A Special Graduation Ceremony at Serenity Ridge

The Three Doors Academy’s First Graduates

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s aspiration to bring the wisdom and potency of Bon Buddhist practices to the West has most recently expressed itself in the Three Doors Programs. Kallon Basquin, executive director of the Three Doors, eloquently calls it Rinpoche’s “heart drop,” the distillation of his heart message to all of us. During Ligmincha’s 2011 summer retreat, the first group of students who completed this in-depth training — the first fruit of this program — had the extraordinary privilege of attending a graduation ceremony presided over by Tenzin Rinpoche and His Holiness Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche, spiritual head of the Bon tradition.





Kallon spoke for all 12 graduates as he movingly expressed his appreciation for what had been offered to them.

“This has been a long time coming,” Kallon said. “I remember when [Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche] asked me to come practice with him. What an opportunity! How often does a student have the chance to learn how to be a human being? Rinpoche offered us a path to meet ourselves nakedly, to break our hearts open. This path is beyond all Buddhist concepts and beyond all our longing to be somewhere other than where we are. He gave us a way to come home to ourselves. It was an open invitation to us and now to all of you to go beyond everything and just be alive. This vision is for all those who have a calling to go deep into their own souls.”

Tenzin Rinpoche talked about his pure and open intention to bring the transformative potential of these profound teachings to all sentient beings. He recognized that the forms and rituals of traditional practice can be obstacles for many and has worked hard to create the opportunity for anyone to work deeply with themselves and benefit from the wisdom of these practices. In the Three Doors, he has achieved the perfect balance between making the teachings accessible to others while maintaining the pure link with the tradition.

That direct transmission from the tradition into this program and all those who work within it was made apparent by His Holiness’s presence and his words. He encouraged us to commit to what we have begun and not let the many distractions of everyday life pull us away from the deepening of our own awareness and our commitment to share this with others. He stated that he was very pleased by what had been accomplished here and wished us well in our efforts to move this into the world. After the ceremony, he asked for copies of the graduation certificates to be put into the archives at Menri Monastery in India. In this way, the Three Doors Program and all its present and future graduates were given a place within the living heart of this ever-flowing tradition.

As the assembled students who attended the summer retreat sang the beautiful refuge prayers written by Tenzin Rinpoche, the 12 graduates rose to receive the transmission of blessings of body, speech, and mind from His Holiness, who touched a statue of Tapihritsa to their foreheads, a text of the Six Lamps to their throats, and a crystal to their hearts.

At the end of the ceremony the graduates stood and expressed their own pure intention to be suitable vessels for what had been given them: “Having received the blessings of body, speech, and mind through the great wisdom and compassion of our teachers, may we have the strength to benefit many others.”

— Laura Shekerjian

To learn more about the Three Doors Programs and Academy visit www.the3doors.org