No. 101 November, December 2009

Upcoming Retreats with Chögyal Namkhai Norbu

Photo: L. Graf 2010 Venezuela Tashigar Norte January 16–30 The Drubchen of Mandarava and Vajrapani For any information please contact the secretary at: receives a collective gift on his birthday at Tashigar Norte – 3 bags inside each other, the third with precious jewels: „Outer, inner, and secret,“ as he said. Photo: Rainbow [email protected] Argentina Tashigar Sur February 12 Greetings from Tropical Inauguration of Tashi Sur’s Gonpa February 14 Tibetan festival with a Mandarava practice Isla Margarita! February 16 A Report on the Longsal Longde Retreat from December 4–11, 2009 Sang and Serkyem Offerings Harri Jäälinoja February 12–24 teaching and practice retreat ow wonderful it is to come to assigned lot, and quickly fell asleep. And should not chase after various teachings or Venezuela place for the fi rst time, and im- in a striking contrast to the previous early methods, even methods as precious as the March 8–12 Hmediately meet many familiar morning in the dark and cold North, soon Longde, only for the sake of the method it- Tashigar Norte retreat faces! Already on the way, when changing I woke up in a warm tent to the song of un- self, but instead always remember to aim March 19–25 fl ights, I met old friends at the airport, and familiar birds. How strange! for the true essence. Teachers’ trainings: SMS base, 1st Levels; saw some new friends-to-be with melongs Dzogchen Longde is the second of the Tashigar Norte is a very important place Vajra Dance, Yantra Yoga 1st and 2nd levels hanging around their necks. This time three series of Dzogchen, corresponding to connected to Rinpoche’s Longsal . the melong-carrying crew was headed to the second statement of : “Not As a reminder of this, in the mornings be- Trinidad Tashigar Norte, to receive teachings on remaining in doubt”. With the help of the fore the retreat started there was always April 23–25 Dzogchen Longde from our master Chö- methods of Longde, practitioners can re- a thun of the Gomadevi practice, anoth- Weekend teaching gyal Namkhai Norbu. move any doubts they may have about the er important terma teaching of Chögyal Venezuela The Gar was well prepared to receive us. primordial state introduced by the Master, Namkhai Norbu. The Dzogchen Longde Tashigar Norte Via the community mailing list we were in- to make sure that they have a perfectly pre- teachings Rinpoche transmitted to us now April 30–May 2 formed well in advance about the possibil- cise base. In the beginning of the retreat also belong to the Longsal cycle. Rinpoche SMS Base Level Exam ity (and necessity) to reserve a place in the Rinpoche made it very clear that having a explained that compared to traditional May 3–9 camping, and also of other accommoda- precise base, clear knowledge of our real Longde teachings, this teaching is more SMS 1st Level training tion options. Contact information to trust- condition is the most important thing in simple and goes more to the essence, but ed taxi drivers was given out, so in the end the path of Dzogchen. Without this, all the that there is no contradiction of any kind. Canaries the long travel went very smoothly from various methods remain on the level of in- So once again, we are fortunate to have the May 21–23 door-to-door. I set up tent at the Gar in my tellectual or mental exercise. Therefore we >> continued on page 4 Canaries retreat UK May 28–30 Teaching Teaching News London Retreat Russia June 2–8 Chögyal Namkhai Yeshi Silvano From all over Clinic treatment Norbu Namkhai the World June 11–15 ‘The Small Collection Opening our Moscow retreat of Hidden Precepts’ eyes to our true nature

>> continued on page 5 » Page 2 » Page 3 » Pages 14–15 THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009

2 ‘The Small Collection of Hidden Precepts’ by Buddhagupta, one of the twenty-one great masters of Dzogchen from Oddiyana From the retreat given at Merigar West, October 7th 2009

n the teaching of Dzogchen there are so many different kinds of methods. In particular we have , lungs Iand many series of Upadesha related to the Dzogchen semde, longde and upadesha series. Of course at the begin- ning there are many things to learn, but the essence of all is for discovering our real nature: fi rstly discovering it and secondly how to integrate in that state. Everything is based on the state of Guruyoga and so you can see that in the Dzogchen teaching Guruyoga is the most important thing and for that reason we do it repeatedly. It is very important to remember this always, not just follow after names of books or methods. You must re- member what the essence is: the essence is being in a state of Guruyoga. If you are in that state, you are in the knowledge of Dzogchen, otherwise you may sometimes be conditioned by intellectual understanding. If we only learn things from books it is useful and, of course, it is also related to the teaching, but it does not mean that it is the real sense. What we want is to have total realization Photo: V. Babanov and that can only happen if we are in the essence of the teaching. I have already told you that the Dzogchen teach- teaching of the togpa, which means inner understanding; For example, in all teachings starting with , teach- ing is considered the essential and the most important not manifesting too much externally. When you go more ing is always related to our attitude and for that reason teaching because it goes directly to the real sense of our deeply into the teaching of the togpa, there is always less when they follow teaching most people always ask the nature. It is a very precious teaching and a very precious and less to do externally. But the most important teaching teacher what they should do, how they should do the prac- practice and, for this reason, you can understand the im- for having total realization is togpai tenpa, not lung tenpa. tice, etc. Since the main teaching in Dzogchen is to work portance of Guruyoga. This does not mean there is no longer the essence with circumstances, the Dzogchen teacher does not give In general we say that there are two main kinds of of the teaching; there is even more. For example, in the advice to the student about what the student should do teachings of Buddha. One is called the teaching of the Dzogchen teaching when we read the Dra Thalgyur Tan- and how they should live. How can the teacher give advice lung, meaning all the teachings that Buddha explained and tra, it explains that in general the teaching will and know about all your circumstances? Simply giving ad- transmitted orally. For example, in the and Ma- remain in our dimension much longer, three times lon- vice for all the possible circumstances of an entire week hayana sutra, they mainly follow the teaching of the lung ger, than lung tenpa. Lung tenpa will slowly disappear, just is diffi cult, so how can we give advice for all of one’s life? of Buddha Shakyamuni. This means trying to understand like what happened in India. During the period when the This is an example of how important it is to work with cir- your real condition. You remember that sutra teaching is Gelugpa, Sakyapa and Kagyupa schools began, there were cumstances. explained with the two truths: the absolute truth means still some teachings in India, not only teachings but Working with circumstances was not invented by teach- we discover and remain in the real condition of shunyata. also sutra teachings. Then later on there was nothing. In- ers: it is the teaching of Dzogchen. For that reason we This is the essence of the teaching of the lung. The other dia is the origin of the teaching of Buddha, so why did it should turn internally to our real nature and try to be in that truth is the relative truth, which means that even though all disappear? For example, the Hinayana and Theravadin state, and for that, the best thing to do is Guruyoga and to we have this knowledge of the empty nature of existence, tradition only remained in Sri Lanka and then also devel- be in a state of Guruyoga. Guruyoga is a very easy method we all live with dualistic karmic vision. Regarding kar- oped a little in south Asia and India later on. Today Bud- in the Dzogchen teachings and it exists in all traditions in mic vision Buddha said that everything is unreal, just like dhism is developing in India because there are many Ti- Vajrayana. There are many types with many complicated a big dream. But even if it is like a dream, when we are betans living there, but originally disappeared visualizations, chanting, verses, etc., because they are all in the dream it becomes something concrete. Only when in India. It disappeared but it does not mean the essence related to Tantrism, and we know that in Tantrism there is we wake up do we discover that the dream is unreal. It is of the teaching is disappearing. the gradual method, non-gradual method, etc. the same way when we follow the teaching of the lung of For example in the Dzogchen Tantras it explains that In Dzogchen we do different Guruyogas in the tun, Buddha Shakyamuni: we discover that the relative truth is Vajrayana will not only remain longer, but it says that Guruyoga with Guru Garab Dorje, Guruyoga with Guru unreal and we get into the state of the absolute truth. This knowledge of the Dzogchen teaching will continue to ex- , and we unify all our teachers and trans- is how it is explained in the sutra and this knowledge is ist almost up to the time that our globe is totally destroyed. missions in this form. This method originally came considered to be the main teaching of Buddha. But why are other teachings disappearing while Dzogchen from Anuyoga, a system of Tantrism, and is not really the Buddha explained how long his teaching would remain is still continuing to exist? It is very easy to understand. Dzogchen way. In Dzogchen we do Guruyoga with a white in this human dimension – in this case the most impor- When the teacher introduces you to your primordial state, A and thigle, which is the symbol of our primordial poten- tant teaching, the real teaching of the lung – and said that the teacher is not introducing what you should do with tiality. That way it is very easy and we can always do that the pure teaching of the lung would develop and remain your body or your circumstances. You are only present in practice. for ngagya tragsum which means 3 times 500 years, that is that knowledge [of your primordial state] and continue in There are all kinds of different methods and teachings 1,500 years. After that time we would be in the kaliyuga that state. This is the path and the essence of Dzogchen in Dzogchen connected with this Guruyoga. Even if you do and the teaching that would continue to exist would be teachings, so there is nothing to do externally. Of course, a practice of shine, in the Dzogchen semde style, fi rst of all called lung tenpa, something appearing with the form of for human beings interested in the teachings, if there you should do Guruyoga. Then you work with that meth- the teaching but not really precisely how the teaching was. are some circumstances, we can do something. We can od of Guruyoga and it represents transmission. Dealing It would be called tagtsam dzinpai tenpa, tag meaning sign, always do something, there is nothing forbidden in the with transmission with any kind of practice is very impor- like when you see signs [of the teaching] and it appears Dzogchen teachings. tant and in that way that practice becomes important for that there are and monks, etc. But it would be very We can always integrate everything. Remember in the your total realization.  diffi cult for the concrete teaching of the lung to still exist. case of the Dzogchen teaching, you should work with your Today most of the monasteries are similar. Even if there circumstances. Day after day circumstances change and Transcription by N. Zeitz, is a monastery with hundreds and thousands of monks, are always different. If you know how to work with cir- editing N. Zeitz and L. Granger very few monks really have knowledge or understanding cumstances it will always correspond with your real con- of the teaching of the lung of Buddha. There are very few dition. If you have some concept and think you should do and that is the problem. For example, in , all Buddhist something in a precise way and you persist with these lim- traditions are Vajrayana, even if it is not the perfect teach- itations, if the circumstances work in a contrary way, you ing of the lung. The teaching of the Buddha, however, is cannot easily move ahead. For that reason we should work not only lung. Another very important consideration is the with circumstances. THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009 Yeshi Silvano Namkhai

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Opening our eyes to our true nature Kruml, Czech Republic November 29, 2009

e have fi nished this short retreat and may- Wbe we have understood something about meditation. We understood that meditation has different aspects according to the different types of teaching. We understood most of all that the teaching is related to ourselves. Whatever we are doing, if we are not aware, loses some function. From one side, our capacity of discrimination and use of logic can be the main obstacle, and from the other side it can also be the best support. We understand that each path has its own characteristics. We understand we have the most ex- perience of the path connected with the mind and we have this idea of what teaching, religion and philosophy are. But we also understand that the key point is to open our eyes. These eyes are always the eyes of our different aspects. So now you understand better when you read the titles of texts, and you often fi nd the word ‘eyes’ or ‘light’ connected with the three roots, and slowly you start to understand these are not symbolic words. We just do not defi ne something we immediate- lish something outside of us. We understanding of compassion; What we do say is that not all have the same confi dence in these ly have problems. If it is not like don’t need to show anything. when compassion is applied people have the opportunity to words as we have with our world. religion then it is like a philoso- When we understand this aspect in many tantras it explains that meet a teaching like Ati yoga or We know this world is made of phy, if it is not like philosophy it and we become more relaxed, we compassion becomes something Dzogchen. And the principle is to objects and things that we have is like a teaching and if it is not can do everything with the idea like love that pervades all. Then open your eyes and observe your created. The world made of more like a teaching, it is something of freedom. You can observe in many things start to sound more condition. When you see your natural things we know less, and else. But we are always talking yourself that this freedom be- familiar. condition you understand all your the world connected with our about the same thing. For exam- comes something real. Maybe When I was child I went to limitations. Then you release real nature we know even less. ple, if we ask each other what this you had this idea before, “Oh I school with nuns. These nuns your tension. You work with your So the best advice is that we open teaching is, each person has their want to be this or that”, and then were dressed in grey and black limitations and then you develop our eyes, let all these things ap- own idea. So from one question, this idea slowly releases. and white, covering the hair and through this awareness and you pear and then we try to learn how manifold answers arise. Then We understand that this is not a all, and only the face was ex- become freer. When this freedom they are. When we are working someone asks how come they real need. Nothing really changes posed. Some were young and or relaxed state manifests then with our mind we must defi ne ev- see all this reality, how did every- if we are something or something some old, some a little bit horri- there is opportunity to develop. erything. Once we have defi ned thing manifest, or for example else. We open our eyes well and ble and some a little nicer, but all So it means there is nothing to everything we can say, “Oh, I am when someone asks, “How can I see what our possibilities are. At said they were married to Christ. judge or to fabricate with mind. following teaching, reli- understand that everything is un- the end we do what makes sense I always thought that idea was a It means you if have the oppor- gion or some philosophical idea.” real?” But it is enough that we ob- and slowly we become more open little bit strange. So then I asked, tunity, you try to do practice col- But whatever we follow, all kinds serve this. One single explanation and compassionate with people. “So how is it being married with lectively and together. You try and of teachings, relate to us. When leads to many lines of interpreta- We start to understand that the Christ?” They would say it is not release all your tensions and have we are taking this knowledge, tion, and one single thought can teaching is spread everywhere; we like mother and father, they are a more normal life; you try to putting out in front of ourselves create millions of developmental can fi nd that the essence can be married, this marriage is differ- understand who is subject of ac- and judging, then it becomes thoughts because of our infi nite found in many aspects of our cul- ent. I was fi ve years old. They said tions, of sentences, of thoughts, something like a teaching, reli- potentiality and then it becomes ture. There are experiences and that they apply and remain in the because we need to understand gion or philosophy. So when we something real. Then tomorrow knowledge that are very similar. love of . Then I asked how is why we are doing something or apply the principle of these three people are doing different things Sometimes we are into this this love? They always answered saying something, or why we are considerations or this direction, and this idea becomes more and idea that things are similar or it is not important how it is, but creating some thought. we have this problem. more real. different, that they are, and we that we are in it, otherwise we The most important aspect we If we want to really understand We understand this is more should understand that they lose the meaning of being nuns. have understood is related to the the teaching of Buddha, Buddha or less our condition. For ex- are expressed differently. ‘Be- I thought this is a very good three roots. In general in Vajraya- said everything has a cause of ample, if you are interested, you ing’ does not exist. We cannot teaching because it is similar to na, and most of all in Ati yoga and existence. Then with this cause can study Santi Maha enter this knowledge of being Buddhism. We say we should Dzogchen, it is said that without we have this kind of effect. But where you will fi nd all aspects – because we understood in these stay in the presence of our natu- the teacher there is nothing, in we are causing it, because our of . You can days that being is connected with ral condition, not that we should the sense of nothing opposite of real nature or primordial state fi nd practical examples. Santi existence and existence means think about it. We should observe something else. It means if there is always there. We have a need Maha Sangha does not say this it is our consideration. So there and remain in this clarity, not that is no teacher, there is samsara. to defi ne our natural state as is the only tradition, you should will always be mind creating this we create clarity. And then love When there is a teacher there is dharma or religion. To say this is do this way otherwise something existence, this condition, and ev- comes naturally just like com- samsara and and we start Buddhist tradition, for example, terrible will happen, it is just giv- erything related. And as this ex- passion, when we have an under- to understand there is not only Buddhist teaching, Buddhist reli- ing an example of all different as- ists, also the Buddha exists say- standing of emptiness. So some one aspect of ourselves. If there gion, is not necessary. It does not pects and methods. Then when ing everything is unreal. people do these kinds of jobs, is samsara and nirvana, automat- qualify as teaching. For example, we apply methods and we under- So when we understand these but we are all similar. We make a ically awareness of this exists and if we say Dzogchen teaching, it stand better how they are related aspects, we understand that ‘be- different kind of choice, but the we understand that both exist as can change if we defi ne it. If we to each other. We do not do this ing’ does not exist. Then we can situation is very similar. We can places in our mind. Then we have defi ne it, it is more like philoso- at the level where we must ‘es- say expression exists or more tra- understand if someone chooses a better opportunity to under- phy, more like knowledge, more tablish’ something, but we un- ditionally, manifestation of this some way to live and renounces stand what our real condition is. like religion, and doesn’t really derstand how this knowledge is being, and we understand our some aspect of life; if the under- We need capacity and the fi rst change anything. good for us, we see, we become culture better because it is based standing is correct then slowly capacity we need is to fi nd the It is important advice to under- more relaxed and freer, because on a similar principle. Then we the fruit will manifest. teacher; to see there is teacher. stand this aspect. When we try to we see we do not need to estab- can interpret why there is the >> continued on the following page THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009 Yeshi Silvano Namkhai

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>> continued from previous page mission because it is an essen- can understand the famous lunar this fruit and so on. This is what we observe ourselves, work more Recognition means the possibil- tial teaching. So even if someone and solar energy from our own we mean when we talk about with presence, apply more aware- ity to see. For example, if some- has a lower capacity but cannot condition. We can understand all Dzogchen, Atiyoga. Our life be- ness and everything goes better. one sees someone like a politi- change his or her life, maybe for this with our ordinary life. comes our contemplation. Pres- To end this retreat, I hope that cian as an important person, that example they would like to attend For example, when we say lunar ence is always and our life is al- this explanation can be useful in is really an obstacle. Instead of this lecture but something hap- and solar energy, we consider lu- ways, when life changes state it is your life and that somehow you recognizing the teacher with his pens, they cannot go and are not nar male and solar female. We say not life anymore, but death. Until understand not only from the or her own qualities, it means ca- totally convinced, and then later solar energy corresponds with the this moment we have this con- words, but from your own expe- pacity is missing. Capacity con- something else will happen and sun and with that solar energy ev- dition and we work with it. And rience. Then when you face the nected with mind doesn’t exist. sooner or later they will arrive at erything grows on earth and with then what we try to do is keep this knowledge of the teaching you Often we read in texts this teach- the same point. You can speak the moon nothing grows. That is presence and keep this connec- think again about how to see ev- ing follows capacity correspond- with each other here and discover why we say method corresponds tion with the three roots. erything in a more open way. Most ing to lower, medium or higher that a lot of people arrived at the to lunar and when we are gener- With this connection of the of all, you learn how to work with capacity of the students, but this teachings without will, without ating life, men collaborate with three roots we identify with the refl ections, because every time we has nothing to do with mind. judging, connected at a different seed and this collaboration takes Guru and do Guruyoga; the es- work with the level of the mind For example, I can go to some level, and this means the power some effort, but it doesn’t have sence of the three roots and Gu- and the knowledge there can be lecture and I can recognize some- of transmission. We have cause any other aspect. Then the female ruyoga means we recognize our refl ection. Just like a mirror ev- one with some kind of knowledge. and cause can be anything; then has the aspect of growing life; it own state. When we want to do erything refl ects; there can be Then every time that person is go- the fruit manifests, which is be- doesn’t need to do anything, it is a longer Guruyoga we unify all someone from another religion, ing somewhere I am convinced I ing in contact. naturally growing. So with this teachers. Without this opportu- from science, from whatever. have to be there. Listening, col- Then the second root is the we understand that we have two nity there is no understanding. When we have this moment of laborating, working together, for or yidam. We have had this different aspects and that is why Ordinary presence means we ob- communication we try to under- example this is considered very since the beginning. We know in we say deva and dakini. serve ourselves and if there is ac- stand our condition better. We high capacity, no doubt, like rec- Dzogchen teaching that we do We need to understand that tion, feeling and thought, we ob- don’t have this judgment, “I have ognizing mother or father, but not consider acquiring all these aspects have a specifi c serve. Then we try to see what is better this, he has better that”, this is something different than or conquering, we do not need meaning. So we apply the prin- the most simple and effective way etc., or, “I am this and he is that”, attending the lecture and think- the of life, the siddhi to ciple of paramitas when they are to do. This is more the real sama- but we always enter deeper and ing, “Well, he is saying some- change people’s minds, or the needed, the fi rst fi ve paramitas ya of Atiyoga Dzogchen. deeper into our understanding. thing interesting but I don’t really siddhis to heal people. The only corresponding with method. That The real samaya of Atiyoga In this way all tensions release understand and maybe it means siddhi we need is the one we al- means that we relax and wait for Dzogchen is to behave well and and slowly there is more ground this or that.” This means aver- ready have, which is recognizing the right moment with the right go back to the principle of the and space for this awareness to age capacity because there is per- and discovering our real nature, experience. It means we don’t three jewels; we have a teacher grow. When there is more space, sonal judgment, the idea of self. It discovering our real teacher in run with our minds, we wait, and we try to behave correctly we understand what bliss and means there is an argument that I every moment in life and discov- we observe, and we learn. The with the teacher. The teacher is clarity are. To understand this is should be convinced of somehow, ering our real nature instantly. So sixth paramita is about energy. one aspect, and the same way we up to us and should happen not this person should convince me. this is a high level siddhi, the oth- When the moment arrives with behave with the teacher, we do only on retreat, but in every mo- This is the level of dialectic ers we consider lower. The high- the right experience and knowl- with the teaching and with each ment of our lives. Otherwise it is communication, based on com- est siddhi is when we talk about edge, we apply. Then the mind, other. Then through collabora- like a laboratory, we do a labora- munication at the level of energy. rainbow body, when our condi- instead of creating problems, is a tion with each other, we under- tory for a few days and then we try At the lower level we criticize this tion integrates totally into the na- slave of our awareness. When we stand if have this knowledge or something that we already know. person and we need to have a cur- ture or elements. This does not say Prajna Paramita, the base as not. When we are doing things Then from this experience we try riculum vitae that says this person happen everyday. discriminating nature of mind, together and we are collaborat- and defi ne universal law, but we has the recognition of twenty- When we talk about the third meaning thinking, judging and ing, we don’t need many words. know we cannot reach this un- fi ve incarnations, something like root, the dakini, we are talking working with mind, it becomes We don’t need so much judg- derstanding through research this, and when this happens we about the action of the teaching. more important when we under- ment, but we can do things and but through ordinary life and can really understand what the That means we are working more stand the nature of mind. behave. The ground of all of this then integrating whatever experi- obstacle of mind means. We are with the aspect of energy, just like All of this we can understand is work. We observe that when we ence appears.  very fortunate because this teach- deva means we are working more from our ordinary life. Then our collaborate together and apply a ing has a very, very strong trans- with the aspect of method. We life becomes part of this path, lot of rules, it does not work. So Transcribed and edited by N. Zeitz

>> continued from page 1 were already more familiar with opportunity to focus on the very the practices. Yeshi Silvano Namkhai essence of precious methods. The retreat was not only hard June 29–July 6 The teaching contains precise work and serious study, but in Schedule 2010 Peru, Retreat at Norbuling explanations about when and true Dzogchen Community style, July 7–14 how to practice: how to deter- there was also fun and play. On January 16–18 April 10–14 Bolivia mine correct time of the day for December 8th we celebrated Italy, Merigar West, Introduction France, Paris the practice, and how to use po- Rinpoche’s birthday. We started to the state of Ati April 15–20 July 24–28 sition and gazing to do the prac- the day with the long-life practice Jan. 23–Feb. 5 France, Dejamling USA, New York City, Kundrolling tices. Many people added from of Mandarava, followed by that Argentina, Short retreat before July 29–August 12 the dharma shop a new item to day’s session of Longde teach- Anniversary Tashigar Sur April 21–24 USA, Conway, Mass, Tsegyalgar their practitioner’s toolbox: the ings. After the teachings we had Ukraine, Kiev East and Khandroling meditation stick used to control a lunch with Rinpoche in the February 6–12 April 25–28 energy points in the positions dining hall. There were various Brasil, Lhundrubling Ukraine, Phuntsokling (Donetsk) August 18–23 of Longde. And we were also kinds of performances: instru- February 19–21 England, London and Wales, promptly warned about follow- mental music, singing, Tibetan Italy, Merigar West, The Base May 1–5 Kunselling ing our ego: we should not show dances performed by Commu- (Essence, Nature and Energy) and Israel September 7–12 off or make exhibition of any kind nity people and Latin dances Contemplation May 8–10 Russia, Izhevsk, restricted when it comes to important prac- performed by children from the Italy, Florence/Pistoia, Weekend retreat in Kungaling tices. In this case we should not village of Pedro Gonzales. Af- March 1–13 teaching in Sakyangongaling visibly carry around our medita- ter Rinpoche left, people were Hungary, Budapest, restricted September 13–16 tion sticks to make the point that still in a mood for a dance and retreat May 20–25 Mexico, Mexico City, Pelzomling we are practitioners of Dzogchen. improvised a samba fi esta pow- March 18–26 Russia, Moscow, Weekend September 17–20 Instead we should keep secret ered by water can drumming and Margarita Isl., Santi Maha teaching in Rinchenling Costa Rica, Dekytling things secret and dedicate seri- a guitar. When the retreat fi n- Sangha Teacher’s training May 26–31 ously to practice. That way we ished with a Ganapuja, after the Crimea, Kunsangar South, short Sept. 21–Oct. 4 can have real benefi t. practice we watched several fi lms April 1–6 retreat and CHNN organization Baja California, Tsegyalgar West As at all retreats, we also from the Shang Shung Institute Narag Ton Trug Italy, Merigar West, Oct. 31–Nov. 4 practiced Yantra Yoga and Vajra archive. The short fi lms showed June 1–8 USA, Berkeley, California, Dance. Alessandra Policreti was Rinpoche and the Community in Russia, Moscow, Clinic Dondrubling in charge of the beginners’ group its early days in Italy, and evolv- June 9–15 of Yantra Yoga in the morning, ing to international scale. Then better than swimming and fl oat- Russia, Moscow, November 17–24 while Bodhi Krause and Adriana we continued with Chinese docu- ing in warm water under warm Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Retreat Mozambique, short retreat Dal Borgo taught the Dance of mentary fi lms showing Tibetan sun in the joyous company of the December 7–15 Three Vajras for beginners. In the dances. To many, myself includ- Master and vajra kin? Such a sim- June 16–24 Moscow, Russia, evenings there was a complete ed, however, the nicest time of ple pleasure, just to relax and en- Russia, St. Petersburg, Longde restricted retreat thun of the Vajra Dance and a the retreat was going to the beach joy, perfect advice for living our Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Retreat on Rinchenling’s roof session of Yantra for people who with Rinpoche. What could be lives! THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009 ASIA

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ASIA Onlus Association for International Förderverein ASIA Deutschland e.V. Via San Martino della Battaglia 31 Solidarity in ASIA, Inc. c/o Gisela Auspurg 00185 Rome, Italy ASIA, Post Offi ce Box 124, Königswieser Str. 2 Tel +39.06.44340034 Conway, MA 01341-0124 USA 82131 Gauting Fax +39.06.44702620 Phone: 413.369.4153, Fax: 413.369.4473 Tel.: 089 / 127 630 32 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.asia-ngo.org www.asia-ngo.org/en/ www.asia-ngo.de

The reconstruction of Galingteng College.

