Lineage

The Awakened Heart Sangha sees itself as being a vehicle for the adhistana and teaching of the lineage coming through Lama Shenpen. Her main lineage connection is with the Mahamudra and Dzogchen lineage. This lineage comes to her through her Karma Kagyu teachers all of whom recieved Dzogchen transmission from H.H. Khyentse Rinpoche of the Nyingma lineage.  Because her teachers are Karma Kagyu she thinks of herself as a Karma Kagyu but since she receives Dzogchen and other Nyingma teachings from her teachers, especially from Lama Rigdzin Shikpo, she also thinks of herself as a Nyingmapa and a follower of Guru Rinpoche, Padmasambhava.   

Lama Shenpen takes from her teachers the conviction that Mahamudra and Dzogchen teachings are based on what is sometimes referred to as a Shentong interpretation of the Prabhasvarachitta, Prajnaparamita and Tathagatagarbha.  This view is perfectly compatible with the teachings of the Pali sutras and other early canons, the Mahayana sutras, particularly the Avatamsaka and the Shrimaladevi sutras, Nagarjuna's Madhyamakakarikas and Yogachara Madhyamaka teachings.  

The thrust of Lama Shenpen's approach is to offer upadesha, direct instruction on how to recognise the true nature of Mind, in language compatible with the understanding of her students. The focus is always on the truth at the heart of reality that we intuit from the beginning of the path and which all the different teachings are means of bringing into focus. She emphasises a spiral approach leading to an ever deepening understanding of the one essential point that brings liberation and gives us the power to deliver all beings from suffering.