Volume 18, Number 2 / April 2018
Letter from the Editors
The Wonder of It All
Dear Friends,
The wonder and mystery of life can be experienced in the simplest of things: the sky, the sound of the wind in the trees, a pet's devotion, the loving relationship of father and son. Or it may arise while listening to Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s latest webcasts highlighting dzogchen pith instructions. We hope you enjoy Rinpoche’s illuminating description of the beautiful gifts of being in the magic of the moment in this issue’s teaching excerpt, “The Magic of a Life Lived in the Spacious Freedom and Fullness of Being.” We also have a treat for you near the end of the issue that includes some gorgeous photography by Salvador Espinosa. Enjoy! All so wonder-full, and also ordinary—just Like Rinpoche on TWR LIVE.
Those of you who are wondering about the new building at Serenity Ridge, it's almost complete and has a fitting name: Namgyal Khang (Victory House)! Read an update from Rob Patzig, learn about the meaning of the name and see some of the latest photos. Our thanks to all those working so hard to make it really wonderful!
We just heard this good news: Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's new book, Spontaneous Creativity – Meditations for Manifesting Your Positive Qualities – will be coming out July 17. Congratulations, Rinpoche! We can't wait to read it.
Also included in this issue:
- Serenity Ridge’s Summer Retreat “Tummo: Inner Fire of Realization,” the first year of a three-year series with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. Also offered: practice retreats following the Summer Retreat, as well as service retreats prior to both the spring and summer retreats.
- Help in another way by donating frequent flyer miles for lamas to attend Summer Retreat.
- Still time to register for April and May spring retreats focusing on “The Five Wisdoms.”
- New offering at Serenity Ridge: Personal Practice Retreat May 17–20, 2018.
- Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's worldwide teaching schedule.
- Ligmincha Learning's online Ngöndro course still open for registration; upcoming Sherap Chamma teaching in May.
- Two upcoming GlideWing courses with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche.
- More TWR LIVE Pith Instructions.
- The 3 Doors program news.
- What a View!
- Ligmincha Europe Magazine: next issue coming soon.
- Spanish translation link of February VOCL.
And as always, you can find Rinpoche’s upcoming teaching schedule here at Ligmincha's website.
In Bön,
Aline and Jeff
‘The Magic of a Life Lived in the Spacious Freedom and Fullness of Being’
Edited Excerpt from Rinpoche’s Teachings on the 21 Nails in Wilga, Poland, Summer 2016
Usually when you try to clear obstacles, you put a lot of effort toward trying to control yourself, as well as trying to control someone else. In doing so, you make yourself and everyone else crazy. It just doesn't work. But when you rest and go deeper and connect with yourself, and find that inner sacred space in that moment, then the obstacles begin to dissolve. It is space, and the power of awareness of space, that dissolve the obstacles. Resting in the sacred space helps to clear many things that we wish to clear in our daily life.
Imagine, it's like having a wound, a deep-rooted wound of your ability to relate to someone. As a result you are not able to have a relationship or relate to someone unless that wound is cleared or healed. In every situation of relationship that wound is going to come up. It feels as if you are not even allowed to be close to someone, or you may feel fear in being close to someone, or you may feel a lack of trust with someone. That wound is basically just not allowing it because the space is occupied.
It's as if you are trying to download love, and your screen says “no more space – no more space for love.” That space is occupied already with unlove – with your stories, with your wound. So you can try hard, but it's not going to work. How many times have you been trying to download something when there's no free space? Did it work? No. Sometimes you can try and compress it, to make it fit, to squeeze love, compress love, but it just suffocates. It doesn't work.
However, when the space becomes cleared, then there's no trying, and love just happens. It’s like the first time you fell in love. Did you try? No, it just happened. And in that space, you cannot even not do it. You cannot control it. You cannot stop it. It's powerful, fearless. On the other hand, when you are trying to fall in love a second time, third time, fourth time, fifth time, applying effort, it's actually getting worse and worse. Maybe after so many tries, it feels as if there is no way to fall in love anymore; it’s finished.