Dear Friends, special schools in which chil- objective: 500 new long distance e have reached the end dren continue to be Tibetans. In sponsorships. of the year and, as usu- addition thanks to long distance Long distance sponsorship Wal, the time has come sponsorship we can offer them offers a great opportunity. It is a to refl ect on and take stock of the decent living conditions and a very effective way of supporting situation. good education in order to make the most vulnerable sectors of the After the revolts and the ten- a better future for themselves”. population that have a key role in sions of 2008 the Tibetan people In the sector of cultural pro- Tibetan society. The new genera- are living a new and very diffi cult tection we have also had great tions, the future: the children. phase in their troubled history. results: the reconstruction of Ga- The custodians of traditions, the Up to now there are still many lingteng College, one of the most memory: the elderly. The holders areas that are prohibited to for- important cultural and spiritual of ancient knowledge and of the eigners and subject to strict con- centers in East Tibet and particu- spirituality of Tibet: the monks. trol by the authorities of the Peo- larly precious to Chögyal Nam- Thanks to your support we ple’s Republic of China. khai Norbu and Yeshi Namkhai. have managed to reach this and ASIA – though with great dif- As you know, the College many other great results over the fi culty – has remained one of the burnt down last February and years. few International Organizations was rebuilt in six months thanks Now we ask you to participate and the only Italian NGO that is to the participation of the entire actively in this new challenge by present in the Tibetan area with Dzogchen Community, which re- supporting our Adopt Tibet cam- projects to protect culture and to sponded generously to the appeal paign. support health and education. that ASIA sent out on the advice Help us to extend our network In the areas where we have of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. of people who adopt Tibet by get- worked for more than 15 years In a short time, we collected ting your friends, relatives and and where local communities 176,000 euro and were able to colleagues at work to become have been involved in projects sign the contracts with local com- “distance parents” of the Tibetan that they had really wanted, tradi- panies for the reconstruction of people. tions and everyday customs have the two buildings of the College. If you would like to know been preserved and enhanced. In July reconstruction of the more about our campaign you We have not only managed to student dormitories and the re- can contact us by phone at (0039) maintain the autonomy of many treat houses began, followed by 06 44340034 or by email at of the schools that we have built, the reconstruction of the housing Students dormitories and retreat houses at the back. [email protected] but within these structures we for the spiritual masters and the or through our website have also developed activities small classrooms near the temple. This experience has encouraged cretely and showing your com- www.ASIA-onlus.org aimed at strengthening the eth- At present work is coming to us to dedicate ourselves even mitment in favour of the Tibetan Our sincere thanks and our nic and cultural roots of the new an end and the monks of Galing- more and to increase our efforts people. For this reason we have best wishes for the holiday sea- generations. As Tashi Tsering teng will be able to go back to live for Adopt Tibet, with the aware- created a new T-shirt to be given son from all the staff at ASIA! – the headmaster of a primary- at their College before the end of ness of the precious cultural and as a gift to those who start up a middle school built in 1997 in the year, as we promised them. spiritual legacy held by its people. long distance sponsorship and The Director Qinghai Province – recently said, Thank you everyone! Adopt Tibet means taking part to show participation in our next Andrea Dell’Angelo “The schools built by ASIA are actively: doing something con-

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu August 25–Sep. 3 Spain December 1–8 Grosseto personal retreat of October 1–7 Mandarava intensive practice Schedule 2010 Mandarava empowering chudlen Barcelona retreat retreat with Chudlen >> continued from page 1 July 26–29 pills for use at the retreat in (in Webcast) SMS Level I exam Brazil June 18–20 Margarita plus Fitness October 13–17 Dec. 26–Jan. 2 Saint Petersburg retreat July 30–August 10 SMS Level II Training September 8–12 Brazil retreat Christmas retreat Zhitro June 28–July 4 purifi cation for all those Venezuela Crimea retreat Italy who have died August 16–22 Tashigar Norte Romania Merigar West retreat France July 20–25 September 24–26 Merigar East retreat Teaching at Karmaling THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009 Shang Shung Institute

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a very beautiful prize: gorgeous must be a current member of the Membership in handmade silver earrings. international Dzogchen Com- Become part of our activities and munity and have received trans- the Shang Shung join in now. mission from the Master. Institute Price: Euro 108.00 or US $160 Ordinary Membership 2010 009 is quickly coming to an Ordinary membership lasts from Meritorious Membership 2010 end and the new year is fast the date of payment until the 31st Meritorious membership lasts 2approaching. of December of the same year. It from the date of payment until In 2009 we celebrated our is not renewed automatically. Or- the 31st of December of the same 20th anniversary. It was a very dinary members have the right to year. It is not renewed automati- intense year for the international attend the annual general assem- cally. Meritorious members have Shang Shung Institute and there · We started a new initiative courses related to Tibetan cul- bly of members. Each ordinary the right to attend the annual were many highlights: called the ”Tibetan Language ture open to the public; member receives a crystal with general assembly of members. · We celebrated our 20th anni- Study Program”; · To publish at least three more the logo of the Shang Shung In- Each meritorious member re- versary with public TIBET DAY · We held the 7th Translator’s public books; stitute printed inside or the “Mer- ceives a crystal with the SSI-logo events in Bucharest (Romania) Training, part of the Ka-ter · To concentrate on marketing igar Calendar” for 2010/2011; a printed inside or the “Merigar and Ardicosso (Italy); Translation Project, in Merigar; SSI products to a larger audi- luxury ballpoint pen of the SSI; Calendar” for 2010/2011; a crys- · We fi nished the second SSI raf- · The very fi rst Western students ence; full access to our web shops. tal with a Tibetan A printed in- fl e and awarded 10 magnifi cent studying Tibetan Medicine · To continue training Western In order to receive restricted ma- side; one CD or DVD (produced prices; graduated and received their students in Tibetan Medicine; terial from our web shops one by the SSI), and one book (pro- · We started preparations for diplomas in a dignifi ed celebra- · To hold “Tibetan Language must be a current member of the duced by Shang Shung Edizioni) a new branch of the Shang tion at the Shang Shung Insti- Study Courses” in several cities international Dzogchen Com- of your choice from our website; Shung Institute in London; tute in America; and countries; munity and have received trans- a luxury ballpoint pen of the SSI; · We printed and distributed the · We started the “Archive Tran- · To fi nish a fi lm about the mission from the Master. a very nice and useful time sched- fi rst brochure of the interna- scription Program” and several Shang Shung Institute and Price: Euro 50.00 or US $70 uler for 2010 called TEAMWORK tional Shang Shung Institute; retreats and talks have already make that fi lm available to all (25,5 x 17,5 cm); an SSI calcula- · We started work on a fi lm been transcribed; interested people; Sustaining Membership 2010 tor; full access to our web shops; about the international Shang · We continuously worked on · To plan several events related to Sustaining membership lasts free mailing of these gifts to ev- Shung Institute; producing new books, DVDs, the preservation of Tibetan cul- from the date of payment until erywhere in the world. · In Rome and in Barcelona and MP3s as support for the ture (i.e. book launch) includ- the 31st of December of the same In order to receive restricted we successfully launched Dzogchen Community; ing exhibitions in several cities year. It is not renewed automati- material from our web shops one Rinpoche’s extraordinary and · We managed all the open and and countries; cally. Sustaining members have must be a current member of the long expected book “Light of closed webcasts of the Teach- · To concretely start the “Museum the right to attend the annual international Dzogchen Com- Kailash”; ings of Chogyal Namkhai Nor- Project”; general assembly of members. munity and have received trans- · Besides “Light of Kailash” we bu, Sogyal Rinpoche and Dr. · To continue all existing pro- Each sustaining member re- mission from the Master. also published three other pub- Phuntsog Wangmo; grams. ceives a crystal with the logo of Price: Euro 360.00 or US $500 lic books: “Birth, Life and Death”, · We continued our work on the the Shang Shung Institute print- “’s Advice from the archive of Chogyal Namkhai You can support all our activities ed inside OR the “Merigar Cal- Get your membership in one of Heart” and “Kathog Situ Chökyi Norbu’s teachings; in different ways, so that we are endar” for 2010/2011; a CD OR our online shops: Gyatso: Togden Shakya Shri. The · We managed all courses of able to continue our work also a DVD (produced by the SSI) of Webshop of SSI Austria Life and Liberation of a Tibetan Vajra Dance, Yantra Yoga and for the future,: your choice from our website; a Webshop of SSI Italy Yogin“; Santi Maha Sangha. You can donate funds, renew very nice and useful time sched- Webshop of SSI USA · We gave many talks about the your membership, or become a uler for 2010 called TEAMWORK work and activities of the Insti- So far we have planned the fi rst-time member of the Insti- (25,5 x 17,5 cm); a luxury ball- Thank you and very best wishes, tute in places such as Budapest, following activities for 2010: tute for 2010. point pen of the SSI; free mail- London, Bucharest, Belgrade, · To open a new branch of the Everyone who either renews ing of these gifts to everywhere in Anna Bartenstein, Kunseling (Wales), Yesell- Shang Shung Institute in their membership or becomes a the world; full access to our web Luigi Ottaviani and Oliver Leick ing (Austria), Conway (USA), Lon don with an exhibition member of the Institute for the shops. Directors of the International Arcidosso, Merigar East, and on Khyung Lung and several fi rst time by the 15th of January In order to receive restricted ma- Shang Shung Institute Merigar West; 2010 will have a chance to win terial from our web shops one www.shangshunginstitute.org

the base of some of his public Teachings, original translation given by Chögyal Namkhai The Direct Journal SSI Translation retreats, from Tibetan in English by Elio Norbu in Australia in 2009. · training in Tibetan for aspirant Guarisco. 2) The Mejung Tantra and its pref- n 2010 the Video Journal will Projects translators. · Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: ace by Chögyal Namkhai Nor- evolve into the Direct Jour- Dear Supporters of the Ka-ter Longchenpa’s Advice from the bu, translated in collaboration Inal. Translation Project and the Pro- The principal translators are Adri- Heart, commentary by Chögyal with Adriano Clemente and The Direct Journal will be a gram for the Publication of the ano Clemente and Elio Guarisco. Namkhai Norbu, Longchenpa text Jim Valby. video system on demand based Complete Works of Chögyal Jim Valby and Fabian Sanders are translated by Elio Guarisco. 3) Kyedzog, Easing the Beginner’s on the web which will allow Namkhai Norbu, the year 2009 is working in a part-time capacity · Kathog Situ Chökyi Gyatso: Way: the Essential Points of Cre- viewers to follow all the events coming to a close and it is time for the Ka-ter Project. Togden Shakya Shri. The Life ation and Completion, by Jamgon linked to Rinpoche’s travels (just to give you a report on the activi- As the coordinator of these two and Liberation of a Tibetan Yogin, Kongtrul, translated and anno- like the current Video Journal). It ties in the year 2009 of the two projects, I want to express my sin- translated from the Tibetan and tated. will have the advantage of offer- translation projects of the Inter- cere gratitude to our translators annotated by Elio Guarisco. 4) An Explanation of the Medium ing the most up-to-date contents national Shang Shung Institute, who have been doing such an ex- · Also published by Shang Shung and Long Thun and The Gana- and the possibility to enjoy them which are the Ka-ter Translation cellent job all these years. I want Edizioni in 2009, Chögyal Nam- puja, coordination of Chögyal in a simpler and more immediate Project and the program which to thank the whole team of the khai Norbu’s The Light of Kai- Namkhai Norbu’s teachings. way. In addition the Direct Jour- is dedicated to the translation of Shang Shung Edizioni for pub- lash. A History of Zhang Zhung and nal will also include footage from the Complete Works of Chögyal lishing books for a general audi- Tibet, an innovative and profound Elio’s work in 2010 will be dedi- the archives of the Shang Shung Namkhai Norbu. ence as well as for the Dzogchen study of the cultural and spiritual cated Institute. The aim of our endeavor is to Community, and especially I heritage of Tibet, translated from 1) to the revision of Chögyal For those who do not have an make the teachings written in Ti- want to thank Nancy Simmons the Tibetan by Donatella Rossi, Namkhai Norbu’s book on ADSL line or who prefer a more betan of Chögyal Namkhai Nor- for her brilliant editing of the was an absolute milestone for the Moxa and its preparation for classic system, the Direct Journal bu, as well as selected works of books published in English. Shang Shung Institute. Its pro- publication, with the collabo- will also be available as a collec- other great Dzogchen masters, duction was also an outstanding ration of Susan Schwarz; tion of the online video shots and available in Western languages. Here is a short Report of Activi- example of excellent collabora- 2) to the editing of the Os- will be sent to subscribers twice Both projects are coordinat- ties for 2009: tion among all people involved in el Nangcha teaching of Paltrul a year. ed by the Shang Shung Institute Publications the translation and publication Rinpoche, the subject of a re- Annual subscription costs Austria and include A very important, successful and of that latest book of Rinpoche. treat given by Chögyal Nam- will remain the same as the cur- · translation and publication of intense year for the Ka-ter Trans- khai Norbu in 2007 at Meri- rent cost of the Video Journal (50 teachings of Chögyal Namkhai lation project, 2009 has seen Translators and their Translations gar, an annotated translation euro, or according to member- Norbu, three outstanding books pub- Elio Guarisco: from the Tibetan in collabora- ship terms established at your · translation and publication of lished in English in the Ka-ter se- Forthcoming Books by Shang Shung tion with Oriol Aguilar; Gar). Dzogchen Tantras and other ries by Shang Shung Edizioni: Edizioni 3) to completing the revision and For further information and important texts, · Chögyal Namkhai Norbu: Birth, 1) The Nyingthig Yangti, a Chan- preparing the Mejung Tantra subscription, contact: · translation and publication of Life and Death according to Ti- chub Dorje terma, an anno- for publication; [email protected] texts that Rinpoche offers as betan Medicine and the Dzogchen tated transcription of a retreat >> continued on the following page THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009 Shang Shung Institute

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>> continued from previous page 4) to completion of the transla- voted to the dreams related to tion of the Rdo rje lus kyi sbas the history of the Vajra Dance, bshad, The Vajra Body, of Gyal- 2) to completion of The Book of wa Yangonpa; Divination with Dice of Dorje Yu- 5) to a new edition in English of dronma, the Thodrol, The Tibetan 3) to completion of Atiyoga: the Book of the Dead, translated Essence of All Teachings, a book into Italian from Tibetan by containing most of the tawah Giacomella Orofi no and En- or point of view sections of San- rico dell’ Angelo in the 1980s; ti Maha Sangha, levels One 6) to a prepublication assessment and Two, of a new enlarged edition of a 4) to completion of the Bepai Gum- book on including the chung – The Small Hidden Collec- Twenty-one Praises, coordi- tion of Buddhagupta. nated by Julia Lawless; 7) to a prepublication assessment Jim Valby: of the Advice of Dorje Lingpa, Jim has worked on Chögyal Nam- subject of a Chögyal Namkhai khai Norbu’s ka dag khregs chod kyi Norbu retreat, transcribed and dgongs pa gsal bshad klong chen ‘od edited by Nina Robinson. gsal, which is his commentary on his own terma named klong Adriano Clemente: chen ’od gsal mkha’ ’gro’i snying thig Salima Celeri and Aldo Oneto at work at the SSI offi ces in Italy. Photo: L. Graf Forthcoming Books by Shang Shung las ka dag khregs chod kyi man ngag. Edizioni opportunity to thank all donors guarantee precise translations of Or you can make your donation 1) Rainbow Body. The Life and Real- Fabian Sanders: from the bottom of my heart the teachings of Rinpoche and online with your Visa or Master- ization of Togden Ugyen Tendzin, the Fabian is completing “The Book for their far-sighted generosity other great Dzogchen masters, Card. biography of the uncle of Chög- of the Gompa of Merigar”. – thank you so much and many and offer the possibility to in- Please send us your credit card in- yal Namkhai Norbu; translation Tashi Delegs. Without your sup- terested and talented people to formation either by fax (+43 3386 from the Tibetan with extensive Jim and Fabian in the immediate port we could not do this impor- study the Tibetan language and 83218) or by post, or you also can historical research on the foot- future will dedicate themselves tant work, essential for the pres- become qualifi ed translators use our web-safe credit card pay- notes of this book. to the completion of the above ervation of the teachings for fu- from the Tibetan. ment site. Important note: never 2) The Vajra Dance Book, with pre- mentioned works. ture generations. send your credit card informa- cise translation of the steps of the From the 1st of January un- There are so many marvels we tion by e-mail. three Dances, reviewed with the Training for Translators from til the 15th of November of this are dedicated to revealing, but principal Dance instructors. Tibetan year, the Shang Shung Institute we need your kind help to do so! Thank you so much for your collabo- 3) Rmad Du Byung Ba, revision In summer 2009 the Seventh An- has spent more than 61,000 Euro ration and support, and our very best and editing of the translation, nual Training for Translators from for the translating and editing You can send your donation via wishes, together with Elio Guarisco. Tibetan of a one month duration of unique texts in the English bank-transfer Oliver Leick 4) Collaboration with Enrico was successfully held in Merigar language, as well as in the train- Bank: Raiffeisenbank Ilz Director of the Shang Shung Dell’Angelo on The Biography taught by Fabian Sanders. ing of future translators, the in- Address: Hauptstr. or the Eng- Institute Austria of Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi In 2010 one week courses will struments that will allow many lish revision Coordinator, the Complete Wangchug. be offered in various European to have access to these marvelous Address: Hauptstr. 39, 8262 Ilz, Works of Chögyal Namkhai 5) Collaboration with Enzo Ter- cities, and the Eighth Annual teachings. Austria Norbu and Ka-ter Projects zano on The Gomadevi Thun Training session will be held This year we did not receive the Bank Code: 38151 Gschmaier 139 Book. again in summer at Merigar. total sum of funds needed to re- Account number: 30387 in the 8265 Gr. Steinbach, Austria alize our goals, and therefore we name of Shang-Shung Institute Tel.: 0043 676 3221365 Adriano’s work in 2010 will be Finances want to invite you with special ur- Austria. www.shangshunginstitute.org dedicated As you perhaps know, the Ka- gency to participate in these pre- BIC (= SWIFT): RZSTAT2G151, www.ssi-austria.at 1) to completion of The Book on ter project and the “Complete cious projects and to support this IBAN: AT19 3815 1000 0003 0387 www.completeworks.info the Vajra Dance: the sections de- Works” are fi nanced exclusively activity of benefi t to all beings. by donation. I want to take the Only with your generosity can we

Below is the link to a developing The Scholarship will be need- Santi Maha Sangha directory of collaborating doc- Matching based, and students will be asked Available At SSI tors and centers of Traditional to apply. Exams Tibetan Medicine practicing in Scholarship Grant/ The board and staff of the Bookstore Conway n order to apply to take any of the United States: SSI USA SSI-USA will choose the winner the Santi Maha Sanga exams, www.tibetanhealingarts.com or winners for the fi rst year’s Ornament of the State of Iplease check the new exam Dear all interested in the Shang scholarship(s) by the beginning Samanthabhadra procedure well in advance on the Feel free to link either of these Shung Institute, of the Fall, 2010 semester. Kunjed Gyalpo Series Vol. Two following website: two resources to any webpage he American Branch of Written in Tibetan by Khenpo dzogchen.it/santi maha sangha that you may feel is related. the Shang Shung Institute To send a donation, please con- Zhenphen Oser or contact the coordinating T has recently received a very tact me, Anna Bartenstein, Translated into English centre at Save at the Healing Center generous offer from a Dzogchen through email at: a.bartenstei by Jim Valby [email protected] SSI School of Tibetan Medicine Community member with a long- [email protected] or Ref.# j1002 $30 Graduate Check out our new time interest in Tibetan Medi- call me through the SSI offi ce Product description: facebook fan page. Become a fan cine. This member would like to telephone at 413-369-4928 Jim Valby’s second translated and save $10 on your next visit to help us start a scholarship fund volume of the Kunjed Gyalpo Se- Shang Shung the healing center! for students of the School of Ti- Thanks very much for your help, ries. Ornament of the State of Sa- Institute USA News Shang Shung Tibetan Healing betan Medicine. The donor’s and we look forward to starting mantabhadra: Commentary on Center Fan Page: http://www.face businesses, JCROWS.com and J. this wonderful new project. We, the All-Creating King of the Pure book.com/pages/Northampton- Crow Company look to support and our students thank you im- Perfect Presence of the Great lease take a moment to MA/Shang-Shung-Tibetan-Heal this very positive development in mensely for your support of our Perfection. Volume Two: Com- check out these two new ing-Center/210603650019?ref=ts holistic health care by establish- program, and their studies. mentary on Chapters 11–29 of Ponline resources for Tibet- ing the scholarship for 2010. the Kun.byed rgyal po by Khenpo an Medicine. Thank you! Best wishes, Zhenphen Öser. Shang Shung Tibetan Healing This donor has agreed to match Anna Bartenstein Tibetan Medicine – Alive in the Center Staff donations to start a School of Ti- Administrative Director Note: This is an unrestricted item. West! is a new blog hosted by the betan Shang Shung Institute – USA In order to buy unrestricted items Shang Shung Institute School of Medicine Scholarship fund, one must be a Shang Shung Insti- Tibetan Medicine graduates. It up to $2500, for a total of $5000 tute member, or a current mem- can be found at: seed money to start the scholar- ber of the Dzogchen Commu- www.blog.tibetahealingarts.com ship fund. We have 90 days from nity. today to receive all donations to- Contact: If you like it, please become a follower wards the matching grant, so the [email protected] to show your support! deadline for all donations is: March 9, 2010. THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009 Shang Shung Institute

