James Low - Dzogchen and Buddhist Teachings

James Low's Dzogchen retreat "Approaching Non-Duality" took place 23rd-26th April 2026 in Todtmoos, Germany.

James Low writes: "The traditional structure of Buddhist teachings is that each level or vehicle has its own View, Meditation, Activity and Result. Over the years I have focused on making the various views and meditations as clear as possible. I feel that our retreats now need to have increasing emphasis on your activity and proactive learning."

He continues: "We all have a lot of life experience and so how can we mobilise this experience to become an ally on our path instead of an obstacle? Rather than relying on our habitual assumptions and conclusions, our practice is to investigate how our subjectivity arises in different situations. We aim to locate the ground (or basis) for our subjective thoughts, feelings and actions in our simple presence within the ever-open here and now."

The retreat featured morning teachings by James Low, with afternoon small group activities led by experienced sangha members. The aim in Dzogchen is to see the self-vanishing of each moment by ripening our presence without engaging in dualistic reificatory judgement.

Organiser and German translation: Robert Jaroslawski
Cover art: Jari Lobo (Pexels.com)

More information: https://simplybeing.co.uk/events/approaching-non-duality-todtmoos-april-2026/

Watch the original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vE2tZ5MsTI

Chapters

00:00 Form is Emptiness: The Heart Sutra and Non-Duality

07:54 The Five Poisons and Self-Deception

16:07 Wisdom and Compassion Flowing from Emptiness

29:25 Death Comes from Concepts

37:16 Two Paths from One Ground

45:08 The Three Kayas in Tantric Practice

52:35 Sambhogakaya: Enjoyment of Sensory Arising

1:00:36 The Eight Consciousnesses as Empty Forms

1:10:05 The Dzogchen View: Already Complete

1:16:59 The Delusion of Taking Becoming to Be Being

1:21:34 Critique of Self-Existent Phenomena

1:26:33 Clear Perception and Responding to Suffering

1:30:01 The Three Statements of Garab Dorje

1:34:19 Ngotro: Introduction to Your Own Face

1:38:19 Following the Stream to Its Source

1:45:04 Samsara and Nirvana: No Fundamental Difference

1:48:43 Guru Yoga of Machig Labdrön

1:55:06 Five Questions on the Nature of Mind

2:01:51 The Two Obscurations

2:07:58 Impermanence and the Vulnerability of Form

2:18:08 Twelve Metaphors for Emptiness and Form

2:22:40 Wandering Without Identity: The Sadhu Practice

2:29:09 The First Unawareness: Condensation from the Flow

2:42:06 The Third Unawareness: Conceptual Fixation and Naming

2:47:19 The Fourth Unawareness: Karma and Its Four Stages

2:57:06 Interdependence and the environment as inseparable support

3:06:19 Openness to experience beyond ego judgment

3:14:31 Emptiness as openness beyond fixed essence

3:22:15 Self-Deception and the Illusion of Fixed Identity

3:29:51 The three aspects of energy: dang, rolpa and tsal

3:38:35 Rolpa: The Mirror and the Play of Experience

3:44:24 Tsal: The Crystal and Manifesting Diversity

3:50:05 The Cuckoo's Cry: non-duality of experience and nature

A talk and Q&A session with Dzogchen teacher James Low, hosted by Jon Krop for the Sit-Heads Meditation Club via Zoom in March 2026.
Watch the original video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOt4FfKII6o

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Sit-Heads Meditation Club and James Low
04:21 The Nature of Identity as Temporary Clothing
08:09 The Five Skandhas and the Construction of Self
14:00 Impermanence and the Delusion of Inherent Existence
24:42 How the Five Skandhas Generate Illusory Patterns
28:52 The Mahāyāna View: Emptiness of Phenomena
32:32 Dzogchen Practice: Relaxing into the Space of Emergence
38:52 The Basic Meditation Instruction: Present Awareness
42:28 Ethics Without Agenda: Wisdom as the Basis for Compassion

