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Approaching the Aro gTér

My experience with an unusual Tibetan Buddhist lineage

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Contents

  • Approaching the Aro gTér
    • Introduction
      • About this site
      • About the author
      • Comment policy
      • Acknowledgements
      • Buddhism for Vampires
      • Ngakpa Update
    • Approach
      • “Fit”
      • An advice vacuum
      • Approaches to religion
      • On the path
      • Off the path
      • How I approached the Aro tradition
      • Mixed feelings
      • Opinions and curiosity
      • Buddhism in the West
      • Learning from other traditions
    • Buddhism, Dzogchen, and the Aro gTér
      • Truth and methods
      • Principles and functions
      • Visionary truth, objective truth
      • The futile quest for certainty
      • Yanas, contradictions, and understanding
      • Essential Buddhism
      • Uncontroversial Buddhist lineages
      • Buddhism and football
      • Yana shock
      • Wrathful practice
      • Why Dzogchen?
      • The scarcity of Dzogchen
      • Dzogchen: a controversial yana
      • No holiness—vastness!
      • No cosmic justice
      • Yana slip
    • Aro gTér teachings
      • Open secret
      • Apprentice retreat
      • Emptiness in the Aro gTér
      • Ling Gésar Buddhist martial arts retreat
      • Ngak’phang
      • The Aro tradition and the Nyingma mainstream
      • How many bardos?
      • The heart of sun and moon
      • Aro tsok and the Three Displays
    • Approaching teachers
      • Lama as surgeon, Lama as spouse
      • Personality display
    • Terma
      • Is the Aro gTer valid?
      • Terma overview
      • Terma validation in Nyingma theory
      • The duck test
      • Prophecy and terma
      • Where are the Tibetan texts?
      • Can white people have authentic visions?
      • Terma validation in Tibetan practice
      • What does “valid terma” mean?
      • The dakinis’ warm breath
      • Asking the wrong question
    • Aro lineage history
      • Visionary and objective history
      • Sambhogakaya existence
      • Did Aro Lingma really exist?
      • The history of Aro lineage history
    • Statements of support
      • Lama Yeshé Dorje Rinpoche’s Proclamation
      • Lama Yeshe Dorje Rinpoche’s Foreword
      • Kyabjé Chhi-’mèd Rig’dzin Rinpoche’s Foreword
      • Letter from Chhi’mèd Rig’dzin Rinpoche
      • Letter about a student
      • Doctoral recommendation
      • Long-life prayer by Chhi’mèd Rig’dzin Rinpoche
      • Long-life prayer by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche
      • Gyaltsen Rinpoche’s Introduction
      • Kyabjé Dung-sé Thinley Norbu Rinpoche’s Colophon
      • Johannes Frischknecht
    • “Controversy”
      • Aro “controversy” F.A.Q.
      • The Aro “controversy”
      • “Aro Ter/Flaming Jewel Sangha”
      • The Dalai Lama and the Aro tradition
      • Hui Neng on controversy
    • Ngak’chang Rinpoche
      • Authorized to teach
      • Investigative journalism
      • My experience of Ngak’chang Rinpoche
      • Ngakpa Chögyam
      • Ngakpa Chögyam and his Lamas
      • Düdjom Rinpoche and Dilgo Khyentsé Rinpoche
      • Chhi’mèd Rig’dzin Rinpoche
        • What happened?
        • What he said
        • What did he think about the Aro gTér?
      • Has the story changed?
      • Wrathful teaching
      • Jealousy among the sangha
      • Visceral dislike
      • Burying the hatchet
    • Special, ordinary, noble
      • No cosmic plan
      • Specialness
      • Ordinariness
      • Confusion
      • Nobility
    • We matter to Buddhism
      • Responsibility
      • Endangered species
      • Twilight of the isms
      • “Buddhism is for boomers”
      • “Buddhism” is an obstacle to Buddhism
      • Thought soup
      • Buddhism shattered
      • Stealth Dharma
      • Consumerism, Fundamentalism, and Buddhism
      • A Dzogchen-shaped hole in the culture
      • Yes
      • Three percent of the Dharma
    • Books
      • The economics of Buddhism books
      • Emailing the Lamas from Afar
      • Heart of Sun and Moon
      • illusory advice
      • Back to the future
      • Why Brad Warner matters
      • Finding Our Sea-Legs

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