THE MIRRORNewspaper of the International Dzogchen Community November/December 2005 • Issue No. 77

We were about one hun-dred-eighty nine stu-dents, gathered in the

beautiful, airy Gonpa at TashigarNorte, attending the LongsalTregchöd Retreat with ChögyalNamkhai Norbu Rinpoche. TheGonpa was bustling with activity.Fabio, Alexey and assistants werebusy setting up the web cast andthe video cameras that wouldtransmit Rinpoche’s teachings toall the Gars and centers around theglobe.

Rinpoche’s seat was flankedby a colorful thigle to the right,OM A HUM to the left, andanother thigle, forming the back-ground. On the ground to the leftand right, delicate pink and whitebougainvillea shoots in earthenflowerpots elegantly adorned theplatform.

After Rinpoche’s arrival eachday it took about ten minutes forthe web cast to be connected to allthe centers. The quiet and spa -cious ‘time gap’ in the presenceof the Master felt like a greatblessing. R inpoche o pened t heteachings by saying how impor-tant it is to enjoy life, to go to thebeach (in Tashigar Norte), not just

to sacrifice one’ s life, that life isshort and time is precious.Rinpoche expressed his delightabout the web cast. Thanks tonew technology , many peoplewho otherwise do not have thepossibility to attend the teachingsare now able to receive teachingsand transmission.

Rinpoche then focused on theformal teachings. He reminded usthat it was essential not to leaveout the preliminaries.Traditionally, the preliminariesare indispensable in Dzogchen.With the preliminaries we prepareto enter the knowledge. Such pre-liminaries are the four reminders:precious human birth, imperma-nence and death, karma and sam-sara.

We are human beings, inter-ested in the possibility of realiza-tion. Therefore we must be mind-ful of the preciousness and theimpermanence of our humanbirth. It is easy to lose. Anymoment is always related to themind. In distraction we createnegative karma. We must beawake and mindful with thisoccasion.

We then take refuge in the

Three Jewels, traditionally under-stood as: 1. Taking refuge in theBuddha and the teacher, 2. Takingrefuge in the Dharma, the teach-ings, and 3. Taking refuge in theSangha, the spiritual communityof the fellow traveler , that sup -ports the journey. The purpose oftaking refuge is to understandwhy we practice. Refuge is relat-ed to Bodhicitta. We cultivateBodhicitta with the intention andapplication to benefit all sentientbeings, to benefit ourselves, topurify obstacles, to accumulatemerit and to augment clarity.

Last but not least, Semde(Sems sde), or the introductioninto ‘the nature of mind’ - the pri-mordial state, pure and self-per-fected, the mind of every individ-ual. The introduction to the natureof mind is accomplished throughoral transmission, and the prac-tice known as ‘the four contem-plations’.

Rinpoche then spoke abouttregchöd ( khregs chod) , one ofthe highest forms of relaxation,the essence of DzogchenUpadesha teachings. Treg means‘something bound’ like an object.With our mind, we bind our dual

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu RinpocheFrom the fifth volume of Longsal

T H E U PA D E S H A O N T H E T R E G C H Ö D O F P R I M O R D I A L P U R I T Y R E T R E AT

ka dag khregs chod kyi man ngag

November 4 – 8 2005, Tashigar Norte, Margarita Island, Venezuela

Schedule Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

2006

2006Jan. 27 - Feb. 5Santi Maha Sangha Base Teaching and Practice RetreatOpen Web Cast

Feb. 17 - 26Longsal Saltong Lung teaching and Practice RetreatRestricted Web Cast

March 10 -19Retreat of Dzogchen Semlung Namkhache: Teaching and Practice Namkhache. Open Web Cast

April 14 – 23Tibetan Moxabustion Teaching and Application retreat

May 5 -14Ati Lam-ngon Nasjyong A Retreat of Longsal teaching Preliminaries of the Path of Ati aboutthe Purification of the Six Lokas, Teaching and Practice.Open Web Cast

FRANCEMay 18 -22Paris Retreat

May 26-28Karmaling Retreat

ITALYJune 9 - 15 Merigar Teachings of Yeshes Zangthal Transmission, Nadzer and the MainPoints of the View Totally Beyond the Conceptual Mind.Restricted Web Cast

June 18th 25th Anniversary Festival of Merigar

BHUTANJune 30

BANGKOKAugust 4 - 6

JAPANAugust 10 - 14 (Tentative Retreat)

TAWAINAugust 18 – 22(Tentative Retreat)

SINGAPOREAugust 25 – September 3Longsal Ati’i Gongpa Ngotrod RetreatRestricted Web Cast

AUSTRALIACaloundraSeptember 27 – October 1Longsal Yeshes ZangthalUpadesha on All-Penetrating WisdomRestricted Web Cast

NAMGYALGAROctober 9 - 15

Teaching:Chögyal Namkhai NorbuPublic Talk in Kiev, Ukrania

Chögyal Namkhai NorbuSanti Maha SanghaTeacher’s TrainingIntroductory Talk

Margarita Gonpa during Tregchod Retreat & Web cast N ZEITZ

by Agathe Steinhilber

C O N T E N T S

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pg 2

pgs 12 & 13

pg 3

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SpecialFeature:NewWinter Garin Crimea

Good evening everybody . Iam happy to be with youthis evening and also to

have the occasion to talk aboutDzogchen. Tonight I will intro-duce Dzogchen and what it is for.Dzogchen is a very ancient teach-ing, not a religion, tradition orphilosophy. In particular in Tibet,Dzogchen has developed in allBuddhist and pre-Buddhist tradi-tions. Dzogchen is knowledgeand understanding, and thatunderstanding is very useful.Dzogchen is a teaching that helpsone discover ones real condition.I am a practitioner and student ofthat teaching. I teach people whenthey ask me what Dzogchen is.That doesn’ t mean that I am amissionary converting people tothis teaching. That is not the prin-ciple of the teaching, but I know itis very useful and when peopleare interested, with my goodintention, I try to help themunderstand. That is what I havedone from when I began to teachuntil today; I try to help peopleunderstand Dzogchen. In the real sense Dzogchen meansour real condition. The Dzogchenteaching means how we developor discover our real condition andhow we develop that knowledge.For that reason, for centuries, thisvery ancient teaching developed.There are also many ancientbooks that explain Dzogchenteaching. If people are interestedin the teaching they should try tofollow, study and learn from thesebooks. In the real sense, we learnand study in order to discover ourreal condition. In Tibetan,Dzogchen means our real condi-tion. The Dzogchen teaching devel-oped in a country calledOddiyana in ancient times, in theoriginal language of that region.Today that region is the northernpart of Pakistan. You may haveheard of a famous country calledShambhala. That is primarilywhere the Kalachakra teachingdeveloped. Shambhala was alsoin northern Pakistan and todaythat country is Afghanistan. ManyWestern professors who havedone research through archaeolo-gy and history have confirmedthis. Today all these countries areIslamic countries. Also in ancienttimes most of central Asia wasBuddhist; particularly places likeKyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, oncecalled Truja. Not only Buddhismdeveloped there, but a specialTantric Buddhist teaching. InTantric Buddhism, there are twovery dif ferent methods. One iscalled Anuttaratantra in Sanskrit,which means Superior Tantra.These are all Tantric Vajrayanateachings that developed in Tibet. In Tibet we have four mainschools. Tantric teachings devel -oped in all these schools and are aspecial characteristic of TibetanBuddhism. There are alsoHinayana and Mahayana Sutricteachings in Tibetan Buddhism.Vajrayana, the Tantric teaching,governs all teachings in Tibet.There is another characteristicteaching called Anuyoga, but theway of following and applyingthis teaching is slightly dif ferent.Transformation is the characteris-tic of the path, particularly inVajrayana. In Sutra teaching, the path isrenunciation. Most of you proba-

bly know what Sutra and Tantramean and the dif ference betweenthem. You know that Buddhalived in ancient India and taught ateaching called Buddhism.Buddha physically taught thisteaching to ordinary people. Thatkind of teaching is called Sutra.Ordinary people have the capaci-ty to see, hear , and have contactwith the senses in a normal way .A ‘normal way’ means if youwant to see something you mustopen your eyes. All our organs ofsenses are indispensable; if youclose your eyes you can’t see any-thing and if you close your earsyou can’ t hear anything. This isour ordinary capacity and Buddhataught Sutra to ordinary people. Sutra is a word in the Sanskritlanguage that means the conclu-sion of an event. For example,one day the king of Benaras invit-ed Buddha to teach; the king andothers received that teaching.Sometimes people asked ques-tions regarding a specific ar gu-ment and some asked more gen-eral questions. Buddha gave ateaching and at the end, all thestudents, including the king, weresatisfied. That is the end of theevent of that day. Later some stu-dents of Buddha wrote down thisevent, which is called the Requestof the King of Benaras. Thisbecame the name of a Sutra.Therefore you can understandthat Sutra means the conclusionof an event. All of Buddha’ s lifehe was invited to give dif ferentkinds of teachings. All theseteachings are called Sutra teach-ings. These teachings are relatedmore to normal capacity . Normalcapacity means that Buddhataught with his mouth in theIndian language and the peoplelistened with their ears and heardthat teaching. The Four Noble Truths is a

famous Buddhist teaching. TheFour Noble Truths are consideredthe base of all Buddhist teaching.The Buddha taught this when hefirst began to teach. The First ofthe Four Noble Truths is TheTruth of Suf fering. It doesn’ tmean that suf fering is noble.There are all kinds of suf feringfor all sentient beings, but thatknowledge and understanding isnoble knowledge. For example,no one likes to have suffering, butwe don’t know how to overcomeit. If someone asks what to dowith suffering, our ordinary mindsays that we should struggle withit. Buddha explained that is notsolution. You can struggle allyour life with suf fering, but younever win. Suf fering is only aneffect. When there is an ef fect,there is also a cause. The value ofeffect is only to learn or discoverthat cause exists and how it func-tions. If you discover that causeexists and you work with that,there is a possibility to overcomesuffering. The Buddha explained TheSecond Noble Truth of the Cause.The Buddha explained cause andeffect; how they are related andwhat in Sanskrit is called karma.Many Westerners think thatkarma is an oriental concept orphilosophy and Westerners don’tknow what karma is. That is nottrue. Westerners know whatkarma is; they just don’ t call itkarma. For example, Tibetansknow about karma from follow-ing Buddhism, but we don’t call itkarma. We call it le. When we sayle, we don’t think we don’t under-stand what karma is. For exam-ple, Westerners know very wellthat if there is a negative cause itproduces something negative. Itis sufficient when we see a film,for example, or when we go to adoctor. The first thing the doctor

asks is what you did and what youate. The doctor is researching thecause of the illness. For that rea-son, the knowledge of karmaexists. So, that is The SecondNoble Truth. Then Buddha said it is not suf fi-cient only to know there is acause. If there is a negative causeyou must stop it and if there is apositive cause you can increaseand develop it. In that way , youwill not create negative actions.When we are distracted we pro-duce the potentiality of negativekarma. Potentiality means, forexample, that if you have theseeds of flowers and you do notput them in the earth or add water,the potentiality of the seedsalways remains. When there aresecondary causes, like earth, air ,light etc., then the seeds grow . Inthe same way, we have many neg-ative potentialities. In our circum-stance, when there are secondarycauses, the negative potentialitiesmanifest. We need to have knowl-edge and understanding to stopnegative potentialities from man-ifesting. Understanding meansthat if I have a seed of a poisonand I put it in the earth, it willgrow and produce more poison. Iknow that poison is negative andtherefore I don’ t put the seeds inthe earth; maybe I even destroythe seeds. If I don’ t know thepotentiality of poison is negativeand I plant it and the plant growsand later I discover it is negative,there is still the possibility ofmodifying the result. I can stopthe plant from growing. Forexample, if I don’ t give it anymore water , it will not grow . Inthat way , we work with ourawareness. There are many meth-ods used to purify , change ormodify our negative karma. Some people think karma is reg-istered and we pay for it.Someone who has heavy prob-lems and thinks it is their karmafeels there is nothing they can do.That is a wrong idea. There isalways the possibility to modifyand change karma. This is mainlyrelated to our mind, our mind thatjudges, thinks, and justifieseverything. Good or bad. Weknow there are always all possi-bilities. It is suf ficient that weknow how we produce the poten-tiality of negative karma. It does-n’t mean that everything we dowrong becomes the potentialityof karma. To become the poten -tiality of karma we need threeconditions. First of all, we need tohave intention. Then we need toenter directly or indirectly intoaction. At the end if we are satis-fied, at that moment the potential-ity is produced. If we have nointention but accidentally dosomething bad, it can’ t be thepotentiality of bad karma. Ofcourse it’ s not positive. It isalways something negative, like anegative obstacle. We alwaysneed to purify these kinds ofobstacles, otherwise we accumu-late more and more and at the endthis becomes heavy. How we canstop this? Buddha explained thisin the Sutra teaching for ordinarypeople. Dif ferent kinds of vowsexist so common people can con-trol the body , ener gy and mind.We take a vow and apply it. Inthat way, we don’ t commit nega -tive karma. This is called the pathof renunciation. We consider all

bad actions as negative, whichalso manifest dif ferent kinds ofemotions. We are conditioned bythat emotion and we produce neg-ative karma. We renounce theemotions that cause the produc-tion of negativities. The way to stop karma is calledThe Third Noble Truth, The Truthof Cessation. Cessation means tostop. The Noble Truth ofSuffering is like having somephysical problem and we knowwe have a problem. We researchthe cause of our problem. Maybewe cannot discover or know our-selves. We go to a doctor and thedoctor asks questions, checks ourpulse, urine, etc., in order to dis-cover what the problem is. That islike The Noble Truth of theCause. Now the doctor gives usmedicine and advice about ourattitude. He says our diet must bethis way. Then he says we shouldtake this medicine. We must fol -low the doctor and take the medi-cine. If we do not take the medi-cine and we only know the infor-mation the doctor gave, it doesn’thelp. So that is The Third NobleTruth of Cessation. Buddha also explained TheFourth Noble Truth of the Path.One universal path does not exist.All sentient beings, particularly inthe human condition, have differ-ent conditions, capacities, desires,etc. A doctor does not give onlyone kind of universal medicine.There are so many different kindsof medicines because the condi-tion of the individual is not thesame. For that reason, there aremany dif ferent kinds of paths.The Path of Sutra is for ordinarypeople who have less capacity .The teaching corresponds to thecondition of the individual. Ourcondition is composed of threeprinciples. The first thing we haveis our physical body; with ourphysical body we can understandsomething related to the materiallevel. That physical body also hasdifferent kinds of ener gy levels.In the teaching, that is called‘voice’. Voice means that when Ispeak with my voice, you hear .Voice also means sound. Voice isproduced with the breath.Breathing is the life of the indi-vidual. For example, you inhale,exhale, inhale and exhale contin-uously. When you exhale and nolonger inhale there is no morelife. Breath is related to our vitalenergy. Voice is the origin of allmanifestations from emptiness. In Buddhism we always speak ofemptiness or shunyata. That isconsidered our real condition. Forexample, we say dharmadhatu.Dharmadhatu means the real con-dition of all phenomena is empti-ness. There is also dharmata inSanskrit. Dharmata means that inall phenomena there are manysentient beings and all sentientbeings have their condition, theirnature. My nature, my condition,is different from another person’s.It doesn’t mean a different way ofbeing, but it is what we call thepersonal condition. For example,if we need to increase our intelli-gence we do the practice ofManjushri because even enlight-ened beings, enlightenedBuddhas, have various qualifica-tions. If we want to increase com-passion, then we do the practiceof Avalokiteshvara. If we want tohave prosperity for a long time,

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Chögyal Namkhai NorbuPublic Talk on the Essence of

Dzogchen TeachingKiev, Ukrainia

May 30th, 2005

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

Rinpoche after Teachings in Crimea

we should do the practice ofBuddha Amitayus. It seems thatall enlightened beings have dif-ferent relative qualifications. In areal sense all enlightened beingshave the same qualifications, buthow the situation relates to theirwisdoms, their qualifications, aredifferent. For example, whenManjushri was on a path and hewas a Bodhisattva, his connectionto sentient beings related to intel-ligence. Manjushri created manywisdom aspects of intelligence.For that reason, now that he hastotal realization, he providesmore function of wisdom relatedwith circumstance. Even if allenlightened beings have the samecondition, the same nature, theydo not always become the samemanifestation. In that way we canunderstand the Path ofRenunciation. Then the Path of Transformationis related more with our voice orenergy level because that is howthe teaching developed. Forexample, the famous initiation ofthe Kalachakra is Vajrayana, aTantric teaching. We c an l earnabout it in history. The Kalachakrais related to Buddha Shakyamuni.It doesn’ t mean that BuddhaShakyamuni taught in an ordinaryway in India. BuddhaShakyamuni was a human beingand therefore existed on the mate-rial level. Kalachakra is that man-ifestation; the manifestation calledSambhogakaya. Sambhogakayameans the dimension of thewealth of all qualifications. Thatis something like the essence ofall elements; the five colors. Wecan only see the material level sowhen there is this kind of mani-festation of lights, ordinary peo-ple can’ t see it. When someonedissolves in their real nature, likelight, for us they disappear . Ofcourse, beings that develop morecapacity or increase their claritycan have contact with thesebeings. Buddha manifested theKalachakra and transmitted thatknowledge. Since the Kalachakrais yab and yum, male and femaleunion, Buddha couldn’ t manifestthat aspect because he was amonk. It is impossible physically,but the manifestation is anotheraspect. The Buddha introducedthe knowledge called the Path ofTransformation with this mani-festation. T ransformation meansthe essence does not change, butthe aspect does. There is an example given byGuru Padmasambhava, a veryfamous and important teacherfrom Oddiyana who later arrivedin Tibet. Guru Padmasambhavastarted to teach all the teachingsof V ajrayana, includingDzogchen teaching. From thebeginning, Guru Padmasambhavataught two kinds of Tantrism andhe gave a very important exampleto help people understand whattransformation means. He saidthat if there is a small piece ofgold, we all know that gold hasvalue, and this gold is made into astatue of Buddha, everybody seesa golden Buddha. People who fol-low teaching of Buddha payrespect to this golden Buddha, tothe statue, and of fer incense,flowers, etc. Later someone trans-forms this statue of Buddha, likeduring the Cultural Revolution,and make a very nice golden ash-tray that is elegant that they canuse when there are very importantmeetings. They make an ashtrayand the gold has not changed, the

nature of the gold is the same, butthe aspect has changed. Peoplethrow dirty things inside an ash-tray, they do not pay respect, offerincense or flowers. GuruPadmasambhava gave this exam-ple of the essence of gold. This example means that we havea nature, just like gold has itsvalue. We need not renounce.They renounce in Sutra teachingbecause they do not know thevalue of the nature. In Vajrayana,they know nature has value andthey transform it with the methodof transformation. We transformthe root of our three emotions:ignorance, attachment and anger .Our three emotions are consid-ered the three root emotions.Ignorance doesn’ t mean we areuneducated b ut m eans w e a remissing the clarity of discoveringand knowing our real nature. Wetransform these three emotionswith Vajrayana style initiations,practices, etc, related with thesethree kinds of transformations:peaceful, joyful and wrathful. Byusing these methods the practi-tioner can succeed in transform-ing all impure vision into purevision. This transformation isrelated to the ener gy level of theindividual. There is also the mind level. Thecharacteristic teaching for themind level is called Dzogchen.Many people think the Dzogchenteaching is a transformation prac-tice like Tantrism. The mainteaching of Dzogchen is nottransformation. In Dzogchen wedon’t consider pure vision andimpure vision and transformimpure vision into pure vision.When we are in that knowledge,we are not in Dzogchen knowl-edge. So for that reason this char-acteristic path is called the path ofself-liberation. What does self-liberation meanand how we can self-liberate? Weneed an example called the sym-bol transmission. In Dzogchen weoften use the symbol of the mir-ror. You don’t need a special mir-ror or something in a particularform. You know very well how amirror looks; in your house theremay be many mirrors. Even in thetoilet you have mirrors. The mir-ror is a very good example. Whenyou look in a mirror you seereflections. You know the reflec -tion is not something real. It is anexample of what is unreal. Thisknowledge or understanding thatthe reflection is unreal i s just anintellectual understanding, becausea mirror can never have a r eflec-tion if there is nothing in front ofit to reflect. The object or personin front of the mirror and thereflection are interdependent. Weconsider that the reflection isunreal but what is real in our con-dition is reflected in a mirror. Forthat reason it has no value. Butthat is not the case for discoveryin the Path of Self-Liberation.Buddha explained in a Sutrateaching: “All phenomena arejust like reflections in a mirror .”The mirror can manifest as veryclear, pure, and limpid, but it isalways interdependent with anobject. For that reason we enterinto accepting, rejecting, likesand dislikes. How we can use thatas an example for self-liberation?We must understand that the mir-ror is a very good example of our-selves. We say that Dzogchen means ourreal condition. Dzogchen meansthe totally perfected state. That

Teaching ChNN continued from previous page

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 5 3

Jnana Dhakkini Teaching Retreat of LongsalGomadevi

SANTI MAHA SANGHAOctober 24 -26Santi Maha Sangha 1st Level ExamOctober 27 - 31 Santi Maha Sangha 2nd Level Training

November 10 – 17Nadjyang of Tawa RetreatThe Main Points of the View Totally Beyond theConceptual Mind. Restricted Web Cast

November 24 – 26Teaching in Sydney(To be announced)

ARGENTINADecember 8 – 19Buenos Aires Retreat(To be announced)

December 26 – January 1 Ati’i Gongpa NgotrodUpadesha of the Introduction to the State of AtiRestricted Web Cast

ChNN’s schedule continued from page 1

Introductory Talk November 25, 2005

This retreat is called Santi Maha SanghaTeacher’s Training. This is more than a title;Santi Maha Sangha is not only the title of a

book or a teaching. Santi Maha Sangha means theDzogchen Community and we participate in it tobecome dedicated Santi Maha Sangha DzogchenCommunity people. Everyone can participate in theDzogchen Community and follow the teaching.There are two distinct situations - if you follow theteaching only superficially or more deeply. If you arereally interested, then must you understand the func-tion of the Dzogchen Community. This is particularlyimportant to the people who participate in the SantiMaha Sangha training. There are many people whohave done Santi Maha Sangha training but do not dothings according to the principles of the Community.

The benefit of continuing with Santi MahaSangha is a very simple thing. I say at each retreat,“If you receive teaching, it is related with transmis-sion.” That is why I take care of the DzogchenCommunity. I not only have the responsibility of giv-ing the teaching, but also of taking care of that trans-mission. I cannot leave the transmission in the street.We do not know what will happen in the future; forthat reason we also need a Dzogchen Communityand Sangha that work and collaborate to take care ofthis transmission. Otherwise there is no way I can doit all myself.

We needed some kind of coordination after someyears of teaching and many people became involvedin the Dzogchen Community. We started by forminga Gakyil. The Gakyil is the reason that we have aDzogchen Community today . Where there is aDzogchen Community there is a Gakyil. Maybeeveryone in the Dzogchen Community is not awareof Santi Maha Sangha, but the responsible people inthe Gakyil must do things in the correct way . Itseems that not many people are manifesting thatquality. Sometimes I really feel very tired. I thinkwhat can I do, I have already given so many teach-ings, but there is no possibility to really take care. Ialways tell people, “When you receive the transmis-sion, there is also something related to it calledsamaya commitments. Samaya is not only the com-mitment between teacher and student, but alsobetween student and student. When you receive theteaching together , you are connected by the Vajrarelationship.” I have repeated this thousands oftimes, but people don’ t care. They pretend to be

practitioners; they fight and create so many tensionsand problems among themselves. How we can pro-ceed in that way? You must think that when we say ,“Santi Maha Sangha Teacher’s Training”, a“teacher,” means someone who teaches others.Before you teach, you must have correct behavioryourself. You cannot teach if you do not do things inthe correct way. Maybe it is not so easy, but we mustunderstand this very well.

In the Dzogchen Community there are manyplaces called Gars and Lings. The Gakyil is thegroup responsible for these places made forDzogchen Community practitioners. All these peo-ple should try to be correct; they should communi-cate and collaborate with others in the correct way .We must remember that all the teachings and trans-mission received in the Dzogchen Community arereceived from me; there is a very strong connectionbetween my students and myself. If there is a con-crete connection, people must respect the teacher .Respect is not only getting up when the teacherarrives. When we do something in the Communityrelated to the principle or the reason for theDzogchen Community, we must do so in the correctway.

Particularly this year in Kunsangar , the Gar ofRussia, there was a problem. I want to talk about thisbecause there are many Russians here [in Margarita].There is no longer a possibility to do big retreat inKunsangar. The two retreats held in that region late -ly were in the Crimea. Before the second Crimeanretreat, I asked that we try to hold the retreat inMoscow. I was told this was not possible, the author-ities would not give permission, and so it is better wedo this retreat in Crimea. You know very well howthe situation is. It is not suf ficient that because youare Russian the Gar must be in Russia. Some peoplesay that I don’ t like to go to Kunsangar but I wouldlike to continue in Kunsangar . This is a ridiculousdiscussion. We know the problem very well.Everything in Russia is getting worse and worse. Ifthere is really any possibility , in two or three yearsthings could develop. We should work with circum -stances and try to be aware.

