Special Announcements Issue
Volume 10, Number 7 / July 2010
A Note From the Editors
A Few Visual Treats
Hello readers,
New in this issue are three slideshows for you to enjoy. With contributions by three photographers in the sangha — Regi Franz, Mary Ellen McCourt, and Bob Schoenholtz — and the computer know-how of Dave Liden, we are happy to present you with quite a picture-filled issue! Don’t miss the YouTube video at the end of the first article, as well.
All the best,
Aline and Jeff Fisher
Invitation: Consecration of the Great Stupa
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Please Join Us This November and December
Dear friends:
In the name of Garuda Mexico I am pleased to invite all members of the Bon worldwide sangha to celebrate the Internal Consecration of the Great Stupa for World Peace. We would be very pleased if all our Bonpo brothers and sisters, as well as any and all others who feel moved to participate, could come to share with the Mexican sangha in this very special and sacred event.
The consecration will take place on December 4, 2010, in Chamma Ling, Valle de Bravo, Mexico. We will be honored in this great celebration with the presence of our beloved teachers Yongdzin (Lopon) Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, and Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche; as well as with the presence of Tulku Jorge Rene.
From November 26 to December 5, we will have various activities surrounding this main event, including a seminar and lectures. Before the consecration there will be a circumambulation of the Great Stupa and a guided meditation, both dedicated to world peace.
On our Website www.garudamexico.org please find more information concerning the program we've created for this great occasion. For information in English, email
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or (for U.S. inquiries) email Kem Spaulding >
We sincerely hope that you can join us for these very special days, and so, as a single sangha, together with our teachers, we dedicate our prayers and merits so that in this world full of tribulations, we can have peace.
Welcome all!
In Bon,
Carlos Madero
Director, Garuda Mexico
* * *
Preliminary Program of Activities
CONSECRATION OF THE
GREAT BON STUPA FOR WORLD PEACE
With H.E. Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche,
Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, and Khenpo Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche
Friday, Nov. 26
Hotel Royal Pedregal, Mexico City
Conference: “Turning Pain Into the Path"
Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 27 and 28
Hotel Royal Pedregal, Mexico City
Seminar, topic to be announced
Friday, Dec. 3
Chamma Ling, Valle de Bravo, Mexico
Circumambulation of the Stupa and Meditation for World Peace
Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 4 and 5
Chamma Ling, Valle de Bravo, Mexico
Consecration of the Stupa
Outdoor gathering/picnic with teachers, sangha, and friends
Date to be announced
Fundraising Dinner
Learn more about the Stupa >
Click here to view a video about The Great Stupa for World Peace, Valle de Bravo, Mexico>>
Summer Festivities at Serenity Ridge
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Photos of the 2010 Summer Auction
The 2010 Annual Summer Auction began in mid-afternoon on July 9. The rhythm of bidding was easily established as each item offered found a new home. The raffle drawings were interspersed in the line-up of items. Drawing the winning tickets became the job of several delighted children in the audience.
In no time at all, the auction was completed and the generosity of the sangha was again apparent as we raised a total of $23,624 for the Serenity Ridge Land Fund (less some auction expenses, such as the cost of framing calligraphies and the purchase of bookstore items to be auctioned off); plus another $3,716 toward the completion of the Great Stupa for World Peace in Valle de Bravo, Mexico.
After a brief break, everyone came together again for the banquet under the tent. A wonderful Indian meal was served and we were entertained by song, dance, and readings by our talented sangha members, with charming introductions by the one and only Gabriel Rocco.
It was a fun time for all — the photographs below tell the story. We enjoyed celebrating together and offering our energy, talents and monies to create the magical experience of our center, Serenity Ridge.
With deep appreciation for all present, both in person and online as absentee participants, we again celebrated our most fortunate circumstances with our teacher and one another. Thank you to all! We invite you to join us again next year for our next summer celebration.
Jan Cressman
Director of Fundraising
View slideshow of the Summer Auction >
Ancient Teachings, Modern Technology
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Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche Taps Into the Internet to Transform Lives
By Bob and Marina Felix
A home laptop may seem a world away from the traditional setting of the Buddhist gompa; yet the ancient Buddhist teachings delivered via Internet can remain in their essence true to their ancient origins; and their effects in students can be profound.
