Teaching Issue
Volume 16, Number 3 / June 2016
Letter from the Editors
Your Life Becomes a Practice
Dear Friends,
We're excited to bring you another action-packed issue. First, we have a special announcement: a free three-week online workshop is being made possible by Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and GlideWing Productions to be held July 9–31, 2016. The topic is “Healing From the Source: Meditation as Medicine for Body and Mind.” In connection with the workshop, a team of researchers will conduct a study into the effects of workshop participation on easing physical and emotional pain. You can find all the details below.
We've included two teaching excerpts in this issue! The first is from Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's April 16 webcast on “Generating Compassion”. In that webcast, Rinpoche emphasized:
"Whenever challenging situations affect you, your identity, your ego, your pain-body, and you are able to be conscious of that, address that, and are able to let it be and let it go in that sacred space, that is a wisdom. That means that the challenging situation is not just affecting you; rather, you are actually applying a great meditation of wisdom. So your life becomes a practice. I really want to emphasize that and want everyone to remember that."
Your life becomes a practice – words to remember as the goal for integrating the teachings into our daily life. Thank you, Rinpoche, for continuing to remind us of that!
What about when one is sleeping? Can one's life also be a practice during sleep? This is the topic of the second excerpt: sleep yoga and what distinguishes sleep yoga from dream yoga. Rinpoche will be focusing on “Sleep of Clear Light” for this year's Summer Retreat at Serenity Ridge beginning June 19. You can still sign up for this retreat and receive a discount if you register by June 8; see details below.
Mark your calendar for the upcoming free live webcasts in June and July, the next in the series on “Transforming Your World Through Service” as well as an additional webcast to be broadcast live from the Summer Retreat on Sleep Yoga.
Learn about how you can be of service during the Summer Service Retreat at Serenity Ridge, held prior to the Summer Retreat. It starts soon, June 12–17. Early registration for Summer Retreat has been extended until June 8; the annual summer fundraising auction is set for June 24. Also scheduled for later this summer is the next online workshop to be offered through Ligmincha Learning on “The Three Heart Mantras.” Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s Fall Retreat at Serenity Ridge, “Fear and Attachment: Doorways to Liberation –The Practice of Chod from the Bon Mother Tantra," is now open for registration.
Have you heard about the exciting plans for the new building at Serenity Ridge Retreat Center? Read an article by Rob Patzig, Ligmincha International's president, describing plans for the new facility. A groundbreaking ceremony will be held during the first week of Summer Retreat on June 25 at 10:30 a.m. You will also find short biographies of all six of Ligmincha International's resident lamas on the Ligmincha International website. Don't miss the latest Ligmincha Europe Magazine for Spring 2016 – find the link to their 20th issue below. And lastly, we have the links to the Spanish and Portuguese translations of April's Voice of Clear Light newsletter.
In Bon,
Aline and Jeff
Compassion and Enlightened Leadership
Warmth in Action
Both enlightened leadership and serving others have so much to do with wisdom and compassion. For anyone who is on the spiritual path, particularly those of us on the Bon and Buddhist paths, wisdom and compassion are the true core aspects of our spiritual practice. To achieve liberation – final liberation, absolute liberation – compassion and wisdom are the two most important means. For all of us, one way or another, the purpose of our life is service to help others, and many times we do that from some position of leadership. To be a good leader and lead a good life with family, groups, even with your country, you need to have these core qualities of wisdom and compassion.
We do formal practices in our life, but if the informal practices that we do every day in our work and activities have these two elements of compassion and wisdom, then whatever we are doing becomes our spiritual practice. So having more compassion toward your children, your husband, partner, wife, family, relatives, colleagues, employees, boss, strangers – anytime when we encounter them in our everyday life – your regular life becomes your compassion practice.
