Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche teaches at Nagi Gompa Hermitage

Whether it was to a large group or a private audience of one or two people, Tulku Urgyen taught in exactly the same manner, there was no difference whatsoever. He always had a personal touch, and each and every member of a large crowd would feel that he was talking directly to them. The more people in the audience, the more confident and radiant he seemed to become, even his posture would reflect it. “I don’t know why I’m like this,” he once confided. “Even when I was quite young, Samten Gyatso once told me, ‘You seem to think that recognizing the nature of mind is so easy. You wonder why others struggle and have not recognized it already.’ It appears that it is so close that many just miss it even when it is right there with them the entire time.” It’s really incredibly easy to see, yet so many people insist that it is terribly difficult. Of course, due to our habits from this and countless previous lives, we are easily distracted and overcoming our own laziness, emotions and lack of diligence does take time; yet nothing could be easier than just letting go, recognizing mind essence and resting there for however long it lasts. Padmasambhava and the Buddha were quite realistic, they never told anyone that they had to be a fully enlightened right out of the gate, only that at the beginning one should get a taste. By simply recognizing for short periods repeated over and over again, uninterrupted stability develops naturally over time. Then as our habits of unawareness and distraction do slow the process down, various practices,such as the ngondro and deity visualization, have been developed to help break down such obstacles and speed up the process.