I'm not talking about love only. I'm talking about anything – even just the ability to have a genuine open relation to people as a person, as a human being, with no agendas. In that space, be truly conscious of the intention, “I don't want to have any kind of agenda.” Every now and then, if an agenda comes up, you simply delete the agenda and continue the relationship.
Do you see how that kind of beautiful relationship also requires an openness of space? When you feel more clear in that space, it's like having the fresh new soil in which to grow. It's like a new energy. You feel it. It's very open, very clear. You feel some kind of potentiality. Suddenly you may feel some specific qualities are manifesting, like joy, simple, clear, open joy for no reason. It could come when the weather is bad or when the weather is good. It could happen in very strange places, like at the moment of death. It can come anywhere – but it's coming from that source.
Whenever those moments come, it's really important to be conscious of them. These qualities, like joy, are like the flowers of that sacred space – the enlightened qualities. They are virtues. They are seeds of enlightened activity. A seed remains a seed unless it matures and develops, and the only way it develops is when it gets food. Just like a real flower, when it's getting light, it grows. And when it's not getting light down in a dark basement, then it dies. So what is the light that develops these qualities? The light is awareness. You are being aware. It's like noticing someone loves you. That's beautiful. Someone may love you, but if you don't notice, then what is it's effect on you? The moment you notice, then it has an effect on your heart. You feel it. Those connections are naturally healing, right? The awareness of them is naturally healing.
There are many things like that, like a moment of simple connection to yourself. But we are less conscious of them than we should be. For example, there was an obviously very health-conscious woman seated next to me on a flight that I was taking, and she refused the meal they served on the plane. She made it clear to me that she prided herself in eating only the very healthiest of foods, some of which she had brought along on the flight to eat. Although she obviously worked very hard to be sure to eat only the healthiest of foods, I saw that her energy was very unbalanced and frenetic. So you see, you can try to do so many good things, with so much effort, so much stress, even while trying to be well and healthy. But all of that does not necessarily lead to simple well-being, and well-being is very valuable. Often, though, we are not even aware of the value of our own well-being at all.
So if you have one hour and you use it for meditation, it might be healthier than trying to run across town to get to the best health food store to buy the one specific brand of health food that you are focused on, and in the process getting stressed out at a cashier, and then finally a couple of hours later arriving back home to eat that health food. I don't know how healthy that would be compared to maybe a half hour of beautiful meditation, but I'm quite sure I know what use of time would be better. Of course I'm not saying not to go out and get healthy foods. I am saying there are many situations in our lives where we already have so much right there in front of us, but it goes unseen because we are looking with so much effort to try to get other things, which maybe don't pay off, or whose payback is not what we expect.
It's very important in life to really establish a commitment toward the things you value and try to minimize the time spent in the search mode – through all the many phases of life. For instance, with regard to relationship, if you really like being in a relationship and you want to have one, then find one and try to stick with it. We can see how most all of them are more or less similar. As long as you know how to work with it, they are more or less the same. With commitment, you can learn to appreciate someone a lot, remember the goodness of someone, and try to do your best in always bringing out the best of that person. Ask yourself, what can I do to bring the best out of that person in this relationship? How can I bring out the gentleness of that person? Obviously, by being gentle yourself. How can I bring out the love in that person? Obviously, by loving more. How can I bring out the kindness of that person? Obviously, by being more kind.
So the commitment in the relationship is about what is the best way that I can bring out the best in my partner. Or, you may not need to find a partner at all. Instead, you may enjoy the freedom of being alone, which is beautiful, too. You don't have to tell anybody where you are going; no need for discussion. If you want to sleep, then you sleep. If you want to go for a walk, then you go for a walk – a beautiful freedom.
