In October 2020, at the end of the Nyaluk Phurba drupchen that he holds every year at Tsering Jong, his home in Bir, Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche thanked his monks and explained to them why he does so many drupchens. Anyone connected with this tradition would probably like to hear, or read, his explanations.

Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche strongly recommends this text for those who wish to deepen their understanding of sur practice. In the text, Patrul Rinpoche describes in precise and graphic detail all the different types of guest that we invite to a sur offering. These descriptions are far more extensive than usually found in sur liturgies, helping us to generate devotion to those we invite out of faith, and compassion to the beggars, outcasts, fallen monastics and malevolent spirits who are the main objects of our offering. Patrul Rinpoche includes a special section for the spirits that held sway in his home region in Tibet—as Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche wrote, “Kham was haunted in the past by many ghosts and evil spirits, and this was one of the reasons why Patrul Rinpoche used to explain the Bodhicharyavatara continually to his disciples. Before long, there were no more ghosts—or at least, no one came to any more harm. Such is the hidden power of Bodhichitta!”[1]Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Enlightened Courage. Snow Lion, page 29. Patrul Rinpoche’s compassion is evident throughout the text, particularly in his description of beggars who are devoted two sections. For each type of guest, we are instructed in how we should make offerings and what we should request of them. The text is an invaluable guide for Vajrayana practitioners.

While teaching the Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo, as he explained the section on the paramita of generosity, Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche felt it was important to relate it more closely to western people, and he gave this very useful instruction.

Recently, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche have asked as many practitioners as possible to offer sur practice to repay the karmic debts that are an important cause of the alarming spread of covid in India, and in other parts of the world. In 2010, Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche explained very simply how to do a sur offering, which is not a complicated practice. He based his teaching on the Chokling text of sur offering, which you can find here. He gave this teaching when he was visiting Dzogchen Beara to help with the building of the new protector shrine. During his visit, he advised to offer sur for all the people who died in the past in the region during the great famine. We have also included the video of Rinpoche demonstrating the mudras that he mentions.

After Sogyal Rinpoche’s passing, the Rigpa sangha gathered with Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche and his monks at Bodhgaya, the most important and powerful Buddhist sacred place, and brought the kudung of Sogyal Rinpoche. Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche felt it would be a good idea for people to gather and practise together Vajrasattva through a Minling Dorsem drupchen to purify our link with Sogyal Rinpoche. Some of Rigpa’s main people asked then Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche to compose a prayer for the swift rebirth of Sogyal Rinpoche. Once it had been translated, Eszter went to see Rinpoche twice to ask for the reading transmission of the prayer. Rinpoche responded that it would be better if he’d give it to everyone in the main temple the next day, together with an explanation of the meaning of the prayer he wrote.

Early one morning at his home in Bir, Rinpoche shared this short instruction with one of his friends; an instruction that sounded very much like his ‘heart advice’. Rinpoche explained how we tend to receive so many different teachings that, often, we don't know where we should start, or which practice we should focus on. This is especially the case, he said, for people such as ourselves who don’t know the Dharma very well, or who know it, but are too lazy to apply it. If you feel like you might be one of those people, then Rinpoche’s answer here, in his own words, ‘the fruit of 67 years of investigation’, may be just what you need.

Late one night, Rinpoche paused as he walked past the upper cave at Yangleshö, sat down at the entrance of the cave to say some prayers and then, to inspire modern pilgrims, spontaneously began to recount, in his inimitable manner, the history of ‘the Asura cave’.

During one of Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche’s visits to Antwerp, some of his Brussels-based friends asked Brussels Rigpa if they could use the centre for a day-long tsok practice. Naturally, the Brussels Sangha were delighted and immediately agreed. And, naturally, they were also determined to make the most of Rinpoche’s visit. So they asked him to teach them about The Essence of the Vajrayana.

During a Pema Khandro drupchen at Lerab Ling, having tirelessly illuminated more than fifteen annual drupchens with practice advice, Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche decided it was time to point out where western Vajrayana practitioners fall short.

Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche is, and always has been, a great patron of the Buddhist arts. Of course, these days, it’s become fashionable either to invest large sums of money in antique, historical artefacts, or to use new technologies to reproduce many images and statues quickly and in large quantities. In spite of both these trends, Rinpoche himself continues to follow in the footsteps of the great lamas of the past, by employing the best artists and craftspeople he can find, then guiding their work based on his own deep knowledge and experience of the teachings.

I was asked to comment on Kyabjé Dudjom Rinpoche’s Short Practice of Sengé Dongma. It is a practice for averting obstacles associated with Sengé Dongma. I don’t have anything special to say about this particular practice.

One sunny, summer morning in Lerab Ling, Rinpoche – who was, as always, intent on remaining absolutely faithful to the practice methods of the great masters of the past – read the prescribed section of the Drupchen Digest that’s traditionally recited during a drupchen. A Drupchen Digest is a compilation of quotations that have been gathered and categorized according to where they should be read during the ritual practice; and its purpose is to inspire participants at different stages of the practice.

One hot summer’s evening during a Vajrakilaya drupchen at Lerab Ling, Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche spoke about both Vajrakilaya and how to apply the basic principles of kyerim to Vajrakilaya practice. Sogyal Rinpoche was present and Chokyi Nyima (Richard Baron) provided an excellent on-the-spot live translation. This was the teaching that went on to become an integral part of how kyerim is now taught to all Rigpa's Vajrayana students.

During a private interview in Lerab Ling, Rinpoche was asked about the eight great bodhisattvas who are also known as the ‘eight close sons’ of the Buddha.

Rinpoche who was in Paris on his way to India, was requested to go the Rigpa centre there to teach on the Tendrel Nyesel. Even though Rinpoche is not particularly familiar with this particular terma, he gave an extremely accessible teaching, essential for anyone who wishes to do this practice, even if for those who at the beginning of their exploration of the Vajrayana teachings.