When we finished the retreat in the Crimea Iasked Igor Berkin to inform the Gakyil that weshould sell Kunsangar and try to buy something inthe Crimea. I asked Igor because he is a translator;after Igor informed the Gakyil they said the idea tosell Kunsangar was his idea. I said that it is betterthat we try to sell Kunsangar before we have evenmore problems. At the same time, if there is some

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu RinpocheTashigar del NorteSanti Maha Sangha Teacher’s TrainingYantra Yoga levels I & II Vajra Dance Levels I & IINovember 25-29, 2005

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Yantra Yoga First Level teachers demonstrate for Rinpoche M SALVATORE

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RAINING THE DHARMATHE LONGSAL

JNANADHAKKINIRETREAT

AT TASHIGAR NORTE, MARGARITA

DECEMBER 2 – 8, 2005

by Jan Boehm

About two-hundred fiftyfortunate individualsfound their way from over

twenty dif ferent countries allaround the globe to participate inthe Longsal JnanadhakkiniRetreat at Tashigar Norte, Mar -garita, and receive the teachingand practice of Gomadevi that ourprecious Master ChogyalNamkhai Norbu Rinpoche wasgenerously willing to give fromDecember 2 - 8, 2005.

Since the retreat was attendedalmost exclusively by people whohad already received transmis-sion, Rinpoche decided to beginwith a Guruyoga and then contin-ue with a summary of the originsof the dif ferent series ofDzogchen teachings (Semde,Longde, Mennagde) andexplained the context of theLongsal Cycle as mainly relatedto the teachings he has receivedthrough his dreams.

One hundred and fifty of uswere especially delighted to beable to receive the root initiationof Longsal, which took place onthe 2nd and 3rd day of the retreatin groups of seventy-five (the firstof which was entirely Russianspeaking) while the remainingpart of the Community had theopportunity to learn and do thepractice of Gomadevi, led skill-fully by Adriano Clemente.

While Rinpoche was teaching,the sky apparently decided to fol-low his example of generosity;for almost the entire length of theretreat it opened all its gates andlet liquid blessings pour downthat were joyfully received by allthe plants and probably a littleless by all those who had chosento stay at the Gar ’s campsite orhad hoped to spend some sunnyhours at the beach. (I didn’ t hearanyone complain though, afte rall, the light that was transmittedto us was hopefully absorbed in amore profound way than ordinarysunlight and had a more gratify-ing effect than a nice tan.)

As the retreat continued,Rinpoche repeatedly stressed theimportance of cooperation amongthe members of our Communityas a means of keeping samayaand addressed the great numberof Russian speaking Vajra broth-ers and sisters, using the opportu-nity to explain the situation inRussia as an example of how theCommunity should try to workwith circumstances. [see page12]On the penultimate day of theretreat, after the Ganapuja, IgorBerkin presented the project forthe new Gar in Crimea [see page12], which according toRinpoche’s vision, could serveboth as an alternative toKunsangar and a Winter Gar forMerigar. Rinpoche pointed outthat both Merigar and the pro-posed site in the Crimea are situ-ated exactly on the same latitude.Igor described the land and itssurroundings that was found inthe most colorful words, not hesi-tating to praise its qualities. Hewent to give a most enjoyableaccount of the historical back-

ground and cultural heritage ofthe area when a sudden power -failure left us all in the dark, butdidn’t seem to bother the amplifi-cation equipment, to the greatdelight of Igor, who joyously con-tinued his explanations. Rinpochesaid this was an auspicious signthat the project will eventually besuccessful despite all odds.

As usual, the last day of theretreat arrived surprisingly soonwith Rinpoche giving transmis-sion of lung and advice on how tointegrate the practice in daily life.Rinpoche repe atedly stated thepriority of Guruyoga as the“number one most importantpractice” and also spoke about theimportance of the practice of thenight as a way of preparing one-self for the moment of death andgave a dvice o n h ow t o d o aNyingthig retreat in order todeepen this particular practice.

The end of the retreat auspi-ciously coincided with ourMaster’s birthday and after theteaching session finished, Sonam,a Tibetan singer and songwriter ,presented a beautiful song shehad composed especially for theoccasion. The celebration wascontinued in the afternoon whenmany dif ferent members of theCommunity expressed their joyand gratitude through song anddance as well as through theoffering of gifts. The day endedwith everybody eating and drink-ing together with Rinpoche andRosa at the Gar ’s “comedor” anddespite the multitude of lan-guages being spoken, it was easyto understand the heartfelt wish ofeveryone present: “May the lotusfeet of our master remain firmlyon the earth!”

means it has all potentiality . Itdoesn’t mean there is everything,that is impossible, but if there isthe potentiality of all when thereare secondary causes everythingcan manifest. This is calledDzogchen. That is very similar tothe mirror. The mirror has infinitepotentiality of manifesting differ-ent kinds of reflections. In orderfor the mirror to reflect, you don’tneed to put any kind of programinside. You know , for example,that for things to appear in a com-puter, we first need to put in aprogram. The mirror already hasthat potentiality. For example, ifyou go in front of the mirror , atthe moment you stand in front ofthe mirror , your figure appearsperfectly. It is your color , yoursize, y our f orm - e verything.Instantly everything is appears.This figure is not developingslowly and then becoming com-plete. Everybody has that kind ofpotentiality called primordialpotentiality. It is not somethingdeveloped by people who followthe teaching and do practice; it isnot that way . We all have thatpotentiality in our real naturefrom the beginning. In Dzogchen the teacher intro-duces you and with the oral trans-mission makes you understand.The teacher explains what yourpotentiality means and how yourpotentiality looks by using theexample of the mirror . Throughthis introduction you can have anidea, but to have only an idea isnot suf ficient. In the Dzogchenway you must discover that. Theprinciple in Dzogchen is not thatyou have blind faith. Some peo-ple say, “Oh, I only believe myteacher, my teacher said that is so,so it must be.” You can believe inthat way, but if you remain thatway, later you may discover thatis not real. Until you discover foryourself, you can always createand change. For that reason in theDzogchen teaching, it is mostimportant for us to discover . Ofcourse, we can’ t discover easily ,that’s why we need the Dzogchenteaching, transmission, and ateacher. The teacher informs youof what you should do and howyou can get in that knowledge.You collaborate with the teacherand then there is the possibilityyou can discover. Buddha taught the state of shuny-ata, which represents the GreatMother, in a Sutra teaching. Howwe can understand the GreatMother? No one can explain thatin language, so a description doesnot exist. It is also the same inTantrism when we try andexplain our real nature. If there isno possibility to explain, what dowe do? Why do we follow theteaching? It doesn’t mean there isno possibility to get in the knowl-edge. That possibility alwaysexists. That possibility is relatedto our ordinary condition. Forexample, how did we learn somany things in our lives? Webasically know very well that welearn everything through experi-ence. Sometimes people say:“Oh, this is this, and that is that”.We receive a lot of information.Until we have a personal experi-ence, we do not really believe.When we have a personal experi-ence, we discover. When we dis -cover, there is nothing to change.Even if we want to cancel, elimi-nate, or change our experience,we can’ t do it. For example, Ishow you this box. You see, this

is a box, a small box. Now I askyou to forget that. How can youforget that? You can’ t for get itbecause you have a direct experi-ence. Experience through our dif-ferent kinds of experiences is amethod of teaching. The teacherintroduces to the students, the stu-dents work together with theteacher and then the students dis-cover their real nature. When youhave discovered your real nature,there is the possibility that youhave this experience again andagain. You try to be in that expe-rience and that is called the prac-tice of Dzogchen. All your existences: body , voice,and mind, everything — all theseare related to our mind; at themind level. Everything at thelevel of mind is just like thereflection in a mirror. It has valueor use for discovering the natureof the potentiality of mirror . Ofcourse, it is not the real nature ofthe mirror . The mind and thenature of mind or your primordialpotentiality are different. You saythere is no relationship betweenthese two things, they are totallydifferent, but that is dif ficult tosay. For that reason, when youpractice, all your existences ofbody, voice, mind, everything,integrates in your real nature. Youincrease that capacity day afterday. That is called Dzogchenpractice. This is more or less whatself-liberation is. The knowledgeof self-liberation is very impor-tant. It is important to become apractitioner or follower of a kindof teaching. We all live in thisdualistic condition in samsara andhave so many problems. We haveproblems because we have dual-istic vision and we are alwayscharging. We are thinking thatthis and that are important - this ishow life is. So day after day weincrease our tensions. We havemore attachment, more fear , andmore problems when we developand become richer and richer inthe accumulation of tensions. Forthat reason it is important that wereally understand how our condi-tion is. We try to be present. Wetry to not to always be distracted,because if we are not distractedthen there is the possibility to bein our real nature. That is a veryimportant practice. In t he M ahayana t eaching w econcentrate on compassion.Compassion is considered veryimportant in Mahayana, but stillmore important is that we observeour intention. There is a teachingthat says if we have good inten-tion, then our realization andeverything is good. Of course, ifour intention is the contrary , theneverything is bad. If we are notdistracted, then we discover .When we discover that we have abad intention, we change. In theplace of bad intention we culti-vate good intention. This is thereal essence of cultivatingBodhicitta. Otherwise, if we aredistracted with bad intention weenter directly or indirectly into anaction and we commit negativekarma. So you see, this is also avery simple practice. Everybodycan do this practice. It helpseverybody. In any case, two things are veryimportant: one is not to be dis-tracted and to try to be aware inour lifetime. It is much better ifyou do not practice that you arenot distracted in worldly situa-tions; with your presence you dis-cover tensions. In that momentyou relax. Sometimes people say:“Yes, I know , relaxation is very

by Jair Rodini Engracia

Rinpoche arrived on October 10 2005, in SãoPaulo, Brazil. It was the first time I met him,so I was a little euphoric and anxious. The

thirty-minute wait seemed to be an eternity, but thenhe finally arrived — impassive but humble, majesticand imposing, and smiling sweetly upon meeting us.Rinpoche and Fabio seemed to love the beautifulplate with tropical fruits prepared by Heloísa andMonica for Rinpoche’s hotel room. I felt immenselyprivileged and became quiet and reverent, enjoyingthe magical moment of helping Rinpoche settle in.October 12th is a holiday in Brazil, the day of OurLady “Aparecida”. To avoid the over -crowdedrestaurants, we had lunch at Otavio’ s home.Rinpoche asked us about and listened attentively tothe history of the “Brazilian Madonna”. He thenexplained about the Real Madonna, the ancestralTara, much more ancient than Maria or the icono-graphic Tibetan Tara, biographed as a princess. Thereal Tara is Prajna-Paramita, the Mother of theBuddhas, he said.

October 14th was the day of the Public Talk thatwould open the retreat in São Paulo. There were twohundred-fifty places, and all were taken. As soon asRinpoche was seated, I shot several pictures hopingfor a tigle to appear in one of them, as in the pictureshown on Norbunet that had been taken in Hungaryin May.

There were Brazilians from all the regions of thecountry among the participants, besides a surprisingvariety of practitioners from other countries: Italians,Argentines, French, Hungarian and even a youngUkrainian couple. As special guests, there wereLama Samten, Nyingmapa; Lama Rinchen,Sakyapa; Nun Tenzin, Kagyupa, besides severalother writers and Dharma teachers.

The theme of the retreat was Guru Dragphur . In

his talks, in a certain moment, Rinpoche emphatical-ly defended His Holiness the Dalai Lama [see articleby Raimondo Bultrini on page ] against the attacksand criticism that he has received from diver gentgroups that, inside Tibetan Buddhism, promote sec-tarianism and the Gyalpo cult. Since one of thesegroups has a strong presence in Brazil, his declara-tions caused considerable impact.

Rinpoche also transmitted the marvelousUpadesha, Yeshe Zangthal, from his Longsal cycle.Many people could meet the master and receivetransmission for the first time. Everyone could seethat the older students were also amazed with thedepth and clarity of his instructions.

On the third day of the retreat, I had a fantasticpersonal experience. Just after the morning talk, Iwas taken by Catherine Braud, from ASIA, to talkwith Rinpoche a little. I noticed that in that momenthe was dif ferent; there was a subtle sublimation inhis gestures, in his smile and in his words. It seemedto me that he was overflowing with compassion. Ihad to take the subway soon after the meeting. Insidethe subway wagon, among an intense flux of people,I suddenly felt an enormous love for all the sufferingpeople, and I thought that these are my people andwhy had I never before felt that way about them?Only a few hours later I understood that, althoughonly for some brief instant, I had tasted the trans-forming power of the Master.

The last day of the retreat was October 19th.That day was my birthday – sixty-three years. I hadreceived transmission for the first time only threeyears before, lovingly guided by Muriella. Now , atthe end of the retreat, I didn’ t feel as a newcomeranymore. I felt accepted by Rinpoche and I also feltthat my heart had opened and that I had completelyaccepted the Master.

IMPRESSIONS FROM THE GURU DRAGPHUR RETREATWITH CHÖGYAL NAMKHAI NORBUIN SÃO PAULO, BRAZILOctober 15 - 19, 2005

Teaching ChNN continued from page 3

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T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 5 5

“The Dzogchen Community is your for-tune, my fortune and our fortune.”

The Dzogchen Community must not disappearfrom this world. As long as I am alive the Com-munity will continue, but I hope it does not dis-

appear when I do. There has been progress and noteverything in the Community is negative. There aremany good things; I cannot say everything is either

negative or positive. That is the nature of the worldand our human condition. Nagarjuna explained thatwhere there is tashima, good fortune, there is also na-nagma, a black nose or bad fortune. Where there isfortune, there is also misfortune. In the Dzogchen teaching we try tobe aware and do our best. This iswhat we apply , but not onlythrough words. It must be some-thing concrete. For that reason Iam not satisfied with the answersof the first questions [In the SantiMaha Sangha First Level TeacherTraining, the first question wasrelated to the DzogchenCommunity.] It seems only thesecond question [related to theSanti Maha Sangha text] was con-sidered important. The answer tothe second question is explainedvery precisely in the First Levelbook and you can find the answersto all the questions there. Most of the participants did not reply to what wasasked and did not touch upon the ar gument. It seemsthere was a lot of invention and comparison of ar gu-ments, for example, the comparison of Dzogchen toSutra or Tantra. I did not ask that and therefore I amnot satisfied. For example, when I asked what thepoint of view is, I did not ask what the method of

meditation is. If I ask the point of view and its appli-cation, then you should explain that. You do not needto explain how we do practice in Dzogchen.Mahayoga is Mahayoga. Anuyoga is Anuyoga. It is another question if you are only doing SantiMaha Sangha training to develop and have moreknowledge and more background of the teaching.That is a dif ferent circumstance. Here you are pre-senting “Teacher’s Training.” That means you wantto be teacher. You should think about that a little. Ifyou want to be a teacher , you must be prepared. Youdon’t have to study many volumes of texts like inTibet and go deeply into the knowledge, but at least

you should learn this one small book well that I pre-pared for each level of Santi Maha Sangha training,starting with the Base, First and Second Levels. Ifyou learn this very well, then you can also understandwhy I have asked the first question. I am very sorry not to accept all of the eight peoplewho presented themselves. I have the very seriousresponsibility of maintaining the knowledge of theteaching and therefore participants must present

themselves seriously. Thatmeans participants shouldbe very well prepared andfeel it is important, then youcan present yourselves. Iwould like to ask, particular-ly for the future, that anyonewho wants to present thisTeacher Training, the Base,First or Second Level, pre-pares well. If you are notprepared well, or are notsure of yourself, pleasedon’t present. It is very sadfor me and for you. I am nothappy when someone pre-sents and does not pass. Ifsomeone doesn’ t presenthim or herself, there is noproblem, but if someone

does present him or herself and is not prepared, itmay appear that I am very severe.

[Rinpoche gives the diplomas to the thr ee of eightparticipants one by one.]

This is the fruit of our Santi Maha Sangha Teacher’sTraining. We should try to do our best for the future.I consider Santi Maha Sangha Teacher’s Trainingsomething serious and important. You know thatthere are many Dzogchen Community places andpeople in this world; these places are not only related

to the principle of or ganiza-tion, but to the principle of theteaching and knowledge. It isvery important. We are gettingolder everyday and even afterone day it seems we arealready a little older . Timegoes ahead. We are very fortu-nate that we are practitionersand as we get older we have apath. We have the special pathof Dzogchen; we have knowl-edge, we receive transmission,so we know how to apply andintegrate with it. We are nottoo worried about getting old.In this world there are manypeople getting old who onlywait for death. That is not nice. One of the most important

aspects for Dzogchen Community people is theDzogchen Community. The Dzogchen Community isyour fortune, my fortune and our fortune. We knowthat, we take care of it and we do our best. You canreflect a little on how important the DzogchenCommunity is for the continuation of the teachingand particularly for future generations. We do ourbest and proceed in that way.

Transcribed by Anastasia McGhee and Carisa O’Kelly Edited by Naomi Zeitz

important. But I have so manyproblems, I can’ t relax.” That istrue. But why can’t you relax andwhy do you think you have somany problems? It means yougive too much importance toeverything. In this case, youshould remember the teaching ofBuddha. Buddha taught thateverything is unreal and he taughtthis also in Sutra. Nothing existsthat is real. Everything is just likea dream. You can have gooddream but you can also have abad dream. At the moment youare dreaming you feel it is realand important. For example, youhave a very good dream. Youdream you won the lottery . Youdiscover that you won and youthink, where is my ticket? Youfind the ticket. Then you think,now I am going to collect themoney. You go to the place to col-lect the money, but when you getcloser, you wake up. Then youfeel sad. You think that was onlya dream! That means you knowthe dream is unreal. That is whyyou are unhappy. Sometimes it isthe contrary. You have a very baddream and someone is killing youand already killed many of yourfriends. There is no possibility toescape. Now that person is killingyou and you wake up! You dis-cover it was a dream. Then youare happy. That was just a dream.You see, when we are dreaming,in that moment we feel it is real.When we wake up, we discoverwe were dreaming. Buddha said, “Life is big dream”.It is not a big dream like dreamsin the night; with dreams in thenight after some hours we wakeup and we discover we weredreaming. A big dream means wesleep many times, we wake upmany times, and continue thisway all of our confused lives. Inthe end, we die. When we die we are in the stateof the Bardo. Some people don’ timmediately discover that theyare in the Bardo. They don’t dis-cover it because they have verystrong attachments. Later , dayafter day, that attachment dimin-ishes. In Tibet, for example, whensomeone has died, we do a pujaand purification for seven weeks.We consider that each week thereis a process of dying. That meansthat after one, two, or threeweeks, attachment diminishes,and after some weeks we discov-er that we are in the Bardo.Finally we discover that our longlives were a big dream. Until thenwe did not have that knowledge.We need to have a little confi-dence with the teaching and thenwe wouldn’t have so many prob-lems or confusions because wecould free all our tensions. It isvery important to know that prin-ciple. Some people say , “I can’ trelax, what do I do?” You remem-ber what Buddha said and gain alittle confidence. You can discov-er, not necessarily that you are inthe Bardo, but you can discoverthe effect in this life. You can feellighter, that you have fewer prob-lems, and nothing is very impor-tant. That is very useful in ourlifetime. So t his i s m ore o r l ess w hatDzogchen means and how usefulit is for sentient beings. If you areinterested you should follow theDzogchen teaching and learn themethods. It is not suf ficient toonly hear an introduction tounderstand the principle ofDzogchen. This is what I want tosay. Now if you have some ques-

A Talk by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu After Awarding the Teacher’s Training DiplomasNovember 29, 2005 – afternoon

continued on page 7

Teaching continued from previous page tions, I can answer them.

Can you please ‘show’Dzogchen?How can I ‘show’ Dzogchenwhen even Buddha couldn’t?

What spiritual person is consid-ered the most impor tant in yourteaching?Historically speaking, theDzogchen teaching is a veryancient teaching. Early in dif fer-ent epochs, before BuddhaShakyamuni, there were twelveteachers who taught Dzogchenteachings. After many thousandsand thousands of years, the situa-tion changed; it did not alwaysremain that way . What remainedwere some oral teachings. Oralteaching means there were nobooks, only a few words thatbecame a key to this knowledge.Oral teachings were the onlyteachings that remained in thetime of Buddha Shakyamuni.Dzogchen books did not exist.Buddha Shakyamuni gave advicefor the future saying there will bea teacher who teaches beyondcause and ef fect. Some traditionslike Hinayana, Sutra teaching,consider the teaching of Buddhaonly what Buddha physicallytaught. In Vajrayana there aremany different explanations. Theteaching of Buddha is not onlywhat Buddha taught physically .In Tibetan what Buddha taughtwith his mouth is called [zhal nasgsungs pa’i bka’ ] shal ne sungpai ka . The teaching [rjes sugnang ba’i bka’] jes su nang wa’ika exists and means that Buddhagave his permission and itbecame the teaching of Buddha.That is the famous Sutra we havein Mahayana. It is called thePrajnaparamitahridaya, theessence of Prajnaparamita. In thefilm, “Little Buddha”, someone ischanting: “There are no eyes,there are no ears, there is no nose,there is no path, there is no wis-dom.” This is the essence ofSutra. Of course thePrajnaparamitahridaya is consid-ered to be the words of Buddha.In a real sense, there is not onesingle word of Buddha taught bythe mouth of Buddha in thisSutra. Buddha is present and infront of him there isAvalokiteshvara and Shariputra,his two students. Shariputra asksAvalokiteshvara andAvalokiteshvara replies. Anotherkind of teaching of Buddha called[byin gyis brlabs pa’i bka’] chingyi lab pai ka means that Buddhaempowers something and fromthe empowered object comes theteaching of Buddha. For example,Buddha empowers a big drum,and when the big drum sounds, ateaching comes out. This is aSutra. There are many kinds ofthese Sutras. The objects areempowered, Buddha is not teach-ing. Another way is that Buddhagives a prophecy and says for thefuture there will be someone giv-ing teaching. In that way, Buddhaprophesized a teacher calledGarab Dorje around three hun-dred years after BuddhaShakyamuni. Garab Dorje taughtall the Dzogchen teachings wenow have. In this moment in thehuman condition, Garab Dorje ismore important.

When you say Shambala do youmean such country as Russia,Ukraine, Tibet or is it somethingdifferent in some spiritual dimen -sion?Physically Shambala is

Vajra Dance SMS Teachers

Yantra Yoga SMS Teachers

Santi Maha SanghaTeachers from left to right: Elio Guarisco, Jim Valby andIgor Berkhin

M SALVATORE

M SALVATORE

M SALVATORE

6

Sponsor Regulations

What is Long-Distance Sponsorship?Long-distance Sponsorship or simplySponsorship is a conventional term used toindicate a kind of solidarity , very wide-spread nowadays, whose aim is to help themost needy children, families, schools, vil-lages and communities to overcomemoments of dif ficulty and to acquire abili -ties and means for self-development. Otherterms are also used for this kind of solidari-ty: adoption at a distance, distant solidarity ,distant support, distant moral adoption,entrustment, ‘godparents’, grant, etc.However it is called, its characteristic fea-ture is that assistance is taken to the countryof the person being helped without theirhaving to leave their family or social andcultural surroundings, thereby sustaining thedevelopment of the local community wherethey live. It does not consist only of financial assis-tance but also requires active and responsi-ble engagement on the part of the sponsor .That is why a moral rather than a legal com-mitment is asked for , meaning that thechoice of solidarity is stronger and morebinding than any contract.

Long-distance Sponsorship Pr ojects byA.S.I.AA.S.I.A.’s commitment to thepreservation of the traditionalcultures of ethnic minorities isactualized not only throughvarious development projectsin education and in the conser-vation of the Tibetan culturalheritage but also through long-distance sponsorships of thepoorest T ibetan childr en andrefugees in T ibet, India andNepal.

Why Tibet?Currently the developmentlevel of Tibet is extremely low:the United Nation’ s HumanDevelopment Index ranksTibet as the 153rd out of a totalnumber of 160 nations,between Chad and Djibouti.The per-capita income in 1990 was US$80and the average life expectancy was 40years (the lowest index in the world).Since the Chinese occupation in 1950 about135,000 Tibetans have been forced intoexile in India, Nepal and Bhutan. Still todaymany Tibetans are fleeing their country ,between 300 and 350 each month accordingto the assessment of the Tibetan CentralAdministration, undertaking a crippling twomonth journey on foot across theHimalayas. Some families entrust their chil-dren to those seeking exile, and in fact over50% of the refugees are under 25 years old.

GoalsIn the Tibetan settlements in India and Nepallong-distance sponsorships aim at the main-tenance of children and young monks andnuns at their studies, in general from pre-school age to post-university, as well as theassistance of old people who are alone. Inthe schools and monasteries of the mostremote regions of Tibet, support aims toguarantee access for all children, in particu-lar the children of nomads, to competentbasic education, and to preserve the ancientTibetan culture through supporting monksand nuns studying at the monasteries andnunneries. The preservation of the culture,language and traditions of Tibet is, in fact,the key to maintaining the cultural andnational identity of the people and to guar-antee the prospect of economic and socialdevelopment that could emancipate themfrom conditions of extreme poverty and illit-eracy.

