularly, and the extra expense involved. Wangpo Chenpo as they say, meaning “great power”!

The venue: Kagyu Dzong Brussels

The two-day teaching in Brussels happily passed with zero incident or issues. Sadly, though it seems someone there on the second day, malevolently “tipped off” the remote retreat centre in Beaumont about my presence at Rinpoche’s teachings, and so when I arrived there some people were already “armed” so to speak  with “anonymous advice” and I was met with active hostility, bullying and harassment from people I had never met before. However, despite that I was still able to attend those teachings too and able to maintain the bodhicitta and vajra samaya connection with Rinpoche.

Below is an edited transcript/summary of the teaching in Brussels on Buddha Nature, for those who would like more detail.  There were about thirty other people there and so it was a perfect size class for Rinpoche to transmit the teachings on every level and kaya. Here are a couple of photos of the centre below.

The teaching: 3rd Karmapa on Buddha Nature and Zhen-tong (Empty-of-Other) view

It was a great blessing to see Rinpoche again in person, after being physically “torn apart” like that by the unkind and unnecessary actions of others. HE 9th Gyalton Rinpoche (who seemed to be sick with some kind of cold, although he did not mention it) first began by speaking about how all beings suffer and need to transform the afflictions into wisdom.  But first we need to know what to meditate and how to meditate and that the view is essential to know properly.

On beginning the teachings on the 3rd Karmapa text, Gyalton Rinpoche quoted Jamgon Kongtrul the First who said it is very important to first understand the view by listening and contemplating. Then, we have to apply that view into practice.  Someone without the view but practice is compared to somebody without hands trying to climb a rocky cliff.  But someone who understands the view but no practice is like a rich person who does not use their wealth. Like someone who has stocks and stocks of food in the house, but you don’t use it. Like a bird with two wings the view and practice are essential.

Then Rinpoche explained the 3rd Karmapa’s text as a commentary/shastra.  The Buddha’s teachings are Sutras, and the commentaries by great masters wrote about these Sutras and they are called shastras.  And how great teachers like Asanga taught on these Sutras/teachings by the Buddha. In terms of the Uttaratantra, the Tibetan tradition, which divides the text into two distinct works, asserts that Asaṅga was the author of the prose commentary (vyākhyā) of this work, while Maitreya, himself, is the author of the actual verses of the treatise (śāstra).

The 3rd Karmapa’s text is a Treatise entitled: “A Teaching on the Essence of the Tathagatas (The Tathagatagarbha)” according to An Illumination of the Thoughts of Rangjung Dorje: A Commentary to “The Treatise that Teaches the Buddha Nature”  by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye the Great.

Gyalton Rinpoche said there are many treatises on this topic and Jamgon Kongtrul had also written many texts on it.  Rinpoche explained that some treatises are meaningless, “like someone writing if birds with beaks have teeth or not”, and do not have really any great meaning. That also there are incorrect treatises, for example like some in India, that say if you die in battle fighting, then the benefit is great and one will attain liberation, and this kind of commentary is incorrect and not beneficial.

The third  type of treatises Rinpoche mentioned are those that are meaningful, such as these on Buddha Nature as they truly eliminate suffering. They also lead to the absolute liberation and awakening.

There were very large compilations of treatises in India which are very difficult to read and understand, but later in Tibet the masters compiled the commentaries, they had very clear outlines and contents that were easy to read and follow. Rinpoche cited the treatises on the Buddha Nature are divided into five, these are:

1. The Ornament of Clear Realization (Skt. Abhisamayālaṃkāra; Tib. མངོན་པར་རྟོགས་པའི་རྒྱན་; Trad. Chin. 現觀莊嚴論).

2. The Ornament of the Mahayana Sutras (Skt. Māhayānasūtrālaṃkāra; Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ་སྡེ་རྒྱན་; Trad. Chin. 大乘莊嚴經論).

3. Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes (Skt. Madhyāntavibhāga; Tib. དབུས་དང་མཐའ་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པ་; Trad. Chin. 辨中邊論頌).

4. Distinguishing Dharma and Dharmata (Skt. Dharma-dharmatā-vibhāga; Tib. ཆོས་དང་ཆོས་ཉིད་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པ་; Trad. Chin. 辨法法性論)

5. The Sublime Continuum (Skt. Uttaratantra Śāstra; Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་; Trad. Chin. 分別寶性大乘無上續論).

