No. 130 THE MIRROR December 2015 Knowledge of Our Real Condition Focus on Tashigar Lekdanling – New Center for UK Community Vajra Dance Video Tutorial A Journey to the Sacred Land of Larung Gar Upcoming Events with Contents Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Schedule ................... 2 Editorial .................... 3 Knowledge of Our Real Condition ............... 4 International Gakyil .......... 7 Photo: P. Fassoli Shang Shung Foundation ..... 8 2016 ASIA ...................... 10 Spain, Tenerife November 11–15, 2016 Update on the Dzamling Gar Teachers Training for SMS, Vajra Dzamling Gar Project ....... 13 February 9–22, 2016 Dance and Yantra Mandarava Drubchen Retreat Lekdanling – New Center November 16, 2016 for UK Community ......... 14 Worldwide Transmission Awarding the Diplomas including February 21–22, 2016 I.D.C. Diplomas The Stupa of Anniversary of Garab Dorje Perfect Victory ............. 15 November 29–30, 2015 March 1–10, 2016 SMS 3rd Level Exam Traveling the World ........ 16 Communication Skills Training with Gianfranco Brero December 1–7, 2016 Vajra Dance Video Tutorial .. 18 SMS Fourth level Training March 18–25, 2016 Focus on Tashigar .......... 19 Supervision plus Exams for Khaita December 28–January 3, 2017 Joyful Dances Yangtig Retreat Book Review ............... 35 March 30–April 3, 2016 The Mantra of a Fanatic .... 36 Khaita Festival and Awarding Diplomas A Journey to the Sacred Land of Larung Gar, Spain Kham (Tibet) ............... 38 Barcelona May, 2016 Saying Farewell to Third Integrative Medicine Namgyalgar South ......... 41 Conference How I Met Chögyal Spain, Tenerife Namkhai Norbu: Dzamling Gar Viki Forscutt .............. 43 end of April/May 2016 Tibetan Cultural Week June 3–7, 2016 Cover photo of participants at the Longsal Ati’i Gongpa Tsalung Retreat teaching retreat at Samtengar, China, October 2–7, 2015. US Office: [email protected] * European Office: [email protected] * * Editorial Staff: Naomi THE MIRROR Zeitz, Tsegyalgar, Conway, MA, USA * Liz Granger, Merigar West, Arcidosso, Italy * * Advisor: Adriano Clemente * Special Advisor: Yuchen Namkhai International Blue Gakyil Advisor: Julian King-Salter International Newspaper of the * * Publications Committee English Language Advisor: Liz Granger Design & Layout: Thomas Eifler International * * * * Webmasters: Yuchen Namkhai and Luigi Ottaviani Available at melong.com Online Mirror: www. Dzogchen Community of * * * melong.com All material © 2016 by The Mirror Reprint by permission only We reserve the right to Chögyal Namkhai Norbu * * * * * * edit all submissions. 2 THE MIRROR · No. 130 · December 2015 Through 2015 we have also been able to Editorial publish a limited number of full color pa- per copies of The Mirror magazine which ven though this issue of ‘The Mirror’ are available for purchase at some of the is the December 2015 issue, it is the Master’s retreats and at the Merigar Office Efirst to be published in the new year, and the Dzam Shop at Merigar West. The 2016, and so we would like to take this op- printed copies are still greatly appreciated portunity to wish all of our readers near by many of our readers and also provide a and far a very happy New Year! concrete archive of the activities and ini- A new year brings new beginnings. tiatives of our Teacher and our Community From its birth in 1990 at Merigar in Italy as We would also like to remind our read- over the passage of time. If any of the Gars a black and white broadsheet newspaper, ers that The Mirror magazine, The Mirror and Lings or even individual Community The Mirror has gone through many transi- online in English at www.melong.com, members are interested in receiving print- tions. Early in its history it became a tab- Zerkalo magazine and the online version ed versions of The Mirror for 2016, they loid size newspaper, then the editorial of- at www.ru.melong.com in Russian, and El should contact the editors so that we can fices made a trans Atlantic leap to become Espejo online at www.es.melong.com in increase the number that are printed. based at Tsegyalgar in Massachusetts, USA. Spanish are all publications of the Inter- New year. New beginnings. We would 2005 saw the first four color pages added. national Dzogchen Community of Chög- also like to remind all our readers, wheth- Then finally after 23 years and 125 issues yal Namkhai Norbu. All these publications er Gakyil members at the Gars and Lings carrying news about the International bring you up to date news on events in our around our world or simply practitioners Dzog chen Community and the activities of Community around the world, keep you sitting at home, to send news and photos Chögyal Namkhai Norbu around the globe, posted on upcoming retreats and events of your Community activities and initia- in December 2013 the last issue of The Mir- with Rinpoche, as well as letting you know tives to share with our ever growing global ror in its by now traditional newspaper for- about organizational decisions of the In- family. mat was printed. Due to the global finan- ternational Gakyil, the initiatives of ASIA Once again, we send you all our warm- cial crisis that was also felt in our Commu- Onlus and the work of the Shang Shung est wishes for the New Year. nity, the following year, 2014, The Mirror was only available as an online blog until December of that year when the first issue of the new smaller full color magazine size version was published in pdf format and made available for downloading and print- ing from our website. 2016 will bring new beginnings as well, in particular to the way in which readers can access The Mirror magazine. Members of the International Dzogchen Community who are registered on the www.dzogchen. net website, will soon be able to download the 2016 issues of the magazine for free af- ter logging in. This policy will also apply to the Russian version of The Mirror maga- zine, Zerkalo, available on its sister website at www.ru.melong.com. Those who are not members of the International Dzogchen Community will still be able to download the issues from our website www.melong. com as usual for a small fee. Foundation and Shang Shung Publications. The editors In addition to keeping you posted on current activities and those planned for Naomi Zeitz [email protected] the future, we also host an online archive Liz Granger [email protected] of 25 years of history of the Dzogchen Com- munity in all the back issues of The Mirror, published from March 1990, all of which are freely available online for browsing or downloading from our Archive. You can access the Archive section from the bar running across the top of the homepage at www.melong.com. THE MIRROR · No. 130 · December 2015 3 Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Knowledge of Our Real Condition An excerpt from Chögyal Namkhai Norbu’s public talk in Beijing, China, October 9, 2015 ood day for everybody everywhere. I am very happy to be the ancient history of teachings in India, for example, and we can here in Beijing. I’m sorry that I don’t know the Chinese lan- understand this in the teaching of the Vajrayana in which the fig- Gguage in order to explain. Most of my life has been spent in ures of the deities and Bodhisattvas are all like figures of princes the Western world and for that reason I will talk in English. and princesses in ancient Indian style. That means ancient tradi- I want to explain a little about what Atiyoga is because I have tion and history are connected. dedicated myself to that. My spiritual path, my life, my way of In the history of India it says that in very ancient times the hu- being, everything, is integrated with the principle of the teaching man condition was similar to that of the Devas, figures like Brahma of Atiyoga. I am very convinced that it is very useful and very im- or Krishna, and that there were many types of Devas. Originally portant to know the principle of the teaching of Atiyoga not only the human condition was at a very high level, but as emotions de- for people who are doing practice and following a spiritual path, veloped the human condition became more and more subject to but also for anyone living in our human condition. This is the rea- them and worsened. For example, in Kalpa Dzogden, which means son I have followed that knowledge and teaching. very ancient times, human beings had no need for homes and were In Tibet originally we had four or five Buddhist traditions and not dependent on food, but as they gradually developed, they be- the pre-Buddhist Bon tradition, all of which are very important. came limited and dependent on objects. This history describes a They are applied in different ways and the way they are presented really very ancient period of the human condition in general, not is different. This is related to the individual condition, just like in just the history of one nation or people. At that time there was medicine. When we have some problems with our health we go to one of the most ancient teachers of Atiyoga called Nangwa Tampa an expert doctor who gives us advice about which kind of medicine who transmitted the principle of knowledge of Atiyoga. After that, and therapy we need. In a similar way we have different kinds of twelve different teachers appeared one by one in different epochs. traditions and schools. However, there does not exist any differ- The last one is considered to be Buddha Sakyamuni. In general, ence between the essence of all teachings and traditions. When history is presented that way in the Atiyoga teaching.