Summer at Serenity Ridge (photo by Salvador Espinosa)
Whenever challenging situations affect you, your identity, your ego, your pain-body, and you are able to be conscious of that, address that, and are able to let it be and let it go in that sacred space, then that is a wisdom. That means that the challenging situation is not just affecting you; rather, you are actually applying a great meditation of wisdom. So your life becomes a practice. I really want to emphasize that and want everyone to remember that.
In the last webcast, we spoke of wisdom. Briefly, wisdom is the experience of selflessness, the experience of oneself beyond the ego, beyond the pain-body. It is the experience of oneself totally and completely being open and resting in the nature of mind in that sacred space. That is what wisdom means. So basically, in every situation, in the moment when something in life affects you, if you are able to be conscious and host that and dissolve that in the sacred space and find a new direction, a new way of being – that is a wisdom.
The true, genuine sense of compassion really arises from that openness. In many religions or spiritual practices we learn that it's good to have compassion, we should have compassion to our family and so on. We are taught that, and we have heard that, and we probably figure that we have to try to do that. And in trying to do that we sometimes suffer. We suffer inside ourselves just trying to help someone. Or we suffer inside just trying to be nice to someone. Doing nice things, kind things, the right things, can be very stressful when that kindness is not coming from the right place.
Basically, when that kindness, when that compassion is not coming from the right place, it means that it is coming from blockages in yourself, a conditional space in yourself, a place in yourself of an old wounded history and fear. It's coming from a pain-identity. When it's coming from there, you can try to be nice and do kind things, and it might sometimes work, but deep inside you are suffering. So basically you are punishing yourself by doing that. I would not really think that is a genuine kind of practice, and for sure it is not a genuine kind of compassion practice.
Very often what happens when you do that is you are not only punishing yourself, but as an outcome you're also feeling so much expectation of other people. You're saying to yourself, “Oh, I'm giving up this; I am sacrificing myself, making special time, giving money. I'm trying to give this and that.” So you're putting in a lot of pain and suffering by trying to help someone. As a result, you are expecting a great outcome and fast outcome – that someone should listen to you, and give you recognition and acknowledgment. There are so many subtle and obvious forms of expectation that you have of people. With all those expectations, you are not really able to help someone that much, and for sure you are not helping yourself. Not only, but in a way, it's kind of like punishing yourself. We do that, but I think it's important we should be conscious and aware of that.
So what is compassion? In Buddhism, compassion is having a deep sense of sympathy and empathy toward others’ suffering and the clear intention that I want them to be free from that suffering, and how may I be part of liberating them from their suffering? It's a very unique state of mind, a state of awareness which has focus, which is aware of other people, aware of other people's pain, and which is, first of all, sympathetic toward it. You are in some sense identifying with it, you relate to how it feels. You know how the mother must feel when she loses her only child. Or you know how the child must feel when she loses the mother, or how it feels when someone falls down and gets hurt, or when someone is terminally ill. You know how it feels to be totally hopeless, or totally confused and lost. Because you are very aware and can relate to the experience of pain, there is a deep sense of sympathy and empathy there.
But compassion is more than that. It is the arising of this mind of May this person be free from that suffering. If you are feeling genuine empathy, then it’s very natural, without any effort, to feel this mind of compassion. However, more often, you might have a great sympathy toward someone, but not necessarily a clear compassion, a clear sense of May this person be free, or may I be able to do something so that this person can be free from this suffering.
So in your daily life, you can practice opening your heart, mind and feelings, see how your empathy supports the compassionate intention, and wish that this person may be free from the suffering. Just look at how empathy is literally like a fuel supporting compassion. If that mind of sympathy and empathy is strong, then the intention to have compassion is naturally very strong. And if the empathy and sympathy are not very strong, then it is a little more challenging. In your practice, in your daily life, simply witness that and see it, whatever it is. Not to judge whether it's good or bad, but just know what it is and how you're experiencing it, how you're seeing at that very moment.
