James Low is a disciple and teacher in the Byangter and Khordong lineages of the late Chhimed Rigdzin Lama.
James regularly teaches the principles of dzogchen Buddhism in Europe and he publishes translations and commentaries from time to time.
Many of his seminars have been recorded and transcribed. They are now being put on his website to provide access for those seeking to deepen their dharma understanding and explore how to apply it in the complexities of everyday life.
Learn more about future events: simplybeing.co.uk/events/
1/4 Taking your ease where you are always welcome. [EN-PT-ES] Sintra 08.2026
1/4 Taking your ease where you are always welcome. [EN-PT-ES] Sintra 08.2026
Part 1 of 4 from the Dzogchen retreat with James Low, "Taking your ease where you are always welcome," held 1st-12th August 2026 at Casa de Exercícios de Santo Inácio, Colares, in Sintra, Portugal. The teachings were given with consecutive translation into Portuguese and Spanish.
James writes: "We will focus on opening to our minds as they actually are, free of conceptual covering. We will meditate, communicate and participate in various activities bring us ever-closer to the here-and-now.
The retreat will have a new style of timetable with James teaching in the morning and then in the afternoon there will be small practice groups and a range of activities such as drama and movement led by experienced sangha members. This is designed to both make James's work easier and to encourage active participation in learning."
Retreat information:
Event page (https://simplybeing.co.uk/events/taking-your-ease-where-you-are-always-welcome-colares-portugal-2026/)
Translators:
Portuguese: Madalena Pedroza and Milton Petruczok
Spanish: Mariana Orozco and Juan García Lázaro
Credits:
Cover video art: Matthias Groeneveld, via Pexels.com
More resources:
Instagram of excerpts (https://instagram.com/SBSangha_JamesLow)
Podcasts of some teachings (https://simplybeing.co.uk/news/podcasts/)
Future events (https://simplybeing.co.uk/events/)
Watch the original video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O32vkOYOoaU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O32vkOYOoaU)
3 Oct 2026
Dissolving Obscurations in the Innate Openness of Presence. [EN-PL] Wilga 05.2026
Dissolving Obscurations in the Innate Openness of Presence
A Dzogchen retreat with James Low in Wilga, Poland, held May 21–24, 2026. The teachings were given with Polish translation.
"From the point of view of dzogchen, collaboration and participation are much more important than dominance and control. That is to say, we relax and find ourselves within the field of our participation. The world reveals itself as we reveal ourselves – nothing is fixed and everything moves together. The field of experience is responsive yet will always slip out of our attempts at total control. The one who wants control is the one who is already in duality."
~ James Low
Credits
Polish translation: Bartek Czajkowski
Camera: Olaf Brockmann
Retreat organised by Olga Maj, Jagoda Tobota, Konrad Świtała and Robert Hnat
Links
Retreat event page (https://simplybeing.co.uk/events/retreat-in-wilga-poland-may-2026/)
Audio recordings of this retreat (https://simplybeing.co.uk/audio-recordings/james-low-poland-wilga-2026-may-dissolving-obscurations-in-the-innate-openness-of-presence/)
Podcasts of some teachings (https://simplybeing.co.uk/news/podcasts/)
Future events (https://simplybeing.co.uk/events/)
Instagram of excerpts (https://instagram.com/SBSangha_JamesLow)
Watch the original video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0tOnuUhFdg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0tOnuUhFdg)
Chapters
00:00 Why are we here? Reflecting on intention and Dzogchen as freedom
07:31 Thoughts, mind and the search for the thinker
18:17 Choices, habitual formations and the limited field of knowing
29:03 Hierarchies of meaning and the ego as interpretive system
36:19 Buddha's four sights and the eight worldly concerns
45:57 Buddha's six years of striving and awakening under the tree
1:02:56 Arising and dissolving of appearances; non-artificial presence
1:14:26 Buddha's awakening, emptiness and dependent origination
1:23:23 Gradual teachings, Buddha as doctor and trusting thoughts
1:37:48 Language, names and constancy as constructed
1:52:13 Situational nature of experience: water and ice example
1:57:44 Perceiving others in public space versus objectifying them
2:07:58 Naming, defining and shifting identity in samsara
2:16:53 Airport in Warsaw: experience as projection, not a thing
2:23:57 Am I a thing? Definitions received from education
2:29:09 Refuge and the bodhisattva vow to help all beings
2:35:50 Judging others and turning variety into hierarchy
2:47:58 Seven-line prayer and indebtedness to all beings
2:56:10 Light dissolving body, speech and mind into the ball of light
3:07:55 Why we rely on the guru: dissolution of subject and object
3:17:19 Mind as it is: cataract and lamp examples
3:28:13 Properties of the base; presence versus consciousness
3:36:04 Self-arising presence is free from concepts: the tea example
4:09:41 Origin of delusion: lack of presence of the base
4:16:26 Lack of presence and the dissolution practice into light
4:25:36 Water and ice: fixation and the sense of a separate self
4:39:30 Primordial trauma and forgetting the source
4:45:52 Practising from vulnerability: Padma light and dissolving
4:58:07 Absorbing the meaning of the text into oneself
5:07:56 First obscuration: the five poisons
5:13:05 Second obscuration: conceptual knowing
5:23:15 Invasion and abandonment, opacity and the separate self
5:29:09 Freedom of choice and the ego's need for privacy
5:39:37 Co-emergent presence and co-emergent ignorance
5:52:59 Naming and labelling as an act of power
6:03:44 Six realms of samsara and karma as a trace
3 Oct 2026
The Illusion of Perception
The Illusion of Perception
A teaching by James Low on Dzogchen and Tibetan Buddhism, given to a practising audience.
This episode is an extract from the longer teaching "Wisdom and Compassion", given in Macclesfield in March 2025. You can watch the full teaching here: https://youtu.be/jtjlM1CYuN4 (https://youtu.be/jtjlM1CYuN4)
Watch the original video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38Qp3DnR4QY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38Qp3DnR4QY)
Chapters
00:00 Phenomena arise and pass: we see light, not the wall
03:24 Hearing sound: we organize it through our templates
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27 ratings
Contact James Low - Dzogchen and Buddhist Teachings
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