Remote Yet Intimate
One Tibetan spiritual teacher who has embraced such new modes of communication with success is renowned Tibetan lama and author Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. Tenzin Rinpoche regularly posts his teachings to YouTube (www.youtube.com/ligmincha), translated in a variety of languages; and this year he has scheduled six teachings and guided meditations via live Webcast (see www.ligmincha.org).
Last January and June for the first time he gave his Tibetan Sound Healing teachings as an interactive online workshop in association with Bob and Marina Felix of GlideWing Productions (www.glidewing.com). This well-received three-week workshop will be repeated again in September 2010, and in coming months two additional online workshops will be added to Rinpoche’s schedule: one on contemplative Tibetan meditation, another on Tibetan yoga.
One might expect teachings delivered remotely would engender a remote understanding of the dharma, but post-workshop comments by participants reflect experiences that are decidedly intimate, often life-changing. Students also have discovered they receive something unique from this medium: the opportunity to immediately apply to their daily lives what they are learning and internalizing during the workshop, each day as they are learning it, all with close guidance and support from the master.
A small sample of post-workshop comments: “These teachings have deeply touched my entire being.” “I am calmer and more positive in the face of negative encounters.” “To have this result in so little time – no one would believe me.”
“It has been a supremely gratifying experience, for both the students and myself,” Tenzin Rinpoche says. “Having been teaching in the West for many years, I have never felt quite content sending students home after a weekend or a weeklong retreat, knowing the challenge they face in integrating the meditation practice into their stressful home lives where there may be little space for spiritual work.”
This aspect of integration, Tenzin Rinpoche insists, is the most important aspect of the learning process.
In these three-week workshops students can view on their own time prerecorded videos in which Rinpoche gives in-depth teachings and guides the practices. As practice-related questions arise, students may submit them to Rinpoche via the Ask a Question forum. All participating students receive by email each question submitted, as well as Rinpoche’s direct, personal answer.
“I am usually able to reply to questions within a day or two,” Rinpoche says. “The main consideration is my busy travel schedule, but having access to a computer is all I need to be available to my students.”
Three Online Workshops
Tenzin Rinpoche’s course in Tibetan Sound Healing draws from a fundamental ancient Tibetan practice in which the vibration of the sound is used along with breath and intention to dissolve energetic blockages and other patterns of negativity, while bringing joy, love and happiness into the practitioner’s life.
The three-week format similarly lends itself to Rinpoche’s upcoming workshop on contemplative meditation, to be based on a simple five-line set of pith instructions that are the essence of a heart teaching by Dawa Gyaltsen, an eighth century meditation master. Reflecting on these lines helps to guide one directly to the open, clear and blissful experience that is the nature of one’s own mind. A third online workshop on Tibetan yoga (trul khor) will guide students in a distinctive physical yoga practice that incorporates breath, awareness and physical movement. A wonderful support for all spiritual practitioners, Tibetan yoga can clear long-held blocks in the practitioner's body, energy, and mind, supporting the spontaneous arising of awareness during formal meditation and in everyday life.
What did Tenzin Rinpoche like most about his first experience with an online workshop?
“First of all, it was a great pleasure to be able to take each step of the journey together with my students, seeing them through the entire process — from gaining understanding of the teachings, to making the practices a part of their lives, to helping interpret and make sense of the experiences that the students were going through.
“I was also amazed to see this group of people, from all over the globe, over three weeks evolve into the most supportive and caring community. Students were writing to each other, sharing thoughts and experiences, giving encouragement when needed, and delighting at each other’s success. But, undoubtedly, the most gratifying part was to read about the transformation that was taking place in lives of the participants in the course of the workshop.”
Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is the spiritual director of Ligmincha Institute in Nelson County, Va., and author of The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep, Tibetan Sound Healing, Wonders of the Natural Mind, and Healing With Form, Energy and Light, all available at Ligmincha Institute's Bookstore and Tibet Shop. For more information about his online workshops, visit the Website of Glidewing Productions, www.glidewing.com.
Photographs by Rogelio Jaramillo Flores
* * * * *
Workshop Sharings
Messages shared with and by Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche in the Ask a Question forum of the Tibetan Sound Healing workshop*:
Dear Rinpoche, sometimes while doing the practices I begin experiencing thoughts that cause emotions, which could be followed by a feeling of some physical discomfort. All this creates a sort of an inner disquiet, making it more difficult to do the practice. How should I deal with it? — M.
