Mountain Dharma

Vimala Treasures Blog

2011-04-09T18:01:00.002-06:00

Tashi Choling, home of Vimala Treasures

For those familiar with Gyatrul Rinpoche and Yangthang Rinpoche, you may not know that Gyatrul Rinpoche has made many of their teachings available in his online archives/store (non-profit) project, Vimala Treasures. Many amazing texts are available for purchase from Vimala -- Tibetan as well as English!

To improve the visibility of Vimala, we've set up a new blog that (for now) introduces Gyatrul Rinpoche's archive project and (in the future) will detail various books, texts, audio teachings, etc., that are newly available for purchase. Additionally, we are discussing an initiative to start providing certain texts for free download!

Stay tuned: there's lots more good stuff coming from Vimala Treasures :-)

The 37 Practices, Condensed

2011-02-22T10:27:00.006-07:00

Gyatrul Rincpoche compiled a beautiful little book that I fell completely in love with upon first seeing it. After having it for several months, I can only say that I treasure this little guy! I think it might have actually have been David Secundo who pointed it out to me at the Orgyen Dorje Den bookstore, while we were at the Rinche Terdzod in Alameda, CA.

I just adore the print format of the, too: much of the content has Tibetan on the left, English and Tibetan transliteration on the right. The form-factor is nice, as well: it fits easily in the hand (and most pockets I have!), about the same size as small notebook (it's actually about half the size of my medium moleskine).

Here's a nice quote from the store where it's sold:

A collection of the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, the Prayer for Excellent Conduct, opening prayers and prayers of dedication. A commentary by Kyabje Pema Norbu Rinpoche on the Prayer for Excellent Conduct is also included. The text is beautifully presented as a pocket-sized manual, with a deep brown cover decorated in gold calligraphy, gilt-edged pages and a gold ribbon bookmark. This convenient volume will be an excellent companion to accompany those in bodhisattva training wherever they go, a constant reminder of the fundamentals of the buddhist path.
As a result of the blessings and teachings received at the Rinchen Terdzod, I've been really focusing on the "basics", those things that are truly the foundation and essence of practicing the Buddhist path. This (as well as the beauty and convenience of this little book!) has contributed to me reading the 37 Practices more now than I even have before.

To aid in my reflection about the 37 Practices, I've tried to condense the list to short phrases or "titles" describing each one. This is what I'm using to improve my mindfulness about the Path of the Bodhisattva:

Be constantly mindful of the extraordinary opportunity of a human birth
Forsake attachments to your old, comfortable lifestyle
Avoid that which gives rise to the five poisons
Sacrifice worldly comforts in order to practice the dharma thoroughly
Avoid bad friends and companions
Hold the lama with great respect, above all others
Take refuge in the Three Jewels
Refrain from doing harmful deeds, even at the cost of your life
Be courageous while facing hardships on the path
Generate true bodhicitta with the aim of liberating all sentient beings
Exchange your happiness for the suffering of others
Dedicate your body, possessions, and all merit to those who would rob you
For crimes committed against you, with genuine compassion take all the karmic responsibility on yourself
Only say good things about others who are gossiping, slandering, and lying against you
For someone who reveals your faults in a humilating way, honor them as though they were your lama
Treat with compassion ones that you love who have turned against you
For those that treat you with contempt and arrogance, respect them as though they were your lama
When you feel your life is unbearable, with bravery imagine every being's karma coming to you
Even if you are rich and famous, remember humility and the illusory nature of all things
Tame the inner enemy of anger with loving-kindness and compassion
Whatever arouses desire in you, abandon it immediately
Seeing mind as free from conceptual limitations, release your mind from grasping at phenomena
Don't take attractive phenomena to be real; abandon your desire and attachment
When meeting with unfavorable circumstances, see them as illusions
Give with unceasing generosity, without hope of repayment
Guard your moral discipline, unchained by worldly purpose
Harmful individuals are like a precious treasure to the bodhisattva; meditate on forbearance
Practice diligence, the source of all qualities that benefit others
Practice concentration that transcends the four formless realms
Using skillful methods, meditate on the perfection of wisdom
Be constantly mindful and abandon your delusions
Say nothing against any other bodhisattva
Avoid the causes of discord and distraction (being showed with gifts, praise, etc.)
Avoid harsh words
With a brave and watchful mind, destroy the 5 poisons as they arise
Always be aware of the state of your own mind
Dedicate all merit, with discriminating wisdom, free of contamination

The book is available for purchase from Vimala Treasures:

http://vimalatreasures.org/path-of-the-bodhisattva.aspx

Rinchen Terzod: The Aftermath

2011-02-13T21:01:00.009-07:00

The Rinchen Terzod has came to a close last week. Yangthang Rinpoche gave some teachings early in the week, did the traditional long-life empowerments on Wednesday, lead a practice day on Thursday, and attended a lovely tsok on Friday we held in his and Gyatrul Rinpoche's honor. On Saturday, we started clean-up, and today we continued with those tasks after a morning "fish free" at the Berkeley Marina.

It's been two months of the most amazing Dharma experience of my life. It has left a significant mark in many ways for many different people, but the single most important impact has been on my practice. Every level of it:

I'm looking at the foundations (The Four Turnings, the Four Immeasurables, renunciation, Ngondrö) in a different light.
I've been given instructions on how to re-examine Refuge, how to fully explore it, and how not to stop until it's been 100% assimilated.
I'm reading the sutras again.
I'm re-reading Jamgön Kongtrul's Treasury of Knowledge, and in particular, studying his work on Ethics.
I've decided to start over with the 5 aggregates, 5 poisons, sense-bases and objects. This is going to become a regular part of my study and contemplation.
Likewise with the 12 Links of Dependent Origination.
I have begun re-reading the Bodhisattva's Way of Life and am going to make that part of my daily practice.
My meditation has gotten an major overhaul with uncountable issues that need to be addressed, with things that need to be scrapped and redone from scratch.
I have restarted integrating vase breathing and related exercises into my practice.
On my list is a more complete examination of cause and effect, but I haven't gotten as far as making a plan for this one yet. I will be looking to Jamgön Kongtrul and Jigme Lingpa for inspiration on this one...
I'm going to be starting over with Generation Stage. Gonna backup, and get this one done properly too.
New ways of looking at pure view came up during the Rinchen Terzod, and these will be pursued with increasing enthusiasm once some of the foundations have been laid (earlier bullet points).
I have begun placing much, much greater personal importance on bodhicitta, as well. We were given lots more tools to work with, for us to be more effective and generating relative bodhicitta and aspiring to ultimate bodhicitta. This is probably the seventh or eighth major readdressing of bodhicitta since I started with Vajrayana over 15 years ago...

As you can see, all of these entail a MAJOR overhaul.