The beauty is everywhere, with a partner or without. What I'm saying is not to always be in search mode, even with regard to the dharma. One time I met a nice lady, about 70 years old. You could name any guru and she had met them. She seemed to be a guru-shopping machine. You could see that she was in full-speed search mode, searching for her guru. Finding a teacher or guru is similar to finding a relationship. You have to open your heart, use your intelligence, analyze, feel, connect. If someone makes sense that you find trustworthy, that you can learn enough from, that you can stick with, then commit. In that way, you are not wasting your time. Similarly, a commitment is required if you're trying to really do something or accomplish something, either as a form of business or as a social service. Don't just create something and then that's it; continue on from there, stick with it, follow through. You need a commitment to do that, you see? Only through commitment will it manifest fully.
This is very important, even in our meditation, when you may feel a quality, like joy or love, arising from the space. Be aware of that quality, become familiar with it, and see the value of that and the place in society and in life for that. So you are working with that quality and then manifesting out of that. Coming to see the full manifestation of the quality that you discovered from your meditation requires commitment, and that commitment is very important. In the language of the dharma, that's called trinlé – it means enlightened activity. It means that you manifest something from that quality that arose in meditation. It is activity with the commitment to make manifest that quality.
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and his son, Senghe WangyalWhatever you manifest in that way, try as much as possible to be detached from it. That is, be attached only as much as needed, not how much you yourself need it. Just like a parent loving a child –you know as a parent that the best thing to do is to love your children as much as they need your love, and not simply love them as much as you need to love them. You have to approach it that way, or you're in trouble. When you do approach it that way and your children say, “Thank you for your love,” that's when you know that it's enough. Before that point, you need to be careful about how much you are loving them, right? Not only with your children, but in all areas of our life. For me, personally, if someone is trying to help me and I don't want their help, for sure I won't like it. Nobody likes that. It's interfering with one's personal space. But when you do need help, and somebody helps you, you appreciate that. So how do you know when is the right moment to help? By being fully yourself. It's so much fun to be yourself. And when you don't know how to be yourself and you're trying to be someone else, that's when the search engine starts.
So I would like you to think about turning off your internal search engine. How many people turn off their WiFi when they don't need it? Well, do the same with yourself and turn off your internal engine that's always searching for something. Try it! The search engine is off. Roaming is off. Any unnecessary applications that are running are turned off. The screen is turned off. And then our phone is completely in meditation mode – doing so, its lifespan is increasing, for sure. So let's do that, okay?
Of course you know – I'm not talking about the phone, right? It's easy to go get a phone. But a life is more difficult. There is no 6 Plus or 7 Plus for our life like there is with an iPhone. This is it, isn't it? So do your best to keep it! Take care and keep it well and beneficial.
Learn more about one of the 21 Nails by viewing TWR LIVE pith instructions on the Four Lamps
Namgyal Khang (Victory House) to Open in April
New Multipurpose Building at Serenity Ridge
View of the new building from the gompa in fresh snow on March 21. Photo by Maria Quintana.
The following article was written by Rob Patzig, president of Ligmincha International.
After years of planning, fundraising and more than 15 months of construction, the new multipurpose building at Serenity Ridge, the headquarters of Ligmincha International, will open soon. A ribbon-cutting ceremony and blessing of the new building will take place on April 12 at 4:30 p.m., the first day of the Spring Retreat.
Replacing our existing kitchen and dining hall, this facility also will provide a new registration and welcome area, a large outdoor meditation deck, a recording studio, office space for Ligmincha International, large multipurpose room, indoor practice area and a lounge area for our residents.
Finishing touches, such as carpeting and cabinets, are being made to the building now. If there are no further delays, the move into the new space will occur the end of March or the beginning of April and it will be open for Spring Retreat (April 12–15, on “The Five Wisdoms”).
Front entrance of Victory HouseThe name for the building is Namgyal Khang, or “Victory House,” and it came about in the following way. During Fall Retreat at Serenity Ridge in October 2017, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, Ligmincha resident lamas, and many visiting geshes and lamas were preparing rituals for the 100,000 offerings to Nampar Gyalwa, whose name means “Complete Victory.” As the lamas were preparing the rituals in the Garuda House shrine room at Serenity Ridge, the name came spontaneously to Rinpoche, and all present immediately agreed that the name was perfect. In English, the full translation would be “Excellent House of Victory,” but Rinpoche selected “Victory House” for the English as it flows more easily from the tongue.
