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Kalu Rinpoche | Tsok Offering – offerings to the Protector (Part 3)

So, we visualise the Samaya deity and the Wisdom deity combined, inseparably together and then, of course, we make offerings. External, physical things that we have actually arranged (1). The Inner offering of all the five Nectars and five Meats (2), and then we offer the offering of bliss (3), and then we make the ultimate, Nature of Mind offering (4). So, four different types of offering.... read more →

Kalu Rinpoche | At Birbeck College London, Mahakala Wangs

The special Dharma Protector for the Shangpa Kagyu tradition is the Swift-Acting Six-Armed Awareness Protector. Commonly known as ‘Chakdrukpa’, he is a wrathful manifestation of the Great Compassionate One, Chenrezig. The transmissions for the Six-Armed Mahakala came from the Mahāsiddhas Maitrīpa, Rāhula and Shawaripa to Khyungpo Naljor, the source of the Shangpa Kagyu lineage. The great accomplished Tāranātha, a Shangpa Kagyu lineage holder, refined the various texts and practices and taught that the essence of this practice is to combine the Protector with the Yidam and the Guru Yoga practice.... read more →

Kalu Rinpoche | UK Mahakala Retreat September 2023

Kyabjé Kalu Rinpoche was born in 1990 amidst auspicious signs during the time of the monthly fulfilment offerings to the special Shangpa Protector, the Six-Armed Mahakala. In 1993, Rinpoche was enthroned at his monastery in Sonada, Darjeeling. At a very young age, he entered the traditional three-year retreat and, on completion of that, he began teaching and guiding at his many Dharma centres around the world, in person and online. As head of the Shangpa Kagyu lineage, Rinpoche has bestowed the complete cycle of the Shangpa Empowerments many times and is very supportive of people who enter the three-year retreat. Along with supporting the practice of Buddhism within the Himalayan communities, and in response to the stress and uncertainty, physical and mental, of the recent pandemic, Rinpoche is very proactive in sharing the profound practice of the yoga of Niguma.... read more →