And it's one I'm very, very grateful for. I continually thank Yangthang Rinpoche, Gyatrul Rinpoche, and Anyen Rinpoche for this amazing opportunity and the fires of insight that have burned everything down, allowing for rebuilding anew with more solid foundations.

Samaya: An Analogy

2011-02-11T06:04:00.011-07:00

Introduction

I don't really think that we get samaya in this culture. It's something that comes up over and over again in Tibetan Buddhism; teachers continually try to explain with astounding urgency, emphatically attempting to convey the need for students to pay attention to, respect, and constantly repair their samaya.

What's the big deal?

I was recently reading in Jamgön Kongrul's volume on Ethics about the mutual examination that the teacher and student must undergo. Some of the (deeply disturbing) reasons for doing this were given in the text:

The consequences are particularly unfortunate when a tantric master initiates disciples indiscriminately without first testing them. An unworthy disciple will be unable to honor pledges. This will lead to the ruin of both the master and disciple in this life and the next, and their commitments will deteriorate. The master's own spiritual accomplishment will be remote, and he or she will be beset by obstacles.

The Analogy

That's pretty intense. But what does it mean? We can see that samaya is important, and that not following it will have a tremendous and negative impact. But why? What is samaya? How does it work? How can we look at it in a way that makes intuitive sense for those of us raised in the West? What is samaya like? What is it like when it's taken away? What are its intrinsic properties, such that when taken away, it causes so much harm?

I think there's an analogy that might serve useful in this exploration... though we're going to have to take some liberties with it...

Samaya is like a power company.

There are many things we want to be able to do on the Mahayana, Vajrayana, and/or Atiyoga-Dzogchen paths. Each of these paths are like very special technologies. We can't accomplish our numerous goals without that which powers those technologies. Bodhicitta is that power. Samaya is like a contract that governs the flow of bodhicitta.

But if that was the case, we'd all have a very good understanding of samaya... at least as good as we understand our utility providers, anyway. So we should tweak our analogy a bit:

Samaya is like a power company in a society where most people aren't really sure where power comes from, why it turns on, why it turns off, and why most people don't have it.

This is getting much closer.

But who gives us our samaya? That would be the teacher, the vajramaster, or the realized being who gives us our introduction to the nature of mind. We have to go through this entity to get our samaya; no one else can give it to us. So there's still something missing from the analogy. Let's try one more change:

Samaya is like a power company in a society where most people aren't really sure where power comes from, why it turns on, why it turns off, and why most people don't have it. The company has an agreement with various unlisted individuals, and these have to be discovered. The agreement to distribute or allocate power is passed from these individuals to their heirs, and only those who have honored their contracts and whose students have honored their contracts retain the right to continue distributing power to others.

This is an interesting amendment to the now rather sci-fi analogy, since it brings the concept of the lama and the lama's lineage as a crucial component of samaya. However, it's starting to lose its value as an analogy, due to its growing complexity. Regardless, let's explore it :-)

Breaking Samaya

Engaging in a serious practice is like setting up a long-running experiment in a high-powered scientific facility. In order to run those experiments over that period of time, you're going to need a lot of power. Due to your special needs, you may need to request a 30-year power contract where you're going to be guaranteed delivery of the necessary utilities.

If the project succeeds, you will easily repay your debt, thanks to the overwhelming rewards of your experiment. If you break your contract or do not repay your debt, you will not only be in danger of being "repo'ed", but your teacher will be asked to compensate for the lost investment as well, with power allotment being taken from him or her, decreasing their ability to do their own projects and subsidize those of other students. Additionally, the power to continue your own experiments will be withdrawn and you will no longer be able to continue.

Bringing this back to dharma... when we do things like any of the following (and don't repair the broken samaya immediately):

break a promise to the lama
fail to fulfill our practice obligations
say bad things about fellow sangha members, or in general
abandon any aspect of the bodhisattva's path

we are preventing our teacher from accomplishing their goals. We are breaking contracts and, in a sense, stealing power away from them (and ourselves), inhibiting their ability to benefit more students, or to even accomplish their own goals.

Keeping Samaya

A student who has taken refuge in the inner, outer, secret, and extremely secret three jewels, who continuously takes refuge, reflects on the Four Turnings, the Four Immeasurables, and generates bodhicitta, will have unshakable devotion in their teacher. If there is anything that can cause us to doubt the lama, then we haven't properly reflected on the preciousness of human life, impermanence, the inexorable law of cause and result, or the nature of suffering.

(This also really makes it clear why it's so important for us to evaluate a potential teacher properly and over the course of several years... we're handing this person an enormous offering, our complete trust; if they are not realized, this could very easily end in disaster.)

Those who do reflect on this constantly, and with deep understanding, will fully appreciate the inestimable value of their teacher. With the proper stability of devotion, this appreciation will continue unwaveringly even in the excruciating existential pain of the lama cutting through our ego-clinging. We will follow their advice and instruction at the risk of losing our own lives. What's more, we will need that strength; experiencing their ultimate compassion will feel like us losing our lives.

A student like this will not break his or her samaya. They will not endanger their teacher's life (current or future), and will not be the cause for them to have limited accomplishments.

That's the big deal.

New Sister Blog: Kongtrul's Words

2011-02-06T11:57:00.005-07:00

Ah, yes... another blog. But why?

In Buddha's Words, I am exploring the sutra, studying, contemplating, and taking notes, and attempting to integrate into practice Buddhism's oldest source material.

In The Words of Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé, I am doing the same thing, but with different source material: Kongtrul's The Treasury of Knowledge.

Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé was one of the most extraordinary scholars of Tibet and a founding member of what has become known as the "Rimé" movement. You can read more about his life here: http://kong.sprul.gsung.org/2011/01/life-of-jamgon-kongtrul.html

We lead really, really busy lives in the West. Very few people have the time to sit down and study the source documents of the Dharma, even in translation. Our regular, daily work and householding responsibilities take up most of our time and energy.

However, many of us do have the time to read quotes, excerpts, and the like, if we make it a part of our regular internet workflow (e.g., RSS readers, email updates, etc.).

As such I hope to be able to provide something of this, in the coming months and years. I plan on working my way through the English translations of Jamgön Kongtrul's Treasury of Knowledge, and in the process, pick a few gems to share -- among the countless, splendorous treasures of his words. This new blog is the home of these shared jewels.

Rinchen Terzod: Poems of Homage and Praise

2011-02-02T10:00:00.001-07:00

Today, Anyen Rinpoche's sangha will make an offering in appreciation for the Rinchen Terzod, for Yangthang Rinpoche's tireless efforts in bestowing it upon us, for Gyatrul Rinpoche's multi-decade aspirations for the Rinchen Terzod to be given again in the US, and for Anyen Rinpoche's compassionate encouragement that we all find ways to connect to and support the Rinchen Terzod being hosted in Alameda by Orgyen Dorgje Den.