Mahamudra and Dzogchen

Rinpoche explained that the Mahamudra and Six Yogas of Naropa can be meditation instructions, but they can also come from the Nyingtik teachings from Longchenpa, who got his instructions from Rangjung Dorje.  So the 3rd Karmapa can be considered as a source of ་the Dzogchen teachings, even though people think that the Karma Kagyu are not lineage holders of Dzogchen.  That Dzogchen and Mahamudra are both meditations on the Buddha Nature

The title of 3rd Karmapa’s text can be translated as a  Commentary on the Tatagatagarbha (Deysheg Nyingpo Tencho). The text states that we all have Buddha Nature within ourselves and that we call can become Buddha.

Ordinary mind

The great masters have pointed out this in a simple way (tha mel shepa) that the nature of mind is ordinary mind. This mind is very close to us . We cannot recognise it because it is so easy and close. So if we hold up a thumb and bring it closer to our eye, we cannot see the thumb, but when we look at it more from a distance we can see it better.  This kind of mind has always been like this and is uncontrived and has always been empty.

The Buddhas by seeing that natural state of mind, realised the true nature and that it is unborn and gone beyond. So primordially the true nature of mind is empty and it has never arisen and never ceases. It is birthless, and so no birth,no end, no right no wrong. It is outside of the four boxes of yes, no,  neither and both.

It is not just voidness/emptiness, it has that quality of clarity, luminosity, awareness. We can learn and understand about this, but to really know it we have to meditate on it. Rinpoche explained we say that all beings have the Buddha Nature but we have not realised it, and that is why one has to practice the path and develop the wisdom and through that realise the Buddha Nature. So we all have the potential to become Buddha and the Buddhas were all like us, and they practiced and worked at it, and if we do the same, we can also do that.

We have the two obscurations that need to purified so that we can reveal our Buddha Nature, Sangye. Sang means to eliminate/purify these obscurations. Gye means to enrich/expand, which means one is enriched by the Buddha Nature qualities.

Rinpoche then went on to explain the term Bodhisattva is Jangchub Sempa and how Sempa means resilient and brave. And how one can take anything onto one’s path to benefit oneself and other beings.  A Bodhisattva has the qualities of elimination, realisation and courage.

So the text pays homage to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Also, it can mean the Buddha within each and everyone of us, as our true, unobscured selves, the real nature.

The brief presentation 3rd Karmapa says that we need to have the confidence were able to follow the path, the Dharma and attain the result. As the Buddha Nature essence exists, we can achieve the result. So it says, but who is to know that we have this Buddha Nature Essence, and it says that the Buddha has seen that he and others have this essence and has taught it in the Sutras and Tantras. The 3rd Karmapa says that although it has existed from beginningless time it has an end, it is pure by nature and has the quality or permanence, it is unseen because it is obscured by beginningless covering.

Another example given, is like a golden statue that has been hidden/obscured and that was taught by the Buddha.

It also says the succession of lives in samsara has no beginning, there is no end. Although samsara is beginningless, once one attains Buddhahood, it ends.  We can understand this from time, we think it has past, present ad future, but if we analyse these concepts, they do not exist, there is no such thing as time. We are trapped in the illusion of time and so it exists. But that is not real, time is an illusion. Because it is an illusion it is not real. When we recognise it is an illusion then it is not real anymore. The Buddha Nature is unstained by obscurations, and is beyond conventional reality so cannot be stained.

Five Qualities of Buddha Nature

1. Beginningless
2. Without End
3. Pure
4. Permanent
5. Obscured

The example of Buddha Nature being obscured is given as gold hidden under the earth which is dirty, on top of which a very poor family is living. They are struggling to live, but they do not know they are living on top of vast riches.

Why is samsara called beginningless and endless?

On the first day of the teaching, Rinpoche also gave a simple but profound explanation of why the teachings say that samsara is beginningless but also endless.

“The reason samsara is beginningless is because it is an illusion. When you realise this then the illusion ends. The reason texts describe samsara as endless is because countless sentient beings are still trapped in that illusion.”

Like a lamp with three layers

Rinpoche also gave a profound yet simple example of how our perceptions and their inter-relation with Buddha Nature are like a lamp with three layers. The first layer has an outer layer which projects unpleasant and not so beautiful images. The inner layer projects beautiful and more peaceful images and the ultimate is the light of the lamp, which is not effected by the outer or inner layer and is the root source of both projections appearing.

Endnotes

[1] This kind of hostile and non-Buddhist conduct, direct and indirect, marred my whole European trip and the lack of in person or verbal communication about any of it, and zero accountability was frustrating indeed! Discrimination and blocking certain people from accessing teachers and teachings is not what the Buddha taught or exemplified at all.

All sentient beings have faults after all, so Dharma centre administrators (who are also not fully awakened beings) should give clear, reasonable and justified reasons for deliberately trying to prevent a person from attending teachings of a teacher they have clear vajra samaya with.