DurationIn general the assistance ends with the com-pletion of the supported activity , for exam-ple at the end of the distant adopted child’ seducation. To this end A.S.I.A. asks thesponsors for a commitment of at least threeyears and of six month’ s notice before ter-mination of the sponsorship.

TerminationA sponsor wishing to terminate the sponsor-ship should give A.S.I.A. six months’notice,that is at the time of the last payment theyintend to make, to enable the Association tofind another person to continue the sponsor-ship. In the case that no notice is givenA.S.I.A. continues to regularly send thecontribution to the assisted parties in orderto avoid that the children should under gothe setback of having their studies inter-rupted. However this weighs heavily onA.SI.A.’s budget and we wish to avoidthis situation as much as possible.

Economic commitmentThe annual contribution requestedamounts to a total of US$360 per year ,that is US$30 per month, to sponsor a pri-mary school-aged child (US$470 per yearto sponsor a student in higher education,and US$250 per year to sponsor a monkin Galenteng or Simda Gonpas).

What we do with your contributionThe annual Long-Distance Sponsorshippayment is thus divided:80% are sent to the local counterparts tocover education fees, the children’ s boardand lodging at school or monks’ and nuns’lodging at the monastery or nunnery , med-ical assistance expenses or residence of theelderly at an old peoples’ home; 10% forpartial coverage of management costs suchas postal, fax, telephone, email, stationery ,personal and of fice rental expenses, etc;10% for a Common Fund to feed a cautionfund set up to contribute to the covering ofunpaid payments until an alternative spon-sor is found.

The Common FundAs well as covering unpaid payments theCommon Fund is also utilized to contributeto the costs incurred by the annual missionsto monitor progress of the ventures in thecountries where the sponsorship projects areunder way. The Common Fund can also befed by remittances sponsors may choose tomake by means of specific payments or bysupplementing their contributions. At theend of the year any residual funds in theCommon Fund will be aggregated in thebalance sheet as donations to A.S.I.A. andutilized for the partial financing of one of themicro-projects in the Tibetan settlements inIndia and Nepal or in one of the educationdevelopment projects realized in Tibet.

Local Project Management For management in loco A.S.I.A. relies onlocal institutions and makes use of the col-laboration of referent agents or local coun-

terparts, usually the education director of theinstitute or monastery or nunnery, who indi-cate the cases in need of help on the basis ofgeneral criteria provided for by the projectand of their knowledge of the local situation;furthermore they conduct the correspon-dence between sponsor and sponsored andundertake the management and distributionof the economic assistance according toagreements made and the aims of the pro-ject. Money is rarely if ever paid directly tothe child or family , as it would prove dif fi-cult to monitor its actual use. The referentagent then sends the account report of themanagement of the funds to A.S.I.A., whichconstantly corroborates operations also bymeans of annual monitoring missions.

CorrespondenceIn long-distance sponsorshipsthere is an exchange of letters andphotographs between the spon-sored person and the sponsor thatoften leads to a deep and gratify-ing personal relationship. The let-ters, written in English, should besent to the local agent, whosedetails are provided at the start ofthe sponsorship. It is always nec-essary to clearly specify one’ s

name and Sponsor Code as well as the nameand Roll Number of the adopted person,which are also provided by A.S.I.A. at thestart of the long-distance sponsorship. Thefrequency o f t he c orrespondence v ariesaccording to the type of the project, localsocial conditions and the workload of thelocal agent often working without adequatetechnical means. There are also various dif -ficulties to overcome, due mostly to lan-guage, cultural, social and economic dif fer-ences, as well as to distance and at times tothe inefficiency of the local postal service.

GiftsIt is advised to restrict the sending of giftsand to select the kinds of gifts sent, forexample by choosing group games, so as notto create situations of inequality among thedistant adopted persons or to create exces-sive expectations with regard to a distantunknown ‘godparent’ or ‘benefactor’ whosestandard of living is very different from thatof the adopted person. In general it is advis-able to send presents and gift packs, alsowhen these are specifically requested, inagreement with the local agent, and also toevaluate the possibility of assigning to theagent the purchase of gifts locally.

Journeys Obviously travel to India or Nepal to meetthe distant adopted persons is welcome, andA.S.I.A. is available to offer pertinent adviceand suggestions. It is more difficult, howev-er, to invite the adopted person to one’s ownhome country, and this is not only due to thedifficulty of obtaining a passport and exit

visa. The guideline of fered by A.S.I.A. inassistance policy does not encourage bring -ing to Europe or the U.S. persons (especial-ly if very young) whose totally different cul-ture could conflict with the western lifestyleand cause problems of various kinds.

How to start a long distance sponsorshipTo start a long-distance sponsorship it is suf-ficient to make payment of the annual or bi-annual (every 6 months) amount by banktransfer or check, clearly indicating thename and addr ess of you, the sponsor andspecifying in the reason for payment LongDistance Sponsorship Project. It is also nec-essary to complete and return to A.S.I.A. theRegistration Form.

In the U.S:BY POST: Make checks out to“ASIA-USA” – Memo:Adoption At a Distance Project– P.O. Box 124, Conway , MA01341-0124, USABANK TRANSFER: directdeposit in the name of “ASIA-USA” – Memo: Adoption At aDistance Project – Bank ofWestern Massachusetts, 45Federal Street, Greenfield, MA01301, USA, Account#1236141502, Routing#011802488.

In Europe:BY POST: C/c postale n.78687001 made out to “A.S.I.A.Onlus” Sponsorship Project –Via S. Martino della Battaglia31, 00185 Roma (Italy).BANK TRANSFER: Monte dei

Paschi di Siena S.p.a. Filiale di Arcidosso(GR) Italy. CAB 72160 ABI 01030 Conton. 5622.72 made out to “A.S.I.A. Onlus”Sponsorship Project – Via S. Martino dellaBattaglia 31, 00185 Roma (Italy).After receipt of funds have been confirmedby A.S.I.A, we’ll send you formal notifica-tion of the sponsorship, assign aSponsorship Code, send the sponsor the per-sonal form of the adopted person, receipt forthe payment and all relative material, andfinally, communicate to the local agent thedetails of the sponsor and of the start of thelong-distance sponsorship.

AdjustmentsLong-distance sponsorship can start at anytime of the year , however for reasons ofadministrative clarity and precision it hasbeen decided to unify the deadline dates ofall the sponsorships. Thus whoever is start -ing sponsorship at a time dif ferent from themonths established for payment (June andDecember) has two choices: 1.) to pay thesum needed to cover the whole semester or2.) to level the adjustment for the year , thatis for the number of months remaining untilthe set deadline. For example, someonestarting a sponsorship in March who hasdecided to make 2 six-month installmentswill have to level the months of April, Mayand June: US$30 x 4 months = US$120, andfrom June will be able to pay regularlyaccording to the deadlines. Should theyinstead decide to pay annually then theyshould level the months remaining untilDecember: US$30 x 10 months = US$300.

Subsequent paymentsIn subsequent payments it is necessary toindicate the Sponsor Code, especially if theperson making the payment is not the sponsor.

Method of paymentsPayments should be made with fixed dead-lines on the basis of two choices:Two six-month payments of US$180 to bemade by 30 June and 31 December; Onesingle annual payment of US$360 to be

A S I A N E W SLONG DISTANCE SPONSORSHIP PROJECTS

continued on page 23

PHOTOS BY ROMAIN PIRO

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 5 7

b o o k r e v i e w

Hello everybody,

I want to thank all donors whohave supported to activities of theKa-ter Translation Project up tonow. Without this help, we wouldnot be able to go ahead with ourwork on the translations ofDzogchen Tantras and on theTraining for Translators fromTibetan. Elio Guarisco, AdrianoClemente and Jim Valby are con-tinuing their translation work onthe Dzogchen Tantras inDecember 2005 and also inFebruary/March 2006 inMargarita. Due to their ef fort anddedication to translate sacredTibetan texts into English, wewill soon have the possibility toread these Tantras in our own lan-guages.

If you would like to support thisimportant work, we have threevery special offers for you:

GREEN TARA STATUEIf you send us a donation of aminimum of 555 Euro, you willreceive a fantastic statue of GreenTara. We only have three statuesin stock, so the first three peoplewho want to donate at least 555Euro will get a statue of GreenTara. The statue is 8,5 inch or 21cm high and 6,5 inch or 16 cmwide. It is fully gold plated andweights about 1,5 kilo. Pleasehave a look at the statue at our website: http://www.ssi-austria.at/ssi-engl/shop-engl-tara.htm

GARAB DORJE STATUEFor a donation of minimum of1000 Euro, you will get anincredible statue of Garab Dorje.It is fully gold plated, is 13 inchesor 33 cm high and 9 inches or23,5 cm wide. There is only onestatue available, so the first onewill get this statue. Please have alook at the statue at our website: http://www.ssi-austria.at/ssi-engl/shop-engl-garabdorje.htm

DORJE LEGPA STATUEWe also have a wonderful statueof Dorje Legpa. It is 14,5 inch or35,5 cm high and 1 1 inch or 27cm wide. It is excellently carvedand has a gold plated face. If youdonate a minimum of 750 Eurofor the Ka-ter Translation Project,you will receive this statue ofDorje Legpa. We only have oneof these excellent statues. Pleasehave a look at the statue at ourwebsite: http://www.ssi-austria.at/ssi-engl/shop-engl-dorjelegpa.htm

In case you appreciate our workbut you don’t want to get a statue,you can also make an onlinedonation with your credit card.Please visit our web safe site:https://ssl13.inode.at/ssi-aus-tria.at/creditcardoffering.htm

Thank you for your attention.Very best wishes,

Oliver F. LeickShang-Shung Institute Austriawww.ssi-austria.at

KA-TER TRANSLATION PROJECTA Message from Oliver Leick

HOW TO HELP AND HAVE THE POSSIBILITY TO OWN ONEOF THREE BEAUTIFUL STATUES, GREEN TARA, GARABDORJE or DORJE LEGPA

Afghanistan. After Islam con-quered Shambala, all theBuddhist practitioners were killedand eliminated. For centuries noone knew the history ofShambala, but Shambala is thesource of very important teach-ings. This place is related to thetransmission and teaching. Forthat reason, for practitioners,Shambhala still exists in a puredimension and that pure dimen-sion is more related with a per-sonal condition, not geographi-cally. That is the same forOddiyana and Truja.

What is common to and the differ-ence between the lineage ofDzogchen that you ar e teachingand what the Dalai Lama teach-es?I don’t know the dif ference. TheDzogchen that I teach is related tomy transmission and my under-standing.

What is the enlightened mind?Enlightened mind is our primor-dial potentiality.

What is the practice of yourteaching?My teaching practice is that firstof all you try to understand thateverything is unreal, you don’ tgive very much importance tothings, and you try to be aware.Practicing Dzogchen means thatyou try to be in the real knowl-edge and through that you knowhow to get in that state and inorder to do that you need theteaching and a teacher.

Is your teaching mor e ancientthan the teaching of Bön?Dzogchen is much more ancient.

When a human dies, can he bereborn only as a human or also assome other being?In general, we say there are sixlokas in samsara. There are sixdifferent dimensions because wehave that cause and we have sixkinds of emotions. The dif ferentlokas are the result of dif ferentemotions. Of course a human canbecome cat, a cat can become ahuman, if th ere is cause andeffect. Many people say: “How isit possible that we are human andwe become a cat?” Maybe untilyou die you feel you are moreadvanced than your cat, but whenyou are in the Bardo you and yourcat can be more or less the same.(applause)

What is the reason for the spread-ing of the Dzogchen teaching inUkraine, an Orthodox Christiancountry?I already said that I did not comehere to spread the Dzogchenteaching. I am not a missionary. Idon’t do that. That is negative inmy teaching. If people are inter-ested, I try to help them under-stand what Dzogchen is. It seemsyou are interested to know what isDzogchen, and so I explain it toyou.

Are ther e any explanations ofheaven and hell in your teaching?As long as we have good and bad,the d ualistic c ondition a lwaysexists. Sometimes we can explainit in a very rich way , but in theteaching that is very relative. Theidea of heaven and hell, cause andeffect, are dualistic. What I amtrying to understand and makeyou understand is a teachingbeyond cause and effect.

What is the differ ence betweenDzogchen and Zen?Zen is a Sutra teaching.Dzogchen is self-liberation.

What do you think about astraltraveling?Astral traveling? I enjoy that.(applause)

What is the r elationship ofDzogchen teaching to the sense ofhumor?You mean why do some Lamaslaugh, for example? There is noparticular relationship. It is a wayof manifesting your feelings. Youhave a physical body , whyshouldn’t expressions manifest?

Are you going to realize the bodyof light in this lifetime?I do not have any kind of hope. Iam just trying to be in that knowl-edge.

Is it really possible to give dir ectintroduction into Dzogchen byvideo, does such a transmissionreally exist? You can’t receive direct introduc-tion of any kind by video. I pre-pared these video transmissionsfor people who are interested toreceive transmission becausepeople who are interested cannotalways come to me and I am notable to go everywhere. So threetimes a year on three days, likethe anniversary of Garab Dorje,we use two videos. The first videoexplains how you should follow .When the time arrives, the veryprecise moment, you can use thisvideo and receive the transmis-sion. You do not receive it only byvideo, but at the same moment Igive the transmission wherever Iam.

When we sleep, wher e does ourawareness go?If you are a good practitioneryour awareness may also contin-ue when you sleep. Otherwise,when you sleep so does yourawareness.

A man would like to receive initi-ation into practice.If someone is interested they arefree. They can follow . I do notlimit or invite anyone.

I perceive this world as a dr eam,dreaming in the night and dream-ing in the day , and sometimes Iam afraid that when I wake up,where will I wake up?You will wake up in a Bardo.

What is your attitude towar dsJesus Christ?I don’t know what my attitude is,but I consider him an enlightenedbeing.

When you are giving this talk, areyou distracted or not?I cannot confess to you that I amalways present or I am distracted.

What happens with the mind of aperson who commits suicide?How does this action affect futurelives?Our future life is related withaction. Suicide is a very heavynegative action. Of course, theconsequences are not good. Theremay be a very heavy conse-quence.

What should we do in a serioussituation? Is it enough to r emainpresent and awar e or we shouldwait till the situation solves itself?If we are present it means that we

know what the condition is. If weknow how the condition is, wecan do our best. It is not necessarythat we wait for something tohappen. In any case, always beingpresent is very important!

How are you going to manifest inthe next lifetime?There are words of Buddha in aSutra: What you did in your pastlife you can see in your presentbody. To know how you will be inthe future, you examine your pre-sent actions. You concentrate on ita little and you will understand.

How many people in the worldpractice Dzogchen and how manyof them got enlightened in the lastfifty years?I have no any idea how manypeople are practicing Dzogchenor how many people got enlight-ened. That is not my interest. Myinterest is that when I see peopleare interested, I do my best. Ialready told you that I am notinterested in converting anyone.

Which difficulties can a personhave who didn’ t r eceive dir ectintroduction fr om a teacher , butonly studied Dzogchen fr ombooks?If you had a very high level ofexperience of the Dzogchenteaching in a past life and youread books about it, maybe youcan wake up, but that is very dif-ficult. It is something like win-ning the lottery. That is why youalways need transmission, teach-ers, etc.

What ar e the main qualities ofmanifestation of Dzogchen?Being aware. That is the bestmanifestation.

Which type of Western mind doesDzogchen attract?I don’ t think that the Westernmind or Eastern mind is different.More important is that you knowwhat the dif ference is betweenmind and its real nature.

Do you eat meat?Of course, I like meat.

How can one over come spirituallaziness?It depends. First you must under-stand what laziness is. Sometimesyou think you are lazy , but it canalso be due to some secondarycauses that you do not to succeed.In any case, in Dzogchen strug-gling with laziness is not a goodway. It is more important that yourelax and are continually present;then you can discover why youare lazy.

Are ther e any secr ets in theDzogchen teaching?Yes, we have many secrets.

Okay, this is the end of our ques-tions, now I want to say goodbyeto everybody and thank you foryour attention and for listeningwith interest.

Transcribed by Andrei BesedinEdited by Naomi Zeitz

ChNN teaching from page 5

Ian Baker . The Heart of theWorld: A Journey to the LastSecret Place. New York: PenguinPress, 2004 (511 pages).

Part travel narrative, partphilosophical reflection,and weighing in at a hefty

five hundred pages, this is anenjoyable book, but requires acertain amount of leisure time tofully enjoy. The author is an intre-pid trekker and explorer , as wellas a devoted student of the teach-ings of Tantrism and Dzogchen.

The author , Ian Baker ,becomes intrigued with theTibetan tradition of “beyuls”—secret or “hidden” landsdescribed in ancient Buddhisttexts. The Western notion ofShangri-La, which was popular-ized in twentieth century fiction,is inspired by the idea of thesehidden treasure-lands.

The particular beyul thatintrigues Baker is Pemako. Oneof Guru Rinpoche’s termas states,“In [Pemako’ s] secret chakra, aplace blessed by the wisdomdakinis. . .bloom pink coloredflowers. The sweet scent of theseflowers can induce bliss. . .Eatingthem one can survive for years (p.121).

Pemako is reputed to befound in Tsangpo, a gorge deeperthan the Grand Canyon, located atthe intersection of Tibet, Bhutan,and India, through which flowsthe mighty Tsangpo River. At onepoint the river becomes lost fromsight, flanked by steep, sheercliffs. Tibetan legend states thatin this inaccessible spot is the

highest waterfall in Asia — the“Hidden Falls of theBrahmaputra,” behind which isthe door to Yangsang, the hiddenland of immortality, which can bereached only by those whosehearts have been purified. Bakerconsulted with His Holiness theDalai Lama and with ChatralRinpoche, who both encouragedhim on this deeper journey ofexploration, which involved deepmeditation and study, and not justtraversing physical terrain.

In 1924 the British explorerFrank Kingdon Ward penetratedinto Pemako, but was unable tofind a way into the five-mile areawhere the fabled waterfall waslocated.

This was the goal of fiveexpeditions that Baker participat-ed in from 1993, when theChinese first lifted it’s ban on for-eign visitors, to 1998, when heand his companions successfullyreached the waterfall and docu-mented it on film for the NationalGeographic, Channel: Secrets ofthe Tsang Po.

In the course of the journey ,Baker and his companions mustconfront m any o bstacles, i nnerand outer. The external obstaclesinclude u ncooperative C hineseofficials, unreliable porters, sheercliffs, torrential rains, and tor -ment by leeches and hordes ofinsects.

Baker is as obsessed withreaching his destination asCaptain Ahab was with the WhiteWhale. For Baker it is not aboutthe ego-rush of being the first

continued on page 11

8

Yeshi Namkhai’s Presentation Merigar, August 19, 2005

We are here this morning for ameeting of the Gars and Gakyils.I would like to know which Garsand Gakyils are here - Spain,Germany, Switzerland, France,Argentina, Austria, Britain,Mexico, the Czech Republic,Holland, the USA. We do nothave anyone from Australia.We’ll talk about what has beendone and what the goal of ourreorganization project is. The firstpart (of the presentation) will beabout what is happening rightnow. The second part will beabout what we have to do andwhy we are here.

What’s going on? The ReasonsThere are three reasons why we

are here today – the first is to sus-tain the growth of the Communitybecause there is not only a growthin the number of people, there isalso expansion in more parts ofthe world. If it’s just a question ofpeople just increasing in oneplace, you can make room forthem, but if they increase in dif-ferent places, it is more complex.This is why we use the word ‘dif-fusion’ in the sense that it is ageographical expansion as well asin numbers. Rinpoche goes to dif-ferent places and in each place hegoes, dif ferent things happen.New motivations and new inter-ests arise and people take part inthe life of the Community , so weneed to sustain this growth insome way.The second reason is to ensure thefinancial stability of theCommunity that, up until a shorttime ago, was based onRinpoche’s journeys and retreats.Since we’ve been around forabout thirty years, it’ s time tomodernize, to pass from being anold organization to being a moremodern one.

The Choice: to Cut orto Grow?At this point, we can see that theCommunity is not really poor andhas economic resources, howev-er, over the years these resourceshave gradually been consumed sothere was a choice either to makea reduction in costs, to sell theland, equipment and assets thatwe have, or , the alternative was,to improve the or ganization andits activities and become bigger .Obviously Rinpoche’s choice wasto become bigger . Obviously hechose the more dif ficult of thetwo choices.

All togetherWe started to create a plan todefine what was necessary forthis growth. What are the indis -pensable things? The first thingwas not to have a lot of dif ferentorganizations but only a singleone because it is easier to run asingle entity rather than several.We have to modify things andchange them a little bit. If I havea lot of objects on the table, it ismuch more dif ficult to changethem one by one. It is easier tounify them into one object andjust to change that. This meansthat e verything s hould b e t hesame for everybody. All the orga-nizations founded by Rinpocheare one entity because he is thehead of all the or ganizations.

Let’s say at this moment that wehave only one or ganization, andthat’s the Dzogchen Community.

Dzogchen Community ‘Brand’This is the new graphic image

that represents the DzogchenCommunity [see graphic at top ofthis article] that you can see onyour membership cards. We havechosen this graphic image to rep-resent the need to know what therelationship is between the vari-ous entities and how they arelegally connected. Obviouslythere are some entities that havedifferent aims in what they aretrying to do. For example, theShang-Shung Institute has a dif-ferent objective to the DzogchenCommunity, just as A.S.I.A. has adifferent objective - it is morepointed towards activities that areactually in Tibet while the SSIoperates more in the cultural sec-tor, more on the preservation anddiffusion of culture. But when itcomes down to the final point, itis always the dif fusion of theDzogchen Teaching and Tibetanculture. The idea is to show allthese entities to the public as a“brand”, a single entity that isrepresented by the DzogchenCommunity, and whenever thisentity undertakes an activity , it isidentified with this “brand”. Thisis the basic idea. It is not somekind of fantasy . It is the way bigorganizations in the world workat the moment. That’s the way thegovernment works, even in asmall country.

Every Gar SpecializesWe have all these Gars that areconnected with the Communitybut which, in actual fact, act asseparate entities at the momentbecause they are far away fromeach other - geographically theyare on dif ferent continents. Inorder to collaborate in a betterway, we decided that each Garshould s pecialize i n s omethingbecause even if you think that oneperson is similar to another , theyhave different habits that are root-ed in their cultures. Even if wewrite a beautiful book thatexplains everything, certainly anItalian, an American or aJapanese person would see it incompletely dif ferent ways, so ifyou are asked to organize a Gar, astructure, or to interpret the rules,everyone will do it in a dif ferentway: an Italian won’ t follow therules, while a Japanese might fol-low the rules to the letter withouteven thinking about the reasonthat they were created. So everytime we have to reinvent what isactually there. At this point wedecided that each Gar should spe-cialize and should have a particu-lar activity. Obviously the choiceof this specialization depends onthe entity’ s experience over aperiod of time and this explainswhy we started with Merigar ,because we had to start with theoldest center where there is more

administrative experience.

Principle of TransparencyObviously in order to makeeverything work this will requirea radical change that will be built

on the principle of transparency. Ithink that everybody has hadsome experience of the recentchanges that have taken place inEurope. Almost all countries thatmake up the European Unionhave had to change their attitudetowards their own citizens. Youhave all received a lot of informa-tion from your governments inwhich they state that the center ofthe country is the citizen. So thecitizen is entrusted with the max-imum amount of information pos-sible. This is what is called trans -parency – it means that the citi-zens know what the governmentis doing so that when you vote,you know what you are votingfor. For us, we are not particular -ly interested in the democraticprocess of voting, but because wewant different continents to worktogether, everything has to beopen to the light of the sun. In one of the books that Rinpochehas written there’ s a phrase thatsays that the principal duties ofthe Gakyil is to guarantee thatCommunity activities are carriedout legally. So the concepts in thatbook have actually been madeconcrete. It has been interpretedin a way that brings it into a mod-ern context,

What’s going on? The reasons.The Dzogchen Community needsto grow, to be diffused, and has tobe financially stable and modern.Why do we have to become mod-ern? Certainly it’s more comfort-able, it’ s much easier with thehelp of technology, and obviouslyif we have communications allover the world, how are we goingto become modern without tech-nology? People in Australia can’tcall me at 3 o’clock in the morn-ing to ask me certain things. Sowe have to change our methodsand use technology for things weused to do by telephone and fax. I don’ t know how many of youwork for businesses, but technol-ogy is expensive. It actually costsmore than land, so it’s much easi-er to buy land for a Gar than tech-nology because it’ s not enoughjust to buy a computer . You needa lot of things in order for it tofunction. This kind of customiza-tion usually costs a lot of money. From the point of view of theorganization, we need to writethese things down. In Rinpoche’ sdocument the re are indicatio nsthat we should use our intelli-gence and work with circum-stances in order that things func-tion in the best possible way .Therefore we have created astructure with the same logicwithout going into every littledetail about what each personshould do. Let’ s hope we don’ tneed to because we aren’ t a big

company and it seems a bit use-less to go into what every personneeds to do detail by detail.