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curriculum looked richer than Interview with theirs. I said I am not interested to become better but to become Dr. Phuntsog Wangmo standard. Then we negotiated From a video interview done by Jerome Monnot for the Shang and talked about how we could Shung Institute at the time of the fi rst Tibetan Medical graduating collaborate and make a contract. class ceremony in Conway Massachusetts, USA in October 2009. I told him that when our students This interview covers the history of the medical program as well go there, I want them to receive as its current status and vision for the future. a complete teaching from highly qualifi ed teachers – not only to Lhajeh (Dr.) Phuntsog Wangmo re- At the end of 2004, beginning learn theory – but also the wis- ceived her advanced degree from the of 2005, we fi nished the curricu- dom and blessing from them and Lhasa University School of Tradition- lum and gave it to Shang Shung their vast experience. We also al Medicine in 1988 where she also Institute and I said, “Now I have want to see how all the doctors served a two-year residency after com- written the curriculum and have are working, the pharmacy and pleting her fi ve-year training program done what you asked. I really everything, and we also want to (1983–1990). During that time she want to open this medical school receive traditional transmission studied with the Khenpos Troru Tse- because it is very important. One of the rGyud Bzhi. Then once we nam and Tsulkrim Gyaltsen, two of thing is that we can make many Photo: J. Monnot receive all these things, I want Tibet’s foremost doctors who are cred- people happy, we can preserve the University to give the exam ited with the revival of Tibetan Medi- Tibetan culture because Tibetan Tibetan Medicine is mainly can have the same kind of train- to all our students. For me the cine within Tibet under the Chinese. Medicine is a unique aspect of based on the fi ve-element the- ing and knowledge. Originally exam would show how well our Dr. Phuntsog Wangmo had the excep- Tibetan culture and that is the ory and there are many books, when they wrote this book, many program was working. The Dean tional opportunity of extensive clinical function of the Shang Shung In- textbooks, and commentaries. scholars from all over Tibet col- agreed to prepare the exam in training under Khenpo Troru Tsenam stitute, to preserve that unique There is one book called the Four laborated so I thought this book English and he said he thought for four years. Thereafter, she dedicat- cultural heritage, and this medi- Tantras of Tibetan Medicine, would be the most accurate. I we should make one diploma just ed many years of work as a doctor in cine can benefi t all sentient be- rGyud Bzhi, and we start with this also felt it was important in case for our students, because they are Eastern Tibet where she collaborated ings. It is a great treasure and I text because it is the most well- our students were able to go to quite good quality. and directed the implementation of really want to try.” They agreed known and most standard text Tibet for their internships, and At the end of 2008 the Dean A.S.I.A. the non-profi t organization and said if I really wanted that I of Tibetan Medicine. All Tibetan that did happen. went back to Tibet and discussed founded by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. should try. Doctors, scholars and teachers On the practical level, Tibetan this possibility with his supervi- Since that time, she has worked on be- So we started to the school agree on this book, which con- Medicine is quite new in the West sor Dr. Wo Tsochen, who is the half of A.S.I.A. setting up hospitals in September of 2005 and fi ve tains the origin and the founda- and people are not familiar with president of many aspects of Ti- and training centers in the remote re- people came. I was working with tion of Tibetan Medicine. The it so we do not have large num- betan Medicine in Tibet, primari- gions of Chamdo Perfecture. those fi ve people and my Eng- aim of the SSI Medical School is bers of patients. We are not rec- ly in Northeast Tibet. Dr Tsochen From 1996-present, she has been lish and their Tibetan was not so to stay close to the root tantra of ognized so we have no insurance is the president of the University, the A.S.I.A. project coordinator in Ti- good, so together as a team we this rGyud Bzhi. There are many coverage. Also even if we wanted the Tibetan Medical Hospital bet for the development of Gamthog tried to start the school. When I commentaries and explanations, to do certain practices with Tibet- and the pharmacy. Dr. Tsochen Hospital in collaboration with expa- was teaching, the students would but since the students are limited an Medicine, we are still missing agreed to the collaboration and triate personnel as well as the overall help me fi nd the English words by the lack of Tibetan language, I some criteria to make it a com- came to Conway in the beginning health coordinator and practitioner of and then we would work together thought it would be easier to stay plete system in the West regard- of April 2009 to sign the contract traditional Tibetan medicine supervis- like a family. Then the semester with the root text. I want to teach ing rules and regulations. Also with Shang Shung Institute, and ing health activities throughout the fi nished and another lady joined in the traditional way. The main regarding our pharmacy, many we went to Tibet. So the main surrounding region of Chamdo Per- and we became six people. Then method I use is the traditional of the Tibetan herbs are grown purpose of our trip to Tibet was fecture. Prior to 1996, she was on the after one year another lady start- Tibetan style, because I learned in a certain climate at over 3000 mainly for clinical practice and faculty of Shang Shung Institute in It- ed and then we had seven people that way and from some great meters above sea level, and these receiving teachings from other aly where she gave numerous seminars in the second year. teachers. We had so many great herbs are not here. Also we do teachers and to take that exam to and conference presentations on Tibet- This is how we began our teachers in Tibet and most of not have any factory or pharmacy see how our program is working an medicine. Dr. Wangmo remains in school. During those four years them have already passed away. where we can make medicines in and which part is weak. residence at the Shang Shung Institute I tried to work with the students Some people have said the this country. For all these reasons In the beginning of July our in America where she is the director quite strongly, because the main course is too long and maybe I thought the students should go students went on an herb walk of the Institute’s Traditional Tibetan problems were different cul- Westerners are not interested in to Tibet for the internship to have collecting herbs and took the Medicine Program. tures, different characters, and all that detail. Since I am teach- real knowledge. traditional herbal exam on the then also different languages. A ing Tibetan Medicine, it is my job In the third year we tried to mountain. They passed the exam Jerome Monnot: Can you tell us good aspect was that most people to teach in the pure tradition. I have contact with Tibet hoping very well. Then at the beginning how the Tibetan Medical School knew Buddhism and most were am not Buddha so I cannot create we would be able to go to Tibet of August they took the fi nal began? dharma students, which made it something. If I try to make some- for the internship. We made con- exam in two parts: theory and Dr. Phuntsog Wangmo: I came to easier. Also many of them were thing new it becomes false and tact with the Northeast Tibetan practical. The theoretical exam the United States in 2001 when I members of the Dzogchen Com- has no value. The only value is Medical University in Tibet. We is based on diagnostics and the was invited by the Shang Shung munity, so they were like family. if I stay with the root Tantra. The had already received a license practical on pathology. All of our Institute in America to teach Ti- The students worked very hard. experience with this text has evi- as a professional school under students passed and did better betan Medicine. I was not sure It was a very big challenge for dence and proof. So again I will the Massachusetts Education then their average students and if I should come but I received a them; there was the language to- say that my commitment is that Department in our second year. the doctors were very surprised. letter from Rinpoche saying he gether with a medicine that was everything is based on the tradi- Many places from Tibet made Then they gave the students the thought it best I come, so I de- totally different from what their tional system. I will teach pure Ti- contact with us and we chose the certifi cates that said: Doctor of cided to try. culture explained. We all had betan medicine as is taught in the Northeast Tibetan Medical Uni- Tibetan Medicine. In the beginning we mainly some diffi culties but we also en- rGyud Bzhi,and also how I learned versity because we felt they were The day of the ceremony many did monthly workshops. There joyed a lot because, even though it from my teacher. When I teach, more positive and helpful in ac- people participated and also a were a lot of requests to study Ti- the language was sometimes dif- I explain the root tantra word by complishing our goal. group of seven students from betan Medicine but there was no fi cult or the lack of this or that, word, and then the meaning, so Then in 2008 we invited the Stanford University, California school in the West, so I thought it the students took it very seriously we did each single word in that Dean of the Northeast Tibetan who are studying Western medi- would be good to have a Tibetan and found Tibetan Medicine very way. In the second year the stu- Medical University to Conway cine. Once a year the Stanford Medical School and also at the interesting. dents said our program was too and we organized some teaching students spend one month at same time it would help maintain short and that four years was not workshops, he also taught our the hospital there observing the Tibetan Culture. JM: Can you say something brief- enough time. For that reason we class, but mainly we worked on methods of Tibetan medicine, At the end of 2003 into 2004, ly about the program? did a lot of summer programs how these two schools would col- how to approach the patient, etc., I proposed to Shang Shung Insti- PW: Tibetan Medicine is not that and ended up with four and a half laborate. I showed him the entire and they have some classes there. tute to change the monthly work- simple. No healing science is years; so it is four years of classes curriculum and the exams, and All the leaders of the hospital and shops into a real Tibetan Medi- very easy, but Tibetan Medicine and six months of internship. he was very surprised at what we the University, and the head of cal program and they said it was is quite complicated because it The other text we use is a stan- are doing and how much we were each department of the hospital, a good idea, but something very is a very large and deep body of dard national Tibetan Medical learning and how much material so altogether about thirty or forty diffi cult to do because you need- knowledge, so for that reason it textbook. It has twenty-six vol- we had covered. He saw that we people came to our graduation ed a very detailed curriculum and is quite an endless study. I have umes. It is divided into the root were not missing one word from ceremony. The main guest who there were no fi nancial resourc- been practicing Tibetan Medi- Tantra, anatomy, physiology, etc., the rGyud Bzhi, because there was gave the diplomas was the head es. So for all of 2004, together cine for twenty years, I studied so we use this book because it is no way to miss anything since we of Tibetan Medicine in Qinghai. with my friend and Tibetan doc- for fi ve years in school, and I also a standard text used in Tibet. We went word by word. So our method and curriculum tor Yangdron Kalsang from San had apprenticeships with other have to meet the standards of The Dean said he thought for worked well. Francisco, we wrote the curricu- teachers, but truthfully it is diffi - the doctors trained in Tibet, so studying our school is probably lum. cult to describe everything. if we use the same text then we better than their school and our >> continued on the following page THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009 Shang Shung Institute

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>> continued from previous page ates needed to be licensed. We and preserve Tibetan culture and very good leadership in Chögyal have a very good future for the JM: Can you talk a bit about needed an organization to work to protect people’s health; so if Namkhai Norbu and this pro- Shang Shung Institute and the ATMA (American Tibetan Medi- with legislation to make Tibetan the doctors are legitimate there gram is Rinpoche’s vision. He Tibetan Medical School. cal Association)? Medicine standardized in the US. is less harm for people. We want is an extraordinary being, so I PW: When we opened the school The SSI Board said fi ne, but it to make standard rules and reg- am sure he has a very clear view. JM: Thank you very much, here in Conway, people called was my job to make a new board ulations for the doctors to pro- Also we have the support of the Dr. Wangmo. and asked, “After I study, what with my Tibetan doctor friends tect patients and we do not want international Dzogchen Com- can I do?” So we researched. and SSI would support it. So we Tibetan Medicine to get a bad munity, which is a big family, Some people said it was illegal founded ATMA. name. Tibetan Medicine is thou- and third we have a very profes- and some people said not. Once The aim of ATMA is to have sands of years of Tibetan culture sional group of teachers/faculty, we heard the word ‘illegal’ we Tibetan Medicine recognized in and based on the hard work of very good people with concrete were a little afraid. Many Tibet- the West so that we can prac- many ancestors and great mas- knowledge and pure motivation. an doctors who came to this and tice and help people. Our aim ters. This is a very deep, concrete We also have a good staff work- other countries had to do other is not to make business, money and practical knowledge and we ing for Shang Shung Institute, jobs and could not practice medi- and power but to serve human- don’t want it to get a bad reputa- goodhearted people, and we now cine. They gave up their profes- ity. ATMA’s aim is to protect tion or become useless because it we have a very good network and sion. Legality was the main is- and promote Tibetan Medicine has lost the essence. At the same contact with another university. sue. From the research I could and help support Tibetan doc- we want to protect the people we Shang Shung Institute has now not fi nd any documents saying tors. We need to be authorized are helping. For that reason we received invitations from many that practicing Tibetan Medi- with correct knowledge and un- formed ATMA. universities. Now we have a very cine is illegal. The truth is that derstanding. So ATMA needs to So now we have a very good good cooperation with Qinghai no one ever applied for licensing. make Tibetan Medicine and its base and solid foundation for the Medical University in northeast No one even knew what Tibetan practitioners standardized and Shang Shung Institute Tibetan Tibet and many schools in Tibet Medicine was. So we needed to recognized by the government. Medical School, and we need to and the US are interested in col- educate people about Tibetan Standardized also means not to continue and improve things. laborating with us. Until now not Medicine by teaching and the lose the essence of the Tibetan The Tibetan Medical program many knew that Shang Shung other point was that the gradu- Medicine. We want to maintain will grow in a good way. We have Institute existed. Now I think we

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The Shang Shung Institute is happy to announce that SpeciÀ c oil for rlung...... € 9,00 It may act as aphrodisiac but is not to be used in the following medicines are available on order to SORIG APRICOT HAIR OIL 100 ml case of heart problems and high blood pressure. Promotes hair growth as well as preventing prema- anyone who had a consultation with a Tibetan doc- ...... € 15,00 A MONTH’S ture greying and dandruff ...... € 9,00 tor and was given a speciÀ c prescription. KIT HORME: SUPPLY FOR EACH MEDICINE COSTS 15 EUROS. SORIG DECONGESTANT ARU BALM 20 g Compresses, oil and diffuser at € 22 instead of No. Names in phonetics Transliteration Relief from headaches, colds, muscle pain and in- € 23,50 if single items were bought separately. 1. Kun-dhey kun-bde sects bites...... € 4,00 2. kyuru-25 skyu-ru-25 TIBETAN HERBAL TEAS 3. khyung-nya khyung-lnga SAAB-GAAY (relieves skin irritation) 50 g tube These teas are all formulated from natural herbs in 4. 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Dashel-37 zla-shel-37 ZATHI-DUKNUUM (heat compress oil) 100 ml restlessness due to palpitation, fear and mental unrest 16. Da-due zla-bdud Oil to warm up horme compresses...... € 6,50 without any apparent reason...... € 5,00 17. Yuril-13 gyu-’dril-13 MEY-PHOR (oil diffuser) 18. Sengdeng-25 seng-ldeng-25 LOONG-TSAB-MENJA (Tea for Gynecological disorders) 19. Sam-nor b sam-nor Oil diffuser for horme treatments...... € 10,00 Loong-Tsab Menja helps to re- 20. Serdhog-11 gser-mdog-11 DHUTSE-NGALUM (Medicinal Bath Therapy) 250 g duce mental stress, poor mem- 21. Aru-10 aru-10 Medical bath for “rlung” disorder, helping to ease men- ory, fainting, weak kidney and 22. Agar-8 agar-8 23. Agar-15 agar-15 tal restlessness and harmonising physical humours. It also uterus, irregular menstruation, 24. Agar-20 agar-20 helps to alleviate swelling of the legs, varicose veins, stiff- anemia , numbness of limbs, 25. Agar-35 agar-35 ness of limbs resulting from arthritis and nerve disorders, pain in urethra and lower ab- 26. Tragur-8 khrag-gur-8 menstrual pain and rough skin...... € 10,00 domen, leukorrhea, loss of lower body heat, and pain 27. Nyenpo-18 gnyen-po-18 28. Sang-dak gsang-dag SORIG LOONG T EA 20 bags around hips and waist...... € 5,00 29 bde-dpag Tea to pacify rlung disorders...... € 7,00 30. Jangchoe-37 byang-chos-37 31. Gawa-16 dga-ba-16 THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009 Focus on Tibetan History

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n this issue of The Mirror we Focus on Tibetan History and are pleased to present excerpts from two of Chögyal year course. So I did a kind of research to see why we only Namkhai Norbu’s historical works: Drung, Deu and Bön, Narrations, Symbolic Languages and the Bön Tradition in Ancient had a two-year course of study while other languages had ITibet published in English in 1995 by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives and the revised edition of The Necklace four and some of the older professors explained to me of Zi, On the History and Culture of Tibet published by Shang Shung Edizioni in 2004. In addition there is a transcription of that it was because Tibetan language and literature came part of the talk given by Rinpoche at Tibet House Barcelona last November during the presentation of his recently pub- from India or China. That offi cially it only dated back to lished work The Light of Kailash (Shang Shung Publications 2009). the time of , the dharma king who devel- Today Tibetan culture, history and teaching are on the brink of dying. In the areas of China populated by Tibetans, oped the Buddhist tradition, because all Tibetan scholars the Tibetan language has been neglected in schools and workplaces and Chinese has become the lingua franca. With of the Buddhist traditions had presented Tibetan culture the disappearance of language, culture soon follows in its wake. and history as starting from that period. Before that time Moreover, there has been an almost universally accepted theory both in Asia and the West that considered Tibetan they considered that there was no form of writing in Tibet language and culture as an offshoot of Indian civilization, and that Tibet did not even have a form of writing until the and consequently if there was no writing, there was no Ti- advent of Buddhism there in the 7th century A.D. betan culture. Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, aware of the imminent danger to Tibetan religion and culture, has dedicated years of aca- So how did more than thirty generations prevail, start- demic research to trace back and establish the emergence of his country’s culture in the ancient realm of Zhang Zhung ing from the fi rst [Tibetan] king? In this historical ac- nearly 4000 years ago and to identify the original Tibetan system of writing from which the present cursive characters count, it says they continued with drung, deu, bon. Drung have evolved. means that someone explains how things were in the past Rinpoche’s historical works offer a new and dynamic approach to the history and culture of Tibet but most of all are and this is passed from generation to generation. Deu intended to be like “seeds in a fi eld” to encourage the new generations of Tibetans to continue research and to show means a kind of divination used by ministers who need- them the value and antiquity of their culture. ed to have a little more capacity in order to govern. And then they mainly used the culture and the religion of the Bön tradition and everything related to it that came from Zhang Zhung. None of them existed originally in Tibet. The Importance and Value Then some of the Tibetan kings were not satisfi ed. For example, starting from Nyatri Tsenpo, there were seven of Tibetan Culture famous kings. After that there was a king called Trigum Tsenpo who understood that the Tibetans were depen- dent on Zhang Zhung because they did not have their own The following is an excerpt from a transcription of the talk given Of course, these six brothers did not live in the same particular culture and writing. He decided to eliminate all by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu during the presentation of the fi rst place but divided and lived in different places throughout the Bonpo and traditions of Zhang Zhung and carried out volume of his trilogy The Light of Kailash at Tibet House in Tibet. The people of the kingdom of Zhang Zhung de- many negative actions during that period, even though his Barcelona last November. scended from the clan of one of the brothers called the intention was good. He thought that if [the country] was sBra or Khyung clan. The clans of the other brothers devel- totally Tibetan, it would become more powerful, just like Kailash – the source of Tibetan culture oped in central Tibet, in east Tibet, in Amdo and in differ- Zhang Zhung. But of course when he had destroyed every- am going to explain just a little about my book, which ent places. So we can understand that Zhang Zhung and thing related to the Bön tradition, in that period there was is called ‘The Light of Kailash’. Why does it have this Tibet had the same origin. But of course when different nothing left for governing. So he did not succeed and lat- I title? Tibet is a very large country and Kailash is in the places develop their lifestyles and their customs, they also er on he was murdered and once again the Zhang Zhung west. The area around Mt. Kailash and Lake Manasarovar develop slightly different languages and attitudes. tradition of Bön continued to develop and became more was the source of ancient Tibetan culture. Indian people powerful from generation to generation. also consider this mountain and lake to be very sacred be- Zhang Zhung script cause it is the source of all the four main rivers like the In the sBra clan in Zhang Zhung, in ancient times, there Songtsen Gampo Ganges and Brahmaputra and is considered to be a place was a teacher of the Bön teaching called Tönpa Shenrab. Then after 31 or 32 generations there was this fa- sacred to Shiva. At the same time, Tibetans also consid- He invented the writing of Zhang Zhung, the fi rst writing mous king, Sontsen Gampo who, in Tibetan, we say er it to be an important sacred mountain because when called Mar (sMar) in the language of Zhang Zhung, but was an emanation of Avalokitesvara. In any case, he was the Buddhist tradition developed in Tibet, Mt. Kailash when we translate it into Tibetan it is called lha. For exam- very clever and also did not want Tibet to be dependent was considered to be the sacred place of Chakrasamvara ple, in Tibet our capital is called Lhasa. Sa means ‘land’, on Zhang Zhung because then it would never become a in the Vajrayana tradition. Of course the origin of the an- land of the divinity, land of the deva. In the Zhang Zhung powerful kingdom. He thought it was essential to create cient Bonpo was around Kailash so they also consider it language Lha is mar. This writing was also called mar yig, a new Tibetan culture. Firstly, he did not take any nega- to be very important. Thus I gave this name to show that or invented by Tönpa Shenrab, and all his teachings in that tive actions against the Bonpo and became very friendly the source of ancient Tibetan history and culture was west period were written in that language and writing. towards the kingdom of Zhang Zhung. The last king of Tibet. In that same period, the descendants of all these other Zhang Zhung whose name was Ligmikya was also a very In general when we study Tibetan history a little, Ti- brothers developed into different tribes and some of them powerful king at the time, but Sontsen Gampo was very betans refer to the time of the fi rst Tibetan king, who was became very powerful, going around on horseback and clever and he took his second wife, Lithigmen, from the called Nyatri Tsenpo, up to the time of the king of the Bud- fi ghting etc., but they had no form of writing. Writing prince of Zhang Zhung and he also gave his sister in wife dhist tradition, a period which covered 31 or 32 different only existed with the people of Zhang Zhung. Later over to the king of Zhang Zhung. So the two kings had a very generations of kings. The origin of all these traditions, the many generations of the Zhang Zhung kings, the Bön tra- close relationship for many years and Sontsen Gampo be- way the kings governed and the kind of culture that ex- dition slowly developed and then spread to different parts came more and more powerful and gradually tried to take isted in the country at the time of these kings originated of Tibet. control of Zhang Zhung. in west Tibet where there was already a kingdom called For example, there is a place that is a little south of cen- The king of Zhang Zhung had not given a very high po- Zhang Zhung. During the period of the eighteen very fa- tral Tibet called Kongpo where there is a mountain that is sition to the sister of Sontsen Gampo and she was almost mous kings of Zhang Zhung, the kingdom of Tibet did not famous to the Bonpo. In ancient times, it is said that Tön- at the third level as a queen and naturally was not happy exist yet. But how are Zhang Zhung and Tibet connected pa Shenrab visited that place and empowered the moun- about this and communicated this fact to her brother sev- and why is Zhang Zhung the origin of Tibetan culture? tain so that it became sacred. He also taught Tibetans eral times. For years Sontsen Gampo prepared and stud- We have many different kinds of explanations about the around Kongpo how to use rites for the dead called Khrus ied how to conquer the kingdom of Zhang Zhung. source of the Tibetan people, but the most ancient expla- bshal and other rites for having good crops and creating At that time there was a small kingdom called Azha in nations are found in the Bön tradition. prosperity in the country, although there is not much his- the area which is known today as Qinghai. It was governed tory about that. by Zhang Zhung for many years and the king of Zhang The origins of the Tibetan people So some aspects of the Bön tradition had already devel- Zhung often went there to visit. One day king Ligmikya The Bön tradition is a teaching, a kind of religion, and oped at that time. But there was no Tibetan kingdom; that went to visit Azha taking a route which passed very close its culture existed before the Buddhist tradition in Tibet started much later. Before that there were these famous 18 to central Tibet. Sontsen Gampo’s sister informed her and also before the start of the Tibetan kingdom. When kings. If you want to know something about this histori- brother about this journey and when they knew the precise we study ancient history even in the Buddhist tradition, cal period, my fi rst book [in this series] explains mainly time of his visit, Sontsen Gampo himself led a group of we fi nd that the origin of the Tibetan people is called mi’u about the situation of Zhang Zhung. very powerful people who went on the road and murdered gdung drug, which means ‘the six brothers’. But where did the king of Zhang Zhung. When this happened there was these six brothers come from? There are different explana- Drung, deu, bon nobody in Zhang Zhung powerful enough to continue to tions about this. For example, in the Bön tradition, which I have written three volumes on the ancient history of govern and the Tibetans immediately dominated the king- is more ancient, it is written that there existed a kind of Tibet and advised people who are interested in studying dom. This is the second historical period and the second primordial egg, something like the concentrated energy ancient Tibetan history to divide it into three periods be- volume [in the trilogy], from the time of the start of the of the fi ve elements. When this egg opened, three kinds cause nobody has approached Tibetan history in this way. Tibetan kingdom and the continuation of the kingdom of of beings emerged: lha, divinities or superior beings with Even when I was studying about Zhang Zhung while I was Zhang Zhung. greater capacity, klu or naga who are considered to be water working at the University teaching Tibetan language and beings because in the dimension of our globe the greater literature, nobody explained or spoke about Zhang Zhung. Zhang Zhung and part is water. Then the third being was called gNyan, some- But I was interested because I understood that we needed After that, Sontsen Gampo brought a wife from Nepal in times called the class of Ma-sangs, which dominate space, to do research into ancient Tibetan history. order to introduce Buddhism into Tibet, to create a new earth and mountains. These kinds of beings called Ma- I taught Tibetan language and literature for many years culture and also took a Chinese queen for the same rea- sangs gradually developed into human beings. So human at University but we had no course of study and teaching son. He sent one of his ministers, Thönmi Sambhota, to beings are considered to have descended from these six like other languages. For example, other languages like India to study and to invent Tibetan writing. In brothers who came from the class of beings called gNyan. Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Persian, etc., had a four-year the history books it states that Sontsen Gampo said, “We This ancient history is widely diffused in ancient Bön. course of study leading to a degree in that language, while Tibetans need to have Tibetan writing”. He didn’t say, “We with Tibetan, Korean, Mongolian etc., we only had a two- don’t have any type of writing and we need to invent one,” THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009 Focus on Tibetan History