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche teaching in France
Then imagine this beautiful mind of genuine compassion. First try to rest in yourself, open yourself. From that place, look at your life and those with whom you have a strong relationship – look at them and their pain, and feel empathy. Allow this compassionate wish: May they be free from that suffering. Then just imagine that beautiful mind, that heartwarming mind. Can you practice holding that for a moment? Can you prolong that from five minutes, say, to ten minutes? Can you go from doing it one time a day to three times a day? Can you go from doing that for one person to doing that with a few or more people, or to repeating it more frequently with a single person? Just think about how with this beautiful mind of compassion it will change your entire life, your relationship to yourself and your relationship to others.
(This is an edited excerpt from Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's webcast on "Generating Compassion," April 16, 2016. View the entire webcast here.)
Distinctions Between Dream and Sleep Yoga
From The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Sleep yoga is the focus of Ligmincha's upcoming two-week summer retreat beginning June 19 at Serenity Ridge. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche will be teaching on “Sleep of Clear Light: The Sleep Yoga Practice From the Bon Mother Tantra.” Learn more about the retreat.
The normal process of sleep occurs as consciousness withdraws from the senses and the mind loses itself in distraction, thinning out in mental images and thoughts until it dissolves in darkness. Unconsciousness then lasts until dreams arise. When they do, the sense of self is reconstituted through dualistic relationship with the images of the dream until the next period of unconsciousness occurs. Alternating periods of unconsciousness and dream make up a normal night of sleep.
Sleep is dark to us because we lose consciousness in it. It seems to be empty of experience because we identify with the gross mind, which ceases to function during sleep. The period in which our identities collapse we call “falling asleep.” We are conscious in dream because the moving mind is active, giving rise to a dream ego with which we identify. In sleep, however, the subjective self does not arise.
Salgye Du Dalma, the guardian of sleep
Although we define sleep as unconsciousness, the darkness and the experiential blankness are not the essence of sleep. For the pure awareness that is our basis there is no sleep. When not afflicted with obscurations, dreams, or thoughts, the moving mind dissolves into the nature of mind; then, rather than the sleep of ignorance, clarity, peacefulness, and bliss arise. When we develop the ability to abide in that awareness we find that sleep is luminous. This luminosity is the clear light. It is our true nature.
As explained in previous chapters, dreams arise from karmic traces. I used the analogy of light being projected through film to make movies, where the karmic traces are the photographs, awareness is the light that illuminates them, and the dreams are projected on the base (kunzhi). Dream yoga develops lucidity in relationship to the dream images. But in sleep yoga there is no film and no projection. Sleep yoga is imageless. The practice is the direct recognition of awareness by awareness, light illuminating itself. It is luminosity without images of any kind. Later, when stability in the clear light is developed, even dream images will not distract the practitioner, and the dream period of sleep will also occur in the clear light. These dreams are then called clear light dreams, which are different than dreams of clarity. In clear light dreams, the clear light is not obscured.
We lose the real sense of the clear light as soon as we conceptualize it or try to imagine it. There is neither subject nor object in the clear light. If there is any identification with a subject, then there is no entry into the clear light. Actually, nothing “enters” the clear light: the clear light is the base recognizing itself. There is neither “you” nor “it.” Using dualistic language to describe the non-dual necessarily results in paradox. The only way to know the clear light is to know it directly.
(Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's book, The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep, is available from Ligmincha's Tibet Shop.)
Upcoming Free Webcasts with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
June 11, June 25 and July 9
Mark your calendar! Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche will be giving three live webcasts in June and July. Join us from your computer or other device. Each webcast is free and open to all. All times listed are Eastern Time U.S. (New York time); real-time translation will be available in as many as 12 languages.
Saturday, June 11, 2016, 3–4:30 p.m.
Inspiring Others to Serve
In your efforts to benefit others and change your world, you can vastly extend your reach by inspiring others to serve. In this free live webcast with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, you will learn:
- How to develop the right intention as a mentor.