OrganizedWe have created a set of ‘roles’

and ‘methods’. For those whohave dif ficulty in digesting thistype of language, the ‘role’ refersto the type of behavior I expectfrom a person, not what that per-son does but what I expecthim/her to do. There’s a margin offreedom in this. The ‘method’ isno more than what is writtendown about how these thingsshould be done. Why do we writethis down? So that it doesn’t haveto be reinvented each time. So inorder to make things better foreach continent and each city , itisn’t enough to define what eachplace has to do. Each place has tocommunicate and collaborate in abetter way and in order to do thatwe need to use new technologiesand new ways of working. Thefinal goal of this type of work isso that the Gars, the Lings andeach member can participatemore intensely in the life of theCommunity.

LearningWhat has been discovered in thebusiness world in the last fewyears is that the dif ferencebetween one or ganization andanother – we’re not talking aboutany kind of organization but non-profit or ganizations in particular– is knowledge management, orknowing how to learn. Larninghow to use and communicate thisknowledge makes a huge dif fer-ence. I don’ t believe that anyoneis in the Community unless theyare willing to learn something.Our final objective is realization,so we’re here to learn something,right? We’ve also been taught thateveryday life is important andthat the Sangha is of maximumimportance. So in order to betterintegrate with this, we’ve adoptedthe ways most corporations cur-rently use. I think that this dailylife in the outside world shouldn’tbe so dif ferent from what we dowithin the Community . Why notuse the best of that world. Up to now we have worked onthe results. In fact the Communityvalorizes what we do through theresults that we get. If a retreatgoes very well everybody is real-ly satisfied and says how well itwas or ganized. The problem isthat nobody has actually thoughtabout the ‘style’ or the ‘form’,which are very important.Nothing of what is done concern-ing the Teaching is valued on itsresults only. If we had to judge onresults only , as practitioners weshould be worried. There is also astyle, a form, and an interesttowards a certain kind of culture.For example, we chose today (forthis meeting) because it’s a reallygood day according to the Tibetancalendar. This is called ‘style’. In order to learn we have to have

everything, not just the results.Unless we really know what wentinto that result - the feelings, theorganization, every aspect ofwhat went into it - we cannot real-ly assimilate that result as knowl-edge. Those emotions that we feelare important, but to archivethose emotions is difficult. So weare going to try to reach this typeof objective because it’s very easyto archive the result.

Re-engineering the T eachingarchiveIn order to do this we are going touse the technology that is avail-able today [re-engineering ofteaching archive] and there is alsotechnology that we can use inorder to improve preservation ofthe teaching. We are not the bestpeople in the world and we aregoing to try to enter into relation-ships with similar or ganizations.We’ll learn about ourselves butwe’ll also learn about what otherpeople do, because it’ s crazy tothink that we are the best. There isalways some better who or ga-nizes things in a better way. One of the things we can do is tore-engineer the teaching archiveso we preserve it for the futureusing modern technology. This issomething we are really interest-ed in.

What has been done? TheOrganizational Model We’ve drawn up a new or ganiza-tional model of how peopleshould relate to each other and abasic re-or ganizational structure,which has been done in aBuddhist style. We have identi-fied two areas: the area of rela-tions and the area of activities,because we have said that theresults are only relatively interest-ing for us. It is in relationship thatwe discover the emotional side.Remember that this isn’t just par-ticular to the Community . It isalso done in businesses; it issomething normal, not somethingwe’ve invented for this one pro-ject because in an organization, ifan employee is happy , he worksbetter. The job description was intro-duced although it is not reallyindispensable, because we real-ized right away that there is a lotof confusion between the activi-ties that are carried out in karmayoga and the activities that needto be done in order for the Gar togo ahead. I’ll repeat it for theumpteenth time, Karma Yoga is apractice. The Gar has to go aheadanyway. If Karma Yoga fits inwith the job description, fine! Ifnot, we can do some other kind ofKarma Yoga. In other words, itmay be better to go and cut grassinstead of doing the accounts. Sowe have to balance the needs ofthe Gar with the needs of the per-son because we are not machines.We have emotions; so let’ simprove the way that we workwith these emotions. This is a lit -tle example.

Business Model – Shor t andlong term initiativesIn the document that we have

prepared, the Gakyil is responsi-ble for short and long term pro-jects, the co-ordination of theProject Managers, administrationof resources, communication on

Dzogchen Community Reorganization Project

continued on next page

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 5 9

the activities carried out and safe-guarding the principles of theteaching. Furthermore, this isn’ tthe principal thing but a support,the Gakyil has the responsibilityfor the management of the Gar -today this seems to be one of themost important things - andresponsible for the coordinationof voluntary work, for example,Karma Yoga. The chain of command is likethis: the Gakyil defers to theInternational Gakyil, whichdefers to the President. This is aclassic or ganizational chart.We’ve started from the President– in any or ganization there is aPresident. Clearly that’ s theMaster. Then there is theInternational Gakyil, whichshould give guidelines. It is notthat the International Gakyil givesinformation; it is an executivegroup and has to interpret the willof the President. Then there arelots of Gakyils and Gars.In the Red Gakyil section, theareas we have identified aremaintenance and supply . In theYellow section there is manage-ment, accounting, membership,and in the Blue section there isteaching and knowledge. TheGakyil may change every yearbut there needs to be some peoplewho remain and work as points ofreference.

Organizational Model –Activities We have already said that onetype of Gar will be involved inone type of activity while anotherGar will be involved in a differentone. Up to now we’ve been talk-ing about relations – people, emo-tions etc. But as far as what weactually have to do, we’ll do itusing the logic of the project. It’s not that just any kind of thingis done at the Gar . For example,say I have to clean the Gonpa.The project is not that I have toclean the Gonpa. The project is astructure. For example, the lastsummer retreats at Merigar wereaccomplished using this type oflogic. If a person comes fromanother Gar and asks me what thebudget was for this retreat, wehave it. If someone asks: whomdo we need to or ganize theretreat, how many people do weneed, are they from outside, frominside, what do they have to do,what errors did we make, whatresults did we have; all this infor-mation has been archived. After that, because the retreatshave just finished, we analyse thefeedback. We need a kind ofcyclic process going on thatbegins with a strategy and endswith the evaluation of the resultso we can correct and improvefrom what we have learned,which is more or less what is hap-pening now. Now we are missingall these little pieces: define strat-egy – communicate objectives –analyse – propose – evaluate –activities plan and resources –realize and give feedback – per-formance and results evaluation.For example, how do you analyseor evaluate a proposal or do a costbenefit analysis? You do it bydefining what we have to dobefore we actually do it andunderstand what resources arenecessary to do it. Then at thispoint we have to realize thesethings and give feedback onthem. You must evaluate the pro -ject in the general sense for the

Community. In a few words, to understandwhat will happen in the future?Rinpoche will define where weneed to arrive. The higher levelswill translate that vision into pro-jects and going down slowly tolower levels the concrete thingswill be realized. This is the samething that is written in the bluebook for the Gakyils. The onlything that is completely new isthat it is not useful to evaluate

only a single project. In order tounderstand the Community , wehave to evaluate all those pro-jects. That’s why we need tech-nology - to see if we are actuallyachieving what we set out toachieve. You have to have a minimumlevel of skill in order to under-stand this. Merigar is here forthat. One of the most importantspecializations of Merigar is todistribute this style of working.I’m thinking of a farm, years ago- the father would go out andplough the fields, the motherlooked after the children, theeldest sons went out to help in thefields or care for the animals, andevery day there was something todo. Let’s think of the Communitylike a farm. Merigar takes care ofthese activities: management andtraining; this is one of its special-izations.

Organizational Model –Workflows and ProceduresAt this point we have actuallywritten down what has to be done– this is called workflow , howthings are done; the basis onwhich they are done. If you arecooking something, it is therecipe. Procedure and workflowreally mean the same thing. We have found some areas inwhich there are really big dif fi-culties. A typical area is the job ofthe secretary , which is veryexpensive for a Gar . Or theadministration, the accountancy .We have identified the workflowsituation, we’ve development theequipment, or we’ve bought amachine that will do it or a toolthat we can use in order to dealwith this work. Or we have eval-uated that we need a dif ferentkind of skill. So that’s how you dothe training.

Business model - MembershipNow we get to the part that’s con-nected with money and the defin-ition of the new membership as aprimary income source. It is thekey to accessing or to participat-ing in Community life and is alsoa key to accessing the services.Now we are working on webcasts and we are trying unifythings in a way that membershipconnects to all the other things –publications, training, etc. – all ofwhich are based on being a mem-ber of the Community. Everything that I have spokenabout up to this point has beenanalysed and approved byRinpoche. So this membershipwill become something veryimportant. It will be the result ofall this work. And if this is goingto work, it has to work in harmo-ny with the or ganizational model

that we presented before. It iseasy to talk about the costs ofmembership and general costs,but it is dif ficult to say how thecosts are covered and what theorganization should do.

We’ve prepared an eighty-five-page document to deal with this.This has been signed andapproved by Rinpoche. It goesinto much more detail of what wehave been talking about up to

now. We’ve started with theseelements and this is how we aregoing concretely into action.

Business Model – Yellow, Red,Blue Gakyil For the yellow , the resolution offinancial problems. The valuable advantage of mem-bership.How to lower costs with the sameresults. For the red we need more mem-bers, volunteers and consultants.So we can also have people fromoutside to do the work becausewe don’t always have the neces-sary people. More satisfaction.Better or ganization and work-flow.The blue needs to have morecapabilities and knowledge.More projects, events, culturalactivities.Knowledge and culture retention.This means that we are going todefine long and short-term initia-tives over a number of years. To have specialized Gars:Merigar: will take care knowl-edge and managementKunsangar: suppliesTashigar North: retreats andeventsTashigar South: This is a littlemore dif ficult - Marketing andsalesTsegyalgar: Retails, sales force.America is usually a very flour-ishing market. Namgyalgar: we haven’ t identi -fied the field yet.Then there will be another Gar inAsia and one in Africa.

Question from the audience: I doknow the meaning of the word‘supply’ and ‘retail’ but only in abusiness sense. What are whatand we supplying are we sellingretail?

Reply: There are two areas ofsupply: raw materials like audiotapes and paper for publications,those things which we can trans-form, and then the sale of goodsjust like a shop. We’ll make oneshop for the whole of theCommunity organized just like atypical supermarket. As far as retail is concerned, theydevelop what we sell, in terms ofthe object, how it is packaged,and how it is distributed etc.When you get to the retail stageyou’ve got all the stuf f, you havea catalogue, and you distributeand sell it. So this group will dothe cataloguing. Do you see thedifference? Is it clear?

Question: So when we talk aboutselling, these objects are booksand tapes.

Reply: The most important thingwe sell is membership. Is the con-cept clear? It is a difficult work. In order for this membership cardto have value, all the or ganiza-tions that we have mentioned willbe identified through this mem-bership card. If I have this mem-bership card, I finance all of theactivities of this entity of which Iam a part and there will certainlybe something of interest to me.

For example, if I want to givemoney to help the victims of thetsunami, I may not be interestedin the Teachings, but through mymembership I know that I will besupporting A.S.I.A. that is a sup-port agency.

Brand RecognitionThe positive ef fect of the or gani-zation is that the Community andthe Teachings will go ahead sohaving more brands means amore complete of fering; that’ swhy we have these other or gani-zations within the DzogchenCommunity. There will also bepartners, not just those entitiesfounded by Rinpoche. It is a sim-plification of market logic. At themoment we have not arrivedthere, but ultimately membershipwill give access for everything.

Some of these or ganizations arealready on the market for exam-ple ASIA, which, in the Italianmarket, is up in second or thirdplace. It’s quite high in its partic -ular market. If I want to choosesomewhere to donate my money ,ASIA is number two or three inItaly out of a list of or ganizationsof its kind. You see, all these or ganizationsare founded by the same person, aperson who, wherever he movesis known without any need forpublicity, his name is recognized,not the names of the or ganiza-tions. Let’s try to do things in away that the names of the organi-zations will become recognizedso we can separate what is sacredfrom what is profane. Many of these or ganizationswork only because Rinpoche’ sname is there and that’ s it, notbecause they are really strong inthe market place. There are manyorganizations that are muchstronger than ours because theyhave a market viewpoint, ratherthan just Rinpoche’ s nameattached. We absolutely don’ tcare about doing some business.All we are interested in is the fieldof culture. We’ve got no interestwhatsoever in making war on theChinese. This is the guideline ofRinpoche and this is how we aregoing ahead. But if we don’t havea structure and a method similarto these business models in orderto go ahead, we risk not beingcompetitive. That’s the problem.

Prospective for developmentJust to give you an idea of thelevel of complexity , from thatsimple sc heme t hat y ou h avealready seen, we have made ascheme for development. There isthe financial side and the mem-bership side, internal processes,

learning and growth. When youmove a piece of this, you have torebalance everything; otherwisenothing works in the mechanism.This structure has to work for allthe Gars. It’s not something sim-ple in which we just introducemembership and don’ t have anymore problems; otherwise wewould have done that a long timeago. We’ve tried that simple wayof doing it in the past and if it hadworked we wouldn’ t be in theposition in which we are today .What we did in the past was thatwe introduced a membership cardbut we actually lost a number ofmembers. There are lots of peoplewho come to retreats but whoaren’t part of the Community . Atthat point my question is, “Whydo you come here to participate inretreats but never become a partof the Community? It’ s yourproblem, not mine.” This projecttakes this problem on. Maybepeople are used to the illusoryworld of TV; advertising. Perhapsthis little window on realitybecomes necessary, because his-torically the Community has beena little “wild” and not everybodylikes this. And it’s got nothing todo with the principle of theTeaching. But obviously if I giveresponsibility to someone who isused to living in a tree – it couldbe a really nice person – he wouldput the Gar up in the trees and lotof people wouldn’t accept that.

Tools and TechnologyWhat are the tools that we havealready created? We have startedimprovement in the network andconnectivity through the Internet.We are working on this throughfibre optics. We have introduced alogical s ystem o f m anagementand we have worked out softwarethat we can use for one Gar ormany Gars. While we are goingthrough the process of integra-tion, by pressing one button, wecan give to Rinpoche one piece ofpaper letting him know howmuch we have and how much wehave spent. This is the kind ofinformation that normally wehave to do loads of dif ferent tele-phone calls and finally a fewmonths something arrives. It’ sridiculous when people come toRinpoche and say that they need aroof for their center and ask himto give them a hand. His job is togive Teachings, not to run theadministration. He doesn’ t feelvery happy doing this kind ofthing. Let’s get people who knowhow to do this type of work to doit. We’ve got a rough outline herefor collaboration on the Internet, aform of technology that let’ s usall be in the same place at thesame time. The web casts havenow become a routine activityand next year there will be some-thing new along these lines everymonth, something will be trans-mitted through that means. Thatway we can also reduce the bur-den of traveling on Rinpoche. This is a chart of what we haveactually done. This is a hardwarecomputer system that we havealready set up. There are sites forcollaboration and there’s the soft-ware in order to manage it. Herethere are a whole of list of thingsfrom the accounting to supplying,sales, buying, etc. We’ve done itin such a way that we can have avision of the Community as awhole. It’s not that we are callingup somebody in another place

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10

by Raimondo Bultrini

When clouds, with thun-der, wind and hail sud -denly disturbed the

Master’s teaching on the morningof the last day of the AugustRetreat at Merigar , a number ofpeople immediately connectedthe fury of the elements with thewrath of the gyalpos because ofRinpoche’s direct and preciseallusions to their evil nature.

“Strange, the weather forecastsaid nothing about this…”Rinpoche quipped. Andsince those who follow theDzogchen teachings donot take refuge in strangebeings but instead in thetrue teachings of theDharma, symbolically allof us participating in theretreat were forced to seek refugeinside the Gonpa – the ship ofsamsara – while an electriciansorted out the problems with thesound system.

So, the gyalpos. An ordinaryreader, who knows nothing aboutsuch things, picking up theMirror, would certainly be sur -prised to read about spirits, mys-terious entities who control or cancontrol even climatic conditions.In ancient Tibet, and still today (Ipersonally attended a rite at aNyingmapa monastery inDharamsala which was followedby a shower) it is common prac-tice in several Gonpas to invokerain. And just to connect thisanecdote with a case and a per-sonage that might directly relateto the story I am about to recount,one of the Lamas celebrated fortheir ability to ‘evoke rain’ wasPabongka Rinpoche, a prelate ofthe Gelugpa school who lived atthe start of the last century .Pabongka, who used to be sum-moned by Dalai Lama XIII to thisend, to places suf fering fromdrought, was in fact the mainpropagator in the modern era ofthe cult of Gyalpo (or Dorje)Shugden.

When the Dalai Lama XIIIsent him a formal letter askingwhy he repeatedly disobeyed hisorder not to give the transmissionof the initiation of the spirit of thisgyalpo (see Rinpoche’s teachingsconcerning this class of beings),Pabongka answered that he hadreceived the transmission for theworship of this being from hismother’s family. Nevertheless, atleast formally he apologized tothe Dalai Lama and of fered thetraditional white khatag withsome precious coins.

The importance of Pabongkain the story we are discussing istied mainly, but not only , to thefact that it was he who transmit-ted the practice of GyalpoShugden to his young studentTrijang Rinpoche, who in the1950’s in his turn transmitted it tothe present Dalai Lama XIV ,whose junior Tutor he was.

At that time His Holiness waslittle more than a child, and allaround he could feel the anxietyof the high Lamas, governmentofficials and dignitaries onreceiving the dramatic news fromthe Eastern front, in particularfrom Derge, where the advancingChinese army was carrying outferocious massacres of the civil-ian population (ChögyalNamkhai Norbu Rinpoche’s ownfamily suf fered through these

events and subsequently hisfather and a brother died inprison).

Those who know historyknow that in that situation at thePotala, with the support of thestate oracles, in particular theNechung oracle, the decision wastaken to bring forward the officialinvestiture and assign temporalpower to the Dalai Lama, eventhough the seventeen-year -oldTenzin Gyatso did not feel readyfor such responsibility . In duecourse events necessitated the

flight and subsequent escape ofthe Dalai Lama and a consider-able retinue to the Indian border(this occurred some years beforehis eventual exile in 1959). InYatung monastery (as narrated byHis Holiness himself in his longaccount of his experiences withGyalpo Shugden recounted at theend of the 70’s at Dharamsala) onthe advice of his junior TutorTrijang Rinpoche and with thehelp of the abbot of the localmonks, the young Dalai Lamastarted c onsulting t he S hugdenmedium because, he explained,the Nechung and Gadong oracleshad remained in Lhasa.

The answers he obtainedfrom the divinations seemed rea-sonable, or at least that is howthey were presented to him, andslowly His Holiness started totrust this spirit, who since hischildhood had been presented tohim as an enlightened being andspecial protector of the Gelugpaschool. Unaware of the spirit’ ssecret history in which, by tradi-tion, he was an enemy of the lin-eage of the Dalai Lamas, HisHoliness started to invoke him inhis daily practice, and a numberof political decisions – althoughthis has never been explicitly stat-ed by the Dalai Lama – in thoseyears may have been influencedby the divinations of the Shugdenmedium.

The relationship between theDalai Lama and the gyalpo(which however never reachedthe stage of ‘life entrustment’ ortaking refuge) lasted many moreyears and the followers of thisspirit still maintain that the choiceto flee taken in March 1959, tra-ditionally attributed to the coun-sel of the State Oracle, was in factdue to Shugden. In any case, itwas still many years before HisHoliness freed himself of the con-ditioning by this spirit imposedby the constant presence at hisside of Trijang Rinpoche (hissenior tutor Ling Rinpoche wasnever particularly tied to this cultwhich nonetheless involveddozens of high lamas of theGelugpa school).

Trijang was a religious figureof great worldly prestige andpractically all the lamas of theGelugpa school of his time hadreceived teachings, and obviouslyalso the Shugden initiation, fromhim. The main ones among theselamas were Zong Rinpoche(when this lama came to Italymany years ago the advertise-ments said that seeing his photowas enough for attaining enlight-

enment), Geshe Rabten, LamaYeshe and Lama Zopa. Except forZong Rinpoche, who died longago, they all subsequently gaveup this practice at the DalaiLama’s request.

Lama Yeshe in particular canbe deemed a posthumous victimof the indirect consequences ofthis cult, because after his deaththe center he founded in England,one of the first and most impor-tant of the Gelugpa schools in theWest, was literally expropriatedby an ambitious Geshe (the broth-

er of the Shugden spirit medium)called Kelsang Gyatso, whoturned it into his own personalfiefdom, and thanks to the powersof this spirit that temporarilygrants worldly riches and power ,it became one of the monasteriesmost highly attended byWesterners with branches in theUnited States and other parts ofthe world. Kelsang Gyatso canalso be considered a kind ofleader of the world cult ofShugden, in open and at timesrowdy opposition to the DalaiLama (he organized a protest sit-in during His Holiness’ visit toLondon in 1996). Since the end ofthe 70’ s, His Holiness has beenasking the most importantGelugpa lamas and abbots to stopthis practice, and after longreflection, in the 90’ s, extendedhis request to all followers ofTibetan Buddhism.

His Holiness cited a longseries of reasons based on hisown personal experience, factorsof a fundamentally mysticalnature such as dreams, signs anddivinations, but also bitter reflec-tions on the concrete conse-quences on his role as spiritualleader in exile and on his relationswith the other schools of TibetanBuddhism engendered by hisconnection with the ‘harmfulspirit’.

As this is a matter that stilltoday is the cause of personal suf-fering for His Holiness, this arti-cle is certainly not suf ficient toclarify all the aspects of a com-plex issue whose origin may harkback to the time of Dalai Lama V(my book on this subject will bepublished shortly). However , Ibelieve it is necessary for readersto have some general knowledgeof the reasons why, for some timeChögyal Namkhai Norbu hasbeen insisting on the importanceof failing to appreciate the dangerinherent in such cults.

As already mentioned,Shugden is traditionally deemed akind of guardian or protector ofthe Gelugpa school, and at thisstage one could raise the objec-tion that Dzogchen too has morethan one protector , led by theDakini Ekajati. But apart from thedifferent consideration regardingthe nature of these beings (Ekajatibeing a manifestation of theEnlightened Sambhogakayabeings while Shugden is a world-ly spirit of uncertain origin andmotivation for acting) thisGyalpo has traditionally beeninvoked by orthodox Gelugpas inthe past and the fundamentalists

in our days, in open antagonismagainst the other TibetanBuddhist schools.

The main reason why theDalai Lama decided to disclose inpublic his reservations regardingthis cult, which he himself hadpracticed for many years lies inthe publication of a booklet calledthe Yellow Book of Shugdenpenned by a geshe called ZemeyRinpoche, under the inspirationof Trijang Rinpoche, with anec-dotes and stories about Gelugpapersonages, also important ones,

of the last century , including theformer regent Reting Rinpoche,who discovered the present DalaiLama, and who according to theauthor were the victims ofShugden’s wrath for havingengaged in practices of otherschools, in particular Nyingmapaand Dzogchen.

The book circulated as anopen secret, and provoked theactual desertion by many monksand nuns of an important offeringceremony to Guru Rinpoche(Padmasambhava, founder of theNyingmapa school and aDzogchen practitioner) that theDalai Lama wanted to hold forthe first time, in public atDharamsala, for the Tibetan NewYear. Also the placing of a statueof Padmasambhava in the maintemple at Namgyal some yearsafter the forced exile, provokedhostility and threatening letters,as His Holiness informed me per-sonally during an interview atDharamsala.

I think these elements are justenough to enable readers tounderstand the gravity and thenature of the conflict created bythe cult of this being whose fol-lowers, including a lama living inMilan whom Chögyal NamkhaiNorbu named directly during histeaching at Merigar , consider acompassionate Buddha to whomto make offerings and in whom totake refuge. But above all, worthyof consideration is the fact that,unlike the followers of thisgyalpo, no Dzogchenpa or non-sectarian Gelugpa has everthought of using Ekajati or PaldenLhamo as an antagonist of otherfaiths or beliefs.

It is necessary also to reflecton what the development of sucha sectarian cult has meant andcontinues to mean for the DalaiLama and for all the Tibetans inexile (and also for the Tibetans inoccupied Tibet, for whom therepercussions of this matter aremany and of more than secondaryimport).

Over the years, after his flightfrom Tibet, His Holiness hasfound himself in the situation ofhaving to represent, far from hiscountry and his people, the spiritof unity of a people suf fering inits struggle against an over-whelming powerful nation which,at least during the most fanaticalphase of the Cultural Revolution,ruined monasteries and temples,murdering lamas and devout fol-lowers of the Dharma. During hisexile in Dharamsala but also ear-lier, while in the refugee camps,

Trijang’s lama disciples contin-ued to spread the cult of this so-called Gelugpa ‘protector ’ thefollowers of all the other schools,who equally poor and ailing dueto the dif ferent climate and otherhardships, were living in commu-nal hovels piled one on top of theother; there were no longer as inthe Tibet of old, great distancesbetween monasteries to hampercontacts between lamas andmonks of dif ferent traditions.And above all, there no longerexisted the power that the

Gelugpa school, founded byTsongkhapa in the fifteenthcentury, had been accruingover time, starting from theGreat Fifth Dalai Lama whoin 1647 obtained from theMongols temporal power overall Tibet from Lhasa to Qinhai

and from Mount Kailash to theborder with Sichuan and Yunnan.