How to cultivate mental health in a world on fire? A conversation between Lama Padma Samten and James Low, with consecutive translation to Portuguese.
In this conversation, James Low joins Lama Padma Samten to explore mental health, meditation and Buddhist wisdom in the face of the uncertainty, conflict and complexity of contemporary life.
Invited by Lama Padma Samten, James Low reflects on how our habitual ways of seeing ourselves and the world shape our experience, and how awareness, presence and a deeper understanding of the nature of mind can open a different way of relating to suffering, confusion and change.
Drawing from the Buddhist tradition and their many years of teaching and practice, they offer perspectives on how we can meet a troubled world without becoming overwhelmed by it, cultivating clarity, compassion and inner freedom.
Lama Padma Samten is a Brazilian Buddhist teacher and founder of the Centro de Estudos Budistas Bodisatva (CEBB).
Lama Padma Samten:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lamapadmasamten
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lamapadmasamten/
Website: https://cebb.org.br/
James Low:
Instagram: instagram.com/simplybeingsangha
Podcasts: simplybeing.co.uk/news/podcasts/
Events: simplybeing.co.uk/events
Watch the original video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4pWqcK_jjA

Chapters
00:00 The delusion of a fixed self and poor mental health
02:42 Identity as construction and the obstacle of thingness
08:28 Impermanence and the instability of identity
14:07 Finding stability through meditation and presence
25:25 Working with depression and letting go of conclusions

August 15, 2026. How to cultivate mental health in a world on fire? A conversation between Lama Padma Samten and James Low, with consecutive translation to Portuguese.

In this conversation, James Low joins Lama Padma Samten to explore mental health, meditation and Buddhist wisdom in the face of the uncertainty, conflict and complexity of contemporary life.

Invited by Lama Padma Samten, James Low reflects on how our habitual ways of seeing ourselves and the world shape our experience — and how awareness, presence and a deeper understanding of the nature of mind can open a different way of relating to suffering, confusion and change.

Drawing from the Buddhist tradition and their many years of teaching and practice, James Low and Lama Padma Samten offer perspectives on how we can meet a troubled world without becoming overwhelmed by it, cultivating clarity, compassion and inner freedom.

Lama Padma Samten is a Brazilian Buddhist teacher and the founder of the Centro de Estudos Budistas Bodisatva (CEBB). He invited James Low to this dialogue as part of his ongoing work of bringing Buddhist teachings into conversation with the challenges of contemporary life.

Lama Padma Samten:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lamapadmasamten

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lamapadmasamten/

Website: https://cebb.org.br/

James Low:

Instagram: instagram.com/simplybeingsangha

Podcasts: simplybeing.co.uk/news/podcasts/

Events: simplybeing.co.uk/events

Watch the original video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4pWqcK_jjA

Chapters

00:00 Introduction of James Low by Lama Padma Samten

14:31 James Low's speech

1:05:53 Lama Padma Samten's speech and Questions & Answers

Approaching Non-Duality. [EN-DE] Todtmoos 04.2026

23rd - 26th April 2026. Approaching non-duality. James Low's Dzogchen retreat in Todtmoos, Germany.
https://simplybeing.co.uk/events/approaching-non-duality-todtmoos-april-2026/

James Low, April 2026, writes:

"The traditional structure of Buddhist teachings is that each level or vehicle has its own View, Meditation, Activity and Result. Over the years I have focused on making the various views and meditations as clear as possible and you can access these through my many audio and video recordings, books and transcripts.

I feel that our retreats now need to have increasing emphasis on your activity and proactive learning.

We all have a lot of life experience and so how can we mobilise this experience to become an ally on our path instead of an obstacle? Rather than relying on our habitual assumptions and conclusions, our practice is to investigate how our subjectivity arises in different situations. We aim to locate the ground (or basis) for our subjective thoughts, feelings and actions in our simple presence within the ever-open here and now.

I will be teaching in the mornings. In the afternoons there will be small group activities led by experienced members of our sangha. They will offer a range of activities and I am encouraging you all to try them out so that you can experience what you can make use of (or not) at each moment in time. The key point is for you to observe what arises for you as you engage with each activity in your ever-changing environment.

The aim in dzogchen is to see the self-vanishing of each moment. We do this by ripening our presence without engaging in dualistic reificatory judgement."

Organiser and German translation: Robert Jaroslawski

Cover art: Jari Lobo (Pexels.com)

[James' current project support]
🌳 AMAZONIAN 🐆 WORLD SANCTUARY 🌎 COMPASSIONATE CALL 🙏
Help us return Indigenous lands in Brazil to their original protectors
🤲 Learn more about the project and how to help (money, time and skills etc.): https://simplybeing.co.uk/announcement/huni-kuin-indigenous-people-of-the-amazon 🌿

📱 Instagram of excerpts: instagram.com/simplybeingsangha
🎧 Podcasts of some teachinhgs: simplybeing.co.uk/news/podcasts/
📆 Learn more about future events: simplybeing.co.uk/events

Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vE2tZ5MsTI