Voice of Clear Light

Volume 15, Number 4 / August 2015

Sangha Sharing

Poetry and Pictures

Participants who attended this year's Summer Retreat, on the topic of "Dream Yoga," share some photos and poetry from the retreat.

Summer Retreat feast and talent presentation. Photo by Alicia Frew

Lamas following a fire ritual. From left: Geshe Tenzin Yangton, resident lama at Serenity Ridge; Geshe Nyima Kunchap, who was visiting from Nepal; Tulku Pondse Jigme Tenzin (Jorge René Valles Sandoval) from Mexico; and Yangton Lama Tashi Gyaltsen, uncle of Geshe Tenzin Yangton, visiting from Nepal. Photo by Alicia Frew

Steven Friedman shares this poem that he wrote during the retreat.

In Dreams of Waking and Sleep

I sit
Empty and serene
Allowing syllables intoned by the Blessed Tulku
Prepare me for an ambitious journey

My constant waking companion
Departs reluctantly
As I rest
Ripening

Words and sounds separate
Revealing a subtle intelligence
Concealed by appearance
That flirts with the boundary between perception and imagination

With caution
I begin to discern points of light
Enriching the spaces within and without
Descending in a fine brume of sparks and blessings
Exploding from the seed syllables
Dancing overhead

As I continue to open
An ever more manifest realm of experience blossoms
I am washed, filled, and transformed
By the ineffable and the sacred

The chanted text of Mother Tantra
Becomes a covenant
Connecting me to a lineage of dream masters
Holders of the precious teachings
The salvation of sentient beings

Purified and perfected
I ascend within
As the points of light coalesce
Forming a fine braid of golden fire that wraps me in a nest of loose coils

As the momentum builds
I am spinning at the center of a spiral orb web
Layering itself in myriad angles of inclination
Until I am fully enclosed in a translucid armor of refuge

To my right hand appears a sword of diamond and thunder
The hilt offering itself from a collection of arms forged in the dream-time
Crafted with wrathful compassion
Whetted to cleave the illusions of appearance
And reveal what lies beneath

Appointed thus, I am a dream warrior
Eager to face myself in a dimension
Populated by unwitting forms that arise
From each identity and construct I take to be me

And as I am aroused by the stroke of a bell
I emerge from dream to dream
Bearing no visible armor or arms yet fully equipped
Buoyant and calm
Poised to embark on a voyage of self-discovery and perfection
In dreams of waking and sleep

Steven Friedman
6/28/15

Inspired by a vision during the transmission of Dream Yoga
from the Ma Gyu by Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

Dedicated to the masters of dreaming of all traditions

Ligmincha International's 2014 Annual Report Now Available

Highlights Include Upcoming Groundbreaking of New Serenity Ridge Facility

Ligmincha International's Annual Report for fiscal year 2014 was recently released. Read about what has been happening during 2014, and read a report about Ligmincha's finances.

This year's report has a more international focus than previous years, as the organization has changed its name from Ligmincha Institute to Ligmincha International, has a new board that includes members from around the world, and includes information about Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's expanded teachings in various countries and online. Also read about changes at Serenity Ridge Retreat Center in Virginia, international headquarters of Ligmincha, including plans for a new building to meet expanding needs.

Read the 2014 Ligmincha International Annual Report