[Bardor Tulku Rinpoche’s public talk on “How Difficulties Enhance Spiritual Practice” given at the Columbus Tibetan Buddhist Center, OH, in October 2010. Translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso, transcribed by Ed Powers, edited by Basia Coulter. Copyright Bardor Tulku Rinpoche and Peter O’Hearn.] The first thing we have to understand, when talking about bringing adversity to […]
The problem we experience very much nowadays is that we are unable to tell the difference or distinguish between a spiritual tradition and those who practice it. When we encounter upheaval, adversity, disputation, or controversy in a religious or spiritual tradition, we immediately denigrate the tradition itself. We say, “Well, this religion or this tradition is simply no good.” But this comes from our misapprehension of the behavior of some of the participants or members of the tradition as something inherent in the tradition itself. This is a problematic misapprehension for us because it causes us to lose respect for genuine spiritual traditions.