It is perhaps no accident thatthis conflict started at that time,when according to the autobiog-raphy of Dalai Lama V anotherprelate (Dragpa Gyaltsen, 1622-c.1651) who was challenging hisauthority and had ‘broken thesamaya’ that linked them asDharma practitioners and asteacher and disciple, died in mys-terious circumstances in hisDrepung residence. He may havebeen strangled with a whitekhatag (as the Shugden followerstoday maintain) or he may havedied due to an infectious disease;in any case according to the GreatFifth he was the victim ‘of ademon’ that ‘had total dominionover him’ and which the DalaiLama himself had been unable tovanquish in spite of his attemptsto save his rival.

Whatever t he t ruth o f t hestory, it is certainly dif ficult toreconstruct its inner dynamics somany centuries after the fact, andin the absence of impartial docu-mentation (T rijang Rinpochewrote that he was killed by theRegent of Dalai Lama V who wasjealous of the growing popularityof Dragpa Gyaltsen and ofDrepung with the Mongols). Thespirit of this high lama withstrong psychic powers was proba-bly transformed, as happens tothose who die in anger , asRinpoche himself has stated, intoa wandering harmful gyalpo. Buton account of his powers as a for-mer Tantric practitioner, not eventhe many pujas performed byDalai Lama V himself and by thegreatest Nyingmapa andDzogchen masters of the time (ofwhom Dalai Lama V was a disci-ple) were able to pacify and elim-inate his negative influence.

According to the dif ferentversions of Tibetan mystical his-tory, Dragpa Gyaltsen’ s la trans-formed into Gyalpo Shugden wasfirst received into the monasteryof a Sakyapa lama who made itinto a secondary ‘protector ’(nowadays His Holiness SakyaTrizin maintains that among thepractitioners of his school thereare no followers of this cult) andthen in subsequent centuriescame to be venerated as a realizeddeity and Dharma guardian bysome Gelugpa lamas.

However, it was at the time ofPabongka (and to a lesser extenthis teacher Thapu Rinpoche) thatthe cult erupted among the higherGelugpa hierarchs against thewish – as we have seen – of Dalai

A S P I R I T O F T H E X V I I S E C O L O

Pabongka, who used to be summoned by Dalai Lama XIII to places sufferingfrom drought, was in fact the main pr opagator in the modern era of the cult ofGyalpo (or Dorje) Shugden.

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T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 5 11

Lama XIII, who died prophesy-ing the impending tragedy for theTibetan cler gy and people. Bothbefore and after the Chinese inva-sion throughout Tibet, and espe-cially in east Tibet, where theNyingmapa presence was stillpredominant, numerous statues ofPadmasambhava were destroyedand lamas and monks of other tra-ditions humiliated and attackedby hordes of Gelugpa fundamen-talists instigated by the teachingsof Pabongka and his lama disci-ples. In this way they intended toassert the dominion of the so-called ‘pure tradition’ of lamaTsongkhapa, which according tothem had been neglected andabandoned in favor of of fensiveTantric practices, and especiallyfor the ‘termas’ or hidden trea-sures that many Gelugpas, along-side the Nyingmapa andDzogchen practitioners, madegreat use of.

With hindsight, his predeces-sor as well as other Dalai Lamasof the past could censure the cur-rent Tibetan spiritual leader overhis lack of clarity with regard to acult whose dangers had been wellknown, and His Holiness hasoften humbly acknowl-edged this. But practi-tioners of T ibetanBuddhism are well awareof the relationshipbetween master and dis-ciple and of the nature ofthe samaya pledge, thepromise to act in common for thebenefit of beings in samsara. Theyoung Dalai Lama had neither theexperience, nor the knowledge,necessary to challenge his teacherTrijang over the value of a cultwhich has subsequently revealeditself as not only of scant benefitfor the Gelugpa school itself (itcertainly did not save them fromtheir historical defeat and subse-quent suffering) but also harmfulfor the many beings instigated bysuch a sectarian view to perpe-trate actual physical violence.

Many people know about thetriple murder committed atDharamsala on February 4, 1997.A learned scholar , very close toHis Holiness, the VenerableLobsang Gyatso, Director of theDialectics School of Dharamsala(who attended the Conference onTibetan Language at Merigarorganized by the Shang-ShungInstitute) was stabbed to deathtogether with two young monkswho were his students and trans-lators in a small flat a stone’ sthrow from His Holiness’ resi-dence in exile at Dharamsala.

The brutality of the crimegenerated great shock and alarmamong the Tibetan community inexile; they already were burdenedby divisions, continuous tensionand threats since the appeal by theDalai Lama not to practice thecult of the gyalpo spirit in public,and for its practitioners to limitsuch practice to their own privatesphere.

Police documents I saw dur-ing my long journalistic investi-gation of this case, show that ondiverse occasions, and in particu-lar one, the leaders of the DorjeShugden Charitable Society ofNew York instigated not onlydivisions within the Tibetan com-munity, but also between Tibetansand Indians in Dharamsala culmi-nating in another murder ofwhich a young Tibetan wasaccused (but who then was foundinnocent).

is part of internal culture.Otherwise we have to make theserules because we are losing thisinternal culture. The transmissionof knowledge from one Gakyil toanother is really lacking. This isnot lacking because there is inca-pacity in transmitting, but it’ sbecause people who have been inthe Gakyil are totally stressed outbecause they have to do a job thatthey don’ t know how to do. It’ snot enough just to have good willin order to do this job for two orthree years. It would be mucheasier if there were a documentthat outlined everything that theyneed to do. You have a contact;there is someone who alreadydoes something all the time. It’ smore normal to arrive at collabo-ration as much as possible.Sometimes we feel a bit on theoutside. It’s not that we just haveto live in the Community, becausewhat happens is that somebodywho is part of the management ofthe Community is more involvedin the Community than they areoutside it. So let’ s also try andlive outside. In order to do that,we have to have something ofvalue that we can offer. I’ll make a really banal example.Rinpoche is a very famous pro-fessor, not just because he teach -es, but also because he has writ-ten a lot of books and not justabout the Teachings. What every-one needs to examine in his or herconscience is the fact is that weall have to live outside theCommunity to be appreciated inour field; otherwise what kind ofintegration is this with the outsideworld?

Integration among the VariousCommunity Bodies:What does integration mean?Integration means to share thesame or ganizational model, thesame business model, the sametools, the same technology and toshare the same vision.

Transcribed by Liz GrangerEdited by Liz Granger andMaurizio Mingotti

The investigations of KangraDistrict Superintendent RajivSingh concluded that a few daysbefore the murder , the killers ofGeshe Lobsang and of the twomonks had attempted to followhis car on his return from HongKong as he journeyed toDharamsala. During the pursuittheir taxi broke down and from anSTD phone booth (where everycall is recorded) in Ambala city,the assassins telephoned the per-sonal number of the geshe who atthe time was General Secretary ofthe pro-Shugden Association inDelhi. However, even though wit-nesses and a great amount of doc-umented evidence were presented(the taxi driver , a hotelier whorecognized photos of the accusedand the rucksack pulled by thelama from the hands of his mur-derers who had to leave it behindat the scene of the crime) theIndian judiciary caved in before aplethora of Delhi lawyers hiredwith fees that were certainly far inexcess of the apparent means ofBuddhist monks in exile in thepoor Majinu Katilla quarter ofDelhi.

As a reporter I was deeplystruck by events of which I knewno historical or political prece-

dents of such consequence.Nevertheless, at least certain spir-itual aspects had already beenmade clear by our Master as longago as 1989 (see the transcript ofa teaching on the guardians givenin Wales in 1989). And morerecently he sought with dif ficultyto alert the Italian Buddhist com-munity that was divided over theproblem of accepting the mem-bership of gyalpo lamas and prac-titioners in Italy.

I wrote some articles fornewspapers, which elicited a cer-tain amount of response thatspurred me to continuer myresearch in greater depth. I spokeabout it with His Holiness in per-son when he visited Italy in 1997,when he invited me toDharamsala to collect the docu-mentation I needed. ChögyalNamkhai Norbu himself coun-seled me and helped me withsome invaluable advice and infor-mation on many spiritual and his-torical features.

However, as a journalist withthirty years experience I thoughtit best not to limit myself to thereflections of two personages,even as eminent as His Holinessand Rinpoche, who might bedeemed as partial as they are bothperfectly in accord on this issue.Therefore, I went to interviewnumerous exponents of the cult,including Lama Ganchen inMilan (deemed by NorbuRinpoche as the ‘number two’ inthe world, evidently after KelsangGyatso) and a certain ‘HisHoliness Lama Kundeling’ (as hewas introduced to me by anEnglish disciple) living in Asia,whom I met in Ganchen’ s centerin Milan on his return from theUnited States, where he had takenpart in, and in his own words pro-moted, some protest demonstra-tions during the visit of the DalaiLama.

The very fact of the meetingbetween the two lamas at theMilan center was proof of an

“explorer” to “discover” the spot. Rather, he is drawn to the mysteriousand mythic nature of this sacred place.

By coincidence, an of ficial Chinese expedition is also en route tothe same location. Baker ’s team succeeds in getting there first, but theauthor is disappointed that National Geographic focuses on this coup.For him, this is missing the point, reducing the mythic to something pro-saic. As a further example of this, the Chinese “erected a concrete andbronze memorial to their expedition in the fall of 1998, displacing a rowof prayer flags that had once traced the movement of the winds” (p.440).

There was talk by the Chinese government of converting the areainto an “ecotourism hotspot.” But nature, or perhaps the guardians ofthe land, had dif ferent plans. In June 2000 a “cataclysmic” floodunleashed landslides and washed away bridges, entirely cutting of faccess to the region.

In the end, the author decides, “W e feed on mystery , whether theenticements of unknown lands or a masked dancer . . .Hidden-landsopen everywhere; they are as much modes of perception as actualplaces (p. 440-441).

by Paul Bail

who has an Excel spreadsheet.

Time ScheduleThe ideal time for this (to comeinto operation) is three years. In anormal context where there’ s anactive collaboration, a project ofthis type would take three years.Up to now , working just here atMerigar, it has gone ahead withinthis time frame so the budgetmust have been right. Becausewhat happens is that prices getpushed up when a project is notworking on schedule. The longerit takes in time, the more the costsare. We forget what we are actual-ly doing and we have to begin allover again. So please let’s try andmake this work within the timeframe with the other Gars that aregoing to be integrated into thisproject.

Worldwide MembershipNow let’ s move on to actualmembership. We have to do it in away that it becomes worldwide.We’ll go ahead with the project,from copyright to the protectionof Rinpoche’s image. The preser-vation of the Teaching – we’ll goahead with this with things suchas the archiv es. Each memberwill have access to these services.My vision is that you put in yourpassword on the site for thearchives and you get exactly whatyou want; so your membershipcard gives you access to all theseservices. It won’ t be that eachthing has its cost, its own ser-vices, its own administration, andits own people who have to learnabout it. It may seem strange butsometimes there aren’ t enoughpeople to do these things. We’lltry to do things in a way that ismore concentrated. Our internal culture also - we loseit all the time. This doesn’ t justmean the Teachings. It alsoincludes the way we gathertogether, the relationshipsbetween us, the way we talk toeach other , what we actually dowhen we are here. When we havesomebody who has been on theGakyil for four years, and youneed somebody to take over whodoesn’t have the experience, this

Book Review continued from page 7

Reorganization, continued from page11

continued from previous page international link between mem-bers of the cult. And while theDalai Lama has only asked disci-ples not to attend his teachingsand initiations if they practice thegyalpo, the slogans and literatureI was handed asked the DalaiLama to ‘respect the religiousrights’ of the Shugden practition-ers under the aegis of a newlyconstituted ‘Dorje ShugdenInternational Coalition’. Thebooklets of the Coalition list sev -eral lamas and geshes from allover t he wo rld, i ncluding on efamous teacher who however hadhis name erased once he wasinformed about the or ganization.Obviously the list included mem-bers of the association in Delhiwho were under investigation forthe triple murder , which led theIndian police to bring Interpolinto play in relation to any even-tual international connectionsincluding Italy and England.

When I went to meet the lead-ers of the Shugden Charitable andReligious Society organization attheir headquarters in MajinuKatilla, they spoke to me atlength about their relations withthe other cult practitionersthroughout the world. Alongside

a divisionwithin theBritish com-munity itself,g e s h eK e l s a n gGyatso, wholives in a lav-ish castle in

Yorkshire, has decided also tosend a letter breaking with all theother devotees of the spirit whostill maintain relations of formalrespect towards the Dalai Lama.

However, without doubt, themost remarkable episode con-cerns the decision by the youngreincarnation of Trijang Rinpocheto leave the center in Switzerlandwhere he had remained for yearsunder the ‘protection’of his lama-tutor. In a dramatic letter and inan interview on the Tibetan radiostation in Dharamsala, heannounced his abandonment ofhis monastic robes in order tobecome ‘an ordinary person’.Shocked by a series of still murkyevents, the gravest of which wasthe attempted murder of his for-mer personal assistant by mem-bers of the cult, the young Trijangexplained he had no intention ofbecoming a banner or symbol ofthe pro-Shugden movement(albeit continuing to do its prac-tice) against the Dalai Lama, whowas his disciple in his previousincarnation.

A comment I deem worthyfor concluding these notes, writ-ten with the hope of making a lit-tle clearer an issue about whichour Master has for some timeasked us to reflect. The dark daysthe world is currently traversingdue to religious fundamentalismseem in fact to find a dramatical-ly congruent echo in TibetanBuddhism, whose professed aimis the development of compassionand bodhicitta for the benefit ofall beings. But if there were noevil there would be no need forgood, and as our Master says thebest thing is to know how to pro-tect and preserve the good againstthe rising wave of fanaticism, inwhatever philosophy or creed itpresents itself.

As a reporter I was deeply struck by eventsof which I knew no historical or politicalprecedents of such consequence.

12

NEW WINTER GAR OF MERIGARCRIMEA

“I would like to ask the entire Dzogchen Community for participationand help.”Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

Some people say I do not like Kunsangar . That is not tr ue. I like Kunsangar verymuch, but there are many problems in Russia. These problems will not only exist fora short time. The pr oblems associated with Russia and Kunsangar ar e long term

and getting worse. Russia is no longer moving in the same direction as Europe. It is betterthat all the Russian-speaking people fr om the Dzogchen Community ar e aware of thisand we understand the situation. That is important. You must be aware that with the pre-sent situation you will not be able to continue to receive teachings from me in a concreteway. For this reason, after the last r etreat in Crimea, I asked my translator Igor Berkhin toinform the Kunsangar Gakyil that we should try and sell Kunsangar befor e it becomestoo complicated. Since that time, many people have cr eated many problems and do notwant to sell it. I don’t know if we will be able to sell Kunsangar, but we have now formeda group to see if it is possible. Unfortunately ther e is more confusion in Russia, as wellas with the Dzogchen Community there. I told Igor Berkhin that we should try and sell Kunsangar and get some place in Crimea.Ukrania is going in the same dir ection as the rest of Europe and maybe in the futur e itwill become more democratic. Ukrania is a Russian-speaking countr y. I don’t know if Russian people will be able to travel freely there or it will become more complicated inthe future. In any case, if they can manage to come at least they will have a place

A W O N D E R F U LRinpoche Speaks about the New Crimea W

Margarita, Dec 6, 2005

The Possibility of Merigar-EastWinter Gar in CrimeaA Report by Igor BerkhinDecember 7, 2005Margarita Island, Venezuela

Thank you Rinpoche for this possibil-ity to talk about our project inCrimea. First of all, as Rinpoche

said the other day, in June Rinpoche askedus to find a place in Crimea we coulddevelop for Russian-speaking countries.We had two very successful and bigretreats in Crimea, the first in 2002 and thesecond in 2005, and people from many dif-ferent countries attended them. At the finalGanapuja of the last retreat in 2005 therewere approximately 2000 people. This past summer we started to look forthe new Gar by collecting informationfrom dif ferent sources and studying thesituation of t he r eal e state m arket. I nSeptember or October we started to lookconcretely for different places. We visitedseveral places and had contact with manylocal people. The area we covered on theSouthern coast of Crimea was about 200kilometers. It is not so easy to find a goodplace i n C rimea a t t his t ime b ecauseCrimea is for Russians what Mar garita isfor Venezuelaens. It is the most populartourist place that we have. The place wefound is in the warmest spot in Crimea,with very nice weather and a nice sea. Wetried to find a place that would correspondto the general description Rinpoche gaveus, so basically the place is not for bigretreats; for the big retreats we can findother venues and this way we won’ t needto maintain a very big place. In Russian-speaking countries we have many peopleinvolved in Santi Maha Sangha so at leastwe need a place to develop that.One of the important points that Rinpochementioned is that this place should have aview of the sea. We had some informationand did many practices dedicated to find-ing and creating this place. We had SantiMaha Sangha and Yantra Yoga retreats inOctober in Crimea at the same place weheld the retreat with Rinpoche in June. Fortwelve days fifty people actively partici-pated and all our merits were dedicated tothis purpose. The next day we found twobeautiful places. The place Rinpocheapproved of was the first place we saw. Wepresented the information we had collect-ed to Rinpoche and finally Rinpoche

approved the place we should look at andadvised in which direction we should goand which place is best for our purposes.

The Place:The place we found is a kind of summerhotel, but not a fancy hotel. It is some-where between an inexpensive hotel andcamping. The land of this place is about 2hectares. It is made up of different kinds ofbuildings and the area covered by build-ings alone is 3000 square meters; there are3000 square meters of buildings on 2hectares. In Soviet times, it was a kind ofboy scout camp or Pioneer Youth Camp.The constructions are very simple, mostlylight constructions, but there are alsobuildings from the beginning of the 20 thcentury and they are still in more or lessnormal condition. The facilities of thisplace are:

150 sleeping places in heated houses100 + in summer housesMore or less this place can hold 250 peo -ple.

It has a big dining hall for eating and alsofor practice for 200 to 300 people. We canhave retreats inside and not only in theopen air, but open air is an option becausethere are two big grounds. One is a sport-ing ground, like a basketball court, and hasbenches to one side. This place can beexpanded by putting a tent and can be aplace for several hundred people. Theother is a very big square, 30 x 30 metersand maybe even a little bigger , so maybewe can put the big mandala there.This place is functioning as a summercamp. It is not in very good condition, butin terms of good business in the Ukraine,it is not considered good business becausewhat we consider good business in theUkraine is fantastic business for the West.This may be one of reasons why it is beingsold. There is a possibility to expand the areaand to have 4 hectares. The owners alreadystarted this process, but since they are sell-ing it they have stopped the process. Weare not going to buy the place itself, but wewill buy the company that owns the placeand therefore all legal procedures startedby this company can be developed andthere will no need to start from the begin-ning. So these are more or less the technicalcharacteristics of the place.

The LOTTERY OF THE GOLDEN RING OF CHÖGYAL NAMKHAI NORBUTo help purchase Merigar East, the new Winter Gar in CrimeaTo participate in the lottery, you can choose an element (fire, water , earth, air or space) and communi-cate to Anna Eid at anna.sigrid.eid@gmx.de how many numbers you would like. Payment should bemade to the following account: MONTE DEI PASCHI DI SIENA, filiale di Arcidosso, GR ItalyIBAN:IT01030 72160 3120 29BIC/swift:PASCITMMGRO And add: For “THE LOTTERY OF THE GOLDEN RING OF ChNN”

1st prize, A Wonderful, Gold Ring with 5 Dakini Jewels worn by Rinpoche2nd prize, Beautiful and well made thanka of Amitayus3rd prize, Painting of Goma Devi by Glen Eddy4th prize, Statue of Goma Devi5th prize, Crytsaland more……………..

Anna will choose the numbers and hold them for 10 days until communication is received from Merigarthat the money has been paid. People can also pay cash at Tashigar Norte or Merigar.

One number of the lottery costs:

$15 USD or 13 EURO or 40.000 Bs

Thank you for your participation!Anna Eid

GAR OF MERIGARIMEA

to come to. We are trying to get a place in or der to create a base for Russian-speakingpeople. The Russian Dzogchen Community people should r eflect well and tr y to collaborate tocreate this place. We do not need a Gar only in Russia. In Russia you need not only oneKunsangar, but also two or three. When there are positive circumstances, we can createmany Kunsangars. At this time there are no positive circumstances and it is negative ifyou go in another direction; you must understand that. We are searching for land for thatreason and there are some indications regarding this land. We know that to buy land orhouses costs money, but if many people collaborate, anything is possible!I have a very wonderful idea. For example, for many years we have been sear ching fora second Merigar , a W inter Gar for Eur ope. Crimea is on the pr ecise parallel withMerigar. Crimea has very good weather and we can cr eate the Winter Gar of Merigarthere. Merigar can participate and help make some money for the pr oject. There aremany people connected to Merigar who can help and the people who have more moneycan help sponsor this new Gar. I would like to ask the entir e Dzogchen Community forparticipation and help.

Transcribed and edited by Naomi Zeitz

F U L I D E A ! ! !New Crimea Winter Gar Project, Dec 6, 2005

Location:It is on the most Southern part of theCrimean peninsula. The Crimean peninsu-la is dividing the Black Sea and the AsovSea. In the real sense, it is very relativecalling it a peninsula because the piece ofland connecting this peninsula with thecontinent is more or less one or two hun-dred meters wide and is more like anisland in the Black Sea. On the Southerncoast there is a chain of mountains withthe highest point being 2000 kilometers.These mountains are very ancient and thischain is exactly on the Southern seacoastand divides the sea and the rest of thepeninsula. For this reason, the climate isvery good from the Southern side of thesemountains. It is more or less on the samelatitude as Merigar, but it is protected fromthe cold North winds and is open on theSouthern side, so most of the year thisplace is very warm. For example, this yearuntil October 16, we were swimming inthe sea and the temperature was around 20to 22 degrees Celsius until the middle ofOctober. This is not an exceptional year .This place is warm because it is more tothe South and in general the climate isvery healthy and the air is very good.Crimea has been traditionally a healingplace. People with asthma and tuberculo-sis, for example, from all of Russia, gothere because the air has a lot of healingproperties and the water is very salty . Thewater of the Black Sea has antiseptic prop-erties so wounds heal very quickly .Wounds get better, not worse. This regionalso has many trees: Pine, Cypress,Eucalyptus, Tuja, Juniper , and all theSouthern coast is full of these kinds ofplants and their perfume permeates the air.There are huge lavender fields and the bestFrench cosmetic companies use it. Thereare many roses there also. This place isfamous for its grapes and wine and there isa lot of wine there. [Laughter] Maybe Ishould stop here because maybe peoplewill start changing their tickets and leaveMargarita for Crimea and this we don’ twant, just now. [Voice from the audience]Someone is asking me to say there aremany beautiful women. [“What aboutmen?” yelled from the audience].

Transportation:Visas:From this year citizens of or the EuropeanUnion, Switzerland, the United States, andCanada no longer need visas to travel tothe Ukraine. Anyone from these countries

can enter the Ukraine and stay for threemonths. There is freedom of traveling.This is very important because we untilrecently we had a problem of visas thatremained f rom Soviet times. N ow wedon’t have that situation.

By Air:Kiev has direct flights to most Europeancities, not only capitals but also big citiesand there are regular flights to cities in theUnited States and Canada. Also the inter-national airport and domestic airport areadjacent and very near . There are threeflights a day to Crimea and the flight is 1hour and 15 minutes from Kiev and thereare also regular flights from Moscow .There are two companies, Turkish andIsraeli, that fly to the capital of Crimea,Sinferopol, and it is possible to go fromEurope directly with a transfer in Tel Avivor Istanbul.

Local Transportation:The place is 2.5 hours by car from theinternational airport via a very beautifulroad through mountains and grape fields,and the rest goes along the seaside, so it isa very beautiful way . There is a lot oftransportation in that area.

Project Development:A Gar for the Dzogchen CommunityCommercial Purposes: There is a possi-bility to use a part for commercial purpos-es for the Community and also for a pri-vate summer hotel.A Center for Tibetan Medicine . Thismay be the best solution, to use a part ofthis place as a center for Tibetan Medicinebecause Crimea is known in Russia andUkraine as related to healing.Private Homes for Practitioners: Thereis also the possibility to expand this placeand have an additional 2 hectares of themain territory and 2 hectares or maybemore beyond that, and we are thinking ofusing this land for building private homesfor practitioners like here in Margarita. Weare thinking very much in this direction.

Cost:I have more or less explained everything,and now I must say how much this beautycosts. It is quite expensive. Real estate isvery expensive in Crimea. The factors aregood for us and make this place relativelycheap but still we need $700,000US. We atleast need offerings and donations, but wealso need credit under some good condi-

continued on page 18

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 5 13

PASSAGESBORN:Monday, Dec. 12th, 2005On the afternoon of a bright, clear and sunny day here in Austria, ourlovely little Tobias filled the air with his strong voice for the first time.Everything went quite fine and all the three of us are healthy, tired andvery happy!