- The value of letting go of responsibilities, at the right time and in the right manner, so that others may take them on.
- How to give space to those you are mentoring.
- The benefits of supporting, respecting and acknowledging them in their growth as leaders.
- The importance of being open to the true needs of the moment and exercising genuine openness and compassion.
- A supportive meditation practice.
This webcast is Part 5 of a free, six-month course on Transforming Your World Through Service and is open to all (viewing Parts 1-4 is not required).
Register now for June 11 webcast
Saturday, June 25, 2016, 12 noon–1:15 p.m. Eastern Time U.S. (New York time)
Sleep Yoga—Live From Serenity Ridge
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. In this webcast, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche will give a brief introduction to sleep yoga, guide a meditation and answer viewers’ questions. Rinpoche will be broadcasting live from his Sleep Yoga retreat at Ligmincha International at Serenity Ridge, Nelson County, Virginia.
Register now for June 25 webcast
Saturday, July 9, 3–4:30 p.m.
Transforming Your World Through Service, Part 6: Questions and Answers
In this concluding webcast of his six-month course on service, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche will guide a meditation and answer viewers’ questions. More information about this webcast will be posted here in coming weeks.
Learn more about the Transforming Your World Through Service course
Access real-time translation in as many as 12 languages
Meditation As Medicine for Body and Mind
Free Online Workshop Forms Basis for Research into Pain-Relieving Effects of Meditation
From July 9–31, 2016, Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche and GlideWing Productions will offer a free three-week online workshop on Healing From the Source: Meditation as Medicine for Body and Mind. In connection with the free workshop, a team of researchers will conduct a study into the effects of workshop participation on easing physical and emotional pain.
We tend to view emotional and physical pain as the enemy. The Healing From the Source online workshop with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche reveals why we shouldn’t – and shows us how meditation practice can transform our own pain and sickness through the healing warmth of loving-kindness. Based on ancient teachings of dzogchen from the Tibetan Bön Buddhist tradition, this online workshop helps one discover the “great healer within.”
Normally, a registration fee would be charged for attending this Healing From the Source workshop. However, Tenzin Rinpoche and GlideWing are committing to offer the July workshop free of charge in order to accommodate as many participants as possible in the associated study.
Call for Volunteers
As a study volunteer, you are invited to bring to this workshop any form of pain you wish to heal, anything from mild physical, mental or emotional discomfort to severe or deeply rooted pain. The online workshop will provide three weeks of video-based instruction in meditation practices designed to help ease that pain. Throughout, Rinpoche will make himself available to answer questions and offer personal support.
Because many participants will be busy with their normal daily routines throughout the three weeks, it may be a challenge for some to keep up with the recommended practice schedule. However, all participants are encouraged to commit wholeheartedly to themselves by engaging as fully as possible in viewing the instructional videos, practicing the meditations and completing the study-related surveys.
The recommended level of participation includes:
- View all instructional videos on a timely basis. The workshop is divided into six teaching sessions, with a new session introduced each Saturday and Tuesday of the workshop. There are no set class times, and videos can be viewed on your own schedule.
- Engage in two sessions per day of formal meditation practice, for a minimum of 20 minutes a session.
- Bring the practice informally into your life at least five times a day.
- Complete a two-minute “practice tracker” survey via computer or smartphone each evening during the workshop.
- Complete a pre- and post-workshop survey, as well as a follow-up survey three months after the workshop ends.
Participation in the study is completely voluntary, and all information collected will be confidential and anonymous. Learn more about the research goals and methods below.
Register for the workshop here
About the Workshop
A series of instructional videos are introduced in progression throughout the three weeks. Every few days a new teaching session is revealed to course participants, allowing them to view and practice on their own schedule. Each teaching session concludes with a guided meditation, along with an MP3 audio version that can be downloaded and kept for ongoing practice. Tenzin Rinpoche answers questions in a special "Ask a Question" forum, and encourages free use of a discussion forum with participants from around the world.