The story of Nampar Gyalwa is found in chapter 50 of the Ziji, a 12-volume, 61-chapter biography of Tonpa Shenrap. In it, a king named Kongtse Trulkyi Gyalpo is found building a temple on the great ocean west of Olmo Lungring, with the intention of acquiring merit for his next life. Due to a misunderstanding, demons destroyed the temple when it was half completed. The king prayed to Tonpa Shenrap Miwoche (the Supreme Teacher) for assistance, and Tonpa Shenrap then manifested in the form of Complete Victory (Nampar Gyalwa), blue in color with an angry expression, one face and two hands, his right hand held up in the gesture of Complete Victory and the left placed on the knee. The demons were defeated and the completed temple was named the “White-Black Shimmering Temple.” The chief of the demons became the protector, and the temple became a library for the teachings of Tonpa Shenrap.
Nampar Gyalwa is particularly associated with the conquering of negativities, of healing and the clearing of obstacles, and the blessing of property. May Victory House be a place of blessing for all who come to Serenity Ridge in the future!
Example of outdoor bollard
Front door design
Summer Retreat at Serenity Ridge Begins Three-Year Series
'Tummo: Inner Fire of Realization' with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Registration is now open for the annual Summer Retreat with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche June 23–July 7. For the next three years, the Summer Retreat will focus on the topic of “Tummo: Inner Fire of Realization.“ 
Participants are welcome to attend one or both weeks of this special teaching.
Tummo refers to inner heat, and its teachings are designed to burn away subtle obscurations and cultivate bliss. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche will teach from the text Ku Sum Rang Shar (Spontaneous Arising of the Three Kayas), written by Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen Rinpoche, a Bön master who achieved the body of light, or rainbow body, in 1934.
Beginning with this summer retreat and continuing for the following two, Rinpoche will guide and instruct students in the practice of tummo to burn away subtle obscurations and cultivate bliss. Over a span of three summers, participants will be guided to engage body, speech and mind with the Tibetan yogas of tsa lung and trul khor, and with the prayer, mantra, visualization and inner breath practices of the tummo.
Participants may attend one or both weeks. If only able to join one week, Rinpoche advises those new to these teachings to come to week one.
- Week 1: June 23–30, 2018 (dinner at 6 p.m. June 23; teaching with Rinpoche at 7:15 p.m. in the gompa; accommodations the nights of June 23–29)
- Week 2: July 1–7, 2018 (new participants arrive on June 30; dinner at 6 p.m.; evening free; retreat begins at 9 a.m. on July 1; accommodations the nights of June 30–July 6)
Simultaneous translation in Spanish will be offered.
Two Summer Practice Retreats: Following the annual Summer Retreat, continue your stay at Serenity Ridge July 7–12 by attending one of two practice retreats. The Tummo Practice Retreat will focus on tummo practices taught during the previous two weeks. In addition, during the same time the Garuda House Shrine Room will be available for Personal Practice Retreat.
Summer Service Retreat June 17–22: Participate in a special sevice to receive a credit of $10 for each hour of service work performed, to be applied toward the cost of the Summer Retreat.
Learn more/apply
Please Donate Frequent Flyer Miles
Help Ligmincha Lamas Attend Summer Tummo Retreat
Several Ligmincha lamas from around the world are planning to attend the special Summer Retreat at Serenity Ridge on the topic of “Tummo: Inner Fire of Realization.” This is the start of three summers of teaching on this powerful practice.
Because of the high cost of travel, please consider donating frequent flyer miles for their airfare, so they will be able to join us.
Lama Kalsang Nyima and Lama Yungdrung Lodoe, resident lamas for Ligmincha Mexico, will join us for the Summer Retreat and also will be doing decorative painting in our new building, Namgyal Khang (Victory House). Also invited are Geshe Thupten Negi, director of Lishu Institute, founded by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, and Geshe Denma Gyaltsen, Ligmincha Texas resident lama.