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year to each and all of you!Bernhard, Manuela & Tobias Schweizer

14

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

C O M M U N I T Y N E W Sm e r i g a r

C O M M U N I T Y N E W S

Merigar Calendar of EventsJanuary - June 2006

January

Fri Jan 27th– Sun Feb 5th

Open Web cast Audio and Video of the SMS Base Teaching retreat, TashigarNorth, Margarita

February

Sat. Feb. 4th – Sun 5th

Practice Retreat of the Vajra Dance of the Three Vajra. Everyday from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm

Fri Feb. 17th – Sun 26th

Web cast Audio and Video Longsal Saltong Lung Teaching and Practice Retreat, Tashigar NorthMargarita (restricted to members who have already received transmission)

Sat. Feb. 25th - Tue 28th

Yantra Yoga Course for Advanced Practitioners

Cost 80Û, with discounts for members.Everyday from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm

Mon. Feb. 27th

5:00 pm Practice of the Purification of the Six Lokas7:00 pm Ganapuja

Tue. Feb. 28th

Losar: 6:00 am Practice of the Long Life of Guru Amitayus1:00 pm Ganapuja with the authentication of Lungta and Namkha

March

Fri. Mar. 10th – Sun.19th

Open Web cast Audio and Video Dzogchen Semlung Namkhache Teaching and Practice RetreatTashigar North, Margarita

Fri. Mar. 10th – Mon.13th

Meditation and Contemplation workshop with Constantino AlbiniThe course begins on Friday the 10th at 5:00 pmCost 80 Û, with discounts for members.

Mon. Mar.13th

5:00 pm Explanation of the Practice of the Garab Dorje Guru Yoga for the Worldwide Transmission

Tue. Mar.14th

4:00 am Web cast of the Worldwide Transmission of the Guruyoga of Garab Dorje

April

Thu Apr.13th – Tue 18th

Easter Practice Retreat of Green Tara with Yuchen NamkhaiCost 240Û, with discounts for members.

May

Fri May 5th – Sun 14th

Open Web cast Audio and Video Ati Lam-ngnon Nasjyong. A Teaching and Practice Retreat of Longsal Teaching

Dzogchen Community in ItalyArcidosso 58031

GR ItalyTel: 39 0564 968 837

Email: merigaroffice@tiscalinet.itWeb site: www.dzogchen.it

e u r o p eSanti Maha Sangha Base Level Retreat with Jakob WinklerJanuary 27 – February 5, 2006Höfen, GermanyTogether we will listen to the web cast from Tashigar Norte and willlearn the practices together . Jakob will explain and lead the prac -tices.

The course starts on Friday January 27 at 8 pm and ends SundayFebruary 5 at 5pm.

For more information contact:Helga BetzLindemannstr. 12D-40237 DüsseldorfTel+fax 49 (0)211 682657Email: office@dzogchen.deWeb site: www.dzogchen.de

For lodging and meals please contact: Hans J. Vogel, Höfen 12, 91460 Baudenbach,Tel.09166-995311, Fax 09166-005313, Email: HansV ogel@t-online.de

NEW AUSTRIAN GAKYILSThe new Austrian Gakyils for 2006 were elected and confirmed by ourprecious Master Chögyal Namkhai Norbu:

The new Gakyil of Vienna is:Blue: Elisha Koppensteiner, elishanana@hotmail.comRed: Sabine Böhm, sabine.boehm-stachl@chello.atYellow: Winnie Scheiblbrandner, winnieshepard@hotmail.com

The new Gakyil of the Austria Regions is:Blue: Monica Wittib, monicawittib@hotmail.comRed: Bernhard Schweizer, bernhard.schweizer@gmx.atYellow: Oliver Leick, dzogchen@aon.at

ADVANCED VAJRA DANCE-COURSEwith PRIMA MAI February 3rd - 7th in München, Germany

This course begins on Friday, February 3 at 17.00pm at the Waldorf-school (Leopoldstr. 19) and ends on Tuesday, February 7 at 16.00 inthe Studio Freitänzer (Euckenstr . 15). You should have transmissionfor this course and know both the Pawo or Pamo parts of the Songof the Vajra.

Fee: Ordinary members 250 Euro, Sustaining members free, Reducedmembers 140 Euro

Please send payment to the account of:Dzogchengemeinschaft Deutschland e.V., Stadtsparkasse DüsseldorfKnt.-Nr.: 11047891, BLZ: 30050110, IBAN DE 40 3005 01 10 0011047891, SWIFT/BIC DUSSDEDDXXX

For registration & info please contact: Regine Zettler , Email: Regine-125@gmx.net, Tel: 0049-(0)89-7429824

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 6 15

I N T E R N A T I O N A LC O M M U N I T Y N E W S

t s e g y a l g a r e a s t & w e s t

Tsegyalgar WestBaja Mexico

Dzogchen CommunityWest Coast

755 Euclid Ave.Berkeley, CA 94708

USAEmail: cbass@prodigy.net.mx

carolmfields@aol.com

Tsegyalgar, Dzogchen Communityin America,PO Box 277 Conway, MA 01341Tel: 413-369-4153 | Fax: 413-369-4473Email: secretary@tsegyalgar.orgWeb site: www.tsegyalgar.org

Mandarava Retreat in Lithuaniawith Nina Robinson April 9 - 17, 2006

The Lithuanian Dzogchen Community is happy to announce Mandarava Chudlenretreat in Lithuania with Nina Robinson, April 9-17th, 2006 (Easter).

This is only preliminary announcement and we cannot provide details yet. We will be doing 3-4 Thuns

per day, probably with one Vajra Dance Thun available.

Regarding lodging it will be either small resort town by the river orrented house in countryside, lodging costs 5-10 euros per day .

We can make invitation letters if needed.

If you are interested please email: lithuania@dzogchen.ru.

Web site: www.dzogcenas.lt

Yantra Yoga at TsegyalgarJan 29 – Feb 5, 2006with Paula BarryThe Tsegyalgar Gakyil is pleases to announce a course in YantraYoga during Chögyal Namkhai Norbu’ s Teachings on the BaseLevel of Santi Maha Sangha.

Beginner’s LevelJan 29 (Sun) 11-12:30amJan 30 (Mon) 4 – 5:30pm\Jan 31 (Tues) 6 – 7:30pmFeb 1 (Wed) 6 – 7:30 pm

Intermediate LevelFeb 2 (Thurs) 6 – 7:30 pmFeb 3 (Fri) 6 – 7:30 pmFeb 4 (Sat) 11 – 12:30 amFeb 5 (Sun) 11 – 12:30 am

For mroe information:Tel: 413 369 4153, Email: secretary@tsegyalgar.org

SECRETARY WANTED AT TSEGYALGARCONWAY, MASSACHUSETTS, USAThe Tsegyalgar Gakyil is looking to develop its office administration.We are looking for an independent, self-motivated practitioner com-mitted to a strong future for Tsegyalgar.

We plan to open a part-time position at the Gar . Pay will be $12.50per hour for 20-25 hours per week. Applicants must provide theirown lodging and be able to work legally in the United States.

The position will include the following tasks:

• Public Relations (phones and emails)• Use of Quick Books for basic accounting• Sound, video, multi-media set-up• Activity Scheduling for the Gar• Collecting and sorting mail• Working with Gakyil to Coordinate Basic Advertising for

retreats and web casts• Acting as a liaison between the Gakyil and the Community• Compiling and editing the Community Newsletter• Maintaining databases

Applicants should be:• Calm, helpful, and welcoming• Eager to serve the Community• Familiar with office organization• Able to multi-task• Good communicators• Attendant to details• Familiar with basic PC operation (email, Microsoft Office appli-

cations, etc.)• Familiar with the Dzogchen Community and its practices• Self directed and able to follow through with projects• Able to work well with others

To apply please send your resume and cover letter to Patricia Shahen,Yellow Gakyil, at patriciashahen@starpower .net or fax to 413-369-4473 by February 1, 2006. In your cover letter please refer to thenumber of hours per week you would be available, date of availabil-ity, and your pertinent skills.

Please feel free to contact the Tsegyalgar Of fice at:secretary@tsegyalgar.org or 413-369-4153 with any questions.

The Tsegyalgar Gakyil is very pleased to announce:

K u m b h a k a w i t h F a b i o A n d r i c o

At Tsegyalgar, Conway, Mass. April 1 – April 5, 2006

Prerequisites: Transmission from Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and experience inYantra Yoga.

Cost: $150US before Feb 15, $175US after

For more information:Dzogchen Community in AmericaTsegyalgarPO Box 277Conway, MA 01341USATel: 413 369 4153Fax: 413 369 4473Email: secretary@tsegyalgar.org

Advanced Course of the Dance of the Song of the Vajra with Prima MaiGeneva, SwitzerlandFebruary 22 - 26, 2006This is a special opportunity for advanced Vajra Dance practitioners to deepen their knowledge of theDance of the Song of the Vajra. This course is open to practitioners who have learned part 1 and 2, eithermale or female.

CONTACT for inquiries and registration:Jocelyne CarassoEmail: jocelyne.carasso@wanadoo.fr Tel: ++33 450 35 11 42Postal address: 8, rue de Fribourg, CH - 1201 GeneveFax: ++41 27 323 23 93.

We will be glad to assist with any information and look forward to hearing from you!

P A S S A G E SDIED:

Anne Segal passed away on November 23, 2005 in New YorkCity. Anne was a New York socialite who survived breast cancer

and became one of the major benefactors of Sloane KetteringMemorial Hospital and the American Cancer Society.

The Dzogchen Community owes her a great deal. Anne made surethat Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche received special attentionfrom the directors of Sloane Kettering Hospital and the AmericanCancer Society when he fell ill in 1994. She didn’ t just make onecall, but she continued to check on Rinpoche’s progress through-out his treatment and made sure things were being paid attention

to.Her husband Herb continues to support cancer treatment andresearch in her name. It would be very nice if we could all do

Shitro for her. She said to me once, “I think all these doctors thinkI have a Guru now, and that your friend Norbu is it.”

If people would like to make a donation in her name they can doso to: The American Cancer Society and/or Sloane Kettering

Memorial Hospital.

Johanna Bennett <jbcps@hotmail.com>

16

I N T E R N A T I O N A LC O M M U N I T Y N E W S

Beginning Course of Yantra Yoga with Naomi ZeitzSupervised by Fabio AndricoMarch 23 – 29, 2006New York City

Week nights for people with and without transmissionWeekend only for people with transmission from Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

Cost: $100

Mar 23 & 24 eveningsMar 25 & 26 weekend/days & eveningsMar 27 – 29 evenings

Kundrolling - New York City151 W. 30th St., #403, NYCTel: 212-564 1024

Dear Friends in the Community,

For several months I have been collaborating with the New YorkCity Gaykil to develop Dream Yoga pages on our website. RecentlyI asked Rinpoche for his permission to also solicit and post luciddreams and dreams of clarity from the dream yoga retreat partici-pants and the Community at lar ge. The purpose of posting thesedreams will be to inspire us to develop the practices of the night.We begin this project by posting one of Rinpoche’s dreams original-ly published in “Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light”.Please feel free to visit the website below.

Please also submit your dreams in English fully edited in theMicrosoft Word or Open Of fice format to me at<zak10016@yahoo.com>. Appropriate dreams will be posted withinitials only.

Thank you,

Michael Katz

http://www.nydzogchen.com/dream.html

Tsegyalgar Summer Program on the Sacred Land of KhandrolingTired of those Winter Blues?Plan a beautiful summer retreat on the powerful &sacred land of Khandroling!

August: Santi Maha Sangha Level 1 with Jim ValbyVajra Dance and Yantra Yoga Family Camp

Personal Retreat Cabins available.

Further details will be posted onwww.tsegyalgar.org

Tel: 413 369 4153Email: secretary@tsegyalgar.org

For the Community-minded, weare offering a 4-month opportuni-ty (December 1, 2005 - April 1,2006) to secure a fabulously inex-pensive casita rental rate for aperiod of 15 years at Jardin de losNaranjos, the DzogchenCommunity Gar in BajaCalifornia Sur, Mexico - a 3,000-acre Gar which features 600-yr .old white fig trees and exquisitearroyo pools.

You may view pictures of the Garat www.bajasangha.org. (http://bajasangha.org/photos/)

Subscribers to the casitas havetime assignment priority and veryinexpensive rental rates for useeach year - for the purposes ofpersonal retreat, attending work-shops, vacationing, or attendingDzogchen Community retreats.

Jardin de los Naranjos exists as aspecial yogi ret reat within themandala of the DzogchenCommunity. It was discoveredthrough the superior insight ofChögyal Namkhai Norbu, ourblessed Teacher, who encouragedus despite all odds and doubts to“continue looking.”

This is a completely private andwild mountain eco-property, withincomparable white granite rocksand river pools. You can kayak inthe Sea of Cortez nearby to visit21 species of whales in the richestmarine biosphere on earth, ormake a short drive to theInternational Airport and LosCabos, one of Mexico’ s maintourist areas.

CASITA EARLY SUBSCRIBERPROGRAM:

We have 19 unfinished one-roomcasitas, each with its own archi-tect-designed special view anddeck. One casita has been com-pletely refurbished for Rinpoche(pictures available), who stayedthere during the last retreat.Another is a secure office.

We wish to make the remainingcasitas available as soon as possi-ble for all who wish to spendquality, relaxed time on the Gar—near the kitchen, trails, fig andmango groves, the teaching site,and a number of planned otheramenities (body-work rooms, hottub, swimming pool . . .).

The following program is offeredto those wishing to stay at theBaja Gar in a fully furnished andcompleted casita, each with itsown shower, toilet, deck and col-orful and functional furnishings:

The CASIT A EARLY SUB-SCRIBERS, practitioners fromthe Dzogchen Community , whowish to contribute to the comple-tion of the Baja Gar ’s casitas forthe benefit of everyone as well asthemselves, have the unique andlimited opportunity to contributean early subscriber fee of $1,500between the dates of December 1,2005 and April 1, 2006. This feeapplies to an individual sub-scriber, a married couple, or anindividual site of the DzogchenCommunity. It guarantees 3 rentalweeks at the reduced rate, plusadditional weeks depending onavailability.

If two people (not a couple) wishto share a subscription, the fee is$2,500 for the subscription. Ashared subscription entitles thesubscribers to a maximum of 4weeks of use total annually at thereduced rate (additional weeks ifthere is availability).

This contribution enables us tocompletely refurbish and furnishthe casitas. The subscribers arethen entitled to a uniquely lowrental fee of $200 per week for acasita (up to 4-person occupancy)over the next 15 years (afterwhich the rental fee will bereassessed).

Sites of the DzogchenCommunity, which would like toreserve casita time at the Gar fortheir members, may contribute$1,500 f or a g uaranteed o ne-month of $200/week annualrental (4 people maximum occu-pancy) plus one month of freecamping at two improved Garcampsites (with showers and toi-lets) nearby (4-people maximumper campsite).

Casitas will feature solar electric-ity and hot water heating; purifiedspring water; compost toilets andgrey water irrigation; shadeddeck with hammock, table andchairs; screens, windows anddoors; outdoor path lighting; dec-orative and functional Mexicanfurnishings; as well as a heating

and cooling system.

ONLY EARLY SUBSCRIBERSwill qualify for this inexpensivecasita rental fee—all others willhave regular rates of a minimumof $350/week. Each EarlySubscriber membership is limitedto one subscriber, though they canhost up to four people per stay aslong as they are present. EarlySubscribers have priority fortimes they wish to be at the Gar .

All EARL Y SUBSCRIBERSmay request 3 weeks any givenyear (more if available) and willbe assigned dates on a priorityfirst-come, first-serve basis withother early subscribers. EarlySubscribers MUST accompanyguests that they bring to thecasitas. ONLY early subscribersqualify for the rental rate of$200/week. Others who wish torent the casitas will be assignedtheir dates after early subscribershave been accommodated. A typ-ical rental season in Baja, avoid-ing both hot and rainy seasons isOct. 15 – June 1st.

Those renting casitas may requestthat meals be prepared for them atan additional cost at the Gar; orthey may shop and prepare theirown meals in the communalkitchen; and they can obtaininformation and secure arrange-ments for a variety of recreationaland eco-exploration activities inBaja Sur during their stay. If theyare doing personal retreat, theycan arrange to obtain support ser-vices from the Gar staf f duringtheir retreat.

If you are interested in this oppor-tunity, please write to the follow-ing: carolmfields@aol.com.

Your subscription will be deposit-ed at the Dzogchen CommunityWest Coast Winter Gar bankaccount in California, and youwill be assigned a specific contactperson, email and telephone num-ber for making your rentalarrangements. We expect casitarentals to commence in March of2007, possibly earlier. Your initialfee is tax-deductible in the U.S.

Welcoming you,The Baja Gakyil (gar@bajasang-ha.org)

OPPORTUNITIES AT TSEGYALGAR WEST - BAJA, MEXICOIn addition to the Early Subscriber program mentioned in The Mirror, the Baja Gakyil invites eachof the Gars around the world to sponsor the completion of a casita. The suggested amount is $20,000.

In this way each casita sponsored will be named:

“THE REFURBISHMENT OF THIS CASITA IS SPONSORED BY NAME OF GAR, 2006”

Interested Gakyils please contact:Baja Gakyil at Gar@bajasangha.org as soon as possible.Mark you message: “Casita Sponsorship Program, Attention Carol Fields.”

In any case, do come and join us soon in that wonderful place. See the announcements for our tworetreats in January 2006. On your way, visit www.bajasangha.orgWe are looking for ward to seeing everyone soon!

The Baja Gakyil

DO YOU HAVE A DREAM? ARE OTHER DZOGCHEN PRACTITIONERS AND BLUE WHALES IN IT?

d e s d e e l s u rfinejewelryandvajradanceshoes

Tel: 0054 351 4880994Email:

desde.sur@gmail.comCordoba, Argentina

Adriana Battisti

Tashigar NorthFinca Tashigar

Prolongación de la Calle BolivarValle de Pedro González. Isla de

MargaritaTel: 00 58 295 415 5800

Email: tashinor@mail.dzogchen.ruWeb site:

www.dzogchenvenezuela.org

Tashigar SouthComunidad Dzogchen

TashigarCalle pública S/N

Tanti 5155Pcia. de Córdoba

Argentina

Tel & Fax: 0054- 3541-498 356Email: tashigarsur@gmail.com

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 5 17

n a m g y a l g a r & p a c i f i c r i mNamgyalgar Dzogchen Community in Australia

PO Box 14 Central Tilba, NSW 2546

Tel/Fax: 61 02 4473 7668Email: namgyalg@acr.net.au

Web site: www.dzogchen.org.au

s o u t h a m e r i c a

TASHIGAR SUR - SUMMER 2006January 19 -21Yantra Yoga Course for Beginners9 Purification Breathings, 5 Tsigjong and 8 LungsangInstructor Marisa Alonso

January 22-25Yantra Yoga Course for Advanced Practitioners5 Tsandul and its Pranayama1st and 2nd Series of Yantras and their Pranayamas - Vajra WaveInstructor Marisa Alonso

February 6 - 12Course of the Dance of the Song of the VajraSecond PartInstructor Nélida Saporiti

Registration and information: tashigarsur@gmail.com

Welcome to the South!Tashigar Sur Community

I N T E R N A T I O N A LC O M M U N I T Y N E W S

A Thank-you letter from Thupten RabgyiAustralia

I would like to say many thanks to Chögyal NamkhaiNorbu Rinpoche for giving me the opportunity tocome to Australia and stay with the DzogchenCommunity. I would also like to thank MarkFarrington and Jean Mackintosh for their continuingsupport and friendship. I feel very happy and muchmore relaxed than before. I really appreciate all ofmy friends and I would like to thank everyonedeeply from my heart. My life has totally changedand I have a special new home. Rinpoche, all of thishas happened from your wonderful grace. I hopeeveryone is happy and enjoys throughout the wholelife.Thank you and Tashi Delegs to everyone!Thupten Rabgyi

Rabgyi Lama was invited by Chögyal NamkhaiNorbu to take part in the Santi Maha SanghaProgram of study at Namgyalgar . In April 1993 atNamgyalgar, he met with Rinpoche and r eceivedlungs and teachings for about thr ee weeks befor eRinpoche left Australia. Rabgyi Lama stayed atNamgyalgar learning English and r eadingDzogchen teachings during the next year . RabgyiLama returned to T ibet in 1994 to visit his motherand other family members. Namgyalgar has appliedfor and gained a permanent visa to Australia forRabgyi and this means that he can apply for citizen-ship and an Australian passport in two to thr eeyears.

Rabgyi Lama completed fifteen years of study atTraling and Palyul Tharthang Monastery in GolokTibet under the His Holiness The Thir d PalyulLhatrul Ogyen Garwang Nyima Rinpoche. His train-ing has been as a monk in the Nyingma lineage.During this time he had thr ee years experience asGeköes looking after 500 monks.Rabgyi Lama left Tibet to further his studies in Indiawalking out of T ibet into Nepal escaping over highpasses. In India and Nepal he studied in Nyingmamonasteries in Dharamsala and Nepal. He studiedunder Chatrul Rinpoche and he completed a thr ee-year retreat.In Namgyalgar he works in different tasks at the Garas his English improves. He teaches Buddhist scrip -ture to primary school students in Bermagui Schooland he teaches a T ibetan language class to localinterested people.We are very happy to have Thupten Rabgyi Lamawith us at Namgyalgar and wish him well for thefuture!

Jean Mackintosh for The Mirror

Program of Vajra Dance at TashigarNorte, Margarita IslandFebruary – March 2006We are very happy to announce that international instruc-tor Adriana dal Borgo will hold the following courses ofThe Dance of Vajra at Tashigar Norte, Margarita Island.

Dance of Song of VajraFebruary 7 - 13, second part(For beginners)Cost: 400.000 Bolívares (with discounts)

Dance of Six Space of Samantabhadra and Dance of ThreeVajras for advanced practitioners:March 6 - 10(This course is for those who know the basics steps of thesetwo Dances.)Cost: 400.000 Bolivares (with discounts)

All the courses will be done only if there will be enough par-ticipants, so please confirm your participation by sending anemail to Alexey Polionov at secretary@tashigarnorte.or g assoon as possible.

Thank you,Gakyil of Tashigar NorteEmail: tashinor@mail.dzogchen.ru

Yantra Yoga 2nd level Advanced and teacher Training, Margarita November 2005

Yantra Yoga 1st level Advanced and teacher Training, Margarita November 2005

A. DE FERMOR

K. CULLEN

18

possibility we can create some-thing new in the Crimea. For twoyears we have done retreats thereand the political situation in theUkraine is not so bad. I live inEurope and I know the Europeanpolitical situation very well. Iknow what a democratic systemmeans and the Ukraine is tryingto go in that direction. Russia isgoing in another direction. Peoplesaid t his w as n ot t he i dea o fNamkhai Norbu, but of IgorBerkin, and that he wants to cre-ate a Gar in the Ukraine. Pleasedon’t accuse Igor Berkin; he istotally innocent. People insist andgo ahead in that way . I don’ tknow what they want to do. Ifthey only want to have a piece ofland or a house and are satisfied,they can go ahead in that way . Idon’t consider that the DzogchenCommunity. There is one morenotable problem manifesting.People think that Igor Berkin con-ditions me. They don’t know verywell that I am a Khampa and notso easily conditioned by anyone.My character is not that way. I ama Dzogchen practitioner andknow how to work with circum-stances. People are saying that they wantto have a place for doing coursesof Yantra Yoga, Vajra Dance andSanti Maha Sangha aroundMoscow. We don’ t need a bigplace with many problems, likeKunsangar. If people still wantsomething around Moscow , it isnot necessary to buy a big placefar outside of town. There isalready the DzogchenCommunity of Moscow thatrecently lost their place and islooking for a new one.

There is no reason to createtwo dif ferent groups; one isenough. It is very important thatall Russian-speaking people par-ticipate in these projects. I havedone my best up till now and willdo my best for the future. I wentto Russia every year when we hadKunsangar because I was think-ing of all the Russian practition-ers. You should know that and westill have that possibility . Ofcourse, if you are not interested,there is nothing to do. In thatcase, you can at least try to or ga-nize the web cast. This, in anycase, is very important for manydifferent countries.