As part of this, members of Anyen Rinpoche's sangha have offered lines of praise from their hearts to these great beings, the rare teachings, and perfect lineages. We've collected these poems here since there is not the time to present them formally at the Rinchen Terzod itself. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have, finding inspiration in the open hearts of genuine practitioners.

Note that 1) the poems are listed in the order they were shared on the sangha mail list, that 2) I've taken editorial license and added titles to the poems, simply to provide a better visual distinction between them in the blog post, and that 3) not everyone is poetically inclined :-) much heart-felt gratitude is experienced by many who do not have the words to express this.

Light

Please be a light in the darkness of ignorance
until Samsara is emptied,
and continuously show us and all beings
the way to practice the perfectly pure Dharma.

-- Chris Lemig

Wheel of Dharma

May we always keep Bohdichitta within our hearts
and continue to strive at turning the Wheel of Dharma until the end of samsara.
Through these efforts may all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May we always rely on the grace of our Lama to lead us all on the authentic path to Enlightenment.
Precious Lama keep us in your heart.

-- Leigh Ann

Stay, Lama

Lama who knew me before I had a name
Please say we will see each other again
Lama who saw me before I had a face
Please keep me in your heart space
Lama of the primordial cave
Never let me go a stray

-- Angela Tsultrim

Guide Us

May we, blind and confused beings, wandering endlessly and aimlessly through delusion
Be guided safely by the Lama's boundless compassion
And in turn become beacons of refuge
For all sentient beings

-- Ken Sarles

Lineage of Bodhicitta

may the precious Bodhicitta arise and remain in our hearts for the benefit of all beings
may the lineage remain uncut,
and may your incarnations continually shine the light to the door of extreme peace

-- Sarah Johnson

Open Heart

Glorious Lama, at whose feet I bow
Watch over me your great kindness
Help the doors of my heart
to open to great compassion
So that I may help others
Through this and and all of my lifetimes

-- Eileen Price

Precious Lama

Karma and events
Brought us face to face
I cannot hold your gaze
I fall to my knees
I surrender
May your kindness cleanse my stains

Oh, precious lama
Samsara will never be enough
Its follies lure and tempt
I weep for all of us entrapped
O Lama I long for freedom
O Lama I long for all to be free
O Lama I know my refuge
O Lama I know my heart
O Lama I yearn for freedom
O Lama I long to serve
O Lama show me emptiness
O Lama show me fullness
O Lama teach forever
O Lama bless us all

-- Julie Benson

Single Sphere

United in the singular sphere of awareness bodhicitta
The triple gem and three roots are stainless and boundless
The lama is the mirror of primordial wisdom and
Phenomena none other than the self arisen ornament of ultimate bodhicitta

-- Bill O'Brien

The Four Turnings in Five Seconds

2011-01-29T11:41:00.007-07:00

In keeping with the meme of various movies in 5 seconds (Lion King, The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, Star Wars, Titanic, Lord of the Rings), below is a version of the Four Turnings that I tell myself when I wake up in the morning: before I turn on the lights, brush my teeth, or have a chance to read/say anything. Well, I try to remember to do this first thing in the morning. Some days are better than others.

The Four Turnings of the Mind in 5 seconds (without the comedy... sorry):

Wake up! Do you realize the incredibly rare opportunity you have? (Precious Human Life)
This chance could pass at any moment! (Impermanence)
Do you want this opportunity in the future? Then you must take advantage of it now! (Karma/Cause and Effect)
Without practice now, you will make no progress on the path to end the suffering of self and others! (Suffering)

This is just to jump-start the morning; I do the real thing once I'm actually conscious ;-)

Rinchen Terzod: Opportunity for Accumulating Merit

2011-01-19T06:40:00.009-07:00

Anyen Rinpoche and Allison would like to give everyone in the Orgyen Khamdroling sangha an opportunity to participate in a tea and mandala offering at the Rinchen Terzod. They will be making a dedicated offering (specifically from them), but are welcoming us to make a secondary offering, for those that would like to establish a good karmic connection with the Rinchen Terzod.

To give some more context, at monasteries during important teachings, it is customary for various visiting lamas, patrons, and even parents of monks to sponsor teas, prayers, meals, etc., for all those attending. Here at Orgyen Dorje Den, things are kept simpler -- it's just tea and a snack (bagel, muffin, etc.). On the days when tea and snack offerings are made, we enjoy them after the break as Yangthang Rinpoche resumes the empowerments.

Making an offering like this is quite an honor, and something highly sought after by visitors and patrons. If empowerments were football games, and merit was ad revenue, this sort of thing would be the Superbowl half-time event :-) (In one sentence, I've exhausted my complete storehouse of sports knowledge). Rinpoche and Allison have the offering covered, so there's no pressure. They thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for us to gather some special merit in supporting teachings and attendees like these.

If you would like to make a $5, $10, or $20 donation for an offering at the Rinchen Terzod, please see that your donations end up in the hands of your sangha group leader:

Albuquerque: Eileen
Denver: Cloe
Fort Collins: Tom
Ottawa/Montreal: David or Nadine
Sarasota: Nina
Santa Cruz: Megan

Donations need to be delivered by February 7. Each group leader will send the money to Allison and make sure that it's ready on the offering day (likely the 12th or 13th of February). If you'd like to donate more than $50, you can use PayPal. Clint will have more details on that soon (for anything less than $50, the PayPal fees just aren't worth it).

Update: Clint has provided a PayPal form for those who'd like to donate more:

http://www.anyenrinpoche.com/projects.html#RinchenTerzod

If you'd like to donate more than what's provided by the PayPal form, please coordinate with Rinpoche and Allison.

Rinchen Terzod: Pictures!

2011-01-18T11:56:00.003-07:00

This is a short little post, just to point at some digital resources around the Rinchen Terzod. First: Clint, Amy, Alaya, and Dianne made a roadtrip to Alameda, CA and snapped some shots along the way (and while here!). Check them out:

http://picasaweb.google.com/csbodine/RinchenTerzod

Another attendee has been putting great pictures up on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iduppy/

Enjoy!

New Sister Blog: Buddha's Words

2011-01-15T12:55:00.006-07:00

As mentioned in a previous blog post about Mountain Dharma's birthday, we're ready to announce the second birthday present: a baby sister for Mountain Dharma called "Buddha's Words."

Buddha's Words is a new blog on the same "gsung.org" domain as Mountain Dharma. It focuses on actual quotes from Buddha as given in the sutras. You can read more about the purpose, background, and plan for the blog in the introduction. Also, if you're curious about the domain name, that's got a description as well :-)

Much to my joy, earlier today, the first quote was posted. Already, I am finding this a fascinating and wonderful augmentation to my regular study and practice. May it benefit others as well.