About the Research
Goals. In this study, researchers are examining whether meditation can be used as medicine for the body and the mind focusing on loving-kindness as a means for healing both physical and emotional pain.
Methods. This course presents a series of instructional videos and guided meditations, introduced in progression throughout its three-week duration. Participants complete surveys before and after the course. The surveys log previous practice experience and assess physical and emotional pain and self-compassion. Participants also use a practice tracker every day to log the teachings used and the types and the amount of practice. The practice tracker also logs physical and emotional pain.
The research team. The three researchers involved in this study – Barbara Stefik, Ph.D., Alejandro Chaoul-Reich, Ph.D. and Claire Clark, Ph.D. –seek to understand the benefits of meditation on healing and transformation. Currently they are also conducting a longitudinal study on the two and one-half-year 3 Doors Academy meditation program, and other meditation programs that support people in the healing profession, people in business and other professionals.
Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. Tenzin Rinpoche is an acclaimed author and a respected teacher of students worldwide. As the founder and spiritual director of Ligmincha International, he has established numerous centers and institutes of learning in the United States, Mexico, South America, Europe and India. Fluent in English, Rinpoche regularly offers online teachings in the form of live webcasts, online workshops and YouTube videos. He is renowned for his depth of wisdom; his clear, engaging teaching style; and his dedication to making the ancient Tibetan teachings highly accessible and relevant to the lives of Westerners.
Summer Service Retreat at Serenity Ridge
Join In and Help!
Join us at Serenity Ridge on June 12–17 for a special service retreat prior to the annual Summer Retreat. Participants will receive 50 percent off the cost of registration for one week of the two-week Summer Retreat, scheduled for June 19–July 2 on the topic of Sleep Yoga.
This is a wonderful time to share with the sangha and to be of joyful service. Each day of the work retreat includes vigorous work periods, daily meditation practice, and free time to walk along the Serenity Ridge grounds or the Rockfish River. Work will focus on housekeeping, painting and landscaping.
Free accommodations in the Garuda House dormitory will be provided starting the evening of June 11, and ingredients for preparing meals will be provided.
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for more information and an application.
Summer Retreat Early Registration Extended to June 8
June 19–July 2: Sleep of Clear Light
Early-bird registration for the Serenity Ridge Summer Retreat on the topic of Sleep Yoga has been extended until June 8. Participants who register by June 8 will receive a $75 discount off the cost of registration for each week of the two-week retreat, set for June 19–July 2. You are welcome to attend one week or both weeks.
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 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.
In addition, to receive 50 percent off the cost for one week of Summer Retreat registration, join us from June 12–17 for the Serenity Ridge Service Retreat. If you can only participate for a part of this service retreat, please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Stella Richards.
If needed, other financial aid opportunities are also available. Again, please contact the Serenity Ridge operations manager for more information.
Donate to 2016 Summer Fundraising Auction!
Set for Friday, June 24, at Serenity Ridge
We welcome you to join the annual summer fundraising auction at Serenity Ridge on Friday, June 24. This will be held during the first week of the Summer Retreat on Sleep Yoga with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche.
The auction is an important public fundraising event for Ligmincha International and Serenity Ridge Retreat Center and is essential for furthering Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's vision for Serenity Ridge.
The focus of this year’s fundraising is on the next phase of development at Serenity Ridge, to add a new building. (See the article below.)
Please help by offering items for our auction! We are seeking quality practice-related or shrine-related items that can inspire or deepen our practice.
We invite you to attend the auction at Serenity Ridge on June 24 if you are in the area, as well as the dinner that follows, whether or not you are able to attend the Summer Retreat. Please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more details.
To donate items, please
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or mail your donated items to:
Serenity Ridge Retreat Center
554 Drumheller Lane
Shipman, VA 22971
Financial contributions are also greatly welcomed!
