End-of-Year Letter from Rob Patzig

Ligmincha's Expanding View

Dear Friends and Sangha,

Quo Vademus is an ancient, wonderful Latin phrase meaning, "Where are we going?" It's a good question to ask most any time. But it is especially relevant right now.

Quo Vademus?

I am writing this letter 48-hours after Donald Trump was elected for the second time to the presidency of the United States of America. And all around the globe there is a movement toward more conservatism, a focus on national identities, border protection, and escalation of military strength. And at the same time, we are in the midst of an ecological crisis in the form of climate change and the fifth extinction, which is already proving to be catastrophic for many species.

It is easy to want to feel despair or to give up - to throw one's hands up and turn away from engaging with the world. It is especially easy to turn away from those with whom we disagree. But that is not what Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche or the Bon teachings tell us to do. Rinpoche always tells us to get closer to our pain and to see in ourselves what we are feeling about the outer world. When we don't avoid what hurts us, when we face it with love and warmth, it lessens, even dissolves.

2024 has very much been a year of leaning in to our individual and collective pain. For me, personally, it has been a transformative year, one in which many of my more subtle pain identities have had to be brought into my practice. Some of which I've made peace with, or at least more peace with. I hope this has been a fruitful year for us all, a flourishing of our practice.

Within Ligmincha, Rinpoche has been so focused on both teaching and manifesting how we can change our lives. When we are hungry, angry, lonely, tired, or sick it can be so hard to practice, even if we are already established in a spiritual practice. It is even harder to start from such a place. And so, without any break from his teaching topics from the Mother Tantra and the transmissions of Dzogchen, Rinpoche has incorporated caring for the body, too. In our retreats we are walking, sometimes miles every day! We are waking earlier and sun or sky gazing! We are talking about sleep habits and how to truly allow ourselves to rest. He and we are talking about the role of food in our well-being. And in what I feel is an especially powerful teaching, he is not just talking about these practices, but he is engaging with them personally and very actively. As he says, You have to make a commitment. We even transformed our Spring Retreat at Serenity Ridge to have a very clear focus on sleep now. And in conversations with many people from that retreat, the discussions, teachings and practice have really benefited many of us. And from those changes, our formal practice, our meditation and prayers, also evolve in new ways and directions.

These changes are extending out into many retreats around the world. Expect to come to a retreat and go on walks with Rinpoche and our resident lamas (you will have a great time!). Expect to talk about sleep habits! And, if you need space to really open yourself to lifestyle changes, come to the 2025 Spring Retreat, where we will again give lots of time and attention to these topics, with an emphasis this year on healing with nature and the elements.

And as Rinpoche is becoming even more accessible in his teaching than ever before, Ligmincha is really putting a lot of energy into training programs that emphasize more traditional aspects of the Bon tradition. In March Geshe Denma will begin a 2.5-year training program for students to learn the Du Tri Su ritual for supporting those who are dying or recently dead. In October Lama Kalsang will teach a 2-year program for students to learn Soul and Life Force Retrieval. Both of these programs will offer certificates of completion for those who only want to learn for their own benefit, but there will be an option to take an exam for a certificate of authorization, which would allow one to perform the ritual for others as well.

Finally, in 2025 we will continue with our Umdze (practice leader) development and training. In the week before summer retreat in Wilga, Poland, we will bring together umdzes from all around the world to share their experiences, practice together, and learn about how to be the best guides possible for their communities of practice.

As His Eminence, Yongdzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche has said, do not forget that this is samsara! Until we achieve self-realization, or enlightenment, there will be suffering. There will be unsatisfactoriness. This is the time for us to keep our commitments to our practice, to find the compassion and wisdom of our hearts and minds, and to be a benevolent friend to the world at large.

In service,

Rob Patzig