- Geshe Thupten Negi: flight from Delhi, India to Washington, D.C. or Charlottesville, Virginia
- Geshe Denma Gyaltsen: flight from Houston, Texas to Charlottesville, Virginia
- Lama Kalsang Nyima: flight from Mexico City, Mexico to Charlottesville, Virginia.
- Lama Yungdrung Lodoe: flight from Mexico City, Mexico to Charlottesville, Virginia
Please
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if you have miles to donate.
April and May Spring Retreats Focus on 'The Five Wisdoms'
Retreats at Serenity Ridge in Virginia and Vienna, Austria
Join Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche in exploring “The Five Wisdoms” this spring. Rinpoche will teach on the topic at the Serenity Ridge Spring Retreat April 12–15 and in Vienna, Austria May 11–13.
Wisdom has a specific meaning in dzogchen: the recognition of the natural state, one’s true nature. It does not refer to something we come by gradually or with age or experience; rather, it describes the recognition of the complete perfection in this moment, in any given moment.
When we realize the unbounded openness and pure awareness of our natural mind, this recognition displays itself as five distinct wisdom qualities.
- Wisdom of emptiness: Seeing all phenomena including oneself as lacking inherent existence, we are open without boundary.
- Mirrorlike wisdom: Recognizing all appearance as the display of the clear, unobscured nature of mind, we are rich with unlimited potential.
- Wisdom of equanimity: Free of the bias of accepting or rejecting, we embrace all experience with openness, awareness and warmth.
- Discriminating wisdom: Realizing the uniqueness of each appearance, we ripen the spontaneously arising virtuous qualities.
- All-accomplishing wisdom: Complete in this moment, we express positive qualities creatively, spontaneously and effortlessly for the benefit of all.
Don’t miss the opportunity to participate in this special retreat in the United States or Europe.
Learn more/register
Spring Service Retreat April 9–12: Participate in a special sevice retreat to receive a credit of $10 for each hour of service work performed, to be applied toward the cost of the Spring Retreat.
Learn more/apply
Renew Your Practice at Serenity Ridge
Personal Practice Retreat May 17–20, 2018
Serenity Ridge is pleased to offer a self-guided personal practice retreat May 17–20 for all who are interested. Whether you are practicing the teachings of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, participating in The 3 Doors, have another practice or just wish to relax in a serene atmosphere in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in central Virginia, you are welcome to join us.
Come and enjoy Serenity Ridge at your own pace: take a leisurely stroll around the property, enjoy the cool Rockfish River and deepen your practice.
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's Worldwide Teaching Schedule
Upcoming Teachings for April–July 2018
Over the coming months Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is teaching in five countries throughout the world, giving presentations and offering online teachings.
Rinpoche’s 2018 teaching schedule by date and location is available on the Ligmincha International website.
The schedule includes Rinpoche’s in-person teachings at Ligmincha International retreat centers or other locations throughout the world. It also includes his online teachings offered through Ligmincha Learning and GlideWing, plus free TWR LIVE broadcasts offered regularly through Rinpoche’s Facebook page.