Donate
Serenity Ridge: Expanding to Meet Practioners' Needs
Groundbreaking Happens This Month
Rob Patzig, president of Ligmincha International, writes about the new building planned to meet the growing needs of Serenity Ridge Retreat Center, headquarters of Ligmincha International, located in Nelson County, Virginia.
Serenity Ridge, Ligmincha International’s headquarters and oldest retreat center, is preparing for major change. At this summer’s retreat, a groundbreaking ceremony for a new building will take place on June 25 at 10:30 a.m. Construction will begin in November.
Rob Patzig 
The front entrance to the new building
Meeting of the Building Committee 
Rinpoche, Elly Grace and John Massie
review final plans
Since 2011 members of the sangha have worked together and in close communication with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche to discuss, plan, fundraise and prepare for this new facility at Serenity Ridge. The goal is to have the building open in time for the celebration of Ligmincha’s 25th anniversary in summer 2017.
More space is needed for large groups Different locations around the property, various sizes and styles of buildings and different layout of spaces within the building were considered over many iterations of the project. The final location will be just past the Lama House and slightly downhill to the east. Size and design were the result of many hours of drawing, meeting, reflecting and revising. The result is a plan that meets the needs of the center and the international community, maintains the long-term vision of Serenity Ridge and rests within the budget defined for this project.
The building will consist of approximately 12,000 square feet on two full floors and one partial floor. The main floor will house a welcoming and registration area, a dining room capable of seating 100 people, a serving area and a full-scale, modern kitchen. The floor below will serve as a large multipurpose space that can be used all at once or segmented for smaller groups. Restrooms will be located on each floor. The top floor will house administrative offices and meeting space for Ligmincha International as well as a professional-quality recording and production studio for recording of teachings and creative projects. The outside of the building will have large dining and practice areas in the form of a rooftop deck and patio space. Large windows will ensure an expansive view from almost every part of the building.
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche met with neighbors of Serenity Ridge to discuss expansion plans
This new facility will have a profound impact on the ways in which Serenity Ridge and Ligmincha International can support practitioners and host retreats. Serenity Ridge intends to offer more teachings, sometimes simultaneous with one another, for smaller groups. For example, a meditation and creativity retreat could run concurrent with a retreat focused on trul khor, zhine, or soul retrieval practice. The center also be able to offer more space for personal retreats throughout the year, including individual dark retreats.
The recording studio will benefit the worldwide sangha as it will be a place for Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, resident lamas and senior students to record teachings, commentaries and guided practices. With the studio in place, Ligmincha will offer more free and paid online content through Ligmincha Learning and other media outlets. Over time, we hope to make a large menu of courses available to students on many topics related to Tibetan Bon Buddhism.
The manifestation of Rinpoche’s vision for Serenity Ridge depends on the generosity of his students. Through the generosity of sangha members, more than $1 million has been raised toward the design and construction of this building, and additional commitments of approximately $700,000 are anticipated over the next several years. However, we are still more than $600,000 short of our total fundraising goal of $2.3 million. This amount includes not only construction costs for the new facility, but also all furnishings, landscaping and equipment for the recording studio.
Tenzin Rinpoche often opens teachings with a prayer that begins: “Help me, help us.” Please consider making a donation to the Serenity Ridge Development Fund today. This project is intended to benefit all practitioners within the Ligmincha tradition. Thank you.
Donate
View YouTube video about the new building
Have You Met Ligmincha's Six Resident Lamas?
Guiding Ligmincha International Sanghas Around the World
What do these Ligmincha International communities have in common: Poland, Texas, Mexico, France, Virginia? They are all home to Ligmincha's resident lamas! How fortunate for the Ligmincha students in these sanghas to have such a close connection to the Bon lineage, with support, guidance and wisdom right there for them.