Dear M., it is not uncommon for obstacles to come up during the practice, and the answer is simply to try to be more aware of the mind that is drawing attention to these things. Throughout the instructions for the practice and for pranic breathing, the emphasis has been on drawing clear and open attention to the location of one of the chakras. The reason that attention must be clear and open is that you want to relax the location with no ego involved. So whenever a thought arises or the inner commentary begins, instead of judging and criticizing these inner voices, just be with them and feel the stillness and space around them. In particular listen to the silence within that inner voice. When you begin to hear the silence within yourself, the voice will stop. — TWR
Dear Rinpoche, I am able to integrate the practice more and more into the everyday life, which gives me the feeling of safety, that I need a lot these days. I also started to sleep much. Is it possible to integrate the sacred syllables practice into our nighttime state of mind? — K.
Dear K., the Warrior Syllables can definitely be used as a practice when falling asleep at night. Consider which syllable you want to work with the most, relax your body, do some pranic breathing in and out of the chakra associated with that syllable. Then, as you are falling asleep, if you are working with OM, for example, draw clear and open attention to the throat chakra and enter directly into the experience of OM, as you remember it from your formal practice. Think of the chakra you are working with as being like a nest, and think of yourself as a bird. You are going to this very comfortable nest, connecting with the quality of the syllable, and just falling asleep there. The wonderful thing about putting the mind in a good place as one falls asleep is that it can beneficially affect sleep and dreams all night long. This way the night as well as the day becomes an important opportunity for practice. — TWR
Heartfelt greetings of gratitude Rinpoche. For the first time since I can remember I've had a conversation with my mother that did not involve my worrying and longings for her happiness. I was able to just talk with her and connect heart and soul without any interference. Time and space and issues dissolved and were cleared and the love just flowed. This isn't the specific issue I picked but from doing the practice informally, this has been a direct result and is a huge breakthrough for me in my continuing work. — J.
* Edited slightly for clarity; names have been removed to maintain confidentiality
Photo Gallery
Honoring the Birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
On July 6 Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche led summer retreatants and visitors at Serenity Ridge in honoring the 75th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The ceremony included a sang chod (smoke offering), the offering of khatas, recitation of long-life prayers, and the raising of prayer flags. Enjoy this slideshow of photographs taken during this special day of celebration and prayer >
Volunteer Spotlight
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An Interview with Tharina Crafford
Tharina Crafford of South Africa has been staying at Serenity Ridge for the past several months doing volunteer work, while providing for her own personal upkeep. Sue Davis-Dill interviewed her on June 25, 2010, for Voice of Clear Light.
VOCL: I recall you sending an email to Tenzin Rinpoche last year offering to come to Serenity Ridge as a volunteer for six months. What inspired you to write that email?
Tharina: I wanted to make contact again with Rinpoche. The first retreat that I attended with him made such an impact on me. I felt I needed to grow more.
After the first retreat with Rinpoche, I felt as if there was something missing in my life. When I returned to my home in South Africa, I missed the sangha and the environment that he created at Serenity Ridge. At that first retreat I felt that I received so much and that the most natural thing that flows out of that is the feeling to try to give back something.
VOCL: You offered to come for six months. How were you able to arrange your life to be able to do that?
Tharina: When I heard back that it was okay to come for six months, there was no doubt in my mind that I would be able to arrange whatever was necessary so that I could come to the U.S. and volunteer at Serenity Ridge. I felt an overflowing sense of gratitude for this opportunity.
I worked very hard to make this happen. I changed my lifestyle to be able to save enough money to follow my dream. I had to learn how to let go of things and that has been a very good lesson. I resigned from my work, which was hard to do. I was dedicated to my job and worked with wonderful people, and I did what I needed to do to finish my work.
I felt that I had this opportunity now in my life to volunteer and I knew not to postpone. This was the most natural thing to do; in fact, it was the only thing for me to do. I trusted that everything would work out fine with my work. I felt support from both the people at my work and my family. As I made my plans, everything fell into place.
One of my biggest fears was that if I left my life in South Africa, there would be nothing to return to. Just the opposite has happened. I just received an email from people at the last place where I worked that they are wanting me back, and they are offering me an even better opportunity than I had before.
When I arrived in December, I had no idea what I’d be doing. I was surprised to find that you had read my curriculum vitae. I thought I’d be washing windows!
VOCL: You have greatly assisted Ligmincha Institute with its financial structure.