11 because in Tibet they had always used the writing of the Bonpo tradition. And gradually the original Zhang Zhung script developed into an easier way of writing. For example, nowadays in Tibet we have two kinds of writing: one is called uchen, which means we can also use it for block printing etc., and was invented or created by Thönmi Sambhota with its origin in the Indian tradition. The Zhang Zhung script, however, became more and more developed with the passage of time and was called umed. How can we understand that? It is very simple. When we write uchen, we always start to write the heads [the upper parts of the letters] from left to right and then we write the rest, which means that we need more time to write. When we write umed it is from right to left and for that rea- son when it developed it became very fast to write. Thus my idea is that there are two different origins of uchen and umed. We had a fantastic scholar in Tibet called Gendün Chö- pel who did some very good research about the history of the ancient Tibetan kings. When he explained about writ- ing, he said that when we write uchen quickly, it becomes umed. I agree with everything that Gendün Chöpel ex- plained, but I do not agree with that because, for example, in Bhutan where they have always used the original letters of uchen writing, they don’t use umed. They write uchen very quickly but even so, it has never become umed because the character is different. So then if what Gendün Chöpel said is true, why didn’t the writing in Bhutan become umed? They call it khyug-yig (‘khyug yig), which means a very fast form of writing uchen. But even though they write it very quickly, it is never as fast as writing umed. For example, if they write one line of khyug-yig, this fast form of uchen, and I write in umed, I can write three lines. That is an example to show it can never became as fast as umed. So you see then for that reason, in my book I insisted that Tibetans used a form of writing because even though there was no Tibetan writing like that invented by Thönmi Sambhota, they used the writing of Zhang Zhung. Some people say that it is diffi cult to understand how Zhang Zhung writing existed because the modern Bonpo tradi- tion does not use this writing but uses the writing that Ti- Mount Kailash. betans use. We only know that it existed in ancient times. However, I am not the only person who has explained this. a lot of magic power in Tibet because they no longer had sible for the king’s condition from Zhang Zhung, and so There are also other histories, for example there is a Dhar- a king. Moreover, the most important wife of the Zhang they sent two ministers to search for him. His name was ma history book written by Ngadak Nyang-ralpa, an an- Zhung king was still alive, even though she had no pow- Nangher Löpo and he was the fi rst Bonpo teacher invited cient master, who explained that some generations before er, and she asked the Bonpo teachers to exert their mag- from Zhang Zhung. Sontsen Gampo, some Tibetan kings used another form ic power over the king, Songtsen Gampo. Through that He performed ceremonies and rituals for some days of writing. He didn’t say it was Zhang Zhung script but he magic power he received a very heavy illness that affected and a kind of therapy and Songtsen Gampo became said they used writing. his nerves, gave a lot of pain and didn’t let him walk. healthy. As a result of this, the king gave this group of Bonpo a place halfway between Lhasa and Shigatse where they founded a Bonpo monastery called Meri. The Bonpo lived there for generations, and even though later on some Tibetan kings expelled the Bonpo to the borders of Tibet, they couldn’t do anything about Meri monastery because Songtsen Gampo had given it to the Bonpo. So the seal on the fi rst page of the book is that of the last king and is in the Zhang Zhung script. I found it in India at the Bonpo centre, where there is a monastery and where they have transferred all these things. The last volume [of the three] explains about the period after the kingdom of Zhang Zhung ended and covers the period of the kingdom of Tibet up to the last king. Some people suggested that I continue the up to modern times but I didn’t want to do that. Modern his- tory moves into the political situation and I didn’t want to have any problems for our organization ASIA for develop- ing schools and hospitals in different villages in Tibet, so I stopped there. So these three volumes explain mainly how Tibetans used this ancient writing and language. The history of Songtsen Gampo – how he received this magic power from Zhang Zhung and how he murdered the last Zhang Zhung king – all of this can be found in the Dunhuang documents. When scholars study and do research, if their work in based on documents from Dun- At the beginning, when I started to explain, I found Later on it became customary for all Tibetan kings to huang, everybody accepts it and this explanation can be it very diffi cult because I had to proceed logically in my have two Bonpo masters in order not to receive the nega- found there. I explained this in my books so you can un- explanations. For example, in the ancient Bön tradition, tivities of the Bön. When a prince was born in Tibet, the derstand the value of Tibetan history is and what an an- there were many kinds of medicine, many kinds of astrol- Bonpo masters would do a type of purifi cation; Buddhists cient tradition it is.  ogy and also ju thig, a very complicated form of divina- could not. The name of the king was given by the Bonpo tion. If there had been no writing there would have been and for that reason most of the Tibetan kings had names in Transcription & editing by L. Granger no way to understand all these things, so it is logical that the Zhang Zhung language, particularly in ancient times, some form existed, that they used some type of writing, before the time of Songtsen Gampo. We don’t know what although I didn’t have any way to prove this. many of these names mean although in the Zhang Zhung language they are very elegant. And you can fi nd some of The Power of the Bonpo these explanations here. You see on the fi rst page of The Light of Kailash there is a The Bonpo teacher of Songtsen Gampo said that he seal in Zhang Zhung writing, the original Mar, which is the had been affl icted by magical power from Zhang Zhung seal of the last king, Ligmikya. After he was murdered, the and that there was little they could do about it. He said that Bonpo governed everything and in that period, they used they needed to invite the Bonpo master who was respon- THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009 Focus on Tibetan History

12 Drung, Deu and Bön Narrations, Symbolic languages and the Bön tradition in ancient Tibet

An excerpt from the ‘Introduction’ to Chögyal Namkhai Norbu’s historical work entitled Drung, Deu and Bön, published by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in 1995.

he study of the Bön religious tradition, that was present in Tibet for many centuries before the T spread of Buddhism, is an indispensable reference point for research into the birth and history of the civiliza- tion of the ‘Land of Snows’. Originally the term ‘bön’ des- ignated the various existing religious and magico-ritual traditions, very probably based on elements common to the heritage of pan-Asiatic Shamanism.1 Etymologically the term derives from the verb bon pa, ‘to recite magical formulas’, because the power its practitioners obtained derived from the recitation of , syllables or sounds with the capacity of infl uencing certain energy dimen- sions. In fact through the vibration of mantra the ancient Bönpos came into contact with, and succeeded in control- ling, the invisible energies and occult forces that govern existence. Rinpoche in Khyung Lhung. Courtesy of A. Siedlecki In a historical era which can probably be dated about the beginning of the second millennium B.C.2 one stream time of Nyatri Tsenpo to that of Songtsen Gampo (died murdered and with the accedence of his successor Pude of the several ritual traditions gained supremacy over the 649), the state religion was Bön and the king was always Kungyel11 Bön was reinstated in its prestigious position. others, conquering them so to speak, and absorbing them accompanied by one or more royal priests called kushen (sku In the light of subsequent events Trigum Tsenpo’s failure into its own system. The foundation of this stream, which gshen). These priests served as the king’s bodyguards and can be explained by the lack of a culture to pose as an alter- was to become ‘offi cial’ Bön, is ascribed to the master were essential for maintaining his prestige and well being native to the Bön of Shang Shung, because the endeavour Shenrab Miwoche who lived in Shang Shung, in that area as well as ensuring the prosperity of the people and the to disengage the political power from the infl uence of the between Mount Tise (Kaila¯sa) and Lake Mapham (Manasa- nation. Nevertheless there were occasions when the kings clergy was not accomplished until the reign of King Songt- rovar) which can in all respects be considered the cradle attempted to rebel against the power of the priestly caste, sen Gampo who, availing himself of the Buddhist culture of Tibetan culture. The name Shenrab Miwoche means which was directly tied to the interests of the kingdom of from India and China, succeeded in laying the foundation ‘Great Supreme Man of the Shen’; Shen was the name Shang Shung that initially enjoyed a sort of supremacy over of a new culture and religion capable of bearing compari- of the clan to which he belonged and to which histori- the new state: it is suffi cient to observe that traditionally son with the autochthonous religion. cal sources attribute the names of his ancestors for sev- the names of the Tibetan kings were conferred by the Bön With this king begins the third and last phase of an- eral generations.3 The most remarkable innovation in his teaching was the abolition of the ancient cruel sacrifi ces and the adoption of the use of clay or butter ‘effi gies’ to replace the human or animal victims, a tradition still ob- served today not only in Bön but also in all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism.4 Thus the main aim of his mission was to renew and reform the pre-existent cognitive and ritual traditions, as clearly transpires from the theoreti- cal principles and methods of practice comprised in the ‘twelve lores’, twelve types of Bön that were spread in Ti- bet at the time of the fi rst king, Nyatri Tsenpo.5 Accord- ing to the historical sources these represent the whole of Tibetan culture as it existed until the defi nitive advent of Buddhism in the eighth century. Let us dwell a moment on the history of Tibet in order to have an overall picture of the origin and evolution of the country. Broadly speaking it can be divided into three historical periods: in the fi rst only the kingdom of Shang Shung existed; in the second Shang Shung coexisted with the new kingdom of Tibet located in the fertile Yarlung val- ley; the third, which starts with the annexation of Shang Shung by Tibet, ends with the collapse of the Tibetan em- pire in the ninth century.6 The centre of the kingdom of Shang Shung lay in what is now the region of Guge in western Tibet, but its dominion spread over practically all the territory subsequently en- compassed in central and eastern Tibet. The government of Shang Shung probably did not exercise direct control over those regions, limiting itself to levying annual taxes, however its civilization and culture, based on the Bön tra- ditions, spread widely in all parts of Tibet. The beginning of this era probably coincides with the life of the master Shenrab Miwoche and of his royal patron Triwer Sergyi Charuchen.7 As regards the name Shang Shung’, probably the original name was simply ‘Shung’ and ‘Shang’ (zhang: maternal uncle) was added later as a sign of respect, as many Tibetan kings had married princesses from Shang Petroglyph representing a tiger, symbol of the element wind, and deer. This photo appears in The Shung. The word ‘shung’ (zhung) corresponds to the Ti- Light of Kailash, chapter V – The Civilization of An- betan khyung, the garuda eagle8 that in this ancient civili- cient Zhang Zhung. Courtesy of A. Siedlecki zation symbolized the energy force linked with fi re, con- sidered the most active of the fi ve elements in Bön. Still to- priests in the language of Shang Shung. Trigum Tsenpo10 cient Tibetan history, corresponding to the annexation of day in the vicinity of Mount Tise there exists a place called (c: 1st century A.D.), the eighth king, was the fi rst to try to the kingdom of Shang Shung and the culmination of the Khyunglung, ‘khyung valley’, which was for a time capital suppress Bön for political reasons, exiling all the priests , which in a short time became one of the of the kings of Shang Shung.9 and enforcing a harsh repression of the clergy. He was greatest powers in central Asia. Forging diplomatic ties The second period saw the rise of the dynasty of the concerned about the growing prestige of the priestly caste with the rulers of Nepal and China, Songtsen Gampo pro- kings of Yarlung, a small kingdom in central Tibet, which and feared that Shang Shung could conquer Tibet, a king- moted the introduction of Buddhism, although it was only was to lay the foundation of the Tibetan empire of the suc- dom quite young in relation to the other and which still in the reign of King Trisong Deutsen (742–797) in the fol- ceeding centuries. But the culture of the kingdom was that lacked adequate political and military power to protect its lowing century that Buddhism came to be offi cially ad- of Shang Shung, as was its religion. All the historical texts independence. But Trigum Tsenpo’s persecution did not opted as the state religion. Having laid the foundation for report that for thirty-three generations of kings, from the achieve its desired ends for long, however, as the king was the diffusion of a new culture Songtsen Gampo prepared THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009 Focus on Tibetan History

13 an ambush for King Ligmigya12 of Shang Shung and mur- dered him, thus consummating the annexation of Shang Shung. This marked the beginning of the decline of the ancient Bön religion, but in spite of this throughout the period of the Tibetan monarchy until its collapse, which according to tradition coincided with the murder of King in A.D. 842, the king of Tibet continued to be fl anked by a Bönpo priest whom he asked to perform the most important rites to propitiate fortune and glory, on the birth of a prince, at a royal matrimony and on other momentous occasions. Until this period the basis of Tibetan culture, as we have suggested, had consisted in the ‘twelve lores’ of Bön, where we fi nd the ritual knowledge and traditions that, merged with the principles and practices of Buddhism, have char- acterized Tibetan culture and spirituality up to the pres- ent day: medical and astrological cognitions, methods of divination, apotropaic and propitiatory rites, cosmogonic narrations etc. When Bön was subsequently classifi ed in ‘nine ways’ (theg pa rim dgu) these ‘twelve lores’ were incor- porated into the four ‘Bön of Cause’ (rgyu’i bon), so called to distinguish them from the fi ve ‘Bön of the Fruit’ (‘bras bu’i bon) offi cially considered as higher teachings.13 Let us try to understand the possible origin of this classifi cation. The fi ve ‘Bön of the Fruit’ contain mainly teachings that can be found in the and Tantrayana Buddhist traditions, so one can assume they were introduced into Bön in a period later than that of the ‘twelve lores’; the au- thenticity and originality of the ninth and last ‘way’, com- prising the Dzogchen teachings, alone is beyond doubt as its historical inception can be correlated with the kingdom of Shang Shung.14 In any case we can hypothesize that the Bönpos absorbed elements of Buddhism without recog- nizing them as such, as some scholars maintain,15 or that they did so in order to survive, to counter the great success of the Buddhist faith. The fact remains that in the con- temporary Bönpo canon can be found some of the most important , albeit with different titles, and even the iconography of Shenrab Miwoche emulates that of Buddha Sa´¯kyamuni.16 There may originally have been valid reasons for this work of transformation and adap- tion of Buddhist elements, perhaps for the very preserva- tion of the authentic Bön teachings, but this principle was The silver palace of the Garuda Valley, soon forgotten and the importance of the original tradi- Khyung Lhung. Courtesy of A. Siedlecki tions was neglected in favour of the philosophical teach- ings derived from Buddhism. It was probably at this point roots, which in Tibet’s case undoubtedly derive from the 10 According to tradition Gri gu bstan po was the fi rst king to leave mortal remains, that the original Bön was classifi ed as ‘Bön of Cause’, that ancient Bön tradition and civilization of Shang Shung.  unlike the fi rst seven kings who on dying ascended to the sky by means of the ‘dmu 17 cord’ (dmu thag). In a duel the commoner Lo ngam rta dzi cut the king’s ‘dmu cord’ is as inferior or preliminary to the ‘Bön of the Fruit’ and with a sword and killed him, so that in order to carry out the funerary rite bon pos the authentic principles of the ancient Bön culture were Reprinted with kind permission of the Library of Tibetan Works who were specialists in performing these rites had to be expressly invited from Zhang misconstrued and almost excised by the protagonists of and Archives, Dharamsala. H.P India. Zhung and other countries (see Chapter III, iv). Cf. Karmay 1972, pp. 66ff. offi cial Bön. 11 There were important innovations during sPu lde gung rgyal’s reign, in the fi elds The fundamental principles of the ancient Bön tradi- Drung, Deu and Bön of agriculture and metallurgy. According to certain sources he was a contemporary of the Chinese emperor Wu ti of the Han dynasty, who ruled from 140 B.C. to 85 B.C. tion are not expressed in philosophical concepts and are Translated from Tibetan into Italian, Cf. Shakbpa 1984, p.24. rarely found in the canonical texts.18 Rather they must be edited and annotated by Adriano Clemente 12 Bon sources give king Lig mi rgya as a contemporary of Khri srong lde’u btsan ‘distilled’ from the mythological narrations contained in Translated from Italian into English by Andrew Lukianowicz (see Chapter XV, x), but according to the Tun Huang documents, the king who had the ancient ritual texts which act as prelude to the rites Library of Tibetan Works and Archives 1995 him murdered and who defi nitively annexed Zhang Zhung was Srong btsan sgam po and guarantee their effi cacy. Reading these myths we can (Gedun Chos-‘phel 1978, p.67). The Bonpo scholar Tenzin Namdak has attempted to resolve this contradiction by explaining that lig mi rgya was a term used as an attri- understand the principles underlying the various rites and bute by many kings of Zhang Zhung, corresponding to the Tibetan srid pa’i rje, ‘King identify the most particular characteristics of the ancient 1 Some types of Bon were certainly based on principles and practices similar to of Existence, and that it was only during the ‘last’ Lig mi rgya, contemporary of Khri Bön tradition: a practical and concrete knowledge of the those of Shamanism, which is proved by the numerous elements that still survive in srong lde’u bstan, that Zhang Zhung was conquered (Op. 81, pp. 44 and 152; also Bon rites and in the rites derived from Bon adopted by the Buddhists. For example, pp. 42–46 for his interpretation of the fall of the Zhang Zhung kingdom). various aspects of the energy of the individual in rela- the issue of the abduction of the soul (bla) by spirits and its recovery by the shaman 13 tion to the dimension in which he lives, whereby it differs (or in this case, the bon po) through his power, is common to many shamanic tradi- The ‘Nine Ways’ of Bon have been studied by D.L. Snellgrove in The Nine Ways of Bon (see Bibliography), which contains extracts from gZi brjid, the ‘extended’ biog- greatly from which is more centred tions, and not only Asian ones. However exhaustive studies on the relationship be- tween Bon and Shamansim have yet to be undertaken. For a general overview of the raphy of gShen rab mi bo che. First published in 1967, this work represents the fi rst on the nature of the mind and its manifold psychologi- argument cf. Nebesky, 1975, pp. 538ff. real study of the Bon religion in its totality of autochthonous traditions and elements cal aspects. This was the original wisdom of the Tibetans, assimilated in later periods. Cf. Chapter III. iii. 2 Doubts have at time been cast on the historicity of the master gShen rab mi bo 14 which has imbued all the cultural and religious aspects of che by western scholars, although his name appears in the Tun Huang manuscripts The most authoritative collection of rDzogs chen teachings of the Bon tradition Tibet but which today runs the risk of sinking into obliv- (Chapter XI, xi). In the present work the author suggests a date for his birth based on is the Oral Transmission of rDzogs chen of Zhang Zhung (rdzogs chen po zhang zhung snyan traditional Bon texts (chapter XI, VIII). brgyud), whose masters were usually also protagonists of the tantric cycle of Zhang ion. Zhung Me ri, in which one also fi nds the name of king Khri lde lcags kyi bya ru Today, as is well known, Tibet is under the domination 3 gShen rab mi bo che’s clan is considered to be descended from the dMu deities can of Zhang Zhung. Cf. Karmay 1972, p. 50. (Chapter V, vii). dMu is also the name of one of the four original tribes of Tibet (rus of the People’s Republic of China, and of its vast territory 15 chen bzhi). Cf. Tarthang (ed.), Ancient Tibet, 1986, pp. 114–119. This is the opinion held by D. L. Snellgrove. This would validate those contempo- the central and western regions and a small part of east- rary Bonpos who hold that their teachings were imported into Zhang Zhung from Tag ern Tibet form the ‘Autonomous Tibetan Region’ under 4 These rites are dealt with mainly in Chapter VI. zig, a region generally identifi ed with Persia but which may have indicated all the area west of Pamir, which in those times included the regions of Bactria and Sogdiana, 5 Chinese rule, while the eastern region has been absorbed There are several uncertainties regarding the chronology of the fi rst Tibetan where the Buddhist doctrines were spread owing to the intense activity of the cara- into four Chinese provinces (Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan kings, just as there are for all the history previous to the great empire of the seventh vans on the ‘silk route’. Cf. Snellgrove 1987, pp. 390–391. century. Some traditional Tibetan texts ascribe the date 126 B.C., others 414 B.C., to and Yunnan). Ladakh, a country with Tibetan popula- the appearance of the fi rst king. In The Necklace of Gzi the author suggests that the 16 A very particular iconographic description of gShen rab mi bo che, contained in tion and culture, in under Indian rule and only the small king may have been a contemporary of S´¯kyamunia Buddha (6th century B.C.). Cf. Srid pa spyi mdos, an ancient ritual text which, as it is apparently without Buddhist in- state of Bhutan, also culturally Tibetan, enjoys political Namkhai Norbu 1081, p. 11. fl uences, clearly brings to light the characteristics of original Bon. In this text, widely quoted from by the author in Bod kyi lo rgyus las ‘phros pa’i gtam nor bu’i do shal, the Bon 6 independence. The Tibetan population, including refu- The author has written a book in Tibetan on the ancient history of Zhang Zhung master is depicted with long blue hair, wearing a cloak of vulture feathers and a rain- gees who have settled down mainly in India and Nepal, and Tibet under the title Zhang bod gna’ rabs kyi lo rgyus nor bu’i me long published by Si bow kilt and holding a ‘cosmic egg’ in his hand (Op. 86, p.2; Op. 56, pp. 4 and 36). This kron mi rigs dpe skrun khang in 1990. An expanded version in three volumes is to be does not seem to total over six million people, and such text was the object of a thesis presented at the I.U.O. of the University of Naples by E. published in the near future under the title Zhang bod kyi lo rgyus ti se’i ’od. Dell’Angelo under the title Contributo allo studio dell’insegnamento di gShen rab mi bo che. a small number of inhabitants in a territory as large as Ti- 7 Khri wer la rje gu lang gser gyi bya ru can, traditionally considered a contempo- bet, which is almost a quarter the size of modern China, 17 It should be borne in mind that in all its traditions Tibetan Buddhism has been rary of Shenrab Miwoche (Op. 81, p. 34) is listed among the ‘eighteen kings of Zhang infl uenced by Bon as regards its ritual aspects. It is for this reason that in the present is clearly insignifi cant compared to one billion Chinese. Zhung in horned headgear’ (zhang zhung gi rgyal po bya ru can bco brgyad), who held work there are several passages from Bon rites ‘adopted’ by the Tibetan Buddhist The consequence of this fact is the danger that the Tibetan different regions of the ancient kingdom as their realms. In Gangs ti se’i dkar chag schools. (Op. 25), a Tibetan guide to sacred Mount Kailash, the names of each king and of his people and culture may be destined to vanish. The only palace are given. Cf. Namkhai Norbu and Prats 1989, pp. 127–128. 18 A work which systematically expounds the fundamental principles of Bon cos- way to save the identity of a people is to preserve its cul- mogony and metaphysics is Srid pa’i mdzog phug (Op. 83), in which, however, along- 8 See Chapter IV, note 21. ture, and in order to appraise the culture of a country to side ancient mythological narrations one fi nds philosophical interpretations that are strictly Buddhist. enable it to survive it is necessary to search for its genuine 9 E.g. Khyung lung dngul mkhar, residence of Lig mi rgya (also Lig mi rhya, Lig mi rkya) the last sovereign of Zhng Zhung. >> Focus continued on page 16 THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009 News from all over the world

14

sity of Oxford and President of Presentation of the International Association for Tibetan Studies each spoke about “The Light of different aspects of the origins of Kailash” in Rome Tibetan culture. Finally Chögyal Namkhai Nor- n Saturday, November bu took the podium and thanked 7th, the fi rst volume of the speakers for their interest and O Chögyal Namkhai Nor- participation. He went on to speak bu’s trilogy, “The Light of Kai- about the danger posed to Tibetan lash, A History of Zhang Zhung culture and language today and and Tibet”, was presented in the the importance of the research Aula Magna at the Faculty of Ori- being done by western scholars ental Studies at La Sapienza Uni- in order that it did not become versity of Rome. The event was something that only fi nished up organized by the International in a museum. His aim, he said, Shang Shung Institute for Tibet- is to show the value of Tibetan an Studies and the Faculty of Ori- culture and he hoped that, in the ental Studies, under the aegis of future, Buddhist scholars would the Province of Rome. learn to be more open about the Prof. Donatella Rossi, the roots of Tibetan culture. translator of the work, opened He spoke at length about his the event during which Matthew deep research into ancient Bon rit- Kapstein, Professor of Buddhist uals texts as a source of study and Photo: P. Ferraro Studies at the University of Chica- into the source of writing which go Divinity School, Per Kvaerne, dated back before the time of wished to dedicate his research to age them to do their own research books and greeting the numer- Professor Emeritus at the Uni- Songtsen Gampo with the script the new generations of Tibetans, into their ancient culture. ous participants at the event. versity of Oslo and Professor of the kingdom of Zhang Zhung. “like seeds in a fi eld”, to encour- At the end of the conference, Charles Ramble from the Univer- He concluded by saying that he Rinpoche spent time signing