Kunsangar is not the onlyplace with problems. Manyplaces I go, I meet people on theGakyil who have done First Leveland Second Level Santi MahaSangha Training who do not dowhat I ask. This is not correct. Itis better that you work in the cor-rect way. While I am still alive, Ido my best. I take care of SantiMaha Sangha in the correct way .A few years ago when I discov-ered I had cancer , I told you thatmy first concern was Santi MahaSangha Training. It is not myfamily, the DzogchenCommunity people or or ganiza-tion, but Santi Maha SanghaTraining. The reason is that SantiMaha Sangha is very importantfor the continuation of our knowl-edge. For years I taught, so thepeople who follow Santi MahaSangha and want to teach mustunderstand what should be done.It is very important to observeyourselves and think a little. TheDzogchen Co mmunity a nd t heGakyil are not ordinary organiza-tions. We collaborate with eachother. That is why we formed the

Gakyil system. There is no hierarchy in the

Gakyil system. The Gakyil ofMerigar is not the leader of allGakyils. All Gakyils areautonomous, but the people with-in them are following theDzogchen Teaching and are con-nected with the principle of thetransmission of teaching. For thatreason, we should work in thecorrect way. We try to do every -thing in a simple and less compli-cated way. I ask this also for myson, Yeshi. Yeshi has told me formany years that I should not trav-el so much and if people are inter-ested to receive the teaching wecan organize a web cast. All thedifferent Dzogchen CommunityGars and Lings can collaborate.Many years ago I presented a textcalled the “FundamentalPrinciples of the DzogchenCommunity.” I thought it wouldhelp and inform all Dzogchenpractitioners and DzogchenCommunities as to how we col-laborate. Many people in dif fer-ent places in the DzogchenCommunity did not agree. Ireceived a lot of criticism. Peoplesaid this did not correspond to theteaching. They were teaching meDzogchen! I told them thank youvery much, but I don’ t need yourteaching. I try to do my best basedon what I know.

Some people want to receiveteaching without paying for it;one shouldn’t have to pay for theDharma. It doesn’ t correspond.To pay means the teaching hassome value and you say that youoffer body, speech and mind, butif you have the capacity to of ferbody, speech and mind, why can’tyou offer some money? It doesn’tcorrespond. We live in a modernsociety in the year 2005. We mustunderstand how the situation andwhat our condition is: Who paysif you invite a teacher? Theteacher needs a place to stay ,light, food. Where does themoney to pay for these thingscome from? Sometimes peopleare flying in the sky.

For example, when I sent firstsent Fabio to Russia and Estoniato teach Yantra Yoga, they did notgive him suf ficient food. After aday he felt very hungry and askedthem for something to eat. Theysaid they thought he was a yogiand didn’t need food. It was sim-ilar when I went to New Zealandmany years ago. I sent them myprogram but they ignored it andthere was not only a retreat, butalso a public talk, and touringaround as well. There was not onesingle free day. I asked them howthey thought I could manage thisprogram. I said I felt tired andwouldn’t be able to do the mainretreat later. They said they neverthought I got tired because I am arealized being. I still have a phys-ical body and live like a humanbeing even if I have some realiza-tion. You see how much we drinkand eat only in one day . We mustunderstand things in a more con-crete way and not have too muchfantasy.

In the Dzogchen Community,Santi Maha Sangha meansDzogchen Community. We learnand train in Santi Maha Sangha;we become members of theDzogchen Community, and try todo so in a perfect way . I am notsaying that all members of theDzogchen Community are per-fect. If there are a few perfect

practitioners working in the cor-rect way, then they can contributeto the Dzogchen Community andmany teachers can arise fromthem.

It is not so easy to be ateacher. Some people learn toteach because they can learn morewhen they teach. You can do thatas a kind of exercise, but teachingmeans you take on a responsibili-ty to communicate something toother people. In this case, whatyou transmit should be is 100%correct. You shouldn’t invent any-thing because inventing some-thing worldly is not the teaching.For that reason we need to learn,for example, each time we do aSanti Maha Sangha training. Firstwe learn the base of Santi MahaSangha and in that way we canhave a little background so welearn more general knowledge,like the final goal of Sutra andTantra. We learn about DzogchenTeaching and how we can get inthe sense of it. We also do prac-tice to integrate that knowledge,not only to repeat like a parrotYou may be able to repeat manythings, but this has not much ben-efit if you are not integrated.

For example, once a Lamadoing a long retreat on a moun-tain heard someone outsidechanting “Om Mani PadmeHum”. He was interested in this,but when he looked outside hesaw only a parrot chanting “OmMani Padme Hum” and eatinginsects one by one. He chanted“Om Mani Padme Hum” becauseeveryday when this lama wentoutside, he chanted “Om ManiPadme Hum, Om Mani PadmeHum”. The parrot repeated it. Inour Dzogchen Community thereare people actin g like parrots;they learn some words andbecome a teacher . I heard thereare many teachers manifesting inNorth America and Spain. Theysay they are students of NamkhaiNorbu, but some have never evenmet me. They have read sometranscripts of my retreats andrepeat what I said. You can repeatanything, that is not so dif ficult,but it doesn’t have much value.

For that reason we need toreceive transmission. We inte-grate that transmission in our-selves, we communicate that andthere is benefit. Teachers mustknow how to communicate topeople. They should not onlythink, “I am a recognized andauthorized teacher, now I can doeverything.” The first thing ateacher should understand is howthe students are: their condition,capacity, knowledge, and experi-ence. You do not only explainwhat you know; you should enterinto the dimension of the studentand know what is more importantand how to help them understand.

Transcribed by AnastasiaMcGhee and Carisa O’Kelley

Edited by Naomi Zeitz

tions so we can buy this place.The situation for having this placeat this moment is good, but if wewait even as little as two months,the price of this place canincrease. The cost will increaseseveral times after parliamentelections in March when thepolitical situation is more estab-lished. We do not have muchtime. The committee organized isstill in the process of completinginvestigating this company; is it agood company , did they paytaxes, did they have debts, etc.The process is partially done andwe hope to finish it as soon aspossible. So far the situationlooks very positive and we don’ tanticipate many problems, but wemust be very careful when enter-ing into this kind of business. This is the situation and now themain point is to accumulatemoney to purchase this place andto create a new Gar. Of course weare very happy and surprised bythe great gift Rinpoche made yes-terday by saying that this placecould be a kind of Winter Gar forMerigar, which means that wenow have a good possibility tocollaborate with the internationalcommunity and not be limited bylanguage and borders. We havemore possibilities to integrate intothe international DzogchenCommunity and from the begin-ning start things in a precise andcorrect way so not much reor ga-nization will be necessary . It wasalso good to hear from Rinpochethat there are some indications forthis place and this is very inspir-ing for us. We are not just buyingsome land and buildings. More orless I explained what I wanted toexplain and hope I didn’ t for getanything essential. If you haveany questions please ask.

Rinpoche: How is the ocean con-nected to this land?Igor: I for got this importantpoint. This place is on the slope ofa mountain, quite a steep slope, soit is more or less 400 metersabove sea level. There is a goodroad to the sea that is about 3 kilo-meters long. In general it is a verypleasant one-hour walk; it is agood road and you can also go bycar.

Rinpoche: What is the beachlike?Igor: The beach is made of smallstones or pebbles. There are dif -ferent kinds of beaches there andit is possible to go to other beach-es. Some of the beaches are wild.

Rinpoche: Is there sun?Igor: It is the Southern slope ofthe mountain so it is warm. In thewinter it can be cold, maybe 5 or10 degrees below zero, but for avery short period of time, maybefor l one week or 10 days. Mostlythe temperature is above 0 andthere is sun most of the year.

Rinpoche: What is it like behindthis land?Igor: Behind the land there aremountains and there are twobeautiful rocky clif fs directlybehind this place. There are steeprocks to the side that create a verybeautiful view and these rocksprotect the land from the Northwind and are open to the South.

Rinpoche: Are there some cavesin the rock?Igor: Yes there are caves in therocks. Maybe I should tell a littlehistory about this place. This

place is a very international place.It was a Greek colony and then aRoman colony and the famouspoet Ovidius was sent in exilethere; Greeks, Romans, andGoths have inhabited the region.It has a very good connectionwith Italy because one of the mostfamous tourist spots is aGenovian fortress and there was aGenovian colony in the 1 1th or12th century AD. There are manycaves, catacombs and marblecaves; from ancient times thesecaves were used by dif ferent reli-gions. They were used by primi-tive religions and as catacombchurches of early Christians.Many caved cities existed inCrimea and not far from thisplace. These mountains are madeof material that creates caves.There are also many famouscaves. There are many beautiful placesin general in this region. The res-idences of Russian kings were notfar from this place, Gorbachov’ sresidence is only 20 kilometersaway and also the residences ofTurkish Kings were here. Thisplace was very much adored bymany kinds of kings and we hopethis place could also be very goodfor the Dharma King Chögyal.[Big Applause.]As a conclusion, for those peoplewho are interested and whounderstand how imp ortant thisplace can be and that we don’t wereally have much time, pleasecome and speak with the CrimeanCommittee. Unfortunately I amthe only one who speaks English,so probably you will have tocome to me if you are interestedand we can speak in more detailand also in general if peoplewould like more information. Wewill also develop a web site inRussian and English where youwill be able to see photos andvideos.(see below)

Thank you for your attentioneveryone and thank youRinpoche for this precious oppor-tunity.

Rinpoche: Very good.

Transcribed and edited by Naomi Zeitz

The Committee for CrimeanProject:Igor Berkhin<berkhin@dzogchen.ru>Viktoria AdamenkoVladimir Shurkov

Web site:http://merigar-east.dzogchen.ruhttp://merigar-east.dzogchen.ru/description_eng.htm

Merigar Gakyil has opened a spe-cial account for Merigar-East project:Associazione Culturale ComunitaDzogchenConto Corrente n. 3120.29, (abi1030 cab 72160)Monte dei Paschi di Siena,Filiale di Arcidosso (GR)ITALY

Codice IBAN IT64N 01030 72160000000 3120 29Codice BIC/swift: P ASCITMM-GRO

Please inform us by email of yourkind donations.

ChNN’s SMS Introductory talk continued from page 3Crimea, New Winter Gar continued from page 13

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 5 19

The MirrorNewspaper of the

InternationalDzogchen Community of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

Main Office:PO Box 277

Conway, MA01341USA

Tel: 413 369 4208Fax: 413 369 4473

Email: mirror@tsegyalgar.org

European Office:The Mirror

MerigarArcidosso58031 GR

ItalyEmail: lizmirror@tiscalinet.it

Tel: 39 3298865292 Fax: 39 0564- 968 110

Editorial Staff:Naomi Zeitz,Tsegyalgar

Conway, MAUSA

Liz Granger Merigar

Arcidosso, Italy

Literary Editor:John Shane

Advisors:Adriano Clemente

Anna EidBarbara Paparazzo

Des BarryJim Valby

Layout & Design:N. Zeitz

Illustrations:Fire Dog by Lauri Denyer, pg 22 Cartoon by Jan Golden, pg 20

Web Site Managers:Thomas Eifler

Malcolm Smith

Printer:Turley Publications

Palmer, MAUSA

Distribution:Tsegyalgar at

Conway,MA, USA

Subscription Rate/6 Issues:$35US available

throughTsegyalgar

35 Eurothrough Merigar

Visa and Master cardwelcome

ON LINE MIRRORON LINE MIRRORwwwwww.melong.com.melong.com

All material ©2006 by The Mirror

Reprint by permission onlyWe reserve the right to edit

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APARTMENTS FOR SALE IN MONTALATERONE, ITALY6 apartments in the historical center ofMontelaterone, a medieval village about 8km fromMerigar. The apartments are part of an 19 th centuryoil mill, 3 with lar ge private gardens and one with a25 sq.m panoramic terrace, all with a wonderful viewover the Val d’Orcia. Renovation will be carried outaccording to the principles of bio-architecture andusing traditional materials such as terra cotta tiles,chestnut beams, “peperino” stone, and plastering inlime. Each apartment has an independent entranceand autonomous heating.

Projects for the dif ferent apartments can be seen onwww.abitaresani.com .

More information from Rita Renzi at rita.renzi@tiscali.it or Mob. Phone 0039-3356065058.

Many Buddhists, one Buddhadharma

Pema Chödrön and Jack Kornfield:The Wondrous Path of Difficulties Y The Winter issue of Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly features a conversation with Pema Chödrön and Jack Kornfield on the everyday difficulties that provoke us, reveal our habitual patterns, and ultimately transform us. ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: A discussion of the student-teacher relationship with Norman Fischer, Sharon Salzberg, and Ponlop Rinpoche. Marshall Glickman on the benefits of doing solo retreat. Reginald Ray on the meaning of “lineage” and the question of authenticity.

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Hospital Chaplaincyfrom the Buddhist PerspectiveBy Chaplain Tom Kilts

In the Intensive Care Unit,Madeline waited for her death,since there was nothing left for

the medical staf f to do. As theChaplain assigned to that floor , Iwas there to comfort her. She did-n’t have family support and hadbeen in the hospital before. Iremembered the last time we vis-ited and I was impressed by herdevout Catholic faith and how itsustained her through the toughtimes of her illness. This time Iwalked in the room, it was lowlylit, and her breathing was labored.She recognized me and said, “Iknow I am dying, and soon, whatdo I do?” This particular questioncan haunt any Interfaith Chaplain,but that day it seemed especiallyhaunting to this particular Chap-lain who happened to be a devoutTibetan Buddhist. I checked thechart, called the priest, and every-thing on their end had been done;now she was asking for some-thing else from me, but what?I kept my inner panic in checkand stayed engaged with her . Iremembered in my IPR(Interpersonal RelationshipsGroup) group in my ClinicalPastoral Education program, howI was struggling with how I coulduse my own “theology” in a clin-ical environment that consisted ofmostly Christian denominations.Up to this point in my ministry , Irelied only on my education invarious religious traditions andkept my own faith close to mychest. I did this for good reasons,because I wanted to be skillfulwith others. However , RabbiZalman Schacter used to tell methat the only way to do ef fectiveinterfaith ministry was to be root-ed in your own tradition and fromthere engage the “reality maps,”and “theologies” of others.During this time my CPE clinicaltraining experience was callingme to integrate my TibetanBuddhist faith with my ministryof Interfaith Chaplaincy. Madeline held my hand tightlyand again asked me, “What am Isupposed to do?” I pulled a chairup and came closer to her ear . Itold her to visualize Christ sur-rounded by healing and warmlight. She did so and tears beganto well up in her eyes. I asked herto call upon him with devotionalprayers and she began to chanther rosary. I walked her througha meditation where Christ wasabsorbed in her heart and shereleased light through the top ofher head, all the while surround-ing herself with the love of Christ.I told her if she lost touch with thevisualization to keep going back

to the image of Christ in front ofher and then absorb his love andwarmth into her being and thenrelease. She started doing thispractice and I left to visit otherpatients in the ICU.Later that day I stopped by andshe still seemed scared butassured me that she was continu-ing the practice and that it washelping. I told her I was goinghome for the night and for her tocontact me if she needed any-thing. That night I slept after ahard day of work and woke up outof a sound sleep at 1:20 AM in themorning. I felt a great sense ofpeace come over me, wonderedquietly why I was woken up sosuddenly and then went back tosleep. The next morning I went to theICU to see if Madeline made itthrough the night. When I arrivedat the Chaplain’s office, I was toldby one of my colleagues that shehad passed during the night. I feltsome relief for her . Withoutthinking about it, I looked at the“expired” list and her name andtime of death were printed there.To probably no surprise to theMirror readership, it was aroundthe same time I had been wokenup in the middle of the night. Thisis just one of many stories of howin my chaplaincy work, how Itouch the lives of others and theytouch mine as well. This story took place many yearsago when I was in a residencyprogram doing my ClinicalPastoral Education (CPE) train-ing. It has only been recently thatmore Buddhists from variousdenominations are going throughthe process of becoming trainedprofessional Chaplains in settingslike hospitals, prisons, hospices,etc. I went beyond my chaplain-cy training to become a certifiedACPE (Association of ClinicalPastoral Education) AssociateSupervisor. I now supervise CPEunits and train ministers from var-ious, religious, spiritual and cul-tural backgrounds, on the ins andouts of being a professionalInterfaith Chaplain. I take mystudents through an intense for-mation process that should be rec-ognizable in our Dzogchen com-munity, because its primary con-cern is with the process of inte-gration. It is through the clinicalmethod of growing into our innerand outer authenticity that we aremore capable to invite and com-panion others in the depths oftheir suffering and struggle. In asense, we can only go as deepwith another as we can with our-selves. So for those interested inbecoming professional chaplainsyou have to go on an ongoingjourney related to what TrungpaRinpoche called the Tantric jour-ney, where the “path is the goal.”To get certified as a Chaplain, youwould need to go through the

Association of ProfessionalChaplains (APC), www.profes-sionalchaplains.org.Their requirements are:-A Masters of Divinity Degree orEquivalent theological training(look on their web site forspecifics of this equivalency)-Endorsement and commission-ing from your ReligiousCommunity stating that you arefit and empowered to function asa professional Interfaith Chaplain-Four Units of ACPE accreditedClinical Pastoral Education(CPE)-1 year of job experience afteryou have completed your fourunits of CPE (note that most jobshire when you have fulfilled yourfour unit CPE requirement, anduse the term “certification eligi-ble,’ which means that you havefulfilled the first three require-ments above)-Meet with a CertificationCommittee for Review

Taking a one-year residency pro-gram at an accredited CPE centercan fulfill the four units of CPErequirement. These programsusually of fer stipends and med-ical benefits while you are there.To find the nearest CPE centerand learn more about CPE, go towww.acpe.edu. On that web siteyou can download applications,look through the directories forthe listing of centers and learnmore about the clinical method.I have found that the career pathof Chaplaincy and Pastoral edu-cation have been important partsof my spiritual path. They havecomplimented each other , wherethe transmission helps me todeepen my capacity to be withpatients and students in their suf-fering, the work itself helps me todeepen my capacity to continual-ly receive the transmission. I callupon all my fellow Vajra sistersand brothers who are called toministry and service, to considerthe path of professional chaplain-cy.

Tom Kilts met Chögyal NamkhaiNorbu Rinpoche at Tsegyalgar in2005. He began to r ead aboutTaoism and meditation when hewas eight years old. T om calledhimself a Buddhist by the time hewas twelve and was very muchinterested in the local T ibetanBuddhist monastery. He ran awayfrom home when he was sixteen,finished high school and lived onhis own for a period of time.During this time, T om contem-plated joining the monastery andbecoming a monk, but that pathdidn’t seem right for r easonsunknown to him at the time. T omstudied anthr opology and r eli-gious studies at college and cameunder the tutelage of a pr ofessorwho was a long-time practitionerof T ibetan Buddhism. T om soon

left to study in Kenya, wher e hestudied with a shaman out in thedesert. When he r eturned to theUS, he still struggled with his“calling” and wonder ed what todo. He left to study in India,Nepal and T ibet and while ther ehe met His Holiness the DalaiLama, His Holiness the Karmapa(while His Holiness was still inTibet) and was pr esent atSchechen during the enthr one-ment of the new Y angsi of DilgoKhyentse Rinpoche. While ther e,he also r ead Sogyal Rinpoche’ s“Tibetan Book of Living andDying” and decided that chap-laincy was his path. T om went tograduate school at Nar opaUniversity and r eceived hisMaster’s Degr ee in BuddhistStudies. While ther e, he tookBodhisattva vows with the Rimeteacher Ringu T ulku and didintensive Madhyamika training.All this time, T om worked in ahospital as a chaplain. When hewent back East to complete train-ing and start CPE supervisortraining in a Catholic hospital,Tom had the fortune to meet andstudy with T ulku ThondupRinpoche. T ulku ThondupRinpoche endorsed and commis-sioned Tom’s ministry work andgave him good advice and guid-ance. Towards the end of the threeyears of working together , TulkuThondup Rinpoche told him itwas time to join a lar gerDzogchen or ganization. T omwent on retreats with many teach-ers, felt connected to the teach-ings but not one practice or com-munity. He went on a retreat withChökyi Nyima Rinpoche at thisfunny-named place, T segyalgar,which he couldn’ t pr onounce.While he was at T segyalgar, hefelt as if he was home and feltconnected to the images ofChögyal Namkhai NorbuRinpoche. Tom knew that it wasthe place for him, but it was notuntil 2005 that Tom met Rinpocheat the last T segyalgar Retr eat.When he finally met Rinpoche, itconfirmed what he was feeling,and now Tom feels as at home atlast. Chögyal Namkhai NorbuRinpoche gave T om an endorse-ment and commissioning to dothe ministry of Chaplaincy andPastoral Education. Tom lives in W alnut Cr eekCalifornia with his wife Sarahand 3 and half year-old daughterIndra.

Chaplain Tom Kilts, DirectorSpiritual Care DepartmentJohn Muir Medical Center-

Concord Campus2540 East St.

Concord, CA 94520-1906(925) 674-2628

Email: thomas.kilts@johnmuirhealth.com

Spell

Lion lady,moon shaper,make me round,model my skin,

inside the perfect ringArticulate the bones,the soft red pathwaysand pale nerves.

At the jointsand crossingssow bulbsof flowers.

When my strength ebbssucked from inside,pricked and stolenby sympathetic reflex,

they’ll bear the strain,shriveling round the coreof manna that convertspain into sight,

into growth,into mercifuland victorious flowers,stars in my inner sky.

Lion lady,secret sun shiner,make meyour shaman.

Rowena Hill

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T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C 2 0 0 5 21

EMERALD TREASURESA New Perspective on Tibetan Imagery

MARIANNA RYDVALDTibet House NYC Sept. 8-Nov.8 2005

A review by Louise Landes -Levi

Marianna, you are not a ‘normal ‘ person so howcan I write a ’normal’ review of your show. Youare a gigantic person, descended from the Lap-

landers; a shaman’s voice travels through you and informsyour paintings. You seek in the Tibetan, Christian, MesoAmerican and Indian traditions, yet you return to yourroots, the samye,* the mother goddess Ka Tara Sha whovisited you in the realm of your childhood and who laterreappeared in your obsession with Tara: the Emerald For-est Tara, the Rain Forest Tara, and the Crystal Tara. Fromwhere do these images emerge?You tell me the deity itself reveals to you its mudra and itsambient. You paint a youthful Yeshe Tsögyal, She is sit-ting in flames; she is youthful but beyond youth and oldage, her brocade of grasses protects her visionary medita-tion. I easily become Yeshe Tsögyal in this dream youhave.It is 1970. You are living in a converted military base inDenmark. ‘Christiana’ later becomes a national ‘treasure’.You paint an entire building with a mural representing theunity of tradition. Guru Padmasambhava presides over allthe activities and images in your painting. A Lama comesto toss ceremonial rice on the facade.Marianna, you are a woman of this moment. I can’t fit youinto any tradition. One afternoon we discussed the dif fer-ence between the terton and the visionary. We understandthere is no tradition of terton in the Western world. Youspeak of sky travel, the dreams of the sky travel of yourpeople or a people arriving to the planet. You wonder if isthis your people or your tribe? You have teeth like thesamye * who have teeth like no other people on earth.You belong to the lineage of liberation and wisdom. You

totally overpower me but secretly I relate to your vision ofTara, of Guru Padmasambhava, to your portraits of theKarmapa with yellow birds, of Kalu Rinpoche, of HisHoliness Dalai Lama - all of whom you have met, whohave all been your teachers.

Other teachers are the birds and flowers of your environ-ment. Your deities are placed in our relative world. Youspeak of the influences of El Greco, Goya, from early trav-els in Spain and Diego Rivera and Freda Kahlo from asojourn in Mexico. You study fresco painting inStockholm. You marvel at the visionary display of theRussian painter Nicholas Roerich, an early interpreter ofthe East.You paint your deities in three-dimensional space. Youbreak with tradition and honor the words of the 16thGyalwa Karmapa who said, “Marianna, be true to yourown style and work on the transition for the old to thenew.”You say that the Karmapa knows you must do this. Heblesses your natural inclination. Your deities are roundedand animated. Your teachers are uniformly kind, never

wrathful. Spaceships, crystals, leopards and exotic flowerssignify the realm in which your visions dwell.When you are fifteen you make your first painting. Youdon’t really know what Buddhism is. You’ve never met aLama but you feel compelled to paint such a figure. Your

painting of forty years ago looks like Chögyal NamkhaiNorbu Rinpoche today. I wonder at this strange connec-tion and send him this portrait by email, done in thevisionary space that seems to exist beyond time, placeand lineage, at least a recognizable lineage.Buddhist practitioners have sent your cards around theglobe. You paint in many styles but until a few weeksago, I only knew your Taras.New York City suffers from the past and the fear of thefuture. One enters Tibet House and feels the warmth ofyour display . I cannot say if these iconographies willcompel me to sit and recite the mantra of Tara, but I cansay their warmth transcended the moment’s ambivalenceand lifted me into a spacious equanimity that was yourgift.The paintings of your son Sky in ‘Love From Sky’ andyour daughter Ariana in ’Morning Raga’ were very mov-ing. Your infant son sits with Vajra & Bell in hand. Yourdaughter is protected by a single HUM. Your Taras man-ifest from Africa to China. You want to paint a Tara in

every major city in the world to save this planet. You are sixty years old but will still climb huge scaf foldsand travel great distances to realize this plan. You adorned– in the 80’ s – the Kagyu Monastery in Bodhgaya withimages of the Buddha’ s life. In the 90’ s you paint theOrchestral Hall in Detroit and the Taj Mahal of Atlanta, themost renowned casino in the land.You tower above me but you are inside of me. I am in atruck, driving your paintings north from New York City toWoodstock without really understanding how I got intosuch a situation. ‘Karma’ you insist.