All of the Bon resident teachers have interesting and unique backgrounds, and all have studied at either Menri Monastery in India, under His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche or at Triten Norbutse Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal, under His Eminence Yongdzin Lopon Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche. They have lived and traveled around the world, meditated in solitary retreats in the mountains of Tibet, studied for years with Bon masters and have now dedicated themselves to helping Westerners in their role as resident teachers for Ligmincha International sanghas around the world.
Geshe Lhundup Gyaltsen 
Geshe Yungdrung Gyatso 
Geshe Denma Gyaltsen
In 2015 and early 2016, Ligmincha welcomed the newest resident teachers for three sanghas around the world: Geshe Lhundup Gyaltsen of France, Geshe Yungdrung Gyatso of Poland and Geshe Denma Gyaltsen of Texas.
Read the bios of all six resident lamas on Ligmincha International's website. Below you can find the sangha's websites with each resident lama's name:
- Geshe Denma Gyaltsen – Ligmincha Texas
- Geshe Tenzin Yangton – Serenity Ridge, Virginia: headquarters for Ligmincha International
- Geshe Khorden Lhundup Gyaltsen – Ligmincha France
- Geshe Yungdrung Gyatso – Chamma Ling Poland
- Lama Kalsang Nyima – Chamma Ling Torreon (Mexico)
- Lama Yungdrung Lodoe – Chamma Ling Valle de Bravo (Mexico)
Three-Week GlideWing Workshop Begins June 11
Tibetan Sound Healing: The Five Sacred Warrior Seed Syllables
The next GlideWing online workshop with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, “Tibetan Sound Healing: The Five Sacred Warrior Seed Syllables,” will be held June 11–July 3, 2016. With Rinpoche’s personal guidance you will learn to use the healing power of five sacred syllables known as the Five Warrior Syllables. Guided by the mind and carried by the breath through subtle channels within the body, the power of sound will open the potential to bring joy and love to your life, facilitate personal healing, dissolve energetic disturbances and awaken positive action in the world around you.
Changing life for the better isn’t easy – especially when we’re trying to change by thinking or worrying our way out of problems. Overcoming a nagging physical issue, bad habit, negative emotion or harmful thought pattern can take months, years, even decades of trying. The changes we do make often don’t stick. The Tibetan spiritual traditions offer a faster route to lasting happiness and well-being. Through the ancient practice of the Five Warrior Syllables, you will discover the power of pure, primordial sound to quickly cut through the obstacles to lasting change and to open the space for profound healing of body, energy and mind.
Tenzin Rinpoche’s teachings are based on his popular book Tibetan Sound Healing: Seven Guided Practices for Clearing Obstacles, Accessing Positive Qualities, and Uncovering Your Inherent Wisdom, Sounds True, 2006.
The Three Heart Mantras with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Five-Week Online Workshop Begins August 20, 2016
Ligmincha Learning is pleased to present an online course with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche on “The Three Heart Mantras of Bon” from August 20–September 24, 2016.
The Three Heart Mantras are used in many different meditations in the Bon tradition and play a major role in the ngondro (preliminary practices). They are said to be the essence of enlightenment in sound and energy. As as we sing or chant the mantras, our awareness is transformed to be in union with the buddhas. They are used for purification, protection and as primary practices toward self-realization.
It is said that creating these mantras in any form brings merit and purification, so they are commonly found carved into stones, printed on prayer flags where they spread their benefits through the winds, and even drawn with gold ink and kept on shrines as an object of reverence and meditation. Their blessings are said to be endless. Also within this course Tenzin Rinpoche explains the essence of the Guru Yoga, Refuge and Bodhicitta practices, making this an excellent introduction to the tradition.
This course features:
- Teaching Videos – Receive original teachings by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche created especially for this course.
- Guided Meditation Videos – Be led by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche in your own home.
- Meditation Assignments – Experience improvement in your daily life through formal and informal practices designed for each part of the course.
