Namchak Community Blog

Given the active Coronavirus developments and school closures, along with the many unknowns for the months ahead, we have decided to postpone the Compassion in Action Fellowship until the 2021 - 2022 academic year. We are deeply grateful to all who have applied, nominated, and shared the Fellowship opportunity with others. The response to our new...

I was planning on celebrating my one-year Namchak employment anniversary with my co-workers and Namchak Khen Rinpoche in New York City. I was excited to see people I met at my first retreat a year ago and to connect with new friends. But a microscopic virus threw a giant and alarming wrench in my—and probably most of your—plans. As you may...

Did you know that Tibetan Buddhism has many different deities? The deities represent different aspects or elements that you may try to channel while meditating. Think of them as aspirational figures with capacities that you are growing, like compassion for yourself and those around you. During meditation you can gaze upon the visuals of the...

I hope this message finds you well during these times of uncertainty and rapidly changing conditions. We are sending love and compassion to all those affected by the Coronavirus (COVID-19)—in both big and small ways. While monitoring the situation carefully, we ultimately feel that moving all upcoming retreats to livestream only is best for the...

Did you know that Tibetan Buddhism has many different deities? The deities represent different aspects or elements that you are trying to channel while meditating. Think of them as having aspects you’re trying to aspire to, like compassion for yourself and those around you. During meditation you can gaze upon the visuals of the deities to remind...

Each of the Four Immeasurables has a near and far enemy. We’ll be focusing on Loving Kindness in this piece. Think of a far enemy as a complete opposite in this context. The far enemy or complete opposite of Loving Kindness is ill will or hatred towards another being. That’s usually pretty evident and easy to identify, so we won’t spend a lot of...

For some of us, trying to cultivate self-love and acceptance through a Loving Kindness practice can be like trying to go to the moon: we know it’s possible, but the journey seems impossible. It’s so much easier to worry about our endless responsibilities than to sit with ourselves, our thoughts and try to change our pattern of thinking. That’s...

Our internal critic can be harsh and unrelenting, especially in times when we’re triggered. That critic can be hard to silence fully without suppressing or repressing it. So how can we acknowledge the inner critic without nurturing its presence to grow in our minds and our lives? Here are three tactics to keep our inner critic to a minimum....

Compassion is important, but we cannot forget to take care of our needs first. It is true that compassion has the power to increase your happiness and that of others. But there is a caveat. First, you must feel like you are being compassionate to yourself. However, this doesn’t mean you have to engage in overly self-indulgent activities in order...

This month we are focusing on Loving Kindness, or metta meditation. It is our hope that this month will be a time of wishing happiness for all beings. Perhaps we can use all of the Valentine's Day advertisements as reminders to do this practice instead of buying boxes of chocolates. What better gift than happiness can we give ourselves, others,...