*Samye-the r eindeer her ders or Laplanders of NorthernSweden

Southern Tuscany

Town and country apartments, farmhouses, and villas for rent

See online catalog: www.casa-toscana-glang.com

CASA TOSCANA

Marianna and Alex Grey L LANDES-LEVI

22

11 & 12 Tibetan months of theWood Bird Year

1 & 2 Tibetan months of theFire Dog Year

Anniversary of Garab DorjeFirst Tibetan month – 15 dayCelebration at 8 a.m. Oddiyanatime.

Monday March 13 2006

17:00 Hawaii19:00 San Francisco, LosAngeles, Vancouver (US PacificTime)20:00 Denver (USMountain Time)21:00 Chicago, MexicoCity, Belize (US Central Time)22:00 New York, Montreal,Detroit, Havana23:00 Caracas

Tuesday March 14 2006

00:00 Buenos Aires, SaoPaolo, Santiago03:00 GMT, London,Dublin, Lisbon04:00 Rome, Berlin, Oslo,Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm05:00 Helsinki, Athens,Jerusalem06:00 Moscow08:00 Oddiyana (Karachi-Pakistan)08:30 Delhi, Bombay08:45 Katmandu09:00 Dacca10:00 Bangkok, Jakarta11:00 Singapore, HongKong12:00 Tokyo14:00 Melbourne, Sydney

11 Month, day 8 Sat. Jan. 7 2006

This is a special day for doing thepractice of Ekajati so try to do aLong Thun, collectively or alone,reciting the heart mantra as manytimes as possible.

11 Month, day 10 Mon. Jan. 9 2006

This is a special day of GuruPadmasambhava called PadmaGyalpo: it is the day on which hearrived in the capital of Oddiyanaand became prince to KingIdrabhodi. Therefore it is anexcellent day to do the Guruyogaof Padmasambhava with aGanapuja.

11 Month, day 15 Sat. Jan. 14 2006

FULL MOON. Today it is impor-tant to try to do the Long lifepractice of Guru Amitayus, Unionof Primordial Essences, in theusual way , and, if possible, aGanapuja.

11 Month, day 25Tue. Jan. 24 2006

This is a day of the Dakinis ingeneral, so if you have the oppor-tunity practice a collective

Ganapuja, with the transforma-tion of the Dakini Simhamukha,and recite her heart mantra asmany times as possible.Otherwise you can do aMedium Thun either collec-tively or personally.

11 Month, day 30Sun. Jan. 29 2006

DARK MOON. Thisis an excellent day todo purification prac-tice so try to do thePurification of the SixLokas and a Ganapujain the evening.

12 Month, day 10Tue. Feb. 7 2006

This day is the anniversary ofGuru Padmasambhava’ s corona-tion as Prince of Or gyen at theinvitation of King Idrabhodi. Wecan perform a Ganapuja collec-tively or do the Long life practice,“Universal W isdom Union”either collectively or personally ,according to circumstances.

12 Month, day 11 Wed. Feb. 8 2006

This is a good day to do aMedium or Long Thun with anintensive practice of the mantraof Ekajati.

12 Month, day 15 Sun. Feb. 12 2006

FULL MOON. This is in generala day for honoring the LordBuddha, and in particular an idealday for the Long life practice ofGuru Amitayus, “Union ofPrimordial Essences”. If possibletry to do a collective Ganapujawith your Vajra brothers and sis -ters in the evening.

12 Month, day 18 Thu. Feb.16 2006

This is the anniversary of thegreat Dzogchen master LongchenRabjam (Longchenpa, 1306-1363). On this very important daytry to do the Guruyoga AkarLamai Naljor, Guruyoga with theWhite A, either collectively orpersonally.

12 Month, day 25Thu. Feb. 23 2006

Dakini Day. This is very positiveday for reinforcing your ener gyand creating a stronger contactwith the energy of the universe sotry to do a collective Ganapujawith your Vajra brothers and sis -ters. If that is not possible, try todo a Medium Thun alone. Ineither case recite the heart mantraof Ekajati as many times as possi-ble.

12 Month, day 29 Mon. Feb. 27 2006

This

m o n t hthere is no 30 th day so today isthe last day of the Wood Birdyear. It is a special day for purifi -cation practices so try to do“Purification of the Six Lokas” asmuch as possible. You shouldalso try to do a Ganapuja withyour Vajra brothers and sisters.

TIBETAN NEW YEAR – FIREDOG

1 Month, day 1 Tue Feb. 28 2006

LOSAR: The Tibetan New Yearstarts today . It is good to do aLong life practice as early as pos-sible in the morning and aGanapuja during the day . Prayerflags can be authenticated duringthe Ganapuja. On the morning ofthe third day of the New Year youcan do the rite of the Sang andhang up the prayer flags.

1 Month, day 4 Fri. March 3 2006

The fourth day of the first monthis a special day for doing theLong life practice of the DakiniMandarava. It is also a very spe-cial day for doing the practice ofEkajati so today try to do theLong life practice “Cycle ofLife’s Vajra” in the morning andthe Long Thun in the evening. Ifyou don’ t have this possibility ,you can try to do the Long lifepractice included in the Mediumor Long Thun, with the rite ofEkajati, reciting the heart mantraof Ekajati as much as possible.

1 Month, day 8Tue. March 7 2006

This is an important day for doingthe practice of Ekajati, so try todo the Long Thun either collec-tively or personally . If you don’ thave that possibility then try to dothe Medium Thun and in eithercase recite the heart mantra ofEkajati as many times as possible.

1 Month, day 10 Thu March 9 2006

This is the day on whichPadmasambhava was

ordained by Ananta, or ,according to JigmedLingpa (‘Jigs med gLingpa), the day on which heleft the kingdom ofOddiyana to go to thecemetery at Maghadhacalled Citavana. You can do a Ganapujain the usual way or ifyou do not have thepossibility you can try to

do the Long life practicelinked to the Guruyoga of

Guru Rinpoche (UniversalWisdom Union) either col-

lectively or alone. Otherwiseyou can do a Medium Thun(Thundrin) with an intense prac-tice of the Guruyoga ofPadmasambhava.

1 Month, day 15Tue. March 14 2006

FULL MOON. The anniversaryof the great Dzogchen MasterGarab Dorje as well as that of thefounder of Bön, the great MasterShenrab Miwoche, falls on theday of the first full moon of theTibetan year . It is also a specialday of Buddha Shakyamuni whenhe manif ested several miraclesand the anniversary of the MasterMarpa. Thus it is an especiallyimportant day for both Buddhistand Bönpo practitioners, in par-ticular those who practice theDzogchen teachings.On this day, therefore, when it is8am in Oddiyana, ChögyalNamkhai Norbu will give thetransmission of Guruyoga withthe specific practice linked to theanniversary of Garab Dorje. Inthis way the transmission will belive because the transmission hasno distance. Rinpoche will trans-mit and throughout the worldpeople who do the practice at thesame moment will be in the trans-mission and will thus receive thetransmission. This practiceshould be done at the appointedtime together with your Vajrabrothers and sisters or , if that isnot possible, alone. (In Italy , thispractice will be done at 4 am.)SEE GLOBAL TIMETABLEThere is also a penumbral lunareclipse on this day.

1 Month, day 25Fri March. 24 2006

This is the day of the Dakini andin particular the anniversary ofthe lady Master Ayu Khandro, soit is good to do the Akar LamaiNaljor or a Ganapuja with trans-formation into the DakiniSimhamukha.

1 Month, day 30 Wed. March 29 2006

DARK MOON. This day is suit-able for purification practice sotry to do purification with the

Namcho Shitroi Naljor, the prac-tice of the peaceful and wrathfulmanifestations, either collectivelyor alone, as well as a collectiveGanapuja. There is a total solareclipse today.

2 Month, day 6Tue. April 4 2006

This is an important day for thepractice of Ekajati, so try to do aLong or Medium Thun in theusual way , reciting the heartmantra of Ekajati as many timesas possible.

2 Month, day 10Sat. April 8 2006

This is a special day of GuruPadmasambhava, the day onwhich King Sahora tried to burnhim alive and when he trans-formed the fire into a lake, so tryto perform a Ganapuja collective-ly, but if that is not possible do theLong life practice UniversalWisdom Union.

2 Month, day 12Mon. April 10 2006

This is the anniversary of JetsunDragpa Gyaltsen (1 147-1216),one of the first great Masters ofthe Sakyapa tradition, so try to dothe Akar Lamai Naljor , theGuruyoga of the White A.2 Month, day 15 Thu. April 13 2006

FULL MOON. This is one of thebest days for doing the Long lifepractice of Guru Amitayus, with aGanapuja if possible. Try to do itcollectively or, if that is not possi-ble, alone.

2 Month, day 20 Tue. April 18 2006

This is the anniversary of thegreat Dzogchen Master DoGyaltsen Yeshe Dorje (born1800), a disciple of the firstDodrubchen Rinpoche and a mas-ter of Nyagla Padma Dundul. It istherefore a good day to do AkarLamai Naljor, the Guruyoga withthe White A.

2 Month, day 25 Sun. April 23 2006

This is a Dakini day so try to do aGanapuja with your Vajra broth -ers and sisters or if that is not pos-sible, a Medium Thun, either col-lectively or alone.

2 Month, day 30 Thu. April 27 2006

DARK MOON. On this day ,which is the anniversary of thegreat Terton Loter Wangpo, try todo the Akar Lamai Naljor ,Guruyoga of the White A with theMaster Garab Dorje either collec-tively or alone, with a Ganapuja ifpossible.

S p e c i a l P r a c t i c e C a l e n d a rW o o d B i r d a n d F i r e D o g Y e a r s

J a n u a r y t o A p r i l 2 0 0 6

T H E M I R R O R N O V / D E C L 2 0 0 5 23

Excerpts of my diary:

October 1, 2005:

There is not a single cloud in the sky looking outfrom this big airplane full of Chinese celebrating thefirst day of the annual week of f (I would have lovedfor my travel agency to tell me that there will be 1billion 300 thousand people traveling on this day),singing, each with a red flag in each hand and some-one video-recording. A strange, annoying and disap-pointing scene!

Hopefully the real show washappening outside. I amabove Tibet, looking at a hugevalley, then another one andanother even bigger! Thereare thousands of valleys,peaks, p asses, a n u nendingdesert of mountains below . Itis certainly one of the mostimpressive scenes I have everseen. Unforgettable.My feeling is paradoxical atthis moment. I am excited likea child a few hours beforeChristmas to see all the pre-sents that await him. I am sohappy to come back to thisholy land to see its great peo-ple again. On the other hand, Ialso feel a strange kind of

shame. I think of Alexandra David-Neel who cameall the way from Yunnan on foot! She was without amap, without a clock, without anything, just full ofthe energy of discovering this amazing country andculture. Tibet. I feel shame to comfortably sit in thisplane, imagining all the people down there that Iwould like to meet, those meetings always so inter-esting, at least funny, with lovely Tibetans; the peo-ple who are smiling like nowhere else. Now I am fly-ing and missing so much.To see Lhasa is an old dream of mine and now I feelthat arriving there by plane is not the real way oneshould go. I am with many tourists in the plane andmost of them do not have a single idea about wherethey are going, they just know they are going to visit

Western China. I am so moved by the idea of arriv-ing for the first time in Lhasa; I have goose bumpsand almost cry.

October 8, 2005:

The first week in the holy city and all kind of feel-ings already experienced, from the best to the worst!The best is when I see an entire family of nomadicpeople arriving from Amdo, Kham or anywhere elsein this immense and vast place, with heavy bags of

tsampa and butter . They are soexcited to be in Lhasa, to see thePotala for the first time, theJokhang, Ramoche; the threemain pilgrimage places of thetown. They really look like theycome directly from the middleages; so beautiful, with colorfulchubas, amazing hairstyles andjewels. They invest their littlemoney in offerings and do Korasall day long. Far from any wayof life I know and very impres-sive!Then the worst are the buildings,the thousands of cars, the build-ings, the pollution, the noise, thebuildings, the square facing thePotala, Chinese being pho-tographed wearing fake yellowchubas, the fake plastic palm

trees in the streets, the buildings,etc. etc. Lhasa is not Tibet anymore exceptaround the Jokhang. It is justanother ugly Chinese town and itmakes me so sad.

October 11, 2005:

How incredible!! And nice!! Iwent to visit the Terdrum nunnerywhere there are fantastic hotsprings! They are as hot asPetriolo in Toscana. It is at 4500m(14,763 ft) and a daylong drivefrom Lhasa. Many people wereenjoying t he s pring a nd m anynuns living there of fered a muchbetter and cheaper accommoda-tion than the Chinese. I saw a girl,

a Westerner, she was American, and she told me shehad come here with some friends, four Tibetans andone American. Nice! It is not so common to meet aWesterner traveling with Tibetans. I met one of herfriends, a monk, with a funny moustache. Great, hewas able to speak English! I start to talk with himand he asked me:

“Oh, did you come to visit this Guru Rinpoche’ splace?“What!” I said very surprised. “This is a GuruRinpoche place!” “Of course, there is a famous foot-print near thespring and one of his retreat caves above the villageand also a cave of his consort, Yeshe Tsogyal!” he

J o u r n e y i n T i b e t A Travelogue from Romain Piro

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said.“How nice!! I didn’t know. I must see those places”, I said.

We continued to talk and as all Tibetans, he was very curious about for-eigners and he asked more things about me. I told him that I spend a lotof time at a Tibetan center in Italy.

“Dove? [Where?]” He said loudly in Italian. I was so surprised to hearsome Italian words here and now! “In Toscana, vicino Arcidosso!Perche?” [In Tuscany, near Arcidosso. Why?] “Non mi dire che tu sei diMerigar!” [Don’t tell me you are from Merigar?] He said. At this timeI really thought I was dreaming and he started to say , “Oh, che fortunaincontrare te, io sono stato la per piu de un anno, qualque anno fa!! [Ohhow fortunate to meet you. I stayed there for more than one year someyears ago.]Sono un studente de Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche.” [I am a student ofNamkhai Norbu Rinpoche.]

I just couldn’t believe it was true!

End of diary

24

by Christina Svane

In my life, the great blessing ofmeeting Chögyal NamkhaiNorbu seemed to come

through the spirit of the trees. Inall the events leading up to meet-ing him, trees are like pieces ofthe puzzle. While I was in college,in 1976, I went to see a friend’ snew meditation cabin at StinsonBeach, in California, where Ilived. Standing alone on the roof,gazing into the blue sky , myawareness spontaneously relaxedand I noticed that the trees werelooking back at me, as if I werelooking in a mirror, so to speak. Icould see that they and I were thesame consciousness, but they hadchosen to practice in tree form,just as the birds were practicing inbird form. I felt awake for the firsttime in my life, and asked myselfhow I got there, at which point, ofcourse, the discursive mind tookover again and the experienceended as abruptly as a prison doorclosing behind me. “ Someday Iwill meet a teacher who can helpme get back to that state,” was arecurring thought until I met him,ten years later.

Then in 1981, I was in despairafter my lover died, while I wason a dance tour in Europe. Iremember standing on the roof ofa building in Paris, thinking howI could get enough sleeping pillsto leave Earth to go find him onthe other side. In the midst ofthose dark thoughts, I looked outinto the branches of the chestnuttrees and saw a vision of a danc-ing female figure with black hairand Asian features in brightly col-ored clothing. She was very pow-erful, sensual and communicatingthat I should not kill myself, butinstead find the inspiration tokeep living through developingmy dancing. Today when I thinkof her , I wonder if perhaps shewas Gomadevi. Ever since I wasa little girl, dancing had been myway of connecting to my spiritand to what I would later identifyas the ener gy of Tara.Improvisation was my practice,and I would often dance in nature,tuning into the ener gies there.Spiritually, I felt connected toBuddhism, but didn’ t have thediscipline to do sitting practice. Iwas too restless, and alwayswanted to be moving.

Looking back, I would say Iwas in a kind of underworld forthe next four years, living withoutdirection, swinging from recklessimpulse to thick shadows, in akind of jungle of where the flow-ers of creativity struggled to reachthe light through a canopy of sor-rows, regrets, and alcohol.Where is my path, I kept wonder-

ing. I went to see a woman whopracticed Chinese medicine. Shetook my pulses and said, “Oh mygod, there is nothing holding youtogether.” We spoke a bit, andshe gave me some foul-tastingherbs to make tea from, and thisassignment: “Go home and writesomething that you will say uponrising every morning for therest of your life.”

I believe that what Iwrote prepared me to meetRinpoche, which happened afew short months later. It wasinspired by my experiencedancing with the trees.Because of my emotionalstate, I had stopped teachingdance classes, or takingthem, or being part of a dancecompany. Instead, I would goevery morning to the parkand ask a certain very tallsycamore tree to be myteacher. I would stand andwait for the lesson to begin.One morning it was roots.One morning it was the torso.One morning the rhythm ofthe branches. One day I hadan experience of holding myarms up mid air and hearingthe tree say , “Now stay thatway for 200 years.” I heldthem up as long as I could, andjust before I let them drop, I expe-rienced a rush of images pouringthrough me: goddesses and arche-types of the Divine Feminine,such as Mary with Jesus in herarms, Athena, Tara (though I did-n’t know her name then), andnameless images of The GreatMother. It was like I had discov-ered a doorway, a portal to anoth-er dimension where this compas-sionate energy lived. I knew thiswas my path. When I stopped,two hobos who had been watch-ing me from the bushes wherethey’d slept, came out and said,“We don’ t know what you wasdoing, lady, but it was the purtiestthing we ever seen.” The poem Iwrote, and said every morning,began:

“All-giving Mother of Life, power and beauty unending, I am awake and at Your calling.”

A few months later , by whatseemed like a series of magicalevents, I had a wonderful job onthe faculty of the Dance depart-ment at the Theaterschool inAmsterdam. I wanted to sharewith them my experience with thetrees, and took them to the park,asking each one to pick a tree tobe their teacher , and see whatcame through them. They werecompletely bewildered. Whythey should do such a strangething? Especially in the cold!

They complained to the adminis-tration and almost had me fired. Ihad to promise to become morenormal in my teaching, but I keptworking with the trees with a fewinterested students.

One morning a posterappeared in the foyer of theschool. It w as t he p hotograph

Mark Morrel took of Rinpochelooking out the window from theback of a car in Amsterdam. Themoment I saw it, I said, “That’ sthe man I’ve been looking for!” Iwent to his announced public talkat a wonderful old venue on thewaterfront called The Kosmos. Iwas excitedly waiting for a robedfigure of a Tibetan Master toappear, when a man in corduroypants came striding down theaisle like he had just stepped of fhis horse. I assumed he must bethe Master ’s bodyguard. Thebodyguard’s radiant smile had anamazing ef fect on the room,putting all of us at ease, and send-ing out such warmth and joy thatI thought, “Wow, this bodyguardis awesome!” I was confused tosee him sit down in front of themicrophone, though. I kept look-ing over my shoulder for theMaster to arrive. The bodyguard,of course, was Rinpoche.

The next day I went to theretreat, and though I hardlyunderstood anything, I felt animmediate connection toRinpoche. I also felt instantlyaccepted into his family of stu-dents, and felt very happy , like Ihad come home. After the retreat,I went every Tuesday night topractice with the little AmsterdamSangha, though I was too shy toask them to explain to me whatwe were doing. We did Chödevery week then, and for a longtime I didn’t know one part from

the next. It didn’t feel like it mat-tered to me, I just wanted to stayconnected to Rinpoche.Immediately, this became themost important thing in my life. Iwas baffled myself when I’d turndown invitations to parties, din-ners, events, holding the practicenights sacred.

Then for Easter , 1987,Martin Buchter said hewas driving fromAmsterdam to Merigar ,and of fered space in hisvan. Louise Landes-Levi, a wonderful poetand longtime student ofRinpoche’s, told me,“You should go. Merigaris a special place, whereRinpoche teaches inItaly. It is near a beauti-ful village calledArcidosso. Y ou areRinpoche’s student now ,so you should feel like itis your home, your spiri-tual home. You shouldfeel like you are part ofthis family now, and youhave a right to be there.”Her words had a pro-found effect on me, and Idecided to go. I remem-ber we left about 2 a.m.,

driving along the canals out ofAmsterdam, taking turns drivingall night and day , singing thePurification of the Elements,Vajrasattva and Song of Vajra, aswe headed south on our pilgrim-age. I also tried desperately tomemorize the Chöd on that trip. I could not believe how beautifulit was, when we arrived atMerigar. The trees were burstingwith white blossoms, sheepgrazed on the hillsides, andMonte Labro towered across thelittle valley, against the blue skiesof Toscana. In those days, therewere so few people, Rinpochewould sit on the big rock and givethe retreat in the grove of treesbelow where the Gonpa is today .The only building at Merigar thenwas the yellow farmhouse, whereRinpoche lived upstairs, and theSangha ate and slept downstairs.There was also a very smallGonpa in the yellow house, wherethe children played usually . Onemorning, in the grove, in the mid-dle of giving a teaching,Rinpoche looked straight at meand said, “If you look at a tree andsee a goddess, and you are wor-ried because you don’ t knowwhich is real, don’ t worry , theyare both equally real.” Then hesimply returned to the topic he’dbeen teaching. I couldn’ t believeit. I had never spoken to himabout my dancing with the trees,how inspiring it was for me andhow much trouble it was getting

me into. I walked up the hill thatday feeling walls inside me tum -bling down profoundly moved byhis capacity to see into me. I feltlike he was extending his hand, tohelp me get over the barrier totrusting a guru. I had grown up inSan Francisco in the peak of theHaight-Ashbury times, and hadseen so many people give up theiridentity to follow “gurus”. I did-n’t want to be one of those peo -ple. As I walked up the hill to theyellow house, I said to myself,“Oh no, I never wanted to besomeone with a guru!” But it wastoo late.

I think it was at that retreatthat Rinpoche expl ained aboutthe relationship between Guruand disciple being for as manylifetimes as it takes. Not likeearthly marriage, which endswhen someone dies. I could feelthis connection, and it felt I feltlike something inside me that hadbeen falling for years finallycame to rest. There was someonein my life now that I trustedimplicitly.

One night, everyone went to aparty at the Faggio Rosso restau-rant. I didn’t go because I had nomoney, and I was not in themood. I sat in the dark on a benchoutside the yellow house andthought about Rinpoche. Howstrange that I felt shy with some-one to whom I am more deeplybonded than a lover . It was up tome, I realized, to allow myself tofeel that bond, that love, in mylife. Under the stars, alone on thatbench, I tried, and I did. Rinpochealways speaks of a sweetness thatcan’t be shared through talking,only through tasting. How do youdescribe it? I know we all get tothis point in our stories, and haveto surrender. All I can say is tast-ing it brought tears, of being over-whelmed, of gratitude, joy , sor-row and relief. More than any-thing, I wanted to see him, theway you ache when you want tosee your true love. Suddenly Iheard feet crunching on the grav-el. Out of the darkness Rinpocheappeared, with two others. Hestopped in front of my bench, andgreeted me, seeing my condition.Instead of going in the house, hebegan to tell funny stories, actingthem out under the stars. I won-dered then if I was dreaming.Now I know I am.

Christina Svane lives in Hatfield,Massachusetts with her husbandand two daughters, is the dir ec-tor of the Tsegyalgar Gakyil andruns workshops in EmbodiedAwareness thr ough Movement,Writing and Voice.

HOW I MET CHÖGYAL NAMKHAI NORBU

vision. Chöd means ‘to cut’; rather , weenter into action, we break the cord of ourdual vision.

“We are something like a bound object withour thr ee existences of body , speech andmind, bound up with all our tensions andfilled with confusion. With this however, werelax into our natur e and this is what wecall Tregchöd. But to r elax does not meanto let go without any pr esence. Relaxmeans the inner state of pr esence.”(Namkhai Norbu, 2000, p. 110)

We relax in how it is with all our senseorgans; not conditioned by our judgments,by the concepts of mind! This is how wediscover and how wisdoms manifest. In ourdaily lives, step-by-step, we are aware,mindful and present; we get familiar . Thisis how we integrate presence: when drivinga car, eating or working. While doing manydifferent things, we can develop continu -ous, undistracted presence. When we start,it is not easy , yet it is the most importantpractice. To be present means knowingwhat the circumstances are. Time alwaysgoes ahead; we do our best.

Instant presence is what we discoverthrough direct transmission, that isGuruyoga. Through Guruyoga, we developinstant presence.e

Rinpoche stated that Dzogchen is justthe vehicle; it all depends on our capacity .The methods are relative to our own expe-rience. We discover through our own expe-rience. This how we develop confidence.Rinpoche further stated that continuing tobe in a state of confidence is Tredchö –total relaxation!

On day five, our last day , Rinpocheencouraged us to practice. He further gave

transmission for dif ferent practices.Finally, Rinpoche reminded us that the aimof following the teachings was to achieverealization; not to create confusion in sam-saric vision. Rinpoche ended the teachingsby saying: “MY PRACTICE IS TO BEPRESENT”. He very gently added: “DOYOUR BEST”!

ReferencesNorbu, N. (2000). Lonchenpa’s Precious Ship.Arcidosso:Shang Shung Edizioni

Tregchöd continued from page 1