New Blog Design

2011-01-14T01:45:00.005-07:00

As mentioned in the previous post, one of the birthday presents to this blog is a new look and feel. Pictured left is the look of the old site, to which we are bidding a fond farewell.

There are several new features that come with the new design, and they include the following:

using the new Google templates
new views of the mountains
a new Tibetan gate image, and last (but certainly not least)
a new domain, http://ri.gsung.org (using Wylie)

Note that the old domain will continue to work; it simply redirects to the new one. The same goes for old links to this blog (they still work).

The old design treated us well, and it was a good four years -- we'll miss you!

But the new design is a lot of fun: bigger, bolder, and a lot more color :-)

Happy Birthday, Mountain Dharma

2011-01-13T08:24:00.010-07:00

I only just realized that the Mountain Dharma blog had it's birthday this December: it's now four years old! (In fact, it's birthday was on the first day Marjorie and I attended the Rinchen Terzod.)

There hasn't been as much Dharma blogging as I'd originally hoped, but we did get the occasional sangha member to write a post an share their thoughts. If more folks are interested in contributing articles to the blog, email me and let's chat!

The real question is: what am I going to get the blog for its birthday? Funny that you should ask... there are a couple presents I have in mind. 1) I'm hoping to have a custom domain set up for Mountain Dharma very soon, and then 2) I expect that Mountain Dharma will a brother or sister very soon :-)

For present #1, I have registered the domain gsang.org. The word "gsang" (Tib. གསུང་) is a wylie transliteration of Tibetan used to indicate the following meanings:

speech, voice, guru's speech, communication, authentic communication, authentic communicative being with others, communicable significance, precept, expression, act of speaking, verses, enlightened speech, teachings, authored by, transmitting

In other words, it indicates Dharma in word form, communicated by voice. This particular word was chosen as the domain name, since there are some very nice word combinations you can make with them that seem apropos for the blog format. Most of those will be saved as surprises, but here are some good examples:

snying po gsung (Tib. སྙིང་པོ་གསུང་) - inner reality of communication
mdo tsam gsung (Tib. མདོ་ཙམ་གསུང་) - to speak or tell briefly
rdo rje gsung (Tib. རྡོ་རྗེ་གསུང) - vajra voice
'dzum ste gsung (Tib. འཛུམ་སྟེ་གསུང་) - said it smiling

One that you won't likely find in a dictionary, though, is ri gsung (Tib. རི་གསུང་): "Mountain Voice", or more liberally translated, "Mountain Dharma" :-) As such, I'm hoping to set up the new domain for this blog as http://ri.gsung.org/ :-) As part of the new name, the blog will get a makeover as well! Nothing too crazy, but a little refresh would be nice. Also, the blog templates haven't been updated since its birth, so the layout uses obsolete Google-tech. The makeover will include using the latest and greatest Blogger templates from Google :-)

But shhhh! Don't tell the blog...

Do note that it is not the content of this blog that is viewed as Mountain Dharma. Instead, it refers to this: upon receiving genuine Dharma teachings, various students (from the mountains) comment upon them (and write on other, semi-related topics in support of the Dharma and Dharma activities).

As for present #2, well, that's a surprise!

A Further Look at the Rinchen Terzod

2011-01-09T09:46:00.013-07:00

Being here at the Rinchen Terzod an amazing, wonderful experience. Any one who can make it to attend even a day or two, it is well worth it. 'Precious Treasury' is how the name translates, and this is an accurate description of the richness of this experience.

Entrance

Our day begins promptly at 12:45 as the shrine room doors open and we enter the mandala that Yangthang Rinpoche has created. He begins the recitations for the first empowerments as people are finding seats, prostrating and settling down – the flood of restless energy falls quiet very quickly as he doesn't really wait for the crowd, we must catch up with him. We are juggling chant booklets, handfuls of rice, a pad or sweater to sit on and making our first mandala offering of the day all at the same time. In the midst of this gentle chaos the choppens and other helpers are passing out flower petals and 'blindfolds' -red strips of cloth- which are part of most of the empowerments. It is this way every day.

Raising Pure Perception

The beauty of the Orgyen Dorje Den shrine room, the genuine expression of this beautiful realized master makes practicing pure perception an effortless experience. Feeling the perfect place, time, teacher, student, and teachings are taking place, your gratitude and bodhicitta well up naturally.

Good in the Beginning

Each empowerment begins with a recounting of the history and the instruction to raise bodhicitta. We hear how it was uncovered, by whom, and for what purpose. When you hear the history of how the terma was discovered, or when Padmasambhava sealed it and who uncovered it gives a living quality to both the dharma and the practice itself. You can feel the strong desire of King Tri Song Detsen to help his people in Tibet, the genuine and uncompromising compassion that Padmasambhava has for all of us who live in the dark age. The desire to help all mother sentient beings is a natural outcome of that. Yesterday we received the transmission for a healing practice that the King requested from Padmasambhava to heal his leprosy which he had contracted from working so closely with the nagas. The nagas had helped King Tri Song Detsen by bringing massive logs down the rivers to construct the first monasteries in Tibet. Nagas are powerful but dangerous; this close association with the nagas caused the King to fall ill. By doing the practice of Sangdruk Heruka, he was able to become well again.

Good in the Middle

Then we are given the preparations for the empowerment and the empowerment itself. The actual blessings and permission to do the practice can have multiple stages, so it can last for many hours. During the empowerments the choppens, graceful, attentive young women, are working hard under the direction of the head choppen, a young Tibetan who came with Yangthang Rinpoche. These women must maintain their practice mind, bringing a wide variety of articles and substances to Yangtang Rinpoche at precisely the right moment. There are very few bad days because they work hard at preparation. The four lamas in front jump up ten to twenty times an hour to receive empowerment substances from Yangthan Rinpoche (sometimes jump and run, so Rinpoche will not have to wait) . By the end of the day, we have generally listened to and practiced the visualizations for up to fourteen empowerments, the choppens have handled hundreds of items, the lamas have received many blessings from Yangthang Rinpoche and blessed many many monks and nuns. It is very beautiful and somewhat overwhelming.

In this way, the Rinchen Terzod is something of an endurance event. Like many realized masters, Yangthang Rinpoche is seemingly indefatigable. He goes to the shrine room at 4am to begin setting up the ground for the empowerments for the day and does not leave the throne until 7 or 8pm, whenever we are done. He eats very little and only takes a sip or two of tea the whole day. His gentle voice is unremitting as he reads page after page of the text without stopping, for up to 8 hours. We go in to the beautiful shrine room at approximately 12:45 and leave at about 7:30, with only one three minute break. People do get up to go to the bathroom, or there is a room with a video screen link if you are too ill to be in the main shrine room, but honestly, is hard to walk out - you don't want to miss a moment!