Tharina: I’ve interacted with management, staff and the Ligmincha Council. I’ve found the environment tremendously open and transparent. I have been blown away by the dedication of the people who I’ve had the privilege to work with. They work very hard. With openness they received my ideas and suggestions for changes. I’ve been impressed with the lack of internal politics and gossip. I’ve not come across this in other places.
VOCL: How has this opportunity affected you?
Tharina: I have nothing else to compare this experience with, but I feel that I have grown quickly as a practitioner, a growth that otherwise might have taken me many years. This has been the perfect environment to integrate practice in my life. It’s been a soft and gentle environment where I received tremendous support. This experience has emphasized for me that all that we do, everything is practice.
VOCL: Can you describe a typical workday for us?
Tharina: I’m an early riser. I get up each morning and meditate for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Then I take a break and do some personal emails. At 9 a.m. when everyone else arrives in the office, I begin to work. I finish each workday at 3 p.m. In the afternoon, I take long walks. It’s beautiful here. Sometimes I meditate again in the evening.
VOCL: Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Tharina: I’m here for a few more months. I’m already looking ahead to when I leave. What is important to me is that I have a feeling of belonging, belonging to the sangha. It is very important for me. Always to structure my life to be able to attend retreats as often as possible, and to help out wherever I can. I have a deep desire to be of service to Rinpoche. And to be a part of his mandala.
Because the environment has been so supportive, and because of the support of the senior students of Rinpoche’s, it was so easy to integrate what Rinpoche teaches into my day-to-day life. I have felt tremendous support not only here at Ligmincha Institute, but also by the sangha in both Mexico and Berkeley when I traveled there to attend Rinpoche’s teachings. I was met everywhere by the openness of sangha, and being a part of Rinpoche’s worldwide mandala.
Photograph by Polly Turner
Sangha Sharing
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‘Just a Walk’
Friday, July 2, 3 p.m., Old Croton Dam, New York. Words and photographs by M.E. McCourt
I took a walk today. It was on my favorite path . . . because it is so ordinary . . . just a forest walk . . . It does not have extraordinary views . . . until you get to the dam . . . It is what it is . . . a forest walk . . . no more, no less . . . Like many forest walks in the northeastern woods of “now” . . . thick with remembrances of secrets kept and long remembered . . . Of changes felt and easily accepted . . . A peacefulness of acceptance of what is . . . Without regret for what was and is not now . . .
I walked . . . slowly and mindfully . . . aware that a retreat was happening at Serenity Ridge . . . my teacher was teaching in the gompa . . . and I was there . . . walking . . . step by mindful step . . . remaining on each foot . . . mindful . . . until the other foot was firmly planted . . . step by step . . . breath by breath . . . no more, no less . . . A 360 degree awareness . . . Practice . . . Developing . . . Becoming . . . and on and on . . .
I met a friend . . . She said “I love this path, I come here every day.” I met a steady stream of wild raspberry pickers . . . One said “I picked a bowl of raspberries this afternoon along my driveway . . . My neighbor came along and I said ‘please take some’ . . . and she took all of them! . . . And I could not tell her that I only meant for her to take a few . . . And so I am here picking some for myself” . . . She laughed . . . so much . . . and said “They are ripening even as we speak! The ones I leave behind will be ready for the next walker who comes along the path” . . .
I met a man picking raspberries and I said “The sweetest ones are in the shade, deeper in the thicket . . . And he said, “Yes, but I can’t bring myself to go digging in there, there are so many thorns! I’ll pick the ones closest to the path. . . Even if they are a little more sour, that is fine with me.”
The top of the dam was filled with intense sunlight, hot and wild . . . Like someone had turned on a heat lamp and focused it right on the top of the dam . . . So bright . . . So hot ...
I went down to the base of the dam . . . Water . . . Water . . . Water . . . the power of water . . . The power of the stone dam holding it back . . . That is all.
Here is a link to photos of the dam . . . in all its old, simple glory.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14362205@N02/sets/72157624473263524/show/
Simultaneous Translation of Webcasts
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A Letter From Lourdes Hinojosa
Just as many other times, it all began with a dream. I believe that when we have a strong connection to the Teacher and the Refuge Tree we open to their compassionate intent, and our actions of body, speech and mind render useful fruit for the benefit of others.
I dreamed of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, my root lama, giving teachings to a very large audience. But he was not visible for all. In the huge room, his seat was placed in a corner, and a wall was blocking the view. Then I said to him:
"Rinpoche, many people cannot see you! Let's move your seat to the center of the room.” And so it happened. Beautiful and fruitful dream!
