 By Michele Carlson, M.A.
Buddhism is one of the world’s most popular religions. There are Buddhists throughout the world, including Boulder, Colorado. I was lucky to interview Lhoppon Rachung of the Mipham Shedra in Boulder, Colorado. I asked Lhoppon some basic questions about what it means to be Buddhist, basic beliefs, and what Mipham Shedra teaches.
A Buddhist Teacher
Lhoppon Rachung (said Low-pon Ra-chung) is the head of Mipham Shedra, where students meet for spiritual guidance, meditation, and community. Lhoppon is a religious title for a Buddhist teacher that is similar to a PhD in the academic world. A Lhoppon is one who “is well studied in Buddhism and practices it as well. Like a guru, a Buddhist teacher is supposed to be the seed of perception. Many times it is other way. People may be extremely nice to the teacher and mean to other people and [students] in their in classroom. Then what is point? Are they doing to make teacher happy or for own person?” Lhoppon Rachung explains that a Lhoppon is not only to be a spiritual scholar, but also an example and teacher for students in order to help them along on their spiritual path to enlightenment.
What is Buddhism? What are the Basic Premises of Buddhism?
“Buddhism is an antidote for all kind of suffering, external and internal. We fix the suffering/problem through internal means – means through modification. For example, if you are mad at somebody or have a fear with your job or something, whatever problem you have, in order to fix the problem through fighting or changing outside, we sit down and we try to relate and face the fear internally and try to face that fear and work with that kind of method to solve the problem internally. That method is called Buddhism. There are many ways of Buddhism of it but that’s main theme. There are many different kinds of Buddhism within schools of thought and method.”
How does one practice Buddhism?
In Tibetan Buddhism, there is monastic and householder styles for practicing Buddhism. Monastic is practiced by monks and nuns in monasteries and temples. Householder is practiced by lay people in their homes, who also have a teacher to study from (in different places and conditions). In Boulder at Mipham Shedra people meet with the group once a week for lessons, meditation, and discussion. We practice together and they study more teachings independently. If they have any questions from their reading or experience they will discuss with their teacher. Then the other size days of the week they meditate on own. The once a week get together helps maintain a discipline to continue daily meditations.
What is a Lama and why is he important?
“Lama means Buddhist spiritual teacher. Literally it means heavy, deep. A Lama is to bring happiness and [his] job in life is to be very positive about everything…If a house is dirty you have to start somewhere and not sweep here and then over there and then back here again or you will end up with dirt all over the floor. Your sweeping has to start somewhere and go somewhere else, it has to be organized. In order to see all phenomenon all pure and positive you have to start from one thing, that one thing is the Lama. The Lama is a spiritual teacher to help you start that pure perception. Always listening to teachings from the teacher and that teacher is the first person where you can see absolute perfect being and from that teacher you are able to see slowly every human being and ascension being are pure. The lama is the seed of the pure perception.”
He explained that “sometimes people misunderstand. Sometimes it becomes negative seed of perception...my teacher so good everyone else is so bad, so they compare and hold only black or white ideas.” He sees that as “using that method in a wrong way.” He went on to say that a Lama is to be the living example of Buddhist beliefs that students can look to for inspiration and teacher for guidance in their own lives. This is why the teacher sits higher than the student. How do Buddhists see other religions? It’s “not about sides, it’s about [how to] view ideas’. What Buddhists want [is] happiness and peace for all sentient beings in whatever way that brings happiness and peace in this earth no matter which way that way is, we support that path. Any kind method that causes harm still is to be abandoned.”
Tankas
The cloth wall hangings are called Tankas. Tankas depict pictures of gods of perfection, stories, lessons, or events. The essence of Tankas can be quickly understood, with a deeper understanding through familiarity of Mahayana Buddhism doctrines. Each wall hanging has its own important message. (My understanding is that they are to be reminders of the goodness within each person and inspiration for people to act upon or improve those aspects within themselves.)
A New Way of Teaching In India and Tibet (where Buddhism is very popular), many Buddhists dedicate many hours daily to spiritual practice and study. Many people in the U.S. lead very busy lives, and do not have much time to dedicate to learning Buddhism. Lhoppon has addressed this by changing the way that he teaches. Instead of having students dedicate many hours to the daily study of Buddhism at a temple or learning center, he has developed lessons which are mixtures of in-person, reading, meditation, and even interactive online learning. This has expanded the options available for students to learn while maintaining busy lifestyles.
Lhoppon Rechung teaches students about Buddhist Spirituality, Meditation, the Tibetan Language, Culture, and Literature. His classes are through the Mipham Shedra, online, as well as at the University of Colorado at Boulder (where he teaches a Tibetan language course). There are Wednesday night meditation classes (free and open to the public) from 7pm-9pm at Mipham Shedra in Boulder, which include a spiritual lesson, meditation, and group reflection discussions. Each class is part of a lesson series surrounding outside reading, but it is not necessary to have done the reading yourself in order to participate in the meditation or discussions. He is currently updating their website to create online lessons including live chats with monks in India.
Mipham Shedra
Mipham Shedra is a non-sectarian Vajrayana Buddhist educational institute dedicated to providing Dharma education to sincere Dharma students of all lineages and traditions. The curriculum is based on and dedicated to propagating the teachings of Jamgön Ju Mipham, Mipham Jamyang Namgyal Gyamtso, the great 19th-20th century Nyingma scholar/practitioner. It provides all the courses of study necessary for the understanding of both Dzogchen and Mahamudra. For more information please visit their website www.mepahmshedrea.org.
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