People have come from all over the world to be here. Standing in the line to go in, you can hear snatches of many languages. Mexico City, Bejing, Lyons, Montreal are just a few of the cities I've heard mentioned. The sangha supporting this amazing event is gentle, well-trained and thoroughly welcoming. They are a wonderful example of genuine sangha, working together with students of many different teachers, setting the tone for all to be accepted.

Good in the End

Yangthang Rinpoche gave us a brief talk the other day in which he mentioned that it seems the dharma is taking root firmly in America. His gentle praise was warm, noting that we had chosen to continue with the empowerments over celebrating New Year's Day or Christmas (he gave us a choice to take breaks; the consensus was to continue). His talk was comprehensive, beginning with the importance of the Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind as our daily foundation when we open our eyes each morning and then building from that to include Refuge, Bodhicitta and Vajrayana.

Rinchen Terzod: A Typical Day

2011-01-07T10:30:00.001-07:00

Introduction

The day begins by standing in line for the Rinchen Terzod. Though not like waiting outside the theatre to see Star Wars in the 70s, the line can still be impressive :-) On the rainy days, we wait inside (in the practice room); on most sunny days, we wait outside. Typically, folks start lining up a little after noon; by 12:30pm most people have arrived.

When we hear Yangthang Tulku Rinpoche ring the bell around a quarter to 1pm, that indicates that the self-empowerment is complete and he's ready for us to enter.

As we file into the main shrine room, large practice room, or the side room (for the Chinese translation), we get cleansing saffron water from a bumpa, a prayer booklet, and rice (for mandala offerings throughout the day). Video and audio feeds are available in the Chinese room and practice room. Audio is also available in the preparation room (where they make tormas, etc.) and the kitchen.

As we do our prostrations and take our seats, others are passing out eye bands and flower petals for use during the various empowerments. Yangthang Rinpoche continues doing prayers and making offerings while folks are getting seated. Even before everyone has settled he usually starts in with the first empowerment.

First Session

There are two English translators (who take turns) and one Chinese translator. Each is equipped with a microphone and sometimes they have to talk over Yangthang Rinpoche. As Yangthang Rinpoche starts, the translators begin as well. Usually this involves background information (as written in the Rinchen Terzod) on the specific terma we are about to receive.

Some empowerments have preliminary empowerments which involve throwing tooth sticks, receiving protection cords, kusha grass, and sometimes dutsi, and of course, making offerings. Step-by-step instructions are given (and translated) throughout many of the empowerments and sometimes actual practice instructions are given as well.

Anywhere between 3pm and 4pm (and sometimes later), we get a 3-minute break. During this time, Gyatrul Rinpoche will sometimes approach the throne and chat with Yangthang Rinpoche or even some of the attendees. Yangthang Rinpoche will usually give an extra minute or two, but then starts up promptly. Sometimes fewer than half the people are back in their seats when he does so. However, as soon as everyone hears him start, they come rushing back :-)

Second Session

The second session is usually longer than the first. We're scheduled to stop at 6pm, but this almost never happens. We recently went as long as 8pm. The content of the second session is the same: lots more empowerments, offerings, and sometimes brief instructions.

In both sessions, some people take notes, refer to the Rinchen Terzod index; others meditate, practice devotion, or do quiet mantras in the translation gaps. Having the opportunity to practice while such a great master is present is an incomprehensibly amazing gift. Everyone seems to take advantage of this. Rinpoche has looked kindly upon this and has generously given pointing out instructions to assist everyone present.

For each empowerment, the four most ranking lamas present (not including Gyatrul Rinpoche) get up repeatedly and bow before Yangthang Rinpoche to receive blessings (e.g.., during the Vase, Secret, Wisdom, Word, Torma, Implements, Vajra Master, etc., empowerments). These will be anything from a bumpa, skull cup, wrapped texts, dorje and bell, stacks of deity cards, tormas, to tsok items and a vast array of other sacred objects.

For the most part, the other attendees remain seated during each session. However, some empowerments have specific instructions on movement, mudras, physical postures, etc., and Yangthang Rinpoche will instruct us to follow these.

Closing

As soon as Yangthang Rinpoche decides that he has given the last empowerment for the day, he asks us to dedicate the merit, and we do a very nice dedication practice (in Tibetan).

Every once in a while, he will give an impromptu teaching as well. He has taught on the nature of mind, bodhicitta, the four immeasurables, and amazing summaries of the entire path. In each case he has been beautifully clear, astoundingly concise, and has shown how to integrate every aspect of the practice into each topic.

While we're dedicating the merit, the chopons gather all the empowerment substances used throughout the day, and the rinpoches, lamas, monks, and nuns (and other helpers) will line up, each holding one item (or a tray of items). Then, Yangthang Rinpoche starts us of with a long Guru Rinpoche mantra (which we all repeat continuously) while each attendee receives a blessing from Yangthang Rinpoche and a blessing from each of the substances from the empowerments.

Once everyone has received the blessings, we return to our seats and do a few more closing prayers. After the last one, Yangthang Rinpoche rises and is assisted down the stairs from the throne, up to his room. Gyatrul Rinpoche will sometimes come forward at this point and give brief teaching instructions, pointing-out instructions, tease his students, or perform additional blessings.

Cleanup

As Gyatrul Rinpoche finishes this (or if it seems that he won't do it), cleaning on the shrine room begins promptly and with much vigor. There is so much clean up to be done in all rooms (shrine, practice, Chinese, bathrooms, torma room, kitchen) that almost everyone can help, if they desire (and most do). Often there are some people finishing up 2 and 3 hours after the teachings have ended.

It's a long day for everyone, and folks are usually exhausted at the end of the empowerments, much less after cleaning up. Regardless, by the next morning, everyone is eager for the whole process to begin again, craving such incredible teachings and a wonderful opportunity for blessings, the practice of dharma, and the refinement of that practice.

Rinchen Terzod: Sharing the Experience

2011-01-05T11:29:00.008-07:00

I recently sent an email to the Orgyen Khamdroling members (students of Anyen Rinpoche) where I shared the prayers that are being used throughout the three-month transmission and empowerment cycle here in Alameda, California. The response was very positive, and some folks wanted even more :-) They asked if I might start sharing information and giving a glimpse of what daily life is like throughout the teaching.

I think that's a great idea, and will strive to do just that... in a series of blog posts. This first one will just be an introduction and I'll dive into more details in later posts.

What is the Rinchen Terzod?

The Rinchen Terzod (Tib. རིན་ཆེན་གཏེར་མཛོད) is a massive collection of termas (hidden treasures) revealed by tertons of every major lineage. Our teacher is from Amdo (as is the Vajra master for the empowerments), so we often transliterate Tibetan terms with the normally absent (silent) letters. As such, we're spelling it "Terzod" but you will also see it spelled "Terzö" or "Terzo".

