Mangala Shri Bhuti - The Link

Speaker: Sarah Gomes. Sarah recounts how she met the Dharma through the writings of Pema Chödrön during a difficult period in her life. She experienced an immediate sense of meaning, particularly in the teaching that ‘within suffering lies the potential for transformation’. Sarah has been a student of Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche for 24 years and supports the living presence of the Dharma at the Mangala Shri Bhuti Center, Guna Norling, in Salvador de Bahia. She holds a deep commitment to the practice of life release and is a founding member of the local animal protection sanctuary. She strives to bring the teachings into every aspect of her daily life, believing that the Dharma reveals its true power when it moves beyond intellectual understanding and reaches the heart, transforming our words, choices, and the way we engage with the world.

Speaker: Daisuke Inaba. Dai-san discusses his seva activities, the challenges they present, and his findings in working with challenges. He divides a period of service into beginning, middle, and end and offers methods for dealing with difficulties that arise at each stage. In the beginning, there is procrastination and distraction, which he overcomes by setting up a physical and mental environment supportive of service. In the middle, discursive thoughts arise, which he addresses with a breathing practice similar to shamatha. In the end, pride and arrogance "slowly and sneakily creep in", which he surmounts by dedicating the merit and appreciating the opportunity to serve. Dai-san offers this three-part method as a beneficial antidote to self-absorption and an aid to achieving happiness and confidence in seva.

Speaker: Dungse Jampal Norbu. Dungse-la reflects on how the willingness to show up, especially with "a heart full of bodhicitta" is 60% of success in getting anything done in the Dharma. He relates the power of showing up to the five perfections, which are taught in a Tibetan medical text: place, teacher, teaching, assembly, and time. Dungse-la applies the five perfections to our upcoming gathering at NSS, but he also invokes the Thangtong Gyalpo prayer to demonstrate how the five perfections can be established in meditation practice.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This talk was originally given to the European sangha on September 16, 2024 as part of an online, weekend program called "Compassion Without Limit". This is the final portion of the program's third talk which did not air as a live LINK, but is made available on the podcast to complete the third talk, which aired on June 7, 2026.

Speaker: Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. This talk was originally given to the European sangha on September 16, 2024 as part of an online, weekend program called "Compassion Without Limit". The first of three talks aired on the LINK in August 2025 and the second in February 2026. This is the third and final talk from that program. Rinpoche describes how to put Compassion Without Limit into practice with the four immeasurables. He underscores the importance of merit and delves deeply into the "mindset of the Mahayana", which begins with a strong foundation in loving-kindess. Having cultivated this deeply, compassion, equanimity and sympathetic joy naturally unfold.