Sangha Sharing

Experiencing Serenity Ridge & Song from the Heart

We are happy to share several students' writings in this issue. The first two are about Serenity Ridge Retreat Center, written by Hieke Grootendorst from The Netherlands, Marleen Aelbrecht from Belgium and Linda Moore from California after their time attending the recent summer retreat. The second features the lyrics of a little song shared by Tonny Maas in the Netherlands, written after the death of her brother-in-law. (VOCL invites you to share something about your experience that has arisen through your connection to Bon. Please limit your writing to 40 lines or less. Please simply send it to our This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .)

What a fabulous retreat center! Located near the Blue Ridge Mountains. The center lives up to its name, so serene and peaceful. Deer graze in front of your room. You can feel that this is the headquarters, the senior teachers are amazing. We visited during summer retreat from Belgium and The Netherlands with the idea of a one-time visit but we will return here for sure. A big advantage is the duration of this retreat, which is longer than one week and allows you to dive deeper and progress in your practice more.

The breaks gave a chance to visit Charlottesville and Shenandoah National Park. Our morning walks were a great opportunity to get to know Rinpoche, his wife and the visiting lamas better, and to ask them questions in an informal way. Travelling there is quite easy with the right preparation. The sangha is very welcoming, helpful and mature. It is also small if you compare it to other sanghas which makes it very intimate. They explain more about all the ceremonies and rituals. The accommodation is clean and very well maintained. The food is buffet style with a lot of choice and every meal was healthy and very tasty. What a great experience. The trip is costly but precious!

- Hieke Grootendorst from The Netherlands and Marleen Aelbrecht from Belgium

Serenity Ridge is a welcoming retreat center in the beautiful, green mountainous countryside of Virginia. The sangha members are open-hearted, kind people who are both fun and interesting. They come mostly from the northeastern U.S., with some representing Mexico, England and other parts of Europe as well. The physical facility is beautiful, with buildings designed to showcase nature and are well-maintained.

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, the Geshe and the Lama are the source of the openness and kindness of the sangha. The two retreats I attended were practice-oriented which is what I like. The environment is supportive, and the collective singing and chanting is nourishing, building harmony which is good for practice. I recommend Serenity Ridge and the retreat experience it offers.

- Linda Moore

*****

Water flows by

Water flows by,
Able to shine

Looking into, you'll see your face
Diving into, you'll hear your name.

Water flows by,
Mirrors the sky

Looking into, you'll see the world
Diving into, it will unfold.

Water flows by,
Dissolves this I

Diving in to, I've touched the base
Bowing to this, I've found my face.

Water flows by,

- Tonny Maas