Soon after the idea came to my mind: Broadcast Tenzin Rinpoche´s live Webcast teachings with real-time translation to Spanish, using the very same image broadcast by Ligmincha. ... And so it happened! During Rinpoche’s June 2010 broadcast, 71 computers in Mexico and Spain received the translation broadcast, some of them with single viewers and others with groups gathered as sanghas. E MA HO! (How wonderful!)
Any coordinators of centers worldwide founded by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche who wish to translate Rinpoche’s Webcasts into other languages can do the same, using www.Justin.tv or www.uStream.tv. If you would like to try this for a future Webcast, please let me know so we can help to promote this service to others. I can send you brief instructions for how the translation broadcast was done. To see a recording of this in action, go to: http://www.justin.tv/garuda_bon_budismo/b/265330174
May the Bon teachings flourish.
My heartfelt gratitude to my dearest Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche for making these precious teachings available for us all, in a such clear and current way.
Lourdes Hinojosa
Monterrey, México
June 2010
Editor’s Note: We will let you know of any planned Webcast translations authorized by Ligmincha Institute in a future issue of Voice of Clear Light, including links to the broadcast sites. For more information, email Lourdes> To view a recent Webcast by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, click here >
Upcoming Retreats
Ligmincha’s Serenity Ridge Retreat Center
The retreats described below will take place at Serenity Ridge, Ligmincha Institute’s retreat center in Nelson County, Va. To register or for more information, click on the links below, or contact us at
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or 434-263-6304.
Oct. 2, 2010
New Directions in the Dialogue Between Buddhism and Science
A One-Day Workshop With Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and Presenters From the University of Virginia
Researchers from the Division of Perceptual Studies within the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences of UVA will share their findings related to core elements of the Buddhist teachings, including the belief in rebirth. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche will participate in the dialogue and guide meditation practices.
More information/register online >
Oct. 6-10, 2010
Sleep of Clear Light: The Practice of Sleep Yoga
With Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Centuries ago, Tibetan yogis developed the practice of sleep yoga to transform these dark hours of ignorance into a path toward enlightenment. A powerful tool for awakening, sleep yoga is more than a practice of the night. It helps us to integrate all moments — waking, sleeping, meditation, and even death — with the clear light of awareness. During this intensive five-day retreat, Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche will teach and guide us in the clear-light sleep practices of the Mother Tantra, one of the most important cycles of teachings in the Tibetan Bon Buddhist tradition.
New: Extend your stay >
Learn more or register >
Oct. 10, 2010, 12 noon - 1:15 p.m. Eastern Time U.S. (New York time)
Live Internet Broadcast
Guided Dzogchen Practice With Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
For our Internet audience only.
More information >
Enter the broadcast site >
Oct. 12, 2010, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time U.S. (New York time)
Live Internet Broadcast
‘The Power of Openness,’ With Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
This will be a live Webcast of a free public talk in Charlottesville, Va., offered in partnership with Unity Church.
More information >
Enter the broadcast site >
Nov. 3 - 7, 2010
Tibetan Yoga, Part 2: Trul Khor Training From the Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyu
With Alejandro Chaoul-Reich
The contemplative movements of Tibetan Yoga (trul khor) enable us to enter all three doors of body, energy and mind through a single practice, offering a powerful, skillful means for clearing the obstacles and obscurations to openness and clarity in meditation practice. Open to students who have received the Part 1 teachings of Trul Khor (Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyu) since Jan. 1, 2000.
Learn more or register >
Dec. 27, 2010 - Jan. 1, 2011
Dzogchen: The View, Meditation, Behavior, and Result
The Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung, Part 3
With Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
The Experiential Transmission of the Zhang Zhung Masters is the centerpiece of Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s dzogchen teachings and is presented at Serenity Ridge each year at our winter retreat. Prerequisite: Practitioners who have already received the Part 2 or higher-level teachings in a previous cycle of Chag Tri teachings are warmly invited to attend this retreat.
Learn more or register >
New: Extend your stay! You may stay up to three days after the winter retreat for personal retreat time. For more information or to register for an extended stay, contact the Ligmincha office at
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or 434-263-6304
To register for any of the above retreats, or for more information about teachings in the Bon Buddhist tradition of Tibet, please contact us at
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or 434-263-6304, or go to:
