No. 115 March, April 2012 Upcoming Retreats with Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Photo: M. Ferrada Guiterrez 2012 Hong Kong May 16–20 The Song of Vajra Taiwan Taipei May 24–28 Photo: G. Horner Longsal Longde Practice Retreat Japan Tokyo Namgyalgar North Retreat June 1–5 Longsal “Jyodba Ronyom” Retreat March 2012 USA June 13–17 Sally Price Hawaii Retreat xcitement was running high as we a succinct explanation of the Four Noble entered each day he would greet us, “Good Los Angeles all prepared for our fi rst retreat with Truths covering the reality of suffering (1), morning to everyone and everywhere”. June 22–24 ERinpoche at Namgyalgar North Gar. the cause of suffering or karma (2), the “Kunzang Monlam’’ There was so much work to do. A team of possibility of the cessation of suffering Rinpoche decided to teach from the shel- (Invocation of Samantabhadra) willing workers had to convert three large (3), and the path to accomplish this (4). dem or advice of the great teacher Khyen- New York City machinery sheds into a Gonpa, a mandala He then followed this with an explanation rab Chokyi Ozer, who was one of the most June 29–July 1 for Vajra Dance and a cafeteria come eat- of the various paths of Tibetan Buddhism important students of the great Dzogchen “Dzogchen Nallug” Retreat ing space. It was decided to invest in the beginning with the Mahayana, the Tantric Master Zhenga Rinpoche. There are four Gonpa and make it a fully functioning paths and fi nally Dzogchen. verses, each verse containing three very Tsegyalgar East space by insulating the roof and lining it important principles of Dzogchen teach- July 4–10 with gyprock. After Rinpoche left there remained a small, ings. Importantly, this sheldem is basically Yeshes Khandroí Thugthig interested crowd of people wanting more connected to the Three Statements of Ga- (Jnanadhakini) Then the decorative experts moved in and information on Dzogchen. Here we were rab Dorje. July 11–12 made a stunning space, full of colour, able to spread the message about the re- Santi Maha Sangha Base Exam thankas and ritual objects. Rinpoche’s seat treat if anyone was interested in following Each day Rinpoche would give us an expla- July 13–17 was constructed in front of a White “A” up on what they had heard Rinpoche speak nation of these four verses and then reveal Santi Maha Sangha First Level Training with lights behind that sometimes fl ick- about. how to integrate this knowledge with our ered and seemed to turn different colours. understanding of Dzogchen as we begin Russia With a marquee joined onto our new Gon- to have the capacity to discover our real July 22 Ten days before the start of the retreat, pa, we were able to accommodate a capac- nature. He taught that, “nature of mind is Public Teaching in Moscow Rinpoche’s fi rst public talk on the Sun- ity crowd of up to 150 people per day at the like the potentiality of the mirror. Refl ec- Kunsangar North shine Coast had been scheduled. Thanks to retreat. Rinpoche seemed in fi ne form, tions are like our mind. Just being in our July 25–29 a couple of articles in the local press, many joking with us all as well as delivering his real nature self liberates everything. The Terma teaching of Rigdzin Jangchub new people were introduced to Rinpoche teachings with consummate clarity. As he mirror doesn’t judge. We pay too much at- Dorje, the Circle of Lama Zabdon’s and Dzogchen. At this talk Rinpoche gave >> continued on page 5 “Khyung-nag”, the Dark-Blue Garuda Ukraine Kunsangar South Teaching Teaching Focus August 2–9 Terma teaching of Rigdzin Jangchub Dorje, “Man-ngag Tag-drol Gyud” Chögyal Namkhai Khyentse The Gars Romania Norbu Yeshe Merigar East The Advice of the Keeping the Mind August 17–23 Great Teacher Close By “Longsal Atií Nadzer” Retreat Khyenrab Chokyi Ozer >> continued on page 4 » Page 2 » Page 3 » Pages 7–16 THE MIRROR · No. 115 · March, April 2012 2 “The sun is shining in the sky, there are no clouds and we can see the full manifestation of the sunshine.” his teaching is the advice of my teacher Khyen- rab Chokyi Ozer, who was a student of Zhenga T Rinpoche. Khyenrab Chokyi Ozer was a very im- portant student of Zhenga Rinpoche and also a Dzogchen practitioner. He was very learned and most scholars from the different traditions in Tibet are in his lineage as stu- dents. So you can see that Khyenrab Chokyi Ozer was a very important teacher. Khyenrab Chokyi Ozer gave us these teachings and instructions, particularly tsigsum ned- deg, the text written down by Patrul Rinpoche, and when he fi nished the teaching he gave us this advice. It was only a few words of advice of what you should do for the future on your path, but even though there were only a few words the indications are very precise. The Three Transmissions First it says that with three transmissions, and you know what the three transmissions are, you receive these trans- missions and in that way you can receive direct introduc- tion in the Dzogchen way. Through this you discover your real nature. When you discover your real nature you receive a real piece of the teaching and the enlightened beings and you discover what your real nature is. We have body, speech and mind, the three gates, and we know how to deal with this and fi rst we receive transmis- sion and discover our real nature. We need to work with experiences and when we experience direct introduction we discover our real nature through that experience. So it is not only introducing us to our real nature, but when we are on the path we are living in circumstance and circum- stance is related to our body, speech and mind. Everything is connected to these different experiences. So with these experiences, day after day, we are integrating more and more, and we can have total realization. So that is why the second part explains how we develop of our visions, how we develop our experiences, and then in the third part, Photo: G. Horner which I explained yesterday, we discover the three kayas, the dharmakaya, sambogakaya and nirmanakaya, and it explains the qualifi cations of the enlightened beings; ev- The Advice of the Great eryone has that potentiality in their real nature. Once we discover that and we are in that state, everything Teacher Khyenrab Chokyi slowly matures and we manifest all the qualifi cations of the three kayas. So there is no need that to construct any- thing based on something known before. We have already recognized and are recognizing and we are in the state Ozer and manifesting; the sun is shining in the sky, there are no clouds and we can see the full manifestation of the sun- Day 3, March 20, 2102 shine. In the same way, when we have overcome all our Namgyalgar North, Australia obstacles, then all manifestations become something real, not only imagination. So this is how we mature our prac- tice. did not succeed to completely introduce them – and then ing tantra that Garab Dorje is always chanting called dorje there is the essence. For example, the kunjed gyalpo is a very sempa namkha che. When Garab Dorje was a very small baby Three Statements of Garab Dorje – Tsigsum long tantra; it is one of the Dzogchen semde tantras con- he was always chanting that tantra. There are three or four Part four, which we have today, is related to the three state- sidered the root tantra, and in the kunjed gyalpo there are larger tantras associated with it. These are really tantras, ments of Garab Dorje; tsigsum means the three statements many chapters. There are more than eighty chapters, for but what Garab Dorje chanted is a lung, not a complete of Garab Dorje. Garab Dorje taught Dzogchen teachings example, and one of these is the rigpai khujug. Vairocana tantra. The lung is the most important parts from a tan- to various students all his life. That means he taught many translated it fi rst, the number one Dzogchen teaching, tra put together and it becomes a teaching. Garab Dorje different kinds of tantras; original tantras like dra thalgyur but what is the rigpai khujug? It is one chapter of the kunjed had this in his memory and chanted it when he was very tantras, seventeen related tantras, the infi nite tantras of gyalpo; a very short chapter and only six verses. In these small. So this is a very concentrated, essential teaching of Dzogchen semde and the many tantras of Dzogchen longde. six verses it makes us understand the base, path and fruit Dzogchen. All these tantras were taught in ancient times by differ- of the Dzogchen teachings. Each two verses explain base, ent kinds of teachers. These tantras no longer existed path and fruit. Togden Dzubtsug – People showing knowledge who have real in the time of Garab Dorje, Everything on the earth had knowledge disappeared and we did not have these tantras. Then the The rigpai khujug is an example and we have many of these. The dorje sempa namkha che is explained with six thigles. You enlightened beings manifested Garab Dorje to give this We call them lungs in the Dzogchen teachings; it is not know what a thigle is; a thigle means something like po- teaching, so every day Garab Dorje taught students and called tantra because tantra is complete.