James Low - Dzogchen and Buddhist Teachings

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 Introduction of James Low by Lama Padma Samten
05:41 Two orders of experience: phenomenology and interpretation
11:50 Dependent co-origination and the instability of self
14:31 James Low's speech
19:11 The principle of great integration in Dzogchen
25:25 Working with depression and difficult emotions

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

May 31st 2026. James Low talked about compassion in action and supporting minority groups such as the Huni Kuin in the Amazon. Bellow you can read more about this group and how to support them here.

This event was taking place on the full moon day (Saga Dawa) of the 4th month in the Tibetan calendar. It commemorates such major events of Sakyamuni Buddha’s life as his birth, awakening, and parinirvāṇa. The Tibetans consider that any positive or negative karma we create during this month is multiplied 100,000 times.

Note: the constant cuts in this video result from the removal of James Low's periods of silence, while waiting for the consecutive translation from the German translator.

Transcript of the meeting (may contain minor errors): https://bit.ly/3RXr4nq

Audio of this meeting: https://bit.ly/49SMQyD

Other languages' links: [soon]

🌳 AMAZONIAN 🐆 WORLD 🌎 SANCTUARY
💎 Compassionate call 🙏

In the heart of the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest, the Huni Kuin indigenous people are experiencing a rebirth of their identity after decades of slavery and oppression, since the time when they were captured in the forests and forbidden from living their culture. It was only from the year 2000 onwards that the Huni Kuin of the Humaitá Indigenous Land began to remember who they were, coming together to recall their culture and their ancestral, spiritual way of life. After more than 20 years of strengthening, the communities of the Indigenous Land are today living through a cultural peak.

🛶 Learn more about this ancestral people, native to pre-colonial Brazil:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XeY6dhejg7NquTZth8X5ACc7e2Swo1waitMEkMOCXYM/edit?usp=sharing

🔆 James Low's call:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DXvyV8AsRS6/

🐆 Indigenous Shaman (spiritual leader) Mapu Huni Kuin Instragram: https://www.instagram.com/mapuhunikuin/ and https://www.instagram.com/huwakaruyuxibu/

🎬 Eskawata Kayawai: The Spirit of Transformation: https://youtu.be/muIExL2Qly0

The product of a seven-year project in Brazil. The film tells the story of the Huni Kuin indigenous people, who live deep in the western Amazon of Acre, Brazil, as they return to their ancestral and spiritual way of life by reconnecting with their own culture and identity.

🌿 Help us save one of the hearts of Earth – Amazonia –, a sacred territory of native rainforest and animals from imminent destruction.

🤲 Ways to Offer Your Support (Dāna ≈ energy exchange)

🌐 International Bank Transfer via Wise
Account holder: Geraldo Serafim (who is the Financial Director of the Associação Centro Huwã Karu Yuxibu)
Direct payment link: https://wise.com/pay/me/geraldos484

🇺🇸 USD (United States)
Account holder: Geraldo Serafim
Routing (Wire/ACH): 084009519
Account Number: 186066937912307
SWIFT/BIC: TRWIUS35XXX
Bank address: Wise US Inc, 108 W 13th St, Wilmington, DE 19801, USA

🇬🇧 GBP (United Kingdom)
Account holder: Geraldo Serafim
Account Number: 62797102
Sort Code: 60-84-64
IBAN: GB80 TRWI 6084 6462 7971 02
SWIFT/BIC: TRWIGB2LXXX

🇪🇺 EUR (SEPA Zone)
Account holder: Geraldo Serafim
IBAN: BE57 9052 2877 7335
SWIFT/BIC: TRWIBEB1XXX
Bank and address: Wise — Rue du Trône 100, 3rd floor, Brussels, 1050, Belgium

🇧🇷 R$ (Brazil)
Pix code: adm.centro.hky@gmail.com
(Associação Huwã Karu Yuxibu)

₿ Crypto wallet address (EVM compatible networks)
0x57066552402E0a0142C9c61f9444e8c3Db677BbD

May this fundraising be successful and replicated all over the world, in benefit of all beings! 🌬️🤲❤️‍🔥

📱 Instagram of excerpts: https://instagram.com/SBSangha_JamesLow
🎧 Poscasts of some teachings: https://simplybeing.co.uk/news/podcasts/
📆 Learn more about future events: https://simplybeing.co.uk/events/

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

May 9th 2026. James Low's teachings on Zoom about "Patience and non-duality as a means to avoid reactivity to provocations".

Transcript of the retreat (may contain minor errors): https://bit.ly/3RgIDhH
Audio recording: http://bit.ly/4u3hUE0

Other languages' links: [soon]

Learn more about future events: simplybeing.co.uk/events/

📱 Instagram of excerpts: https://instagram.com/SBSangha_JamesLow
🎧 Poscasts of some teachings: https://simplybeing.co.uk/news/podcasts/
📆 Learn more about future events: https://simplybeing.co.uk/events/

Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlLVFctvy4Y