Tatsang Monastery

On the occasion of Kyabje Sungjang Rinpoche's birthday today, devotees facilitated the release of 2,000 fish, thereby contributing to the preservation of aquatic life. We dedicate this meritorious act to Rinpoche's Root Guru, Kyab-Gon Kirti Rinpoche, with the aspiration for your continued good health and longevity.🪷💐🙏

Qoute from Rinpoche.

True and lasting fulfillment arises naturally when the mind turns toward the welfare of all sentient beings — not as an obligation, but as the spontaneous expression of a heart freed from the prison of self-grasping. This is the very ground from which bodhicitta blossoms.

When we remain bound to the eight worldly concerns clinging to pleasure, gain, praise, and fame, while fleeing their opposites we find ourselves caught in the endless turning of saṃsāra, mistaking the shadow of happiness for its substance. The untamed mind, drunk on the illusion of a fixed and precious self, generates the three poisons: ignorance, attachment, and aversion. From these arise all confusion and suffering, without exception.

The teachings remind us that all beings, without a single exception, have been our mothers in past lives have carried us with kindness, nourished us, and protected us from harm. To recognise this is to feel the ground shift beneath habitual selfishness. Compassion and loving-kindness are not merely virtuous sentiments; they are the direct antidote to the self-cherishing mind, which is the true root of all our misery.

As Śāntideva taught: *all the suffering in the world arises from seeking happiness for oneself alone; all the happiness in the world arises from seeking happiness for others.* This is not poetry it is a precise description of the mechanics of mind.

To loosen the grip of self-grasping, even slightly, is to glimpse a vast and undefended openness — the beginning of genuine peace.

༄༅། 🇫🇷 Under the precious guidance of Kyabje Sungjang Rinpoche, a sacred Kalachakra Guru Yoga retreat was successfully accomplished from the 23rd to the 29th of May by Rinpoche and a gathering of devoted practitioners from France. Throughout these seven auspicious days, the participants engaged wholeheartedly in the profound practices of the Kalachakra Guru Yoga — generating the deity, reciting the mantra, and cultivating the inseparable union of bliss and emptiness — in accordance with the authentic transmission of the Gelug tradition.
May the virtue and merit accumulated through this retreat be purely dedicated, without any trace of self-grasping, to the long life and stable throne of Kyabje Sungjang Rinpoche, to the preservation and flourishing of the precious Buddha Dharma in all directions, and above all, to the swift liberation of every sentient being throughout the six realms from the ocean of cyclic suffering. May the auspicious light of the Kalachakra — the Wheel of Time — dispel the darkness of ignorance in all hearts, and may peace, wisdom, and compassion reign throughout the world.🌿

Day 1 of Retreat — Root Teaching:🇫🇷

The Origin of Suffering and the Path of Transformation
At the heart of the Buddhist path lies a profound recognition: the primary source of all suffering — both our own and that of countless beings — is the self-grasping mind and the self-cherishing attitude that flows from it. Clinging to a "self" that appears solid, independent, and supremely important, we instinctively prioritize our own comfort, pleasure, and security above all else. This deeply ingrained habit of selfishness is not a moral failing to be judged, but a fundamental misunderstanding of reality — one that keeps us bound in the cycle of confusion and suffering.
The antidote the Buddha taught is not suppression or self-denial, but wisdom — specifically, the wisdom of interdependence (pratītyasamutpāda). When we genuinely contemplate how every aspect of our existence arises in dependence upon countless other beings and conditions, the rigid boundary between "self" and "other" begins to dissolve. We see that the wellbeing of others is inseparable from our own. From this understanding, compassion (karuṇā) arises naturally — not as a forced virtue, but as the spontaneous response of a mind that has begun to see clearly.
This is the great transformation at the center of practice: selfishness, recognized and understood, becomes the very doorway through which boundless compassion enters the world.🌿