From Ordinary Identity to Sacred Appearance with Lama Yeshe Jinpa

The tantric path invites us to transform the way we see ourselves and the world. Ordinarily, we experience life through the lens of habit, fear, grasping, and limitation. We see ourselves as small, separate, and fixed. We see others through judgment, history, and projection. This is ordinary appearance. Deity yoga offers a sacred remedy. In Vajrayana practice, the deity is not something outside of us to worship as separate. The deity represents awakened body, awakened speech, awakened mind, and the fully developed qualities of compassion, wisdom, courage, and skillful means. Through deity yoga, we learn to let go of our ordinary self-image and gradually recognize our deeper nature as inseparable from awakened mind. This talk was given by Lama Yeshe Jinpa Rinpoche on Sunday, June 7th, 2026 at Lion's Roar Dharma Center in Sacramento, California. Lion's Roar Dharma Center at Do Nga Dargey Temple in Sacramento, California, is a Tibetan Buddhist Temple within the Gelugpa Lineage. Lama Yeshe Jinpa is the spiritual director and resident teacher of Lion’s Roar Dharma Center, which he co-founded with Geshe Losang Gyatso in 1992. In 1995, Lama Jinpa received direct heart/mind transmission from Geshe Gyatso after 25 years of Dharma practice and study. He is one of the few western lamas thus far recognized within the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan or Vajrayana Buddhism, the lineage of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Please visit https://lionsroardharmacenter.org/ for more information!