Who "wrote" it?

It was compiled by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thayé over the course of about 34 years in the second half of the 19th century.

Why would I want it?

The Rinchen Terzöd is a very precious collection of revelations, empowerments, and practice instructions. The average Tibetan monk is lucky if they get to attend the empowerments once in their lifetime. Even luckier ones will be able to attend twice. It has only been given once in the US before (by Penor Rinpoche) and no one knows when it will (or even can) be given again after this. If you have faith in the teachings, the Vajra master (Yangthang Tulku Rinpoche), Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thayé, etc., then you would want to be here, even if only for the blessings. If you want to do any of the practices from the Rinchen Terzod in the future, this is a great opportunity for you.

More Info

You can read more about the Rinchen Terzod happening here in California at the following location: http://www.orgyendorjeden.org/RTZD_YTR.html

What's Next?

In the coming posts, I will describe what the average day is like, and answer any questions that folks have posted in the blog comments :-)

Is Samsara Turing-Complete?

2010-10-31T16:33:00.005-06:00

Prelude

Today we completed two years of study on Mipham Rinpoche's the Beacon of Certainty. Anyen Rinpoche concluded with final comments and notes, and for good dependent arising for future teachings on the Beacon of Certainty, went back to the beginning and read the introduction to us again in Tibetan. Afterwards, we had a magnificent tsok and mandala offering.

This caused me to reflect on some earlier shedra classes with Rinpoche, even before we started studying the Beacon of Certainty. When I logged onto blogger, I saw that I'd started writing a post a while back that I never finished. Today seems like a good day to do that :-)

The 12 Links

Two and a half years ago, on April 12th of 2008, Anyen Rinpoche held yet another excellent shedra class. In particular, Rinpoche took some time to go over the twelve links of dependent arising (often called "twelve links of interdependent origination") in some detail. As is usual for his classes, it was a vibrant experience: high energy, lots of exchange and discussion, and very interesting material. However, one thing in particular stood out: Rinpoche made it a point to show that the twelve links are recursive.

To those of us that have studied this before (or, in fact, have a passing familiarity with the twelve links), that may seem like a no-brainer. But it's actually quite interesting to explore. Before we do, though, let's take a quick look at what Wikipedia has to say about recursion (the added emphasis in italics below is mine):

"Recursion, in mathematics and computer science, is a method of defining functions in which the function being defined is applied within its own definition. The term is also used more generally to describe a process of repeating objects in a self-similar way. For instance, when the surfaces of two mirrors are almost parallel with each other the nested images that occur are a form of recursion."

I believe that Anyen Rinpoche was making an explicit point about the primary causal (as opposed to the secondary or assisted causal) dependent arising links generating new "instances" (lifetimes) of twelves links, with each of those generating other twelve links. Or, perhaps said in a better way: if it takes three lifetimes to complete a cycle of the twelve links, and if each of those lifetimes contains the results from a previous life as well as the seeds for a future life (e.g., previous links and future links), then the twelve links are recursive. They are recursive because a lifetime is not only the ripening of one part of the twelve links from a previous life, but also the generator of more interdependent links for future lives, ad infinitum.

Let's take a look at what else Wikipedia says:

"Newcomers to recursion are often bewildered by its apparent circularity, until they learn to appreciate that a termination condition is key."

A termination condition! Guess what our termination condition is? Purifying the obscurations, typically said to occur between link seven and eight. If the twelve links is a recursive construct, then the termination condition is cutting the cycle of rebirth.

Turing Machines

So what does all this have to do with Alan Turing and his theory about computers? Let's back up a bit... how did Rinpoche's mention of recursion cause thoughts of Turing-completeness? Well, the thought process went something like this:

The 12 links are recursive.
Recursion is the basis for several programming languages (e.g., Lisp); not only that, but all modern languages that user iteration can be reformulated to use recursion instead (see this link).
Most programming languages are Turing complete (see this link). To be Turing complete, it is enough to have conditional branching (an "if" and "goto" statement), and the ability to change arbitrary memory locations.
If recursion provides a tool for enabling Turing completeness in computer science, how much of a stretch would it be to think of Samsara as Turing complete?
What would that even mean?

There are several concepts that should be introduced here, before we start tackling analogies:

a Turing machine
Turing completeness
a universal Turing machine

For the first bullet, this Wikipedia article provides a nice definition:

A Turing machine is a theoretical device that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. Despite its simplicity, a Turing machine can be adapted to simulate the logic of any computer algorithm, and is particularly useful in explaining the functions of a CPU inside a computer [...] Turing machines are not intended as a practical computing technology, but rather as a thought experiment representing a computing machine. They help computer scientists understand the limits of mechanical computation.

So, a Turing machine is often simply a thought experiment used to clarify complex ideas in computation. Then what's Turing complete, and how does that related to a Turing machine? Referencing Wikipedia again:

[...] In practice, Turing-completeness means that the rules followed in sequence on arbitrary data can produce the result of any calculation. A device with a Turing-complete instruction set, and an infinite memory and infinite lifespan, is the definition of a universal computer.

In other words, a Turing complete system is one that can simulate a Turing machine. So what about a universal Turing machine? On another page, we have this:

In computer science, a universal Turing machine is a Turing machine that can simulate an arbitrary Turing machine on arbitrary input. The universal machine essentially achieves this by reading both the description of machine to be simulated as well as the input thereof from its own tape.

In essence, the universal Turing machine generalizes for any input.

Does the Analogy Fit?

The 12 links of dependent origination cover the complete range of human experience. It is a perspective distinctly human: physical, mental, emotional. But when you look closely, it boils down to input and operation. Analysis and action. These could very easily be mapped to the "if" and "goto" necessary for Turing completeness. What's more, given the concepts of karma and the storehouse consciousness of alaya, we have memory. The repetition of karmic patterns is the "reading" of the memory. The mutation of patterns in the alaya is an effort to bring about desired effects, overriding old patterns.

This obviously deserves a more thorough analysis, but it seems that there's certainly enough here to justify further pursuit.

Digital Physics

On an equally weird note, when reading up on this topic for the blog post, I came across this gem:

In physics and cosmology, digital physics is a collection of theoretical perspectives based on the premise that the universe is, at heart, describable by information, and is therefore computable. Therefore, the universe can be conceived as either the output of a computer program or as a vast, digital computation device [...] Digital physics suggests that there exists, at least in principle, a program for a universal computer which computes the evolution of the universe. The computer could be, for example, a huge cellular automaton (Zuse 1967[9]), or a universal Turing machine, as suggested by Schmidhuber (1997), who pointed out that there exists a very short program that can compute all possible computable universes in an asymptotically optimal way.

So someone's already beat me to this idea (or a variation of it), and they did so in 1957. Many others contributed to this philosophical and physics ideas since then. In particular, one of the greatest modern general relativists, John Archibald Wheeler, had this to say (from the same Wikipedia article):

It is not unreasonable to imagine that information sits at the core of physics, just as it sits at the core of a computer. It from bit. Otherwise put, every 'it'—every particle, every field of force, even the space-time continuum itself—derives its function, its meaning, its very existence entirely—even if in some contexts indirectly—from the apparatus-elicited answers to yes-or-no questions, binary choices, bits. 'It from bit' symbolizes the idea that every item of the physical world has at bottom—a very deep bottom, in most instances—an immaterial source and explanation; that which we call reality arises in the last analysis from the posing of yes–no questions and the registering of equipment-evoked responses; in short, that all things physical are information-theoretic in origin and that this is a participatory universe.

This is beautifully stated. Sounds similar to things that Chogyam Trungpa has said.

Though I am not a fan of the anthropic principle, I do find potential variations on it interesting to ponder. As a result, I have added The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (forward by Wheeler) to my Amazon wishlist. Wheeler discusses this theme more in his article "Information, Physics, Quantum: The Search for Links" available in the book Complexity, Entropy, and the Physics of Information (Amazon, Google books).

Back to Samsara

All of this is a lot to digest. One thing that this encourages me to do, though, is spend a lot more time pondering the 12 links of interdependence. Jigme Lingpa provides an excellent introduction to these, along with exercises for the reader :-) I've spent a little time following his instructions, but not nearly enough.

Once I do, I expect to have further insight into the computability of conventional reality. I don't imagine such investigations to bring anything more than just another way of viewing the well-understood problem of the human condition in samsara. That being said, fresh perspectives are often useful.

Key Points of a Nyunge Retreat

2008-05-05T10:24:00.000-06:00

Hello All,

Although I would love to attend the nynunge retreat in August, we will be awaiting the birth of our two sons so I will not be able to attend. However, I am considering doing some kind of fasting/retreat in the next month and I was wondering if somone could share some of the key points of a nyunge retreat. Thanks and thank you, Duncan, for creating this wonderful blog!! Josh

Article in Rocky Mountain News

2008-04-14T15:46:00.000-06:00

There's an article in the Rocky Mountain News about Anyen Rinpoche and sheda.

Hope to see more folks interested in Madhyamaka and Rinpoche talks... :-)

Technorati Tags: colorado, community, dharma

Benefiting the Sick and Dying, with Anyen Rinpoche

2008-03-22T13:28:00.000-06:00

When: Saturday, Arpil 19th, Noon to 4:30PM

Where: Denver Zen Center, 3101 W 31st Ave. Denver, CO

Anyen Rinpoche has scheduled a special inter-faith talk called "Benefitting the Sick and Dying" which will be given this April 19 at the Denver Zen Center. The talk is meant to support those who are suffering from an illness, their friends and family, as well as those in the medical or healing professions.

This is the first public talk of this sort that Rinpoche will be giving, and is the flagship for his "healing in America" initiative. We are excited about Rinpoche's plans and others have expressed overwhelming interest in the forth-coming series of teachings. We hope to see all of you there!

Please feel free to email your friends -- and anyone you know who might benefit from hearing the talk -- a link to this blog post or the talk flyer. If you can, post the flyer on bulletin boards in community centers, grocery store, etc.

The suggested donation for the talk is $50 (if you need financial assistance, please email). The talk will take place from 12-4:30 pm, with a break for tea and a chance to meet Anyen Rinpoche about halfway through.

The Denver Zen Center is located at 3101 W. 31st Avenue in the Highlands Neighborhood in North Denver (just behind the Walgreens on 32nd and Federal).

If you need further information, please check the website:
anyenrinpoche.com

PechaPublisher Project Announcement

2008-03-07T13:22:00.001-07:00

I am pleased to announce that the PechaPublisher project (AKA "pecha-pub") has been officially started today :-) We have project space and source code repositories on google as well as several mail lists. Be sure to look at all the links on the right side of the PechaPublisher project page.

PechaPublishser's origins lie in the culmination of the following:

extended usage of PechaMaker
initial involvement with Vajra Publications just before and after its official creation in the 90's when 100% of their focus was the creation and distribution of pechas
conversations with various monks and lamas about text production
discussions with Allison Graboski about text layout, translations, and pecha publishing
recent discussions with the current maintainer and one of the principal authors of PechaMaker
software development and the creation of custom libraries for the manipulation of pecha text and PDF files

Most recently (over the past several months), the difficulties we have encountered at Orgyen Khamdroling while preparing a Medicine Buddha text were the impetus to really put some thought into how we could manage our documents more efficiently and create pechas from them without the enormous amount of redundant effort that currently goes into pecha creation using PechaMaker (not PechaMaker's fault; there's no software that currently does what we need). The final excellent push came when having an email conversation with the current maintainer of PechaMaker, and his voiced support for an open source project that could benefit the entire pecha-creating community.

The project page has several links to the wiki pages, but I would like to point out the FrontPage explicitly right now. This page has placeholders for content that will be appearing on the project site. Of particular and immediate interest is the forthcoming content/documentation on PechaPublisher's high-level design. These pages will talk about what PechaPublisher will look like, how users will interact with it, and what basic components will comprise the software. It is very important that future users take a look at what will be written here, since these docs will outline the product they will be using, and their input now can save them pain later!

I look forward to lots of feedback from current and past PechaMaker users in the hopes of making some excellent software that addresses as many of the community's needs as possible while remaining free and open source, for others to use and adapt as they see fit (as long as they accord with the open source MIT license, of course!).

And there's one last thing I'd like to say: not only is this project dedicated to all mother sentient beings, but it was started on the birthday of my own mother, so I specifically dedicate its efforts to her own happiness, to the happiness of all developers' and users' mothers, and of course to all sentient beings.

Technorati Tags: buddhism, community, open source, pechas, programming, software, texts, tibetan, ubuntu

U-med on Mac OS X

2007-09-10T10:42:00.001-06:00

Lately, I've been working on u-med text-entry. There are a couple reasons:

practice typing Tibetan
learn to read u-med scripts
aesthetic enjoyment: I count some of the Tibetan u-med scripts among the most beautiful scripts in the world

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I use XenoType's unicode fonts for Tibetan text-entry on Mac OS X, and I thought I would take the opportunity to share some of the prayers I have typed so far :-)

Can anyone guess which prayers they are?

Technorati Tags: buddhism, fonts, practice, tibetan

Madhyamaka Shedra: Day 1

2007-09-09T11:56:00.001-06:00

Well, yesterday was the first day of class, and it was awesome. There was a lot of discussion, lots of questions and answers, and all of it covering a very wide range of Madhyamaka -- from introductory concepts to actual debate. Through such a broad and creative introduction to the subject matter, Rinpoche was able to do a little bit of everything for all students of all levels.

Having read about Madhyamaka on and off for a couple years, it was exciting to see how much I will be learning: it's one thing to read about the history and concepts of vector fields, but it's quite another to actually work the problems and integrate over areas, volumes, etc. Yesterday, Anyen Rinpoche gave us that sort of hands-on taste of working logic problems ourselves... while under the direct and immediate scrutiny of a highly accomplished and practiced lama.

I can't begin to properly convey my level of excitement, appreciation, joy, enthusiasm, etc., at being able to attend these classes. This study and in-class (as well as on-line) interaction with other students is going to do wonders for my practice, and it is that aspect more than any other that makes my heart explode with joy. Rinpoche was very clear about this point yesterday, too: the true intent of Madhyamaka studies is to provide the structured, rigorous background necessary for being able to take full advantage of the introduction to the Nature of Mind.

I have friends that are taking this class remotely, so hopefully blogging about it will help them get a taste of what's going on in the room, and how some of us are experiencing that.

Technorati Tags: buddhism, madhyamaka, madhyamika, shedra

Nyungne Followup: Chenrezig Pechas Forth-coming

2007-08-26T10:12:00.000-06:00

Today, Allison sent me a working draft of the Chenrezig practice we used for Nyungne in MS Word format. I will be converting this to pecha format... but there no single, good, cross-platform solution for this right now.

In Mac OS X, there are two unicode fonts that I use from XenoType:

the woodblock u-chen font, and
their very excellent u-med font

The really great thing about using XenoType's stuff is that the fonts are usable in Mac OS X anywhere unicode is supported (most newer applications). I can type Tibetan in TextEdit, NeoOffice, etc. But here's the best part: the stacking is done using a single key (and it will only stack valid combinations). That and the unicode itself are huge improvements over many other systems I've used in the past.

Sadly, however, there's nothing I could find in the way of pecha editing/creating in Mac OS X. I did create some rudimentary pechas using NeoOffice, but those aren't really good for anything other than personal use.

In Windows, however, there is a longer tradition of pecha software, and thanks to Parallels, I can use them from my Mac :-)

The two pecha tools I have used in Windows are PechaMaker and TibetDoc. TibetDoc is a general Tibetan word processor, but it comes with a powerful "pecha mode." In addition, you can use their electronic Tibetan dictionary (additional $) for spell checking (and general reference, of course) while editing your docs -- very nice.

PechaMaker would be good, because:

it imports RTF files directly
all of Allison and Rinpoche's texts are written in Word which can be easily converted to RTF
their texts use the Dedris fonts (part of the Nitartha-Sambhota package), which PechaMaker recognizes natively

I'm a little torn, because TibetDoc is such a professional setup; it's got:

extensive options for pecha layout, including lots of traditional defaults
Tibetan search
dictionary integration
image support

For a full list, checkout the page here.

Left to my own devices, I'd probably use TibetDoc for everything new, but then that calls into question the best practice of migrating old stuff when it's the least expensive to do so (time-wise, and that time is now...).

So I will play with both and see what works out the best. If I can get unicode support working in TibetDoc like it does in Mac, I'll probably swing that way...

Stay tuned: in the end, we'll have pechas galore!

Technorati Tags: fonts, pechas, practice, texts, tibetan

Nyungne Retreat Debrief

2007-08-14T09:32:00.000-06:00

The Nyungne retreat last week was just phenomenal. It was in the mountains of Colorado, specifically, in a high mountain valley (10,300 ft.) just beneath Mt. Evans. The surroundings and environment were phenomenal and a perfect support for practice. It was a very intense time; I found the fasting (food and water) and silence (no talking, except at lunch) to be the easy part, while the mental challenges were by far the real hurdles to be overcome. The hunger and dehydration definitely facilitated this, though :-) It was a very intense schedule of group practice and then "breaks" during which I was either reading Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche's Madhyamaka commentary or implementing what came up during the practice sessions.

On the second to last day, I did relax my regime somewhat, and used some breaks to follow elk trails through the mountains. It was just amazing... like being a kid again in Maine, when I followed deer and moose trails through Castine's 150 acre (now, more than 180 acres) Witherle Woods Preserve (my backyard) as well as the woods around Mount Katahdin. By following the elk trails, I discovered a wonderful little lookout of the Western view and an amazing set of cascades, further down the mountainside. I went back again later the same day with a friend who took some pictures. Some of them are up here.

Later that night, we did a traditional tsok offering, and students presented Rinpoche with kataks. Craig was kind enough to take pictures of us with Rinpoche, and here's the one he took of me. What you can't see in the picture is that I am almost crying from the pain of Rinpoche pulling my beard. His expressions says it all: "Work hard! Do not be lazy! Do not forget!"

It seems that the events are taken down from Anyen Rinpoche's site once they are over, so I will paste the details of the event below:

August 4-10 - Summer Retreat

Mt. Evans, Colorado

Teachings August 4 & 5, retreat August 6-11 Suggested donation for retreat: $300 (please RSVP as housing is limited)

Nyungne is one-day vow taken by a tantric practitioner that requires each practitioner to adhere to strict discipline and intensive practice to fulfill the vow. It is practiced all over Tibet by house-holders, ge-nyens, and monks/nuns alike. There are many stories of Tibetan yogis and yoginis who became realized as a result of this practice! The practice includes periods of feasting and fasting each day, as well as silence except while eating the noon meal. Anyen Rinpoche's root Lama Tsara Dharmakirti Rinpoche prophesied that this practice would be especially important for Western practitioners, and Anyen Rinpoche is pleased to be teaching for the first time in the US this summer.

Limited housing is available, and it is also possible to camp on the land. Full kitchens and bathrooms are available for use. The center in Mt. Evans operates as a non-profit, and each person who attends should plan to make a tax-deductible donation of any amount directly to the center in addition to the donation to Anyen Rinpoche. Please RSVP to ensure you will be able to attend.

Technorati Tags: buddhism, practice, retreats

The Madman's Middle Way

2007-07-03T14:52:00.000-06:00

This Fall, Anyen Rinpoche will be teaching Madhyamaka from Genden Chopel's controversial text "Adornment for Nagarjuna’s Thought." We are all really excited about the classes as well as the challenges presented with this text in particular.

I've been stuyding with Anyen Rinpoche for a year now, and I can't even begin to describe this lama's amazing qualities. I've been lucky to live with lamas as well as monks, so believe me when I say that the opportunity to study with a guy like this is very rare indeed and must be taken advantage of, post haste!