Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel joins Raghu Markus for a conversation around the roles that grace and faith play in our journey of awakening.
Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel has studied and practiced the Buddhadharma for 35 years under the guidance of her teacher and husband Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. She is the retreat master of Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado and teaches throughout the U.S., Australia, and Europe. Learn more about Elizabeth and her offerings at elizabethmattisnamgyel.com.
The Road to Becoming Nobody
Elizabeth reflects on the attachment to roles, identities, and patterns of thinking that become the source for a lot of suffering in our lives. She and Raghu talk about how service can offer liberation from our destructive narratives.
Cause and Effect (13:30)
Raghu and Elizabeth discuss the Buddhist teaching of dependent origination, exploring the central role that identity plays in the cause and effect nature of suffering.
“(Dependent origination) is essential to everything the Buddha taught. Basically what he is talking about is cause and effect. How we live our life effects how we see the results.” – Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel
Lama Surya Das explores dependent origination and navigating the interior battlefield on Ep.267 of the Mindrolling Podcast
The Hook and the Ring (27:00)
How does grace factor into the student/teacher relationship? Elizabeth looks at the way grace relates to faith and dependent origination. She shares what grace means to her and how she sees grace interconnect with faith and spiritual practice.
“They say the relationship of the teacher and student is like a hook on a ring. The student doesn’t create the ring, which I think is a sense of awe and humility – a longing to give up the causes and conditions for suffering. If the student is to develop that then the teacher can hook the ring. That is the kind of relationship they have, an inerdependant relationship, a very powerful agreement.” – Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel
The Logic of Faith (42:00)
What does faith mean to you? Raghu and Elizabeth talk about the importance of faith, even when we can’t all agree on what it looks like.
