Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

On Friday, July 24, 2026 Karmapa Center 16 will hold a consecration ceremony for a life-sized bronze statue of Guru Rinpoche, crafted by an artisan in Nepal and newly installed.
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche will lead the ceremony Friday, July 24, offering a teaching on “The Life and Teachings of Guru Rinpoche” Saturday, July 25.

Events are free and open to the public, onsite at the Center and broadcast live online.

Register https://karmapacenter16.org/2026/04/20/guru-rinpoche-statue-and-teaching/

Karmapa Center 16 was established near Zion, IL to commemorate His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the head of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. In addition to the statue, the Center will eventually include a temple with a large shrine room and meditation hall to house the Parinirvana Stupa (a reliquary monument for His Holiness), a library, classrooms, and other associated buildings. The site was chosen because Zion is where the Karmapa passed away at the Cancer Treatment Center of America on November 5, 1981. Karmapa Center 16 will be a pilgrimage site for Buddhists and is intended as a sacred space for everyone; dedicated to cultivating kindness, peace, understanding and compassion.

Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche recently said, “In my view, anything one can do to extend assistance and support is not only deeply appreciated but is also a powerful contribution toward ensuring that the precious Kagyu lineage and all of its teachings remain present in the world, that His Holiness’ presence may remain uninterrupted, and that the world may continue to experience happiness, well-being, and benefit. That support and the contributions will help this benefit spread throughout the world.”

MINDFULNESS for LAZY MEDITATORS

Meditation starts with taking a centered, upright, comfortable posture.
When you sit down to meditate, something shocking happens:
Your mind is full of thoughts. It's full of all kinds of crap.
Have you noticed that? Then you're a good meditator.
At first, when you see all these thoughts you think, "This is terrible. My meditation is not working."
But when you see your thoughts, it's actually the first moment your meditation is working.

Whether you're sitting on a cushion or a chair, or even lying down, your spine is straight, but relaxed.
Sometimes we think, "Oh, this is a very weird posture. I’m not used to it."
But do you really want to go back to what you’re used to? If so, then why are you meditating? :)

Before meditation, your mind was just as busy. Your mind had just as many thoughts. It was just as full of random crap.
But you were too distracted to notice.
Before we heard the meditation instructions on posture and breathing and so on, those concepts weren't in our mind.
We might think these concepts are getting in the way of our meditation. But as my teacher in India told me, you're not acquiring more thoughts. You're actually starting to see the subtlety of your thoughts.
Your thoughts are getting more focused, more clear, and more subtle.
So you sit in meditation, and you see how many thoughts you have. So what do you do?

As a lazy meditator, I'll say you do very little. Just 3 things:
You sit, you breathe, and you notice.

Sitting upright with awareness, your mind is in the body. You follow the breath in a relaxed way. That's what we call Meditation.
Noticing your thoughts, you let them come and go without chasing after them. That's what we call Mindfulness.
So, for a lazy meditator, mindfulness is just 3 things:
• Sit
• Breathe
• Notice

Enjoy!

One problem is our mind is always going out. It's out and about. And our body is left alone, like in Home Alone.
Then bad things happen :)

The Power of a Relaxed Mind

The Mahamudra teachings on the true nature of mind can be traced back to Shakyamuni Buddha. We see this in the sutras where the Buddha spoke about mind-itself. Buddha said:

If the mind alone is virtuous,
then all phenomena in their totality will be virtuous.
If just the one mind, the originator, is nonvirtuous
then all phenomena in their totality will be nonvirtuous.

–from the Saddharmarājā-mahāyāna-sūtra

Read the Full Article + Do the Check-in: https://dpr.info/articles/the-power-of-a-relaxed-mind/

Nitartha Summer Institute 2026
July 7 – August 4

Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche will teach in Session 1 and is tentatively scheduled to teach as part of Session 2, on Finding Peace Within Chaos:

Session 1: July 7 – July 15
Session 2: July 17 – July 25
Session 3: Silent Mahamudra Retreat: July 27 – August 4

Online and Onsite at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon

Register and see full details: https://summer.nitarthainstitute.org

"It's not an easy thing to challenge your cultural conditioning, to break through its constraints, and then to go further and pe*****te the more subtle conditioning of your own mind. But that's the nature of the search for truth that frees you from illusion.

When I think of that freedom and finding the courage to break through the icy formalities of my own perfectionist Asian culture, I always recall the ancient Indian prince Siddhartha, whose accomplishment still stands as a perfect example of a revolution of mind: a one pointed search for the truth that led to his full awakening and freedom from all cultural and psychological bo***ge. He wanted nothing from the outside world. He was not on some emotional trip with an agenda of personal glorification and power. He simply wanted to know what was true and what was mere illusion. His sincerity and courage have always inspired me, and they can be an inspiration for anyone's search for truth and enlightenment."

– Rebel Buddha: A Guide to a Revolution of Mind, by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

Meditation is about being present, meeting your mind exactly as it is.