1st group of Yantras, Tsandul and of working together. We started Tsijong. by building a relationship with We also had the opportunity the gym, organizing the stage, to present the new Yantra Yoga choosing the program for les- book and to announce the forth- sons, then we worked during the coming Russian edition. After- festival and are now continuing wards there was a presentation of to develop public relations and Dzogchen to all participants and trying to present Yantra Yoga to the Vajra Dance and the Manda- a wider audience. All the peo- la immediately became the focal ple participating in the project point in the exhibition hall and have been working together very attracted reporters from three TV smoothly, helping and support- channels. ing each other. Besides being a great opportu- After the festival, the Body nity to present the Teaching to the and Building magazine came out general public, this small project with an article about Yantra Yoga of the Moscow Dzogchen Com- and a photo of the master class munity, guided by Yeshi Nam- doing the 1st group of Yantras khai, supported by Rinpoche, with Marina. On the cover, near and with the great help of Fabio a photo with Hilary Swank, they gave us a good experience of col- wrote “Yantra Yoga – fi rst time in and movement everywhere. The other Oriental stage, with more laboration and happy moments Russia”. “Yantra Yoga. First “Sport and Style Fitness Mos- than 100 people participating cow” Festival has been held by the in open classes, including art- time in Russia” Moscow City Government since ists, businesswomen, hairdress- Darya Mikhaylova 2005. The main goal of the exhi- ers, journalists and profession- bition is to develop sport, fi tness al sportsmen. The latter were Books by rom September 11-13, dur- and a healthy lifestyle in Moscow mostly interested in the Yantra ing the “Sport and Style and every year 30,000 Moscovites Yoga breathing system, which Chögyal F2009” festival, the Moscow visit this exhibition. can give benefi t by saving energy “New League” fi tness club pre- New Liga had its stage just in and therefore give as lasting and sented its new “Body and Mind” front of the podium, where Adi- good results as in gymnastic or Namkhai Norbu school section and Yantra Yoga das and Nike were presenting power training. Yeshi Namkhai was presented as the main part of their latest collections of clothes. explained basic things about this project. Over two days, two presentations our three levels and how to work “New League” is one of the fa- were given by Yeshi Namkhai and with energy and breathing, and U Yantra Yoga mous and well-equipped gyms in three open classes of Yantra Yoga Marina showed the audience the U Dream Yoga and the Moscow and has three fl oors with were held on this stage and an- transparent walls full of people Practice of Natural Light taking care of their bodies and U Dzogchen Teachings health. You can see the schedule U The Supreme Source of the gym and fi nd cardio and House For Sale power training, dance classes, Pi- near Merigar West U Dzogchen: The Self- lates, cycling, aerobics, box and Case Brezza Perfected State step. Among them now you can between Pescina U The Crystal and the Way also fi nd Yantra Yoga classes, two and Seggiano times a week. of Light The head of the “Body and 120 sq.m., 3 large Mind” school invited Yeshi Silva- bedrooms, 2 bath- no Namkhai and our local Yantra rooms, Kitchen/ Yoga instructor, Marina Sukha- dining room, sitting room with fi replace, store- nova, to give a presentation and room, pizza oven outside, gas heating, completely open a Yantra Yoga class during renovated, new roof. the biggest and the most famous www.SnowLionPub.com fi tness festival in Moscow. Just Contact: Sangiorgi Tel: 0039 34 95 40 22 70 Tibetan Buddhist news and thousands of items online. imagine, in a huge hall in front of Email: [email protected] FREE quarterly newsletter 800-950-0313 the Kremlin, right in Red Square or Tuscanary: [email protected] and catalog on request. [email protected] with fi ve different stages, music THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009 News from all over the world

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Before the Dudtsi Jonshing Barcelona Days retreat started, on the 11th of No- vember, the day of Adzam Drug- Jampel Dell’Angelo pa, our Master Chögyal Namkhai Norbu was invited to the “Casa rom the 14th to the 18th del Tibet” of Barcelona where he of November our precious gave the worldwide transmission FMaster Chögyal Namkhai through web cast. Afterwards, at Norbu gave the teaching “Dudt- the “Casa del Tibet” Rinpoche si Jonshing” in Barcelona. Our was also invited to present his re- Master explained that this teach- cently published book “The Light ing is related with the Dzogchen of Kailash, A History of Zhang- Upadesha series, “Dudtsi” means Zhung and Tibet”. This impor- nectar and “Jonshing” means tant book is being published lively tree. The meaning of the by the Shang Shung Institute in title of the teaching in English three volumes. At the “Casa del would be “Nectar that comes out Tibet” there were many new peo- from a lively tree”. The title of the ple and this was a great occasion text states that this is related with to meet our Master and get con- the methods for achieving clar- nected with the teaching. ity and manifestations and that The retreat ended on the 18th this is a very deep and important Photo: L. Graf of November and the afternoon teaching. As this teaching has after the last explanation there some secret parts I don’t really lona. It was quite funny to see the I saw Rinpoche laughing a lot our Master said “Let’s go for was a Ganapuja followed by a know what else I can say, so bet- contrast between the busy world every morning for this sonorous lunch on the beach today, it’s so lottery and some music perfor- ter I stop here. of businessmen, offi ces, banks welcome on his arrival. beautiful”. mances. The lottery had incred- This year the retreat was or- and shops that surrounded the The days of the teaching were At the beginning of the retreat ible prizes and there was a very ganized in the centre of the town auditorium, and our Vajra broth- really warm and sunny, I don’t Yeshi Namkhai also arrived in young girl of only few months in an important auditorium that ers and sisters following the know if it’s the fantastic weather Barcelona and visited Kundusling that became a real key player as usually is used for music per- teaching. When Rinpoche used of Barcelona or climate change where he gave an essential expla- she won more than ten times! formances and important busi- to arrive one of our Vajra sisters but it really didn’t seem like mid nation and we did a practice to- Finally after some experimen- ness meetings. Differently from would play a very loud conch November. People walked out of gether. Kundusling gave him the tal music, some fl amenco guitar the previous years we were not shell outside the Auditorium, it their houses in the morning just T-shirt of the Barcelona Football and a very funny Yiddish piece near the beach, but right in the almost seemed like one of those wearing t-shirts. I also know that Club, as a gift, which he really Rinpoche said, “Goodbye every- middle of the town in the most sounds you could only hear in a one day, although the timetable liked. body!” and the retreat fi nished. modern and busy part of Barce- valley on the top of the Himalyas. of the retreat was very intense,

Rinpoche’s Birthday December 8 at Tashigar North

Dubravka Velasevic

n Dec 8th we celebrat- that he immediately released. ed Rinpoche’s birthday They fl ew out into the sky above Oand it was a particularly the Gar to enjoy a life in tropical beautiful and exciting day. After paradise. his precious teachings, everyone Tashigar Norte members or- was invited to have lunch with ganized a very nice program for Rinpoche in the Comedor. One the birthday party. There were of the fi rst gifts presented to our various kinds of performance: teacher was a pair of lovebirds instrumental music, singing, Ti-

Photo: Rainbow

betan dances performed by Com- munity people and Venezuelan dances performed by local chil- dren dressed in colorful national costumes. Carlos, a Gar member who lives nearby, danced with the children disguised in a won- derful mask and costume with a big green horse head, long bird feathers, and a huge, black hat from the Andes. After birthday cake, everyone enjoyed Rafael’s melodramatic Russian songs and we danced and drank a little wine until the evening. When Rinpoche left, people were still in a mood for a dance and impro- vised a samba fi esta powered by water can drumming and a gui- tar. Photo: V. Babanov THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009 Focus on Tibetan History

16

Thus it is probable that the lands renowned in antiq- Bön and the Bönpos uity as Oddiyana and , reached with immense risk and sacrifi ce by the Indian Siddhas, belonged to the kingdom of Shang Shung or may have bordered on it. This The following is an excerpt from chapter 3 of Chögyal Namkhai could lead us to hypothesize that the archaic Dzogchen Norbu’s work ‘The Necklace of Zi’ published by Shang Shung Edi- taught by Shenrab Miwoche gradually developed after- tions. ‘The Necklace of Zi (gZi yi phreng ba)’ is the revised and ex- ward into Buddhist Dzogchen. In fact, in the history of tended text of a lecture given by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu in 1975 the Oral Transmission of Shang Shung we read that the thir- to the annual meeting of young Tibetans in Switzerland. Some teenth master of the Dzogchen lineage in descent from years later, ‘The Necklace of Zi’ was published in Dharamsala in Shenrab Miwoche was a certain Shang Shung Garab,15 both Tibetan and English, and immediately provoked great inter- who may have been the same person as Garab Dorje, while est for a completely new approach to the history and culture of Ti- the tradition of ‘twelve primordial masters’ reported by bet. the Buddhist Dzogchen literature 16 could also derive from the twelve teachers who preceded Shang Shung Garab in ön is an ancient Tibetan term with the same mean- the lineage of the Dzogchen of Shang Shung. explaining ing as today’s verb bzla (pronounced da, to recite history in such an irregular manner may surprise and up- Bmantras). In the old texts, the verb bön was some- set many Tibetan scholars, but it is indispensable to accu- times replaced by the term gyer, to invoke. Originally, rately investigate and refl ect upon the authentic origins of the word probably derives from the fact that by reciting the culture and spiritual traditions of Tibet. the ancient Bönpos drove away illness and nega- At any rate, the true principle of the Dzogchen teaching tivity, both for their own benefi t and to help others, and is knowledge, meaning the understanding of the origi- performed ferocious magic against the entities provoking nal, natural, unaltered state of every individual, male or disturbance. female as they may be. Thus Dzogchen cannot be equated In 1717, when the Zungar Mongol tribes invaded Tibet, with a religion or a philosophical doctrine, nor even with many Nyingmapas and Bönpos were put to death. Those the content of some sacred scripture. Ancient Dzogchen Tibetans who went to meet Zungar chieftains had to stick texts state that even among primitive populations, never out their tongues to show that they were neither Nying- Shenrab Miwoche, drawing by Lopön Tendzin Namdak. reached by Buddhist teachings, there could be many yo- mapas nor Bönpos, whose tongues, through constant gins and yoginis possessing perfect knowledge of the repetition of mantras, were believed to have turned black series known as the Divine Bön of Ritual Offerings (bshos state of Dzogchen. On this premise, it is not surprising or dark brown. This habit continued, and ever since Ti- kyi lha bon), the Bön of Village Funeral Rites (grong gi ’dur that in both Bön and Buddhism exist teachings which ex- betans usually show their tongue as a gesture of respect bon) and the Bön of Perfect Mind (yang dag pa’i sems bon). plain how to realize this state of authentic knowledge. We before high offi cials or important . All this amply Just as Tibetan Buddhists, recognizing in India and need not maintain a rigid and limited view, wanting to at- demonstrates that the Bönpos have always had a reputa- Oddiyana the birthplaces of the Buddhist teachings, al- tribute the origins of Dzogchen to Bön or alternatively to tion for assiduous practice of mantras. ways gave maximum importance to everything that came the tradition. Dzogchen is a knowledge which Just as the word Sangyepa (sangs rgyas pa) refers to Bud- from these lands, while dismissing whatever originates transcends the limits of time and space: indeed it is said dhists, so the term Bönpo is generally ascribed to a specif- in Tibet, so Tibetan Bönpos who survived the the spread- that innumerable masters holding this knowledge and its ic religion, but this view is not historically correct. Before ing of Buddhism, imitating this example, have shifted teachings are present throughout the universe. In particu- Buddhism was introduced in Tibet, the designation Bön- the origin of Bön to Tazig, and have located there Olmo lar, the tantra entitled The Transcendent Sound (sgra thal ’gyur) po was applied to all those who, gifted with special facul- Lungring, the place where Shenrab Miwoche was born states that the Dzogchen teaching is widespread in thir- ties and powers, performed certain kinds of rites, recited and gave his fi rst teachings. But in the Lineage of Existence teen dimensions called thalwa or ‘beyond our solar sys- certain types of mantra and the like: bön was the term in- (Srid pa rgyud kyi kha byang), a text attributed to the Bön- tem’. Therefore it is fundamental to rise above the biases dicating such ritual action. Therefore, it is not possible to po master Trenpa Namkha, a contemporary of Trisong of a restricted view.  trace, or reduce, Bön to a single origin. When the master Deutsen, and in the Concise Biography (Mdo ’dus) of Shenrab of Bön Shenrab Miwoche came to this world, there already Miwoche, it is clearly written that the great master and all The Necklace of Zi existed various types of Bön practitioners – the Düd Bön the Bön teachings came from Shang Shung. Later Bönpo On the History and Culture of Tibet (bdud bon), whose powers derived from the Düd (demons), scholars maintain that Shenrab Miwoche reincarnated in Translated from Tibetan into Italian and edited by the Tsen Bön (btsan bon), whose practice was based on the India as Buddha Shakyamuni, to preach Buddha Dharma, Adriano Clemente cult of the Tsen (a class of harmful beings), and others then in China as Kongtse Trulgyel to teach astrology, and Translated into English by Barrie Simmons who employed animal sacrifi ce. Shenrab Miwoche pro- so forth. In this way, they make of him a fi gure similar to with thanks to Nancy Simmons hibited this usage, and substituted rites of payment such the ten avataras or incarnations of Lord Vishnu in the Hin- Shang Shung Editions 2004 as the Dö (mdos), the Ye (yas) and the like, replacing cruel du religion. While such assertions are without historical sacrifi ces – as is substantiated by the ritual texts of these foundation, what is certain is that the Bon of Perfect Mind traditions12 – through the substitution of animal statuettes (Yang dag pa’i sems bon) taught by Shenrab Miwoche was for living beings. It is probable that the Düd Bön, the Tsen an archaic form of Dzogchen: in fact, we possess the list 12. See the Srid pa spyi skong or Srid pa spyi mdos (The General mDos of Existence) by Bön and the like existed many centuries before the ap- and the histories of all lineage masters of Dzogchen of Sangs po khri na khod (VIth century), manuscript in the Merigar library. (An in- teresting study of this text is E. Dell’Angelo, Srid pa’i spyi mdos: Contributo allo studio pearance of the great master. At any rate, offi cial Bön, the the Oral Transmission of Shang Shung (zhang zhung snyan dell’insegnamento di gShen rab Mi bo che, unpublished university thesis, Naples 1982). so-called Yungdrung Bön or Immortal Bön, was the result brgyud).14 If Shenrab Miwoche taught Dzogchen, which is 13. See the g.Yung drung bon gyi bstan ’byung (The Origins of the Teaching of Immortal Bon) of the modifi cation and improvement of the existing Bön also the apex of all the teachings transmitted by Buddha by dPal ldan tshul khrims (1902–1973), Delhi 1972, p. 190, line 6 ff. tradition by Shenrab Miwoche. Shakyamuni, we cannot doubt his extraordinary qualities; 14. See the rDzogs pa chen po zhang zhung snyan brgyud kyi bon ma nub pa’i gtan tshigs (The Some Western scholars who have studied or investigat- we can, moreover, deduce that Tibet in that period had Reason Why the rDzogs pa Chen po of the Oral Transmission of Zhang Zhung did not Disappear) ed Bön have hypothesized that what is known as shaman- not only a culture, but also an exceptional form of spiri- by Gyer chen sNang bzher lod po (VIIIth century), Delhi 1968, p. 260, leaf 1, line 5 ff. ism originated in Bön and that the very term shaman is a tual knowlege. 15. From the Zhang Zhung snyan brgyud kyi rnam thar (The Story of the Oral Transmission corruption of the word Shen, the name by which the kin Some may object that Dzogchen has its origin in Oddi- of Zhang Zhung) by Gyer chen sNang bzher lod po (VIIIth century), Delhi 1968, p. 10, of Shenrab Miwoche are known: thus shamanism would yana and therefore could not have been taught by Shen- line 5 ff.: The third, Master gSang ba ’dus pa, miraculously born and gifted with the magic mean the ‘tradition of the Shen’. This hypothesis is not rab Miwoche. The arising of Dzogchen (that is, of its capacity of assuming any appearance, transmitted (the instructions) to lHa bon thod absolutely without justifi cation: just as the ancestors of Buddhist tradition) can undoubtedly be traced to Master dkar; he to Ye gshen bsam ’grub; he to Gyer spungs legs grub; he to rGyung yar btsad Buddha Shakyamuni belonging to the royal clan of Shakya Garab Dorje of Oddiyana, and Oddiyana has traditionally po; he to Khre sras rgyal ba; he to Zhang zhung dga’ rab; he to Ra sangs bsod nams brtseg; he to Zhang zhung bKra shis rgyal mtshan; he to sNang bzher lod po. practiced the religious cults of ancient India, it is probable been considered the native land of all the Buddhist Anut- that the ancestors of Shenrab Miwoche practiced the Bön taratantras, but it is diffi culty to fi x a precise geographic 16. From the Chos ’byung mkhas pa’i dga ston (A Dharma History called Feast for the Learned), by dPa’ bo gtsug lag phreng ba (1504–1566), stod cha, Mi rigs dpe skrun which was widespread in their epoch, like the Tsen Bön, location for that country. khang, Beijing 1986, p. 562, line 12 ff.: Even if in general, in the series ol teachings the Düd Bön and the like. However, to derive shamanism Many Western scholars identify Oddiyana with the common to all, there is reference to the presence of a thousand masters in this fortu- from the Bön of Shenrab Miwoche on the basis of a single, region of , while others are still conducting nate , in the rDzogs pa chen po, (the vehicle) of the fruit of secret mantra, there is mention of twelve masters. The Rig pa rang shar chen po’i rgyud says: “In the epoch of simple clue, the family name Shen, reveals a lack of criti- research in this regard. In any case, all the ancient records time without beginning, a precious jewel was lost. When the jewel was lost, appeared cal capacity and ignorance of the origin and historical de- concur in situating Oddiyana somewhere to the north- darkness and light, and because of the four conditions (rkyen bzhi), concepts and im- velopment of Bön. west of India. Analogously, the legendary land of Shamb- pure vision, there manifested the dimension dGa’ ldan brtsegs pa. This had a pure lotus as its base, and there originated the great tantras of secret mantra. Mi ’khrugs Shenrab Miwoche was born in Shang Shung, and was hala, which fi gures so signifi cantly in Buddhist literature, pa was present, and the Thal ’gyur, king of tantras, was taught.” […] therefore a Tibetan, or better a Shang-shung-pa, though has never been geographically identifi ed, but examining the Bön that he taught soon spread far beyond Shang the texts which treat of it, we are led to place Shambhala Shung, to countries like Tazig (Persia or Tadzhikstan), In- in the same area as Oddiyana. In many texts it is explained dia and China. Some credible Bön sources report that the that at a certain point Oddiyana and Shambhala became great sages Mutsa Trahe of Tazig, Hulu Baleg of Sumba, pure dimensions, disappearing from common view. In Lhadag Nagdro of India, Legtang Mangpo from China, reality, it seems more logical to imagine that these coun- and Serthog Chejam of Khrom translated into their re- tries were conquered by the Islamic armies of the Turkish spective languages and spread in their native lands the populations called in some texts the Turukas. As a result, teachings of Shenrab included in the four series (or four the Buddhists would have been converted to , and gates) of ‘divine Bön’ (lha bon sgo bzhi) – the Shen of the the Buddhist teachings, as well as the various aspects of Cha (phywa gshen), the Shen of the Universe of Phenom- Buddhist culture, annihilated root and branch. Then, with ena (snang gshen), the Shen of Existence (srid gshen), and the passage of time, every trace of the history, and even the the Shen of Magic Power (’phrul gshen)13 – and in the three existence, of this civilisation was lost. THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009

17 West Merigar West Merigar Arcidosso 58031 phone: 39 0564 966837 merigaroffi [email protected] GR Italy fax: 39 0564 968110 www.dzogchen.it

Yeshi Silvano Namkhai will be holding three February 28, 5 am March 31 retreats of Dzogchen teachings at Anniversary of Garab Dorje SMS Base Level Calendar Merigar West from January to April 2010 Webcast of Worldwide Guruyoga With Fabio M. Risolo transmission of Events Yeshi Silvano Namkhai April March April 1–6 “Introduction to the March 6–7 Yeshi Silvano Namkhai 2010 state of Ati” 4th weekend of Dance of the Narag Ton Trug Teaching Retreat January 16th to 18th Song of the Vajra With Rita Renzi January April 7 January 2–3 “The Base (Essence, SMS Base Level 2nd weekend of Dance of the Song of Nature and Energy) and March 8–12 With Fabio M. Risolo the Vajra Contemplation” Chögyal Namkhai Norbu With Rita Renzi February 19th to 21st Dzogchen Teaching Retreat April 10–11 Webcast from Tashigar Norte Yantra Yoga Beginners course January 4–6 “Narag Ton Trug” With an authorized instructor Course of Yantra Yoga 4th Series April 1st to 6th March 10 With Tiziana Gottardi, supervised by Worldwide Day of Vajra Dance April 11, 11 am Laura Evangelisti With Rita Renzi Kumar Kumari for children February February 16 With Jacobella Gaetani & January 10, 11 am February 6–7 Sang and Serkyem practice March 13–14 Tiziana Gottardi Kumar Kumari for children 3rd weekend of Dance of the Song of Hanging the prayer fl ags on the 3rd Explanation of the With Jacobella Gaetani & the Vajra day of the new years With Rita Leti April 14 Tiziana Gottardi With Rita Renzi SMS Base Level February 17 March 14, 11 am With Fabio M. Risolo January 13 February 12–24 SMS Base Level study and practice Kumar Kumari for children SMS Base Level study and practice Chögyal Namkhai Norbu With Fabio M. Risolo With Jacobella Gaetani & April 15–19 With Fabio M. Risolo Retreat of Dzogchen Teachings and Tiziana Gottardi Chod retreat with explanations and Practice February 19–21 practice January 15–17 Webcast from Tashigar Sur Yeshi Silvano Namkhai March 20–21 With Costantino Albini Course of Yantra Yoga 1st and 2nd Retreat on the Base (Essence, Nature, SMS Level One explanation Series February 14, 11 am Energy) and Contemplation and practice April 17–18 With Fabiana Esca, supervised by Kumar Kumari for children With Elio Guarisco Om A Hum Dance Course for children Laura Evangelisti With Jacobella Gaetani & February 21 With Rita Renzi Tiziana Gottardi Kumar Kumari for Children March 21, 11 am January 16–18 Kumar Kumari for children April 24–25 Yeshi Silvano Namkhai February 13–14 February 27–28 With Jacobella Gaetani & 5th weekend of Dance of the Teaching retreat – Introduction Dance of the 6 Spaces combined with Weekend of Yantra Yoga Tiziana Gottardi Song of the Vajra to Atiyoga 6 Lokas practice With Tiziana Gottardi With Rita Renzi With Rita Renzi March 27–28 January 30–31 February 27 SMS Level One explanation April 30–May 2 SMS Base Level study and practice February 14 SMS Base Level study and practice and and practice Mandarava Retreat explanation and With C. Albini and F.M. Risolo LOSAR – TIBETAN NEW YEAR Explanation of the Dzogchen Empower- With Elio Guarisco practice 6 am – Mandarava practice ment of Garab Dorje With Nina Robinson January 31, 11 am With Costantino Albini March 28 Kumar Kumari for children February 15 Psychosomatic relaxation workshop With Jacobella Gaetani & Explanation of Sang and Serkyem With Gino Vitiello Tiziana Gottardi practice With Aldo Oneto

Project development project. It envisions the creation of a by the provincial and then the regional that it is important to point out that Merigar West Update One of these projects is for the Museum Solar that will be closed as well authorities. If all goes well, we hope to the costs of the entire webcast system of Tibetan Culture, which is being de- as two Universal that will be start construction work in the spring. are paid for by Merigar West and are fter a busy summer/autumn veloped by the Shang Shung Institute in ‘open’, or without protective housing. Of course, the creation of the new Solar considerable. We hope in the future period during which the Gar collaboration with Merigar. Most prob- The project also plans to include a new Mandala in the future will free the area that the other Gars will be able to share A hosted three important retreats ably the building that will house the dormitory with several separate rooms, at the Capannone currently used as a the costs of this important service with with Chögyal Namkhai Norbu as well as Museum has been located in the nearby a large kitchen and refectory which Mandala Hall and will permit the Shang us and will shortly be publishing more a variety of Vajra Dance, Yantra Yoga, village of Arcidosso, just below the should, in the future, take the place of Shung Institute to move all their offi ces details about this. Santi Maha Sangha and Teacher Train- Aldobrandescan Castle. Rinpoche has the current kitchen and refectory at there. The project for the new website is ing courses, the pace of life at Merigar already prepared a number of his own Serkhang (the Golden House). As men- going ahead and we expect to have the West has calmed a little, giving space personal objects to be donated to and tioned in the last issue of The Mirror, the Communication fi nal version completed before the end to the new Gakyil to develop and con- put on exhibit at the Museum and also complex will be built on the hill behind Thanks to the work of Luigi Ottaviani at of the year. We are planning to create solidate some of the projects that have gave a generous donation this summer the stands that are used in the sum- the Shang Shung Institute, the webcast a space for the Lings linked to Merigar been in the pipeline for some time or to help realize the project. mer for retreat enrollment. The project system for transmitting the teachings to be able to publish information and are in the phase of being defi ned. Another major project in the process has received initial approval from the of Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and Yeshi reports about events and programmes of development and awaiting planning local authorities but still has a long Silvano Namkhai will now make video of activities at their centres. permission is the new Solar Mandala road to travel before being approved webcast available to everyone. We feel >> continued on the following page

Accommodations near Merigar West Christina von Geispitzheim Information for people who intend to come to Merigar for Email: [email protected] retreats or to follow courses Phone: 0039 0564 957542 If you are looking for accommodation, airport transfer, local car Mobile phone: 0039 339 1370739 hire or only logistic assistance, you can contact the following information and reservation service: We cooperate with local hotels, family pensions, residences, agriturismo, Community members who have rooms or houses to rent or sublet. Also we can advise on car rental (at airports Accommodation Service or locally), on the best itinerary and time tables of trains and (Information available in English, German, French and Italian) buses, and we have now a circuit of residents who offer various Information service and reservation of accommodation during useful services like transfer from the airports, local taxi service, retreats, local transport, & logistic solutions: translations, baby sitting, etc. THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009 MerigarWest 18

>> continued from previous page The Gonpa This winter we have planned three The new Gakyil is also working to At the moment work is going on at the important retreats with Yeshi Silvano improve communication with local Gonpa to build and decorate a series Namkhai (see announcement on previ- practitioners and has set up a system of Tibetan style benches in wood to ous page) as well as several courses of of communicating urgent or last min- provide seating around the perimeter Vajra Dance and Yantra Yoga, regular ute activities by text messaging. In of the building. Migmar and Mateuz weekly meetings for study of the Santi addition, members of the Gakyil are have fi nished building the benches Maha Sangha base and fi rst levels with now available before the ganapujas and Migmar is working with a small Fabio Risolo and Costantino Albini to explain about ongoing projects and team to decorate them in Tibetan style, as well as in depth courses with Elio answer questions from practitioners. with colourful fl owers and borders. In Guarisco. As last year, the Merigar gakyil will con- addition, restoration work will soon tinue to offer a free online subscription start on repairing some of the original to The Mirror to all members in order painted fi gures on the beams above to facilitate communication within the the windows, which have been affected Community. by the passage of time and changes in temperature. There are plans to carry this detailed and meticulous work dur- ing the winter. Migmar painting the new benches. Photo: L. Graf

generosity and participation of many Direct Journal will continue to allow Reduced membership, 50 euros, To Renew Membership: Merigar West practitioners, gave important results. us to follow all the events related to is for members of the Community who By bank transfer Rinpoche has personally offered sub- Rinpoche’s journeys, with the addition- have economic diffi culties. This type Banca Etruria, Castel del Piano GR Membership stantial funds to the various projects to al advantage of quicker updates and of membership gives 50 % discount on branch, Italy which we can all contribute according the possibility of enjoying The Journal Retreats and courses*, and a free sub- Account no. 1718 ABI 05390 CAB 72190 Dear Dzogchen Community Members to our desires and possibilities. in an easier and more immediate way. scription to The Mirror online. IBAN code IT68 Y053 9072 1900 0000 uring these last years there has The Direct Journal will continue to (*) With the exception of courses 0001 718 been a considerable progress To optimize the management of the Gar be enriched with historic video docu- organised by the Shang Shung Insti- SWIFT/BIC code ARBAIT33126 D in the Community, thanks to we are analysing all the expenses of ments belonging to the Shang Shung tute, Santi Maha Sangha Exams and By postal account Rinpoche’s inexhaustible energy and Merigar in order to understand where Institute Archive. For those without a Trainings, Yantra Yoga and Dance of With a deposit or money order to to everybody’s commitment, generous and how to save money, taking into con- DSL internet connection or who prefer the Vajra Teacher Trainings. postal account 10445583, in the name offerings and voluntary work. Meri- sideration any alternative ways we could a more classical delivery system, The In 2010 new ordinary and ‘re- of: Comunità Dzogchen – Località gar West has blossomed and become utilize which are more cost effective as Direct Journal will also be available as duced’ members will be able to deduct Merigar – I GR 58031 Arcidosso – Italy bigger and even more beautiful. The well as respectful of the environment. a collection of videos, that will be sent the cost of their membership at the time By paypal or credit card Gonpa has been enlarged, the roof has to registered members’ homes twice a of registering for their fi rst Retreat of Our e-mail address for payment is: been repaired and it has been provided Keeping ever present our deepest year. The price of the annual subscrip- the year. [email protected] with Tibetan style temple furnishings. gratitude to the Master, now that we tion will remain the same as The Video New Sustaining members for 2010 Località Merigar – I GR 58031 Ar- During these last few years, thanks to are near the end of the year, we would Journal, 50 Euro. will have a Retreat of their choice for the cidosso – Italy the webcast, it has become easier to like to remind everyone that the best current year. follow Rinpoche’s retreats even when way to confi rm our commitment to Finally, we remind all members who For further information contact he is away. the preservation and development of have regularly renewed their member- For the wellbeing of the Sangha The offi ce (Anna De Sole): the Teachings and the Community is to ship to request their password in order The Gakyil of Merigar West 39 0564 966837 The Dzogchen teachings are spreading renew our membership. to have access to all closed web-casts. merigaroffi [email protected] everywhere also thanks to the tireless To Apply for Membership: Administration (Pia Bramezza): efforts of Yeshi Silvano Namkhai who This year, to meet everybody’s demands Meritorious Membership, 1500 euros, At Merigar: contact the offi ce (Anna 39 0564 966322 has started teaching here at Merigar and needs, besides online payment, we gives 100% discount on all Retreats and De Sole) [email protected] and around the world. Much has been are also the possibility to spread courses in Europe*, a free copy of new At the Lings and in the cities: contact the done but still much remains to be done, payment over the year. The Merigar publications by Shang Shung Editions Yellow Gakyil or the person in charge many new and important projects: Gakyil would like to ask everybody for for the current year, a free subscription · on the hill above the Gonpa three new their collaboration, advice, proposals to The Mirror (paper and online) and the dance mandalas will be constructed and karma yoga. Constructive criticism Direct Journal (twice a year), free use lasting way to a great extent the trans- · a new dormitory, a meeting hall, is also welcome. of the retreats cabins and a special gift. Austria mission of the Dzogchen Teaching. with a new kitchen and dining room. Sustaining membership, 500 euros, The Dzogchen Community Austria Regions is Mingyur Namkhai Dorje, the 4th In the town of Arcidosso, near the castle, Membership fees for 2010 will remain gives 80 % discount on all Retreats and pleased to invite you to Yeselling to partici- Dzogchen Rinpoche, devoted his entire there will be a permanent museum space unchanged and, as an additional bo- courses* in Europe, a free subscription pate in the retreat life in practicing and expounding the dedicated to Tibetan culture, a form of nus, this year ordinary and reduced (paper and online) to The Mirror and Dzogchen teachings. He was famed all The Vision of Clear Light collaboration between Merigar and the members will be entitled to receive a 50 % discount on the Direct Journal over Tibet for having realized the great A pure vision of Mingyur Namkhai Dorje Shang Shung Institute. We have also “The Mirror” online for free. “The Mir- (twice a year). It also gives free use of perfection and, for his clairvoyance. His on the key point of the Dzogchen prac- begun the organization for the celebra- ror” is the offi cial in-house publication the retreat cabins at Merigar for per- activity continually manifested from his tice in the words of tion of the 30th anniversary of Merigar, of the Dzogchen Community. sonal retreats. altruistic heart and steadfast armor of Dzogchen Retreat led by which will take place in the year 2011. Ordinary membership, 129 euros, patience and non bias toward all be- Elio Guarisco Last summer, Rinpoche, as always, In 2010, The Video Journal will become gives 20 % discount on Retreats and ings. Never straying from the luminous Fri. 19th–Sun. 21st of February 2010 worked very hard to prepare various lot- a fully web based video on demand courses*, and a free subscription to The state of his own mind, his actions were teries and auctions that, thanks to the service called The Direct Journal. The Mirror online. This teaching, committed to writing by the expression a state of contemplation Paltrul Rinpoche (1808-1887), is a pure that knows no boundaries between vision of the renowned master Mingyur meditation and non meditation. Among Namkhai Dorje, in which his master Jigme his other activities, with Gyalse Shenpen Gyalwai Nyugu with few words leaves Taye he founded the famous Sri Singh him a sort of spiritual testament point- college of Kathog Monastery. ing out the key point of the Dzogchen A student of both Gyawai Nyugu, practice with essential instructions on whom he served for many years, and of Tregchö of Dzogchen Upadesha. Mingyur Namkhai Dorje, Paltrul Rinpoche In a vision of clear light Mingyur is famous, above all, for having lived an Namkhai Dorje received this teaching unconventional life of total detachment in the form of a testament from his from worldly glamour, in complete teacher, Jigme Gyalwai Nyugu, one of accordance with the teaching, a life ex- the foremost disciples of Jigme Lingpa. emplifi ed by his compassion, humility, Gyalwai Nyugu was a wonderful master humor, and direct way of communicat- embodiment of the selfl ess compassion ing the Teaching. It is said that, at his of Avalokiteshvara. No pretentious be- time, there was no renowned master havior was ever witnessed on his part of eastern Tibet that somehow did not in any circumstance. He displayed utter establish a spiritual relation with him, simplicity, benevolence, service and an among them some of the most famous incomparable yogic asceticism imbued were Ju Mipham and Adzom Drugpa. with a total disregard for any diffi culty in pursing the spiritual path. That what This invaluable teaching is for those made arise in his mind the total realiza- who have received already a direct in- tion of the primordial state, and made troduction into the Dzogchen state and SMS Level 1 training at Merigar West with Igor Berkhin Photo: L. Granger his activities blossom to infl uence in a >> continued on the following page THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009 MerigarWest 19

>> Austria continued from previous page Please book your accommodation in Santi Maha Sangha I are sincerely interested in applying the one of the nearby guest-houses. Denmark Germany with Alexander (Sasha) Pubants Dzogchen method for discovering their Dzogchen Community Denmark has a Upcoming Courses 2010 March 19–21, Höfen own innate enlightenment. It would be a pleasure for us to welcome new homepage with a new address: Beginners Course of Yantra Yoga Info and Registration: Jil Self you in Yeselling and to follow this wonderful www.dzogchencommunity.dk with Saadet Arslan Tel. +49 221-421 09 11 Elio Guarisco is a long time student of retreat together with you! January 5–7, Dargyäling Cologne [email protected] Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, authorized Very best wishes to everybody and hope to Info and Registration: Christian Pogoda Beginners Course Vajra-Dance with teacher of Santi Maha Sangha, and one see you soon in Yeselling. Tel. +49 208/376 29 10 the Vajra-Song Part II of the main translators from Tibetan for France New Ling [email protected] with Karin Heinemann the Ka-ter Translation Project. It will be Dzogchen Community Austria Regions We are happy to announce the birth April 2–7, Dargyäling Cologne the second time that Elio leads a retreat * Gschmaier 104, 8265 Gr. Steinbach of a new Ling in Provence (South East Long Life Practice of Mandarava Info and Registration: Evelyne Kleinmayer in Yeselling. Tel.: +43 676 3221365 France). Its name is “Paldzomling”: with Alexander (Sasha) Pubants Tel.: +49 170/432 11 70 Costs: 190 € with the usual discount for Fax: +43 3386 83218 “it possesses glory.” February 12–23, Höfen [email protected] members of the Dzogchen Community. E-Mail: [email protected] You are welcome to visit our place hosting Info and Registration: Christian Pogoda * You can get an “early-bird rate” if you Website: ww.yeselling.at a Solar Mandala during this coming Metal Tel. +49 208/376 29 10 Santi Maha Sangha Base register until the 1st of February 2010: Blog: http://yeselling.blogspot.com/ Tiger year! [email protected] with Alexander (Sasha) Pubants Ordinary members: 114 €, after- Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/ For the fresh new Gakyil, * May 22–23, Berlin wards 152 €; reduced members: 71 €, Grosssteinbach-Austria/Yeselling/197 Michel Bricaire, director Santi Maha Sangha I Info and Registration: Jil Self afterwards 95 €; sustaining members: 258588168 [email protected] with Jakob Winkler Tel. +49 221-421 09 11 28 €, afterwards 38 € Address of Paldzomling: F04110 Reillanne February 19–21, Dargyäling Cologne [email protected] (1 hour away from Aix en Provence or Info and Registration: Jil Self * Avignon) Tel. +49 221-421 09 11 Jnana-Dakini Practice and [email protected] Vajra-Dance Italy * June 4–9, Höfen Tibetan Language for Beginners I with Karin Heinemann with Alexander (Sasha) Pubants Info and Registration: Evelyne Kleinmayer February 27–28, Dargyäling Cologne Tel.: +49 170/4321170 Info and Registration: Jil Self [email protected] Tel. +49 221-421 09 11 * [email protected] 25 Thigles of Samanthabadra Practice * with Alexander (Sasha) Pubants Beginners Course of Yantra Yoga October 8–10, Höfen with Elke Glander Info and Registration: Christian Pogoda March 5–7, Munich Tel. +49 208/376 29 10 Info and Registration: Christian Pogoda [email protected] Tel. +49 208/376 29 10 * [email protected] Santi Maha Sangha Base * with Alexander (Sasha) Pubants Tibetan Language for Beginners II November 12–14, Höfen with Alexander (Sasha) Pubants Info and Registration: Jil Self March 13–14, Dargyäling Cologne Tel. +49 221-421 09 11 Info and Registration: Jil Self [email protected] Tel. +49 221-421 09 11 [email protected] New Gakyil of Naples. * Netherlands We are pleased to announce that a Dutch translation of Rinpoche’s Dzogchen Teachings was published by leading Dutch Buddhist publisher Asoka in arrangement with the Shang Shung Institute. We have taken great care to produce a book that would both be a close rendering of the Snow Lion original and appeal to a wide audience in terms of its aesthetic qualities. For further information and web orders vis- it: www.asoka.nl/page/boeken/sub/ detail/id/1957. Pieter Kiewiet de Jonge

Yantra Yoga with Gino Vitiello in Naples. Mandarava retreat with Nina Robinson at the Centro S. Alvise in Venice. Photo: G. Giromella

Yantra Yoga Second Series December 12–13 with Marco Baseggio and Laura Evangelisti. Improvers’ course of Dance of the Vajra with Adriana Dal Borgo in Venice. Photo: G. Giromella Photo: S. Ragaini THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009

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East Merigar East 23 August 907005 phone: 0040 746 26 08 61 Merigar Asociatia Culturala Comunitatea Dzog-Chen Constanta offi [email protected] Romania wwww.dzogchen.ro

The teaching retreat with Chögyal Mirror” is the offi cial in-house publi- courses*, and a free subscription to The For questions regarding courses and Merigar East Namkhai Norbu at ME will be July 20th cation of the Dzogchen Community. Mirror online. activities organized by the Blue –25th. Finally, we remind all members Reduced membership, 50 euros, Gakyil, please contact Membership who have regularly renewed their is for members of the Community who [email protected] he Gakyil of Merigar East would From 26th–29th July there will be the membership to request their pass- have economic diffi culties. This type Regarding Karma Yoga or any kind of like to inform you about activi- Exams of the 1st level of SMS followed word in order to have access to all of membership gives 50 % discount on help for the Gar, please contact T ties, plans and considerations for by Teachings of the 2nd level of SMS closed web-casts. Retreats and courses*, and a free sub- [email protected] the year 2010 at Merigar East. from July 30th to August 10th. In 2010, The Video Journal will scription to The Mirror online. For any question regarding member- As you probably know, task number The ME Gakyil is looking for expe- become a fully web based video on In 2010 new ordinary and ‘re- ship, please contact one is to build the Gonpa on our land rienced people ready to take part in demand service called The Direct Jour- duced’ members will be able to deduct [email protected] with mandalas, , roads and the responsibility for organizing these nal. The Direct Journal will continue to the cost of their membership at the time gardens in the shape of the Longsal events. allow us to follow all the events related of registering for their fi rst Retreat of Warm greetings to you all symbol, according to the vision of Yeshi to Rinpoche’s journeys, with the addi- the year. the Gakyil of Merigar East Namkhai. In 2009 the Gakyil managed The idea of having one Merigar sug- tional advantage of quicker updates and New Sustaining members for 2010 www.dzogchen.ro to get all necessary permission to start gests the idea of also having one budget the possibility of enjoying The Journal will have a Retreat of their choice for the construction work and now we are just and one membership policy for both in an easier and more immediate way. current year free. actively waiting for the signature of Gars. There are the same membership The Direct Journal will continue to (*) With the exception of courses New Yellow Gakyil the President of the county council in fees, members can attend retreats and be enriched with historic video docu- organised by the Shang Shung Insti- Costanta without which we cannot start courses according to their preferences ments belonging to the Shang Shung tute, Santi Maha Sangha Exams and needed the actual work. The roads in the shape and the same discounts apply at both Institute Archive. For those without a Trainings, Yantra Yoga and Dance of Dear Vajra Family, of Longsal have been built and we have Gars. Each Gar is legally a separate DSL internet connection or who prefer the Vajra Teacher Trainings. Merigar East Gakyil is seriously search- also planned the project for the land. non-profi t organization with its own a more classical delivery system, The ing for a Yellow Gakyil member The wooden barn on the Land has members, payments, cash-fl ow, book- Direct Journal will also be available as We kindly ask you to send member- who would like to take on the responsi- been rebuilt (kitchen, toilet, shower, keeping and for this administrative a collection of videos, that will be sent ship fees for the year 2010 to Merigar bility of membership issues. gonpino) and insulated and is serving as reason European countries are divided to registered members’ homes twice a East by the end of January, using our Working in the Gakyil is a great experi- a home for the Geko couple. The fence all into two groups. year. The price of the annual subscrip- bank accounts: ence for you and your practice. around the land has also been built. We tion will remain the same as The Video in EURO It is a perfect occasion to discover more have started the project of the gardens, Countries situated in the Western part Journal, 50 Euro. UniCredit Tiriac Bank SA about yourself and to work directly camping and composting toilets on the of Europe pay their membership fees 30, Constantei Str., bl. H1a with the transmission of our Master. basis of permaculture, as we are trying to Merigar in Italy: Austria, Belgium, Meritorious Membership, 1500 euros, RO-905500, Mangalia, Romania Sometimes you might even feel that you to build a self-sustaining Gar. Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, gives 100 % discount on all Retreats and Swift Cod: BACXROBU are doing something useful for others. Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, courses in Europe*, a free copy of new Asociatia Culturala Comunitatea Mostly this task can be done via the in- In February 2010 a course of the Dance Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, publications by Shang Shung Editions Dzog-chen ternet from your home or wherever you of Six Spaces of will be Switzerland, United Kingdom. for the current year, a free subscription IBAN Cod: are in the world. The applicant needs organized in Oradea. to The Mirror (paper and online) and the RO50BACX0000000267513001 skills such as conversational English In March 2010 we would like to Countries located in the Eastern part of Direct Journal (twice a year), free use of and database handling (Excel) and pos- participate in the Body, Mind and Spirit Europe and near ME, pay their member- the retreats cabins and a special gift. in LEI sibility to take part in the Gakyil Meet- Festival in Bucharest together with ship fees to Merigar in Romania: Bosnia Sustaining membership, 500 euros, UniCredit Tiriac Bank SA ings in Merigar East once every one or Shang Shung Institute, the Yantra Yoga and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, gives 80 % discount on all Retreats and 30, Constantei Str., bl. H1a two month. and Vajra Dance presentation. Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, courses* in Europe, a free subscription RO-905500, Mangalia, Romania In May 2010 we are trying to orga- Hungary, Israel, Lithuania, Macedonia, (paper and online) to The Mirror and Swift Cod: BACXROBU We are a good group of people from nize some event with the Shang Shung Moldavia, Montenegro, Poland, Roma- a 50 % discount on the Direct Journal Asociatia Culturala Comunitatea all over Europe and we need your help Institute in Bulgaria (Merigar East nia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey. (twice a year). It also gives free use of Dzog-chen right now. If you have time and feel is just few km from the border with the retreat cabins at Merigar for per- IBAN Cod: like taking this amazing, but serious Bulgaria) and in June 2010 The Dance Membership fees for 2010 will remain sonal retreats. RO77BACX0000000267513000 responsibility on your shoulders, please of the 6 Spaces of Samanthabadra in unchanged and, as an additional bo- Ordinary membership, 129 euros, do not hesitate to contact our Yellow Vama Vece. nus, this year ordinary and reduced gives 20 % discount on Retreats and For general information, please Gakyil: Merigar East will be very happy to members will be entitled to receive contact offi [email protected] [email protected] host the Teachers Training of 1st level of “The Mirror” online for free. “The Vajra Dance from July 12th – 18th. THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009 MerigarEast 21

sponsored by our Master. Thanks to the unfortunately we still haven’t managed First trees planted at fence we are now able to start planting to complete the last step in our quest to trees and other plants which was im- get permission for the construction of Merigar East possible before because anything that the Gonpa. However, before the sum- was left outside without a guard was mer retreat with Chögyal Namkhai Fijalka Turzikova immediately stolen. Norbu, we are planning to construct a Now we have a lot of issues to work camping site with an outdoor kitchen, nce again from different parts of on to create beautiful gardens with showers, composting toilets, gardens the Europe the Gakyil members evergreen trees to be used as wind- with swales (which help the plants to Ocame to meet at this amazing breakers, fruit trees, vines, a vegetable manage the water) and more. place in Romania called Merigar East. garden, fl ower beds and a camping area In spring 2010 together with Saviana, This time we brought Saviana Parodi that will be full of trees in the future we are planning to organize two weeks with us, well known in the Community giving people much appreciated shade of karma yoga workshops at Merigar as a permaculture instructor, who has in the summer. East. So all of you who are interested been helping at Tashigar South and Saviana explained about the prin- in the development of the youngest North as well as at Merigar West. ciples based on the most effi cient use Gar and want to learn something about Our Land is a piece of more or less of incoming energy into the system. In permaculture, please save some of your fl at ground between the fi elds and we a few days we managed to start plant- time and stay in touch! are at the starting point, an important ing trees and bushes to create a wind- leaves and seaweed for mulching and then she presented the long term moment which has a lot of potentiality. breaking barrier. We designed and providing minerals for the earth. project for Merigar East. Due to post More information – [email protected] Since September 2009 there has been prepared the ground for a vegetable Saviana listened to the ideas and communism conditions in Romania a fence around the land, which was and herbal garden. We collected fallen experiences of the Geko and the Gakyil, and the current situation of the state,

in the Personal management sec- Yeshi Silvano tion of the Czech national news- paper “Lidove noviny”. Namkhai in Czech The collective dinner with Republic and in community members and Black Light Theatre Show on the last Phendeling evening was nice conclusion to an extraordinary visit from our Pavel Spanily, Tereza Starkova special guest. We hope it is not the last time that Yeshi Namkhai even years after Chögyal comes to the Czech Republic to Namkhai Norbu’s visit to teach us and spend his precious SPrague, the Czech Com- time with us. munity was very happy to have the precious possibility to wel- Estonia come Yeshi Silvano Namkhai. Ye- Upcoming shi Namkhai spent eight days in Yantra Yoga Course on the third November in the Czech Republic and fourth series of Yantras with and participated in various pro- Pranayamas grams. At the beginning of his led by Maaja Zelmin with supervision visit he held a public talk in the by Laura Evangelisti historic center of Prague, which Yeshi Namkhai and participants at Pendeling. Photo: R. Lencova Schedule: was attended by around 200 par- 20 Jan 18:00–20:30 ticipants. The next day he moved ful for a better understanding of the reconstruction. Two buses Yeshi Namkhai spent the last 21 Jan 18:00–20:30 to Cesky Krumlov, where a three- the teaching. were organized for practitioners two days in Prague again, where 22 Jan 18:00–20:00 day teaching retreat on the Four The place for the retreat was so 120 participants from the re- he also had a meeting with YPO 23 Jan 10:00–13:00 and 15:00–17:30 Contemplations in the Dzogchen chosen not only because it is a treat came with him to see the representatives (global network 24 Jan 10:00–13:00 Semde was organized. For many very beautiful historic UNESCO place and to do Sang and Serky- connecting business leaders) in- Place: Kalamaja’s Secondary School participants it was their fi rst town but more for its proxim- em there (followed by small pic- terested in topics such as whether Vabriku street 18, Tallinn, Estonia meeting with Yeshi Namkhai and ity to the newly growing Czech nic). This visit to the Ling in the business life is compatible with Cost: 70 € the feedback from the retreat was Community center, Phendeling. middle of the Blansky forest nat- the teaching and if it could be use- Additional information: very positive. Most of the people Yeshi Namkhai had chance to see ural reserve was a nice part of a ful for them in their professional phone: +372 534 90556 Maaja appreciated it as it was very help- the Ling with its freshly covered very interesting retreat. life. He also gave an interesting email: [email protected] roof, which was the key part of interview, which was published Pille, Gakyil of DC of Estonia

Requirement: Practical (not theoretical J) Hungary knowledge up to the 2nd group Poland The Hungarian Community is very The course will be in English (with Hungar- Polish Gakyil is glad to announce, happy to announce three forthcoming ian translation). that we have still available two retreat retreats in the fi rst quarter of the next * houses, and that the costs for winter year! We share them with you now, in SMS 1st level study and practice season are lower: order to calculate them into your sched- with Elio Guarisco Longde House 3 euro / day ONLY!!! ule, although not all details have been 11–15 February, 2010 Dakini’s House 4 euro / day ONLY!!! defi ned. Venue: Budapest, Gate of the Dharma During wintertime a running water is Buddhist College available only in the main house. Yantra Yoga 2nd level 1098,Budapest, Borzsöny utca 11. Paldenling is Polish beautiful ling situ- supervision with Zsolt Somogyvári www.tkbf.hu/foiskola/elerhetosegek ated south of Poland, in middle-height Supervisor: Laura Evangelisti Schedule: 11th, 12th, 15th: one evening mountain area, with breathtaking views 3–7 February, 2010 session; 13th–14th: 2 sessions daily and wild nature. Venue: Budapest, Gate of the Dharma Requirement: Base Level exam has been Everybody, who has done a practice Buddhist College taken there, knows the power of this place... 1098,Budapest, Borzsöny utca 11. * In springtime there will be third re- www.tkbf.hu/foiskola/elerhetosegek Yeshi Silvano Namkhai treat house – dark retreat cabin! www.jcrows.com Program: 3–4th group with their Restricted retreat For further details about conditions pranayamas with correction from the 3–11 March and available booking times please 9 breathing till the 2nd group, and the Budapest contact our geko: J. Crow’s ® 5th gr., if we have time No other details are fi xed yet. [email protected] Schedule: 3rd, 4th, 5th: 5–8 pm. More info will be published as soon You can also visit our site Mulling Spice Folk Medicine 6th: 9.30–12.30 am and 3.30–5.30 pm as they are fi xed. www.dzogczen.pl Tibetan Medicine 7th: 9.30–12.30 am and 3.30–5.30 pm Contact: see you in Paldenling! & a closing ganapuja [email protected] SpicedCider.com fax or phone: 1 800 878 1965 603 878 1965 [email protected] THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009

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Romania Yantra Yoga beginners course in Bucharest with Tiziana Gottardi by Greg Ladra hanks to Irene and George and their perfect 75 m2 fully equipped T hall in the center of the city of Bu- charest with the view of Casa Poporului (The People’s House – now Palace of the Parliament), for the 10 partici- pants December 4–6 was a very supple weekend. After Tiziana’s explanations, demonstrations and supervision all the participants were able to learn how to breathe correctly and to understand the Participants at the Yantra Yoga course in Bucharest with Tiziana. Photo: G. Ladra The Romanian Parliament as seen from the retreat place. Photo: G. Ladra deep meaning of breathing for our con- dition and daily life. Although it seems that course was the fi rst contact with lowing the practice. It is a good sign for summer at the Gar during Rinpoche’s towards the huge and monumental to be easy, Yantra Yoga movements the Teachings – worked hard and asked Merigar East. Spreading information in teachings! building of Parliament was… it looks really caused sweating. The group of many questions: not only regarding the a practical way bears fruit and hope- My fi nal impression after the course, like the Potala! interested people – for the majority techniques, but also about seriously fol- fully we will see some new faces next while I was looking through the window

The Six Spaces of Samantabhadra mean only to talk or write about what Dzogchen Community understandable with Rita Renzi we do – there is a more effective way of for the participants. Although the rea- In Constanta, Romania, showing and experiencing things, es- son for taking part in the Vajra Dance November 6–11 pecially important for the newcomers, course was different for each partici- By Greg Ladra who haven’t met Rinpoche or Dzogchen pant, the movements on the Mandala teachings yet. brought everything to the same point: irst people should know Accordingly, at the beginning of in Dzogchen teachings we work with that we are here, then they November, the Gakyil of Merigar East different circumstances but the goal is “F will come and ask, get in- organized a course of Vajra Dance (the the same. terested in and fi nally come to listen to Six Spaces of Samantabhadra) with People have a connection with the the teachings and practice”. The wishes Rita Renzi, in Constanta, the second teachings in many different ways and and guidelines of Rinpoche clearly show biggest city in Romania, situated only places and certainly Constanta is not that in a place like Merigar East, where 35 km from the Gar. The beauty and an exception. We hope one day more there are only two practitioners living esthetics of the Vajra Dance Mandala, and more people will recognize that the on the spot, the most important and the the harmony of the movements, the Dzogchen teachings are very very close: very fi rst step towards developing, is to balanced sounds of the music, the 35 km from the city, in the middle of the give and spread information all around perfect introduction and explanation of fi elds, on the coast of the Black Sea. The about who we are and what we do. Rita made the Dance, the principles of Vajra Dance course is just an indica- However spreading information doesn’t the Dzogchen teachings and aim of the tion…

days at the Manezh complex near the Igor Berkhin gave some public held in Crimea, and in November Jim Russia Kremlin. At the beginning teacher Ma- lectures and training in presence and Valby will give a retreat on the Base Land purchased in rina Sukhanova and experienced prac- awareness in three cities in Ukraine, level of Santi Maha Sangha in Kiev. Crimea Activities of the titioners showed the movements, and which attracted the attention of new Practitioners from the Russian then Yeshi Namkhai gave an explana- people. One of lectures was organized Speaking community are always glad he Gakyil of the Russian-speaking Russian-speaking tion of the meaning. And then visitors at the exhibition of Nikolay to see vajra brothers and sisters from countries is happy to announce could try to feel the taste of this special Dudko. other countries, practice and collabo- Community in the purchase of land in Crimea, Tibetan yoga of movement. Then the Vajra Dance instructors Yana So- rate together. Hope to meet you next T Ukraine. autumn 2009 demonstration of Vajra Dance began. kolova, Lyudmila Kislichenko and Oleg year! The Dzogchen Community now Six pamo and six pawo, all dressed in Novikov held retreats in Kiev, Rostov- You can read about all our activities n the Russian-speaking territory, owns 3.4 hectares of land very close to special costumes, moved harmoni- on-Don, Samara and St. Petersburg. on our website which includes Russia, Ukraine, the village of Goncharne. It is 3 hours ously, showing people the Dance of the In Moscow, Tatiana Pronicheva held an www.dzogchencommunity.ru Belarus and Latvia, we have always drive from the international airport I Six Spaces. open training retreat of Vajra Dance for Translated by Mariya Stepanyk had many activities – courses and re- of Simferopol and 15 minutes drive to The results were articles in the all comers. Starting in December there treats on Santi Maha Sangha, Yantra hotels and resorts at the seaside, with a media, new useful contacts and an are now regular weekends of Vajra Yoga and Vajra Dance. public bus stop 1 km from the land. agreement about permanent Yantra Dance sessions held in Moscow with Everybody is welcome to join Chögyal Here we want to tell you about the yoga courses at a popular Moscow fi t- a special version of the Dance of the Namkhai Norbu’s retreat there in June courses held during the autumn period ness club. Three Vajras which gives participants 2010! 2009. Teachers of Yantra Yoga Eugene Rud the opportunity to have more experi- Later you will fi nd more information This time we had important events and Victor Krachkovskii gave courses in ences and combine them with the state on our website in Russia: a public talk and retreat on several cities of Russia and Ukraine such of contemplation in a Thun which lasts www.dzogchencommunity.ru Narag Tontrug Practice with Yeshi as Nizhniy Novgorod, Kazan, Uzhgorod, 1 hour and 18 minutes. (the English version is due to be Silvano Namkhai in St. Petersburg, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Moscow and Celebrate the New Year with us and launched in January). and retreats on Mandarava practice Ufa. In December 2009 they have been participate in the Vajra Dance retreat with Nina Robinson in Moscow and invited to Astrakhan and Murmansk. In from December 31 to January 10, 2010 St. Petersburg. Moscow ongoing Yantra Yoga sessions in the foothills of the Caucasus Moun- Also this time Fabio Andrico gave and training courses are held with local tains in the Krasnodar Territory (reser- many different courses in our terri- instructors Marina Sukhanova and Oleg vations: [email protected] ). tory that increased people’s interest in Tanakov. There is also a Namkha website Yantra Yoga. In St. Petersburg he gave In our territory we have three au- (www.namkha.ru) with informa- a harmonious breathing course. Then in thorized Santi Maha Sangha teachers: tion about the special Tibetan object, Kunpenling Fabio led a retreat on the Igor Berkhin, Alexander Pubants and recently created Lena Hertz, where Seven lotuses, and in Moscow he did Alexander Gomonov. This year they she invites everyone to learn to make the supervision for candidates Svetlana travelled a lot, and in autumn gave SMS a Namkha in order to harmonize their Suprun (Angarsk) and Natasha Larina retreats in the following cities: Moscow, energy and that of their loved ones. (Moscow). Dnepropetrovsk and Donetsk, while Next year in Moscow, St. Peters- Another important event was the this December they are planning to burg and Crimea there will be retreats presentation of Yantra Yoga and Vajra visit Perm, Krasnodar, Rostov, Elista, with Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. Also Dance during the Moscow Festival of Kiev and Astrakhan. Also in Septem- Yeshi Namkhai will come to Russia and Fitness. This event was held with the ber the Donetsk Dzogchen community Ukraine to give teachings: in April – to collaboration of Chögyal Namkhai organized a big retreat with intensive Kiev and Donetsk, May and December Norbu, Yeshi Silvano Namkhai, Fabio practice of SMS and Yantra Yoga in the – to Moscow, May – to Crimea, Septem- Andrico, local teachers of Vajra Dance Crimea, led by Berkhin Igor and Victor ber – to Izhevsk. and Yantra Yoga, and the local Gakyil. Krachkovskii. In July 2010, the 1st level Teacher This demonstration was held over two Training Course of Yantra Yoga will be THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009

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Russia continued day life – it was quite an unusual Narag Tontrug retreat approach! The retreat was dedicated to with Yeshi Namkhai practice Narag Tontrug, a teach- in St. Petersburg ing given in 1996 by Chögyal 20–22 November Namkhai Norbu. Before Yeshi Silvano Namkhai’s arrival we had never done this practice in our Elena Bobylskaya community, and for many of us it seemed to be very complicated. n November 2009 a joyful tersburg State University. This During the three days of retreat event was held in our city – event aroused active interest not we received detailed and at the IYeshi Silvano Namkhai came only among members of the same time clear explanations of for the second time. The follow- Dzogchen Community and their each stage. And we understood ing program was planned: a pub- friends, but also students of the that each practice, even the most lic talk, teaching on the practice University and people who are complicated, may become sim- of Narag Tontrug, and also a interested in philosophy, Bud- ple and clear if the approach of Community meeting for Gakyil dhism, and nature of mind. The Dzogchen teaching is used. Do- elections and talks to prepare for hall was overcrowded, some peo- ing this practice with Yeshi Nam- khai, we gained precisely this ex- perience. There were also some unex- pected moments. The fi rst com- munity meeting at which Yeshi Namkhai was present was quickly stopped by him. How could this happen? The goal of the meeting was to talk about the forthcom- ing retreat with Rinpoche and the Gakyil elections. Our community Photo: A. Kostiuchik has 200 members, but only 30 of them came to the meeting. And us not only the technical aspects Finally let me tell you about the people who were preparing of the organization of the forth- one marvelous little story. When the retreat did not seem to be coming retreat with Rinpoche, we were preparing the apart- ready to collaborate... Yeshi even but also, and most importantly, ment for Yeshi Namkhai, one of had to make his voice louder and showed us how any actions may our vajra sisters who was get- slam the door! Of course, for become practice and methods of ting fl owers for him, came with a many of us it was a shock, but collaboration. We were lucky to peacock feather. She told us that Photo: N. Anikeev this shock helped us to wake up receive Yeshi Namkhai’s wisdom she had just received it as a gift and take an attentive look at our- and hear all those instructions. from a stranger on the street. On the retreat with Chögyal Nam- ple even had to sit on the fl oor, selves and our actions. Now that Yeshi Silvano Nam- our streets you can fi nd anything khai Norbu in June 2010. and others listened about nature The meeting that eventually khai has left, we have a task to use – advertising or political book- The public talk “About na- of mind standing. Yeshi used took place was amazing, short all his instructions in our every- lets – but not a peacock feather. ture of mind” was held at a place simple words, clear for everyone, and essential. We elected a new day life and in collaboration with When people such as Yeshi Sil- with an amazing environment giving examples from our every- Gakyil, more than 2/3 made up our vajra brothers and sisters. vano Namkhai come to our city, and a perfect reputation – St. Pe- of new people. Yeshi clarifi ed for miracles begin to happen!

China

Vajra Dance with Tracy Ni and Wes Guo in Guangzhou China, Nov.6–8. Yantra Yoga in Guangzhou China with Tracy Ni, Nov.13–15.

Vajra Dance Mandalas from China

As you may know, we are manufacturing Vajra Dance Mandalas in China, making them more available to Vajra Dance practitioners all over the globe.

The good news is that the weight of the Vajra Dance Mandala has been reduced to about 20 kilos, which means it can be carried by a single person. The Mandala is digitally printed on Vinyl, with fresh colors. The price ranges from 550–680 euro depending on size (small, medium, large), with about 80 euro of shipping costs (takes about 45 days), or about 200 euro ship- ping costs (takes about 7 days) to West Europe (such as Italy). You can see a photo of the Vajra Dance Mandala with practitioners taken during a recent course in Guangzhou, China.

May Vajra Dance spread to all over the globe! Wesley Guo [email protected] THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009

24

Namgyalgar PO Box 214 Central Tilba [email protected] Namgyalgar Dzogchen Community in NSW 2546 www.dzogchen.org.au and Pacifi c Rim Australia Phone/Fax: 61 02 4473 7668

once gathered and is still considered dations, etc. The subtropical sunshine Namgyalgar North spiritually signifi cant with many pro- coast averages seven hours of sunshine tected ceremonial sites still in existence. daily and residents and visitors enjoy uring his visit to Australia in year round warm balmy temperatures. 2009, Rinpoche recommended The mountains are situated approxi- Summer temperatures range between Dthat a Gar be established in mately 70km north of the city of Bris- 16°–34°C and in winter 10°–28°C. northern Australia, specifi cally in bane, and are easily accessible by car, the Glass House Mountains region of train and bus. The Brisbane Domestic This is a very exciting project for the southeast Queensland. The Namg- and International Airports are less than International Dzogchen Community yalgar Gakyil has now launched the 30 minutes drive north to the mountains and it is hoped many Vajra brothers and ”Namgyalgar North” project and is that is very convenient for international sisters from around the world can come seeking donations to help purchase a visitors. It is also possible to fl y from to visit the wonderful new Gar! property for the new Gar. Brisbane to Maroochydore on the sun- shine coast and hire a car there. If you would like to pledge a donation The Glass House Mountains are the for Namgyalgar North please see the eroded remnants of volcanoes that have The desired property is located close Pledge Form on the Namgyalgar North interesting shapes, some with vertical to the town of Beerwah in southern page of the Namgyalgar Website at: columns and cones on them, which are Queensland, Australia, and is not far www.dzogchen.org.au visible from the property. from Caloundra and other coastal Historically, the region was a special towns which boast sunny beaches, meeting place where Aboriginal people shops, cafes, clubs, holiday accommo- Photo: J. King-Salter

only the people who are willing Yoga, one for the Vajra Dance as Oiling the Hinges… to activate it. well one for Santi Maha Sangha . In fact In Melbourne we have In fact we are planning for the It’s Yantra Yoga started in May with an ambitious next year to increase the num- Time! program that I believe many be ber of courses, because the hall Highlights at the Melbourne perceived almost like a shock- seems especially versatile for this temporary Ling ing jump ahead. We have de- function e.g. for the Vajra Dance signed the program making best Course the hall accommodat- use of all the hours we have been ed perfectly two mandala mats Bruno Irmici able to book the hall each week. and so people had a precise and Starting with a rich program, we pleasant learning experience un- hresholds can be scary aimed also to invite the commu- der the guidance of Lynne Geary. places. Despite the at- nity to a frequent use of the hall, Another good response of in- T tempt to be discreet and so to become rapidly familiar to terest was at the last World Wide respectfully silent, when any the new space. Transmission for the Anniversa- new visitor steps into Fleming Usually the program presents ry of Adzom Drugpa on the No- Park Hall, at the fi rst gentle pull- every week with: Yantra Yoga with Emily Coleing at Melbourne Ling. vember 11. Despite the web cast ing of the door they are suddenly · 3 Yantra Yoga practice of the Guru Yoga practice start- welcomed by the sound of the sessions I remember I felt quite a sense for a moment, I feel the urgency ing in Melbourne quite late, at 11 squeaky hinges. Like alarming · 2 sessions of Vajra Dances of joy to see the response of so to give a quick look of myself in pm, we had 23 people attending sentinels seems to warn: “Pil- · An explanation and practice many new people. I felt some- the mirror:.. AAAaaaargh…) of which only six were people al- grim, by passing this threshold session for new people thing I can describe as a “joy of The second Yantra Yoga course ready of the community. you will leave behind your desire · A collective practice. the transmission”. I suppose it with Emily Coleing in November, More than 10 people regularly for just an empty and calm state, According to the special days was simply a feeling that the and you will be called to enjoy of the Tibetan Calendar and with Gakyil’s work to establish a tem- movement as well.” Rinpoche’s schedule, we have porary Ling in Fleming Park was There is always someone in- Ganapujas and Video web cast of beginning to show more tangible side the hall that turning the eyes the retreats and Video web casts results. to the ceiling hopes ‘someone of World Wide Transmission. The time is ripe for a larger else’ will fi nally provide the oil Once a month, we have SMS diffusion of Yantra Yoga since for those hinges. study groups sessions, Base and the book was published by Snow But now, let’s pass this thresh- First level, with SMS teacher An- Lion, and is contributing to more old and explore the fi rst eight gie Gilbert, in which we are con- interest in Yantra Yoga from the months of activities of the tem- nected via Skype Video linked to larger public. Many people are porary Ling in Melbourne. study groups in New Zealand and inspired from seeing Yantra Yoga As I wrote in a previous article soon in other locations in Austra- presented in a systemized way for (Mirror 97 p27) we do not have lia. the fi rst time. They can consult our own Ling but we are mak- During these fi rst months we the book for support and now ing good use of a beautiful large had two Yantra Yoga courses and they are looking to learn from a Hall that we hire from the local one of Vajra Dance course. qualifi ed teacher. council on a regular basis all year The Yantra Yoga Courses have During the Yantra Yoga week- Worldwide Transmission at Melbourne Ling. long for many hours a week, for a been quite impressive, (Melbour- end everything ran in a harmoni- quite cheap hourly rate. nians would say: Fantastic!) be- ous way, like in a balanced condi- replicated the good outcome of attend the base level Santi Maha We have taken the momentum cause both of them have been tion of prana. Emily’s grace and the fi rst one and again we had an Sangha study group with Angie generated from the recent teach- attended by 23/24 people and confi dence engaged easily with encouraging attendance of 22/23 Gilbert once a month. Also 4–5 ings in Melbourne by Chögyal most of them were new, just two the people, and the hall appeared people. I will be not surprised if are attending the First level, but Namkhai Norbu and Yeshi Nam- or three people were members of to be a perfect place for such a next year we will continue to have other study groups are connected khai as the impulse for the com- the community. course held in this very good lo- similar numerous attendance via Skype Video linked to New munity to move ahead, to make The morning of the fi rst cation. We have been quite im- of new people. The Ling in Mel- Zealand. We aim for the next year this necessary new evolutionary course, we already had some pressed not just from the num- bourne could develop as a ‘lead- to extend the possibility to partic- leap. bookings, but with a big surprise ber of new people, but also by the ing’ center for the Yantra Yoga. ipate Via Skype to other groups in Nowadays there are available we saw many new people enter- motivation of many of them. Our Given the interest shown in remote locations in Australia. so many tools supporting the lo- ing the door of the hall. It was al- new group of young university Melbourne for Yantra Yoga, Emily We are still at early stages of cal Dzogchen communities, also most like the Yantra Yoga space- students are very enthusiastic to is now considering moving to live this new adventure, but the story with newcomers learning, from ship had landed in Melbourne. learn and collaborate. It reminds here to follow her students close- of this temporary Ling has been books, audiovisual, websites, With the portal opening to the me of Rinpoche recently talking ly. If this really happens it will be mainly an opportunity for new web cast retreats, and quali- bright sunlight shining outside, in Gawaling of the new genera- a very good asset for our future people, and especially for a grow- fi ed instructors. Somehow this the silhouettes of many long tion of his students in Merigar program of courses because we ing number of young people. makes easy to start a Ling with a awaiting human travellers were being very dedicated and active: will have ‘in house’ three quali- This is good because we need the rich program of activities. Every- seen ready to come on board. “Much better than many of the fi ed teachers, a teacher of Yantra young energies to build up of a thing is somehow ready, needing old ones” (let me pause the article >> continued on the following page THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009

25 Namgyalgar and Pacifi c Rim

>> continued from previous page After this fi rst necessary impact, siastic and collaborative with the race that overlooks the Karamea River Your money will be used specifi cally new generation of practitioners in which somehow we have test- Gakyil in these initial months. and the ocean. for the Karamea project when you in- for the future. ed if we can sustain a new rhythm So, let’s go. Now it’s time to Rinpoche indicated that we need to dicate Karamea on the deposit. Please From May until now we have of activities, we will need to dedi- oil the hinges of the Ling door. build one simple retreat cabin and one contact the Project Manager 33 new people, with different de- cate to the ‘missing pieces’. And please keep pulling that dual-purpose cabin that will also be [email protected] gree of interest and participation I am sure things will improve door. Don’t be scared. used for dark retreat. who are fi nding their way in the rapidly once the Gakyil can focus You are welcome. The isolated location, while being How to make Donations Dzogchen Teachings and com- on to activate members collabo- perfect for quiet retreat, requires special Paypal munity. A growing number are ration and their richness of tal- Karamea, New Zealand effort from practitioners to go there. To set up an account www.paypal.com already becoming community ents and skills. With even a small We have a camping area for people with To Pay: [email protected] indi- members. collaboration from many people, Retreat Cabin tents and envisage an outside location cating Karamea Cabin in the Email to Obviously the making of a Ling we can actually establish a Ling for a Vajra Dance Mandala. recipient window is an ongoing learning process. A as a vibrant cultural place for the Project You can go to this link to see a short Bank Transfer Ling requires a new and more ac- continuation of Chögyal Nam- www.dzogchen.org.nz/index.php/ video. www.youtube.com/watch?v=q Account Name: Dzogchen Community, tive way ‘to be community’, and khai Norbu teachings. I hope this karamea udg4InjhPw Account Number: 03 0187 0720787 003 we somehow have ‘to build’ the could rapidly evolve into the pos- aramea is a rare coastal envi- Rinpoche has already made a very Bank details: Westpac Banking Corpo- Ling community through partici- sibility of having a Shang Shung ronment where native forest, generous donation to the project, al- ration, Wellington, New Zealand pation. Institute branch in Melbourne. K rivers and wildlife meet the though more funds are needed to bring The SWIFT code/BIC (bank identifi er In these fi rst months the Meanwhile I want to thank powerful Tasman Sea. the project to fruition. code) for Westpac New Zealand is: Gakyil moved at a fast pace fo- Sam Pearson, Kadmon, In 1987, Sean Jameson gifted 10 acres To build both cabins and facilities we WPACNZ2W cusing mainly to ensure the pro- Miro Hodza and Jane Chandler of land to the New Zealand Dzogchen estimate NZ $25,000. grams were actually happening, who have been especially enthu- Community. This land is on a high ter-

East DCA Tsegyalgar East Tsegyalgar PO Box 479 Phone: 413 369 4153 [email protected] Conway, MA 01341 USA Fax & Bookstore: 413 369 4473 www.www.tsegyalgareast.org

February 27–28 Yeshi Silvano Namkhai will be com- Calendar (may be changed due to programming ing in July 29–August 12, 2010! with Nina Robinson) Zhine Practice Weekend with Jim Valby For more information contact: of Events [email protected] TBA in February or 413 369 4153 2010 Mandarava & Chöd Instruction and Practice Retreat with Nina Robinson We hope to see at Tsegyalgar East! January 30–31 Warm wishes from the Gakyil ‘Purifi cation’ Practice Weekend March 31–April 9 with Jim Valby Yantra Yoga, Advanced and Teacher Training with Fabio Andrico and Laura February 18–24 Evangelisti Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Dzogchen Teachings and Practice TBA in April Retreat Dzogchen Practice Retreat with Elio Webcast Retreat from Argentina Guarisco Prana Weekend with Jim Valby at Tsegyalgar East October 31–November 1. Photo: N. Zeitz

Canada

Passages Married: Anna Bartenstein and Fabio Dallorto were married on December 15, 2009 in Conway Massachusetts. Congratulations to the happy couple! Photo: P. Barry

Beginner’s and Advanced Yantra Yoga with Paula Barry at Tsegyalgar East from December 4–11, Advanced Yantra Yoga in Toronto Canada with Naomi Zeitz in November 2009. Photo: A. Wei 2009. Photo: N. Zeitz

Main Offi ce: PO Box 479, Conway, MA 01341, USA * Tel: 413 369 4208 * Fax: 413 369 44 73 * [email protected] * * European Offi ce: The Mirror, Istituto Shang Shung, Podere Nuovissimo, GR 58031 Arcidosso, Italy * Tel: 39 32 98 86 52 92 * [email protected] * * Editorial Staff: Naomi Zeitz, Tsegyalgar, Conway, MA, USA * Liz Granger, Istituto Shang Shung, Arcidosso, Italy * * Literary Editor: John Shane * * Advisors: Des Barry, Adriano Clemente, Anna Eid, Barbara Paparazzo, Jim Valby * * International Blue Gakyil Advisor: Fabio Andrico, International Publications Committee * * English Language Advisor: Liz Granger * * Layout & Design: Thom- as Eifl er * * Web Site Managers: Thomas Eifl er, Malcolm Smith * * Printer: Turley Publications, Palmer, MA, USA * * Distribution: Tsegyalgar at Conway, MA, USA * * Subscription Rate/6 Issues: $35 US available through Tsegyalgar; 30 € through Merigar * * Visa and Master card welcome * * Online Mirror: www.melong.com * * All material © 2009 by The Mirror * * Reprint by permission only * * We reserve the right to edit all submissions. THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009

26

West Tsegyalgar West [email protected] Tsegyalgar Baja California Sur, Mexico http://tsegyalgarwest.org

Lynn Sutherland will develop the website for us with the intentions of Tsegyagar West Programs: Yantra Yoga she introduced in Los Ca- New Portland welcoming practitioners who are new Update Nina Robinson and Bodhi Krause bos in December ’09. This includes one Oregon Website to our area, displaying the schedule for Los Cabos, Mexico Monday Feb. 8th–Sunday Feb. 14, 2010 afternoon trip to beautiful Santa Maria collaborative practices in person and at the Gar. Beach, a cove where snorkels and kay- Our community in Portland, Oregon, via webcast, listing contact information Nina Robinson will teach “Purifi ca- aks can be rented. USA has a new website which also for each location, sharing photos, and segyalgar West is preparing for tion of the Six Lokas”. Bodhi Krause represents the other groups and prac- much more! a wonderful season of teach- teaches “The Vajra Dance of the Six Lastly, Yeshi Namkhai is returning to titioners in our state. Darren Littlejohn Please visit our site at: T ing and enjoyment. Casitas are Spaces of Samantabhadra”. This in- Tsegyalgar West in Sept 21–October 4, (Portland Gakyil – Blue) developed this www.oregondzogchen.com rapidly being fi nished (doubling the cludes one afternoon trip to beautiful 2010!! Reserve your casita early. number available last year), and prac- Santa Maria Beach, a cove where snor- titioners from all over the globe are kels and kayaks can be rented. Thank You Rinpoche, booking time for personal and group Joel Crisp, Tsegyalgar West Blue Gakyil retreats. New staff has arrived, and we Losar celebration Sunday Feb. 14th, still have positions open for Pioneers 2010 at the Gar; Teaching, Yoga, Dance, (volunteers), Hospitality Manager, and campfi re. USA more. Speaking both English and Span- Berkeley ish is helpful. Elio Guarisco and Lynn Sutherland By the way, Los Cabos has remained Monday Feb. 14–Sunday Feb. 21, 2010 New Gakyil free of both swine fl u and the strife of at the Gar. The results of our October gakyil elec- some other areas of Mexico. The beauty Elio Guarisco will teach: tion, with Rinpoche’ s approval. of this mountain and beach region is re- 1) Gomadevi practice Blue: Silvia Altamiranda, Leticia Re- markable. Visit our refurbished website 2) The Behavior of Equalizing all Tastes cepter, Michael Whelan with new photo gallery. from the Longsal Red: Louise Anderson, Tana Lehr – Vice 3) A simple form of Moxibustion with President, Logan Mclellan Please contact our Secretary, Angelina Tibetan medicine advice on Diet for the Yellow: Laurel Bellon – President Ibarguen with any questions. Se habla imbalances of the three Humors. Heather Murphree – Treasurer espanol. www.tsegyalgarwest.org Rich Taylor – Secretary Dzogchen Community of San Diego California.

Norte Tashigar North /Finca Tashigar Prolongación de la Calle Bolivar Tel: 0058 0295 2580332 Tashigar Valle de Pedro González [email protected] Isla de Margarita www.tashigarnorte.org

Santi Maha Sangha Base Level 7th Lojong Roberto Agreda Calendar With Elías Capriles With Grisha Mokhin (T) 0058-4128401495 (Spanish-Español) New Gakyil in January 10th–January 15th 2010 April 1st–April 5th 2010 (T) 0058-4266885002 (Spanish-Español) Cost: BsF. 390 with usual discounts Cost: BsF. 300 (T)0058-4141886209 Costa Rica of Events * [email protected] (English- Yellow: Gloriana Brenes (Titi) Beginners Course on the Six How to arrive: You can fi nd helpful infor- Español-Russian) [email protected] 2010 Spaces of Samantabhadra mation about how to arrive to Tashigar * Red: Federico Herrero With Elisha Koppensteiner, supervised Norte at: http://margarita.wiki-site. Enrique Carlos, (T) 0058 -4248262905 [email protected] Upcoming courses by Adriana Dal Borgo com/index.php/Travel_guide#Arrive [email protected] Blue: Michela Moraglia Dance of the Song of the Vajra II January 12th–January 14th 2010 _at_Tashigar_Norte (Español / English) [email protected] With Carmen Rivas, supervised by Cost: to be confi rmed * The Ling is located in Barrio Amon en el Adriana Dal Borgo * Taxi Service: Robin Bennett, (T) 0058 -4248086566 centro de San Jose’ January 4th–January 10th 2010 Newly Scheduled! Carlos García Rad, (T) 0058-4165733464 [email protected] For general info you can write us at: Cost: BsF. 1300 with usual discounts Kumbhaka Course [email protected] (Español / English / Italian) [email protected] * With Fabio Andrico (Español / English) Mach 13th–March 17th 2010 * Cost: BsF. 300 with usual discounts *

Sur Tashigar South Tanti 5155 Phone & Fax: 0054 - 3541 - 498 356 Tashigar Comunidad Dzogchen Tashigar Pcia. de Córdoba [email protected] Calle pública S/N Argentina

February 12th 25th–26th de February of Sergio Oliva, who explained Calendar Opening of the new Gonpa of 2nd Part Yantra Yoga Course – Level II A Weekend Retreat what Dzogchen meant and what Tashigar South! led by Naomi Zeitz and supervised by the Dzogchen Community was. Fabio Andrico for ‘Newcomers’ Sergio spent three hours (with of Events February 14th at Tashigar South, a short break to have a delicious Losar and Mandarava Practice February 28th Argentina breakfast prepared by Alfredo Jan–Feb Worldwide Guruyoga Transmission with home-made bread impos- February 16th Anniversary of Guru Garab Dorje November 7–8, 2009 sible to resist to) giving explana- 2010 Sang and Serkyem Offerings tions of different aspects of the More information: Ana García Teachings that are never so easy January 29th–31st February 18th–24th www.wordpress.tashigar-sur.com.ar to understand for new ‘ears’ and Yeshi Silvano Namkhai Chögyal Namkhai Norbu e-mail: [email protected] n November 7th and 8th, giving the chance to newcomers The Four Contempla- A Terma teaching of www.tashigar-sur.com.ar 2009 Tashigar South to ask questions to clarify their tions in Dzogchen Semde Rigzin Changchub Dorje e-mail: [email protected] Oorganized a weekend doubts. Then we stopped to have Tel: +54-03541-498-356 retreat aimed at ‘new people’ lunch and rest a while and came “Zhi Lam Dras” (Base Fax: +54-03541-498-885 (people interested in the teach- back at 4 p.m. when Carolina February 8th Path Fruit) essential in- ings but that had never had the Mingolla (one of our Yantra Yoga Rinpoche’s arrival to Tashigar South structions and practices chance of attending a retreat be- instructors) gave explanations of Dzogchen fore). People arrived early in the on the 9 purifi cation breathings, February 10th–11th morning and we gathered in our helping attendants to the course 1st Part Yantra Yoga Course – Level II small Gonpa where we all had with their body position and way led by Naomi Zeitz and supervised by the possibility to hear to the clear of breathing to become more Fabio Andrico and straightforward explanations >> continued on the following page THE MIRROR · No. 101 · November, December 2009 Tashigar Sur 27

>> continued from previous page celebrate the 20th Anniversary of tions followed. When it seemed aware in their everyday life and our Gar and the opening of our no doubts remained, Alfredo was teaching them how we usually new Gonpa. waiting for us with a delicious start our tun of practice. After an- The following day, as the An- lunch to end the retreat in the other break, we enjoyed together niversary of Adzom Drugpa was best way possible. the tape recorded by our Master coming and many people would Beautiful sunny days, time to where He gives an explanation have the possibility of receiving talk about the Teachings, relaxed of Dzogchen contrasting it with the direct introduction for the and joyful atmosphere, many Sutra and Tantra. When the fi lm fi rst time through the web, Ser- questions, many books sold, de- fi nished, we informed everyone gio explained the importance of licious food, nice company. Isn´t about the summer retreats we are it in the context of our teaching that what we call a great time? organizing for next Summer with and then gave a detailed explana- Everyone said they would come Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and his tion of the practice we perform back. We are waiting knowing if son, Yeshe Silvano Namkhai, to on that occasion. Many ques- they will. Photo: S. Mariani

Rinpoche’s words and to think how the constructions of the new Under the Trees about them in a quiet dialogue. houses were progressing, and we Green Tara Retreat at We also had the fortune that SMS followed the bricklayers’ work Tashigar South Instructor, Ricky Sued, accepted of the gonpa, appreciating their the request of our coordinator progress. and explained the Practice of Tara We also did Karma Yoga every- Raquel Ramponi as the essence of lower Tantras, day! The compassionate geköe translated by Ana García clearly focused from the perspec- chose some gardening tasks of tive of a Dzogchen practitioner. the Master’s house for us, and hen I learned about a We were nine practitioners, we also planted some fl owering Green Tara Practice some from the early years of plants in the fl owerpots adorning W Retreat to be held at Tashigar, like me, some others the Gar’s entrance. All was true Tashigar South, it stirred some- relatively new. The vision of the enjoyment, really in accordance thing deep inside me and I con- deep grove of the Gar coming with the beautiful presence of tacted Ingrid Lucke, with whom through the windows of the little Green Tara. I had shared a previous retreat, Gonpa created an atmosphere of Finally, on the last day, we and immediately we booked our peace and fullness. In this atmo- went to practice outdoors, in tickets. Thursday October 1st, the Photo: S. Mariani sphere the shared prayer for Beto the same place where the Mas- date when the retreat was sup- Torres Rose, our Vajra brother ter used to give his Teachings in posed to start, we were already computer and the projector to listening to him, but also prac- who had had a terrible accident the early retreats. There we sat tidying up a warm and beautiful play the video where Rinpoche ticing with him the correct pro- and was in hospital; also for a on the fallen leaves, under the house in Tashigar Mandala, built explains and sings the practice. nunciation of every mantra and practitioner of faraway Prague green trees, between patches of very close to the sky, to enjoy the The beginning was already a repeating it once and again un- that had written to us needing a sunlight. And then, in that place, comfort and food supplies need- blessing: to see and listen to our til our voices felt sure of having job and for all our loved ones and the melody of the practice that ed during our stay. dear Master Chögyal Namkhai found the exact sound. for all beings. had grown during all those days Friday 2nd at 9 a.m. was our Norbu explaining, with the gen- In the afternoon, and the fol- However, not everything was exerted the magic of mixing with fi rst meeting. Luis, the geköe, erosity that is a characteristic of lowing two days, we went to practice. In our free moments we nature and awakes the potentiali- and the secretary, Sole Mariani, him, the practice of Tara in depth the small Gonpa to practice. At enjoyed the delicious and healthy ties lying dormant in the deepest were already in the hall of the with all details. And not only see- the beginning Griselda devoted food prepared by Alfredo and we parts of our consciousness. main house, ready in front of the ing our Master in the screen and part of the time to remind us of explored Tashigar Mandala to see

So we had another retreat to or- The building worked 24 hours a Yoga Transmissions are held Lhundrubling, the center of ganize, and more people to invite day, which was also very conve- there, and also many weekly prac- for practices and Ganapujas. But nient. The place needed some re- tices, usually four Ganapujas per the Dzogchen Community almost a whole year passed by, pairs, but overall, it was an excel- month, webcast replays, explana- in São Paulo, Brazil and we still couldn’t fi nd an af- lent fi nd. However, we only had tions and so on. In February 2009, fordable place for the Commu- about 45 days until the retreat. we were also very lucky to receive Otavio Lilla nity in São Paulo. In any case, we We found the place on Mon- the visit of Jim Valby for a fan- continued to look for a place, and day and by Friday we had already tastic retreat on the Base of SMS. hundrubling is the main houses and sometimes travel to organize our practices in each signed all the papers. We could Our practitioners come and care center of the Dzogchen abroad to attend retreats with the other’s houses. fi nd a group of people who com- for the place – someone arranges LCommunity in Brazil. It is Master. So we were very excited On a particular weekend in mitted to help with the rent, and a the altar, another person takes the only ling we have so far, and when Rinpoche accepted our in- September 2006, we had a prac- practitioner who was an architect care of the plants, someone else it’s located in a very central area vitation to come to Brazil, but tice retreat of the Base of Santi started to think about the renova- cleans everything, the secretary of São Paulo, the biggest city also a little worried. There were Maha Sangha. The group of peo- tion and decoration of the place. is in charge of emails; the yellow in the country. It is a very urban so many details to organize – it ple present in that retreat was re- We thought it would be impossi- Gakyil of fi nances, and so on. It ling – on the 9th fl oor of an offi ce seemed above our capacity, espe- ally very dedicated and interest- ble to have our small center ready ended up working very smoothly. building that is open 24 hours cially in a big city like São Paulo. ed. We did a lot of practices, with for the retreat with Rinpoche, Money is always a little short, but per day, 7 days a week. This is very There were also very few active Semdzins, Rushens, etc. We also however, almost by miracle, the at least enough – and we receive convenient for the people who practitioners in Brazil at that mo- participated in the 24-hour Da- two ladies who were in charge donations even from people who live in this big, crazy city, and who ment, and some of them lived in kini Simhamukha chain that was of the renovations could fi nish are not from São Paulo and can- can only come for practices and other cities. However, the retreat organized by the international everything just a week before the not participate in our activities, Ganapujas in alternative hours, went very well and many new Community at that time, and we retreat – an impressive feat. but who think it is important to often after a hard day of work. people entered in contact with connected our recitation with So in just over a month, just help maintain Lhundrubling. Lhundrubling – “the self-perfect- the transmission at that opportu- a Ganapuja and intensive Nag- before the retreat with Rinpoche In many ways, Lhundrubling ed place”, as our precious Mas- nity. At the last day of the retreat, gon. Later we offered Sang and in 2006, Lhundrubling mani- was a gift from Rinpoche to us. ter has called it – is a small ling, Rinpoche told us: “Now maybe Serkyem and ended our retreat. fested itself. One day before the First of all, it was his idea; then but it’s also a pretty one, with a the next step for you is to fi nd a As we parted, we reminded each retreat started, Rinpoche visited it was built with the dedication nice altar, some thankas, a small fi xed place for the Community other of all we had to do to or- and consecrated the place and of people who shared inter- kitchen, a TV and DVD player for here, so that interested people ganize the retreat, and also that later, on an auspicious date, he est for His teachings and with teachings and transmissions. can get in contact with the teach- Rinpoche had advised us to fi nd named it “Lhundrubling”. It had money collected during his re- We could say the story of Lhun- ings if they wish.” a place, but that we still couldn’t seemed virtually impossible only treats. Then it was consecrated drubling started in 2005, during At the moment, it seemed an fi nd anything. one year before; maybe even only and named by him – and it is the fi rst retreat with Rinpoche in impossible mission. The Com- Our short practice retreat fi n- a few months before, but it had kept alive week-by-week and day- Brazil in many years. Rinpoche munity didn’t have a lot of money ished on Sunday and exactly the become true. And Rinpoche was by-day by his precious transmis- had not visited Brazil since 1998, and the people who were active next day, going to work, a practi- right, as always: Lhundrubling sion and by his wonderful teach- and those of us who were orga- in the organization were very tioner saw an advertisement say- would become very important ings. The name “Lhundrubling” nizing the retreat had no previ- few, most of them also having to ing “rooms for rent” in an offi ce for the activities of the Dzogchen couldn’t be more appropriate. ous experience with promoting dedicate time to their jobs and building. So we called them and Community in Brazil. Thank you very much, Rinpoche. this kind of event. We were just families. However, we have been it was incredible – the rent was Since then, many practices are Lhundrubling is one more mani- a small group of practitioners very lucky that Rinpoche decided really affordable and the location organized in Lhundrubling every festation of the infi nite potential- who used to meet in each other’s to come to Brazil again in 2006. was excellent and very central. week. The three Worldwide Guru ity of your teachings. 28

for a month. He was accompanied by Vera and Sergei, untiring helpers. How I met I never realized how complex, elaborate and laborious it was to fi ll the different chambers of a . To think that we had Chögyal Namkhai Norbu dared to attempt to build one without help The Condor and the Eagle Prophecy, The First Andean Stupa was a mad proposition, but full of faith and the Supreme Source and love. Only such a realized tantric practitio- ner could have integrated so gracefully all Miguel Kavlin the disparate and crazy energies we had to work with, especially my own! have been a student and practitioner hamper my awareness or decrease my clar- I am eternally grateful to Randrig of Native American Ritual of the An- ity. Rinpoche for his patience, hard work and I dean, Amazonian and Native North The First Andean Stupa actually fi rst deep knowledge for making the fi rst stu- American variety for over twenty years manifested in a vision I had while do- pa in the Andes true to the teachings, im- now. However, I always felt a connection ing one of the Amazonian Rituals, where mensely powerful, and already bringing with and was drawn to Tibetan Buddhist some Tibetan Lamas appeared to me and great benefi t to our lives, and I trust, to teachings. indicated a stupa had to be built in my land all sentient beings. The stupa for me was Around 1985 I went to Nepal and trav- in the Bolivian Andes. I then consulted a culmination of a process of integration eled on foot for over two months, hoping with Chögyal Namkhai Norbu and asked er state, and I remember saying out loud: of many aspects of my path, and myself al- to fi nd a spiritual teacher. What I found, permission to do so. “Now the Condor and the Eagle have come though I feel it was also divinely inspired toward the end of my journey there, was a It took me about three years to get start- together”. Moments later, a most amaz- and had logic of its own. precious book in a Katmandu bookstore: ed, for it was an intimidating proposition, ing thing happened, a sublime presence We placed a six pointed star around The Crystal and the Way of Light, by Chögyal and I had no knowledge of building stu- manifested in the room, not with a form the center pole of the Stupa, a common Namkhai Norbu. pas. On one of my journeys to the US, also but with a magnifi cent, noble, benevolent element in the Jewish tradition and the The perspective and insight I gained while conducting an Amazonian ritual, I and powerful tangible presence. I am Jew- Dzogchen teachings. On each point of the from reading that book touched me deep- received the instruction that one of the par- ish, and at that point I could do no more star, we placed a stone from six of the Most ly and helped me for many years to come. ticipants there was the person who would than prostrate myself fl at on the fl oor, for I in the Andes, and gath- It was not until about fi fteen years later, help me get started. His name is Max Fein felt I was in the presence of the divine, and ered in a sacred pilgrimage to each one. In while doing a three-month retreat in the from the northwest coast of the US. Amaz- that presence was a great blessing onto all the center, we put a stone from Tiwanaku, Peruvian Amazon, I reread that book and ingly he agreed, and within six months he who were present. I had never experienced the most ancient ceremonial place in the took a conscious decision to seek out Chö- volunteered his time to come to Bolivia. He the Andes Mountains, the stars, the earth Americas. That became clear to me, was gyal Namkhai Norbu. received the blue prints from Jim Smith of and all energies aligned in such a state of the mandala offering we had been slowly I was lucky enough that he was going Tsegyalgar East, and we began construc- grace before. preparing for so many years. On the pole, to be in Argentina, next door to my na- tion. Max could only stay three months at My problems were not all fi nished next to Chögyal Namkhai Norbu’s vase at tive Bolivia, and so I went there to meet a time though, and it was very diffi cult to though, as I continued to fall into negative the bottom of the pole, we placed an eagle him for the fi rst time. Undoubtedly he is progress in his absence. We did persevere patterns and despair. Nonetheless, slowly and condor feather, and a peacock feather but surely, that presence began to mani- in the center, symbolizing the Integration fest more and more often in a variety of of those three lineages. different contexts, and it is now part of my When Randrig Rinpoche Consecrated daily meditations. This presence has also the Stupa, there were signs that the conse- touched many of my companions on the cration was successful, that the stupa had path who participate with me in ceremo- indeed become the sacred blessing place nies. it is meant to be for future generations, The message it seems to be conveying is and us for humans and all sentient beings that the Messiah is here; the Messiah as a alike. divine presence that is accessible to all who For many years Carmen Castañeda, my wish to connect, serve and bring compas- wife, and I have been the sole Dzogchen- sion and peace to their lives. Later at a Na- pas in Bolivia. We tried at different times to tive Spiritual Elders Gathering in Canada, increase our Community and a few others many of the Elders, Guatemalan, Mexican have received transmission. Now, thanks and others, seemed to be saying the same. to Nicko Leonoff, we also have a Vajra The last time I met Chögyal Namkhai Dance Mandala, and the stupa is fi nished. Norbu, in Argentina last January, We hope and pray that Vajra Brothers and I had a different, deeper and stronger Sisters from different countries will travel connection with the teachings than ever here, share their knowledge and help our before. Something new and wonderful friends here learn the Dance of the Vajra, seemed to open up. and many of the Dzogchen practices that It was while in Argentina that Nicko Le- Chögyal Namkhai Norbu has blessed us my master, and I felt a strong connection however, and Max met Chögyal Namkhai onoff, from Russia, decided to come help with. to him and the Dzogchen teachings. Since Norbu to get transmission, some further us in Bolivia. It was perfect timing because I want to express my deepest gratitude then I have traveled to many places around instruction, and receive from Rinpoche Max who was building the Stupa had to go for all those involved who contributed in the world so I could receive more teach- the two main Sacred Vases to be placed back home, so he left Nicko in charge. It small and big ways to make this happen, ings from him, and have assumed the within the stupa. Rinpoche was also clear was through Nicko and his Russian con- and I pray that and Benefi t ensues, Dzogchen teachings as my daily practice. from the beginning though, that this was nections that a most amazing thing hap- and that the teachings be strengthened I was particularly encouraged by the not his stupa, nor his instruction that it be pened. Artiom and other members of and preserved. fact that Rinpoche emphasized the fact built, but that he supported our efforts. the Russian Sangha contributed funds My deepest gratitude to Carmen Casta- that one does not have to change reli- In the midst of this fi rst stage of the and made the connections for Randrig ñeda, my wife and my children who sup- gion, name or look in order to be a true construction, I went into a very deep crisis Rinpoche, an expert in building stupas ported this, and to my Master, Chögyal Dzogchenpa. Also, he always encourages where I questioned everything in my life, and a Tantric teacher, to come to Bolivia Namkhai Norbu! us to keep our awareness, as the foremost and even lost at some point the will to live. Samaya of Dzogchen. Moreover, he always It was in the worst part of this crisis, when encourages us to integrate the diversity of I decided to conduct a Sacred Andean Cer- our experiences into the state of Instant emony at our Ritual Chamber in the An- Presence. des. While in the ceremony, I observed a When I started on my Dzogchen path, painting my Native North American teach- I didn’t know how it would integrate with er Beautiful Painted Arrow had gifted our my shamanic practices, and whether at chamber. It was a painting of the Condor some point I would have to leave them and the Eagle coming together. I had al- behind. Nine years later, I have witnessed ways wondered if all these talk about the my experience of the Dzogchen teachings Condor and the Eagle Prophecies was only deepen and strengthen, my connection marketing and someone’s invention, but with Chögyal Namkhai Norbu get fi ner in that ceremony I decided to fi nd out for and my devotion increase. So far, apply- myself. I decided to hold a Condor feather ing the Dzogchen principles I mentioned in one hand and an Eagle feather in the above, I have felt that my shamanic prac- other, and seek to integrate them in my tices do integrate with the teachings, and consciousness. My consciousness in fact I have not ever felt my shamanic practices took a leap of some kind, I entered anoth-