Here is a list of Rinpoche’s retreats and presentations for April through July. The schedule will be updated as teachings are added or revised.:
- March 31–April 22, 2018: Your computer: GlideWing online course: Tibetan Meditation
- April 7–8: Pasadena, California: Awakening Your Sacred Fire
- April 12–15: Serenity Ridge, Shipman, Virginia: Annual Spring Retreat on The Five Wisdoms
- April 20–22: Olympia, Washington: Sherap Chamma
- May 2: Carlsbad, California: Guest speaker at Seduction Spirit Retreat with Deepak Chopra and Guests, April 30–May 5
- May 4–6: Berlin, Germany: The Seven Mirrors of Dzogchen, Part 2 of 3
- May 8–9: Berlin, Germany: Meditation – The Impact of Gross and Subtle Energies on the Mind
- May 11–13: Vienna, Austria: The Five Wisdoms
- May 12–June 10: Your computer: GlideWing online course: Tibetan Dream Yoga
- May 19–21: Bulle, Switzerland: The Practice of the Heart – The Heart of the Practice
- May 25–27: Paris, France: A-tri, Part 1
- June 1–4: Red Feather Lakes, Colorado: Dream and Sleep Yoga
- June 8–10: Esalen, Big Sur, California: Awakening the Sacred Body
- June 23–July 7: Serenity Ridge Shipman, Virginia: Tummo, Part 1 of 3
- June 30–July 22: Your computer: GlideWing online course: Healing From the Source
Schedule by date
Schedule by location
Ngöndro Online Course Registration Still Open
In May: ‘Sherap Chamma, Mother of Wisdom and Love’ with Marcy Vaughn
Ligmincha Learning's new online course “Ngondro: The Foundational Practices” is still open for registration to new students. Sign up soon so you can get started on this course, which continues until December 2. It is much longer than our other online courses, due to the number of meditation practices and the commitment of the practitioners to accumulate a 100,000 repetitions of many of the practices.
The ngöndro teachings are a set of nine practices that offer complete instructions for taming, purifying and perfecting the suffering mind. Although these practices are considered the foundation for entrance into the cycle of Tibetan Bön dzogchen teachings – Bön’s highest teachings on the nature of mind – many practitioners adopt the ngöndro as their main meditation and complete the nine sets of 100,000 repetitions several times over the course of a lifetime. They are considered to be the foundational practices for the entire tradition.
Learn more/register
Coming in May: "Sherap Chamma, Mother of Wisdom and Love" with Marcy Vaughn. This four-week online course runs May 11 through June 8, 2018, introducing the practices of Sherap Chamma.
In many cultures the primordial female energy is seen as the origin of existence and the source of all positive qualities. Sherap Chamma, Mother of Wisdom and Love, is the source of wisdom, and her medicine is love and compassion. The teachings of Sherap Chamma are part of one of the most important tantric cycles of the ancient Bön tradition.
In this retreat, participants will learn a beautiful and simple meditation practice enabling each to directly connect with the divine feminine energy. Within the support of the group, an environment is created to promote profound healing of physical, energetic, emotional and spiritual dimensions of life. With visualization, the sound of mantra and deep contemplation, participants can make a personal connection to this sacred form of the universal mother, Sherap Chamma, and are guided through this connection to innate wisdom and the love and compassion that naturally radiate from that wisdom.
Learn more/register
Ongoing: Ligmincha Learning offers an ongoing free meditation course: “Starting a Meditation Practice, Parts 1 & 2.”
Two Upcoming GlideWing Workshops with Tenzin Rinpoche
'The Nature of Mind: Achieving Great Bliss Through Pure Awareness' and 'Tibetan Dream Yoga'
Starting soon: A three-week workshop with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche,“The Nature of Mind: Achieving Great Bliss Through Pure Awareness,” will be held from March 31 through April 22.
This ancient Tibetan meditation practice teaches you to enter the state of pure awareness that leads to peace, joy and ultimately, to full realization.
These teachings are a direct introduction to the nature of mind. In this interactive workshop, Rinpoche will guide you through each of the five steps of meditation in the Fivefold Teachings of Dawa Gyaltsen. Not only can you learn how to heal your day-to-day life, making it lighter and more joyful, but through the profound simplicity of this practice, you can recognize and connect with your innermost essence, the nature of your mind as a buddha or pure consciousness. Personal support and guidance are provided by Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche.
This three-week workshop is divided into six teaching sessions, plus an introduction to the workshop practices. The workshop is intended to be experiential rather than purely philosophical or conceptual in nature, with each teaching session providing guidance and exercises for your formal and informal practice.
Learn more/register
Starting in May: A four-week GlideWing online workshop with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, “Tibetan Dream Yoga,” will be held May 12–June 10, 2018. Learn and practice from your own home, at your own schedule, with personal guidance from Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche.
“The practice of dream yoga is about understanding more about appearances and what they truly are. And ultimately, it is about understanding who we are, the true sense of self." – Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
In this four-week workshop, students will explore and practice the ancient Bon Buddhist teachings of Tibetan dream yoga. The workshop provides detailed instruction for dream yoga practice, with discussions of the relationships between dreaming and waking and between dreaming and death. Rinpoche also will provide instructions for foundational practices done during the day and for the uses and methods of lucid dreaming.
Through dream yoga practice, we can cultivate greater awareness during every moment of life. If we do, freedom and flexibility continually increase, and we are less governed by habitual preoccupations and distractions. Eventually we may develop a continuity of awareness that allows us to maintain full awareness during dreams as well as in waking life. When we fully develop this capacity, we will find that we are living both waking and dreaming life with greater ease, clarity and appreciation.
Learn more/register
Coming in June: "Healing From the Source: Meditation as Medicine for Mind and Body"
with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, June 30–July 22, 2018.
Receive Pith Instructions on TWR LIVE
Free Facebook Live Broadcasts with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Stay connected to Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche with his TWR LIVE Facebook broadcasts, viewable on his Facebook page. They’re open to all, no Facebook account necessary!
Continuing with his series of Pith Instructions, Rinpoche is offering a series of four online broadcasts on the topic of the Four Lamps. The next broadcast is Wednesday, March 28, at 1 p.m. New York time. These teachings are from the 11th nail of the Twenty-One Nails of the Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyü, one of the most important dzogchen teachings of the Tibetan Bön tradition.
The broadcasts will take place Wednesdays at 1 p.m. New York Time:
- March 21, 2018. Part 1: The first lamp, the physical eye, clears worldly darkness – allowing us to see. View recording
- March 28, 2018. Part 2: The second lamp – the clear vision of sound, light and rays – removes the view of nihilism. View live
- April 4, 2018. Part 3: The third lamp, the wisdom awareness, clears the darkness of ignorance. View live
- April 18, 2018. Part 4: The fourth lamp, the empty nature of the base, removes the darkness of bias. View live
In offering the Pith Instructions, Rinpoche draws from his own years of personal practice and reflection on the heart essence of the teachings of dzogchen, or "great perfection.” The practice of dzogchen can transport the practitioner directly into the nature of mind, our real essence.
More about the Four Lamps
More about TWR LIVE and the latest schedule updates
Archive of past TWR LIVE recordings
Video introduction to TWR LIVE
The 3 Doors Program News
Next North American Academy
Applications are now being accepted for the fifth 3 Doors North American Academy, to be held October 3–9, 2018 at Serenity Ridge Retreat Center in Shipman, Virginia. Taught by 3 Doors senior
teachers Gabriel Rocco and Marcy Vaughn, this two-and-one-half-year program is built around six in-person group retreats and interactive online support.
The Academy is a journey of personal discovery where participants are asked to make an active commitment to daily meditation and self-reflection. A great strength of the Academy program is that it draws upon the collective power of the group for support in transforming personal limitations and leading to actions that benefit others.
After graduation, participants join an active network of practitioners from more than 20 countries, who support each other in maintaining an ongoing commitment to their meditation practice and serving the well-being of others.
Learn more, view teacher videos and apply
The Joy of Embodied Presence
Led by 3 Doors senior teacher Laura Shekerjian, this online meditation program explores the body as a powerful doorway into open awareness and the vibrancy of direct experience. The next four-week session will take place on Saturdays April 21 and 28, and May 5 and 12, 2018.
- Use shifts in posture to open the body, connect with stillness and increase inner stability.
- Use breath to slow the moving mind and deepen relaxation.
- Refine attention to bodily sensation to increase attunement to the present moment.
- Recognize how the immediacy of bodily experience, when grounded in the space of being, increases joy and deep well-being.
Simultaneous Spanish translation will be available for this course via the internet radio app MixIr, and will be audible only to those who wish to use it. Everyone else will hear the program in English only.
Learn more/register
Walking the Healing Path
Based on The 3 Doors Tibetan meditation practices and led by senior teacher Raven Lee, Ph.D., this two-and-one-half-day residential retreat, held at Pauenhof Retreat Center, Germany from June 16-19, 2018, is designed to support those called to a healing path.
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The 3 Doors International Retreat
The 3 Doors hosted its first International Retreat for Academy graduates, current students and teachers in Merida, Mexico from January 4–9, 2018. Seventy participants from 10 countries (Austria, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, United States) attended. The themes underlying the days of practice and conversation included collective wisdom, service to others and growing connections within The 3 Doors community. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche spent three days with the group, offering practices, guidance and inspiration to carry The 3 Doors into the future.
The warmth and heart of the Latin American collective was contagious, leaving us all to discover our participation in something much larger that we could ever have anticipated.— Phil Tonne
For an extended period of time, we sat in an arc around our teacher, moved by his presence, his open heart and his vulnerability, the trust and warmth opening each of the three doors.—Phil Tonne
What a View!
Gems from a Dzogchen Master
Enjoy these photos from Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's recent trip to Menri Monastery during Losar, and from Serenity Ridge, interspersed with words of wisdom from his book Healing with Form, Energy and Light.
In the dzogchen view, the goal is already present. Nothing has to be developed, only recognized. The fundamental practices of dzogchen are not aimed at developing anything, not even positive qualities. The practice is simply abiding in the nature of mind in which all qualities are already present and can spontaneously arise.
Dzogchen does not attempt to overcome problems or correct their causes, nor does it renounce problems or attempt to transform them. In the pure dzogchen view, there is no such thing as a problem. When a thought or feeling or sensation arises, it is left as it is. It does not cause a reaction. And if there is a reaction, it is not further engaged.
Serenity Ridge Retreat Center in Shipman, Virginia during New Year's Sang
Salvador Espinosa (photographer), Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and Rinpoche's son, Senghe
Dzogchen is the great knowledge of space and light. Space is the empty Great Mother from which all things arise as a luminous display, in which all things have their existence, and into which all things dissolve. The luminous display is the play of the five pure lights, the essence of the five elements. The manifestation is all things and all beings and all elements of experience. This is the basis of the dzogchen view.
Ligmincha Europe Magazine Coming Out Soon
Featuring Worldwide Sangha News
The winter issue should be out soon. You can find it on the Ligmincha Europe website and on their Facebook page.
Spanish Translation of VOCL
Link to February Now Available
Look for the translations of Voice of Clear Light newsletters at the top of the Voice of Clear Light website. We hope to have the translation of VOCL in Portuguese at a later date.
Upcoming Retreats
Serenity Ridge Retreat Center
The retreats listed below will take place at Serenity Ridge Retreat Center, Ligmincha International headquarters located in rural Nelson County, Virginia. To register or for more information, click on the links below, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 434-263-6304.
April 9–12, 2018
Spring Service Retreat
Learn more/register
April 12–15, 2018
Spring Retreat: The Five Wisdoms
with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Learn more/register
May 17–20, 2018
Personal Practice Retreat
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June 17–22, 2018
Summer Service Retreat
Learn more/apply
June 23–July 7, 2018
Summer Retreat: Tummo: Inner Fire of Realization
with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Learn more/register
July 7–12, 2018
Summer Tummo Practice Retreat
Learn more/register
July 7–12, 2018
Summer Personal Practice Retreat
Learn more/register
October 16–21, 2018
Fall Retreat: Powa: Transfer of Consciousness from the Bön Mother Tantra
with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Learn more
December 26, 2018–January 1, 2019
Winter Retreat: The Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung, Part 5
with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Prerequisite: Previous completion of Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung series.
To register for any of the above retreats, or for more information about teachings in the Bön Buddhist tradition of Tibet, please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , call 434-263-6304 or visit the Serenity Ridge website.