- Online Discussions – Contribute to a global discussion with your classmates facilitated byJohn Jackson, director of the Chamma Ling Colorado retreat center and co-leader of The 3 Doors European Academy.
Students work with the online materials according to their own schedules. However, as a general guideline we suggest that students make available: 1 to 1.5 hours each week to enjoy the teaching and guided practice videos; 30–90 minutes each morning during the course to experience the formal meditation practices (don’t worry if you miss a practice but try not to); and between 1 to 2 hours per week for participating in online discussions.
The course is structured in five parts with a week devoted to each section. Learners can study at their own pace and have access to all materials as they are released, so it is easy to review earlier sections. Here are the topics for each week:
- Introduction to the 3 Heart Mantras – This section provides an excellent foundation for your meditation practice, with a thorough overview of the use of mantras and an introductory meditation practice. Familiarize yourself with the online course format and meet your classmates from around the world.
- Refuge, Bodhicitta and Guru Yoga – Rinpoche gives a thorough explanation of these three practices, which are integral to most meditations in the tradition, including the 3 Heart Mantras. He also explains the use of the Ah Om Hung meditation.
- OM MA TRI MU YE SA LE DU – Mantra explanation and meditation.
- A KAR A ME TU TI SU NAG PO SHI SHI MAL MAL SO HA – Mantra explanation and meditation.
- A OM HUNG AH A KAR SA LE OD A YANG OM DU – Mantra explanation and meditation.
Fall Retreat 2016 Now Open for Registration
The Practice of Chod from the Bon Mother Tantra
Registration is now open for Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s annual Fall Retreat at Serenity Ridge. From October 12–16, Rinpoche will teach on the topic of “Fear and Attachment: Doorways to Liberation’—The practice of Chod from the Bon Mother Tantra.”
There is not one person who does not face problems in life. Many of these problems have to do with fear and attachment, the most critical obstacles to realizing your essential nature. The practice of chod is a creative and skillful method for dissolving the emotional conflicts and dissatisfaction in your life by cutting through, with compassion, the fear and attachment that obscure your natural state of mind.
The retreat will present the chod text composed by the famous Bonpo dzogchen master Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen Rinpoche, who attained the rainbow body in 1934 at the age of 75. Traditionally, parts of the text are sung by the practitioner and accompanied by the chod drum and bell. The opportunity to learn the traditional use of bell and drum while performing the text will be offered to those with an interest in the ritual practice; for retreat participants whose interest in ritual is not as compelling, Tenzin Rinpoche will emphasize the core understanding of the principles and practice.
Ligmincha Europe Magazine–Spring 2016
A Beautiful 20th Issue!
Spanish and Portuguese Translations of VOCL
Links to April Issue Now Available
Upcoming Retreats
Serenity Ridge Retreat Center
The retreats listed below will take place at Serenity Ridge Retreat Center, Ligmincha International headquarters located in 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.
June 12–17, 2016
Special Summer Service Retreat
Participants will receive 50 percent off the cost of registration for one week of the two-week Summer Retreat, scheduled for June 19–July 2 on the topic of Sleep Yoga.
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for more information and an application
June 19–July 2, 2016
Summer Retreat: Sleep of Clear Light: The Sleep Yoga Practice from the Bon Mother Tantra
with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Attend one or both weeks.
Learn more/register
October 12–16, 2016
Fall Retreat 2016: The Practice of Chod from the Bon Mother Tantra
with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Learn more/register
November 3–6, 2016
Trul Khor Training: Tibetan Bon Yoga, Part 1
with Alejandro Chaoul-Reich, Ph.D.
Learn more
December 27, 2016–January 1, 2017
The Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung, Part 3: The Practice of the Path
with Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Prerequisite: Previous completion of Part 2 of the Experiential Transmission of Zhang Zhung series.
Learn more
To register for any of the above retreats, or for more information about teachings in the Bon Buddhist tradition of Tibet, please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , call 434-202-6211 or visit the Serenity Ridge website.
